Nope, Did Not Forget About You

Wow! It has been a long time since I last posted. Sorry!

In the last 2+ months, our family has logged almost 70,000 miles between the US and China. Yikes! Here is a quick run down on what we have been up to:

*The entire Klug Family returned to the US at the end of May, including our favorite furry guy, Truffle. We were so thankful to be "home" after the earthquake in Sizhuan (600 miles away from Shanghai) and the child virus (E71) that was accompanying Hand Foot Mouth Disease in children in China and proving deadly especially to those under 2. Tyler confirmed our decision to return home a few weeks early by splitting his forehead open 3 nights before we left. Thanks to the medical advice we received from Tyna and Barbie, we went to the ER and were thrilled to find Dermabond!!!

*Peter and I returned (separately) to China and coordinated the shipment and check out of the Klug Shangri-La. Thanks to all of our guests. Hope you had a great time and I am certain that our next accomodations will not be anything like that house.

*Peter and I returned to the US late June (together) and were able to celebrate the 4th of July American style. Happy note, I did not go into labor over the Pacific!!

*Sadly, Peter is traveling back and forth between the US and Shanghai until the end of September however he is living us in great hands family wise and medically. While we miss having Daddy around (for a month!!!) he is taking one for the team and keeping the family in the safest situation all around (Shanghai heat and humidity for Truf, yucky illnesses for Ty, and delivery in Shanghai during the Olympics). We are looking forward to his return for the arrival of Baby Klug 2.0. It will be a great relief to have him stateside again as well as be able to delivery this little one in an english speaking hospital.

Here are a few pics from the last few months. Hope you enjoy!

Last days in Shanghai. Thanks for the memories! We are forever changed by our time in China with you!

In the US, Ty brushing his teeth--and drinking tap water

Quality family time

Someone started swim lessons...he actually liked it a lot more after this was shot. Especially the water slide and sucker at the end. Two new experiences :)

Ty's current favorites are: Hortie (Horton Hears a Who), Elmo, Dora, Mickey Mouse, and Nemo. The US has amazing ads. He especially loves "reading" ToysRus ads for 30 min at a time. Perfect for the car!

Pete, we love and miss you!! Counting the minutes until your return next month!
(P.S. You will not be allowed in the country unless you bring a few copies of Hortie! Okay, maybe you will be, but PLEASE save me.)

When Daddy's Away The Boys Will Play

Peter is having a great time reconnecting with lots of our IMD friends and I am enjoying some one on one time with my little men.

The Boys have been quite a handful. Ty is in a very rebellious stage and that coupled with 4 teeth that have recently brokeb through the gum line makes for a, um, treat. Today I tried a new tactic: Tylenol and lots of creative time.

After breakfast Tyler painted

Thankfully these were sent by my Mom from the US so I know they aren't toxic since he loved sucking on the paint.

I swear he has not seen the Batman movie with the Joker in it. Although this might be a good audition photo in about 20 years.

After a 4 hour nap, Tyler and I went to the park and then decided to fill up half of our sandbox with water. Fun, fun, fun!!!!!! Tyler was covered head to toe with sand and water--we went straight to the bath.

Sorry I did not rotate this one. Lack of sleep I guess.

Here is Truf taking it easy. He is always on pookie patrol when Pete's away. He needed some rest as we awoke at 6 am to our security guards telling us we had had 2 alarms during the night and are we having a problem. Yeah, not so much fun particularly considering about a year ago we had an intruder at 2 am and trying to figure out what is going on is definitely hindered if you do not speak Mandarin.

After all of the excitement of the very, very long day I was thrilled when Tyler decided he loved his Mommy again and snuggled for almost a whole DVD, "Chicken Little," without trying to power drive me from the top rope of our sofa. He even gave me his blanket that he seems to now be rather attached to. As I finish up this post, my little guy is snugged up against me and keeping me warm. This is nice because he is the one who turned on the AC because he was hot in his jammies.

The last few days have certainly been a rollercoaster. Snugging with the mini version of Peter --well except for the adorable curls-- made it worth it and also reminded me how much we miss the Daddy of the family. Can't wait to have you back!! In the meantime, you never know what crazy things I am going to resort to in order keep these boys happy :) WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Happy May Day---We Miss You Pete!!

