Holiday Travel

Well, the roads here won't be packed like in America, but we will still be on them. The car is rented and half full. We will pick Sophia up from school early and head out. We borrowed car seats from a Dutch family and are really blessed by the provision. The road should not be too difficult though it is through some mountains, it is usually gorgeous! As long as there is no road work going on it should take us about 4-5 hours.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We love you!

Christmas decorating....

It is early, I know. BEFORE Thanksgiving? Well, since we are traveling for Thanksgiving and Advent starts this weekend, we had to get everything out and up to be ready to start our walk down the road to CHRISTmas. Over the years we have really thought through how to redeem all traditions and have them point us to the reason for CHRISTmas. We are staying simple and hope to show to our children the joy of giving sacrificially and receiving with thankfulness.


sorting through the ornaments. We bought these in Bangkok, and each one is some symbol that has to do with Jesus.


Bella sorted too.







Bella took off more ornaments than she put on.






I almost opted out of stockings, but last year asked for some. We will stuff them for each other on Christmas day (the joy of giving and receiving), but every week up until then I think we may use them like 'Christmas Jars' where you put all spare change (and more) and then give to someone in need that week. (still thinking through how that will work). If you are having trouble with the math on the stockings, we have on for Abby and the little one for baby (boy?) Coker.


Our advent Calendar, here Sophia had decided to put some of the characters on herself, I love how one of the wise men is holding a sheep. This is the center of our celebration: the Advent of the Coming One.

"nap" time shenanigans

Bella pretty much has dropped her morning nap, but I still give her crib time, usually with no toys and she will lie there and rest or talk or play by herself. Eventually I will give her some toys and 'things to do' during this down time. For the moment she comes up with some good stuff to do on her own:

She could reach and open this drawer and started to dig in.


She pulled a lot of Sophia's clothes out and put them in her crib with her.

Actually, Sophia is seeming to not nap well in the afternoon anymore as well. It seems this nap may be going too, ut oh. She takes a good afternoon nap about every fourth day or so.

Pregnancy update: 18.5 weeks

We knew we wanted to get a check up locally and not wait another month before checking on the baby. We also knew that almost every foreigner we knew that had tried to find out the gender had been unsuccessful. Local folks kept telling us they thought they would tell us with no problem, but that wasn't what history was saying. Knowing that our neighbor was able to find out the gender of her baby, I decided to have a chat with her. I asked her if she knew the person doing the ultrasound, she said a little, but she said the best thing to do was not to ask directly. Ask in a round about way...don't just say: is it a boy or a girl? And this was what we tried.

As a little back ground, living where we do, with the past two pregnancies I have not had tons of prenatal care. Not nearly as much as one would have in America.
And I am much more used to Asian prenatal care than the American way. The only time I had any sort of care in the States was for this baby right before we left. I remember calling the office for an appointment, knowing I was pregnant:
'has your pregnancy been confirmed in an office?
'uh, no.'
'you need to come get it confirmed and then we can see you for your first appointment.'
'you mean I need to come in, pee in a cup, and then turn around and come back? That seems like a real hassle can I do this all at one time?' (I think I was about 9 weeks at the time)
'hmm...well.....let me see....pause.......okay, but it won't be with a doctor.'
I really didn't care, I had already seen the nurse practitioner, but they set me up with a mid-wife, and I was just as pleased. The other problem was that I only wanted to be seen once or twice since we were leaving for China. That posed a serious problem for the lady on the phone. Since everything is a 'package' deal when dealing with prenatal, labor, and delivery, she didn't know what to tell me in regards to insurance, etc. But trusting it would all get worked out, I made the appointments and was very happy with the mid-wife, and her expertise.

That has been my only experience with American pre-natal care. Now, back to Asia, where I know what to expect. Lots of people around, no men allowed. We avoided the main hospital, because it is overcrowded all the time, and filthy. We went to a women and children's hospital. The women there remembered me and said, didn't you have a baby not that long ago? Yes, that is me. Here I am again. I told them I just wanted an ultrasound and that I would get my thorough exam in Thailand in a few weeks time.

As I went into the ultrasound room I asked if David could come in, knowing this is a big no-no. No, definitely not, was the reply. I looked at the other lady, 'please???' and I played the foreigner card (no shame, I know). They said okay. Then she started showing David the baby: and the head, and spine, and hands and feet, and on and on. She asked about my previous pregnancies. "your oldest, a girl or boy?" Girl. "your second?" Girl. And then David piped in, in an attempt at being indirect: 'and now?' he asked.

"It seems like a boy." She replied nonchalantly and then kept on going, not showing him why she thought that or anything. I, of course, wanted the, 'see, this is how we know it is a boy.' But I also knew that was asking way too much. But I did tell David to try to ask again in some other way. Right before she was done, he said: 'so our daughters are going to have a little brother?'
To which she said: 'yes, yes.'
And that was it. There you have it. We 'seem' to be expecting a baby boy Coker!!!! We are very excited. Everything else looked good, measuring right where I am supposed to be.

