Milestones!!

So babies do grow fast!

After Rachel returned back from Taiwan, I found Andrew to be more mobile and curious than the baby I remember sending away for two and half weeks.  And in the time since he has been back, more milestones have been met.

First, he is starting to move.  Like an inchworm, he will army crawl inch by inch in search of toys or things to suck.  He rotates, changing his orientation from one direction to the other with ease.  He can lift his head WAY in the air to check out his surroundings.  And he finds things we would not have anticipated...

Then today, Rachel announced that it was time to start feeding him "real food."  We fed him, successfully, a small bowl of baby rice cereal.  Still mostly liquid, but it was on a spoon and he liked it.  That's what counts.

There is so much more to come.  It is really just the beginning of an exciting time in his life!

It had been good to be reunited as a family these past weeks.  Though we both were ok in our time away, life together in much better.  Rachel has been helping me get on top of my schoolwork, and making sure that I am well fed.  I think the house is cleaner with her here as well.  I suppose only getting 5 hours of sleep a night will free up extra time for chores...

But hopefully that is only temporary.  The jet lag really wore Rachel down, because Andrew failed to readjust his nighttime sleeping patterns.  But yesterday she removed the pacifier from the bedtime routine, and he actually went to sleep faster and stayed down longer than he did before!  Tonight he also fell asleep fast, so this trend is definitely trending up.

Otherwise in life...I am busy at work but that is nothing new.  Northwestern is disappointing us in sports, but that is also not news.  Halloween is upon us, and for the first time we will have to be responsible community members and distribute candy to all those do-nothing kids in the neighborhood looking for handouts.  Rachel is tempted to go door-to-door with Andrew to score some free candy.  I was just looking forward to getting the discounted candy from Target on Nov 1...

Fights at school are getting everyone down.  We need some snow to cool everyone off and put the bad blood on ice for another season. 

Go Cats.  Let's win tomorrow, ok?

-alan

From stateside

While Rachel has been having fun in the Taiwan, I have been languishing in bachelorhood back in Chicago.  Many have asked how life alone is going, but it seems I have had plenty of social interaction to keep me busy.  The sports spectator scene alone has swallowed up much of my free time - with the Tigers in the playoffs, Lions doing well, Northwestern football, and a marathon, there has been a lot to watch.

Karen's performance in the marathon was admirable.  She ran hard despite the crowds and heat, and was in far better spirits the rest of the day than I ever could myself.  I was miserable enough having slept only 4 hours and watching the marathon all day - I did not even run (other than to cross the street!).  Downtown was a madhouse, with swarms of out-of-towners taking to the CTA to catch a glimpse of their friends and family running.  I knew the Chicago marathon was a big deal, but I had no idea...

Today is the last full day / night before Rachel comes home.  I have a few things at home to do: some laundry and picking up, but I cleaned both before and after Phil and Karen came over, so at least there are no big chores.  I do still have a lot of grading to do.  Grading is my thorn, the task that I always have hanging over me and can never seem to get on top of.  I will dive headfirst into this task today, and hope that I get something substantive accomplished.

While it has been a good experience to have some independence and do things completely on my own, I am excited to have Rachel and Andrew home.  The activity of the past week has made Skyping difficult - the times never really lined up.  Now there is little more than a 20 hour airplane journey between us!

-alan

More fun in Taiwan!

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile, we have been busy playing and seeing the sights around town!

 Andrew really likes playing with Grandpa and seeing his crazy faces.  Last night he laughed for a few minutes as Grandpa was doing the classic monster faces and trying to eat him.  I found it a bit scary but Andrew likes it.

 Andrew spends his time outside of our arms on this comforter playing with toys.  It was actually my blanket in high school so I was surprised to see that it made the trip to Taiwan.  I would have never imagined that my little boy would one day be drooling all over it.  For those of you who don't know the giraffe in the picture is named Sophie and is the go to teething toy for spoiled babies in America.  Evidently they sell them in Taiwan too but she is prized out of reach for the average family.  I did see her in a stroller on the MRT and 2 people have talked about her.  Who knew this little French giraffe was so popular?

