That is not a pickle toy.

Daddy and Aiden out in Wuxi

He gets so focused when he plays with his toys.

Trying to join the dancers out in the street

Happy boy!!!!

 The words, “That is not a pickle toy” seem to leave our lips quite frequently these days. Somehow “pickle” has become our nickname for Aiden. It just seems to fit him…he is a silly little pickle, crazy little pickle, cute pickle…and the list goes on. Yes, we realize we are a little silly with that but it works.  Aiden is into everything and wants to be a part of it all. He hasn’t started crawling in the technical sense, but he can move around quite well. With a mixture of scooting, rolling and reaching he get to where he wants to go and get what he is after. Now I have to be o so careful on what is anywhere near him. He loves to try and get my phone or the remote…I think he just wants to call his friend Noah to see what he is up to for the day.  He is such a happy boy these days, though he still does have his fussy moments. We love to make him laugh and he will just talk nonstop to us. He loves to talk to people on the computer and gets so excited, especially when talking to MiMi and Grandpa! Its so precious to watch!!!

When it comes to food...Aiden LOVES the solids. He would much rather have that then his bottle. Some days it takes alot to even get 4oz in him at each feeding when he knows there is good stuff coming afterwards. Its sometimes difficult to find baby food over here so Jeffrey has been picking up some everytime he goes to Europe. We tried feeding him puffs last week for the first time and let me tell you...it was HILARIOUS!!!!! He has since started liking them better but that initial reaction was PRICELESS!!! 
Aiden loves his Daddy! It is the sweetest thing to have Jeffrey come home from work and have Aiden almost fall out of my arms cause he is so excited to see Jeffrey. I know that makes Jeffrey's day as well, esp since he has been having to travel and work late a lot. We definitely love our Saturdays here...a full day of having Jeffrey all to ourselves! 

6.5 months

Aiden was a hit at the Gelato place!

He LOVES his sippy cup!

I celebrated my 27^th birthday over here last week. I’ve traveled a lot on my birthday and am very rarely at home, but this is the first time that I’ve been out of the country on my birthday. Sadly though, Jeffrey had to leave that morning for a business trip so he wasn’t home. O well…so goes the life here in China right? I spent the day hanging out with Aiden and over at Julie’s for our study group. That night after all the kids were in bed Julie came over here and brought me a pan of AMAZING homemade brownies and we watched a chick flick. It was a fun night! All of her girls had made me cards earlier that day as well…it totally made my day.  I’ve been so very blessed having Julie here!!!

Daddy...who is that strange looking man there???

We really haven’t had a lot of time lately to explore or do anything new or different, just life as normal here. Well…I guess as normal as life in China can be right? There are days that it is very easy but then in all honesty there are days that it SUCKS! But I guess that is just life anywhere. The one thing that I think I struggle with more than anything is just that nothing is really very easy to do. Its hard to be spontaneous when you don’t have a car of your own to hop in and drive or when I don’t know what time Jeffrey will be home. DAD is really teaching me a lot in this area and I’m learning to be content no matter the situation.  Not an easy task, but I know it will be worth it in the end. 

Because things are tough at times I try to always think of the good things that I enjoy about China so here is a list for you.

1.       1. City Shop! I’m getting a little spoiled with this one. I can order my groceries online and they are delivered right to my door! This is nice since it is harder to go shopping with Aiden since he draws a crowd no matter where we go and I can’t stop and really look at an item for too long. Ha!

2.       2.Dunkin Donuts!!!!!!! Now I realize this is really something that I LOVE about America, but since they have it over here I’m adding it to my list. Each morning during Aiden’s first nap of the day I make myself a cup of coffee and sit and read, play words with friends (I’m hdratliff if you want to play…) and catch up on my social networking. HEAVENLY!!! As soon as I finish my cup I know its time to get to work…so I cherish those quiet moments.

3.       3.Champs Elysse’s bakery! I can walk down the street to our local bakery and stock up for the week on FABULOUS breads and pastries and only spend 30rmb which in America turns out to be only $5.00. I have definitely eaten my share of PB&J since I’ve been over here…yum!

4.       4. Japanese restaurants. I realize this is a little ironic since we live in China, but man do I ever enjoy some Japanese food!  We enjoy going out to dinner with the Sager family and enjoying a good meal here and there. We do go other places besides Japanese but its one of my favorites. I just have to learn how to made fried rice at home now.

