On our Own!

Abigail's maternal grandparents left yesterday to go back to the States after a four week stay, and we are trying to figure out how to do all of the little things on our own now. I now realize how many of us were required to do the simplest of things...like give her a bath, warm a bottle while keeping her from screaming her head off, things like that.

My parents came over for the birth and after spending the first week staring at me, waiting for my water to break, they were rewarded with a 4am mad taxi ride to the hospital. They have been a godsend ever since. And despite them not being entirely comfortable in their new environment, we're not sure what we would have done without them.

By the end of the trip, Dad made friends with our local leather craftsman and mom was a regular at the corner 'wet market'. Saying that, the chicken feet on display continued to surprise them. But who can blame them for that...?

Three Weeks Later

Three weeks later, Abigail is gaining weight and seems to be enjoying the leisurely existence of a newborn. Namely, she eats, sleeps and poops, not always in that order. She sleeps really well (5-6 hours at a stretch at night!) as long as she can get her hands out of the blankets. It sometimes takes her awhile, but she hits 'cruising mode' once her hands are out and up over her head.

She is definitely a girl who loves a good pacifier (dummy to you brits). She came out of the womb sucking on her hand and hasn't stopped since. We have visions of bribing the last of them out of her mouth as she heads off for her first day of school. In the meantime, we're just trying to keep track of them all...we find them in our bed, under the sofa, lying around the kitchen and tucked inside her crib, blankets and onesies.

At three weeks she's starting to be a lot more aware of what's around her, checking out her nursery, and developing a fascination with mirrors. I reckon she's beginning to wonder why her mother always has bad hair and never manages to shower and dress in a reasonable time in the morning. Frankly, she's just lucky that her mother manages to get showered and dressed at all....

After 32 hours of labour and multiple cocktails of 'pain killing' drugs, it all led to one moment on an operating table where two chinese doctors discussed where exactly they should cut me open. Luckily, the doctor who understood my desire to one day where a bikini again (a girl's got to have a goal!) won out, and in spite of later overhearing her asking for a 'robinson clamp...or whatever it's called' during the operation, it all went relatively smoothly.

Jason being his usual tricky self, below is a slideshow from a web album he has set up and continues to add to. You can access it from the following link if you'd like to download any of the images or just view them at a better size.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=jason.ambrose&target=ALBUM&id=5424358174092272385&authkey=Gv1sRgCPru3tqDmIjAMw&feat=email

The team's ready!

There's a whole team of parents, grandparents and a variety of stuffed, soft animals to keep Abigail company. All ready and waiting for our new arrival.

We have managed to locate all of the necessities, worked out how to sterilise stuff, and most importantly got a defective swing working with the help of our friendly local garage mechanic and his soldering iron.

Christmas in Shanghai

We are now coming to the end of our first Christmas in Shanghai.

Our Christmas tree is up, decorated and lit with presents underneath. We even have poinsettias around to make the house a little bit festive.

We started off the holiday feeling with a Christmas Eve service last night at the Hengshan Community Church. There was a massive turnout that left the church so full that they filled the outside gardens where there was a large screen set up to show the service inside...and it was packed! All of this was pretty much as we expected. What we didn't expect is that the entire service was in Mandarin. Somehow we assumed that because we found the service through one of the typical ex-pat websites, it would be in English. Still...the music was lovely and the people gathered were very sincere so it was all very nice.

We followed that attending a Christmas Eve party at the home of some of our new friends. It was a great night with riddles, a game of 'taboo' (which it turns out that we are not great at but are definitely improving) and a very nice meal.

This morning our Christmas morning plans were thrown off by the fact that we instead enjoyed what we joked would be the last Christmas for a VERY long time that we can sleep late. So we did. We slept late and spent most of the day in our pyjamas...opening presents and playing with my new wii mariokart game and steering wheel (wahoo!).

A late lunch/early dinner of southern comfort food with friends, and then back to the sofa for a nap and movies. Except for missing our friends and family at home, it was a very enjoyable Christmas.

We're wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with love from Shanghai.

Jason and Christy (and a nearly-ready Abigail)