 Andrew has enjoyed all the attention he is getting from family and from friends of my parents.  He hasn't hit the point of stranger anxiety yet so he has done remarkably well with the hand offs to many many aiyis.

 It seems like Andrew really would be a great swimmer if we got him in the water.  Can't you just imagine him under the sea as he posed Monday under the dome of light in the MRT.

 On Tuesday we went to Dream Mall and learned that Andrew's interest in food is growing by the day.  We did not share our meal but we did give him a plastic spoon to play with.  This weekend we gave him a plastic cup and old yogurt containers...why does he like playing with junk when he has so many nice toys????

 Andrew's hunger seemingly continued as he attempted to eat this nice Taiwanese toddler that we met at the pet shop.  The little boy seemed scared but intrigued by the mini foreign devil.

 Wednesday, my mom had over about a dozen ladies who doted and entertained Andrew during their potluck.  It was interesting to see how everyone has their own tricks of what they think a baby likes.  I have seen tactics such as silly voices, clucking, clicking, clapping, shoving toys in his face, singing, and many more.

 After all that attention at the potluck, Andrew was tired out when we stopped by the Jade market.  I hoped to find something really cool, but alas I only went home with a papya milk drink.

 Later that night we stopped by the study at the Train Station Church (where I lived the Summer of 2001) for everyone to meet Andrew.  I guess they knew he was coming because someone greeted us with fireworks ;).

-rachel

Adventures in Taichung

 We took our first road trip up to Taichung on Friday.  This is where Stephen goes to boarding school (a senior already).  We left a little earlier than expected so that we could watch Stephen in his class Moot Court simulation.  It was fun to see a social studies class in action and to see my little bro debating.  After school we spent a lot of time in Stephen's super swanky dorm common area visiting and killing time before his concert.  My energy level was very low during the concert and after I dozed off on the bench outside.  I actually didn't know that the picture below was taken!  Stephen did sing very well and Andrew managed to have decent but not perfect concert etiquette.

The next morning we picked Stephen up from school and headed out to a mall to celebrate my dad's birthday at Chili's.  Andrew met a model at the Vespa display but I didn't let him ride off into the sunset with her.  

We happily posed in front of the sign not knowing the drama that would ensue in the next 30 minutes.

Andrew looked happy here but he was about to set in motion his most heinous crime to date...

Who me?  How could I do anything bad?

Let's just say that the Taiwan diaper could not contain this American baby's gifts.  There was no bathroom in the Chili's and I carried Andrew awkwardly out from my body as I tried to find a bathroom in the fancy wall.  Yes, we may have left a trail behind us.  My mom found her way down as well and helped to give Andrew a mini bath and get him a new diaper.  Here he is right after we got the situation under control.  Doesn't he look innocent?

-rachel

Bonding and exploring

 Of course the purpose of our trip was for Grandma and Grandpa Miller to meet Andrew and he is loving every minute of it.  My dad is letting him pull his hair, which I do not condone, and making a variety of high pitched voices.  My mom reads to Andrew and just loves to cuddle with him.



Below are some pictures from our trip to the market on Friday.  Andrew was very curious and looked at all the interesting new sights. I tried to hold him back from the table a bit so he couldn't touch or drool on the merchandise. 

 Grandpa biked by on the way to the gym!

 More shiny fish!

 Andrew loves the market as much as his mommy!

-rachel

Up up and away

Andrew and I made it safely to Taiwan.  I think the journey went better than I even imagined.  Before going I had a few fears that I could not shake, and thankfully Andrew didn't force me to face any of them in reality.

1. Andrew will cry inconsolably and I will get death stares (threats) from other passengers.
Actually he was amazing.  Honestly I think he may have cried for a total of 5 minutes for the whole journey.  To be fair, I intentionally avoided situations that would upset him so I ended up holding him a lot more than I planned to.  I figure this was a fair trade-off to avoid the mob of angry transpacific sleepers.

