Waiting for Grandma...

Natalie, Charlie, and Kay all watched the progress of Grandma's plane as she flew in the air to Hong Kong!  We explored the city for three weeks with Grandma.  It was great to have an extra set of hands everywhere.  Marissa was a trooper and snuggled up to me in the Ergo while we explored.  This city is not real "baby" friendly.  Very few places have changing tables or somewhere to sit and nurse.  She even had to nurse standing up in the bathroom!

I tried to explain and warn Grandma about how hard it was to get around the city with children.  The first school day we rode the mini bus together and took Kay to school.  I explained about how to pay and sit down on the bus quickly.  I told her to go first because they would start driving before we were seated.  Until you experience the crazy mini bus, this is a concept hard to grasp.  Grandma's trip started out with a bang... literally!  The bus driver was so crazy she and Kay fell off the seat!  After we discovered no one was hurt it gave us a great laugh!

Always an adventure in Hong Kong...

Just leaving the USA...

Getting Closer...

Marissa is One Month Old...

I am a little late posting these as she is almost two months old now...

Fun Times...

Kay and her friends on the podium...

Marissa in the Ergo...

Snuggles from my girls...

Best Daddy!

There are many reasons why I love Craig.  Here are a few examples of why I think Kay and Marissa have the best daddy ever!

Those days are over...

The days of spelling items so Kay will not know are beginning to end. We had plans of going to a restaurant for dinner but it was not open yet. We had to hurry home because Marissa needed to feed. We were rethinking our plan and Craig spelled from the from the front of the taxi..."We could order a P-I-Z--Z-A". Kay tells out..."Yes! Let's order a pizza". We all laughed out loud. Smart girl...

Fail...

I have learned many things while living here. Today at school Kay was told to "dress up". I assumed since it was their Christmas party and the kids were also bringing special snacks she was to wear a cute dress to school. Well, apparently here "dress up" means princess costume and wearing a "costume" means wear a pretty dress. All during lunch I heard on REPEAT over and over how everyone was in a princess dress and her mommy did not know (mother of the year = FAIL). Later it came out that Ronan also did not have a costume (at least there were two of us!). I am exhausted of trying to figure everything out here!!

Bus mom...

Kay told me today on the walk home that she has a new bus mom. I asked her if she is nice and her response was "I don't know". I was curious and asked why she didn't know. Kay responds "I don't understand what she says". When I asked for clarification Kay's answer was she speaks Mandarin. The childhood honesty made me smile. Of course she doesn't know if she is nice if she can't understand her!

Marissa...

Family Photos...

Our little Angel...

Kay had her Christmas play at school this week.  She was SO excited to have Craig and I both come to visit her.  She was an angel in the play.  She did great and this time was much braver!  She actually sang and participated.  We were so proud of our little girl.  I admit, we were a little slack on the costume front.  They told us we needed a costume right when Marissa was born.  The last thing on our mind was finding the perfect Angel costume.  We made do with what we had around the house!

Kiss...

Kay is very cute when leaving for school.  She first kisses me goodbye, gives Marissa a kiss, and then runs to the Christmas tree and kisses the tree goodbye.  Someone is excited about Christmas!

First Bottle...

Marissa got her first bottle!  She did great and ate about 3 ounces.  Afterwards, Kay wanted to give her baby a bottle.  Kay and her daddy "fed" and "burped" her baby too.

Decorating our Christmas Tree...

We are entering our apartment building's christmas tree decorating contest.  The best part is they provide the tree so we did not have to mess with trying to find a tree here.  Kay painted ornaments and she and her daddy picked out lights from IKEA.  She had a blast helping!

We took this great family photo (or so we thought until we downloaded it).  We realized we cut off Marissa's head (oops!) and tried again.  As you can see, the second attempt Kay was NOT interested in cooperating.  Oh well...we tried!