Camp Counselor

Our girls have been in the same room for a while. But as Bella gets more and more talkative this makes for more interesting evenings. It is like she is so wired at 8 p.m. and she knows she has a captive audience in Sophia. After about the fourth time going in their room, David came out and said: 'I feel like a camp counselor.' The hard part is is that Bella is so funny at this time. David will say: 'don't talk' and she will say: 'bye.' Or she will yell at Sophia : 'Fia, Fia,' or when I tell her to lie down she will do so singing 'e i e i o.' She also has no fear and has yet to learn fear of authority either, which makes discipline at this stage a struggle. I think she might be one to climb out of her crib, which Sophia never would have thought of. We will see what this little girl comes up with next. Oh yes, I did forget to mention that she dropped a pair of her socks in the toilet, not a clean toilet either....her shenanigans never cease to amaze us. What will baby Coker three be like?

Bella daily brings us shoes or clothes and 'asks' us to put them on her. This jacket of Sophia's is one of her favorites lately.

Playing with all the shoes, among other things.

Washing dishes together

Sophia always asks to help with the dishes and I never let her. But finally I said yes, I let her rinse. She was helpful. It was slower, of course, and she got quite wet, but it was fun.

Zoe

Our first floor neighbors have two dogs, Sophia is scared of both of them, though we are teaching her to freak out less and less. As we walked by their door she said 'protect me from the dogs' and I told her that their door was closed so they could not come out, dogs cannot open doors by themselves.' She then replied: 'Zoe, Aunt Beth's dog, opens the door by herself.' And she was right, Zoe did push the door open and come in, I thought this a sweet memory. Of course she was super scared of sweet Zoe too. But she has been talking about Zoe all week as if they are old friends, she has a little revisionist history in her.

Videos...Bella at 17 months

At 17 months Bella:
-can repeat lots of words, but still consistently refused to say "daddy.' She can say it, but does not say it often.
-She calls Sophia: 'Fia'
-She loves it when we make animal noises.
-She loves cutting up the cake from the 'Melissa and Doug' wooden cake set.
-She is very content to play by herself, which is helpful
-She loves to go outside, but does not get to go very much
-She loves riding on the back of the bike
-She loves dumplings, noodles, and almost all Chinese food
-She loves animals and is not afraid of them
-She has moved into about the 50% of her age group for weight and height. At birth she was 25% then dropped to below 10% and is now growing well!
-She weighs 10.1 kg or 22.2 lbs.
-now sleeps with a blanket but doesn't exactly know how to use it.
-she has her own baabaa but is not as clingy to it as Sophia is hers
-she has the greatest giggle ever

Just some tidbits

Tidbits are all I seem to be giving these days. It is hard to keep up. I have lists of posts in my brain maybe they will come out one day.

• we went for a health 'inspection' for our visa. We arrived at their office at 10:40 and both ladies were out the door wanting to take their friends somewhere. David, with charm and urgency said we need to do this now, please. So one of them stayed. All I could think as I shook my head: 'government workers....' ha ha. They were really nice ladies, and the finger prick we received still hurts three days later. They checked us for AIDS, hepatitis, and who knows what else. David got a chest x-ray to rule out TB, and I, being prego, opted out. We filled out our forms saying we were not mentally deranged, among other things, and we were good to go.
  
• This Friday we will try to get an ultrasound and check up here. We will also try to convince them to tell us the gender of the baby, but since they are not 'allowed' to we are not sure if it will happen.
• Our household has been sick and is on the mend, thankfully. Last week was rough, but things are getting better.
• A post is forthcoming highlighting Bella at 17 months old. She is a spunky one!
• We are visiting friends north of us for Thanksgiving and I plan on documenting the whole trip well. I hope I have thick enough jackets for everyone, it is a windy city!
• Sophia did not cry going to school today.
  
• And big news: I am now fully capable of driving a moped with Sophia on it with me. I have used our helpers for a few days now, and am getting used to it. We are still unsure if we will purchase one ourselves.
  

baby names

We asked Sophia if the baby is a boy what should we name him?:
"hmmm.......I will have to think about it" ( I thought for sure she would say ' Big Caleb' since she still speaks of him almost daily)

If the baby is a girl what should we name her?:
"hmm.....I will have to go look it up on my computer"
(last time we asked her she said she wanted another Bella).

She also has informed us that she wants us to have LOTS of babies. First she said five, then ten. Sorry girl, past my prime for all of that!

Love this time...

mornings. 7:45 ish. Music and laughter, joy with stories, reenacting the message, dancing, singing. Thankfulness.

(yes, they are always this attentive and perfect.) HA!

Her first black eye: Bella

No, Sophia did not get in a fight at school (though this is not completely unlikely, since 'people do hit there'), Bella got her first tried and true black eye. And just so you know she was fully supervised by moi when this occurred. I mention that because of all the numerous things I have found her doing when unsupervised, which include the following:

-picking apart a roll of toilet paper
-taking all of the wet wipes out of the container
-taking dirty diapers out of the garbage can
-putting shoes in the diaper garbage can
-standing all the way up on dining room chairs
-standing all the way up on a dining room chair taking a big chunk out of a banana with the peel still on
-having moved a chair to a counter she wanted to get to she proceeded to stand up and try to get Sophia's paints
-of course, walking around with scissors.
- and currently we are missing a cup of milk that I know she hid somewhere.

