trip down the xindian river

the first few months we lived in taipei (august through early december 2008), we lived in a suburb on the southern most extention of the city, called xindian, on the xindian river. across the street from our apartment was the entrance to a "river walk". from the entrance of the park/walk to the main section of activities, there are picnic tables, a little restaurant, and a buddist temple. the walkway is lined with lanterns, and is lit with christmas lights at night. it's about a 1/2 mile walk from the entrance to the main area. at the main area of attractions, there's a small neighborhood night market (including a bing shop!!!! (sorbet/ice cream type treats), paddle boats for rent, lots and lots of food vendors, and a new strip of restaurants and shops (similar to a mini san antonio river walk). there's a floating stage on the river for performances, and fireworks every weekend night.

during the day, people walk along the park type walkway to and from work, and for a break and excercize. on the weekends at night, the riverwalk comes alive with a wonderful buzz of activities. we have fun memories of sean and i taking the boys along the river walk on weekend nights and watching fireworks, and buying food from the vendors, and stopping for bing on the way home.

(pic taken from our apmt looking down on the xindian river. bottom left, red roof, is the entrance to the riverwalk. top right, the hotels in beitou. top center, you can see the 8 lane car bridge and rope bridge connecting xindian market to the beitou area. on the bottom center, you can see the intersection we had to cross to get to the entrance.)

across the river is a famous area called beitou. famous hotels and restaurants. from the xindian riverwalk to beitou, there's a an 8 lane bridge that connects the two sides of the river, and a rope bridge for pedestrians to cross. the rope bridge is wide enough for us to walk two across, and have traffic from the other side pass us. it's loud with conversation and people enjoying the evening. one night we took the boys across the rope bridge and walked around beitou. it was an interesting site. for it's reputation, it was not nearly as busy as the xindian side, but smaller night markets, karaoke store fronts, food vendors and hotels.

during the days, when the boys were up from their naps, and it was going to be a while before sean came home, i would put the boys in the stroller and head over to the river walk. the daytime was so different than the night. calm and lots of room for the boys to run and enjoy open spaces. our favorite routine for the river walk in the afternoons, was to pack up the stroller & bag (complete with anything we might need for a few hours), go down the elevator, and outside our apmt complex to the neighboring 7-11. we'd pick up sushi rolls for everyone ($33nt each = $1/roll us) and yogurt drinks ($12nt/ea = $0.35/ea). we'd (illegally) rush across the busy intersection and into the riverwalk enterance. (there was a walkway under the intersection for pedestrians, but you had to go down a flight of stairs. when i was by myself, i couldn't manage all three boys and the stroller down a flight of stairs. when sean was with us, we carried declan in the ergo, and camden & quin were buckled in the stroller, and we carried the stroller down the stairs. a lot of work, but better than crossing the intersection on the road up above.) once inside the entrance, camden and quin were able to run and play. there were so few places in taipei where they had this freedom, because of the crowed streets. so, on sunny days, and when all of their naps actually all coincided with each other - the river walk was a wonderful escape for all of us!

as i'm sitting here typing, i'm missing xindian, missing my cousin erin & jacky & pinky & the twins, missing bing runs, missing sunny days in december - and looking at my little boys in these pictures. it's only been a year, and they've grown so much. i'm so thankful for our time in 2008 when we had this little window of xindian!

flashbacks

although we've been back in the states for a little over a year now, i have flashbacks everyday. several times a day. the boys and i will be doing something, and it will remind me of something, somewhere, or someone in taiwan. while we were there, there was so much going on, so many transitions, so many adoption and visa appointments that i didn't blog like i had hoped. fortunately, i took thousands of pictures. i am hoping to get as many of these memories written down. i know they're already fading, and i don't want to lose any of these emotions, memories, and the things that have endeared taiwan to our hearts.

stay tuned.

little boy blue

declan has had a rough go, pretty much since the day we got him. lots and lots of uncontrolable crying and screaming. unanounced for hours, sometimes even days at a time. he would stop eating, stop sleeping - for days at a time. just screamed for four day cycles.

the whole time we lived in taipei, we racked our brains - was it collic, his belly, his ears, issues with bonding? please, God, help us help this little boy. the only thing that seemed to help was for me to put him in the ergo carrier, bouncing him pretty roughly, and patting/light pounding on his back. that worked sometimes. noone else seemed to be able to help. not daddy. not friends. not other mommies with "the touch." my back couldn't take how often he needed this process. we sat an rocked for hours, while nothing seemed to affect how he felt, or console him.

around 16-18 months, declan started changing. he started going to other people. tentatively, but willingly. he mostly stopped the uncontrolable screaming fits. he still cried a lot. but the screaming subsided. he still wasn't sleeping well, but during the day, we started seeing smiles. it was miraculous. all of the time we had put in with him - these smiles were our rewards that we longed for.

