Sarah's List to Santa

My sister sent me some paper and envelopes for Sarah to write to Father Christmas/ Santa. So i sat down with her and asked her so what do you want for Christmas from Santa.

"Yellow Cakes" she replied, so i say ok anything else just think of some things that you want to have and maybe Santa can bring them.
"err yello cakes? ok blue cakes" So i probe again and say come on, something that you really like and want that mummy doesn't buy for you...
"tauw may (Strawberries), i'd like strawberries". OK great, Santa might bring you those..anything else??
"Yellow cakes", she says again and again.
So i give up and let her finish her list there as she really couldn't think of anything else she wants, she just wants yellow cakes really.
So guess what i'll be baking just before Christmas day!
I will i am sure long for Christmas list so easy when she is 13 asking for a playstation ect...

Ok its cold here now

So its finally cold here...cold Taiwan cold mean 11 oC and colder inside than out due to no heating in the houses and it set up for hot weather...go figure. So this time of year i freeze to death and so does my skinny little girl..she's not so skinny these days but still she's cold even with many many layers of clothes on. bless her.
We were lying in bed (she came and joined me) the other day, it was cold don't want to get out from under the duvet. She said she wants to play a game, ok, so she pretends to shot things pow pow she goes, she tells me we are the water park and then goes on to tell me all the things she likes to do at the water park. Then she starts saying and and and mummy's boobies mummy's boobies wobble at the water park! i crack up laughing and so she repeats it of course. We haven't been to the water park since august but she still remembers everything..even things i didn't think she thought or noticed..ie my boobies wobbling! It was pretty funny, and i suspect it is an accurate observation!

Still here..just not often

So i am still here just not that often, i think in the new year i will start to get the iternet at home as its doing my head in.
We baked with the kids on Saturday very cute, Tilly wanted more licking mum, meaning icing. Sarah liked to cut out the shapes and decorated them nicely, didn't like to eat them of course. however i make muffins this morning with little sugar in them and she ate 3, nice. They are teddy bear shaped as i bought a new mold...ok it cost way too much but its ace, Sarah never gets to eat cute food, there's no cute food for vegans here..
ok i have to go my boss wants her computer back..
i'll try again soon.

Its potty time for Sarah and Pickles!

So at my parents Sarah started to want to pee on the potty, which she has been strongly against for some time now. So i was over the moon to see she was interested in it again. So when we got home she peed on the potty a couple of times but never when we were out and often on the floor..you know how it goes. Then we were at Kelly's house and i thought I'd give it a go, so i took of her nappy and let her bare little bum run around. Nick was sleeping, which is only relevant later, so she sat on the potty there...for ages, no pee pee. then mum its coming pee pee is coming! quick. She rushes sits down and pees, then she claps and is extremely excited to the point that she wakes up Nick. Bless her, she was so pleased with herself ( i too added to the excitement!) then later she did it again! yeah way to go. this time I'd figured out that if you turn on the potty (i didn't know you could) then it plays music when she pees in it! how cool was that, for a little girl that loves music. She was over the moon.
So at home we made a star chart,and then she stopped peeing on the potty! yep it had the reverse effect. she refused to use the potty and thus i didn't push the issue. Then i tried again at a friends house and she did it twice. I gave her jelly (little mega sweet things that come in tiny containers that every kid loves). She was well chuffed that she got the jelly and went home and peed again, and asked for a jelly.
So the jelly worked the stars didn't.
this kid likes rules so i placed some, i told her when she was at home she wasn't to wear a nappy anymore (only at night). So this week we'd had a few fights where she wanted me to put on the nappy...so she could pee/poop. but I'd say no then when we'd go out I'd put on one and yep she's poop in it. so i told her if she peed on the potty she could have a jelly if not then no jelly's. If she pooped then she could have two jelly's (oh the other thing she learnt to do well in the UK was to count, so cute).
today was the first day i had a break though with the potty fiasco. We didn't go out all morning and see peed 3 times and pooped once, her first ever poop on the potty!! i was so pleased. however i am started to regret the jelly rule as this morning she has already eaten 5 jelly's...not so good!
So we left the house to go to the nannies with no nappy on, yep i risked it and she made it just fine. i am quite sure she will kill me when she's older and knows that i shared this information with the world, but I'd happy and i want to tell people.
the other thing that happened earlier this morning is that my cat Pickles, pooped for the first time on the toilet too. the real toilet that is. She's been peeing on the toilet for about 3 years now but normally she has a bowl with a little bit of sand in it and holes so the pee goes threw and the poop stays and she can cover it ect...
Well Thomas looked after her when i was in England and when he returned her he forgot her bowl. She'd been peeing just fine on the loo, but would poop in the "garden". today the weather is horrible and wet and she wasn't going outside so she just pooped in the loo.
thus I've had a very busy poopy day! :)
i will post a video of pickles peeing that tom put on line...i'm happy as after 3 years of trying to potty train Pickles, i now have no more cat poop to clean up...i hope!

flight home.

