Hong Kong

The type of visa we are on here is a tourist visa....meaning we have to leave the country every 120 days to get a stamp on our passport showing we left the country before returning. Our time here was up....we had to leave. So, last week, we, the three amigos, decided to venture to Hong Kong for a visa run.

Now, before you go and check your maps, yes, Hong Kong is in China. It was under European rule for 99 years until 1997. China considers it China now, but for whatever reason it counts as leaving the country for our visas. I know, weird. However, since it's only a little over a 2 hour flight, we decided that it would be a great and easy trip. Also, it's an incredible city and we both had not been there in years. We were so excited for blue skies, great weather, good shopping, yummy food, and taking Harrison to go see Santa.

Well, guess what we did instead??

We threw up....the whole time....all 3 of us.

Sad, sad, sad!!! We managed to at least hit Toys R Us and one little market for some shopping before it hit Hare Bear. We were standing at a bus stop, and little H leaned into me. I just put my arm around him and was enjoying him leaning on my leg. And then my pants were soaked. Sad. Next, it hit the Brettster....and finally, yours truly. Poor us. We came home empty-handed, with empty stomachs, and with barely any pictures.

But, we are so glad to be home and on the mend.

Meeting the neighbors

A few weeks after we arrived here, I met my neighbor in the stairwell. He lives directly above us, and we struck up a conversation. His English was incredible and he told me that he had a 3 year old daughter and he would love to have her play with Harrison sometime. Thrilled at the option to have a local friend for Harrison, I told him that would be great. We exchanged numbers. He told me at the end of our meeting that he would (again) like for his daughter to be around me and my son because she is afraid of foreigners and he wants her to get over her fear.

Months go by...

Last weekend, Wu Gang (said neighbor) calls and asks if now would be a good time for the kids to play together (it is very cultural to not plan even 5 minutes in advance). I apologize to him saying that Harrison is sick and now would not be a good time, but soon I would like for them to play. He explains to me that his daughter does not live with him all the time (also a very common occurrence here. He is not divorced, but he and his wife live in separate places so he can work in the city and she lives further out.) I apologize again and say now is not a good time.

5 minutes later...a knock on the door.

Me: "oh hello, Wu Gang! Oh, is this your wife? Oh, and is this your daughter? hi little friend! you are so cute!"

Little girl: Crying hysterically

Neighbor: gives us a present, meets Brett. Small talk. We discover the little tyke's English name is Mia

Brett & Lauren: "Hi Mia! Would you like to meet Harrison?? You're so cute! And so tall!" Smiling very big, trying to be inviting

Mia: Standing outside the door, crying hysterically.

Meanwhile, we have 2 guys staying in our home, they are coming in and out...she cries even harder as they pass by her.

Neighbor: "Well, we wanted her to at least meet you all so next time we can play. She is very scared of foreigners."

Me: "Why is she scared of foreigners?"

Neighbor: "Because her baby-sitter told her that foreigners eat children."

Oh....Okay.... Yeah, I don't think she'll be back.

Especially after I flashed my teeth at her about 42 times.

Thankful

Last year I posted a list of things I was thankful for according to the alphabet. In an effort to be thankful over the past week or so (because I have not been the most thankful person lately), I thought I would do it again. Some letters may be the same as last year, but there are just some things that I love all the time! So, here goes, the ABC's of thankfulness, 2010...

A. Atlanta, Georgia. My hometown. I miss it and it's eccentricities and great culture and great food so much. I love Atlanta and although, I'm sad to say I'm pretty sure I won't live there again (at least in the near future), I will always consider it home.

B. Brett. He is my best friend and I have become more thankful for him the past 3 months than I have ever been.

C. Cheap Baby-sitters. Oh, they are in abundance here! I should not even tell you what these lovely young American teenagers charge. But, it definitely makes it possible for lots of....

D. Date nights. Brett and I have gotten into a great habit over here of going out once a week. I am sure this is so normal for lots of you, but it was hard for us to do with our crazy travel schedule before now. I love this time and look forward to it every week (Thursday to be exact).

E. East Asia. Oh, it's been so very hard to move back here, but whether I am here or there, I will always love this place, and I am thankful to be here.

F. Friends. I LOVE my friends! I miss them all so much.

"When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight." -Kahlil Gibran

I wouldn't miss my friends so much if they had not been my greatest delight.

G. Glee. I have loved it since day 1

H. Harrison. How do I love him more each day? Today he is very very sick, and it has been so sweet taking care of him. I mean, he threw up in my hand...that's love!

I. Internet. It's totally a lifeline for me over here...not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but I'm thankful...for email, facebook, blogs, skype, and being able to make cheap phone calls to my loved ones!

