Beijing and home again

As most of you know, we've spent a considerable amount of time in Beijing over the past month. We went to seek medical care for James and the situation ended up being a bit more severe than we thought. He required a surgery and had more restrictions post-surgery than we expected, so we decided to stay in Beijing until his follow-up appointment so that we didn't have to make another trip home, then back, with the two girls.

I have mixed feelings about Beijing. I love that you can have anything you want delivered to your door. I love that we don't get stared at or bombarded with questions every time we leave our house. I don't like that you can't see the sky or the buildings 300 meters away. I don't like how big it is, how long it takes to get anywhere, and how less convenient it seems than our city.
I didn't take a single photo while we were there. Not one. Why? First reason: my cell phone bit the dust back in December. I was using a friend's old phone until than one, too, bit the dust sometime in January. I was then using a really old phone until the part to fix my original phone could be purchased in America and brought back to us by a friend.

Here's a rabbit I'd like to chase for a moment that doesn't exactly fit with this post, but I'd like to vent anyway: The friend brought the part back we needed. Our repair guy couldn't find it in China since the phone was bought in America. The part (the LCD screen) was only $15. When our friend brought it back I took the part and the phone to the repair guy. It cost about $8 to repair and one day's time and I was back in the world of communication where I had access to my wechat, my contacts, my Chinese dictionary and all the things I had missed for almost 3 months. I was so excited and so proud that we got it all back up and running for so little.

And then do you know what happened?  I left my phone on the train yesterday morning. Seriously. I wanted to cry. We knew the train was going on to another station so there was no use going back to the station. We had tried to call hoping a kind person found it, but to no avail. I was extra frustrated because I had been taking care of all of us for almost a month. Everyone was staying fed. No one was getting lost. Our stuff wasn't getting lost. I was exhausted, but I was managing what I always do plus most of what James usually does. Then, in the very last moments as we are pulling into our home when his duties will begin to return to him, I lost my phone. GRRRRRRRR

Thankfully, when I had taken my phone to the repair place, I had a taken a friend's old phone he was getting repaired as well. I'm currently using that phone until we can get me a new one, which would make it the 5th phone I've used since mine died. :(  My point in relation to this post, is that I was using a phone so old that I wasn't sure how to get any pictures off that I took.

Second reason for no pictures: My hands were busy doing too many other things. James was in tremendous pain so I had to (attempt to) pack in such a way that I could carry everything we packed, plus Ann. No room for the big camera. Then, I was flying solo on most parenting duties for the time we where there. That included wrangling children, a diaper bag, medical records, and anything else we were carrying which didn't leave any hands for holding a camera.

After James follow up appointment, we had a flight booked for Wed night to get back to our city to host some visitors who would be town on Thursday and Friday. Just as we were preparing to leave the apartment, the airline called to say our flight was cancelled. So, we left Thursday morning to meet guests also arriving Thursday morning. James had important meetings all day Thursday and Friday, then we spent the weekend recovering.


We had to go back to Beijing for the stent removal on Wednesday. This time, we had someone watch the girls at our house. James and I took the night train Tuesday night, he had the procedure at the hospital on Wednesday and we took the Wednesday night train back to our city that night.


Now we're home and kidney stone free just in time to make our next required exit/re-entry for our visa next week.

When we were in Beijing, it was some of the worst pollution of the year. James managed to snap this picture during our first visit:

 

And this picture below of the same location on our second. 

For more pictures of the smog across China, see the following link:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2014/feb/25/air-pollution-in-china-in-pictures

Ann's first birthday

For some reason, this post has just not wanted to be published. First it was an issue with uploading the photos, then I lost a draft somewhere, then the kidney stones happened. Anyway, here is Ann's first birthday in review:


My goal for Ann's birthday was to have her baby book finished. I almost made it. I didn't consider how Chinese New Year would affect the photo printing shops to be closed. All the writing in the book is complete, the pictures are chosen, and all that I already had printed are in. The rest are on the flash drive ready to be printed and inserted.

 

Some of our closest local friends also have two kids. Their daughter's birthday is on Feb 9th, their son on Jan 20th, and Ann's was on Feb 3rd. We decided to celebrate together a few days before Ann's actual birthday.

The birthday meal: quail eggs, eggs and tomatoes, leeks and lamb, greens and mushrooms, shredded potatoes, broccoli, and sausage. The other mom prepared the meal, I prepared the cakes.

The cakes: the 4 year old decorated her own and the one year old's have their name. The one on the right is the boy's name in the local minority language.

 

The four year old birthday girl changed into this outfit because she wanted to match Catherine, who also has a pink fluffy coat.

The paternal grandpa with Ann.

The birthday boy

The big birthday girl and her mom

 Ann trying her cake

Catherine and friend saying good-bye until next time. Sweet, isn't it?

 On the day after her birthday, which was still her birthday in the States, we had a small "party" via skype so the grandparents could see her.

 

Opening her presents

  

from Uncle Lee and Aunt Traci

from Grandma and Granpa

The red chair was from us. Catherine had one and both girls love it so we got Ann her very own.

As closely as we could figure it will all time zone considerations, this picture is taken as Ann completely one year of life and moved into her second. Don't worry, I moved her arm after we took the picture.

Ann is a sweet, smiling, happy girl. She likes to snuggle and give kisses, but also likes to wrestle with her sister. Somehow, I don't think I got a single picture of her great smile the whole day. We'll try to improve our photography before next year!