Happy May Day!! I hope you are all starting to feel a bit of spring weather in your part of the world.

Tyler, Truffle and I have been hanging out since Peter left last night for IMD Reunions in Belgrade, Serbia. It will take him about 18 hours+ to get there and he is currently in Munich. Even though he is still in the Munich Airport he is loving life: "the creamiest cappuccinos," pain au chocolat, beer, clean air...lucky guy!

We started our day with some finger paint and bubble blowing outside. The guys definitely know their daddy is away and are putting me through my paces. I figure this will be great practice for when I am home alone with them back in WI while Peter travels between China 2-3 weeks at a time. Having done this before we moved to Shanghai, it certainly is different now with a very mobile and opinionated toddler. I am hoping we will not have any rain as our yard is very helpful in getting Tyler's squirreliness out.

Since I am the keeper the all of our family photos I thought it would be nice for you and Peter to see what we have been up to. I have also uploaded over 125 pictures from spring in Shanghai and vacation in Malaysia.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/heather.klug/Spring200802

**You can also access all of my Picasa photo albums by clicking on the link on main page of my blog

Enjoy!

Heather

Pete, Missing you love! Have a fantastic time and say hi to our IMD Family for us. We will be counting the minutes until you are back home with us.

Spring Break

At last! Peter was able to break away for some much needed vacation. After trying to book numerous locations and being unable due to security risks or attacks (seriously) we set out for Langkawi, Malaysia.

A relatively short 6 hours away from Shanghai felt like a million miles. We arrived to find a jungle of lush, green trees and plants and tons of clean, clear water. The weather was in the 90s and very, very humid.

It was wonderful to eat all of the fresh fruit and food, drink the water and not be concerned about the safety of doing so. Tyler LOVED the water and could be found playing in it or drink it all the time. I am certain he enjoyed not hearing Peter and I gasp and redirect his attention when he tried to drink pool or bath water. There was no random green or brown "stuff" to be found in the water. Ty even took a few swigs of the sea water, although I think he was not to found of it. He quickly learned how to spit streams of water as well as blow bubbles. We will definitely be enrolling him in swim lessons as soon as we return to the US.

We had a few days of great wind so Peter took out a Hobie twice

Ty is definitely proved that he is related to me, my little man is a water baby! I could not be happier!

Peter and I ditched Ty with a babysitter a few times and enjoyed some kid less moments at the spa as well as a romantic tent dinner on the beach. We timed it just as the sun was setting. Peter's favorite time of day. There were slight sprinkles which cooled the air a bit to make it a perfect night. Peter said many times that Langkawi "Rejuvenated my soul."

Our Crazy Man!

Tyler is feeling much more like himself.

Loves to spin and it is a whole body spin

Some Tylerisms/Updates:

~"Lellow" is the first color he learned (must have been all the Coldplay I listened to while he was developing)

~"Meeno" can either mean DVD, kid's show, or his favorite movie, "Finding Nemo." (Hey, we had a 15 hour flight. Nemo was a lifesaver!!!!)

~Loves to make blowing up sounds...must be a boy

~With a little prompting he can put 3 words together. Favorite phrase: "More please, MOMMY!"

~Lately he has started to tell us he is ready for a nap or bed by crawling up the stairs to put himself to sleep. (Read: Bad parents...don't you know I need to recharge?)

~Loves to paint, color, blow bubbles after taste testing all of the supplies

~"Jigga" was his first Chinese word. It took Peter and I a few weeks to figure out what he was saying. He now knows a few more than we do.

~Kid has no fear and can be found doing sommersaults off the couch arm rests onto the floor below. I have wisely padded the marble as much as possible to cushion his fall.

~New trick yesterday, sneaking up to Truffle, petting him, and then trying to ride him!! Oh my!

Tyler and Daddy took a break from building his police car. Yup, he can climb pretty much anything he would like to. Crazy, little monkey! Thankfully, he has my balance.