So we are back in Taiwan, Sarah was sick for the flight back but i got her some sinus medication to clear up the mass amount of snot she was producing just in time for the flight. The first 11 hrs went really well and i thought to myself wow i did it it was so much better than the trip there. Then we had a short flight from bangkok to HK, which i didn't relise was on the agenda, then HK to TW...the flight to HK wasn't too bad but she feel asleep and i had to wake her up..thus not so much fun waiting for the next flight and then dealing with the next flight...
However i have to say all in all that she did really well with the whole flighting thing. Seroiouly she was great, she never had a time that she cried inconsolably, never did she have a time where she threw herself about in a big old hissy fit. She cried a bit, yes but so would i, she hates to chew gum, sweets ect so the pressure up and down wasn't so great, particulaly on the shorter flights. I hurt me and i was chewing like crazy.
All in all i think kids will do much better than you think they will. i will say this that wrapping small (kind of crappy) little gifts REALLY helps. I have to thank Heather for this idea, it really works very well and she loved it. she would sit with one in her hand for ages waiting till we got on the plane, then open it taking another 3 mins then would play with it for well lets face it no more than 20 mins, it really helped to settle her down and pass the time. The other thing was that we took my little laptop that Tom had copied her dvds onto it so she could watch them. this was a life saver too, and made the 11 hr trip much better than it would have been, i even got to watch a movie as she was so into Dora. So thank you for the tips.
The plane that we had on the way back was just as crappy as the way there, i didn't think they even ran those type of planes still, it had just the one big screen at the front which is so well last year! haha. next time i think i will try and see if you can make sure you get the back of the head entertaiment system, its so much better.
The jet lag was worst coming back then going, i always fine that to be the case. It didn't help that i had to work the next day...i didn't relise that i would be but i had to. I told them that i was happy to go to the halloween party / not really a party. So they assumed that i would have normal teaching duty before...great. poor sarah had to go to the nannies less than 24 hrs after getting of a 15 hr flight. not good. and i had to teach...maybe not my finest hrs of teaching! next time i will make sure i come back late friday so i get a weekend before i have to teach again!

Fringes and farms

Never realise the benifit to sharing a bed with someone, personally i can't bear it and would much rather sleep on my own in my own room far way from wiggly worms.
Anyway, at home (Taiwan) Sarah has to sleep in my bed (only got air con in my room and its well very hot in Taiwan in the summer) but she sleeps on her own matress so is a bit higher and generally stays on the matrise. Here however she is just in the same bed. Which isn't great, but last night it was cold here..no suprise, when i went to bed Sarah was sleeping on "my side " so i got in and pushed her over. Thats when i was enlighted to the benefits of sleeping in the same bed as someone, my bed was nice and warm and then she was lying right next to me giving off heat, so i didn't have those 10 mins when you get into be and are colder than when you where out of bed.
nice. i new there must be some benifits! but maybe that's the only one.
I cut Sarah's hair, due to the fact when she was ill her hair was GLUED to her face with snot. Seriously. My sisters kid (Sky) was the same, and louise cut a fringe into her hair, and it looked really cute. So i thought i'd try it. I like it but it makes her look older...gosh they grow up too fast!
We went to finkley down farm, which is a petting farm in the town i grew up in. i grew up going to this farm and loved it. They do a great job there. Anyway, i took Sarah and of course she loved it totally.
My friend Leah gave Sarah a baby doll, normally she has rejected ALL dolls given to her, Lili would try to share her dolls with her and she'd push them away. However she is now in love with little dolls, and can't get enough of her new baby doll. Mum brought her a bottle to feed the doll with and the look on her face when she does it is so funny, this really serious face...i guess it looks a bit like my expression when i am trying to consentrate. very cute mind.

sick little Sarah bear

So we went to Wales to see my friends, they have a place that is in the middle of no where...really.
So Sarah had been sick with a cold, but so had i and i just thought it's just a heavy cold. She seemed to be getting a bit better on Saturday and i thought great she'll be fine for Wales...
needless to say i spoke to soon. We stayed over at Barrs (David's) house on Saturday and on Sunday morning she was perky and fine.
We stopped at a service station and she played fed ducks and seemed ok, a little more winny maybe but not too bad. Then we arrived at my friends lovely cottage, really lovely but there were lots of people still there and Sarah was well more than shy. She was clinging on to me for dear life poor thing. She was winny and cling, she was obviously not herself, that night after lots of people left she still was no Sarah, that night she was up and really sick with a heavy cold and fever, the next morning she was all well not right at all, so Dan took us to the hospital, which was 20mins away. The A&E (ER) staff said she was dehydrated and had really bad tonsilitus, and a heavy cold...so much snot i couldn't even belive how often i had to wipe her nose!
So they tried to put in an I.V but she moved right when they'd got it sorted and it popped the vein, so her little had swelled up and they took it out and she was left with a big old bruise, not nice.
Then she got moved to pediatricts and saw three more drs that all said the same thing, after four examinations i was a little bit naraked that no one had given her anythingfor the pain...4 hours later she was admitted to the pediatric ward and given antibiotics and pain relive (a spray along with the normal stuff). We stayed in all day and she finally got a little better. We went to leave and they gave us her medication and that was that. we didn't have to pay to sign to do anything, the NHS is and can be amazing really. They new that Sarah was adopted and we'd come from Taiwan, they didn't mind, it was so weird after living in Taiwan where you have to fill in forms show i.d ect...So at 10 pm we went back to my mates house.
That whole week i had to carry her around all the time, she was winny clingly and well just a mess. i kept praying that she would wake up and just be my Sarah bear again. She didn't the whole time, my dad came to get us on Thursday night and stayed over, on Friday she was a little bit better but still clinging to me. I was SO tired really, i wished that i could pass her to someone...of course everyone offered and but she wouldn't really go to them for long or without me right there! my joints were killing me. i was also so disapointed that my friends *(on of which Sarah is named after) didn't get to meet real Sarah bear. So sad.
So we left and on Friday she was well much better and by Saturday she was Sarah bear again! so nice.
So she's back to being herself again.
Here's some photos!

home, at last I've written a post!