5.       5. Far Eastern Grocery Store – now that I look back at this list, I realized that all of my “enjoyments” have to do with food! Not really sure what that says about me…but hey I do like to eat. This grocery store is FABULOUS! Its small and clean and they have amazing veggies. If you know me well you know that I am NOT a veggie fan, but I’ve actually started eating them better and cooking them at home…love a good stir fry. And the meat here is great as well. Julie and I enjoy going there to stock up together.

Well friends, I guess this is all for now…my laundry is calling my name and I guess I must go answer. We do now have an American number that you can text us on if you would like to stay in touch. The number is 719.215.8278. We would love to hear from you! Until then…have a wonderful day and do me a favor…will you go eat some Chicken strips and fries with a lemonade to drink at Chick-fil-a for me? You are such a great friend…THANKS! J

Day by Day

Aiden and Daddy posing for all the cameras - Shanghai

Where has the time gone? Coming up next week we will have been here for 3 months but it feels like we just arrived. So much has been going on that I have been slacking at updating the blog.

Pearl TV Tower - Shanghai

Nanchan Temple - Wuxi

Life in the apartment is just SO MUCH BETTER than being in a hotel!!!! We feel like its home now…all of our furniture is in and set up and most of our décor is up. We tried this week to finally hang pictures, but quickly learned that the walls are not sheet rock…just concrete! Yikes! So that took away that plan for the evening…now we must figure out another way to get pictures hung. Thank goodness for wall clings. Aiden's room is mostly put together because of them. We have a store near us called B&Q that is just like a Home Depot so that has been a life saver for us and we make regular trips to the store.

Since my last post we have experienced some EXTREMELY interesting things. One being that as I was doing the dishes after lunch one Saturday, I looked out the window to see a lady getting ready to pull her pants down to use the bathroom. Literally, she was RIGHT outside my window. She made eye contact with me and I'm sure she had to have seen the look of utter SHOCK on my face, but of course that did not deter her in the least. I have since learned that this is a very "normal" thing here in China and that it probably bothered me more than it did her. Still…I'm not quite used to that nor do I want to see that again. O well…the things we learn! HA!

Aiden loves to be outside.

With Julie Sager and the kids at the Science & Technology Museum - Shanghai

Even the Monks came to meet Aiden - Nanchan Temple - Wuxi

Another thing is that apparently there was a wedding in our complex this week, so that meant LOTS of fireworks. Now I know I have spoken of such before, but I will reiterate that in America I LOVED fireworks…I could NOT get enough and anytime they were going to be shot off I had to be there. In 3 short months that has changed DRASTICALLY. Probably because of the proximity to where they shoot them off. In America, to get to see the big and beautiful ones you have to go to a special event and the general public is not allowed any where close to where they are shooting them off. This now makes so much sense to me. Here you can shoot them off no matter where you are. So this wedding party had a TON of fireworks that they shot off right outside my kitchen window. (Our kitchen window faces the courtyard type area where the pond is). Poor Aiden was TERRIFIED!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I don't blame him…it sounds like world war 3 is going on outside. Any conversation you are having stops until they finish since you can't hear anything anyway. But they do love their fireworks…I don't think there has been a day since we have arrived that fireworks have not gone off somewhere near us. I teased Jeffrey that for my 30^th birthday (that will be the year we come home) instead of going to be near fireworks as I wanted originally we are going to go hide in a hole somewhere.

We have finally started to travel some now that we are settled and went with our good friends, the Sagers, to Shanghai for a few days. We had our drivers take us there and then we rode the train home. On our way up while heading to Element Fresh for lunch we passed a "Johnny Moo's" which apparently is a knock off of Johnny Rockets! Hilarious! After lunch we headed to the Science and Technology museum and the Knock Off Market. The museum was great with lots to explore, but of course, Aiden slept through most of it. He did wake up during the robot exhibit and became an exhibit himself. So many people wanted to take his picture. We do have a pretty cute kid if I do say so myself! At the knock off market I found Aiden and Jessica Chini's Chinese outfits for their pictures we are going to do together when we come back for a visit. So adorable and I can't wait to see them in them. Our second day there it POURED on us, but we still had a blast exploring and figuring out the subway system. We headed off to the Aquarium to escape the morning rain. Aiden again slept through the entire thing but the aquarium was great! So much fun to explore with the Sager girls. Afterwards we wanted to go up in the Pearl TV Tower but it was so foggy that we wouldn't be able to see much but the building itself was amazing to look at. Such a neat design. Since we couldn't do that, well of course we HAD to get some ice cream! Yum!!! We thought there was a ColdStone nearby and we were all using our smart phones to see who could find it faster, Blackberry or iPhone. My iPhone won out!!! J But we then learned that we were standing right where it used to be, but it had gone out of business…such a sad day! So we headed to Haggen Das instead. Still quite yummy. As we headed back to the hotel that evening it POURED on us again…we were soaking wet by the time we got back to the hotel, so naturally we all headed to the pool. Aiden had a BLAST playing in the water. When we got home later that weekend we headed over to B&Q and found a baby pool that once the rainy season stops we'll put outside. He is going to love it!!!

