Time for catch up!

September was a busy month for us. Holden and I traveled back to the good old US of A for serious R&R. Poor Nate, was left behind in Manila, but he managed on his own just fine...with a maid and a nanny and a driver all devoted to picking up after him. Oh, and he had a beard to shampoo and condition! Even through the major sciatic nerve pain and one parent down, we managed to have a great time.

Holden and Uncle Caleb after picking onions from the neighbors garden

Anna me and Danielle. The two people I always see when we come to town. We all have one child the same age and have been close for years!

Holden ate his weight in raspberries and chocolate milk (I am not kidding) at Nate's parents and and equal amount of peaches back in Idaho. He was lucky enough to have a birthday celebration in each state. The one in Utah included a small group of friends he spent the first 3 years of his life growing up with and horseback riding and four wheeler rides courtesy of Uncle Tyler. They all had a really good time and it was a great excuse for me to see all of the moms!

Giddy-up on Lucky. At the birthday party.

Holden and Papa, climbing hay bales in the barn.

Transformer birthday cake and pace bars, what more does a 5 year old need?

Celebrating in Idaho. My first and last homemade cake!

The best part of any party! The presents!

A sure sign of a successful birthday...surrounded by toys and asleep my 6:15pm!

The weather was perfect and I even managed to work through the pain and get a fair amount of shopping done (ok, 4 large boxes and 2 big bags worth!) but a lot of that came from the FABULOUS baby shower thrown by Brooke! Not only were the invitations and decor adorable but it was the icing on the cake to see old friends and extended family. Since we never make it home for any of the holidays or get-togethers it was such a treat to see everyone again. So, for those of you reading this...a million thanks for coming and making my trip all the better!

Family and friends at the baby shower.

The three "Simpson Girls" these two are the best!

Sherri, my maid of honor at our wedding and former roommate in Boise!

Alysia, me and Julie. My two best friends from way back in high school and before! I am behind the ball as they both have 4 kids now but we have all managed to have baby boys this year. Oooh, and their babies are both yummy!

The cake, it was the cutest thing ever and tasted even better. One layer of vanilla lemon and the other chocolate raspberry. Mmmmm.

More family enjoying cousin Katie's baby Amanda, the star of the show!

Back in Manila...

This is what I came home to; a bearded man.


Nate has been in his "mourning" phase and while at first I had to keep staring at him just to get it in my head that it really is him, I am used to it now. No, I don't want it to stay forever, but I can handle it for a little while and actually who am I to complain. I change my hair on a whim so I guess I will let him work with what hair he does have!

In usual "Nate fashion" he also had a gift waiting. A big new red bag which is fabulous on it's own, but what was inside was even better. He had filled it with 102 notes of things he loves about me. How sweet is that. Who knew he loved my feet and all the many shoes that go with them? Or my overpacking tendencies. There are 100 other things that range from my being a news junkie to my proper use of sweats and my quick wit to my very very bad sense of direction. I hated being away from him, but I loved coming home to him!

If at first you don't recognize him

Just picture him with blonde hair! Here is the cover of the toy store catalog Holden did a Halloween photo shoot for. They took out the scar in his eyebrow and his dimple and darkened his eyes and hair. STRANGE, but we still think he is cute as ever!

The thing is

IF you're going to try to pass your Toyota Fortuner off as a Lexus convincingly, maybe just maybe, you should spell Lexus properly; with a "us" not an "is."

A couple of weekends ago we took what was to be a short leisurely drive up to Tagaytay for Sunday lunch. Instead it was a 3 hour nightmare of traffic but this car and other signs along the way gave us some fun fodder. Don't we all look thrilled to be in the car....STILL?

We had a great lunch with friends and rushed back in time for a birthday party where I confiscated a baby and Holden had his face painted.

Holdenisms and more

"Morgan was a little frisky when I was at her house the other day." If you know Morgan then this quote is even funnier!

While playing GO FISH; "Dad, do you have any leroy lobsters?"
"Nope. GO FISH."
"GO FISH straight away? Mommmmma Miiiiiiiiiiiia!"

After posing for a photograph; "Maybe my cheeks are made of roses."

Overheard the other morning while entertaining himself with GI Joe guys; "You will never get away with your diabolical plan."

"Mom, tell Dad you are breaking up with him and going to marry me."

Is that the cutest? I think I am going to eat him for dessert tonight. Seriously.

Acupuncture

I am going to all lengths of medical care to fix myself. Here is the latest in the quest to remedy my lovely sciatic nerve. It's stubborn. Even when I talk nice to it, it refuses to correct itself so I had a doctor stick needles in it the other day. It was fun while it lasted. As soon as the little needles were tapped in the pain went away the endorphins ran freely through my veins and I could feel my foot again for 20 short minutes. Then she insisted on taking them out. I wish she could have left them in forever.

