We got the boys these robes in Taiwan from some Amazing women, Miki and Lauren, who we met at their little shop. We went back 3 or 4 times to visit, both before and after we had picked up Zack. The day we flew out we went to say good-bye and they made us oolong tea right on the display counter. We sat and talked and drank tea. It was one of the more special parts of our journey.....
(Help...they're taking over!)So, it was just all going a bit too well...you know, like too good to be true? We have started to deal in reality around here it seems. We are back from orbit and the honeymoon is over. It had to happen eventually. Right?A few posts ago I had mentioned that Zack seemed to prefer Chris over me just a bit...well, now it is more than just a bit. He has, at this point, made a full fledged decision about me and he has decided that I am just slightly above useless (I make the food, so I seem to have that going for me). Um....OUCH . Even though I knew this may happen, it is still challenging. Of course though I am all patience with Zack...I am a little disheartened inside when he cries for Dad as I hold him. I am dealing with it a little better every day. He reaches out and touch me while Chris is holding him. That is progress. I try to feed him most of his meals and I put him to bed just as much as Chris. I also hold him many times throughout the day....he just keeps Chris in his sights. We are getting there. Luckily, Luke is here and he sort of smoothes the edges of just about anything. That kid is blowing me away with how well he is handling all of this. Such a great little person. He calls Zack "Yak" and asks "Where's Yak?" throughout the day. So funny!!We are also working on sleep/nap stuff. It seems that now that Zack is getting used to being here he is wanting to play around with his nap schedual. By that I mean...not nap. This is not an option around here so we are trying, as gently as possible, to let Zack know he will be napping. We play around with different times and lengths as well as ways of putting him down. It can take 35 minutes to get him down for a 60 minute nap....that isn't going to work when I am home with both kids and Luke is in the living room....We'll continue to adjust and be patient. So, overall, this is harder than I thought it would be. It is good and will be better soon. We are right in the middle of one of the most challenging parts now, so we just have to keep our eyes on the goal. Of course I am open to any helpfull suggestions. Especially on how to handle helping Zack feel comfortable with me and how to help Zack not feel threatened by Luke playing with his dad. Zack is not interested in sharing Chris at all...which I totaly understand , I just need to find a way to help him through that. We are making sure that Chris and Luke go outside and do fun boy stuff alone at least once a day and that really helps Luke, but obviously not Zack!If this post sounds a bit down....it isn't all bad here. This is just a good place for me to work through the hard stuff so it may seem to be leaning a bit more toward the negative than it is day to day. Chris and I are doing well and talking about the days events each night. Bear with me...more cute fun stuff is around the corner I'm sure! And, hey, I included photos!!!
Alrighty then! We are sleeping! We kept poor little Zack (and his poor parents) awake as long as he could be kept awake yesterday and we have success. He slept from 9:45pm until 8:00am. Yeah. Zack rocks. So, everybody slept last night at the same time and the boys both napped at the same time this afternoon.
Looks like we are all set for another night of going to bed all at once. Chris and I may even get our 2 hours of peace that we are quite attached to after "baby bed time" (8-10pm). Oh how we cherish those 2 little hours. They are what keep this house going.
Things continue to go well around here. Luke is not completely impressed with Zack yet. As we explain Zack's little quirks to Luke and point out all of the things that Luke gets to do that Zack can't do yet, Luke gets a little more secure in his new position.
Zack is VERY impressed with Luke though. He just watches every little thing Luke does. This big brother worship has definately eased our transition!
Thanks to everybody who offered to watch the boys so we could sleep....You are all so wonderful. Believe me, I was tempted. But I knew it was just a matter of us all pushing through together so we could all be tired at the same time. It was like mock speed reaclimating to the time change thanks to Luke being a stickler for his little schedual. I really think we've managed to conquer jet lag in 2 days, which has got to be a record or somthing.
Here are some photo's of what we've done today... 
We went on a walk through the neighborhood and then played in the front yard for a while
This is a photo of us NOT holding either one of the kids while they are both awake...this is the first time this has happened since Monday!! Very exciting....Little Zack is starting to explore!
Dad's Observations about Zack:- Right now he wants to do nothing but go for walks in the carrier or be held.
- Right now we want to do nothing but hold him.
- He is already a completely different little boy than the one we picked up. He is opening up faster than I thought he would.
- Zack is a thinker just like his big brother.
- He is also just about as heavy as his big brother! He is a wide and stalky little guy.
- He is very ticklish and has a very funny little laugh.
- He was very loved by the people at St Lucy's. They are amazing and have done so much for him/us.
- Zack looks just like his birth mother.
- He 'high fives' with the best of them. He will fit right in ;)
- At St Lucy's the caretakers are a little more physical than we are in the US. Tickling is more of a jabbing motion, but he likes it!
- Zack seems to be afraid of floors.
- He goes to sleep with very little trouble so far and sleeps through the night!!!
Dad's Observations about Taiwan:- You know it is humid when your camcorder refuses to turn on because "condensation is detected"
- Extreme sports have nothing on scooter riders here. You couldn't pay me enough to drive a car or ride a scooter in Taiwan.
- St Lucy's is in a much busier part of town than I imagined. I imagined some rural paradise in the middle of nowhere (I don't know why) but it is on one of the busier little streets we have seen!
- The people here are really nice.
- Paying a little more for the 'Evergreen Deluxe' airline tickets and a two room suite are the best money you could ever spend.