This past weekend we tried to go to Nanchan Temple here in downtown Wuxi to explore. We made it there, but again it POURED on us so we didn't stay all too long. June is the rainy season here. But while we were there we had started to explore when Aiden drew a crowd around him yet again. I had him in his pouch carrier and everyone wanted to come see the white baby. Even the "monks" came out from their rituals to see him and take his picture.

Aiden is now 6 months old and growing like a weed!!! He is working so hard on trying to get up on all fours and start crawling. If you stand him up and let him hold on to your thumbs he will walk across the room. Be still my heart! He eats all of his veggies really well, but still is not a fan of fruit, but we are working on that. One day at a time. He must be starting to teeth some, but nothing has poked through yet, but he loves to chew on anything around him.

That is all for now my friends…the journey continues day by day.

No Chinese Name?

There is so much to say yet, so little time! I'm watching Winter Wipeout (Thanks to Jenn Chini I am ADDICTED!!!!) as I write this post wishing that Jeffrey was home. He has had to travel a lot lately and will be gone again next week. It's tougher being in another country and having him travel, but doable. Granted…I really wish he was able to be around all the time, but I know with his job that is not likely. So we make the best of it. That does make me EXTREMELY grateful for the friends we have made here. Always something to do or a place to go or even…floors to clean!

Aiden checking out the goodness of Dunkin Donuts!

This week has been interesting, as most of them are. I have found the Dunkin Donuts!!!!!!!!!!!! And the coffee was AMAZING!!!!! I can survive here now! HA! Its pretty sad that it takes good coffee to make me feel more at home, but man it does! I had brought a bag of my DD coffee with me, but it was starting to run out! They had some of their coffee there at the store so I was saved!!!!! At first the thought of making coffee at home was a little daunting since, if you know me well, I use a TON of flavored creamer in my coffee and that does not exist here. But I have found a few things that work to make an amazing cup of coffee. Starbucks here had the other day Vanilla Syrup that they use in their stores so I had to invest and it is so good! Along with that you add some regular creamer, some sugar and a little bit of cinnamon and you have a great cup of coffee! YUM!!!!!!! 

A Pork and Seaweed Donut...any takers on trying it?

Yummy donuts...and most are not too strange!

That same day I went with a friend to check out the Toys R Us and Babies R Us here. It wasn't much, but good to know where to buy toys as Aiden gets older. My goal over the next few months is to find something that will work as a kiddie pool to put in our garden (backyard). Aiden loves playing in the bathtub so I know he will absolutely enjoy the pool. The Babies R Us there consisted of two aisles so not much there. I've been SO GRATEFUL to my amazing mother who has been willing to ship things for us that Aiden will need. Baby food is definitely an interesting thing here and not much variety. THANK YOU MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the Chinese version of a Snuggie! Made me laugh!

Jeffrey and I went to the local electronics store this weekend to buy a home phone and a second water cooler for the basement. It totally made me laugh at how many people it took to figure out my name. One girl had asked me to sign a paper (through "sign language") and then looked at me very funny and started laughing. I started to feel a little odd…then she took it over to a few other people and they started busting out laughing. Now I was feeling very uncomfortable…but what do you do? Finally another girl came up and asked "Chinese name?" Quite a few sarcastic responses came to my mind…but alas I was able to hold off and just say "Bu" (meaning no). At this they all gathered around again and you could tell that they had no idea what to do. I'm guessing that they had to enter my name into the computer or something like that. Finally I took out my driver's license and gave that to her. It still took them a long time, but they finally got it figured out! HA!

All the employees that it took to figure out my name! Hilarious!

Aiden has been growing and changing like crazy! This past weekend he was playing with Jeffrey and while holding his hands, he took two steps! Now granted, he hasn't done it since but it made my heart stop! He has just started rolling all over the place and looks like he is about to start crawling so I know my world is getting ready to get a little crazier! He is doing fabulous with his cereal and would rather have that than a bottle so I have to limit him on the cereal. In another week we will be starting veggies so we are excited to see how that goes and all the funny faces I know will come with that! Hopefully he is not like his mom and will enjoy vegetables. 