Tomorrow we are going to see what little Deuce really looks like at a 4D ultrasound. I am also going back to the acupuncturist. Then I'm going to see a spine doctor to see of he will shoot me full of a steroid epidural because I can't take it anymore! And if I can't take it sitting here doing nothing then I certainly cannot handle it on a 20 hour flight to America next week.

Ah America. I need it!

First things first

The first thing you should know about coming to our house is that if you're going to use the bathroom, lock the door!

"Aunt" Camilla learned that the hard way a couple of weeks ago.

Holden, walking in to have a visit with Camilla. "Hey, you didn't ask permission to use my bathroom, are you going pee or poop?"

Sorry Camilla, thanks for still agreeing to be our emergency contact.

It's tough being this cute

but somebody has to do it.

Coming soon, to a toy store catalogue near you

Halloween costume photo shoot for a local toy store. He wasn't in the best mood after the 2 hour wait and falling asleep on the hour long drive but he hammed it up for a bit all the same. I'll post the whole thing when it comes out!

Shocking? Not any more.

It's so funny to me that in a 3rd world country we have to pay 9k a year for school! But after paying $400 a month for electricity and $6 for a half gallon of milk nothing surprises me anymore.

1st day of school

Holden started "big school" this week at ISM (International School Manila). He was so very excited!

Sporting his new uniform

"Mom, I think I like going to this new school." Before we even left our house.

Breakfast in the car will probably be a habit because school starts EARLY! Out the door by 7am. Neither Holden or I have EVER been early risers. We like to think of ourselves as "night owls."

His new class seems to be pretty multi-cultured, his teacher is a real sweetheart and the facilities are brand new and fantastic. Holden is most excited for the playground and the library. Libraries are new concept to him since there isn't a proper one in Manila. We spent an hour there after school today already and thank goodness between the 3 of us we are able to check out 13 books at a time. The bookstores sure will miss us!

Oh the funny things that happen here!

Don't judge, just read.

Nate texts our new yaya, Jasmine: "Can you please bring up a big glass of ice water."

Jasmine texts back: "Sir, what is a big glass of ice water?"

Nate has incredulous look on his face as he shows me his phone with said text.

Nate texts back: "Just wait, I will come downstairs and explain."

Before he can even push send there is a knock on door. Jasmine with tray on which is: one large plastic glass, plastic container of ice and an additional but smaller glass, yet no water.

Nate kindly explains that she almost has it right.

Would it have been easier for him to just go downstairs and get his own glass of water? Of course, but then I wouldn't have this funny story to tell you! And seriously, isn't this way more fun?

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

Seriously. I cannot believe a health professional just asked me if I had pee pee'd or poo poo'd yet today. Do I look like I am 3 years old?

Only in the Philippines folks, ONLY-IN-THE-PHILIPPINES.

I think if I hadn't been so desperate to be out of pain I would have walked out thinking there was no way he had a medical degree.

I have a head cold, a lovely little thing that won't go away nor can I drown it in nyquil. I thought I would play through the misery today but as I bent over to grab a tennis skirt off the shelf I had a shooting pain something fierce run up my back and down my legs. All I did was bend over, my heck, 30 is creeping up fast! Nate sat in shock on the bed as I hobbled in half bent over screaming in pain. I called the chiropractor who conveniently is in Beijing treating Olympic athletes (GIVE ME A BREAK, I definitely need him more than they do!) Long story short, I went to his colleague and THAT is what he SERIOUSLY asked me. I spent 2 hours 2800 pesos and I still can't move or breathe. I am a jolly camper right now. Jolly, jolly, jolly.

When I first saw this group

the first thing that came to mind was ATHLETE. Isn't that exactly where your mind goes? haha A group of young professionals here get together every once in a while to re-live their youth. Apparently "youth" includes dodgeball. I am certain you will get a kick out of these photos. It was even funnier that they had aches and pains for days after the big game.

Holden and Gabby watching their very "athletic" daddies.

Another Holdenism

While settling down to sleep the other night Holden said with such a serious tone.

"Mom, I really wish I didn't have any super powers. I wish I wasn't super strong, and wasn't really super fast and couldn't see through the dark. I just want to be ordinary."

It's rainy season here

Nate overheard Holden outside today.

"Hey God...is there any body up there? Could you please make it stop raining?"

The sibling I never had

Nate and I played tennis Wednesday.

It was a good day. We were both on fire.

Nate was having a really good rally.