So i have tried to write this post endless times, but Sarah or something keeps stopping me from writing it. The Internet is in our / her room so when she goes to sleep...i can't surf or type of course ...thus i don't get alone time ok i am in England, we are fine the flight was delayed for 2 hr on the runway..not good Sarah saying i want to fly mummy fly...ect... for 2 hr. then it took off then she fell asleep, just when they served the food.. i sealed it in a spare zip lock and she ate it when she woke up. She did ok on the flight really didn't cry much but she was able to walk around alot so that helped. The wrapped presents also did the trick , thank you miss Heather for that one! They really are perfect thing to bring as it makes them sit down still for well 10 mins if your really lucky! the plane was crappy, no back of the head screens for movies no no, it was old school like one big screen way over there for every one to watch in the middle rows and a tiny one for the side rows..thus Sarah had no hope of seeing it not that she'd want to as it was all adult movie (not porn i mean grown up movies!) Tom had put all Sarah's dvd's on a hard drive so she was able to watch a few programs on my mini computers, Thank you Thomas as that was also a life saver. Oh and regardless of the delay this was by far the longest flight i ahve ever taken...seriously it seemed like forever! normally i sleep or watch movies listen to book music ect...this time i was the enteratinment system...not so easy she only slept 3 times and for an hour each time,for way over 14 hrs flying time..not good not looking forward to the trip back i can tell you. Ok so we went to my sister (Louise) and i met Sky for the first time, she's just over 1 and very cute and sweet. Sarah and her seemed to get on well, she wanted to kiss Sarah a lot and well Sarah didn't scream at her when she was holding Spot for about 2 mins..(Spot is the thing that she doesn't have to share it's her spec ail toy like a blanket or something but its a small knitted spotty cat) So here are some photos from last weekend, i will put more up from this week as soon as i get two mins, Sarah is currently sat on my lap as the bath time was over quicker than i hoped! shame. She's taken to my parents which is really great she asks where they are and wants to follow them around when they are home, she even lets mum and dad give her hugs and stuff...but still doesn't want any one but me push the buggy, put her shoes on or anything like that....what's that about. mum took her out of the bath and she let her but then grabbed hold of me like a little limp and wouldn't let go, like i was going to leave her. you really think that she still remembers all the times i did leave her, i guess that she does huh. ok here are the cute photos. enjoy. Ps some are taken by Sarah...spot those win a prize (...oh as a disclaimer no prize will really be given!) oh and i just found this video...haha

Butterflies!!

So today i have butterflies and am feeling quite sick..excited nervous not sure..
Then i realised that i started my period today. Great right, so i get to fly with a 2 1/2 year old for over 14hr, while i am tired from having no sleep for the past few days due to excitement/worry ...ect, and now i will have the added joy of my period. nice.
Not!
never mind, i am sure that i will be just fine...can i really not take a hot water bottle on the plane? really can i not take Soya milk to subdue Sarah, as i know she will ask for it.
Dam those bomb makers and there stupid plans to blow up a plane with liquid. So annoying, but its still fine to take massive glass bottles from the duty free shop, but no no to nail scissors, what is that all about?? Seriously, i mean i'd rather be attacked by a pair of nail scissors that i big glass bottle, that you can knock someone out with then stab them repeatedly. Has no one ever thought about that? no really? It all stinks of making money as the reason you can and can't take some things on board.
Sarah's just turned up, the nanny brought her here as i was late...bad mother. She was screaming because she'd lost her shoe in the road and freaked out. the nanny said she's really scared of the road...err...too right then she will not run on it, am i the only one that think they should be scared of the road??
I know that Sarah will never run on the road, she walks down the street with out holding my hand and i know she's fine. She's only ever gone on the road once , and it was right in front of a car...quite road, very slow but you know scary. she's not done that again. now i trust her to be safe with road...so of course she's scared of them!!
anyway better go, we have to leave at like 3 am as the flight is at 7:30 am, i feel bad for Tom as he will be driving, i feel bad for Sarah as she will be sleeping, but i guess that is why it was the cheap flight. ho hum i am going via Thai airlines, and i have heard they are pretty good. i booked assistance and vegan meals, so i am a right complainer...gosh i wonder how on Earth i got to be so darn fussy, i nearly asked for no Almonds too but i figure that's all a little bit too much (almonds give me, and my family it would seem, mouth ulcers big painful ones..not so good. my sister had almonds on the way over and she got a big one. not good.)

getting ready to go go go!

Sarah and i are in the libary checking our email...well i am, she is currenty running around with no shoes on (there is carpet here so that means its clean right mummy?) she's collecting "rocks" from flower pots and eating her manto (bread), i am sure that i will get told off at any moment..but you know she's happy and she doesn't go too far from me.
I let her walk off out of my sight quite often as she never goes far and is always safe, however i think i better no do that in the uk as someone might take her, here there's little to no chance that will happen (of course there is always a chance but its pretty slim). As for the uk i don't know maybe, she's pretty darn cute! :)
We've been doing lots of shoppping to buy stuff for people in at home, and i gave sarah some of her own money to get anything she wanted only like 60nt with is about 1 pound, so what does she buy...
She buys two peach juice boxes one for me and one for her, then she buys hello kitty wet wipes...yes wet wipes. I ask if she is sure and yes she wants that, so that's what she got.
She then used them to clean the table, the floor and her face...
she's so clean...but they smell like floor cleaner so i don't think i want her to wipe her face with them again.

