Over at Wordpress

I just realized...

I have been posting my blog on Wordpress now, and announced it on Facebook but not here.

So if anyone was wondering where I have gone to... I haven't posted much, but here it is:

http://meltitustsai.wordpress.com/

See you over there :)

Nothing...

Chase's follow up meeting for the 48hour EEG was this morning...

As I settled in with my mom and the kids to hear the news, our doctor started off saying that he was surprised by the findings.

I thought to myself 'oh no, he is having hundreds of seizures a day, and I don't even know it.' But that was not the case. In the span of those 48 hours, there were

absolutely.

no.

seizures.

(WHAT!?! Really?)

The doctor said that he had never seen someone that has had a Grand Mal seizure, then have a few small seizures on the first EEG, that did not have some type of Epileptic condition. And that Chase still has a 50/50 chance of having something later on.

He said that because of the results, Chase looks completely normal, and that he is not going to give him medicine for something he does not have.

Thank you Jesus.

We still need to have keep watch for any other seizure symptoms, call if there is ever anything 'strange' going on that we might think would be a seizure. And we need to take precaution and not allow him to do anything alone or take baths alone in case a seizure would ever happen at that time.

The doctor said that if Chase reaches the end of high school and has never experienced another episode that it would be the first time ever that a child, with Chases seizure history so far, would just stop having the condition. But he gave room to say that it is not out of the realm of possibility, he just has never seen it.

The over all impression that I had was that this doctor, who is probably in his 60's and very experienced in his profession, has never seen a case like this.

Thank you God.

And thank you to all the family and friends out there that have been praying for us during this time of stress and a world of unknowns. Prayers, above and beyond hope, have been answered.

I went into the appointment ready to cry at the news, and take home a hefty medical prescription that I would somehow have to force down my little guys throat probably every day (I don't know that for sure, this is only what was in my head). And I walked out with the sense of a huge burden being lifted (my worry and stress) and being in almost shock and outright awe at the results. I can only think that this is a small miracle God has done with Chase. I was so worried about the medications, the long term and short term effects of that medication, the long and short term effects of what having seizures would do to his self image and confidence. And then to sit there and be told that NOTHING would be done, because there was no evidence that anything was really wrong with Chase...

I walked in there with little hope and a lot of worry, and praise my God who takes each sorrow and worry to heart, walked out of there with a renewed sense of awe at what a wonderful, amazing, God we have. I wasn't even asking for a miracle, just a comfort for the things we would likely endure... and God answered us with something better than we even dared to hope.

Thank you Lord.

Yes, my boy is completely normal :)

One Year Ago Today...

(it was a Saturday) I started feeling contractions that started to become fairly consistent by late afternoon.

I was calm though, because Jeff had just gotten home from his internship in Chicago on Friday (leaving early) night after a first scare of very consistent contractions Thursday night till Friday afternoon. As soon as he was on the plane, my contractions slowed :).

My mom was still in town, so she watched Chase while we went out that morning to spend a little more time together before the baby came. That afternoon I continued working on a nursing cover for a friend's baby shower that was happening on Sunday that I had put off until the last minute... I had been thinking, if I am not TOTALLY prepared, the baby will just not be able to come!... flawed thinking, I must say, oh well, I was pregnant, and I really wanted to go to that baby shower.

Throughout that afternoon and evening my contractions went from inconsistent to VERY consistent and I started timing them.... in the first hour they were already 3 minutes apart and about 45sec in duration... SERIOUSLY!?! But they were not very strong so I kept track of them for another few hours, they stayed pretty consistent. At about 9pm I told Jeff what was going on, and we decided to call the Midwife Center just to make sure things were going alright since we had a very different experience with Chase's labor (my water spontaneously broke before any contractions were felt). So I really didn't know what to expect from a 'normal' labor.

We called our midwife Anne and she had us come in to get checked out. Anne told us that she thought I would have the baby by Sunday, and that I shouldn't call back until I couldn't talk through the contractions. The first contraction I had while in the car was much more significant than all the previous... figures. We got home at 10:30pm and I tried to go to bed.