I was in the back of the court waiting for my turn.

He rushed the net.

The ball came to the back of the court.

I thought I would help him by hitting it.

He decided to run back and hit it too.

He swung and hit the ball.

I swung to hit the ball.

I missed the ball but hit Nates wrist square on.

He spewed lots of profanity.

I felt bad. REALLY bad. I quickly said; "Shh, don't tell Bong (coach) he will get mad at me!" Remember Nate is his prodigy, heaven forbid something happens to him.

I told Nate afterwards that I felt the way a kid must feel when he hurts his sibling and that sibling starts to cry and runs to tell mom and dad and you just know trouble is coming. He agreed. "It's kind of like when I shot my brother in the foot with a bb gun."

I have never been so happy to grow up an only child.

Ah Staff....can't keep 'em, can't get rid of 'em!

Divina, Norma, Marianne, Fely, Rose, Maulin, Lani and now Lorry and soon to be Bona. Wow, there are fewer than I thought.

Staff nightmares. It doesn't even phase me anymore. I should be trying to convince you that we really aren't that bad to work for. Really! We aren't. It is sort of embarrassing that we have been through this many in under 2 years though isn't it! Some have quit, many have been fired, some stole, some we were sad to see go, others not at all. I can remember vividly every single one of them and their pathway out our door. I would feel bad about it if it only happened to me, but luckily this is not an anomaly.

It's easy to find help around here but it's hard to find someone that fits in with your family. Someone who lives with you 24/7, sees you in every form and condition daily, knows everything about you. I mean seriously, I am sure they are more up close and personal with our possessions and habits than we are. It's strange really when you think about it. We have come so accustom to NOT running our house, that I couldn't tell you where the light bulbs are, what number to call to order water, where the vets office is and I certainly couldn't tell you how to turn the oven on or run the washing machine. It's sad to be this dependent. It wasn't my intention, it just kind of happened and now here we are, unable to function a day without help. I would trade all the help in the world to be back in America and self-sufficient. REALLY, I would.

Here we are, starting the search all over again. Our yaya(who we have had since December, it's a record people!) is pregnant and needs to take some time off. We need to find someone to fill in for a while in hopes she will come back after her maternity leave....please please please come back! Talk about crappy timing. I'm not looking forward to training a new nanny with a newborn on the way. Ok, you can all go and hate me now for complaining about having help. XOXO

TV

Here is the YouTube link to Holden's hotdog commercial. Look close or you may miss him! He is in the middle and the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Iz-IJEcmjU

So different

I don't get it. I can't wrap my mind around the fact that this pregnancy is so different from the last. I need to get in the mindset that Deuce is NOT Holden. Don't want to be pulling out the "Why can't you be more like your brother" card now do I?

I am understanding of the typical things. I understand that I am older...5 years actually! I know that my body has already been stretched to accommodate the living space of one child and sliced open and therefore will never be the same. I know that I have been through this once and I thought I knew what to expect.

Nope.

What I had with Holden was extreme craving for spicy food. EXTREME. I ate chili and tacos almost every day. I never got heartburn. I never had that pregnancy "mask." I never had a backache. I was emotional but certainly was never this bad, right Nate?

This is what I have with Deuce. An extreme aversion to most food. Yogurt and fruit are the only continual staple in my life. Texture of food is really bothering me. Nothing sounds good. I will crave something (paneer makhani, for example) and eat it and the next day the thought of it sends me into convulsions. I have heartburn all the time. I have that pregnancy mask of sunspots. I am E-MO-TION-AL You name it and I am in tears over it; commercials, in-laws, books. It's especially bad when Nate eats the last of the turkey on the last bagel in the house. This incident required him, of his own free will, to go to numerous shops around the city to round up shaved turkey breast, poppyseed bagels and mustard (I don't even like mustard) but that day it was essential and lucky for him they were all in stock!

To top it off, I am major stressed about all of the baby items we already own boxed up and labeled in the States. I really don't want to have to buy all new things especially since anything imported is about triple the price, but I really dread the thought of the 20 hour flight home 6 months pregnant with Holden, but without Nate, to schlep it all back over here!

Ah! At least I have the perfectly behaved child (at least for a 4 year old) an agreeable and understanding husband, someone to do my laundry and scrub my toilets and great friends to keep me going.

On a brighter note. We played tennis again today. It has been a couple weeks and 5 chiropractor visits since I last played and if I was "ruined" again after playing today, Nate was going to cut me off. He didn't think that 1 lesson and paying for 5 chiro appointment was worth it. It wasn't the tennis that damaged me though. I just overextended something one day at home and rather than let it heal, I insisted on playing though the irritation. Stubborn runs in our family! We played doubles on the same team. We play better together than against eachother. Everyone leaves happy and besides you wouldn't want me in tears over tennis would you?