Please don't report me. I know, I only have two kids, this may be shameful, but it is my life right now. It is fun, filled with laughter, and filled with need to always be on my toes.

Yes, back to her eye. Our big huge windows that go from almost floor to ceiling have a little ledge at the bottom. This has always been our biggest scare for our kids, it is a sharp edge of tile. Sophia, Bella, and I were at the dryer and she literally just slipped and hit the ledge right on the edge of her eye. And I so see why God put our eyes set back in sockets. The awfulness if we were made otherwise. It completely protected her eye. But of course it is all black and blue around it. Her biggest screaming was during the ten minutes I tried to put ice on it. These pics are day one, of course it only gets bluer and blacker before it gets better, so these don't quite do it justice. Poor, pitiful, girl, I know.







These sunglass pictures are a big joke. No, we do not make her wear them, in fact these pics are from a week ago. But are an appropriate inclusion now.

On top of all this both girls are sick sick. Sophia started with good fever for days, then cough, cold, now runny nose. Sophia, sharing finally, gave it to Bella who has had a fever for a few days now. No school for Sophia so far this week, maybe tomorrow since her fever has been gone. I don't think she is super excited to go back...oh well.

More pics and quotables...

a few weeks ago Sophia had a play date with her friend Anna. Anna's mom mainly did this to give me a little time to help us get resettled when we returned. They played dress up about which Sophia exclaimed: 'they had earrings that didn't poke holes!"


Sophia put on Daddy's shin guards and wanted to play. So we went downstairs to kick the ball around and actually ended up playing zero soccer. Boys down stairs were playing baseball, and that (apparently) was more interesting (we all know that is not true).


"I" is for Igloo, here is one of our igloos


Sophia pulled these clothes out of the drawer and had to put them on, we then started the 'go gator' chants. And of course had to go show daddy.




Let's just admit, Bella looks quite boyish in these pics! People still always assume she is a boy! Grow some hair girl.

Now for the quotes:

• going up the stairs on the way back from school I said, ' I love you and am very proud of you.' Sophia replied by stopping on the stairs, smiling, and saying 'do you know how much I love you? This much (and putting her hand way up in the air).' This is a quote from the children's classic: 'Guess how much I love you.' I thought this adorable.
• When playing 'pretend': 'you are big red riding hood, Bella is little red riding hood, Come on reds....lets go.'
• "If God does not have a head and doesn't have a body, then there is no God" (and Daddy then explained why that is not true.)
• When Bella was driving her little toy car and backing up, I heard Sophia say: 'Bella you drive like that old man outside who can't drive' and then she laughed.

Just because

This post is just because I am way off my game in blogging. And it may just stay that way. Our new life schedule here has almost every moment filled. And unfilled moments? Rest, my friend, rest. I try to blog once a week now, but I know I am missing tidbits I wish I could remember (prego brain loses those brain cells, that is proven right?). I will keep trying. This is a scrapbook of our lives, after all...

1. And on the seventh day...Sophia cried. And she has cried every day since. She went 6 for 6 day with no tears at school drop off. That has wore off and she cries a little every day now. Not a fit, but a cry, today it was a pretty good one. But she loves school. Every time I pick her up she is happy and says she loves it.

2. David says while "Sophia has a thumb-sucking habit, Bella has an addiction" yes, people, all the time. I am not sure if it is so much more this week because she is fighting a cold still, has teeth coming in or what, but you have to pry it out of her mouth, and we do A LOT. She loves her thumb. Instead of saving for college for our girls, we need to save for the orthodontist visits, seriously. Any advice here would be appreciated!

3. David and Soccer. David practiced three days with his team, then pulled a muscle, same one as last year. You realize he hasn't been in 'soccer shape' in a while, but he tried. Then he rested a week and played in a game. And he then pulled it worse, and what made it worse was they had used all their subs so David kept playing on it. Now his leg from a pulled muscle is black and blue, is that supposed to happen? He is now determined to spend the next year getting back into soccer shape in order to make it through this tournament uninjured. We have still gone to watch many games and will watch the final tomorrow night on our date. It really has been fun to watch live soccer again! And they are pretty good games too.

4. Alone time with Bella has been sweet, and preschool time with Sophia is fun too. I am hoping the whole thing doesn't get old for her. We are doing vowels, then a letter a week, which she already knows a lot so it is review, but beyond this I am just about ready to start teaching her to read, which I think is too early, so we are pacing through the alphabet, doing some fun other things, and then I will see about this whole reading thing...it is 'I' week, we build 'igloos' every day in our house (with couch cushions of course).

5. random pictures will come in another random post, I experienced some cramping today, so I am resting (and not getting up to get the camera). I really think it is in the 'nothing to worry about' category but it is still a bit uncomfortable. Four flights of stairs at least four times a day, and usually with at least 20 lbs of child or groceries on me (usually more) is taking its toll. I have been going a little harder today (our helper is off), so I am forced to just chill out right now. We were going to go out to a wedding in a village, but we will have to wait and see on that.