Off to England

So I've been away from the Internet of late due to a lot of work and not a lot of time...
My sister, Caroline, came to see me a couple of weeks ago now. It was really lovely to have her here and show her a few of the sights of Taipei...we didn't get to see that many but we saw a few and I think she had a good time. Sarah and I did so I am guessing it couldn't have all been bad for her. She slept in Sarah's room, which has no air-con at all ...so she was hot at night, I did tell her she can come and sleep on the floor in my room (on a mattress) but she didn't want to. I couldn't really give her my bed as Sarah sleeps in it and I can tell you no-one wants to try to sleep next to her...she's a wiggling nightmare to sleep with and I will be super glad when the weather is cool enough that she can go back to her own bedroom!
Pictures below are of Caroline and I when we went out and about..i don't have many as she used my camera to take photo's on her memory stick..until it ran out of space. Ok so you might ask why I didn't down load it before she left...well that would require that I thought things threw and I often don't and often forget things.
So many cool things have happened since I last wrote I am not sure where to begin. Sarah's talking why more and she's improved a lot. I'm really please as this means that maybe my parents will be able to understand what she is saying (well the English at any rate!)
We have our tickets to go home, we will fly out of Taipei next Wednesday! So soon, so excited. Yet I have had sleepless nights worrying about all the things that I need to take back with me (gifts), and all the stuff I need to prepare for the subs that will teach my classes when I am way. I've also been fretting a lot about the plane journey and what on earth I will do with Sarah for the well 24 hrs that we will be traveling for...agghhh. She can't even sit still to watch one episode of Dora!! I have brought lots of presents for her that I will wrap up and give her every hour, this is what my sister does and my mate Heather. But seriously what on Earth do you do with a slightly hyperactive 2.5 year old on such a long flight??? any ideas?
Also I am worried as I have chronic joint pain that gets much worst if I am sat down for a long period of time.. and getting up every so often on a plane doesn't cut it. So I know full way I will not be able to walk very well at all when I go to get off the plane, so how do I then carry my possible half asleep child off the plane along with all the things I am taking to entertain her for the journey?? Before I used a wheelchair and had assistance getting on and off the plane, but then I was much worst than I am now, i'd use the wheelchair to go to the super market or anywhere that involved walking a lot. Since being in Taiwan and having Sarah my joints are 100X better than they were so I feel like a bit of a fraud asking for assistance now. Do you know what I mean? So what do I do, struggle to walk and make the transfer time or get assistance? And I don't think Sarah will go to anyone else bar me so she will want me to carry her...nightmare. I went to the movies the other night with Tom (first time since having Sarah without taking her), so at the end I go to get up and I am in so much more pain that I have to walk out of there like a limping robot that needs their joints oiled...so I can image after the flight...
Good thing is that my folks will meet us at the airport so we don't have to get a train or a coach home...which would be well Marfan (trouble in Chinese).
I've been preparing Sarah for the trip, and she says a list of people that we will go and see when we are there. Which is very cute, my parents will want to hug her as soon as she gets of the airplane but I am not so sure she will just go to them like that...but I guess they are used to it with Caroline's kids not really knowing them. Did I say that I will go home for a whole month?? well I am. Whats funny is my landlord told me that he will give me a 50% discount for the time I am not there...is that weird or what? It's wonderful but strange. Also the nanny says I don't have to pay her so I am really glad I am going for a whole month.
Ok I will try to write again soon, as well as catch up on emailing people and reading blogs..sorry.

We're alive

ok so i am alive just super busy.
Sarah is fine now, thank you for asking. she's was rough for a while but is now in tip top condition.
Normal school started last week so a change to my shedual ect..thus busy.
My sister is arriving on Thurdsay so i have been huntting for a sub..nightmare but maybe we have one...
I will be going home at the end of this month. i am so so excited i can't wait. Sarah will finally get to meet my family and friends. I can't stop thinking about all the food i want to eat when i get home..vegan cheese is the top of the list as is vegan ice cream ...oh the list it goes on.
Of course i can't wait to see people too! but food..mmm... i've been here too long i tell you.
I have to go prep a lesson i'm so far behind. i hope to get some good photos up here soon as i have some nice ones of Sarah of course!
Oh dear i almost fogot its my sisters birthday today, so happy birthday! i will see you in two days!! how cool!!

Pneumonia not H1N1 (we pray!)

Sarah has had a fever since Saturday night, not too high to start with but on Monday pretty bad.
So on Monday night i thought this is really too high for too long, so i took her to the dr on Tuesday.
She wasn't herself to say the least but after she had calpol (pain killer, Tylenol ect) she was fine. She was coughing a bit but not much and no runny nose ect.
the dr looked at her and said he couldn't see anything (ie in her throat,ears, or hear in her chest) so he sent us for an xray. Sarah wasn't too happy with the xray as they made her take off her ABC top (which really says Gap or something like that!) So we went back up to see the dr and he looked at the xray and said she has pneumonia...great isn't that the first sign of the H1N1 virus?? How ever she doesn't have any flu like symptoms at all, she just has a fever and a cough so we are praying that is all it is...
We will see if it clears up now she's on antibiotics. they told me to rush her is to the hospital if she is struggling to breath...yeah because i'd just keep my kid at home not able to breath! (not!)

