Highs and Lows DAYBOOK

How did it go so quickly!!???  THREE weeks away from becoming a family of FIVE.

Being pregger (for me) means a lot of extreme highs and lows.... so let's run with it! That's the theme this post..

Outside My Window
HIGH - 22 Celsius (71*F) - gorgeous. perfect. hong kong showing off.
LOW - 8 Celsius (46*F... feels colder to us hong kongers) - still lovely with a hot belly bump

Repulse Bay Beach

Aberdeen Marina

I'm Thinking About

HIGH - work / life balance. Life Purpose. you know, small stuff.

LOW -  same

I Don't Want To Forget 
HIGH - the love and affection my girls are showing their baby brother ALREADY.
LOW - getting kicked in the ribs... no wait, that's a high... I love feeling this boy inside of my belly... but dang, that hurts! I'm already sad that this feeling is fleeting and that this is the last time I'll feel it. I want to bottle this up - as painful as it is - and remember it always.

I'm Learning 

HIGH - that the public medical system here is so far so good! Efficient, predictable, affordable, and medically sound.
LOW - that Jasper won't be with me for the pre-op, nor post-op recovery room time... and only for 2 short 'visiting hours' per day while I'm in hospital due to the shared room situation. Nervous about being lonely and vulnerable and not having my ROCK by my side.

I'm Hearing

HIGH - "you're such a cute pregnant lady!" - tell me again!!! :)
LOW - "Mom, when baby boy is my age... I'll be 19 and in college." 👀

I'm Reading

HIGH - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine ***** fabulous. simply fabulous.

LOW - the bills from all of the (not covered, private doctor) prenatal appointments.

Around The House

HIGH - my new nursing chair !!!! happy momma. Why did I ever stew over this expense?

LOW - seriously. what are we going to do!?? We live in 900 square feet. Everything is already squished. What other baby equipment are we going to need? Where will we put it? How are we going to babyproof this tiny place with 2 big girls and all of their small teensy tiny things? And are all our apartment neighbors going to silently hate us because there will be crying in the middle of the night?

At Work
HIGH - Everyone is extra nice to me, even with my uncharacteristic brash preggo-demeanor. And they feed me. And encourage me to take the elevator. And just smile lovingly when I forget things ... which is ALL the time now!
LOW - I'm so bone tired at the end of each day. And have no comfortable chairs in my classroom.

Eating Out (confession - I'm never in the kitchen anymore)

HIGH - Thai food, Italian, Tapas, stopping at a random Russian TeaHouse for sweet potato fries all by myself on a whim....
HIGH - (in the kitchen again! Nesting much??) goat-cheese-stuffed medjool dates toasted with bread crumbs for lunch.... just because I can and nobody teases me for it. And I'm hungry enough to eat them all so none go to waste.
LOW - the heartburn... oh! The heartburn!!!! Kill me now.

gingergread cookies!

So Very Hong Kong

HIGH - having strangers usher you to the front of a (v long) taxi queue because you are pregnant (HEAVENLY BLESSING!!!!) Hong Kong can be miraculous when you're pregnant. Strangers even speak up for you and make others give up their seat on the MTR just so you can sit down.
LOW - Strangers also appear out of nowhere with giant smiles on their faces, rub your belly and tell you that you must be having a boy and coo and congratulate and then ask how many kilos you've gained. Yes they do.

the MTR queue - Admiralty Station

 Aberdeen Fish Market excursion to get lobsters for a lunch with friends

One Of My Favorite Things

HIGH - My belly.
LOW - It's so very very itchy!!!

A Less-Than Favorite Thing 
HIGH - X
LOW - My backside. It's monstrous.

I'm Thankful

HIGH - to have had Christmas break during my 3rd trimester. What a gift of rest!
LOW - I'm thankful to be having our third child in this amazing city that I love where we are well supported with extra domestic help, easy delivery options, taxis with automatic open/close doors, surrounded by loving friends and accessible (free) public medical care where our children are thriving in an international, multicultural, mind-opening setting and that our son will boast an international birth certificate. The low side of all this is that we are FAR from family and that we don't have any family near for the big event.

at The Nutcracker
note* directed by Washington DC ballet director Septime Weber who recently moved to HK!

I'm Planning

HIGH - feeling more and more ready for *BABY*

LOW - it's going too quickly! I already miss being pregnant... and I'm still pregnant!

HIGH - names... what a fun rabbit hole!

LOW - names... what pressure for such a big decision.

Picture Thoughts :

This and That

Here's what we've been up to these last few weeks. 

Lazy Sunday morning ART in PJ's.

Pool Time! Made the most of it this 3-day weekend!!

The real highlight of the weekend, though, is the beginning of ...
POTTY TRAINING. Wish us luck!

Stanley -
The week doesn't feel quite complete without a trip to Stanley. Groceries, haircuts, errands. Juke-Box take-over at Smuggler's and an after-dinner ice cream next to the pirate-ship-playground.

  
Friends
We welcomed another Capitol Hill DC family to Hong Kong. We are so happy some of our peeps have moved here! Amazingly they lived just 4 blocks from our house there, but we needed to move across the world before connecting. Took them out for Dim Sum at one of our favorite restaurants!

Din Tai Fung restaurant - yummy!

Dance Performance - Watched my amazing teachers perform.

Funny photo-op. Hooray CCDC!

Private Kitchen -
These are all the rage here in HK and most (if not all) are completely off the grid. Chefs rent space in abandoned (or nearly so) old industrial buildings and transform it into a kitchen/dining area for hosting. There is little to no signage - so it feels a bit secretive and fun when you stumble around trying to find these places. Went to a dinner-party with friends at this one last week:

Unmarked door - nearly missed it ... thank goodness for the 1C on the wall above the pencil sketch. 

 Around the House -

Sophia The First cupcakes - just for fun 

Daddy was in charge.
Ask me no questions.

homework

Addie and a few neighborhood friends

Eating Out

Food in HK is everything they say it is and more. A few from recent recon:

-Carbone - Italian (AAAAHMAZING! Bookclub & went back for date night.)

-Limewood - Beach BBQ (whole entire fish on a plate - and it was divine!)

-Ham & Sherry - tapas... lots of meat and lots of wine - funky and tiny

Last weekend- we made it to the famous JUMBO Floating Restaurant. It's the largest floating restaurant in the world. Food was ok. Atmosphere was fun! Getting there on a Sampan was fabulous.

restaurant DRESS UP station! YES!!

 

 

Not all Roses & Rainbows

Our apartment building is absolutely under siege by construction. Nearly a full third of the flats in the towers are under renovation. Can you imagine? The jack hammers and drills going through concrete - all - day - long! Vibrating our house so badly that things have fallen off the shelf. Our Helper has to take Addie to a friend's house for naptime every day, it's so bad. The play areas are cordoned off due to falling debris. I will be happy when this is over. They say September. Sigh.

Bamboo scaffolding on our tower. It's above, below, and beside our flat.

Yes, I do work. School has been busy too. Teaching here means that something special is happening every single week. In addition to the rigorous curriculum, preparations for placement, my formal observation, staff meetings and a few parent conferences... in the last 2 weeks we've hosted a read-a-thon for our Heifer International Service Project and celebrated International Week. The kids dress up, there is a huge assembly and parade, lots of related art projects. I took 4 rotating classes "camping in America". Tents, S'mores, the whole bit. Brought the girls back to school at night for an African drum jam.