So I confess. I am really missing my dishwasher! Maybe that just makes me lazy, but whew…it seems like my sink is always full of dishes and there are only 3 of us in the house. I've already made Jeffrey promise that when we move back home that we will get a nice big dishwasher in our new house! He has already agreed to that! I don't think he likes constantly washing dishes any more than I do. One thing we are on the hunt for that I know is here but we just haven't found yet is aluminum foil! That will make things much easier. The hunt is on….! 


Our apartment is fully livable now and the only thing we have left to do is hang pictures and all the décor that we brought with us. We have found a furniture factory in Changzhou that makes amazing furniture for great prices. The daughter of the owner works with Jeffrey. We bought two leather chairs and ottomans to put in the basement for a reading area. They are amazing and so nice, but alas again, they wouldn't fit down the stairs! O goodness! So Aiden now has a new chair in his room and we are going to put one in our room, at least until we figure out if there is anything else we can do with them. But this did make us think that if there is any other furniture we want to bring back with us, we will wait and purchase it all right before the movers come to back us back up. Who knows what all we will come back with! 


Stay tuned as the journey continues.Its a daily adventure!

China Moments

Well so much has occurred in our world over here since my last post.  First and most important in my mind is….wait for it…WE ARE IN OUR APARTMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is one excited girl here! I’m finally getting to sit on my own couch after a long 2.5 months! GLORIOUS!!!! Jeffrey did an amazing job picking out our apartment and it is so very cozy. We moved in on Friday, May 13^th 2011 and even though it has only been a week or so, we are very settled and have 99% of the boxes unpacked and furniture arranged. Pictures will be posted as soon as it is fully finished! We have one main floor and a basement in our apartment. The one very odd  thing is that the laundry room is out on the back porch so I have to walk outside to do my laundry. O well...at least I have both a washer and a dryer!!! 

Shopping for food has been interesting as our fridge is so much smaller than ours in America. I have to be very careful of what I buy so that I always have room. We bought some meat the other day and had it in the fridge for two days and when I went to cook it, it was already bad. The lesson here is to ALWAYS put it in the freezer until I am SURE that I am ready to thaw it and cook it. My first “real” meal cooking here in China was spaghetti, but we had some friends over this past weekend and grilled out hamburgers. A little taste of home in a land so far away! My next step is to learn how to cook Chinese food as well as how to substitute ingredients for things that they do not have here. Stay tuned as I’m sure that will be a very interesting adventure!

I finally took a Taxi this week and totally feared for my life. One thing that I struggle with here but know that I am going to have to get used to is the fact that it is ok to NOT put your child in a car seat.  Most taxis do not have seatbelts or room for a stroller so that makes taking one a little tricky. This makes me very grateful to AGCO for is having a driver. That way I can always put Aiden in his car seat for car trips and then decide if I want to put him in the stroller or his carrier. But for short trips, we love to walk. Its great exercise and Aiden loves being outside. He sleeps and I have my iPod going and we just go. Its actually very relaxing as long as it isn’t raining!

We celebrated Aiden turning 5 months old on May 18^th. I can’t believe that my son is already 5 months! He has changed so much, even since we’ve been here. This week he has figured out how to roll over constantly and just keeps rolling back and forth. That is definitely making nap time and night time sleeping interesting since he keeps waking himself up my ending up on his tummy. Quite amusing though! I have had to pack away the last of the 3 month clothes and he is fully fitting into his 6 mo clothes now. Getting to be a big boy! In our air shipment we had his exersaucer and now that he has it, he loves to play with it. Just the fact that he can stand up in it on his own and play keeps him occupied. We have started feeding him cereal twice a day. Some times he does great with it and eats the entire bowl...other days it is like pulling teeth to get him to even take a bite. Our child though apparently LOVES the camera and likes to make fun faces as evident in the pictures below. He has a new friend named Joy who is not quite two months old. They are adorable today and Aiden loves to try and calm her when she cries...way to sweet!

This week holds many things for us. Lots of new things to explore. For those who know me well, you know my love of Dunkin Donuts…they have one here in Wuxi!!!! Thursday morning will be an adventure to test their coffee here and then off to find the ToysRUs and BabiesRUs! I must find a vacuum cleaner as well that day so I can keep my rugs clean and fuzz free. So much to do and explore, yet so little time!