a little over a month ago, i was talking with some friends about their kids food allergies. i was thinking how thankful i was that, thus far, we had not dealt with any food issues. but the direction of the conversation turned to sleep habits, and how taking milk out of their diet helped - tremendously.

none of us has had much sleep in the last 18+ months, but we've had some unusual circumstances. but it really got me to thinking. i took all three boys off all milk products, just for the sake of trying. and do you know, it helped. quin has started sleeping through the whole night, with very few exeptions. maybe once during the week, he'll wake up. but he can be consoled, and go back to sleep. camden is only waking up once or twice in the middle of the night. still the terrible dreams, and waking up terrified - but he can be consoled and put back to sleep. those are pretty HUGE steps in our household. declan started sleeping better, but still was waking 5-6 times per night.

then the eureka moment happened. we had been out at a function, home late, hadn't eaten, and everyone was hungry. (about to hungry in their pants, if you ask sean.) of course, there was nothing prepared. i grabbed a pound of hamburger and fried up some burgers to feed the bellies. no buns, no veggies. get them fed and in bed.

declan had the worst night of his life, since we've had him. i was up with him several times after i put him down, and then at 1am, he was in obvious pain. the familiar scream returned. from 1-4:30 we rocked, and rocked. he had a terrible belly ache. i did bicycles with his legs, situps, rubbed in clockwise motion. oh the poor little guy. and then, it was done. and he slept peacefully the rest of the night.

so, i emailed our wonderful dr. monk. was it possible? is it a possibility that he's having trouble digesting protein? he gave me some info on "blue people". (it's a test that groups people into three categories that indicates similar physical problems, liked to food issues, related to colors that weaken a muscle test response.) in all likelyhood, all three boys probably fall into the blue category, and would explain some of why they responded to taking them off milk.

so, for our initial test, we took declan off all animal proteins. and do you know, the little boy has slept through the night ever since.

well, with the exception of last night. we had a friend's birthday party at chucky cheeze pizza. i had a granola bar that i thought i had packed for him, but left it on the counter at home. i thought, well, this will be a good indicator. one piece of cheese pizza. how bad could it be? declan and i were up most of the night. definately landed on some real answers for this little guy!

we still need to go in and see dr. monk. for peace of mind, i want the official tests run. there are some enzymes that will probably help for the times when he does have animal protein. but for now, our sweet little declan is on a strictly vegan diet. not my favorite pick. but can we tell you how grateful we are for the beginning of some answers.

looking back, declan gave up his bottle at 16 mo. - and that is precicely the timeframe of when we started seeing him change. and like all mamas that want their babies to sleep through the night, i would fill him up before bedtime. making sure he had plenty of meat to help fill his belly, and last through the night. it's all coming together.

the changes we are seeing in our little guy in the last week are pretty remarkable. he smiles, laughs, giggles, is becoming noticably more independant. time will tell how much of who we have known before this discovery, was really symptoms of this belly issue, and how much more our little guy is going to be able to show his true self.

stay tuned.

mosquito bites are a terrible thing

while we lived in taipei, we learned a healthy fear of taiwanese mosquitoes. they're fairly small, but they've got bite. horrible, horrible bite. they leave hard, golf ball sized welts, and itch like something you've never experienced - well, until you've been bit by one of them.

living in the city during the late fall and winter, brought another new encounter with these fiesty fellows. when it's cold outside, and there's no freeze . . . they come inside. ahh. camden woke up one morning with 21 bites on his face alone. healthy fear.

quin, not quite two at the time, and still learning english, picked up on the fear in our voices when the word, "mosquito" was mentioned. to this day, when he has anything painful that he wants to describe, he says he has a "mosquito bite". "not just an ouchy, mama, a mosquito bite."

the prince and the little boy with good manners

yesterday, quin was sporting a crown 'o thomas tracks, and was going around the house declaring, "i'm a prince. i'm a prince. i'm a prince!"

camden was sitting on my lap. i asked him if he was a prince also. to which he replied, "no mommy, i'm not a prince. i'm just a little boy with good manners."

well, delightful little boys, i think we still have a bit of work to do. but you are catching the vision!

new meeting time

since daddy works from home, the boys frequently hear him "needing to go work at starbucks," (pretty legit when there are 3 little boys running around our 950 s.f. apmt, and he's trying to make phone calls) or that he's "leaving to go to a meeting."

this afternoon, after sean had left for a meeting, and the younger two were down for a nap, camden plopped down in my lap and said, "mommy, i need to go to a meeting with daddy."

low and behold, a slot opened up, and daddy did need to meet with his little boy. you should have seen how quickly camden could get his socks & shoes on! he certainly didn't want to be late for that meeting!

the new aflac poster child

this afternoon, quin and i were sitting on the couch reading a book about animals and their sounds. quin was breezing through them, saying & signing the name of the animal & loudly proclaiming their noises. we got to the picture of the duck and quin started saying "aflac! aflac! aflac!!!" clearly, that's what it says on the page, right?

now if only cute little boys could help bring in sales for daddy.