After a fitful time sleeping, I finally started to time the contractions again at about 2:30am when the became stronger. We called the midwife asap because Chase's labor was so quick, and were asked to meet at the Birthing Center in 45 min... I wondered to myself, 'so long?' But after packing up the car, and getting ready to go between contractions, it took us that long to get the the Center that was only 9 blocks away. The nurse met us at the door, and the midwife was only minutes behind us.

We got there at 3:15...

Ami was born at 4:25am.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

We celebrate you today, the wonderful girl you are. Smiles, deep giggle, 4 teeth, playful nature and dancing queen! We have had a special year getting to know the little person you are and are looking forward to the next seeing the little girl you are becoming.

We love you Ami Michele.

You fill our hearts with joy.

Love,

Your Mama

Absence

So at the diagnosis today we did not get the 'all clear' from the Pediatric Neurologist as we had hoped. Chase has been having Absence Seizures, which we have not been aware of.

They caught two small seizures during the EEG testing. I believe the Neurologist said they both happened while he was still awake while I was reading him a story. I had noticed him fluttering his eyelids, but I had just thought he was blinking hard trying to stay awake for the story... little did I know I was witnessing one of his seizures. Now that I know this, I realize he has done it before... I just didn't know. (how did I not know?!?)

Absence is one of the most common types of epilepsy in kids, and does no damage to the brain (thank goodness!).... most patients grow out of it by their mid-teens. It is often overlooked because it just looks like the child is daydreaming. It is genetic. While the Dr was giving examples of situations, they completely resonated with me... being in the middle of a class and then 'all the sudden' having the teacher talk about something else, and being confused. 'All the sudden' noticing the kids around you had their books open to a specific page and realizing that yours is still shut and not knowing what you were supposed to be doing. I remember feeling this exact type of confusion as a child in class. Either I really was just day dreaming, had ADD, or just maybe, I was also having Absence seizures and no one was aware of them.... If I did, I must have been one of those people that have grown out of them because I have not had any type of situation like that since high school.

Some kids have only a few seizures, while others might have hundreds per day... scary huh?

To figure out where Chase stands, we are going to be doing a 'take home' two day EEG test. Chase will have the electrodes on his head hooked up to a 'backpack' that he will have to wear constantly for two days. We will also have to constantly video record him during those two days. The camera is on a 3-5ft cord that will need to be positioned so that his eyes can be seen by the video at all times... so that they can see how often he has a seizure as well as measure the brainwaves. There is also a button that the parent/adult can push when the think the child might be zoning out or having a seizure, or even just a strange behavior and it will show up on the readings. Chase is going to need constant supervision. This will be interesting.

We are going to try to have this test done the first weekend in August... which will also be when we celebrate Ami's first birthday. So for the photos, Chase is going to be in that mummy hat again with a funky backpack... that should be an interesting one for the photo album :(.

On the bright side of things, medication has been proven to cure this type of seizure. In Chase's case, the Dr says that about 1-2 years on medication should completely cure him of the seizures and he will be fine for the rest of his life. Side effects might be liver toxicity, but probably not to the levels that would actually hurt him. I guess I am just glad that we know SOMETHING now, and are not just sitting here wondering what is going on. And I am also thankful that this type of seizure 1) doesn't hurt his brain 2) is cureable and 3) that he really is still a healthy kid and will not have a loss of quality of life.

We will just have to take precautions with him, like not letting him swim alone, bike ride alone, climb high places (this will be a tough one), and basically not allow him to be in situations where he could be hurt if he 'spaces out.' But thankfully, this should only be for a few years, not his entire life. So for that, I am especially thankful. But for my baby boy, I just wish I could take it for him and not let him have to go through this. Hopefully he won't remember most of this, because we caught it while he was still young.

Thank you friends and family for all your thoughts and prayers through all of this craziness for the last month. They have sustained us, given us courage and hope in this time of 'unknown' and stress. We rest in the knowledge that God is our creator and knows every sorrow no matter how small... and that in all situations, brings love and hope that sustains us.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absence_seizure

Overwhelmed

I have been feeling slightly overwhelmed lately. So I apologize to those of you who actually read this and wonder where I have been. :) There has just been so much going on that sitting down to write it out seems like a gigantic chore... and I don't need any more 'chores' around here.

