Our boys’ new adventures

This is how the phone conversation went: “I pumped in the morning, in the afternoon, between meetings and between sleeps!”  as a colleague at work asked how I can exclusively breastfeed Benjamin and still do a day job?!

Having a great support network helps immensely (good helpers to wash endless dirty bottles, understanding colleagues to schedule meetings around pumping and my great husband who pats me on the shoulder whenever I am about to give up!), and the fact that my best friend (the Avent Manual Pump) during these breastfeeding months is the savior to continue the wish to breastfeed until Benjamin starts eating solid.

But breastfeeding is probably the HARDEST act/commitment in this whole baby business.  It does not matter how people convince you that the birthing bit is hard – not compared to having your breasts on loan for 6 months or longer.  The breasts (and your body) for that matter don’t belong to you.  They belonged to Benjamin which needs plenty of sucking (so engorgement / mastitis doesn’t take place), a lot of pumping (to ensure that the supply is there) and a new set of customized shirts (as nothing fits around the breast or the waist because you can’t be on a diet).   In fact, I walk around every day thinking how to produce more milk (alongside with building a Data Center as a work project!).  I take naps to produce more milk, I eat five times a day to produce more milk… everything revolves around making milk – a true cow.  I have never asked a cow, but I reckon it’s probably easier for a cow, because she doesn’t have a day-job!

And this is the reason why we are NOT having a third child.  I am just too old to go through another round of lending the breasts as if they were someone’s property.  Mind you, I know I am doing this totally out of my own will (for the sake of Benjamin’s health and his future IQ) but it does not make it a more pleasant experience.

The human mind tends to forget how hard things get in the first 9 months of a newborn baby!    So this blog is to remind me to read it when Benjamin turns two and I get clucky about having a third child!  DON’T DO IT!!!

In the meantime, I’m off for another pumping session before having some 4 hours sleep… at least Benjamin bubba is taking full benefits of the golden milk (at four months, he is now 90th percentile in weight at 7.4 kg and 75th percentile in height 66 cm!!!)  Even his pediatrician said “Wow, Benjamin you’ve grown in the last two months!!!”  And as a mom, that’s all it takes, even if it means being a cow…

Enjoy our photos from the hot summer here in Shanghai,

Our Boy’s album – August 2010

p.s. poh poh and gung gung were here for two weeks to meet Benjamin and hung out with Michael…  It was a lovely visit as Michael got to spend time with his great sixth aunt!

We returned to civilization somewhat exhausted since Ian and I cared for the boys exclusively for a WHOLE week!!!  But we had a great time.  Heaps of hiking and grass time.  It was fantastic.  But we probably won’t be returning there for awhile as the boys are just too little for strenuous hikes!

Benjamin turned 3 months while we were at the mountains.  His health check up at 2-months was all good.  75 percentile in terms of weight (6.1 kg) and height (61 cm).  Benjamin is taller than his brother Michael but a bit skinnier than Michael at the same age.  He is thriving well and we love spending time with the two of them.  Michael is also adapting to “big brother” status very well, with “big cuddle and kissy” as well as “I love Benjamin” every morning!

I return to work in about 3 weeks time and am still planning to be an exclusive COW for Benjamin.  Wish me luck to persist with Breastfeeding and more pumping until mid September!

Meanwhile, these are older photos, we’ll post the mountains ones shortly:

Our Boy’s album – June 2010

Love from Shanghai,

Ian, Stacey, Michael (who loves being the “diver man”) and Benjamin (who is holding up pretty strongly!)

p.s. we also had a great father’s day – happy father’s day to my dad, KK, Rod, Ian, and Gary (my brother who is spending his first father’s day as a father to our niece Hayley!)

This WIFI connection could go off anytime (literally)… so better keep it short and simple.  We have come to the mountains (Morganshan - 3 hours south west of Shanghai), an area which used to serve as summer retreats for westerners and missionaries back in the 30s!  There is no phone access and we have to walk up / down the hill for everything!  Even Driver Zhou, who took us here, was amazed that we could find this place (we’re staying at a retreat on the side of the mountain).

However life in the mountains is LOVELY - so nice that an expat wrote a book about it!  You can hear the birds chirping away and the roosters crowing at all hours.  Michael loves getting into everything and even hiked with us all the way up the mountain (but needed a piggy back on the way down!).  Benjamin is oblivious too all of this – his only reaction is that he finds it too “disturbing” to his rountines.  However all the boys slept well, so we can’t complain!

We also brought the whole house here – Ian and I had one travel bag and the boys had 7!!!

Gotta post this before the WIFI is gone.  Love from Moganshan at 5 am when the sun is up.

In our jobs, we are lucky that only one of us needs to travel for business at any given point in time.  And this time, it was Ian’s turn.  He had a trip set for India for 10 longs days and I thought with two helpers, surely I could manage the house and boys fine without the MOTH (man of the house!).  Needless to say, Benjamin doesn’t have a clue about dadanot being around as long as there was enough milk, sleep and play.  However, Michael and I took the bigger hit.  In general, Ian had always spent less time in quantity with Michael, but this week, Michael showed that the bond he had with dada is much deeper than quantity in time:

- when he was unwilling to go to bed and I was “forcing” him onto the little bed, Michael said “I want Dada to put me to bed!” (that’s because a much more patient dada usually will be willing to sing many songs and chat before a sleep comes!)

- we had a walk over the weekend and towards the end of the walk Michael was getting tired and wanted to be carried back.  With my substandard back, I couldn’t quite do the duties and Michael then asked “where is dada?” 

