13 days and counting

Summer vacation is 2 weeks away and we are all getting very excited to see our families. Brad has been on a local week without walls trip with his students, enjoying days filled with hiking around Hong Kong. I am so thankful that he didn't have to travel overseas this year. Today is his last hiking day with the students and it is currently POURING rain....not the most fun way to hike (and Rudy is along with him...and Rudy is a dog who HATES getting wet!)

Here's where Brad is today (Saturday):

Tai Long Wan Beach, Sai Kung Country Park (the other Big Wave Bay)

 Perfect pool hike

Big wave bay (on Hong Kong Island)

Joy got a new bathtub this week, as she no longer fits in the sink...and we only have a shower. We bought the biggest bathtub so that she can use it for a while...but it is kind of a tight squeeze with me and the tub in the shower. Good thing we have an abnormally HUGE shower for Hong Kong. 

Joy is getting bigger but her whole torso is still smaller than daddy's hand!

 

Napping in her crib is still difficult and Joy is winning the battle. A couple days ago she screamed for 45 minutes in her crib and when moved to the swing still didn't sleep. She likes sleeping in the carrier, if I am walking around but that can't go on forever! Oh well I am trying to not get too worked up about it all since summer is coming and routines will be disrupted.  Sometimes I feel like "mommyhood" is a full time job that I should have had more training on before I started :-) I should have got a masters in being a mommy instead of ESL! HA

21 days until summer

Joy is very excited about summer vacation that is just around the corner....

Happy 3 months birthday

Joy's personality: Joy's little personality is coming out more  each day. She loves to be with people and loves to be talked to. She also is not a morning person and needs a lot of time to wake up. She likes to cuddle and nap in the morning.

Eats: Joy still likes to eat every 2 hours and will wake up from a nap at exactly the 2 hour mark screaming like she hasn't eaten in days. We tried to give her a bottle (to try and get her used to it so that we can leave her this summer with her grandmas) and she wouldn't have anything to do with it. I will try another bottle type this week and see if that makes a difference.

Call me Miss No Neck :-)

 

 

Sleeps: At night she sleeps from 10pm to 6am in her bed. I am very happy with this arrangement :-) Napping during the day is another story......





Weighs: 11.9 lbs

Likes: Joy loves being in the same room as people. As long as I carry her bouncy seat around the house and talk to her she is a happy little girl. She likes to smile and does it with her whole body. She loves the carrier and now that the weather is getting hot, we are both sweating a lot when I wear it!

Dislikes: Joy dislikes taking naps in her bed. I have been trying to get Joy to take at least two of her naps in her crib, and after 10 minutes of screaming she usually gives up but only sleeps about 30-40 minutes. If she is in the Ergo she will sleep for an hour but she is getting heavy!

Favorite event this month: Joy enjoys going out to coffee with mommy, her friends and their babies.

Happy Mother's Day!

I have had a great mother's day so far. On Saturday Brad took Joy for an hour and I went and got a pedicure. It was great to have time to read my book and get pampered but to be honest I thought about Joy and Brad the whole time.....:-)

Then this morning Brad made me a great breakfast (and Joy was nice enough to take an early nap so we could eat without holding a baby). In my mother's day card was a gift card to H&M and Brad is going to take me shopping on Friday (he takes his last paternity day). I have such a great little baby and such an amazing and loving husband. Thanks Brad for making me feel special. I love being your wife and Joy's mommy.

We attempted to take a family picture...but with a dog and a baby there isn't a "perfect" picture. At least you can't see the HUGE wet spot on my shirt from the spit up!

Joy smiling for daddy

All that smiling made me tired! 

Handle the Heat

I love to cook, watch cooking shows and read cooking blogs. When Joy first came home, cooking was out of the realm of possibility. For three weeks our friends and my mom made us meals. Then when that was over, Brad and I ate out a lot and make simple dinners. Now that I have figured out a little better how to do things around the house and have a 2 month old baby, cooking is fun again.  I have really enjoyed being a little more creative in my cooking and baking. It has been fun to look at new recipes (an easy task while nursing the babe) and then email my shopping list to my personal grocery shopper...my great husband.

I have really enjoyed the cooking blog "Handle the Heat" . The author does a great job at outlining the steps in an easy to follow manner. If she says they are easy, she is not lying and for many of the recipes the ingredients are usually (and easily) available here in Hong Kong.

Here are some new favorites that we have tried  (note: as a good teacher I must sight my sources....all pictures from Handle the Heat. However,  I must say my recipes have looked really similar, which I am very proud of).

 Chicken Cordon Bleu 

Barley Pilaf with Mushrooms....

Tonight on the menu we have Soy Ginger Salmon (a new recipe to try) and barley pilaf.

Tomorrow we have having some friends over for dinner I am going to try and make these cookies &cream cookies for dessert. I will let you know if mine look the same :-)

Shoes

Having a girl has been so fun! Finally Joy's feet are big enough to fit the shoes that my mom bought her (she has 3 more pairs but they are too big still). Brad laughed when I put shoes on her...since she can't walk yet. I have really enjoyed having a real live doll to dress up and with the spit up and diaper explosions I usually get a couple outfit changes! The next size up of clothes that we got from friends in Oregon (they gave us a whole suitcase of used baby girl clothes...AMAZING) has quite a few dresses, which has been fun to put Joy in.

This week both Brad and I have had colds, which has not been fun. Joy has been a really good baby and has slept between 5-7 hours every night and then goes back down in the morning after she eats. She has been wanting to nurse  A LOT, she must be growing so blogging, laundry, cooking have all been a bit hard to do. I don't think I will have a baby who I have to coax to eat (I guess I was like that as a baby and a kid).  I haven't really minded all the sitting on the couch to nurse, since I feel a little under the weather myself. Her evening fussy times are getting to be shorter and overall I feel very blessed with what a good baby we have. Going out in the evenings is still a bit tricky because she wants to nurse a lot in the evenings and screams if she can't be eating. We have had some very stressful car rides recently in the evenings where she is SCREAMING at the top of her lungs because she is hungry.

Ok got to go and stuff some cloth diapers while the babe is sleeping!