- We are definitely minorities here but I don't feel like an outcast because of race, more because of the unfamiliar surroundings.
- Seeing $100 happy meals at McDonalds and paying $105 for a 5 minute taxi ride is hard to get used to. ($100 is roughly $3 US)
- Taxis are definitely the way to go.
- Soda doesn't taste very different like I thought. I guess they use cane sugar instead of corn syrup.
- There are just as many annoying boy/girl bands here, but they are less annoying when you can't understand them.
- Although Taiwan is small it is bigger than I imagined. On our 30 minute flight to Tainan, we didn't pass over much land that wasn't developed/populated
- The buildings here are very architecturally interesting but nothing seems to be maintained as well as I would think. Nothing unsafe, mostly side effects of the humidity and smog I guess.
- The Mythbusters, Sports Center, and baseball are on TV here!
- Everything in popular culture has to do with cartoon cats, robots, or cartoon robot cats. Hello Kitty is on busses, airport booklets, everywhere.
PS: Italy rules the world cup! We couldn't sleep so we watched the last period of the finals game. The Driver and Jessica (the international adoption coordinator) at St. Lucy's said I looked like one of the Italian Soccer players....They got the italian part right!
Hey there everybody!!!! Still having a great time! Other than missing Luke and being anxious to have Zack, this is an awesome trip!! So, it is lunch time here on Sunday and 10pm on Saturday at home. This morning we got pretty adventurous and walked about a mile through the city to an open air street market. We found a few great treasures for us and Zack and got to practice bartering with the incredibly nice locals. I think we paid more than the locals would have, but things were definately less expensive than in the large stores. It was a very cool experience. We were definately the only Americans there!!
After that we walked to the electronics hub. It was streets and alleys full of tiny shops with roll up doors, and inside all of them would be computers, laptops, flat screen monitors, and plasma televisions. Very interesting juxtaposition. State of the art technology inside of tired, old buildings. It reminded me of a Hive of some sort.
Next....Lunch!!! We had to try McDonalds in Taiwan. Some interesting observations.....
- Only 1 menu item with beef, a Big Mac, otherwise Dark meat chicken or fish.
- 3 sandwiches were served on rice buns (see photo)
- It is a very popular Lunch spot. Busier than any of the local cuisine shops in the area.
- The shrimp sandwich on rice bun is freakin good!!!
- The french fries taste the same anywhere.
- Spicy chicken actualy means SPICEY chicken, how refreshing!!
Shrimp pattie on a Rice bun.Finally...You may notice that there are not many people in most of the photos. A funny thing about Taipei, nothing really gets going before 11am. Nothing is open before 10am and things start to start opening around 10:30ish. Very different than at home. Somthing like a street market or antique plaza or farmers market would be open by 7 or 7:30 am in California....not here! there is really no point in leaving the Hotel before 9:30. Yesterday we went to the very swanky mall at Taipei 101 with stores like Prada, Gucci, Celine, Tiffany, etc. and they didn't open until 11:00. So, everywhere we go we are outside waiting for it to open. Silly tourists!Probably wont post again tonight, so this is the last post before Zack!!!! We should be back to our hotel around 6pm our time tomorrow with Zack. I will post as soon after that as possible. So start looking for Zack photo's around 5am on Monday. Until then....C & A
View from Observation Floor (89th) of Taipei 101
Taipei 101
Center Atrium of our hotel....very swanky.
Us in (front of) Love.
So here are a few photo's of our hotel (The Howard Plaza) and the Taipei 101 (worlds tallest building for now). We are having a great time and the food is amazing!!!
It is Lunch time here right now and we are headed to the Handicraft Market.Getting around in cabs has been a cinch...so easy. Our hotel has free super yummy breakfast and snacks all day. And most if not all signs are in english. It is just fabulous.
We'll post more tonight!!
We have just arrrived in our room in Taipei.... and this is the fanciest hotel room I've ever been in! We had a limo ride from the Airport, had our bags delivered to our room and are about to go to bed. We have been awake for 30 hours and are ready to pass out. The plane ride was a plane ride....We couldn't sleep much..maybe an hour or so. The food was very good and the seats were more spacious than coach...but, come on, it is still an airplane seat. Tomorrow we will post some photo's and start documenting our explorations. It looks to be a pretty exciting place!!Stay tuned, Amanda & ChrisIt is midnight here right now and it is hotter outside than the middle of the day in Sacramento...It's HOT.
Luke turned 2 this week!!!!
What a big boy he has become.
Luke can:
- Say 4 word sentences
- Ask 4 word Questions
- Tell me when he needs his daper changed (yes, we just bought a little potty)
- Sleep in a big boy bed
- Boogie Down
- Line up all of his Hot wheels in a perfect row
- Climb in and out of any chair
- Get in and out of the car by himself
- Talk on the phone
- Use a fork
- Give nice Hugs and Kisses
- Unscrew just about any lid
- Take apart and put together his legos
- Turn on and off the TV
- Clean his own face
- Say please and thank you
- Open doors
- Throw a ball 10-12 ft. (watch out)
- Kick a ball like nobody's business
- Smile for a picture when you ask him to
- Charm the pants of anybody...but especially grandparents, anybody's grandparents!
It is amazing how all of the joy I feel is tainted with a little sadness every time he inches a little further from babyhood. But it is all happening as it should, and for that I am greatfull down to my core.