- today is day 8 and Michael got a cold (probably from the ever changing weather of Shanghai!) and was a bit cranky.  At bedtime, he said “I miss dada”…

Michael was always very close to us in very different ways (mommy knows everything and dada fixes everything!) but with Ian being gone for so long this time, it is incredibly interesting to observe how a little 2.5 year-old expresses his emotion and compassion for his father.

Well, we miss our dada and can’t wait until he is back.  Two more days to go.

Til then, photos and love from Shanghai,

Our Boy’s album – May 2010

p.s. we went to  today with Michael and Benjamin and Benjamin LOVED it!  I have never seen those eyes open so BIG and WIDE!!!  He must inherit the therapeutic (or should i say shopaholic!??) genes from his mom…more about why we were at the toy store in the next blog!

Meant to post this on MOTHER’S DAY!!!  For all moms out there…
MOTHER

Real Mothers don’t eat quiche;  they don’t have time to make it.
Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils are probably in the sandbox.
Real Mothers often have sticky floors,  filthy ovens and happy kids.
Real Mothers know that dried play dough doesn’t come out of carpets.
Real Mothers don’t want to know what the vacuum just sucked up.
Real Mothers sometimes ask ‘Why me?’ and get their answer when a little voice says, ‘Because I love you best.’
Real Mothers know that a child’s growth is not measured by height or years or grade…
             It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother…
     The Images of Mother
       4 YEARS OF AGE – My Mommy can do anything!
       8 YEARS OF AGE – My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!
     12 YEARS OF AGE – My Mother doesn’t really know quite everything.
     14 YEARS OF AGE – Naturally, Mother doesn’t know that, either.
     16 YEARS OF AGE – Mother? She’s hopelessly old-fashioned..
     18 YEARS OF AGE – That old woman? She’s way out of date!
     25 YEARS OF AGE – Well, she might know a little bit about it!
     35 YEARS OF AGE – Before we decide, let’s get Mom’s opinion.
     45 YEARS OF AGE – Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?
     65 YEARS OF AGE – Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

     The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs
     her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart,
     the place where love resides. The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but  true beauty in a woman is
     reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the
     beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Almost 3 years ago, Ian and I vowed to be hands-on parents and that our domestic helper would only “help” in taking care of Michael when we were at work.  We thought we would never have two helpers (like some friends/colleagues)… How WRONG were we!  When you have two kids, you really NEED an extra pair of hands OR TWO, especially when feeding the second one and: 

1.  the older one is cranky and chucking a ’leg-dance” tandrum; 

2. someone is required to supervise the bath for the older one, so that no flooding takes place;

3. someone is required to slow down that bike running a million miles ahead of you in the park to avoid any major accidents!

We have been lucky to have had wodnerful nanny / helpers in our life.  At the moment, our two helpers work beautifully to care for our two boys and I feel blessed and confident that our children are in good hands.  So this blog entry is dedicated to all our current / previous helpers as well as all the Ayis/ helpers in the world who make our lives more efficient and better quality.  Thank you. 

Enjoy our photos from the Spring which finally arrives in Shanghai:

Our Boy’s album – Spring 2010

Until next time, love from Shanghai – EXPO is starting in few days and we’re pretty excited to be part of it!

Ian, Stacey, Michael (who finally understands what it means to have to “share” his M&D) and Benjamin (who is a slow drinker like his mom when she was a baby!)

Throughout my pregnancy, there was not even one blog entry dedicated to Benjamin (alias Didi – which means little brother in Chinese).  Things just seemed so natural the second time, the vomiting, the backache, the feeling huge. This time around, there was simply no time to take a rest as I was always running after Michael and, unfortunately, I had very little Chinese “old fire” soup to nourish the baby or myself. Ian and I wondered throughout the pregnancy, “will we love our second child as much as our first one?”

We have asked many friends that have done it before.  All of them tell us that you will love both equally.  Some have said that you will have a preference over the first just because you’ve met him / her longer.  Some have said that you will enjoy the second one heaps more because you know what to expect.  Ian and I didn’t really know what to expect.

Benjamin then took his sweet time to arrive (waiting for his Nanna to reach Shanghai first!) and did he come out fast (re earlier blog!).  We were blessed with our second son, Benjamin on a Thursday night and we were home by Saturday (I hate the hospital for obvious reasons!).  Benjamin is a beautiful baby – we expected the worst from his older brother however Michael has been sweet and kind to baby Benjamin so far.  Just like any little baby who is only a few days old baby, Benjamin eats, sleeps and poops all day.  Because he is so tiny (Ian and I both forgot how tiny babies are!), your love for them tends to be so much more gentle. 

The love for Michael and Benjamin is, infact, rather different.  For Michael, his demands for attention make the love more focus and concentrated.  On the other hand, the love for Benjamin is very subtle.  Definitely with two kids, your love capacity doubles and there is no question about loving Benjamin less.  Although the second child will suffer from the obvious hand-me-downs for everything to a delay in sending photos/writing blogs, however the love from their parents is unique.

p.s. Picasa Goggle Photos are not working in China – so here are our photos and apology for the messiness!

This boy certainly knows how to make an entrance!!!
 
On Sunday, Stacey and I were blessed with … a false alarm.  Stacey ate a piece of chocolate cake at a friend’s birthday party which caused an upset stomach and then triggered real contractions.  Hospital seemed appropriate at that stage.  However, after much monitoring and a sleep deprived night in the hospital,  things settled.  Ian was sent back to work and, by Monday afternoon, Stacey was back at home.
 
