Flying to China

In only a couple more days our whole family, all five of us, will be flying on an airplane together to our new home in Shanghai, China. We have technically had about five to six years to prepare for this move, but had we believed this would truly come about at this time we would have spent more time preparing ourselves for this..studying language more often, teaching our kids more Chinese words, and even getting to know more Chinese people in our own hometown in Rochester. Though I am glad we had at least a year and a half of studies with a wonderful Chinese tutor in town and we are thankful for that.

What are some of the small bits of Chinese we can remember? We know how to greet people properly, how to order food or buy groceries, how to introduce our friends and family, and how to say the number of people who are in our family...which when translated to English is like saying how many mouths we have to feed. The classifier word Chinese uses for people in a family is the word "mouth," and it looks like a little box.

What are some of the things we will need to learn to do right away when we get there? One thing I can think of is to know how to order new water containers. Some of the things I can imagine we will be updating folks on is what we are feeding our kiddos. Or what our neighbors are like. We are hoping there are other families with kids for our kids to make friends with. What are some of the differences between Shanghai and Beijing, where Jeremy and I had lived before. We hope to encounter many good adventures and keep everyone updated. We will also try to remember to sign our posts since both Jeremy and I will be contributing to this blog.

~Lisa

Sayde turns 1 year old!

Sayde Grace turns one year old on August 1st, but we are celebrating her birthday early with cousin Harper before we leave for China. They are only eight days apart and it has been so sweet to see how much they love to see each other every week and play together :). Even at this age, it is clear how much they love each other.

Our little girl is so full of energy that we don't know how we will hold her on our laps the whole 18 hour plane ride ahead of us...She has been taking steps and walking the past month. She has been saying "hi" to everyone, in addition to "mama" and "dada." She feeds herself table food and will not let anyone feed her with a spoon. Her favorites are chicken, savory vegetables, meat and potatoes. She is one very independent little girl.

Today will be Harper and Sayde's last photo shoot together in the basket. We will miss you Harper - we love you a lot.  You have such a sweet, fun personality and I have so enjoyed watching you grow this past year. I will miss those "quiet times" at your house while your mama was at work...when I had just you and Sayde :). Sayde will miss you!

~Lisa

Departure

We leave for China in only a few more days. We are too busy meeting with friends and family, and packing to think about it all, but we're excited to have more of our dreams being fulfilled!

Something new is coming!

Many years ago I had a dream of bright orange carrots multiplying everywhere, taking over and filling up the sky. It wasn't a very good dream. I thought about applying it to our modern day excess of good things. When we have too much stuff it becomes clutter and takes over, so even a good thing can be bad if it doesn't have its proper place. Recently, we had to do a lot of decluttering. We came to the decision that we had to sell our house for the new adventures for our family that are coming up very soon...We had two weeks to declutter and get everything clean. Our house sold in 10 days at a good price. We were told that it might be fast! Here are some memories we have while living in the 1920's craftsman home we owned for two years.

Family Picture

Babies on the rug

Christmas 2013

Sayde in her high chair, 6 months

Our kids have been going through some adjustments. Sayde started crawling, sitting up and standing at 6 and 7 months and has been a very busy handful! There's been some potty accidents and emotional swings with the older two. Even at their age, this is a big deal for them. But we came to the conclusion that our family is home, not a building or house. And we are excited for what God has ahead for us. We are in the process of a relocation, and what's coming up next for our family is gonna be big!

Keeping it simple

As parents Jeremy and I have been noticing that our kids are motivated by the smallest things. We are realizing that positive motivation works much better than negative...the things they get to do rather than having an object taken away from them. They don't respond well to time outs. But they do respond to not getting "kettle bell swings" from Daddy. They never want to miss out on those - He takes them and swings them up into the air. Oh the bawling that takes place when one of them misses out on this fun after one is mean to the other or stole the other's toy. Or the smallest privilege of a quick trip to the store with Daddy to buy eggs and bananas. These are some of the most powerful motivators for our kids at this age. To miss out on the smallest outing or fun game is a tragedy. My kids are entertained by the smallest things. They are rarely bored. We are learning that we do not have to come up with super creative ways of discipline with our children. We are learning what truly motivates them.

There is one chore my kids are all too excited to take responsibility for...feeding Jasper. Those little feet come runnin' to Jasper's dog food bin in the kitchen at any mention of feeding him. If only they could get as excited about other chores like picking up their toys and messes!

As their momma I am learning that keeping things simple is best. The fancier, more interesting food dishes I come up with, after looking online and on pinterest, the less likely they are to eat it. What do my kids like to eat best? Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ants on a log, bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots, and apples. Simplicity goes beyond our food dishes. As a family we have decided that we cannot afford, money or time-wise, more than one kid activity or sport at a time. So I am not shuttling my kids constantly from one enrichment activity to the next. Right now Hudson and Annalise are in swimming lessons, and that is it. When these lessons are over, later this winter they may be in a nature class, or crossfit kids, but not all at the same time! Next summer I hope we can focus on riding bikes, once we get bikes for them.  Simplicity is best for our family :).

