Babymoon-ish

Okay, so yesterday, I mentioned we went to Beijing. If you follow me on Instagram (it's where all my online fun happens since the Great Firewall doesn't block it- pop over and say hi so I can see all your goodies, too!), you got to see some of the adventure as we went. Check out Rob's feed, too- request to follow, he's expecting you guys.

So, Monday was part of the Qingming (Tomb-sweeping) Festival. And since we have no ancestors over here, we thought we'd utilize the long weekend to get away and spend a little time exploring more of China sans-diapers before this little one arrives. I got to spend a few weeks in Beijing when my sister lived there a few summers ago, but Rob's time was restricted to a short day during the December Recruitment Tour. And, despite being 34 weeks pregnant, I was determined to pack in as much as we could. Oh. My. Gosh. So worth the angry feet at the end of each day. We hit most of the tourist highlights.

Baby McClure visits the Forbidden City and gets side-eyed or flat-out stared at by thousands of Chinese people.

Day 1- Saturday. Up early to catch the fast train from Suzhou to Beijing. 5 hours later, we arrive and hop on the subway to our hotel, which was 1/2 a block away from my sister's old apartment, so I knew the area well. We had Mexican for dinner (Beijing is more internationally established and momma's been craving pico and guac), milled around the neighborhood instead, did some Saturday night people watching, and headed to bed early.

Day 2- Sunday. Temple of Heaven, amazing people watching and enjoying Beijing park culture, along with eating a popsicle we bought for 2 rmb ($.32). Met up for Peking Duck lunch with a long-time family friend who helped out with my little brother's adoption 15 years ago and then went back to Holt International Adoption's Beijing offices to play with babies who are preparing for or recovering from surgeries before going back to their home provinces to await matching. A little cleft palate girl (still teeny tiny at 13 months) was nearly snuck out under my jacket. We headed off to an overpriced, but totally awesome Acrobatics show (tourist trap, but way fun anyway) and ended the evening with roadside cart tiny oranges, which we ate in bed back at the hotel.

Day 3- Monday. Long subway ride out to the Summer Palace and a comically strenuous hike up 108 meters of steps to the top of Longevity Hill. We also wandered along the Long Corridor (one of my favorites- the inside ceilings are painted with unique scenes of birds and flowers and legendary heroes) while I walked in front and Rob enjoyed the "holy $)*^, a really pregnant white girl!" stares I kept getting. We popped down to Panjiayuan Market for some antique/fake junk shopping (way more great stuff a few years ago) and walked away with only a thank you vase for our friend who was watching the cat. We were reeeeally hoping for a junky and awesome gong or huge singing bowl. No luck. Great Thai food for dinner, and a beer for Rob at Great Leap Brewery, right near our hotel (and great sadness for me, the beer lover).

Day 4- Tuesday. It was the evening of my dad's birthday over in the States, so my whole family hopped on Google Hangouts together (Ohio, North Carolina, Arizona, and Suzhou) to catch up and love on him a little. We checked out Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, eating popsicles every chance we got. "Hey, Kate, do you want a popsicle?" Fake exasperation- "Rob, you already know the answer to that dumb question... Yes." We popped over to the train station and got back into town not too late, but happy and exhausted.

I know Babymoons are supposed to be relaxing and all about reconnecting and spoiling yourself and your loved one before a kiddo arrives, and most couples go to a beach of some sort, but we've never been a couple that "does" convention. A 10-15 km each day walking tour of a seriously enormous city? Oh, for sure, count us in. It was so much fun and we're excited about our next big-China-city-visit, maybe sometime at the end of my mom's post-partum visit this summer.

Chinese New Year and Down Time

Honesty is the best policy, no? Because if I'm being completely truthful with you all, I've been in real people clothes for maybe 7 of the past 25 days. I'm not ashamed to say that I've done every single dog poo walk in my pajama pants and have even done one or two of my pop out for groceries runs in them, too. And since I've spent the last seven years working my ass off supporting my family and in work clothes for 40-60 hours any given week, I'm more than happy to revel in sporting sweats daily for the entirety of this break. 