Tuesday saw Stacey go to pre-natal yoga and Wednesday she even attended a work meeting.  However on Thursday, Stacey had some contractions over dinner.  We left home at ~8:30pm and, shortly after arriving at hospital, we were blessed with the arrival of Benjamin Roderick Lacy.  He arrived at 9:22pm in Parkway Health’s Birthing Centre in Shanghai after two short pushes by a very ready Mum.  At birth, he weighed in at 3.475kg and was 51cm long.  All were relieved he had finally decided to join the party.

Mother is very well after achieving her second all natural drug-free birth.  We are very grateful to Dr Michelle Lu Ferguson who assisted Stacey’s delivery of a healthy baby boy.
 
Michael was curious to visit Mummy in hospital and was keen to meet Benjamin after talking about him for months.  Benjamin was kind enough to bring Michael a welcome gift (a camera) so we think that their life-long relationship has gotten off to a great start.  Many thanks also to Nanna and Poppa who are here specially to play with Michael as he builds his friendship with Benjamin.  In fact, we think Benjamin waited for Nanna to arrive (she came to Shanghai on Wednesday night!).

Love from Shanghai,

Ian, Stacey, Michael and Benjamin

Finally the photos:

Our Boy’s album – March 2010

We thought that having the second baby come along would surely be the BIGGEST adjustment we’d need to make… however we are being tested even before second bubba comes to see if we can “take it all”!

Due to some visa issues, our lovely helper (Jenny) had to leave us and return to the Philippines.  As an overprotective mother and control-freak wife, I panicked.  What would happen to Michael, how will he adjust, do we go for Filipino / Chinese (fear of child abduction)?  But then, after a month of losing our helper, it dawned on me … it was me who had problems / issues with the adjustment (and still do!).  Of course, Ian being the ever wise and calm father & husband has been the pillar of strength to walk me through this month by teaching our new helper skills that she desperately needs (like what is a “sunny-side up egg”!?)

The fact that the new helper isn’t exactly as efficient or worldly as Jenny didn’t help either.  However what has been amazing is how well Michael has adjusted:

- we thought to put Michael for 5 mornings at Montessori starting Jan, so that it’d be less hectic when second bubba comes.  It proved timely and his chinese has been improving at an unbelievable speed (he is now singing mandarin nursery rhymes at bath time!)

- I (wanted to say “we” but…) thought Michael would have real issues with the new helper, but besides him taking advantage of her at times and pushing the limits (which he does to us at any rate), he is enjoying this new relationship!  English is a bit of an issue (the new filipino helper’s english isn’t great!), but he tends to just teach her the english when required!

At the end of the day, I take lots of comfort to know that Michael is okay even with this change and that he may possible be better equipped when second bubba comes.  Ian’s parents are coming soon (THANK god) and so they’ll be a great support to Michael and us.  I am about 7 weeks away from due date (and feeling it – waddling was never my favorite part!).  Michael has been sleeping relatively well in the “Big boy’s bed” despite wanting to come out when we put him down.  The next training will be to get him potty trained also, but I have learned to be “less aggressive” in mandating it!

Until next time, I have had no energy taking photos, but here is a couple of videos which I absolutely LOVE:

 http://picasaweb.google.com/staceylacy/MichaelSAlbumVideoClips 

Love from Shanghai – we’re entering into Chinese New Year soon and Michael loves saying “I am a “Lao Hu” – I am a Tiger!

What a holiday we had!  Michael has taken his first road trip driving from Sydney to Brisbane stopping at different beaches every day along the coast.  Due to the long drive, most days we made a stop at a McDonald’s where Michael was delighted in finding his “new playground”.  By the afternoon, we had reached the next town where a new beach awaited.  Whenever Michael got into the car, he’d say “I’m going to find a new playground and a new beach today!” and, of course, he did. After 5 days of travel, we travelled through the Blue Mountains, Port Stephens, Port Macquarie (my favorite) and Coffs Harbour (where the BIG banana was).  Thanks to Google Maps and its clever road-by-road directions guide, we finally reached Kingscliff where the Lacy clan vacationed by the beach for a week.  We celebrated Poppa’s 66th birthday and all the Lacys and Turners near and far were there.  Michael was just so excited to see his cousins, aunties, uncles and grandparents.  It was also where Michael’s exposure to sweets began (it was Christmas after all!!!):

- Michael is still not so sure about ice-cream as it was just too cold!
- frizzy drinks just hurt his little tongue and the face he’d make after a sip was hysterical!
- lollies looked a bit too strange and he didn’t quite want to touch them (yet)!
- chips and biscuits are just heavenly.  Michael shuffled as much of those chips/bikkies as he could at every occasion!
- the best highlight was probably the “melting moments”.  It looked harmless like a little mini-size puff pastry.  But boy does it melt.  After Auntie Tamara shared the ingredients (butter and sugar), it is no wonder why it was a hit!

Michael was also happily surprised by the amount of toys a little boy can receive in a short span!  We are not so sure how much he appreciates Santa but he sure can recognize who he is!

Just like any other visit to Brisbane, every day was colorful and eventful meeting up with Ian’s mates and friends.  To Michael, he loved visiting everyone’s home as there is again a new playground to be found (someone’s backyard)!  The quieter moments would be where he hung out with Nanna/Poppa’s new puppy Oscar who gave him many kisses and licks while he rode Ian’s childhood scooter.  Everyday was an adventure for our little yet quickly growing boy!

We then returned to Shanghai for a relatively quiet new year.  However 2010 has had a lot for us already!  Our lovely helper is leaving soon and we are scrambling to get a new one.  Plus our second baby is coming along at the end of March.  Second bubba is a little too small for his size and I am having tests again for gestational diabetes (sigh).   All seems a bit crazy at the moment but I hope that as the year progresses, we will get it sorted.  As Ian always says, as long as we’re together, we will find the right solution!