J. Jesus. He saved my life.

K. Kevin. My brother who we lost in 2008. I think of him everyday and miss him so very much. I am so thankful that I had the chance to know him. He was one of the most extraordinary people I've ever known.

L. Laughter. "I just like to laugh. Laughing's my favorite." --Buddy the Elf (except he was talking about smiling).

M. My Local Starbucks. I love Starbucks, truly I do. I would choose other coffee shops if I had the option, but I love that there is one just a 10 minute walk from our neighborhood. It's such a haven for me!

N. Netflix. We don't have a DVD player here yet, so we can either watch chinese TV or watch TV over hulu and netflix. Netflix saves my life for a portion of each day while I show Harrison a 'Thomas the Train' or 'Dora the Explorer' episode (or 4) so that I can have some sanity. I am so thankful!

O. Orlando. This crazy touristy place has become home to us and we miss our life there! Whenever we move back, you always have a place to stay if you're visiting Disney!

P. Parents. I am so grateful for both my parents. I feel that I have a better relationship with them both now than I ever have. I love them dearly and admire them both so much. I also love my Dooley parents too!

Q. Quiet. Especially since H is trying to drop his nap (eeek), a few minutes of quiet time to myself is quite a treat!

R. Running into friends unexpectedly. I love being out and about and running into someone I know. It usually makes my day! Yesterday, I was having a particularly sad morning and ran into a new friend and it really made me feel so much better!

S. Siblings. I love my family ever so much. My sister and brother and I did not have the most conventional upbringing and in many ways took care of each other. I would not trade a minute of the time we spent together. I will never forget the tears I cried over not wanting Robin to leave for college when I was 15. I felt I was losing my best friend. I will also never forget the tears I cried when I had to leave Chris behind when I left for dear old Athens. Although life has taken us to different places, I cherish the few times a year we are together. We laugh so hard and I am so proud of them for being the smartest, most creative people alive (I did not receive that gene). And I was even more blessed to get to have another brother and sister. Kev, who I mentioned earlier, and Hayward who have always been family no matter what. And I lucked out with great sibling-in-laws! Dan, Lindsey, Chris and Julie are the bees knees!

T. The Classic City. Athens, Georgia. Love this place. It changed my life and I had the best time ever there.

U. Umbrellas. It rains here a lot.

V. Visitors. We have had our first crop of visitors here this week! Brett's best chinese friend from years ago (Tommy) spent 2 nights with us and now we have 2 other guys staying at Chez Dooley. I love hosting people in our home!

W. Waiting. Not my favorite, but it's always neat to see how things change while I wait. I find in most cases, that I would not have changed the length of the wait because of what I learned during that time.

X. Xylophones. I really am not sure how thankful I am for these little musical instruments. I'm sure if we had one, I would not be at all, but I really couldn't think of another word that starts with 'x'.

Y. Youth Group. One of my highlights of my growing up years, and even beyond!

Z. Zara (and H&M) just opened in my city on Wednesday. Total bonus that a) Zara is one of my favorite stores ever, and b) i may actually be able to find clothes that fit there (chinese people are tiny).

So, on this day after Thanksgiving. I truly am thankful. Thanksgiving morning was a hard one for us. We were so homesick, but the day got better and better and I can honestly say that I went to bed way more thankful than when I woke up. We had a fabulous turkey dinner with some friends, watched football and had great laughs. My heart was so full. And although I missed being at the Dooley family Thanksgiving this year and getting to hug my parent's necks, I will never forget the sweetness of celebrating this day of thanks with my beloved husband and son in far away China. I'm so thankful God brought us here.

2.5

My Dear Harrison,

This past Friday marked you being 2 and a half. Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it! You are growing up so fast that I can barely keep up with you! In the last few months, you have bowled me over with your vocabulary! You are truly conversing with us now. You make full sentences, and although sometimes we cannot understand you, you very much understand yourself! You have even picked up a few chinese phrases; "Ni Hao" (hello), "Xie Xie" (thank you), "Zai Jian" (goodbye) and "Wo Ai Ni" (I love you). You have made about a million friends here and constantly ask for all of them by name. You still don't touch chinese food, but you eat well, or I should say, you snack well and then try to skip meals.

You are both friendly and shy all at the same time. But, no matter what, you are ALWAYS chatty at home with mom and dad. You LOVE to wrestle and do so every night with daddy on our bed. You ask, "wrestle?", which then proceeds in lots of throwing and tickle fighting. You have a mind of your own which is evident when you ask me to "please stop, mommy." Daddy and I think that you thrive on words of encouragement and quality time (which is the same as us). We think this because if you do something good, you will often tell us, "mommy, I gave daddy his glasses," if we don't get the chance to praise you first. Also, you love to do things together, even if it's just watching TV, you want us to be there, too (and you DO really like TV, especially chinese cartoons).