So, what have we been up to? While Rob was out of town for two weeks, I spent much of my time daydreaming, petting the animals, and snacking. The Chinese New Year fireworks (which were set off in the apartment community every 5 minutes by families to celebrate, day and night, for 48 hours straight) was pretty rough on the animals. Miles crapped inside a few times after some jerk set off a string of firecracker in the middle of us walking past him outside. Couldn't wait the 30 seconds for us to get out of the way? And Eddie got nervous, hid a lot (not normal for her), and lost her appetite for about 6 days, so I took her to the vet after she peed on our bed and didn't have a poop for 3 days. No diabetes, no bladder infections, no indication of problems other than stress. Poor little girl. And I swear to you here and now that I won't blog about my child's bowels when they arrive, it's just especially stressful when your cat baby (I've had her for over 9 years!) is showing signs of bladder infection or kidney failure (with a post-holiday diagnosis of "nothing is wrong") and personality changes just as EVERYTHING shuts down for 6 days. But, we're all back to normal, Rob is home, and we've had the really nice opportunity to get out and explore more of the city while all the students are still away and it's nice and quiet. 

Anyway, here's a few photos of the last few weeks and captions to fill you in on what's been up. 

My holiday uniform (pajama pants, crappy socks, and a random cozy top) plus a floppy-eared sidekick.

Daydreaming- making plans to buy a few household things for summer- crib, guest bed (for my mom when she comes to stay for a bit after the baby arrives), and a dresser. Because I'm happy to pay for furnishings myself in my furnished apartment since Chinese interior decor taste is pretty atrocious.

Our morning norm- Miles under the blankets to the right of my legs, and Eddie firmly snuggled between my knees. It's rare that she isn't snuggled into my lap if I'm sitting down lately.

Upon his return, Rob and I have been playing epic and cutthroat games. If you've never played Fill or Bust, find it and give it a whirl. You'll either love it or you'll start a war. 

My ultrasound records. Which the baby was too small for at 24 weeks, so they asked me to come back to try again. And now, the fun of retranslating them (I got the verbal explaination and all is a-okay, but I like having a record for myself).

One of my few for-fun trips out of the house. I went to Shantang Road in Old Town, Suzhou and finally found a pineapple vendor who uses this special v-shaped utensil to prepare the fruit. The big cleaver thing is for stripping and chopping sugar cane. If you see either of these utensils for sale in Williams-Sonoma next Chistmas season, thank my sister, who lived in Beijing and fell in love with how deftly the vendors could fresh-cut fruits for you, and is convinced the American obsession with kitchen gadgets will make these an easy sell. You're all welcome in advance.

5 Years

Happiest 5-Year Anniversary to my husband! We've been together for over a decade, did a lot of growing up together, and have supported each other through a lot since then, from high school drama to late night college papers and projects to organizing cross country moves to setting up a home (wherever it may be) to misguided dreams and disappointments to budding interests to competitions won to roadtrips to culinery failures. And a whole lot more in between.

Darling, thank you always for encouraging me to be independent, interested and interesting. For allowing me to wear the pants, for being conscious of always fighting fair, for letting me be quiet when I need it and pull me out of my comfort zone when I'm being a weenie. We thrive on the little things and I appreciate that your values are so in line with my own, ever though our families are so different. But, that's just the thing. We value family. We value relationships. And for the first 5 of many many (barring the need to use the Dutch Oven Divorce Clause) more years, we've done a bang up job of making good use of those priorities to foster communities and relationships, regardless of where home is. I look forward to a lifetime of adventure and daily choosing to like and be loving to each other. Because the love part will always be there.



And let's just take a minute to reminisce about how awesomely low-key our wedding was (Photo-overload. Sorry)...

Officially married and documents signed a few weeks prior in my Guy's mom's amazing garden.

 

Barbeque and beers for the rehearsal dinner (with Grillmaster Dad) led into a frisbee game and beer pong with Mom, Grandpa and sisters. 

 

And our wedding. What a wonderfully relaxed day to celebrate!