In the meantime, enjoy our photos from Christmas:

http://picasaweb.google.com/staceylacy/MichaelSAlbumMyAustraliaAdventures

Love from Shanghai,

Ian, Stacey, Michael (who loves to say “I don’t know” and “I don’t want it”!) and bubba at 29 weeks.

Over Christmas, I was lucky to have a week off hanging out with Michael and running a few errands (none completed, of course!)  This was our first Christmas in Shanghai and it felt nothing like it.  The shops were only moderately decorated and most people didn’t really talk about it (in fact, Christmas & Boxing Days are working days in China).  The only thing that resembled Christmas was the weather (at least for the norther hemisphere!)  It was cold (freezing)…  But like Ian said, Christmas is what we make of it as a family.  So Christmas turned out really cozy and warm!

On Christmas day, Michael didn’t really know what to do with all the presents.  Our tree is only half decorated (bottom half is bare since Michael just picked the ornaments off when they’re his reachable height!) and most of the gifts were wrapped in “toys r us” wrapping paper.  Michael was very facinated with our Christmas lights in the evening and we spotted a few other Christmas trees out of the windows of the neighbors!

Michael and I were busy during this week.  He is always onto something and his latest fascination is:

- climbing up and down the nursing chair

- learning to use his spoon & folk (still prefer the hands and fingers though)

- listening to the wiggles CD too many times (his mama doesn’t let  him watch the DVD too often, but listening to the music was alright…)

- walking and running and walking… (can’t do enough of it).

It is truly amazing to see the growth our little boy is going through.  Last week he was still having difficulty to learn how to use his “straw” cup and suddenly he just picked up the skill.  Ian and I look at Michael everyday wondering what happened to the little baby!

Although we were away from all the friends and family, Internet had made everything much closer.  So Michael did say “Merry Christmas” to both sets of his grandparents (although he thinks all of them are 2-dimensional, he keeps checking the back of the laptop screen for them!) plus all uncles & aunts.

As you may have noticed, the website address has also been changed to http://www.apprenticelacy.com  (We have got our own website!)  Also, some photos from our Christmas week:

Michael’s album – 14 months old

Meanwhile, love from Shanghai.

p.s. after a long week of running around, I am going back to work for a rest… cheers!

With Christmas and New year behind us, we begin to adapt to the life in Shanghai, with rountines and our favorite places / things to do (which keeps changing at this point).  Michael is also fully developed into a “toddler” (read: difficult with a mind of his own!)  Then, Dr. Karp came to the rescue once again.  Before Michael was born, a few friends introduced us to watch “The Happiest Baby On the Block” DVD and the concepts in the DVD were just so logical and simple.  We followed them quite literally and Michael was an easy baby.  Some of the things that were encouraged are:

1. Swaddling til 3 months

2. Side (put baby on the side and they’ll immediately calm).

3. Shushing (yep, loud shush to calm a crying baby!) In fact, white noise is highly encouraged (Michael had a radio that played static while he was asleep!)

4. Swinging (of course, this is when our Swing came into play for nap times!)

5. Sucking (I didn’t believe in it but Ian would have liked to let Michael have a dummy!)

Then, we came across his second book about the “The Happiest Toddler on the Block” and being the bookworm, I got reading about it right away!  Once again, he proves to be a “savior”!  Some concepts work like wonders:

- firstly, toddlers (from age of 1 – 4) are little cavemen (or cavewomen!).  Their brains are hardly developed and their right brains take over when they’re tired / unsettled / don’t get what they want!  When you think you’re reasoning with a “crying” toddler, they can hardly hear you! 

- fast food rule - when the little one is about to have a tantrum, you have to repeat the order, just like when you’re in a “Drive Through”, the waitress always repeats the order befor asking you to pay.  The little one needs to know that you have heard them and that you don’t launch into what he/she should do before he calms.  For example, when Michael wants to listen to his wiggles CD (for the tenth time at 6 p.m. at night), the first thing we want to do is to say no… but instead, we should say “Wiggles Wiggles, Michael wants Wiggles” (Simple and repetitive language – just repeat the order like it’d have been done at a “Drive Thru”).  Once he seems a little calm, you then explain that it’s almost bed time and wiggles need to sleep (and so does he)!  Of course, I don’t explain / write it as well as Dr. Karp, but this is the essence.  And it works wonders!

- other rules, such as positive “time in”, “feed the meter”, “patience practice” and the essential ” time out”. 

You’d have to read the book to really appreciate all the terms and concepts.  However, both Ian and I are having a lot of fun practicing with Michael (although not successful every time).  We are amazed every day of how quickly our little boy goes (and how badly he can behave), so we are just so glad Dr. Karp is once again working his magic!

Chinese New Year is coming up (Jan 27, 2009 is the day) and we are getting ready for our guests (Ian’s dad and a good friend of Ian’s)… we plan to do all the touristie things that even we haven’t done!

Until then, much love from Shanghai with photos (apology for the lack of it!)

Michael’s album – 15 months

Every parent in the world thinks their child is the smartest, most clever and most advanced, when they are compared to other children the same age.  We are no exception!  We were lucky to have had two great visitors (Michael’s Aussie Granddad and Ian’s university mate!) during the Chinese New Year (year of Ox this year) in the last couple weeks.  We couldn’t help but make our little “smartest boy” perform these tasks:

- show and point different parts of body

- words that Michael can say (like “fflloower”, “BAll”, “da”, “Mama”, “Pop”, “Mi (for Michael)”…etc.)