The main deterrent, in my mind, is that I don't have easy access to my photos! Which is super frustrating to me, since I am so visual I rely on photos to tell my story, not my words. My desktop is having issues with the new wireless router we have, grr. Then, last week after finally locating my card reader from the move, I realized that it was broken! So there is no easy way for me to transfer photos to the desktop or the laptop (the one that actually works on the internet). I have photos in my camera from March that I haven't shared, or edited, or even gone through! I feel like I am falling so far behind in this area :(

May:

-Ami pulled herself up for the first time in early May!

-Moving and unpacking boxes in May, workmen, painters, carpet all happening before that. Oh yeah, and the moving company 'lost' one of our crates initially, but found it and sent it out to us a week after the main move in day.

-We visited a fantastic friend of mine, my college roommate, for a baby shower celebrating her first baby! YAY friends!

-Jeff officially graduated from Tepper with his MBA, and was the only one to wear shorts during the ceremony, you could see the flash of red shorts as he walked across the stage... whoops! But on the good side, he did not pass out from the heat like others were about to.

-My cousins visited and we went garage sale-ing all weekend, I got a BUNCH of great kid toys all for under $100!

June:

-Visited my friend again who is pregnant, just to spend some quality time with her before she has a baby and gets busy with life :) It really was great just to spend time talking and hanging out and getting things ready for baby to come!

-In other news, I turned 30... I know right? 30 feels weird to say.

-Father's day we went on a family bike ride, and I survived! We really didn't go far, but it was nice to do a fun activity as a family.

Then, as some of you who are on Facebook might know, Chase had a seizure three weeks ago. It was the scariest thing that has happened to me since having the kids. We still don't know 'why' it happened, initial ER tests came back normal, blood work on a 2 1/2 year old should be avoided at all costs FYI. Chase actually sat very well for the CAT scan though, and was acting more like himself about 3 hours after it happened. The ER Doc said Chase had an ear infection and was put on Amoxicillin. We have an EEG scheduled to check out his brain next week to make sure he doesn't have any type of Epileptic condition.

Then after the scare of that wore off a bit, 6 days later, he spiked a 102 temp, we were told his ear infection was back, asked how many ear infections this would make... I said this was his first one, and got a strange look. Upped the drugs to a more powerful one and were sent home. A day and a half later Chase broke out in a rash all over his face, legs and arms. We went BACK in to the Peditrician's office, and he got diagnosed with the Hand, Foot, Mouth virus and told not to be around other kids... which was G-R-E-A-T since we already had wonderful company in town with their two kids... FANTASTIC. Welcome to the plague friends!

Luckily our friends were pretty cool about it, considering their kids ended up catching it :( Bad fever for their boy, and slight rashes for both those kiddos... now don't I feel like worlds worst host in the world :( But the quality time we were able to spend together on the worlds longest play date was so amazing!

July:

We celebrated the 4th of July weekend with our friends from out of town and my parents. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful country where we have the freedoms we do. To marry who we wish, to blog our thoughts as we wish, to travel as we wish. Thank you to all those who have served our country and for the families of those who have served. Those people and their family have sacrificed so much for us... Thank you.

Jeff and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary with our friends, my parents and all the kids. Eating crab from the shell, and grilling out on our brand new grill. It was our first 'party' at our house, and the fact that we were casually celebrating the fact that 5 years ago, about 5 miles from our new house we were married. And look how much has happened since then, and how much stronger we are as a couple, and how blessed we are to have two healthy kids. Jeff went all out and got me presents, and even researched that the traditional 5 year anniversary gift is wood. So he searched all over to get me a square wooden bowl.. LOVE IT. And then even went so far as to get me a Bonsai tree! He claims he has no recollection of me saying that I love Bonsai trees and have always wanted one, but it must have stuck in there somewhere, because now I have a gorgeous little tree on my counter :) I seriously need to learn how to care for it though, since it is dropping leaves every day, but I think that might just be from the transplant in to the cool hand made bowl it is planted in... Jeff hand picked the bowl for me too :)

Then last weekend we spent some quality time with old friends from Western Illinois, some of my brother's friends that I knew and got to hang out with in college that now have families, and one of my sisters best friends from college who knows this group of people and also has a family. These people have been getting together for at least three years now, that I know of, every summer at my parents place to catch up. And last year I got to attend since we were living with my parents, and then this year we got a formal invite ;) 11 kids, 12 adults and lots of fun was had last weekend.

