Bring On The Rolls

My son was born at a healthy weight of 6lbs 15oz but quickly began to lose weight, as do most babies right after they are born. Unfortunately with Lucas he continued to lose weight and at 16 days Lucas weighed in at 5lbs 14oz. Doctors recommend that babies should be back to their birth weight by 10 days! As you can see by the picture on the left Lucas was very skinny and dehydrated. It was a very difficult few weeks nursing constantly, carefully keeping track of feedings, wet & poopie diapers and weighing him every night to see if we were making any progress.

Today Lucas is 3 months old and looks very healthy (picture on right). Today he weighed in at 12lbs 14oz!! Way to go Lucas, you even have a double chin!!

Lucas Raymond Morton Carman

Lucas Raymond Morton Carman was born on July 29, 2009 at 10:20am in Beijing, China. At birth he was 3.15 kg (6lbs 15oz) and 50 cm (19.7 in)! He was born at American Sino OB/GYN hospital by natural birth.

With her friend, Ruth, Jacquelyn headed up to Beijing on a train on Monday, the 27th of July. That night, perhaps caused by the traveling, her water broke. Though her water broke, she was not yet in labor. This wasn't a bad thing though, since I needed to get up to Beijing to be with them.

The night that JK's water broke, she called me at 4am to tell me to get on the earliest plane available. I was a little out of it, but managed to get online and purchase my ticket. Since I was able to catch the earliest flight, the cost wasn't very high. I arrived and we immediately went to the hospital. At the hospital the doctors decided to admit JK, even though she wasn't technically in labor yet.

Jacqueyln eventually did go into labor. However, 33 hours after her water broke, the doctors decided to induce. Lucas was born shortly after.

Below are some pictures.

Apologies for not Blogging

Apologies for not blogging lately. Busyness, laziness, having a new child and blogger being blocked in China have all contributed to us not blogging lately. I hope to add some blogs soon.

My Beautiful Daughter

I took these shots while Anna was reading a book Sunday afternoon after lunch.

~Jeremy

I’m working on it. I’m working on it…

The other day we were at a restaurant ordering food and Anna Mae repeatedly asked me if she could have some juice. She said, “Daddy, I want juice,” in her ever-so-cute way. After the 4th time she asked me, though, I impatiently said, “I’m working on it, I’m working on it.”

A few minutes later, she turned to mommy and said, “Mommy, I want some juice”. Mommy, who didn’t hear me say earlier that she could have some juice, said, “No, babe, I think we’re just going to drink water tonight.”

Tears welled up in Anna’s eyes and she said, “But Daddy said I could. He said, ‘I’m working on it, I’m working on it.’”

I had to laugh at the way Anna took my impatient words to heart.

Wax Berry?

I have seen this fruit many times when I would go to the market and buy my fruits and vegetables. But being a unadventurous person I have never had the courage to buy it. I showed it to my friend the other day and asked if she knew what it was. She said she didn't and I thought that was that. The next day when I was over her house she had bought some! She told me I had to try one and I instantly fell in love. This weird berry thing tastes a bit like a cherry. It looks and fells like a hard ball. There is a small cherry pit like seed in the middle.

My friend did some research on the Internet and found that they don't have an English name but is most commonly called a Chinese wax berry. So whatever this fruit is it has made my top 5 most loved fruit!

With June comes . . .

During the month of June the roses begin to bloom; trees are blossoming and these fruit (pictures on right) are ripe and ready to eat. The first city that we lived in here in China, Lechee would practically grow wild. We could just pick them off the the trees ourselves and eat them. That is where I first fell in love with this refreshing fruit. The outside is a hard spiky shell that you peel off to reveal a white fleshy "meat" inside. You bite into this sweet but not strong refreshing flavor. The inside has a good side pit.

I would eat soo much of them and our Chinese friends would worn me and say that a person should only eat 10 of them a day or it would cause the body to have too much riqi (pounced houqi here in QingDao). I didn't care - I would eat as many as I could.

Lechee is famous for growing in the south but is only in season for the month of June. The emporer way back when also had a love for these fruit and would have them brought up over the rough roads of the day to be delivered to him.

After two years of eating them while living in Dongguan I was delighted to see them in Beijing while we lived there. When I went to purchase them I was shocked at how pricey they were, but I knew how much I loved them and it was worth the price. I was greatly disappointed when I got home and they were not very good. Because lechee only grows in the slow this fruit was imported making it so expensive & not very fresh.

Since moving to Qingdao I saw my favorite fruit out this past June but was very hesitant buying it since my horrible experience in Beijing. I don't know what changed my mind but I decided to give it a try and boy was I glad I did. These lechee were very delicious! I have been reminded how much I love this fruit . . . . I think I might go and finish the few we have left.

Which is better? McD's or KFC?

The other day Anna and Mommy went to the doctor for a checkup. Afterwords, they headed to KFC for lunch. Anna now seems to have associated KFC with the doctor and pregnancy. We thought it was pretty funny.

Alphabet Song & Downhill Ride

Anna Mae has been learning her alphabet. Although she doesn't quite get it in this video, she's usually able to sing through the whole song.

At the end of the clip Anna and I are headed down a hill on a little car-thing in the park next to our house.