- what a good helper Michael is (putting toys away, feeding himself (when he feels like it!), and washing himself in the bath)

- what an athlete Michael is (kick a ball, throw a tennis ball, run (sort of) and climb up the couch (achieved mastery skills in the span of 2 weeks)

- what a cheerleader Michael can be when it comes to bowling (must watch the Video in the below link!)

- the list goes on…

But one day, I received an email (as I do every week) from BabyCenter (possibly the best baby advisory website) about the milestone of a 15-month old toddler.  According to the website, (this is when Ian would say “Stacey believes EVERYTHING she reads” which I sort of do!) I realized that Michael was “on track” with where he should be.  Of course, being the frenetic Mama that I am, I still “discovered” (or shall I say “justified”) many areas where Michael was more “advanced” at his age.  Then I realized that no matter what I read, Michael to me (and every child to their mom or dad) is the smartest, most clever and most advanced child I have seen.  Furthermore, it was even more important that he is healthy and happy with what he has everyday (too little time with his mom & dad, but plenty of great playing time w/ Nanny Jenny, and awesome weekends where Mom & Dad let him do EVERYTHING!)

For our clever child this month, check out the latest photo/video album:

Michael’s album – 15.5 months

Love from Shanghai – proudest parents of Michael.

P.s. Weather is finally warming a little – we got plenty of play time outdoor!

Ian always says “Home is where you make it.”  Although HK should be home for me, it feels less like it now that we are in Shanghai.  Michael is way past due his 12-month vaccination (he’s 16 months now) and his Mom is getting paranoid that he might contract some disease ”soon.”  So off we go on a one-week journey for all the errands in HK.  

Before the trip, we had do a bit of preparation: 

1.  Michael had to learn all the familiar faces (esp. Poh Poh, Gung Gung, Aunties & Uncles)

2.  Michael’s packing (which occupied at least 50% of Mom’s suitcase!)

3.  Michael’s food (which was pre-ordered for grocery shopping from the best Auntie Sam) and then later prepared by nanny Jenny who came with us.

When we were there, it was meeting one friend after the other.  What you notice is how fast time goes when you have a child.  The kids (Michael’s friends) just grew so fast.  They were last crawling everywhere in Bali and now it was all walking and doing mis-chiefs!  Isabelle (Mama’s good friends’ daughter) is now 3 and can really boss around Michael (which we delightedly predicted when Michael was a baby).  It was just so sweet to see all these kids grow and blossom into little beings!

Of course Michael missed his Dada alot.  When he came out of bath, he would say “Da” to try to find his Dad and in the morning, he pointed to the PC (Sam’s mac) where his Dad skyped him the night before.  Funny how a 16-month old can remember so much (and yet we all know that they actually don’t remember very much till 6).

We had loads of fun with Michael’s Poh Poh and Gung Gung too… I don’t remember spending so much “free” time with my parents!  Must be the effect of “grandchildren!!”

After we got back, I got seriously punished with too much travelling (for work) and getting sick!  Although we had  a great time in HK, nothing is better than your own home and bed!

Some photos upload on facebook (will be sending more when I have time!)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81569&id=625711049&l=b2953

With love from Shanghai, till next time.

It’s almost official – well until we pay and Ian approves the school… Michael will be enrolled to the pre-nursery at end August (he’ll be 22 months by then) for 3 mornings a week.  It’s a Montessori school and we’re really excited (and anxious)…  With the downturn of economy, Michael has conveniently obtained a place to attend the school quite quickly (normally the “waiting list” is long and takes a couple of semesters!).  We are off to a second site visit (this time w/ the boss who’s got the checkbook!) and Michael should be set!

We forgot also to mention in his last pediatrician’s visit, Michael is now 80 cm tall and 11.4 kg (or 25 pounds!) and he is growing a lot every day (7 teeth on top and 8 at the bottom!)!  We are very much enjoying his newly learned skills (be it eating more independently or doing his puzzles by himself!) and it is such a joy to be around Michael.  Just wish there are more weekends and fewer weekdays.

Michael’s album – 17 months

Until next time, much love from Shanghai.

Michael finally understands what his name is when we ask him… and it’s “MUG.”  Yep, not Mike (which is so NOT allowed), not Michael (his legal and real name), but MUG… so he goes around looking at his own photos, saying “MUG” “MUG”…. almost like the McMug from HK!

Love from Shanghai, until next time!

During the “Ching Ming” festival long weekend, we didn’t manage to go to Hangzhou (where the west lake is the most famous lake in China) as planned.   So I was “determined” to still do things touristy and green while being in Shanghai.  Here was our itinerary:

“Yu Garden” – as the name suggests, it should be a garden.  That was what we expected until we saw a million people in a “market” – it was more like the “ladies market”!  You could have imagined how “bored” Michael looked sitting in his stroller!

“Gu Cheng Park” – after being pretty disappointed, we walked to another nearby park and again there was another million people at the park (there are ~20 million people living in Shanghai).  However, in this park, every patch of grass was pristine and beautifully manicured.  Naturally we wanted to explore the grassed part of the park.  However we were a little suspicious as nobody was walking or sitting on the grass.  So we checked all the signs for whether we were allowed on the grass.  Since all the signs were in strange Chinese quotes (like “the grass doesn’t have feelings but you do so please cherish it”), we let Michael go rolling around the grass.  Suddenly an uniformed officer blew his whistle to tell us to get off!  We ran fast before we got caught and possibly put into the Chinese Jail!