The other thing is after i got medication down her and she was all chirpy aggain, we went to get her passport from the office which is just down the road from the hospital. So now Sarah has a passport, i can leave the country with with finally. It's great it has her Chinese name is written Chinese(of course (its a taiwanese passport) and in "English" phonetically, the second character starts with X which i think is well cool!! haha. What i like the most is it also has a section in it where is says AKA and then her full English name, real English name is written, this is the first really document with that name in it. Cool huh.

Too True Tuesdays (well Wednesday)

So in a friends car off for a nice day out. Sarah's on my lap...there are little to no rules in Taiwan about children sitting in car seats (if there is no on abides by it, and they put the babies on scooters with no helmets in site...scary)
So she's on my lap, my friends kids in his seat and my friend and her husband are in the front.
Sarah grabs both of my boobs and says loudly, "where's my boobies mummy?" and repeats it just in case my friends husband didn't hear the first time..then she adds
"i want boobies too mummy i want them, (i) like boobies mummy" (she often just says like instead of i like..)
Needless to say i hushed her up but the whole car heard! At least they didn't see her squeezing mine!

The inevitable happened with the scissors...

So Sarah loves the hairdressers...well documented, well she was alone for a min with some scissors...guess what, well i should have forseen this happening but i hadn't. yes she cut cut her hair.

Fortune has it i was a stones trow away and thus caught her so she didn't do too much damage just a little off the front..but still...no scissors for that little girl for a while i think!
She told me "like hair dressers mummy, cut cut pretty".... hummm
i don't think so, a big time out and a telling off, however i kind of felt bad about telling her off as I'd never told her don't cut your hair..as it never came up before now. So now I've told her good and clear we only ONLY cut paper (and paper that i give you to cut!)...so no cut cut the cats, no cut cut the fingers..(any part of your body, and no cut cut hair mine or yours or the cats!!

i think she got it..at least if she does now i can tell her off without feeling like i was a little unfair.

很多人 at the pool!

So on Tuesday the day i have off, i thought it would be nice to take Sarah to the water park near our house..i even asked other people to come. Kelly and Nik, and then Gemma Guinness and Annabell. So when we arrived at 930 it was a little crazy but not too bad...by 1030 it was well mental, totally packed with people. I joked asking if there was a limit to the number of people...Kelly didn't think there would be, and she was right by 11 it was HEAVING like so many people (children) there was school after school after school, crazy. i'd hate to be in charge of 5 kids here, what a nightmare. Kelly and Nik left and i felt terrible about the fact that i'd dragged them there and Nik didn't really want to be there. Sarah was ok, she was tierd and thus clingy and grumpy...not the best combo, i asked Annabell to come along thinking she was just looking after Gemma, but she had baby Guinness too...really not the best, so we went to the quieter side away from the sides and to the little paddling pool like thing. sarah and gemma had fun, Guinness slept like a baby and Annabell and i were glad to go home.
Needless to say i won't go there till the kids go back to real school in September!
i'll try and get photos from Kelly to show you how many people Taiwanese think is ok in a small water park!

Too True Tuesdays (well Thursday)

Well like i said i don't work on Tuesday...so its Thursdays, sorry Essie!
So what shall i share...
Ok so i was thinking about this the other day when i sat on the underground (mrt, subway..what ever) and i was sat next to a guy that had a huge, pus filled, tight, ready to pop, spot on the side of his neck and plenty of black heads to boot. all i could think of was how much i wanted to squeeze it.
I was thinking this and then thinking that its pretty gross that i want to do that, its almost like a compulsion rather than a want, like i need to do it. Of course i didn't...i am not that flipping crazy. I have however seen a woman squeezing her hubbys face on the mrt, right there for all and sundry to see...not nice but i totally get why she did it.
If i get a spot, it gets squeezed as soon as i notices i can't even hold out for a min. I have to pop that little zit...sometimes i squeeze it too much (well all the time not just sometimes), and it leave me with a far bigger mess than i started with. i get these white spots which are in fact a build up of skin cells (so they tell me) well i've had them as long as i remember as do all the perry clan. these are not your normal spot, no they need tougher action, i have to get a needle out and pick them out as they are hard lumps under the skin. i love picking away but have to stop myself or i get a big old scab on my face...i currently have one.
So there it is my secret is out there i love squeezing spots, even if it is gross i still like to do it!

The big water park!

So on Saturday Tom took us to the BIG water park, which is like 40 mins drive from my place. The weather was just perfect, not too hot (still hot but with a little cloud cover), no rain and no wind. How lovely was that, and it lasted all day!
We meet up with Kelly Cos and Nik, and had a ball.
Sarah LOVES the water now, I am SO pleased to see her splashing around going up and down the water slides by herself!! She is so miss independent and I let her be (sometimes!). Taiwanese people tend not to let there kids do stuff like that by themselves they are there to hold there hand, or simply wait till they are much older to let them go. To be honest Sarah was by far the youngest little kid going up and down, which made me question whether what I was doing was ok or not? I don't know but everything turned out ok, and Sarah had a blast. I can't count how many times she went up and down but it was over 50 for sure. There were three slides she did the most, at first I went on the big green slide with her as it was quite fast…then she went on it by herself without even me knowing..(Two slides together one yellow one green, yellow was tame and green a tad fast, thought she was going down the yellow but when she didn't appear I looked to the right and there she was walking away after going down the green one by herself!)
Needless to say she has little fear of things like this, which is worrying in some way, but good in another. I am 100% sure that when she is older she will LOVE the massive slides that they have there, as she is already asking "Go big slide, Go big slide"...of course i am not that mental! (Plus they'd never allow it!!)
So here are some photos…I have tons of them that Tom and Kelly took, it was a great day and i hope we get to go back there before summer is over.
Maybe with my sister..who says she might be coming over for a few days in Sept.. How great would that be!







yes that is Sarah under the water...how proud of her i am!!

