TAIWAN - Week Two

On Monday, the kids returned to their normal work routines - Tammy up and out of the door by 7:30, Brent and Nikki sleeping until 10:30-11:00, then Tammy coming home around 1:30 as Brent goes out the door to work from 2:00-9:00 - hectic, but they're making it work for now.

Tammy got some disturbing news about her father. He has a growth in his chest near his heart. He's had it for a few months now, but finally went to have it checked out. Surgery is scheduled for Thursday, but the test results to determine whether or not it's cancer will come back today. Of course, Tammy wants to go up to Taipei to be with him and her mother. The only way she can do that is to take the baby with her, she's still breast feeding. Brent suggested we all go up on the high speed train, but Bern and I said we would be just fine here for a couple of days if the three of them want to go. Please pray for Tammy's dad.

UPDATE: They postponed surgery for a couple of weeks to administer a round of antibiotics. He may have a cyst of some kind (unclear if it's cancerous or not) and they want to make sure if there is any infection, they deal with that before they try to get biopsy tissue. Thank you for your prayers.

We've been eating like royalty here. Our daughter-in-law is not only beautiful, she can cook up a storm! So far, she's made vegetable soup, pineapple chicken over rice, and chicken curry. She made, from scratch, perogies! We had them the other night with piles of bacon and sour cream - amazing! She doesn't even like them very much!

Grandpa and Grandma have been doing a bit of babysitting when Brent and Tammy have to go out to their tutoring jobs. So far, it's only been for a couple of hours at a time. I'm finding out it's not as easy caring for a baby when you're our age. Yes, we can get down on the floor to play with Nikki, but getting up is another matter all together!!

Playing with Grandpa

Hanging out with Grandma

This little girl doesn't stay still for very long - she wants to explore everything and she is so, so strong. I swear, any minute she's going to just stand up and start walking! Here are a few more pictures of this little peanut.


She's supposed to lie back in this chair to eat, but she's happiest being upright!




Precious little feet in her Daddy's chest hair!

Bath time is fun, too!! She's so strong and wiggly, it takes two people to hold her still. She's starting to sit upright by herself, so it's getting easier.


Gotta get those ears clean!



Hair's done, now time to play!

And, talking about play...she loves to play. She's just learning to crawl, but I still think she's going to skip that step all together and just start walking!

 

Can't get enough of that smile!

We went out to a baby store last Sunday after our spaghetti lunch. Brent and Tammy wanted to get a bouncy chair for Nikki. Once they put her in it and she smiled, Grandpa whipped out the credit card and it was hers! We had to wait until Wednesday for it to be delivered. One of Tammy's friends, who is pregnant with her first baby, came down to the store so we could use her 25% off coupon toward the purchase of Nikki's chair. So, Bern wanted to give them some money to spend in the store. Tammy told us that they wouldn't take it - in their culture, they don't take money for helping someone. So, when all the transactions were finished, we were able to give them a gift of a mobile for their baby's crib. They were delighted! You have to be careful not to offend these gentle people.

The assembly begins...

Diego in the background, supervising.

Test drive!

She likes it! So does Daddy!

On Thursday, we went out for a nice supper at a Japanese-style restaurant, called Da shan teppanyaki. It's another place that Brent and Tammy go to quite a lot and the owner was there, so he sent over a few extra dishes for us to try on the house.

Not sure why my kids have to ruin nice pictures by having food protrude from their mouths!

The chopsticks were flying!

They cook the food on a hot grill right in front of the customer. We got a table because of Nikki's stroller.

From the restaurant, we went to the clinic where Nikki was born for her six month checkup. She was a little trooper for the first needle, but screamed when they shot her with a second one. I don't blame her....she thought she was done, then bam! She's been fussy for the last three days, but the doctor said to expect it.

Checking the ears...

...throat - look at the little face!

The nasty part!

Back home with war wounds - poor baby!

On Friday, we went shopping for groceries in the evening and then came home for the wonderful perogy supper I mentioned earlier. I made the mistake of telling Brent if he picked up some apples, I would make an apple pie. The next thing I know, I'm the feature again for his English tutoring class on Saturday morning. I don't mind - it's lots of fun. The pie turned out great, too!

 

 

Can't wait to see what next week brings!