“Century Park” – after the diasterous experience the previous day, we (rather I) had to re-correct the image of Shanghai and decided to stay on the Pudong side (which is supposed to be the “quieter” side of the river) and go to a park that costs money.  At Century Park, we saw the third million people.  Since you pay to get into this park, you are allowed to walk on a little bit of the grass.  However, at the grassy patch, there were “tents” (yes real camping tents) spread around doing “picnics”.  It was madness.  Ian frowned the whole morning, while Michael just cruised along wondering how come his world was suddenly so populated!  Ian even commented that we could have done our picnic at the backyard of our apartment complex! (and annoyingly he was right!)

So the lessons we learned were as follows:

- no visiting parks on the weekends (especially long weekends!)

- China is the most populated country in the world.  It is unlikely we can find a place that is not heavily populated (so manage your expectations!)

- Michael as a toddler just doesn’t care where he is, as long as his mama and dada are around!

Michael’s Album – 17.5 months

Until next time, love from Shanghai,

Ian, Stacey & Michael (who answers “Noooo” when we asked if he is a baby!)

Well … times were desperate.  Auntie Karen was coming in a week’s time and she really hadn’t been a fan of us messing around Michael’s hair (Karen scolds us regularly about the two minor disasters we have had!).  In addition, Poh Poh and Gung Gung were due in a couple of weeks.  Then the news that even Poppa and Nanna might be around in June made Ian and me think again about actually PAYING someone to cut Michael’s hair.

Ian’s hairdresser, James (from Guangzhou but in a “HK branded” hairsalon in Shanghai!) has officially become the “family” hairdresser.  Out of desperation, I went to him for my own haircut as I couldn’t find one that I liked.  Ian goes to James regularly and when his haircut was finished on the latest occasion, we then put Michael on the butcher’s table!

Little Michael was a little skeptical at first.  Not helped by the fact that everyone in the salon was hovering over him with some pink overcoat!  Then Michael literally sat through his haircut quietly and obediently!!!  No sign of a tear or a fight with the overcoat as expected.  He just sat through it!  Of course, Mom and Dad were full of entertainment playing him plenty of videos from the camera (of Michael himself!).  Although the haircut only lasted 15 minutes, it was definitely the longest haircut James had been involved with (Michael was also his youngest client!).  We were so PROUD of a little munchkin who came out exactly like his father (since now even their haircut’s are the same!).  How much more can one look like another being!

By the way – we did pay a FORTUNE for the 15-minutes.  However both Ian and I realize that even if someone pays us that amount, we wouldn’t have done as good a job as James!  So thank you, James.

Pictures for your amusement as our boy turns 18 months:

Michael’s Album – 18 months young

 
     Til next time, love and have a happy Spring from Shanghai.

When we were first taken to tour around our apartment complex, it was pointed out that there was a “wave pool” and a “man-made beach”.  We thought nothing of it, as it wasn’t on Ian’s multi-criteria analysis (the criterion for us were things that are WAY more practical, such as, distance to work, kitchen facilities, location, etc).  Our first six months in Shanghai have passed rather blissfully … a relatively mild winter followed by a pleasant spring.

Frankly the idea of hitting a man-made beach was a little strange for us ”pro-nature” types.  However, with some suspicion, we went down to the beach with Michael a couple of weeks ago.  Boy, were we in for a  surprise!

Firstly, the beach was packed!  Interestingly enough, we live in a country with supposedly 1 billion Chinese, but the beach was filled with all westerners (baking themselves)!  Apparently, the Chinese who do live in our complex laugh at us from their apartment about these “aliens” burning themselves in the stifling heat!  But the truth comes when you look at the kids on the beach - they were having so much fun!  Little ones like Michael just loved the freezing kiddie pool and the bigger kids just have a ball riding the “so-called” waves.  The adults are all chilled, either having a beer or checking out the neighbors whom we didn’t know had been quite so gorgeous!

As for our Michael, he just had a ball!  Although the weather on that day was in the high 20s, the water was still freezing.  Michael kept giggling in his dada’s arms in the freezing water and Ian literally had to drag him out because Michael was turning blue!  After our fun afternoon (yep, we hung out there for the entire afternoon), we realized that Michael’s knowledge of a beach is one that is surrounded by 50-storey tall buildings!  Gosh, we can’t wait until he sees real waves and a real beach in Australia!!!

Until next time, we just had poh poh and gung gung for two weeks and they had a great great time!!!

Love from Shanghai and enjoy our photos at the beach and with Michael’s gung gung and poh poh.

Michael’s album – 19 months old

Having lived in mainland China for some 8 months, it was time for us as a family to explore our nearby travel options.  Therefor we chose to travel to Beijing.  The first time I visited Beijing was 16 years ago and that was also the first time that I was really proud to be Chinese.  Visiting Beijing again gives me a lot of pride.  Also I felt I was actually showing Ian my history/country (which he has been doing of Australia for years)!!!

Although we were only there for four days and had only visited a few places (Bird’s Nest Stadium, Water-cube, Forbidden city, Tianamen Square and the Great Wall), we had an incredible time.  We also had glorious weather the whole time (what was all the fuss about Beijing Pollution!?  It’s sooo much worse in Shanghai!).  Money must have solved some of those pollution problems!

Michael just had the best time – he LOVED the GREAT WALL!  We went to the part of Mutianyu (there are several parts of the Great Wall which are opened for tourism.  I went to the Badaling part in my first visit however, I have to say that, Mutianyu is MUCH better)!  We went really early in the morning and pulled out all the tricks in the 1.5 hour car ride with Michael!  Books, toys, songs, camera (with video of Michael)…and books again!  Michael finally lost it just as we approached the Wall.  Then it was uphill from there. 