As I am sitting here writing, there is just so much to tell and not enough time to write it down... and probably too much information that would bore most people that read this. But here is a little more break down:

Ami is crawling F-A-S-T, and I mean booking it! She could walk if she wanted to, but does not feel steady when she lets go of things and sits to the floor. She will do almost anything to be held, played with and loved on... but will squirm like the dickens to get out of a diaper change, or outfit change... which is why she is just in diapers a lot ;) Ami will eat ANYTHING I put in front of her! She just loves to eat! :) I gave her pieces of homemade organic chicken today and she had two chicken tenders and probably would have eaten more if I had given it to her. At least one of my two kids is a good eater... this certainly will make life a bit easier, and diversify our fridge items! She has this deep belly laugh, but then will screech like a pterodactyl.. not kidding. Ami finally got her two bottom teeth about a month ago. And when she gives her big, squinty-eyed, smile she shows off those two little teeth and a LOT of gums. I just have to get a photo of it before she changes again :) She is 11 months now, oh my... how did she get this old? My baby will be 1 year old in less than a month, and I haven't started planning a party... poor second child. :( But I will make sure she has a yummy smash cake to dive in to... which I imagine she will, the way she likes food.

Chase is acting 100% himself, you would never know he had a seizure. He loves to run, jump off things, climb things and throw things. We have been working on 'learning letters' this past week and he really gets interested now, we will spend about 20min on it before he gets distracted and wants to play something else, which really is a good amount of time for him. We have got most the shapes and colors down for him, but numbers and letters are still a bit confusing. He does often ask, 'What dis say, Mama?' when he notices that a package, book or sign will have writing. His vocabulary is growing every day, and it seems like he keeps dropping those babyish words all the time. I miss how he used to say 'Doing-o?' for 'What are you doing?' and other little things, I try not to correct his speech because I want to hear those cute things for as long as possible... he is growing up too fast. Chase will turn 3 in September... where did the yearS(!!!) go?

Oh well, enough of my writing, this is going on forever. At least I was able to get down most of what has been happening these last few months, and with that I feel better... since I consider this my 'journal' and don't keep a hard copy one, it is like I am allowing myself to forget unless I write these things down.

8 months have come and gone...

The last few months have flown by in a whirl wind! Ami's 6th, 7th and 8th month birthdays have come and gone without me posting anything about it. It makes me a bit sad. I got photos from month 6 and 7, but only have a few days left of month 8 to get an 'official' photo before it is too late. It just always seems like the days I actually get her dressed up I either can't find my camera or she poops up her back or we have to go to the new house to meet up with workmen and I can't sit down for a photo shoot.... ahh well, so goes life. Forgive me baby girl if you feel slighted when you are older for not having an 8th month photo taken on time.

Happy Easter/8months baby girl!

Here you are at the new house, jumping in your little activity center... not as fun as the Johnny Jumper at Grandma's house, but still a fun way to contain you! :) hehe

This month we celebrated cousin Samuel's 4th birthday... in his own words on that day: "I'm four now, I know things." :) We played at the park, and then went back to their house to hang out, have pizza, little smokey's sausages and ice cream cake... as per request by the birthday boy :)

Here the boys are, making footprints in the sandbox.

My uncle Larry and his family came down to help us on the house. Larry and my cousin Hunter (the giant in the kid house) worked on building us a 'deck' in the garage to give us a better entrance into the house. Katy helped a TON by watching Chase and Ami... and I am pretty sure they both think she is their best friend now. :)

Here they are with my new-to-us garage sale find! Perfect for the new back yard and the upcoming years of having little kids playing in our yard :). I am looking forward to finding some great garage sale finds for the new house! YAY!