2. Andrew will not be able to nurse on the plane because the situation is too different than what he is used to.
He definitely had no issue with this.  I was able to successfully feed him on take-off and landing which evidently cures the annoying ear popping problem.  He wasn't too squished on the long haul flight into Hong Kong because the seat next to us ended up being unoccupied!  Woot woot!

3. There will be a messy blow out either from the little boy's bum or from my airsickness.
Without going into too many details, we were quite successful at reigning in all types of unwanted messes.  At the eleventh hour I found my motion sickness wristbands and had no travel related nausea.  Andrew enjoyed our trips to the bathroom for diaper changing because he could pull out the paper towels positioned over his head.  


I not only avoided fears but also was pleasantly surprised about a few elements of our journey.  It is always great to be blessed beyond your expectations!


1. People are really nice when you have a baby.
I already knew this to some extent but I was encouraged by the smiles and comments as Andrew and I took this first journey together.  From flight attendants to random ladies in the bathroom, I felt very supported.  On the leg from Hong Kong to Kaohsiung I was not even in line yet but a gate employee lead me to the front and we were one of the first people on the plane.


2. Time flies when you are with a baby.
Typically on flights I get restless after awhile and get very very eager to leave the plane.  I love watching all the movies we never seem to see and all that, but I tire of it quickly.  This time I was not really that restless at all.  Taking care of Andrew gave me a big distraction and in some ways it wasn't all that different than a normal day at home with a little less wiggle room.


3. We had a great seats on the plane.
I knew on paper where our seat would be but it turned out to be some pretty swanky digs.  We were in Row 30 seat C.  This is the first aisle seat in the bulkhead middle after business class.  Andrew's bassinet was positioned on the wall in front and the bathroom was on the other side of that wall.  I felt like we had our own private suite.  The flight was not too full so there was never a big line or a lot of people bothering us in this location.  As mentioned above seat D was free so I spilled over into that seat with extra baby gear and when I took my naps.  The only downfall was that seat E was another solo mama/baby combo.  Young
Benjamin was good for the most part but I would wake whenever either baby made a peep. Below are some pictures of Andrew's bassinet where he slept some, played some, and drooled a lot!

 Me and my baby chilling in 30C before take off!

 Andrew checking out his bassinet.

 I don't know if Andrew really liked watching Midnight in Paris but the screen was quite intriguing!

 You can never go wrong with a nice hand after 8 hours of flying.

 Andrew looking sleepy after making his first landing in Hong Kong.  The bright reading light adds a nice effect don't you think?

 At our gate in HK, notice the sign behind says "Kaohsiung now boarding".  Even though our flight was a little delayed it was easy to get through to our transfer in time. 

 Creepy Art House shot of Andrew's double reflection in the window of the plane in HK.  It was raining a bit but didn't deter us.

 Andrew got to play in the adjoining seat for a bit before another passenger came to occupy it.

 Waiting for our baggage in Kaohsiung, it came so quick Grandma and Grandpa weren't even out there when we arrived!

 We travel in Swiss style!

 Grandma's first hug!  I didn't think we would ever leave the parking lot!

Andrew eyes Grandpa with a smile as I try to tackle the stinky diaper he thankfully produced as we pulled into the parking garage.


All in all fun times.  Andrew slept ok last night, although I would have appreciated a few more hours.  Today we are going to explore a bit and I think we are heading out to Stephen's school in Taichung tomorrow!  No rest for the not to weary travelers.

Oh and check out Super 8 and X-men First Class if you haven't seen them!

-rachel

Airborne!

It is official, as of 3:51pm CT, Rachel and Andrew's plane has departed for Hong Kong.  It was 25 minutes late, but Rachel said before boarding that it was no big deal.

Which means I am officially on my own in the US.  Rachel is very nervous about my eating habits - that I will either (1) eat a lot of junk and/or (2) spend too much money eating a bunch of junk.  Only time will tell what my motivation level will lead me to do...

So is there anything I should be doing, now that I have the bachelor life for the next 2 weeks?

And from my wife's perspective, is there anything I should not be doing?