A special shout out to Granddaddy. Who knew Tyler liked golf icons? Just need the bridge.

I have a secret.....

"Hi, I am Baby Klug 2.0, Shanghai Edition. Can you guess if I am boy or a girl? I won't tell...well, that is not true. I was very cooperative last week but my Mommy and Daddy want a "surprise." I know! Crazy people! Don't they know, you want to know! See you in a few months."

**We were thrilled to hear and see that all is well with our Shanghai Edition. All of the parts are accounted for and in working order. I am hopeful that this one will not begin to trend large like their big brother. Peter was blown away at the detail they can provide since he was not able to be there at Tyler's big scan. He caught it all on video. If we can figure out how to get it to the US, perhaps you can guess the gender.

Happy Easter!

We had a great, sunny Easter Day in Shanghai. The wind was blowing and about 60 degrees. Enjoyed a nice brunch at Jean Georges with Tyler. Actually, it was too nice.

Ty was really mellow and would not eat much nor drink his OJ. As we found out later in the afternoon, Ty was fighting a fever of 103.4! Since he had not eaten anything in 24 hours and was not racing around like a tornado as usual we decided to ensure that our thermometer was correct and take him to the ER. The DR was very unimpressive, not that we expected them to do anything. Best news of all, the Tylenol drops, that I imported tons of, worked like a charm!! The fever dropped about 3.5 degrees in 2 hours. Nice to know that Tylenol is good for more than just teething pain. Up until now that is about all we have used it for since Ty (Thankfully!) has been unbelievably healthy.

Truffle had his coat trimmed up about a week ago in preparation for his return to the US (do I hear applause 7,000 miles away?). The groomer took off about 4 inches all around leaving him with 3 inches or so. He loves his new 'do, feels like a younger version of himself. I LOVE the softness of his coat. Cannot pet the guy enough, which he soaks up like a champ.

Missing you all! Don't miss the snow though :)

Winter Wonderland --In China!

Winter has definitely hit Shanghai. Last week we had snow all weekend and it is starting again today and will continue all of this weekend. Granted we are only talking a few inches (nothing like WI has had) yet people here have not had this much snow in 50+ years.

On a happy note, we have enjoyed playing in the snow. Having not expected snow here, poor Ty gets to wear a mix of anything we can find to keep him dry and warm. He loves it which bodes well for all the snow back home! Here are some pics from our snowy neighborhood. I did not capture it at the height of the accumulation but maybe I will get more of a chance this weekend.

You may have seen the pictures on the news of 500,000+ people stranded at one train station while trying to make it home for Chinese New Year on Feb. 6-8. For China's massive migrant population this is the one time of the year parents see their child or families. It is heartbreaking to see their hopes dashed by the weather. The country is really taking a huge blow with the transportation systems being shut down. People are stranded on the highways and in train & bus stations, food supply lines are cut and prices are skyrocketing, crops are frozen, and many people who live in shacks are freezing cold. International companies are unable to get supplies in and their products out so the rest of the world will soon feel the affects of the storms with delayed shipments and higher prices.

Some of the train lines are up and running again but the mass of people are facing stampedes for the buses and trains to get out. Shovels are hard to come by so workers are sweeping the streets and bikes are pushing flat blades to try to move the snow. When you figure in the fact that people here rarely see snow, much less drive in it, and add in the number of cars on the roads in Shanghai it is almost impossible to go places during the snow. In fact, Tyler and I were home bound for most of the week out concern of getting into an accident. The concerns were validated when I read the paper on Wednesday. On a four lane "highway" a mile or so away from our house, 2 men were killed when the company bus they were riding on flipped over. Twenty more were injured.

Our dear friend and driver's wife was stranded with their son at the airport for over 24 hours. Much of the time was spent in the plane. Yikes! They made it to their destination but are heading back Saturday when it is supposed to snow.

Luckily, one of Peter's coworkers made it back to WI so we now know they have the capability to de-ice planes at Pudong airport. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather here and in Chicago next Tuesday will enable us to return home for a quick visit!

The snow certainly reminds us of home, yet it is bittersweet in China.

See many of you soon!