Our First Jewish Bris & More

We had quite the busy weekend... On Friday, we had to work. Duh. Afterwards, we headed to the Pommie for a drink and caught-up with some friends. Later on, the school hosted a Welcome Back BBQ which was good fun- free food and drinks, although the food wasn't great. Chen, our ayi, stayed the night, so we made the most of that and headed over to King's Bar to visit with people- always a good night. :) On Saturday, we had an AWESOME day. Mainly because of where we live... In the morning, Gabby and I took a walk to the local mini-mart (called Lion Mart) and I bought some food and then on the way back we stopped at the playground. After her nap, the whole family walked literally 5 minutes and we were at the pool. We ran into some people there, so that was fun. She LOVES swimming and Travis used to teach swim lessons and is a fish himself so they had a good time playing. That night, Travis took Gabby and made her dinner while I walked back to the clubhouse and got a pedicure. I timed my walk and it was only two minutes. Sweet. It's so convenient here! On Sunday, we went to our first Jewish Bris. After 8 days of being born, it's a ceremony where the boy gets circumsized in front of people. Yikes. However, this wasn't an officical Bris because he was already snipped. It was more like a celebration of life, since he was one month old- and happy and healthy. Travis got to wear a yamaka during the ceremony, which I should have taken a picture of. We had no Jewish friends growing up so we love learning about all of this. Plus, I used to have a thing for Jewish guys growing up (Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfield, and Adam Horovitz from Beastie Boys). Yah, not sure what that was all about but the point being that I always found the culture interesting. On Sunday night, we did our usual grocery shopping for the week. I made Gabby these yummy baked chicken cutlets with parmesean cheese, parsley, and paprika. I got the idea from my gluten free cookbook. Travis and I liked them but it wasn't a hit for Gabby. Oh well, she still gets them for dinner tonight.

On a different note, I think I'm getting sick. I feel like poop (body aches, sore throat, etc.) and the weather is bad too (rainy and steamy)...

Gabby Highlights- She's talking more and more Chinese. She told the ayi "teach me" in Chinese, as she's enjoying learning both languages. She's saying a bunch of words that I'm not even sure what she's saying. I can tell it's Chinese, though. The ayi shows her pictures of animals and she's starting to same them in Chinese. It's pretty cool to watch.

Bad Poop but Good Mood

I promise I'll stop writing about Gabby's poop... You would be the same way if you had a kid with Celiac and were paranoid about gluten. For those who don't know, when Gabby eats gluten she gets really runny poops- which is a sign that she ingested some. It happens but it's not good because it can lead to other issues down the road. Anyhoo, she didn't poop all day yesterday. Sure enough we got a wake-up call at 1 am (this is a work night BTW) and Gabby pooped a nasty, runny poop. It was in her hair and all over her hands so we quickly rallied. Trav gave her a bath and I cleaned the crib. The whole time she didn't really mind and had a smile on her face... We put her back to bed and all is well. This morning she woke up, played with her teddy and bunny, and then started singing the "Happy Birthday" song. What I cant figure out is that she's not ever in a really bad mood. When she's tired, YES. BAD MOOD. The reason I think it's weird is because adults with Celiac, who ingest gluten, usually get very tired, grumpy, and lethargic. I have never seen this side to her...yet...

Every morning she gets up and plays in her crib and then when she's ready she'll yell out "mommy!" I call down the stairs (the master suitte is the floor above the bedrooms which sounds fancy but NOT) and I tell her I'm coming. Then she yells back "okay!" This TOTALLY cracks me up. I don't really know why... How she says okay is just funny. I also have no idea the last time she cried in the morning when she was ready to get up, or eat, or whatever... she suddenly doesn't cry at all (unless she's hurt). I believe that transition has happened for awhile but it was gradual. Funny how that happens...

First Week Back in China... Year 5

The first week has been okay, although the weather has been really lame. The first Sunday we were back (August 2nd) it was gorgeous, albeit hot and humid but I'm used to that. Ever since it has been overcast and rainy (as i wrote this the sun came out and there are blue skies now). I love the lush green but I want a summer too dang it! The two stores we shop from aren't carrying Gabby's meat- A.K.A. Hormel Natural Choice. It's the only lunch meat that she likes AND it says "gluten free," which makes me warm and fuzzy inside (If you had a Celiac kid then you'd get that). AND, there are no over-priced pull-up diapers! Crap. So I may hang-on to the pull-up diapers I have now until later and use regular diapers. I also really miss my friends from last year. We had a breakfast today and it was so weird not to see them... The overseas life... a lot of hellos and goodbyes.

Gabby is getting use to the sleep patterns now- it usually takes a week. She is now running and giving Travis and I these huge squeeze-type hugs when we get home. It's awesome how happy she is to see us. Now I know how "dog people" (people who own and care for dogs) feel when they come home and their dogs are happy to see them. She is reading or trying to read all the time. She also loves to count, and goes from 1-14) but still keeps forgetting 5. It's so funny. We had six rocks laying in a row and she counted them and pointed to each rock and said the corresponding. She skipped over the fifth rock and said "six." I think she just hates the number five. She's also quite sensitive like me... whenever she seems someone cry, she always points it out and wonders why. In her books, if she sees someone cry, she'll say "he's crying, he's sad. Owie mommy?" She thinks if you cry it's because you have an owie so I've been telling her that people cry for different reasons. It's interesting to see the emotional intelligence side come out. She asks me all the time, "What you doing, momma?" She's a little human figuring out her world.