Chase's vocabulary is growing every day! He somehow picked up 'butt' at some point in the past few weeks and loves to say it and giggle... not sure if my explanation that it means the same thing as his bottom has sunk in. He also says 'Dvdv' for a DVD :). It is pretty cute. 'Mountain' for fountain and a ton of other things that I just can't recall right now.

Ami has only been crawling for a week but she is totally making it around the house now! She made a complete lap around the family room, behind chairs and everything, and around the kitchen table once in about a half hour this afternoon... now this is with tons of exploration and playing with things she finds along the way, so she is really starting to move now... and finding the outlets, YIKES!

Ami is getting more and more interactive and just LOVES to play little games. Pat-a-cake, peek-a-boo and any type of made up little thing that gives her attention :)

Here is one that she started initiating a few weeks ago...

Password: Chase1

Ami'a silly laugh from Mel Tsai on Vimeo.

Ami has started doing this silly cough/laugh to get attention... and will keep playing this silly game continuously!

Nap time today with Chase:

Chase wanted to brush his teeth, I said ok since I thought it is fine to delay a bit for a good habit... then after reading a book and getting tucked in, he looks up to me and said 'Thank Jesus.'

This is the first time he has initiated praying before bedtime (we usually do prayers before nighttime and meals, not nap time) :)

So I start our prayers as usual and then asked him, what would you like to thank Jesus for?

He said "Volcano," with a smile.

So I thanked Jesus for volcanoes, and asked if there was anything else he would like to thank Jesus for...

"T-Rex!" He said with another smile :)

So we thanked Jesus for T-Rexes, and I asked again if there was anything else he would like to thank Jesus for...

and he said "mmm....Dinosaurs." Nodding his head.

So we thanked Jesus for all the wonderful Dinosaurs he created that are so interesting to learn about. And then I asked again, if he would like to thank Jesus for anything else...

"umm.... Books" pointing to the Curious George book we had just read.

Thats my boy! Loving the books :) So we thanked Jesus for fun books to read, and all the words and letters and pictures inside that make books what they are. And as we closed the prayer he said a very tired, but very emphatic sounding, 'Amen!'

I stroked his hair and sang the song I have been singing to him since he was born, and we blew kisses at each other until I turned the corner and couldn't see him anymore.

My heart is so full with love for my boy :)

The last 24 hours in Taipei

Monday was a whirlwind of shopping, packing and trying to squeeze every last thing we wanted to do.

After making sure we were as packed as possible, and the kids were asleep, Jeff and I ventured out for one last night of exploring the night markets. This time we went to the Taipei Tourist Night Market, which I did not like as much as the other two night markets we had visited... but they did have some more touristy type things and weird things, like a huge albino boa constrictor in a cage (no pics allowed), and fresh ingredients for lots of restaurants... just sitting out there!Choose your meal... Fish, crustaceans.... and not shown are turtles and baby eels... yum!
The Lantern Festival decorations were still in full force... very cool
A temple or shrine (not sure which) had some really impressive fish and other lanterns.
We stepped inside ... WOW
BTW do you like Jeff's new 'Cookie' sweatshirt? It is a Cookie Monster sweatshirt from the more shopping oriented night market we visited a few days before.... I think it is cute my hubby likes fun stuff like that, 'cause I do... and I may or may not have got Cookie Monster and Wonder Woman shirts for myself ;)

In a fancier area of town we got 'French' crepes... I got a strawberry, chocolate and whipped cream one... SOOO GOOD! And Jeff got a weird Asian one that had ham, mayo and veggies... so, not French!

YUM!

Tuesday morning I was up at 4am, finishing packing and getting ready. We had a van pick us up at 6:30am and we got to the airport with time to sit and let Mrs. Tsai get those last hugs with the kids :) ... and for Jeff to get a Whopper... ick.
While waiting for our flight on the other side of security, just about 10 min before neededing to board, Chase ran off and Jeff followed him with Ami in his arms... not a minute later I hear a cry, my baby boy's cry and walk around the corner to see Jeff hunched over at the WRONG end of the walkway! I dropped my stuff with my parents and ran over. Chase's drawstring on his pants was caught in the moving walkway under the lip of the metal end... I saw a dollar coin sized patch of blood on the metal end where the teeth are... I stepped on the walkway and almost tripped myself since it was still going, jumped off and searched frantically for the "Stop" button, found it, and Jeff (who had been kneeling at the end, holding Chase up by the arm this whole time so he wouldn't get pulled down, and holding Ami in the other arm this whole time) was able to pull Chase and his drawstring off the belt. Chase's lip looked like it had been ripped open, which it probably had, and was gushing blood (at least that's what it looked like to me). It was already swelling to twice its size and I wasn't sure if he had nocked out any teeth, thats how bloody his mouth was.