Paradise revisited...our 4th of July

Our previous 4th of July celebrations in the States have been filled with full days of parades and bbqs with tons of other people we don't even know, so it was nice to have our own little family together and relax away from the chaos. We missed our traditional breakfast with Nate's family and of course the fireworks.

Our mini-vacation was splendid though. I love that I can pack in under 20 minutes, get on a plane at 7am and be at the beach in the warm sun by 8am on Saturday morning. We worked a deal with the hotel manager this time, since we are such frequent visitors, to upgrade to a swim-up room. Smartest thing they ever did since now we are spoiled and will have to get this room each time we come. What could be better than walking out on your patio and into the pool.



Seriously, come visit and we will take you here. What is even better is that because Nate works American hours, we don't have to come back to Manila until Monday afternoon. We are tan, refreshed and ready to tackle life in the city again.



Speaking of tan. Check out the backside of our kid. I swear to you he lives in 45 spf sunscreen, but it is a perma-tan since we have lived here.




Proof that we slather him up in sunscreen.




The boat ride over





Still life art by Holden at the Lemon Cafe


That's our room in the background, priceless, right?


Nate and Holden playing in the waves

This boy has expensive taste

Ask Holden what he wants for dinner. You may be surprised by the answer.

He won't eat peanut butter and jelly or spaghetti, mac and cheese isn't his favorite and you would be hard pressed to get him to eat pizza even if it's cheese. Basically, for the past year and half the kid has lived on cheese, bread, eggs, yogurt, fruit and edamame. Recently that has started to change.

He now wants salmon or mahi mahi or kobe beef. We go out to dinner and his meal usually costs more than ours! No longer are we ordering off the kids menu. This weekend in Boracay he had a tuna fillet and loved it as well. He wanted salmon for breakfast but go figure, salmon is a little hard to come by here. The kid loves it and he will finish off the plate. I have always heard that boys will eat you out of house and home as they grow and now we will have two of them to do that for us! I am NOT going to introduce him to sushi, that could get a little spendy. Oh well, at least he is eating something.

So, you wanna know something?

"You wanna know why?"

"You wanna know something else?"

"You wanna know why?"

"You wanna know something else?"

and it continues like that. On and on and on....with random information inserted between each "you wanna know."

I remember my mom telling me that I was always saying "Why?" "How come?" "Because why?" Apparently I was more of a questioning child and Holden is more of a telling child. It is utterly cute and perfectly Holden. Nate and I grin over his head every time one of the tirades of the "wanna knows'" begin and trust me we are grinning a lot because not a day goes by!

Well, you wanna know something else? Tomorrow morning bright and early we are going here:

Ah yes, my lovely gorgeous addiction known as Boracay. 60 minutes on the plane to spend 4 days relaxing on the fine white sand. I am hoping that it doesn't do much of this:

but even if it does it won't matter. Do you wanna know why? Because we will be out of Manila. Out of the smog and the people and the city and the chaos. This certainly is one of the benefits of living here.

WOW

"Two balls and a little bird." That is what the doctor said.

Do you know what that means? That means we are having a BOY!

Shocked: yes. Disappointed: never.

We had an ultrasound a few weeks ago and while she couldn't be certain at the time it was a girl, the doctor was leaning in that direction. We weren't placing our bets and buying all pink but we were calling Deuce a "she" and a "her." Today we went in last minute for a quick check since I hadn't felt the baby moving as much and something had "sprouted" right up.

Holden is excited it is a boy, but fully expects me to birth a 4 year old little brother for him to play with. Won't a newborn be a rude awakening for him! We are very excited to be having a sweet little baby boy in our arms. I think we make pretty cute ones if I don't say so myself!

I'm pregnant, not sick

Folks here seem to treat pregnancy as a sickness. What is that about? I started playing tennis again this month. I had planned on playing all along but those first few months I was afraid I would throw-up on the court.

When people find out I am playing they look at me like I'm insane, "but you're pregnant!"
Every time I play, our coach says,
"Please make sure this is still OK with your doctor."
"Please get a belly support belt" (yeah, don't need that quite yet!)

I promised my doc not to sacrifice my body to go after a ball too far out of reach and I try as hard as I can to fight the urge! She also made Nate promise not to make it too much of a competition and told him that bragging was not allowed and he has been pretty good following the rules. We are a competitive with each other when it comes to games of any sort! We combined our lessons so we can learn to play together and it makes it a little easier on me.

