Holiday Letter 2007

Ni hao friends and family,

As always, Travis and I hope this letter finds you and your family happy and healthy this holiday season…

I’m sure most of you know already, we had a little girl on June 28th, 2007. Her name is Gabriella Sophia Tebo and she’s awesome. At the risk of sounding cheesy- I have to say that creating life has been the best thing Travis and I have ever done. Parenthood has brought a lot of joy and challenges, but we wouldn’t take it back for the world. We love being parents and have a good routine worked out and feel like things are pretty balanced between work, home, and our social life. Gabby is hitting all the developmental milestones, and as healthy as can be. She was diagnosed with acid reflux in September but we got her some medication and all is well. As of right now, she’s 5 ½ months old. She’s laughing, smiling, scooting around on the floor, and grabbing at everything and promptly sticking it in her mouth. It’s been especially fun watching her personality unfold… so far she seems to be rather social and likes to be active- when we introduce to other babies she pumps her arms and legs and gets all excited. We’ve also learned that she doesn’t like to be bored and can be a drama queen. When she gets tired of whatever she’s doing, she’ll start to cry and push away whatever toy she’s playing with. People ask me if she’s a good baby and I have nothing to compare it to because this is my first one but I’ve been told by other people that she’s a “happy baby,” so I’ll take that. Everyday she does something new and we look forward to watching her grow and learn.

Check out the most recent pictures of Gabby: www.joyshare.com/sites/Gabriella

I had ten weeks off for maternity leave, so Gabby and I flew to Washington when she was seven weeks old to visit friends and family for a month and a half from the end of August to October. It was sort of a last minute decision but was needed after a long, humid summer in Beijing. The time went by really fast, but we got to see a lot of people including my brother and his wife who live in Boston. Gabby got to meet her cousins for the first time, Stuart (19 ½ months) and Emerson (4), which was fun to watch. Travis came down for two weeks and all three of us flew home together. Gabby did a pretty good job traveling, which is important because she will be doing a lot of it during her lifetime!

Travis and I are still living and working in Beijing, China. We decided to stay again next year and have no plans on moving back to the United States any time soon. Travis is completing his school administration internship through Western Washington University and will be done with everything in June. He’s been incredibly busy putting in hours to make this experience rewarding. He’s finding the challenges of running a school enjoyable and we’re both looking forward to him finding an assistant principal job overseas in the near future. As for me, I went back to work at the end of October but I can’t complain because I had four months off. Leaving Gabby as I went back to work was tough, but I was prepared for that. We have a caregiver (or ayi), named Chen, who loves Gabby as if she were her own child. I totally trust her and I know she’ll be well taken care of, so that relieves a lot of the worry. I’m still plugging away at my college counseling certificate through UCLA and should be done after I complete my internship next fall. The classes aren’t difficult, it’s just time consuming.

China continues to develop rapidly as the Olympic Games approach this summer. We ended-up getting tickets and will be attending the Final Team Gymnastics Ceremony (my choice) and a Beach Volleyball game (Trav’s choice). Although we have the cheapest tickets you can buy, it should still be a good time. However, I’ll be amazed if China actually pulls this off because there’s so much work left to do. Our school is postponing the start of the first day for two weeks so that the staff can attend the events, which means a longer summer- hooray! But a shorter winter break- boo! We will travel somewhere during that time or maybe just tour around in China. Oh yah! I can finally drive legally in China because I got my driver’s license.

Here are a some questions from the driving test that you may find humorous:
1. For an abdominal wound, such as the protrusion of the small intestine tube, we should:
A) put it back
B) no treatment
C) not put it back, but cover it with a bowl or jar, and bind the bowl or jar with a cloth belt.

ANSWER- C. Apparently, this has been a significant problem for the Chinese culture in the past. I guess we should keep a bowl in our car, just in case.

2. In summer, when a driver drives a vehicle he can _______
A) wear a pair of slippers
B) not wear slippers since it’s unsafe and impolite to wear them
C) wear any shoes, including slippers

ANSWER-B. Good to know, I guess.

For this winter break, we’re off again to Washington to spend it with family and friends. We wish everyone a safe and FUN holiday season and have a Happy New Year!

Warm Wishes,

Travis, Cara, and Gabriella Tebo