We are blessed

Hudson strums his small guitar and sings, "Jesus is taking my meanness away..." several times in his sweet, little boy voice. Such an innocent heart. This is the same little boy, who has once owned a pair of red overalls and can have a mop of blond hair when it's not trimmed (sound familiar?), who attempted to cut the electric cord of my computer plugged into the outlet with his preschool scissors. Who climbed over the fence, barely at the age of three, and rang the front doorbell when I was in the kitchen working (I can't keep my eye off him for a moment!). Who climbed on top of our dresser to get coins out of Daddy's bowl for his piggy bank. Who put baby Sayde's nose bulb into his own nose to try it out. Who sprayed the bathroom sink faucet all over, into the hallway in puddles...and is now potty trained! We are so proud of our son and we love his adventurous spirit. He will do great things in his life.

Annalise has also been so helpful with the other two. We often remind her to not be so bossy or to tattle on Hudson, but she is the one who alerted me to the danger before he could cut the computer cord. She is such a smart young lady and she says the neatest, funniest things.

I feel so blessed at this time. My closest friend right now is a 3 month old baby girl named Sayde. I am never lonely, and not only me but the whole family loves and adores her. I have so much to be thankful for. One is that I have a smart, wise husband who loves having babies with me and loves his own kids.

Annalise turns 5 years old!

Sayde's Birth

Sayde Grace
7 lbs. 3 oz.
21 3/4 in. long

   
     
     Sayde was five days overdue before labor began. An induction date had already been scheduled in advance for the next week, but I was praying that I wouldn't have to do that and that she would be a natural labor and birth process...and that is what happened! God answered our prayers.
     Five days after her due date, contractions started random over the whole day. That evening we called my in-laws, Jeremy's parents, just to let them know that something had started and that they could probably wait until morning to come into Rochester to be with our two kiddos, so we could go in to the hospital. Jeremy's dad hung up saying they would talk about it, but then called back shortly to say they were on the way that night...third babies can be much faster than the ones before. By midnight when they arrived and in a period of 20 minutes, the contractions suddenly became real labor contractions and were closer together than what was advised for me to come in for since I was attempting a vaginal birth after having had a cesearean with Hudson. We called into the hospital ahead of time and told them we were on our way.
     When we got there all the rooms were in use or in need of cleaning, so we were told to wait in the family waiting room until one was made available. No one else was in there at the time. The ending of the movie Dirty Dancing was playing on the TV and by the time that was over we were brought to a room. Jeremy was joking about how I still had to make him watch that movie sometime, but I wasn't paying much attention! Next I met my midwife who was on duty that night and liked her immediately. She was a positive person and confident not only in herself but also in my ability to give birth to a happy, healthy baby girl.
     Back in the birthing room, I was able to try all kinds of non-medicated pain management. I sat on an exercise ball, got into a big bathtub that was in the room, sniffed essential oils that helped with nausea, and learned how to breath and "sway" during the contraction while the midwife or nurse held me. These all helped alot! Standing up and walking around made a huge difference, though being up all night I was so tired. In previous births I had an epidural, pitocin, and all the major medical interventions. Sayde's birth was by far the more comfortable experience overall. The only thing I wish I had been more prepared for, what was the most uncomfortable and painful, was the breathing through contractions. When my mom had babies in the 70's she went to lamaze classes with my dad and learned all about how to breath during labor. Being an athlete of some sort and running marathons does not prepare a person for the type of breathing and strength needed to birth a baby! Thankfully my midwife could tell me how and I made it through that 3 1/2 hours.. the fastest labor ever for me.
     Around 5:00 am or later baby's heart rate began to show distress on the monitor, much like Hudson's had, and a group of OB doctors and residents came into the room. I knew from experience this was not good. I was told I would need to push baby out very quickly in order to avoid another c-section. That motivated me to push her out. The OB doctor saw her head descending and walked away saying, "she's gonna have a baby!"...A very pink, healthy and crying Sayde Grace was born at 5:25 am. I was able to hold her immediately while my midwife took care of other things. After I had delivered the placenta she showed me that along with the umbilical cord...there was some part of it that may have been wrapped around her after her water sac broke and causing the heart rate trouble. A similar thing had happened with Hudson. I am so thankful that my third baby was delivered by a midwife, a successful VBAC. This was not an easy birth, but with God He made it possible and involved the right people at the right time to help.
     We had Sayde's name picked out months in advance and after we saw her we knew that it was right for her.  It is an English name and more traditionally known as "Sadie." It has the same meaning as my sister Sarah's name, "Princess," and we came up with our own spelling of it because we thought it was prettier. She is our little lady. Since it was kind of a stressful birth it took a couple days before she began to latch on, nurse well, and sleep better for small stretches of time. She is now starting to fill out and gain weight, look around at our faces and listen to all the sounds in our household. It's a new experience to have a newborn in the home with two other loud/active children to entertain her. Hudson and Annalise love their baby sister. We're so proud of how gentle and loving they have been toward her.

Sayde and Harper - Baby cousins only one week apart in age!