We took the cable car (which Michael was scared – and is still saying “skard” when he sees the cable car brochure) and he attempted to walk most of the Wall that we did.  The weather was beautiful and it wasn’t crowded (until we were on our way leaving the Wall).  Then we topped it off by going to a local “western” cafe which had a terrace – it was set in a school house (and hence its name).  It was perfect. 

After returning to the Beijing city, we took an adventure and took the subway to the Olympic Stadiums.  They were magnificent.  Michael couldn’t care less about where he was – but he was excited about the HUGE square and proceeded to run everywhere.  Needless to say, he had a great sleep that night – Beijing definitely worked those little legs!

In this holiday, it made very clear a few things about a toddler:

- doesn’t matter where you go, as long as Mama and Dada are around

- doesn’t matter what you do, as long as there is a big area to run around

- doesn’t matter how much you plan, as long as you sort of follow some routine and don’t be overly-aggressive in the planning.

All in all, we had a wonderful time.  Can’t wait for the next holidays!  Until then, enjoy our photos and love from Shanghai.

Michael’s Album – Beijing, China

I had been away for business and after I returned, there was a very strong feeling that my son has suddenly grown up on me! Today, he proved it by having an actual phone conversation with me at lunch time…

Mama: are you going to sleep (nap) now?
Mug: ..es (Yes)
Mama: have you been a good boy this morning?
Mug: ..es (another yes)
Mama: did you miss mama?
Mug: Saad (sad)
Mama: ok, bye bye now
Mug: bye bye… then a blow kiss (umh ah!)
Mama: I love you!
Mug: ruv ya! (love you…)

It’s amazing how fast our son has grown in a matter of days…

Until my blog on BJ is ready, love from shanghai.

Our little baby turned 21 months and Michael is only one month away from his first school day.  It is pretty scary that our once little tiny (3.88 kg) newborn baby is now a yabbering little kid, who is way smarter than we ever imagined.

We mortal adults really ought to give our children more credit than they deserve.  Although their speech capabilities are still developing, the amount of understanding through their observations is just incredible, examples like the below just blow our minds away:

1.  Michael can help sing the national australian anthem

2.  Michael carries a proper phone conversation with me while I am on business trip (sharing with me about his day and what he ate for dinner!)

 3.  One morning, I found him climbing onto the top bunk bed by himself!!!  (gave me a real fright and Ian was secretly proud of Michale’s achievement!)

 For our not-so-latest photos:

Michael’s album – 20 months old

With love from Shanghai and until next time.

D-day had come.  Michael was finally due for school (well – pre-nursery and 2 mornings a week!).  But we (maybe more Mama than Dada) were anxious in terms of preparation.  There were several phone calls made to school prior to the “orientation day”, but all we got as answers were  ” oh, just pop in on orientation day and you’ll find out”… Grrr, not exactly what a type-A parents need to hear!

On the day of “orientation day”, both Ian and I were there and Michael was as BRAVE as ever although he did some funny things:

- held on to my hand’s really really tight!

- didn’t know what to do with all the new toys!

- all the teachers (and the main teacher has same name as Michael’s nanny – Jenny!) were a little overwhelming – in the world of China, they were able to afford 3 teachers (2 females and 1 male) and 1 ayi (helper).

- didn’t quite understand the mandarin that was being spoken, so lots of translation from us!

Although I was there with Michael the whole time during the Orientation Day, we were pretty confident to let him go to school by himself the following Monday.  And so we did!  Oh, it was hard to see our little boy grow so quickly, but when he was at school this morning, it clearly showed that he was “almost” ready for school:

- no tears when we dropped him off

- frowned upon other children who were taking turns to cry!  (There were a set of twins as young as 16 months!! I can’t imagine Michael going to school so young!)

- only wanted to find his mama around 11ish (school ended at 12:20 p.m.) and Michael was relieved when he finally saw me!  I could still see the tears around his eyes (how heart-breaking!)

- I asked him if he liked school and he said “es…”.  I also asked if he wanted to come back to school again tomorrow and the answer was also “es…”!

All in all it was a success!  We are so proud of our little boy… enjoy the photos:

Michael’s Album – 22 months old

Love from Shanghai until next time…  we’re eagerly waiting to attend Uncle Gary and Leona tse tse’s wedding party soon in Hong Kong.

When life is sort of returning to normality (Michael is enjoying Shanghai and the new school, Ian’s and my work are going well), we have decided that it is about time to rock things a bit (again!).

Michael is going to be an older brother (“ge ge”) and the new bub is expected to come end of March 2010.  We don’t know the gender of the baby yet (and Ian says he’d like it as a surprise this time – we’ll see how long that lasts!).  Michael has no idea what is going on but we are pretty excited!  We just don’t know how to handle two children at the same time!!!

Michael’s Adventures blog will now be slowly transitioned into a “Lacy’s family blog” as we continue to share our life journey with our friends and family around the world!

Until next time, love from Shanghai.

P.S. Uncle Gary is getting married in HK next weekend and the Shanghai Lacy Clan will be crashing their wedding party!  Looking forward to it and there should be more photos then!

Life as a two-year old can be testing … between a new school and his busy parents, Michael has then been dragged to two plane trips in the last ten days.   Uncle Gary’s wedding in Hong Kong was wonderful – there were so many people to meet and it was always nice to see familiar faces like Gung gung, Poh poh and yes Winnie the Pooh (which was Gary’s and he brought it to his wedding!!!).  Michael kept saying “Gong Xi Ni!” (which means congratulations in Mandarin)  to Uncle Gary and his new Auntie Leona!  The new couple were beautiful and we were just so surprised that they look so alike in the photos! 