I ran with him into the bathroom and started cleaning him up, there was a cleaning lady in there that was SO helpful bringing me paper towels and thicker toilet paper... I don't know if I ever thanked her, but Cleaning Lady, if you ever read this... THANK YOU, seriously, your help was invaluable. Chase fought me cleaning him up the entire time, screaming and crying... it must have hurt for anything to touch that open wound :( But once I could see that it was only his lip that was cut open, no teeth missing, no cut on his tongue... I reminded myself that face wounds always bleed the worst, and prayed hard that he would be ok.. with no concussion.

This is making me almost sick just writing it down again... Chase was trying to go on the moving walkway like he did earlier, the right way, with Baba... but Jeff just couldn't stop him fast enough, and Chase didn't know that there was a 'wrong' way to get on the walkway :(

By the time I got around to taking a photo of his lip as we were leaving O'Hare, it looked like a pretty minor accident... 20 hours after the incident there was barely any swelling, no bruising on his face, and only three scabs.... geesh, very different from the 1/4 inch bleeding gap in his lip, the 3 times more swollen and jutting out lip, and the two smaller bleeding wounds that looked as if his upper lip had been pierced through by the metal walkway teeth. He refused to let me put ice on the wound during the first hour in the airport and then on the plane flight. I was only able to get to ice it for about 5 min in flight to Tokyo with a constant stream of tick tac bribes. Every time he would smile or pout for the first few hours he would re-open it and cry :( Not fun to deal with during travel, that's for sure. At least he is way better now.

The damage 20 hours later at O'Hare...

Seeing the kid today you would never have known he had anything happen to his mouth. No scars or anything... thank you Jesus!

So that was the eventful wrap up to a very eventful trip... it took us a full two weeks to recover from Jet-lag with the kids. I had heard Jet-lag is worse flying East... they were right.

Now we are starting to fall back into our pattern here in Chicago... thank goodness.

In other news, we will probably be closing on our new house March 25th! YAY!

Visiting Cousins, Cool Foods & Our Last Dinner Out

Finally on Saturday February 12th we met up with Jeff's cousin Sophia, her husband Rex and their two boys! We had met her younger sister Tiffany the previous weekend, stayed at her parents house in Kaohsiung and she had loaned us a stroller (because we forgot to bring one!), if that gives you any context as to why I was really looking forward to meeting her in person!

We decided to meet up and go to a children's library a little outside of Taipei but still considered within the city limits. This area is known especially for its mineral springs... Walking out of the metro station we encountered this cool water fountain/sculpture... the water raised and lowered at what seemed to be a random patter, this pic was taken when the water was spraying fairly high. There was a really cool park on our way to the library, with bridges, cool trees, and work out equipment :)

Sophia's husband Rex crossing a bridge...

Dad and Chase on the bridge, with this cool tree that was spanning the low wall.

Mom and Mrs. Tsai took their shoes of to get a foot massage walking on the pebbled walk way... in the background you can see some of the workout equipment that was scattered in stations throughout the park... in another area there were 'elliptical' type machines - all human powered with English and Chinese instructions as to how to use it and what muscles it will target... very cool!

Jeff... typical

Mom by another cool tree

We got some lunch before going to the library... I got sushi :) I *heart* Sushi YUMMY!