I made my first gluten free pizza crust yesterday. I used to LOVE making yeast breads and made the yummiest cinnamon rolls but the last three attempts (about 7 years ago) I killed the yeast and swore off attempting to make a yeast bread again. Anyway, last night Travis and I made a pizza and froze the leftover crust. I'm getting lots of good tips from these books I got about making and storing gluten free food and how to deal with parties, school, etc. We bought a foodsaver too so we can store cereal and other items. That will be really helpful.

Potty training update... she has pooped and peed for about 3 days in a row. Yippee! Trav sat with her all yesterday and kept asking if she had to pee or poop. She is so proud of herself. Now if we could just get her to start wiping her own bum...

The Nabisco shipment is in! I now have Triscuits and Wheat Thins! Yay!

Back in China...

Two words... STICKY and LOUD. Sticky because of the humidity and loud because of all those friggin' bugs in the trees. It's like living in the rain forest. The flight was pretty uneventful but in a good way. Gabby was awesome and did great on the airplane- cried a little here and there but nothing big. You should have seen us and all the looks we got at the airport, though. We went back with seven 50-pound bags and three carry-on suitcases that were probably 50 pounds each (that's where we load all of our heavy books). Travis told the lady that we had so much stuff because we lived there and that a lot of it was food for Gabby because she has a special diet (which is true). We didn't have to pay a cent even though we had an extra bag! Yippee! Anyway, Trav, Gabby, and I are acclimating well to our "other" home. It was raining cats and dogs when we arrived and the driver wasn't there to take us home so we took a van and paid too much. Oh well. Travis was completely soaked taking out all of our luggage- what a good guy. After we got in to our clean home with A/C, Gabby ran over to her play room and Travis and I ordered our favorite Chinese food. We watched "Pretty in Pink" because the cable wasn't connected yet. I fell asleep with my mouth hanging open and drool down the side of my face. I was SO TIRED. Chen came over Sunday morning and helped unpack us and ironed all our clothes and put them away. I missed having an ayi. While that was happening, Travis and I went to the bar, had some beers, then a pedicure and massage. While we were there we met one of the new counselors and the new school psychologist. We ended up going back to the bar for dinner and to visit with them. I love China! Now I'm back at work as if I've never left... it amazes me how quickly we adjust between these two worlds...

Stayin' at the Tebo's Place

Yesterday we moved into Travis' parent's place for the rest of our visit. We leave July 31st and I'm totally feeling the crunch to get things done. We have bought so much crap! We recently made two separate trips to Oregon for tax free shopping and went crazy. I have no idea how we're going to fit it all in six 50-pound bags. We'll probably just pay for an extra bag so we can take back Gabby's gluten-free food. There's a good chance we won't be home for winter break this year so we need to stock up. For the same "Hormel Natural Choice Turkey", I found two packages for 5 bucks at Fed Meyer. In China, it's $10 for one package. Crazy. I'll totally pay it but the mark-up is just insane.

Gabby will be SUPER tall!

I went on this height predictor thing on babycenter.com and it guesstimates how tall your kid will be but they have to be two years old... so I went on there and it said that Gabby will be 5' 11''. Holy cow! I hope they make longer pants by the time she gets older. I'm already stocking up on size 4T and 5T stuff for fall and winter.

Seattle Children's Doctor Appointment

As people know, Gabby girl has Celiac Disease so we saw the doctor today in Seattle (missed the stupid Bainbridge Island ferry!) to see how she's been doing. Our main concern is if she's getting gluten (wheat, rye, barley) or not. If she is, then we need to make adjustments and figure out a better treatment plan. Apparently, when we got her blood taken in June, someone messed up (Doctor? Nurse?) and didn't order a celiac test done... so the appointment, to me, was a waste of time. I was really looking forward to this appointment and it was a bit of a let down. Travis and I never feel like we get all the answers we need and we're always guessing and not sure. I wish someone could just tell me exactly what's wrong and what to do. Anyway, we talked about her having a possible food allergy because she still has runny poops (sign of gluten). We'll get all these test results back next week. He said she looked better but was a tad concerned about this rash on her body (possible sign of getting gluten). He also told us today, that a little amount of gluten here and there added up can be a cancer risk. I know we need to be careful but that's scary... only one crumb can hurt her so we have to always be vigilant. When she's older, we also need to get her tested for osteoporosis, just in case there is bone damage. On a more positive note- she's 95th percentile in height and 75th in weight and she is not low on any vitamins! Back in December her calcium was REALLY low. Yippee! We'll continue with the gluten free multivitamin, though. In other positive news, he said there's lots of research about Celiac Disease being conducted- possible vaccines, pills (like lactaid), and re-engineering wheat so it doesn't contain harmful gluten. He expects in the next 25 years that there will be breakthroughs, so that's hopeful. :)