 The 4 day weekend was packed with seeing many kids (9 kids in total) and of course we got to have a bit of social life also (much needed for Stacey!).  Hong Kong was the same - pollution, crowed streets EVERYWHERE, fantastic shopping and our beloved friends and family.  It was Ian’s first time back to HK since we left there a year ago and we just couldn’t believe how the year had slipped by so quickly!

Then a week later, it was onto a holiday that Ian and Stacey much much needed – two weeks by the beach in Phuket, Thailand.  It was LONG to get here from Shanghai (total of 7 hours) and we were all exhausted when we got there, but the sound of the Andamen Sea was ever soothing and calming that we felt instantly more relaxed.  We are a few days into our holiday and Michael just loves it!  He finally got to enjoy a real beach (unlike the man-made one in our Shanghai apt complex!) and to him, it’s heaven on earth.  In Phuket, Michael’s daily schedule is: wake up, eat breakfast, hang out on the beach, have lunch, nap, then afternoon adventure, followed by the routine dinner & night time rituals.  Our little boy is very privileged and we are hoping that he grows up cherishing the fun time he had with us. 

We will keep blogging more now that I have more time and all the sites are uncensored…  Until next time, Enjoy our photos and much love from Phuket, Thailand.

Michael’s album – almost 2…

Michael’s Album – 23 Months young

When you google “terrible 2” there is approximately 5.5 MM search results that come back to explain (and advise) what to do when your child enters 2 and become this rather erratic person.  It is as if you have never known him!  Our angel (before this week) Michael is about to be two (in 4 days to be exact) and we (well more Mama’s wishful thinking and praying!) thought he would go through the age of 2 with smooth sailing.  Not so EASY! 

When Michael returned to school this week after a well-rested holiday, it was reported that he bit his classmate… leaving a noticeable red mark.  Of course every one (the teachers, the little girl and her mom) was quite upset and I had to even ring her mom to apologize. (I still feel bad now!).  Interestingly that evening, after a stern talking by Ian, Michael seemed to understand his actions ( and the implications) and consequently was a happy-obedient little boy the next day at school.

However it only lasted one day!  The day after, he bit two girls in his class again!  Now I am honestly desperate with these questions in mind:

- What if the school expels him?! – this is entirely possible given what I read on the internet and given Michael’s got a german principal at his school!

- What is happening to our angel?!  Is he frustrated about (my pregnancy?!)?!

- Will this pass???

The google search on “how to stop a toddler’s biting” suggests that you bite them back… surely there is a more humane way before we resort to that?!  Also we have already set up a “time-out corner” and Michael knows that when he is in trouble, he must stand in the time-out corner …in fact, after being naughty, he says “stand in corner”… (we have to keep a straight face from not laughing!)

Both Ian and I are at a loss and the google search (plus a Shanghai mama’s advice) says that something must be bothering Michael…  The only thing we can think about (well I couldn’t quite think; it was rather suggested by Ian) is that maybe Michael missed hanging out with us – but that shouldn’t entitle him to bite children, right?  All that babyplus system training was supposed to make Michael a “perfect” child – well I guess they can only guarantee leading up to two years old!

Help is needed and any advice will be appreciated!

Other than that, we had a wonderful wonderful holiday (could do it for 2 years, rather than just 2 weeks) in Thailand.  Now counting down to the next holiday!  Baby is doing well and we got a 4D photo of the new bubba.

Love from Shanghai.

p.s.  We’ll write another time for Michael’s two-year-old birthday!  For one, he got loads of gifts!!!  Thank you everyone for your gifts and well wishes!!!

Michael had his first parent’s meeting at school at the mere age of 2!  Firstly, the school was definitely not designed for working moms (and dads for that matter)!  They smacked us in the middle of a morning and there was no possibility that Ian or I could make it.  So we had to change it to the last appointment.   So the 3 teachers were really tired by the time they greeted us…

The meeting quickly began by presenting Michael”s scorecard… it has categories such as:

- Social Develpment (do they shares toys, any respect for children, do they follow instructions)

- Care of environment (do they clean up and “respect” for toys, do they have table manners)

- Language Development

- Working time (can they work alone and with others?!)

and mostly Michael was ranked as “developing” as opposed to “Not Shown”, “Established” or “Advanced”… in general the comments from teacher Jenny was as follows:

- Michael’s biting episode was probably prompted by the other child and as long as they’re separated, no such incidence has occurred (what a relief for us!)

- Michael is an independent boy and he is good at sharing his toys (in general)

- Michael is very good in English (got really good esp after learning from the other children) but his Chinese is practically non-existent! (see i am not only bad at teaching Ian Chinese… it’s the same for Michael – must find a better way!)

All in all, he is developing well and is truly enjoying school… when I walked out, I was so impressed with how organized the school… and of course Ian being the ever logical mind simply replied, “you get what you paid for.”

Photos posting has been made really difficult since Google Photos are also blocked in China!  Sadly to say, after a year living in this confined freedom, we’re getting used to the lack of it.  Enjoy our photos and until we write in Australia during our holidays!!!

Michael’s album – Autumn in Shanghai

Michael’s album – he is TWO!!!

Love from Shanghai,

p.s. We have had two weeks of Gung Gung and Poh Poh’s spoiling for Michael and it was nice to get some grandparents time.  Next will be X’mas holiday for Nanna and Poppa by the beach… we CAN’T wait!

Every year, we try to make sure we’re considerate of the environment and hene comes an e-version of our Christmas Greetings!  Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas and the best new year to come:

Much love from Australia, where we’re having a wonderfully warm Christmas!

Ian, Stacey, Michael (at 2 who is hoping to see Santa Claus) and the bump at 6.5 months-baked