Saturday, August 4, 2007

August 4th. One Month Home. Perfect


Juna has been home one month. Today was an all China Day celebration.

For me.

Poor Matt. He got to stay home with the girls. Don't feel too bad for him. I brought him many tasty treats.

The day started with a visit from our friends who have a son born the same day as Juna, if you factor in the time difference between America and China. Here he is, with Juna and Avalon. Her shirt reads, "I TCPIP. But mostly IP." If you aren't laughing, you aren't a computer geek.

Gale, Debbie, Andrew, and I went out for dim sum. Below is a picture of part of our meal. Dim Sum arrives on carts to your table. You choose the dishes you wish to enjoy.
Top left are steamed buns filled with sweet yellow egg custard. Bottom left are pork filled dumplings. Straight across are BBQ steamed buns. On top of them are shrimp dumplings. And in the middle... wait for it... wait for it....

CHICKEN FEET!

The waiter below just brought us a cart with various flavored breads, sticky rice, and shrimp balls. He is very confused at why I am taking his picture. Note the people behind him are Asian. As were most of the people in the restaurant. That's how I knew the food would be good. And it was! Made even better by such good company. There were many leftovers, as Debbie kept ordering items so I could try them and then take the leftovers home to Matt.

From there, Debbie took me to the bakery next door. It was a small bakery with breads in various flavors and varieties. She selected several for me to try. Really looking forward to the cream filled bread. Of course. And this is why I'll never be thin.

Then we went to the Asian market next door to get some Pocky for Narnia. Pocky is like a pretzel stick covered in strawberry, blueberry or chocolate icing. She loves them, as does Gale. I find it funny that Gale and Narnia enjoy the same snack.

Then we went across the street to the Asian farmer's market. They had Hello Kitty Pocky along with Pocky for Men. According to the makers of Pucky, only men like dark chocolate.

I wanted to get some shots of the wet area of the store, but it was filled with employees who kept looking at me funny. Maybe because I was looking at them funny. Waiting for them to go away so I could take pictures.

Here's some clams.
Here's a shot of the inside of the market.

Here's Drrrrty Gale, as the guys at work call him. No pics of Debbie because I just got the back of her head. She moved, sneaky girl!
The cookie and sweets section of the market.
I brought my treats home and then got ready and got Juna ready and headed out to our shower, hosted by my friend Tara at Two Lines On A Stick fame. Link in the link section.

Tara went all out with the decorations. She created an Asian theme. Look below at the lamp on top of the red covered fireplace. It's a lamp with a Chinese character that she bought for the shower, then gave to me. You can also see the presents start to pile up and it's only 10 mins after the party started.
Other friends were instrumental in the planning of this shower. I have yet to hear who did what, but I'll find out so I can properly thank everyone. They really went all out for me.

Other parts of the party area were also decorated with Chinese party items. On the tables were Chinese takeout boxes filled with imported Chinese candies. Red and gold were the colors. Oh and the invitations had ladybugs, did I mention that before?

Then Katie showed up. Katie, mom of Sofie, (also linked) offered to bring food. Katie went to the Asian district and ordered authentic Chinese food for the party. I cannot believe she did that. The food was outstanding!

We played all the stereotypical baby shower games, which I loved because I've never done that before. The clothespin on your shirt game. If you said baby, China, or adoption, you lost your pin. The person with the most pins won a prize. I lost all my pins immediately and people kept sneaking pins onto my shirt. I ended up winning, but not really. I think everyone felt sorry for me because I was so bad at the game.

We played guess what's in the diaper. Six diapers with melted chocolate bars. Guess the name of the chocolate bar. We all did horribly with that one. The worst part is the smell of the chocolate mixing with the baby powder smell of the diapers. Those are two scents that do not belong together.

Tara passed around little cards for people to write well wishes, so she could make a wish chain. Loved that, too.

The take home party favor was a Chinese New Year red and gold envelope with a card with Juna's picture and her adoption date, a fan, and some candies.

Then it was present time. I cannot believe my friends. Cases of diapers. Cases of wipes. Outfits. Katie made personalized bloomers for Juna and Avalon. Baby food. I was just so touched by this. I knew it was a diaper shower, but I didn't expect so much! Really, really.. just amazing for them to do this for us.

Juna was outstanding. It was just my friends, no children, except Juna. She and I sat on the floor and she was hesitant at first, then crawled around and explored. She showed off by shaking her head no when people said no. She said Mama. She rubbed noses with me. Honestly, she was just a dream baby. She loved the wrapping ribbon and ribbon, as do all babies.

Bad pic of Juna, but this is the only one I got of her in her party dress. She started the party in her traditional Chinese dress. It was too small, so she changed into her party dress. It was too big. So she changed into her American Baby outfit.
I didn't get many pics, but friends did. I hope they are flattering pics of me. My goodness, I need to stop eating. No, seriously. Right now. Everything looks horrible, but especially my arms. When will it be winter so I can cover those ham hocks already. Must go back on diet. Must go back on diet.

Except the fridge is bursting with leftover Chinese food. And breads. And cake.

Eh, the fat will keep me warm all winter.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all of my friends. You really made this day so special for Juna and me. I am touched by your generosity! Really, I am so lucky to have you in my life.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

And we had so much fun doing this for you!

Anonymous said...

Oh and I have pictures that will be put on cd, and Jonathon is supposed to be making you a dvd right now so I can either get them in the mail or (hopefully) see you soon and give them to you.

And once again, JUNA IS SOOOO CUTE!!

Unknown said...

Oh it sounds like you had an amazing day! What wonderful friends you have!

JaenShaesMom said...

I am so sorry that I had to miss your shower! I was planning to come. My invitation is still pinned to my calendar bulletin board! But, my grandma was admitted to the hospital and was not doing well and being the nurse in the family I was called to duty. I see you had a wonderful time and Juna is beautiful!