We hope to find a good weekend soon to go tour some sights around Wuxi and then plan some big trips in and around China as well. Suggestions are VERY WELCOME!

Well, that is all for the moment my friends. As time marches on I’ll keep you with us on our journey and continue to share all of our very interesting CHINA MOMENTS!

Chinese Wedding

We experienced our first Chinese wedding yesterday. It was definitely an experience but a whole lot of fun! Judy, the bride, works with Jeffrey and there was a whole crowd of AGCO employees from all over the world. She had told me when I met her a few weeks ago that this was going to be a small affair and that they weren't doing anything fancy. Needless to say, if that is considered a "small affair" I would love to see what a big wedding is like here. It was a huge hotel ball room that was filled to the brim with decorations!!! Much bigger than our wedding.

We walked in and the room was decorating entirely in red and gold. On the tables were large clear lazy susans with lots of different kinds of "drinks" on them. Thank goodness they had juice!!! J There were also 6 red packs of cigarettes on each table which we knew meant the room was going to get smoky and fast! YIKES! That is something that I always took for granted in Georgia but am so thankful for…no smoking!!!!!

Once the ceremony got started (if it was a ceremony…have no idea what was being said!) the MC started talking very fast and with lots of emotion as spotlights starting going all over the place. They played a mixture of Chinese and American music all the way through the entire day. There was even one "praise" song in English that I wonder if they really understood what the song meant. Finally the bride, Judy, walked in with who I'm assuming was her Father. They stood under a trellis at the back of the room and the groom walked up in front of them and bowed. Judy moved to stand with him and then they turned around and walked together up to the stage. There I guess they said their vows and then moved over to what looked like an ice sculpture that said "LOVE" in English and they each had a bottle of something that they poured into the letters together. The liquid mixed together and turned blue and it filled up the entire wording. Once everything was completed in the "ceremony" part, the couple left the room.

When they came back in a short time later, Judy had changed into a red Chinese style dress (I really want one of those…so beautiful!!!) and had her head covered with a large red scarf like thing. Her hands were bound with ribbon and her husband had the other end of the ribbon rope and was leading her blind up to the stage. Now I have NO IDEA what this was for, but it was extremely interesting to watch. Once they were on stage the MC had the groom dancing and he kept making him do it bigger and better so he could "uncover" Judy's head. There was lots of this going on.

During the entire ceremony and events the waitresses kept bringing more and more food for our round table. I thought I was stuffed at one point and that we were finished, but they brought at least 2 more rounds. If you just try a bite or two of everything it fills you up. I was sitting next to one of Jeffrey's German co-workers who has been in China for a good while and seemed to know quite a bit of what was going on. He asked if I wanted to know what I was eating before or after I tried it. I definitely said after…made it at least a touch easier to try! There was a lot that he still didn't know but I know I ate Jellyfish…and it was GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very chewy and just icky! LOL!!! There was also fish soup, steamed buns, some sort of green veggie that actually wasn't bad (if you know me well you know I HATE veggies!!!!!!) so I found that very surprising. The list of food went on and on, but the pork was fabulous and so was the rice. They brought out a whole fish and though it was hard to get to the meat it was pretty good. My favorite out of the new food I tried was Peeking Duck. The sauce that you dip it in was Incredible!!!!!!

The bride and groom went table by table toasting with the guests and thanking them for coming. I don't know how they could stand up at the end of the evening!!!!!! Craziness!!!

As always, Aiden was a hit! As soon as he woke up and we took him out of his car seat people swarmed him. He did very well, but Mama's heart still skips a beat when they walk off with him. They really do love kids here and love to give them gifts. One teenager who was sitting at the table next to us gave Aiden a little stuffed bear keychain…it was too cute. They all wanted to take pictures of him and with him. Our little movie star! J

All in all it was quite an interesting event!

We are still waiting on our sea shipment to arrive and the hotel tired has moved to hotel exhausted! It can't arrive fast enough in our minds. But it will be here soon…at least that is what I keep telling myself. We are just taking it one day at a time. Hopefully by the next post we will have good news that we are finally there! J

More Pictures from the Journey

Aiden's new glasses!

Rickshaw driver passing us

Don't look too close, but this is an example of the "potty pants!"

Part of our "Scenic Route" on the way to Metro

Crazy drivers

Our driver, Joe!

Rednecks have made it to China!!!!

Such a happy boy! Starting to sit on my own.

Examples of apartment buildings

Taking in all the sights!