Typhoon days

So we're alive..yes we had a Typhoon...well Taiwan had one, Taipei's version was rather lame to say the least. We (well Wolfgang, my exboss and i) joke about saying that typhoons are so lame here and that we really don't think we've seen a typhoon till we see cars flying and trees falling down. i have yet to see that and praise The Lord that i haven't. However they make a big old fuss here in the city and it never really hits the city (touch wood ect..)
So we had Friday off work due to the typhoon, i was asked to collected Asher from the orphanage on Thurday, before we knew for sure we would have the day off ( i took a chance as they often will call a day off if it looks like it will hit Taipei)

Friday came, it was a bit windy and there was rain..but not so bad. I noticed Ashers milk powder was low and i new (the news said it) that the tyhoon would land on Saturday and that the morning would be the best time to get out and get it...
so we did, 9 o'clock the kids and i went out on a mission to get some milk powder, not really sure the shops would be open but betting that they would. Sarah sat in the buggy nice and dry (with the rain cover on)...bar her feet which now stick out. Asher was in the sling with Sarah's old raincoat on, and we walked. Lots of cars were parked up on the pavement so we had to walk in the road..the wind was wistling and the rain was coming down, as i walked in the road carrying one baby and pushing another....i thought what a sight i must be. Locals looked at me like i was mental or didn't know that there was a typhoon coming..we ignored them and pressed on. It was fine really not a big deal, we even stopped and got fruit and veg from the market...then the wind picked up i figured we should head home.
So we stayed inside and did craft..well i did, Sarah drew / scribbled while Asher ate everything.. crayons, chewed pens, and distroyed Sarah's "art work", (by eating it of course). if it wasn't Asher messing the game or craft up it was the kittens..they where everywhere in to everything, including eating anything that was put down down for 30secs... aggghh.
I cleaned what felt like endless poop from nappies, litter trays and the floor...aggh again to the stupid kittens!!
Cabin fever was getting really bad (for me) and i looked outside the rain was no more than a drizzle, so we went out again. Yep, i took the kids out even when the typhoon was just about to land. we didn't go far just across the street to the "Green store" This is not green as in enviromentally aware, no just green lables and cheap stuff. like a massive pound store/ dollar store. its cool Sarah loves it as do i, you can get everything there..really everything. very cool. we stayed there for like an hour brought a couple of things and went back home..i felt proud that we didn't watch any tv but then i gave in and i watch a crappy oldish moive on the box..then Tom came to see us and Sarah loved the chance to play with him, i was well into the rubbish movie so was a terrible host..then the wind picked up so tom left
Needless to say we are fine, Saturday was not so bad really kind of better than friday. The same is not to be said in some parts of Taiwan. I am just very glad that we didn't get hit by the typhoon, but you know one of these days we will and i will not belive it. Too many times have the govement/weather people cried wolf to us in Taipei city..i'm sure i'll be court short one day.

Too True Tuesdays (well Thursday)

So Essie has a very cool idea to share something true about yourself on Tuesdays...
well i have way too many and i don't think i can even bring myself to say 99% of them but i will go for a few tame things.

So a new friend of mine was came down with a cold ( a love interest from many a year ago when i was at university... studying a for biology degree) , i wanted to take something over to show i cared you know all nicely nicely.. so what do you take, i could possibly take chocolates as you can't eat chocolate when you have a cold, so i took fruit.
I said that i wanted to bring chocolate but you can't eat chocolate when you have a cold. Their face was a picture, "Paula, what are you talking about??" I repeated "You know when you have a cold you can't eat anything with chocolate in" i was put in my place and told promptly that i was talking rubbish and where did i ever get such a crazy idea...
Well that's from my father, he always told us that you can't have any chocolate (like hot chocolate) when you have a cold...i believed him without even questioning the logic behind it. seriously, how stupid am i to not even question why you don't eat chocolate..needless to say the love didn't bloom (scientist are unforgiving of ignorance!)
ho hum... i try and question a few more things these days, you know that scientific training really helps...
I also have tons of words that we used as kids that i found out as an adult that no one else uses like gogo (as in a hair band).
(As a ps and side point, the reasoning behind no chocolate is that you shouldn't have cows milk when you have a cold, which is valid, but i don't drink cows milk so it makes no sense to rule out chocolate, don't go throwing the baby out with the bath water!)