Unfortunately I never got pictures by the library... the grounds were very cool, and the basement was geared just for smaller kids, Chase loved it but was starting to get very squirrelly since it was about an hour past normal nap time... we had to leave after only about a half hour because I was afraid we would have a meltdown. Chase ended up falling asleep on my back in the Ergo on the train ride home, and then continued to sleep after I put him in bed at the apartment. It was a fun and full morning with family! :)

Later that night we met up with Sophia and her family again at Pizza Hut... as well as another of Mr. Tsai's brothers (I can't remember his name at the moment, I will have to check on this with Jeff). and any American who has not visited an Asian Pizza Hut wouldn't understand... these places are NICE and with great service, seriously. They have a fantastic salad bar and pizza buffet, with western things and Asian specific things like Lychee Jello and Kimchi barbeque chicken pizza. I really wanted to take a photo of that, but felt very silly as we were the only westerners in the place and keeping Chase in check was very difficult that meal... he didn't want pizza that night :( He did like the Lychee Jello though. *Sigh*

After the kids were down for the night, Jeff and I ran out to a smaller nightmarket which had more clothing and shoe places than food... which was the opposite of the first night market we visited.
Just thought I would post this photo... I guess Solvil et Titus is a Swiss watch company, who knew? I think it is fun to see my maiden name in Taiwan, of all places!

Sunday Jeff and I went to quite a few department stores just down the street from us, lots of walking, but we found lots of fun things for the kids :) I mean, who else will have a "Dough-doh" food court set that has dumpling and sushi molds? I mean that is COOL, right? Well, at least I am psyched about it, even if the kids don't care.

Sunday night we met up with Mrs. Tsai's brother and his family at a very nice Hot Pot restaurant down the street from the apartment.

Chase did great! We made sure he ate dinner before going out for dinner this time, that way he wasn't hungry and then presented with food that he didn't care to try... it worked great!

My mom and I got the vegetarian ... a whole tier of veggies, different tofus and lots of mushrooms (which, as a person who steers clear of any type of fungus, this was not my thing, but there were some cool looking ones... I just gave them all to my mom :) )

Mom and our separated hot pot, you can see all the dishes, sauces and things that were continually being brought... wow, just wow... so glad I got to try hot pot before we left! I didn't get a photo of the dessert, but it was great! A small (for an American like me) piece of fabulous chocolate cake, and two bruleed banana slices.... I HAVE to try doing this at home, it was incredible... like sugared banana chips with fresh bananas :) YUM! Even Chase ate a bruleed banana, and liked it!
Back at the apartment, I started photographing everything I had been wanting to photograph but been putting off until later... since there was only one day left I had to do it!

Jim Beam Whiskey with Chinese writing :)
Peanut butter and Jelly :)
Gum!
Ami holding her bottle and trying to feed herself... she did OK at it until it got low, and then needed help getting the final ounce or so... what a GOOD baby to drink from a bottle! So glad, since Chase wouldn't take one until he was almost 9 months old (that meant no going out for dates, or basically any type of leaving my baby for 9 months! geesh that was a long time!).
(almost) the end.

One last day to wrap up and then (FINALLY) I will have covered our trip to Taiwan! This is really mostly for me to look back on when I can't remember things, but thanks to all you who have been reading and tolerating my long winded-ness ;)

The Lantern Festival

That Friday February 11th, was the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations which gets sent out with another celebration... the Lantern Festival. Our plans were to head out to the Sun Yat-sen Memorial where the giagantic bunny (from this post) and festivities were going to be held... our apartment was literally 4 blocks away from the hub of the festival... Jeff really found us a great location!

Before heading out, Mrs. Tsai got to feed Ami rice cereal...

Ami LOVES rice cereal now, I had not been consistent with giving her 'solids' until this trip, since there had been so much going on with the move, the holidays and getting ready for the trip... So it was fun to see Mrs. Tsai's interactions with my somewhat demanding little girl.... if you are too slow with that spoon Ami DEFINITELY lets you know what she thinks about that! HA! She is the total opposite of Chase when it comes to food! :) Chase only ever tried to grab the spoon once, and didn't like the feel of food on his hands and so never tried to touch it again... whereas we have to hold Ami's hands down otherwise she would never get the food to her mouth! Here I am holding her arms down while Mrs. Tsai shovels it in as fast as she can :)