You are so fast these days, I can barely get a hug from you. I truly think I only get one kiss a week from you (although you still get a hundred a day from me). I cherish the times you sit on my lap or willingly give me a hug or kiss because they are so few and far between these days since you are finding your little independence! Oh, and speaking of independence, you really like walking these days as opposed to your stroller. Would you mind re-thinking that one? Please???

On October 24th you slept in your big boy bed for the first time. You have done great! The first couple days were rough, but then you were great for about 2 weeks. However, the past 2 weeks you have discovered you can get out of said bed, which makes for some long days. You have begun skipping your nap and only taking one every 2-3 days. This is Mommy's worst nightmare, but thankfully you still give me some reprieve by having "rest time" in your room on the no-nap days. Oh, and it does make you go to bed pretty early and sleep late, so I guess I'll take it!

Your favorite toys right now are Thomas the Train and Legos! You play with both for hours (probably because those are the only toys we brought over here... Oh really? you didn't realize that? Well, we're super glad you still like them). You also love to read and for us to sing to you at nap time and bed time. You always ask for "one more song". Currently your favorite melody is "Jingle Bells". Daddy and I usually sing it to you at least 3 times before bed each night, along with a dance routine. It's quite fun for us.

You love to play on this playground almost everyday. It is in our apartment complex and we usually go there at least once a day. Our very new tradition as of last week is to stop at the WoWo (a convenience store right outside our gate) and get lollipops before we go play. I realize you could choke on the lollipop, but you're also so careful that I just don't think you will. I hope I don't get proven wrong.

Oh, and one more thing...I think you weigh about 31 pounds...I'm not quite sure about your height, but you are definitely 3 feet tall, perhaps even 3 feet, 1 inch. You are so tall, little man! And just for mommy to know when I look back on this, I really wish I had brought cuter clothes over with me. I know you don't care a lick, but I miss your john john's!

Hare Bear, I love you more than you could ever know. I was looking at baby pictures of you recently thinking, "I loved him so much then", or "oh, wasn't that time so fun?" I truly have loved every stage of your life, and am having so much fun right now. I am so privileged to be your mom and I still can't believe you are mine. I am so proud of you for just being exactly who you are. And I hope we can both always remember that!

I love you to the moon and back,

Mommy

Mom's Retreat

First of all, I want to thank y'all for your kind words about my previous post about our loss. That meant so much to me... There is so much more that is part of that journey than just our miscarriage, but it's hard to know what to share on this blog aside from pictures and stories of our family. I figured I could use the prayers.

We received much care on that day that would have been our due date. A few people here knew and one new friend brought me flowers the night before, and shed a tear with me, while another sweet friend texted me all day to see how I was doing. For the first time, I felt at home here.

On that day, I left to go to the capital city for a Mom's conference for all the mom's working with our company in the entire country. There were 100 moms there, both expat and Asian. I was very familiar with the area we were staying in which was fun! We had a great speaker and I really enjoyed seeing a few old friends and making new ones. I feel like that weekend was a turning point for me, as it is no secret I have been a little lonely here, but really got to connect with some fun people and have lots of laughs. It takes a lot more time to make friends in a new place when you're a mom (or at least it's that way for me), so I am grateful I had this weekend to hang out sans Harrison and have tons of fun shopping and eating great food with other fun ladies. Unfortunately, I have NO pictures from the event, but more pictures will come soon of some other recent out-of-town jaunts.

Until then...

So glad...

That my little Harrison looks just like his Daddy! When I was pregnant, I prayed that our child would look like his dad because Brett was just such a darn cute little guy! His mom emailed us some old pics the other day and I had to share them so that you could see the uncanny resemblance as well! I guess now I know what H will look like in a few years time!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

It's Superman!!!

Today Harrison went "trick or treating" for the first time! Some of the adults in our apartment complex got together in one little cul-de-sac of the neighborhood, and we all spread out so the kids could come "trick or treat" to us (all outside). The group was about 15 kids and maybe just that many adults!

In the picture above, Harrison is standing in front of Cameron (Thomas the train), and next to Gunner the Bumble Bee and Canyon (in the red costume--not quite sure what he was).

Below is a picture of (almost) everyone who dressed up...If you can't tell, I am in the picture and dressed up as Brett.

Harrison and sweet Gunner eating lollipops together.

Harrison and his 2 dads (did anyone ever watch that show?) Can you tell which one is the real Brett??

Happy Halloween!