Not My Kind of Vacation

Nebulizer.

It sounds scarier than it really is. It sounds like a taser gun. Or some sort of Star Trek force field.

The Nebulizer. [neb-yuh-lahyz-er] (noun) - The evil villian who lives on planet Galactus that seeks to destroy earth with his force-field-shooting taser gun.

Obviously, my medical background and education is quite extensive.

Because when time came for his first nebulizing (is that a word??) treatment and it went like this...

I was quite relieved.

Caleb's bout with RSV, pneumonia, and whatever sort of wretched stomach junk that he had, booked us 5 exclusive nights in a Thai hospital. (if anyone is keeping count...that's his SECOND Thai hospital to book a stay at!)
So even though we only spent 5 days out of our 3 weeks in Thailand in the hospital, those three weeks were marked with hospital memories instead of poolside, sunny Thailand memories.

But really, with that smile in the picture, who cares what the surroundings are.

I've become quite fond of Thai hospitals, though. And when I say that...I have to be sure to include lots of pictures of the experience otherwise the average American back home envisions us stuck up in a straw hut with a mud-thatched roof in blazing hot Thailand.

To his nurses, he was "Boy Caleb."

To his doctor, he was "this kid."

Just outside his hospital window was the city's ancient wall and moat, and a country doing it's annual burning of the fields.

And now that we're back home and he's doing completely fine, we can look back on the experience and have a little chuckle about our crazy life...one that thankfully doesn't include taser guns and force fields.

Friday Fotos

A random conglomeration from the past few weeks...


Could it be that Superman is a tad OCD?


Breakfast is a dangerous sport.


Clearly, Caleb is having the time of his life.


Winding down with ChunJie, Chinese New Year.


Headed out to the bus stop...or a taxi...whichever comes first. It's blurry. But it's a glimpse into life here.

On Being Prepared...

Almost 5 years ago, a crazy day changed our lives forever.

Well, maybe that sounds a little more monumental-ish than is really should be.

Five years ago we decided that we'd always be prepared.
We're not always prepared for a fish fry. Or a pinata party. (among other things.)

But by golly, we WILL always be prepared for when our visa and passports need updating.

Because that day left us emotionally scarred for life, we've taken passport picture printing into our own hands. At any moment, of any hour, of any day, we can hand off to you a passport or visa picture of each one of us.

But before I get ahead of myself and make us sound more awesome than we really are, let me remind you of Salem's current passport photo.


ahhhh, yes. The jammies. Mommy fail.

Determined not to make the same mistake with Caleb, I changed him out of his dinosaur jammies first...


Is that not the cutest little mug shot you ever did see?
Who could say no to that precious face?!

Well, we're hoping no one!

Tomorrow we leave for Thailand and on the agenda (among other things) is acquiring a new Big Chicken visa for Caleb. His current one expires soon. We're assuming that since he's a dependent he won't have any trouble getting a new one. But sometimes assuming doesn't get you very far in Asia. Otherwise, poor mini-est man won't be allowed back home and he and I will have to find a place to kick it for awhile!

More to come soon from the Land of Smiles!

The Blogs that Could've Been

I'm in a blog funk. And having a hard time getting out of it.

I'm one of those bloggers that first writes the entire blog post in my head with commas, sarcastic remarks, anecdotes, italicized emphasis, everything. I lay in bed at night editing my pretend blog in my head.

I wake up in the morning and try to piece together what I came up with in my head. Apparently I was such a poor writer the night before that I put even myself to sleep.

Thus, the slow activity on our blog.

But over the past week or so I've mind-blogged about several things going on in our world. I don't get more than a couple sentences in before I give up hope on making it long enough to actually blog about. So, I'm giving you the summarized and ragged remnants of a few of my nightly mind-blogs...

The Blogs That Could Have Been. 

(see there's the italics I mentioned.)

mind-blog #1:

The Day My Son Ran into a Trash Can

High point: Salem ran full-speed on into a plastic garbage barrel. He didn't cry. So I laughed. I haven't laughed that hard in a really long time.

Low point: Salem's face, nose, and probably tongue and lips implanted on the side of the trash can. 

Awesome... For .2 seconds I thought about having him drink some antibacterial hand gel.

mind-blog #2:

Roach in Our Sink

Our house helper is deathly afraid of roaches. She apparently has a long standing history of waging war against them. One morning this week before she arrived at our place, Brandon killed a roach in our kitchen sink. When she arrived, I informed her of what he'd found. She looked at me wide eyed and worried. And well, maybe slightly confused too. And then that's when I realized my Big Chicken language wasn't quite ready to kick in at 9 a.m.
"Oh, uh...I mean...a roach. NOT a dragon."
(note to self: learn how to say "My bad..." in Chinese.)

mind-blog #3:

Adventures in Rice Cereal

(in my #3 mind-blog I wasn't going to write any words because a picture is worth a thousand words, right? well, that and sometimes I'm just lazy... 

BUT then mind-blog #4 happened and it's just better suited for a no-words-mind-blog)

mind-blog #4:

I Have No Words

mind-blog #5:

My Husband, My Hero

Setting: local friend's home.

Opening scene: We sit down for dinner with the three friends at a table with homemade local dishes scattered across it for us to choose from. I'm thinking to myself that with this much to choose from it'll be easy for me to politely avoid the slow cooked beef-fat, the congealed duck eggs, and deep-fried lotus root.

Crises: Our friend in slow-motion form, reaches across the table and scoops several congealed duck eggs into my bowl and encourages me to try them. I'm having flashbacks of 5 years ago. 

Tension builds: Brandon sees the terror in my eyes. He knows his wife well and knows that I'm a total weener when it comes to trying weird new food.
Climax: Nearing the end of the meal, both friends notice that I've yet to try the congealed duck eggs and do they're best to persuade me to have a try. Brandon, knowing that this cannot end well, informs them that he really liked them and that he'd like some more and proceeds to eat every one of my congealed duck eggs.
Conclusion: "Face" was saved. And Brandon went to sleep with a stomach ache that night.



That's the best of my mind-blogs from the deep recesses of my brain, a very scary place to visit!

Friday Fotos

We got to see a friend this week that we haven't seen in 4 years.
This photo was originally here.


What a difference 4 years makes!

Chinese New Year

On Sunday night, the night of non-stop 5 hours of fireworks, Chinese New Year, I was fully expecting myself to be a completely grouchy, foreign, white-lady, irritated mess.

But when midnight rolled around and our children were soundly sleeping in their beds and all around us were the sounds of war-fare, we sat in our windowsill in awe of the bright lights, in awe of the noise, and laughing hysterically at the utter drama of it all.

It was our first time to be in country for Chinese New Year, and we truly enjoyed it. We started the evening off at a friend's house, eating local food, watching the Chiense equivalent of the "Ball Drop" on tv, and blowing up fireworks in the middle of the city streets. (of which Salem was definitely not a fan of...as you can see in the video)

3 hours later, at 9:30 at night, we decided bedtime was futile for the kids, so we popped in a Disney movie, and let them watch until they fell asleep. Truly, they couldn't hear much of the movie because of the noise going on outside. 

At midnight they brought out the big guns and lit up the sky outside our apartment with fireworks that are illegal to shoot off in the city limits in The States. (and after they nearly shot out windows in our apartment complex, I can understand why! :)  With no fire bans or fireworks restrictions, the next morning our apartment complex looked like a black cat graveyard!

Enjoy the video!

In the blinking of an eye...

Happy 5 months, baby boy!

Don't grow up too quickly, please.