Chilling at the new apartment while Mama and Daddy clean

Our sweet new friend Ashley Jane or "AJ" :)

Aiden and Aaron...the manager of the hotel restaurant. He wanted to hold Aiden so bad but apparently was timid about asking for awhile. Now they are buds!

Shopping at Carrefore

Strange fruit we were brought the other night at dinner...not sure what it was but it was good!

Driving School and Scenic Routes

I'm pretty sure that if we were to attend a driving class here in China this would be how it would go…

Instructor: Hello Class

Class: HONK!!!!!!!

Instructor: Well, I see that you have already learned the first major lesson in driving.

Class: HONK! HONK!!!!!!!!

Instructor: There are many different ways to use your horn but the first thing you need to know is that you must ALWAYS blow your horn constantly or else you may die.

Class: HONK HONK HONK HONK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Instructor: You can send many different messages with your horn. 1. GET OUT OF MY WAY! 2. I'm coming through whether you want me to or not. 3. I said GET OUT OF MY WAY. 4. A friendly hello honk. 5. GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!! 6. I'm right behind you and am trying to make you pee your pants by scaring you to death. And finally…7. GET OUT OF MY WAY!

CLASS: HONK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

INSTRUCTOR: Very good…you all passed the driving class. Now go and honk your horns!

Well, that may not be EXACTLY how the class would go…but that's what my mind tends to think. Goodness knows that horns are being blown every second and from all directions. Craziness. I think though that they love noise here. They will shoot off fireworks at all times of the day and I haven't fully figured out why. Now, you are talking to a girl who LOVES fireworks with everything in me! Maybe that's why I'm a July 5^th baby…I love celebrating July 4^th with LOTS OF FIREWORKSJ!!!! But here there is no real purpose, especially when they shoot them off in the middle of the day… you can't see them! So all it does is just make really loud noise…maybe to cover up the sound of the honking horns, who knows! Maybe that will be my job here…teach them what good fireworks are and when to shoot them off. If any of my followers live in South Carolina, you may be called upon to ship some over here for training purposes. J

Well…our air shipment finally arrived on Friday so we have at least a few more of our things! YEA!!!!!! So we spent most of the day on Friday and Saturday cleaning the apartment and getting that stuff organized. Then we also learned that the slow boat to China containing our Sea Shipment has docked!! WHOO HOO!!!! And that was at least 5 days ahead of schedule…now just waiting for customs to clear it so we can move on it and finally be settled. I told Jeffrey as we were walking the apartment trying to envision where to put our stuff that I honestly couldn't remember what all we brought since its been almost 2 months since I've seen our furniture…well it may not be that bad, but in my hotel tired mind it is!

Our wonderful driver here, Joe, is so sweet and a very safe driver…but he has no idea where anything is. That has been an interesting challenge and has really made Jeffrey and I want to learn Chinese much faster so we don't always have to call someone to ask them to translate for us! Aren't we just a sorry pair! But we finally did order Rosetta Stone to work on and then beginning in the summer we will have an instructor come out to the house for some one on one training.

As Joe was taking us to Metro (a big store like Sams or Costco) on Friday we started to get a little worried on our way back. We were definitely taking the "scenic route" and were on a road that I don't think many cars travel down. He stopped to ask directions of a lady carrying a basket down the road. Even though I couldn't understand what they were saying her message was clearly that she thought we were idiots for being where we were! But hey…he got us back to the apartment in half the time it took to get there…so bring on the scenic route! Pictures will follow later.

Aiden is starting to get better about sleeping, but he still has those wonderful screaming moments. Mostly they are when he doesn't get his proper naps in a day…so we are working on that slowly but surely. I just think he is about as hotel tired as we are and ready for a real home with his own room.

Time marches on and we are slowly getting accustomed to life here. We bought ourselves our house shoes this week and now we just have to remember to always take them with us when we go to visit our friends in the area. Mine are bright yellow Crocs that Jeffrey laughs at but says that it is totally my personality…not sure what he means by that but…J!

Excited to see what fun this week brings. Our plans are to go visit one of our new friends who just had a baby and keep her company as her husband goes back to work for a day or two, get together with Julie and her precious 3 girls and Aiden's new friend Noah for lunch and shop at the furniture mall for some rugs for our apartment. Then, if the men will keep the kids, Julie and I need to go to the mall downtown and check out their baby store there to see what all kind of goodies we can find!

Until next time…thanks for joining us in our journey. We are excited to have you along the way!