February....

Well, it is almost February here in China, that means the Chinese New Year and all the stores are in full swing selling everything you can think of in red and gold.  There are sales going on all over the place from grocery stores to retail shops, I got a great deal on diapers!  :)  While back in the US this means President's Day, Valentine's Day....and a few of my favorite people's birthday!  My Grandma's birthday was Feb, 14th, my Poppy's birthday was Feb 13th, my brother's birthday is February 16th, my birthday is February 24th and my favorite couple's birthday is February 25th you know who you are!  So what a month to go home for a visit!  We are in the countdown phase now and so excited to go home for many of these fun celebrations, family, food and friends!  We fly home February 13th and are very excited!

So what have we been up to in China? Well the weather has been cold with some rain and snow!  We looked out the window two mornings last week to find snow on the ground!  The air quality has been terrible and you see many people wearing masks around, so we have been staying in the house a lot, and if we go out its in the car to get to a mall or store.  I have been working hard to meet other families with little kids and arranging play dates for the days Blake is home with me from school so we can meet new people and have some fun!  I also have worked with the school to have a stay and play, sort of a mommy and me time in a room they set aside for kids 0-3 that aren't attending school yet and it was a really fun time, so now every Friday Grace and I have a date to play with some other little ones and meet more mommies!  The expat community isn't so small here, it's just finding everyone and meeting them! Here are a few of the funny signs translated to English at the play places.

Grace will be 3 months this week and time is flying by!  She is smiling, sticking out her tongue, laughing and really interacting with us!  It is so much fun to go through these firsts again with our little girl!  Blake is loving riding the bus, he tells the teacher he goes on the bus to see mommy!  Grace and I walk down to the bus stop to pick him up, and usually she drifts off to sleep :)  His favorite color is RED, everything is red these days and when he sees something that is red he yells with excitement!

Last weekend I went for a little mommies time out, and had a Blind Massage with some girlfriends.  The place we went for the massage hires only masseuse with  visual impairments.  One friend had someone with incredibly thick glasses so he could see, my person was completely blind and I believe so was the third masseuse.  So we were lead back to a room with enough beds for each of us, the heat was on, luckily!  Many places in China don't run too much heat and its COLD!  We each took off our coats, kept the rest of our clothes on and laid on our respective beds.  When you lay down, they have a pillow case size sheet they use to lay over the area they will massage, on top of your clothes.  I have to say by the time they were done i was sore, but a good sore after caring for Blake and Grace, picking them up and down I had a lot of knots!  The way the masseuse moved around the table you could tell they were trying to find their way but otherwise you would really have no idea that they couldn't see you, they feel around for the knots and work them out just as anyone would.  They don't talk much, occasionally asking if you are ok in Chinese, if the pressure is ok.  It was probably the most deep pressure massage i have ever had, they also have you turn over towards the end of your time and they will massage your temples on your head and do some strange motions across your forehead that surprisingly feel great!  It was a pleasant one-hour and only ran me 100rmb or $16.  If you come to China you have to try it!