Our tennis coach beams at Nate, and not because he likes men. He is so proud of his prodigy. I have been playing almost 9 months longer than him, but he is good. I mean he is REALLY good. I hate it. I am so jealous.

Tomorrow we are playing doubles: against each other. There is no mercy.

Space

Holden's school is great! They let the children determine what subjects to study each term and then allow the kids interests and questions lead the lessons. Right now they are studying space. Every day Holden is talking about meteors and astroids, which planet is the coldest, which one has lava and gases and all about telescopes. He has really taken to this subject and it's so fun to see his big eyes as he tells us all about what he knows. He is also solidifying his Chinese. I can't believe how much of it he remembers and tells us about. Colors, animals, numbers and songs in Chinese are a regular occurrence around our house now.

My Life

So...we had to get a new driver. Our previous one was falsifying his time sheet, and you know, that doesn't really fly where I am from. I call it stealing, but whatever!

There is a great board here where leaving expats post staff they have had which avoids having to search from scratch. We had, oh, 8 of them in for interviews, but really, how do you pick a driver from a sit down face-to-face? You can't. So we chose the top 3 and had them each come in to drive a day or so to see how they did. (For those of you reading this in the States, I know how LAME this sounds, but those of you living in Manila can totally relate!)

As we walk into a shopping mall we needed to stop by Nate realizes that he left his phone in the car. His phone, which has the phone number of the "driver of the day." This driver that will wait and wait and wait until he receives a text from us saying that we are ready to be picked up. This driver who will in no way pick up "Sir Nate's" ringing off the hook cell phone in the back seat because that wouldn't be proper.

Thank heavens for friends who you can call any time of the day or night. Who you can trust with your computer passwords, who will look up a file on a message board, who will then search through all the available staff for hire to find the ONE driver who you have employed for the day. Thank you Jeffrey, you saved us once again!

Oh, and if you are wondering about the driver. We didn't hire him. Not because of this situation, it wasn't his fault of course! But we did find someone else who is great....I hope.

007 Ball

This weekend we went to the British Women's Ball and the theme was James Bond. How fabulous it that? It certainly called for a red dress and a dapper tux so we delivered. Loads of fun with great people, apparently the Brits know how to throw a party. We didn't win the diamonds, but we did score two raffle prizes!

"Mom, you look beautiful, here let me fix your hair before you leave."

Ladies of the night, black and red seemed the color of choice..

Dapper Dan himself.

Watch us grow

I love the Philippines because: I get an ultrasound every appointment. How great it that? I am shocked at how much Deuce has grown in 4 weeks. Last month we were looking at a little tadpole and low and behold this month we saw the picture perfect baby. Deuce is a kicker and a puncher with little hands moving all over the place. Everything looks good and we are on schedule for November 28th. That seems a long way away.


Deuce at 14 weeks

Father's Day

Father's day has always been a difficult day for me. In fact I have always hated it. I hated making the cards and gifts in grade school. I hated the songs. I dreaded it because I felt out of place celebrating something I couldn't understand. I have been blessed with a fiercely protective and fantastic mother who I can share anything and everything with (thanks MOM) and grandparents with whom I never would have survived without, and most importantly a grandfather who was my world. My grandma once told me that one time around Christmas when I was about Holden's age she asked me what I wanted Santa to bring me and my answer was a dad.


I guess I am writing this to get across the point that even though it was a challenge, I am so grateful for the way I was raised. Grateful for the mother who made sacrifices and has been both a mother and a father and blessed to have the opportunity to foster a relationship so dear to my heart with grandparents who are the best examples of perfection to me. I want more than anything for my children to feel the same love, acceptance and whole-hearted adoration that I have been given.

Most importantly on Father's Day, I celebrate Nate. I am so blessed to have him as the father of our legacy. He loves, he adores, he sacrifices. The doctor that delivered Holden said he has never seen a father more active in a newborns life than Nate was. He goes out of his way and does everything humanly possible to make sure he is there for every activity, every school program, every doctor's appointment, every happening in our lives. Holden regularly tells his classmates and teachers that his daddy knows everything and believes that with all his being. He has the most loving and gentle way of teaching and praising Holden. Nate has an answer to every question he asks (we all know 4 year olds can trump you with their odd questions).


Holden beams the second Nate walks through the door, Nate beams the moment he sees Holden, and I beam because of this beautiful relationship they have. Nate already has that same look of adoration every time he talks about the baby. I adore Nate in my own right because of the husband he is, but I am completely smitten with him because of the father he is. I guess I didn't get the best dad in my life, but I sure won the lottery for my kids. Happy Father's Day Nate and Mom...Happy Father's Day to you too!


Father's Day Breakfast, 2008