Mrs. Tsai liked our carrier packs we had, and loved holding Ami whenever she could... it was great for me :) Here she is with a very bundled Ami ready to go out in the drizzling rain to see the Lantern Festival
Dad or Jeff was usually pushing Chase in the stroller we borrowed from Jeff's cousin Sophia who lives in Taipei (Thanks Sophia!!!)... here he is all bundled up too :)
On our walk almost anything that could be decorated with lights, was! It was really a cool thing to see :) It reminded me of how American cities get so dected out for the Christmas season...
Even the metro had special signs for the year of the Rabbit :)
Jeff, Chase, my mom, Ami (under the blanket, she was asleep) and Mrs. Tsai standing in front of a really cool 'lantern' display. Tons of Lanter sculptures/floats were lining the Sun Yat-sen Memorial, from high school student groups to individual college people and more...
Here are some of the ones I thought were neat...

A close up of the intricate designs... for those who want to know, I looked closely and it is fabric sewn or glued on elaborate wire forms with lights rigged up inside... all those paper mache floats from my high school were put to shame by this one... done by a high school... wow
Jumping bunnies! YAY
The Taipei 101 building had a bunny on its side and '100' to celebrate the 100 years of the Republic of China... those white balls are balloons for medical aid and a question booth... so smart! And here is a line of individual lantern entries...
Not all were Rabbit themed... This one was impressive, the Mona Lisa in lantern form, with a dragon and other various things 'growing' out... very very cool.

The National Palace Museum

Wow, I am totally falling behind! Jet lag really hit us last week with the kids and their sleeping (or NOT sleeping) habits. With that, Jeff starting his first week of work at Deloitte, vacation laundry on top of the normal things, and trying to slim down my photos from the trip and be choosy about what I am going to post up here, and the kids constantly needing me because they just feel 'off'.... it has been a bit of a challenge to find the rhythm of life again. I want to post so many things, but I am just falling so behind that it will now be a short synopsis... here goes:

The day after returning from the southern part of Taiwan (February 9th), Mr. Tsai had to fly back to mainland China to return to work. This was taken shortly before he left for the airport, at the apartment in Taipei.

February 10th we went to the International Flora Expo (covered in THIS post)

February 11th (Friday) we ventured out to the Taipei National Palace Museum. Brief history: when the Nationalists were fleeing communist China, they took a few things with them to Taiwan, gold, priceless art and professors. The art in this museum is that collection of works.

Since Jeff was still recovering from his bout of food poisoning, the first thing we did when we got there was stop into the cafe and get something to eat for Jeff... and then, of course, my dad, mom and I could not resist getting some of the yummy things on the menu....

My 'snack' of hot cocoa and a chocolate raspberry cake... on a side note, you wouldn't believe how much I missed chocolate while I was there! It was as if just the sheer fact that they did not have much chocolate to be offered MADE me want to eat more chocolate... does that make sense? Good thing I brought 3 bars of Lindt dark chocolate with me ;) and I couldn't find chocolate croissants my entire trip, which made me sad. I miss Nagano Bakery in Tokyo, they had the BEST chocolate croissants!

My mom got Oolong tea, which she had never tried before, and Creme Brulee French Toast... YUM! We decided to split our treats so we could try them both :)

And Jeff had sparkling water and a ham and cheese sandwich... which to my dismay he consumed the WHOLE thing while I wasn't looking (I was distracted by the yummy treats, after all)... after more than 24 hours of only having water and a small piece of banana, his stomach hurt again from being TOO full, but he was alright and we finally made it into the museum!

Cameras were not allowed in the museum (I really did enjoy the freedom of taking photos of all the art I liked in China last March)... so here are QUITE a few photos of Jeff outside the National Palace Museum... with the very Asian-touristy 'peace' sign

Taiwan was celebrating '100' everywhere, because they were celebrating the Republic of China's 100 years.

Compared to Jeff I look much less enthusiastic... but trust me, I was the one soaking up all that was inside that building while Jeff took a nap on a bench :)

Mom got a photo of the two of us... one of the few on the trip.

And here is mom and dad outside the Museum... you could find dad a mile away in his blue Dodgers Jacket and NY Yankees hat... it was actually a nice little 'beacon' while going around the city :)

Mom by the male guardian lion to the Museum

and here I am by the female guardian lion (notice the cub under her paw? Thanks Asian Art History, you came in handy on this trip ;) )