A busy weekend

So he still hasn't got an ARC..and won't be able to get one. unless he does he serves his country (if only it was a Tennis Serve, he's rock at that!). So he is back in Taiwan with gifts for me from his long trip to Hongkong..all of 2 hrs. I got Ribenna and chocolate liquires which i LOVE...mmmm, and you can't get here. Sarah also loved the Ribenna, and i wish i'd never let her taste it as she finished off the whole bottle in about 2 mins. i still have one in the fridge and will drink it at night when she is alseep so i can be totally selfish!! haha.
This weekend was really cool, and just a tad busy.
So on friday morning we went to the water park with Kelly and Nik, Sarah is loving the water way more than she did i am so pleased as she never really liked it before and now well now she is happy getting her face wet going down water slides that scare me a little and lying down in the water with her nose and mouth peaking out. So cool. I took her on this twisty water slide, i looks harmless, but in fact it's really fast. She LOVED it, i was scared that i'd drop her but she was fine about it. Kelly and Nik had a go and Kelly held on to him with one arm and tried to slow herself with the other..it was a sight to be seen, Niks legs went over the side of the slide like he was going to fly off, from the top i'm sure you'd just see his legs flaying! so funny..a little scary as i was at the bottom and his legs hit mine, i felt terrible!
After work i then took two people to see the orphanage when i went to collect Asher, one of them would like to take a baby home at the weekends when she gets back from her trip home (south Africa), she has three kids of her own, 10, 16, and 17 so she knows whats she's letting herself in for!
On Saturday morning we went and meet up with Tom in starbucks, is 30 mins late...i did warn him not to set out to early...he still did. Of course the kids need food, and poop at the time i am trying to get out of the house. we practically ran there...bar the MRT (underground) trip where it doesn't help too much to run on the train. but from trains to train yes we ran. Still we were painfully late. Tom wasn't too happy but way better than i thought that he'd be, he is mellowing in his old age! (he's younger than me). We went there and Sarah was so thrilled to see him, she asks about his wearabouts every single day more than once! so she was chuffed to see him there in Star bucks. We then went for lunch at Subway...ok so this reflects so badly on me as i would have never not ever gone to either of these places when i lived in the UK...but i am telling you when you are a fish out of water you go to places that look and feel a bit like home..trust me i think you'd do it even if you hate these places right now, you have a choice..well so do i but it's not that great. hum... feeling guilty isn't going to help, but getting a drink and something to eat from a place that speaks English and feels like home is difficult in Taiwan.
After lunch we meet up with Kelly, Cos and Nik. Cos drove us to the beach, the kids all slept on the way there so kelly and i got to chat, which is way easier with out kids hang off us (they were hanging off us but asleep so you know quite!) We went to this nice beach (fulong) Sarah loved playing in the sand (a first as before she hated it), she also went swimming with me and had lots of fun splashing around. it was great, we got there at 230 and left at like 8, nik and Asher fell asleep...Sarah my night owl was still bouncing around like she'd had hours of energy left! never mind.
Got home both kids screaming..i am wondering what i am doing with two kids as i am pooped! never mind they all get to sleep by 10 as do i!
On Sunday i get them up and go to Church to meet someone to show them what to do for the info ministry i half lead (i do a terrible job). They didn't turn up for 20 mins...so i need not have woke up the kids..never mind.
I get a cab home and get them both to sleep for an hour and a half, then we go and meet up with Nevada and go to the Water park (again!) we had a lot of fun there. Asher in a sling and Sarah desprate to go off on the slides, which she really can't do by herself the water is too deep at the end of the tunnel or slide so i have to sit with her...i can't do that too well with Asher in a sling so at the end Nevada watched her and i got to do cool things with Sarah on the slides. we even went down the twisty super fast slide. This time my shorts were not water shorts and it helped as it slowed me right down...a little too much as in the big tunnel we kind of got stuck! The we went to Nevadas to have dinner, Tom came over and joined us and then Maddy popped by. Then we all (bar Maddy) went to Church (its a different one than the morning one, its called the Pearl and is small and a younger crowd of people.
Then at 9 pm we got home...ok Shattered!! (that mean very very tiered)
kids screaming, i'm wondering what i am doing..must be mental!
The next morning i have get Asher to the orphanage by 730 due to working at 9am...not good. Rushing rushing, the kids were both out and i had to wake both of them to leave on time. Sarah wanting to be held but its very tricky, i carried her down the 5 flights of stairs from my house then dropped her in the Buggy, she practically fell back to sleep. I got to the orphanage in time, and then to the nannies...she was still alseep when i arrived at 8:20. then i got to work in time, but had a terribly put together lesson...not the best.
In short it was busy, but fun!

ARCs, Phones and growth spurts

So many things have been happening what happened just yesterday is Tom called me to tell me that he can no longer have an ARC...(Work permit) to live in Taiwan. Ok so this is confusing right as Tom is Taiwanese...but he's not really. He came he on his British passport to avoid military service. Which was all above board and fine...however they change the law in Feb this year (with out us knowing of course) which means that he can no longer do that. He has to do his military service or he can't have an ARC...his ARC ran out today so he has had to get a quick flight to Hong kong and get out of Taiwan fast. nightmare. So he is now flying to Hong kong just to flight back here and get a landing visa, which is for 90 days only...what a waste of money and time. He will literally go there and get the next flight back..crazy stuff. we don't know what will happen after that but it seems crazy. Poor Tom, what a nightmare.

