One Year Old

Nicholas had an awesome birthday party November 11.  

I still cannot believe my baby boy is one!

Sabrina celebrating.  The little girls loved the party.

Rachel

First bite of cake.

Mommy, Nicholas, and Emma

Nick in his new car!  He loves it.

I wish, I wish

This is a puppy we saw at the pet store this week.

He is so sweet. He looks like a soft, furry stuffed animal!

(Look at Rachel's expression! She misses our dog, Lucy, back in the States.)

Green Thumb

I came home from Mandarin language class last week and noticed a new flower garden in front of my house. How odd. I had not bought any flowers. And I was only gone for 3 hours.

Our helper found some flowers in our backyard, built a flower bed, and transplanted the flowers to the front yard. More impressingly, the flowers are still alive and growing!

My helper has also planted onions, potatoes, and bell peppers with leftover seeds. Things I count as garbage, she has planted in our yard. Amazing.

New Experiences

It's official. Hiring a full-time helper is definitely worth it!

By "it", I mean the hassle of all the paperwork, visas, training, the wait, etc.

The whole process to bring our helper over from the Philippines took about ten weeks in total.

She arrived in the middle of the night three and a half weeks ago, while my husband was out of town, when we all had the flu and had been house-bound for a week.

When I woke up that morning to greet her, she had already cleaned the living room, kitchen, and patio.

Talk about a first impression! She came in and swept me off my feet, literally.

I guess since this is her first job, I was expecting to teach her everything.

And, granted, I do teach her how I like things to be done and how to run the electronics such as the dishwasher. But she is very self-motivated and a quick learner.

I love that.

So from Day 1 I have been happy about our decision to hire a full-time helper.

A lot of people have asked me about salary. In some countries full-time help is super inexpensive (like US$200/month), but here it ranges between US$475-US$1000/month, depending on the helper's prior experience and how much she works, etc.

We are paying more toward the minimum because this is her first job and she works a regular work week (i.e. We do not require her to work 15 hours a day cooking us 3 meals every day while providing full-time childcare).

One thing I have felt since hiring her is a greater sense of appreciation. For example, one night I was showing her how to wash and cut lettuce. She mentioned that in her hometown her family bought lettuce once a year, at Christmastime. Man, I threw away a head of lettuce last week because it ruined before I had a chance to use it.
So it is very refreshing seeing things through her eyes. I sort of get to experience things all over again too.

As another example, her birthday was last Sunday. (She turned 25!). Rachel and I baked her birthday cupcakes and decorated the door to her room with balloons and streamers. She was so happy. She actually began to cry when she told us, "I have never had cake on my birthday."

So we are happy that she came to live with us and can experience all these things with us here in Taiwan!

Headaches and Silver Linings

Sabrina snapped my glasses in half the other day.

My $300 pair of glasses that enable me to walk from the bathroom to my bedroom when I take out my contacts at night. (Yes, I am that nearsighted, -8.0).

This act in itself would normally be a headache if we lived in the States. You know the drill: go to the eye doctor, have an eye exam, get a new prescription, go to the frame store, order new glasses, pick them up a week later.

Most everything errand-related here is a hassle. How in the world do I begin to start this whole process of getting new glasses?

I called a friend next door who recommended their eye doctor.

Immediately I was impressed - the doctor's office hours are until 9pm every night except Sunday. That's very convenient for me!

So last Saturday we took the whole family down to the eye doctor's office and began the process of the eye exam.

I was pleasantly surprised at the niceness off the staff. And the doctor was trained in the States. I asked him where he was from and he replied with his Asian accent, "Oregon". Oh.

So he was definitely knowledgeable and I had no problems communicating with him.

So the whole experience was not nearly as big of a headache as I thought it would be.

There was also a little park across the street with a playground and picnic tables.

After my appointment, Kevin grabbed take-out at a Thai restaurant and we enjoyed a lovely outdoor picnic to end our trip.

I took a photograph of the sign at the little park.

:)

Hiring Process

We have been in the process of hiring a helper from the Philippines since August 17.

The process is long and there is multiple pieces of paperwork that must be done.

But I am sure it will be worth it.

When our helper gets here I am hoping life will be a little easier, just with shopping, babysitting, and cleaning.

It takes a lot longer to do things here than I expected.

For instance, shopping at Costco for supplies is literally a 4-5 hour process without the accompanying children. I do it about once a month or so, and always on a weekend day so my husband can stay at home with the kids. So instead, maybe when my helper arrives, I can shop during the week to give my husband his much-needed break on the weekend.
And then that leaves weekends free to do family fun stuff instead of shopping and running errands!

There are so many parts of this island that we are anxious to explore!

Typhoon Parma

We are preparing for another typhoon. I read it was a category 5 (in hurricane lingo) before it hit the Philippines. So now it has slowed a little.
We are doing the usual preparations: putting the bikes under the shed, bringing in all the kids' toys, etc.
10-3-09
I checked the status of the typhoon and found out we had a 6.3 earthquake this morning.

It did not wake me up (of course, only crying children can wake me from my slumber!), and thankfully there were are no reports of damage so far.

Status of the typhoon: wow it's windy outside!

Solar Eclipse 2009

We have experienced many adventures living here so far. (I just have not had a chance to blog a lot about them yet!)

One of such adventures was the solar eclipse that occurred July 22.

The pictures below are of the sun almost completely covered by the moon.

Taiwan was in the corridor that could see the eclipse, but it was not a total blackout where we were located.
It was around 10:00am.
And it was actually a lot darker outside as well. Surreal!

Rachel's homemade eclipse-viewer. What a good day for homeschooling!

Taipei 101

View from the world's tallest building.

Rach standing next to the wind damper.

We mailed postcards to our parents from the post office at the top of 101.

The outdoor observatory.

It was very windy!

Self-portrait

10 Months Old

Little Nick is 10 months old. Here is a video of him doing the 'wounded soldier crawl'.
He can definitely get anywhere he wants to go now!