Bar all this big drama of the day, over the past month we've been busy getting a new phone, with a lot of help from Anna and Steve...We went to get it sorted out and it was a bit of a nightmare, if you can't speak Chinese you really can not sort it out by yourself..plus if you apply and you are foreign then you have to pay even more as a deposit so you don't just leave the country.
Never mind.
I have been hunting for flights and trying to sort out a way to get back home, and i will go i have enough money just but it's tight so i was stressing over that. However it's way too important for me to go home, there are tons of things happening right when i want to go back so i have to go i feel really drawn to go back.
I miss my family and friends, but i don't miss the weather...goodness knows what i will pack..Sarah will have to wear lots of tights with trousers i guess. bye bye cute summer stuff that we can normally wear until November and hello British Autumn time...great. Sarah's skinny i can't believe that she would cope to well if we went in the winter, she was freezing this morning after half and hour at the water park...and it is and was HOT out there. bless her. She's had a big growth spurt lately and has been eating for England..so when I took her to the orphanage to see Asher, who's been sick for like forever *he has a cold. I thought i know i will show them what a great mother i am and weigh her there as she must be a lot heavy...nope still just 10 kg.. she's gotten taller she's gained like 2 cm in a month (ok nothing compared to Essies kid but seriously even her feet have grown so much i can see the difference!).
Sarah's nanny lost a bag of Sarah's stuff the other week..which had in it one Spot. So Spot is the little cat Sarah loves and takes every were. Fortune has it that Heather (who we miss and want to come back) gave her a duplicate, or doppelganger Spot last year. So Sarah has two. We only ever take one out and i always try to get her to take said doppelganger. She did and her nanny lost it. So sad. She was really upset as she sleeps with two (she says three for two ..not sure why, she's started to correct it and say two spots). Anyway we went to the nanny on Monday and the nanny had been online and brought Sarah another Spot...this time rather bigger, not the same colour and with strips not spots...however it's the same company. It must have cost a lot as the ones that both Heather and i got were far from cheap (now wishing she's attached to a cheapy thing). This nanny is really quite poor, i feel so surprised that she did that its a big shock and must have been hard for her..i can't even tell her how much Sarah loves it as i don't speak enough Chinese..
I guess she saw as Sarah had a dog with her which as soon as she got the big spot she dropped on the ground like a bit of litter!
Ok thanks for reading so far...i just could keep going but i think i should stop and do some prep for work..i start in 20 mins!

Hair dressers

So Sarah's obsessed with Hair dressers...i've said it before but she is in love with them. we walk past on and she's standing at the window staring in as quick as a flash. She could spend hours just watching..even when not much is happening. I always have to pull her away. she points them out when ever she spots even a tiny glimps of one. So now she has my hair dressing playmobil in her room and she loves it. she brushes their hair, and her own with the tiny little brushes. she blow dries there hair too, and answers the phone..which she discovered was so small she can in fact put it in her ear...not so good but she's done it just the once...i am hoping we don't have to take her to the drs to remove it one of these days.
So on tuesdays i have the day off work, and i've been wanting my hair cut for a while..it's been a long time since i had it done as i (unlike Sarah) am not a big fan of hair dressers and the alike. So my friend Kelly has just gotten back from Russia, and she was going to get her hair cut, so i said i would like to join her. So we did.
We all went in together and Sarah was stoked! She sat there between us while we got her hair washed and asked again and again, my hair dressers? my hair dressers? over and over.
So Kelly said that she would like to treat her to a hair cut if that was ok. how could i turn such an offer down. Sarah was SO excited, it was SO funny and amazingly cute to watch her get her hair washed and then trimmed. Every time the hairdress left she asked where's the man gone? (man where?). She loved every minute of it. it was so cute. i asked that they don't really cut much off just trim it and they did.
My hair however..i asked for it to be a bob, then i felt lots of hair falling on the floor..you could practically hear it! I ware glasses so i can't really see what they are doing when i get my hair cut..i can just guess..so its a suprise when i put them back on.
So here it are some photos of out girls day out at the hair dressers. i have never done that before and it was so much fun i will do it again some time.
Ginger came with us, Kelly's friend and took photos, and translated for us. She was a blessing as otherwise we'd have no photos and look how cute they are!
Thanks to kelly for our wonderful hair cuts...well her's and Sarah's are great i am liking mine a bit too.

trip back home

life as a dyslexic:
Planning to go back to the uk in October..thought that the flights we well cheap...turns out what i was looking at is one way and for one adult.....oh dear when will i learn to read! back to the drawing board!

cycling

So we've been cycling this last couple of weeks. we have a bike on loan from a friend who has gone back to Canada for the summer (Thank you Nevada).
I want to try it out and see how Sarah liked it before i thought about getting a baby seat for her.
She LOVES it, really loves it. i am so glad. we cycled for 30 mins and we get off and she just says again again? and gets upset that we can't go on it again until tomorrow! bless her.
The problem with cycling is that in Taipei you can't take the MRT (underground) with your bike during the week you can only go on it at weekends or holidays...which i find a little annoying and strange to say the least. peak times sure but all day? and night during the week?? that's a little over the top no? also you can only take it on half the mrt the other half your not allowed...go figure.
Tom went with us for a bike ride and got rather hot, we went out at mid day...not the best idea ever, but i hadn't planned it that way it just so happened that by the time we got there Tom finished we finished eating ect..it was mid day. never mind.
We went to get the helmet for Sarah with Tilly and Anna, Sarah loves the helmet and wanted to wear it that day even though we didn't have our bike...her and Tilly used the bike stand to make believe it was a bike..or a horse or what ever they thought it was. cute.
Sarah has also taken to requesting a Tail. We have three cats currently...hopefully the kittens will go soon. But she is always saying my tail, where's my tail. i tell her she doesn't have one..but now she does she has a long sock of mine in the back of her skirt/shorts ect...and she walks around with this Tail..she loves it and even wants to sleep with it...go figure. i will take a photo to show you.
We also had a great trip yesterday to a shopping mall and Tom got Sarah some new very cool sandals. that she loves. she was miss bouncy to say the least yesterday. cute but so tiring!
the other day i got Sarah some sunnies and she wanted to wear them on the way home in the taxi...it was dark every dark out...still she wore them and told me , "bright lights."