Interesting dinner conversation......

So, there was not much choice for me at the pigeon restaurant indeed. I ended up having rice with tofu. That was really gross so I added some sauce from another dish. That made it almost edible. My stomach was not happy once again so I sat there looking at the others munching away.
Turns out that Lexie really likes pigeon. Grandpa let her bite on a piece with bone still attached and she basically devoured it!! Definitely half Cantonese this lady........

The main topic on the way to the restaurant was the misbehaving of my gastrointestinal tract. 

One of the first questions was if it was indeed still expelling food faster than I can possibly digest it..... The answer, sadly, was yes.

The Chinese wording was rather direct but I'd like to keep this blog reader friendly ;)

Everybody was in on it, including Qiang's friend and two of mom in law's friends.

Yup, entertaining topic indeed.

I'm still not better and only had a few nibbles to eat today. Good thing is that it feels like they are being digested. Hurrah! It's been a week already so I'm really over this. 

Before today I was too crampy and too weak to work out. This afternoon I felt OK so I went for it. I'm pretty sure the purpose of my pregnancy app is to control the world's population by killing expecting moms and their babies. Man, it was tough!! I made it through two rounds of six exercises. Some stretching followed and all of a sudden I was in the mood for some yoga.
What do you do then? Simple: put on a youtube prenatal yoga video and follow it. It was nice but staying in Warrior II wasn't easy either.
"This pose is good to  practice  how to relax during contractions that will typically last 60-90 seconds."
Yup, thanks for that.

I'm also busy teaching today with one new English student followed by one clarinet student this morning. One more clarinet student coming up at 19.00.

20 weeks and counting....

Little one no. 2 is growing and growing. This week he/she is about -20 weeks old! Next monday I will have an ultrasound in HongKong to see how he/she is doing and if it is a he or a she.

I'll let you know here and on Facebook. I'm just assuming that little one no. 2 is not camera shy ;)

Little one no.1 aka Lexie is doing great. She's talking a lot and has already discovered the word 'no'. A bit early I think but we knew this day was going to come. She says it in Dutch.

"Lexie, do you want some water? -Nee!"

"Lexie, do you want some water? -Nee!"

Here's some water. - Guzzle, guzzle.......

(For your convenience mostly in English)

Walking around during dinner with the grandparents. Haiwen and I were sitting upstairs.

I got stricken by a household bug this week and made hummus from scratch. Yes, I mean it!!! Soaking, cooking chick peas and all. I'm very impressed if I may say so.

I also got stricken by a real bug and that's why you haven't heard from me for a few days. Today is the first day that I'm feeling a bit better. The main power supply is going to little one no.2 so it takes longer for me to get better.

Unconventional slide use

We are all going out for dinner tonight but I'm not sure if I'll have more than just soup or maybe some congee. The place where we are going is specialized in pigeon.......

Back to GZ

We got back late on Friday night after 2,5 hours delay. Lexie was sleeping and so were the grandparents on our couch. They only got our first text message saying that we'd be half an hour late.... The other ones must have gotten lost on the way to China. We tried to call as well but the connection was too bad. Well, we made so it was OK in the end.

Having fun at a restaurant

On Saturday we looked after Lexie and had a nice day together. Since there was no food in the house we went out for 'cheung fan' a kind of rice rolls with some stuffing.

Lexie enjoying cheung fan

For lunch I met up with Nicole. Lexie had a good time taking off her shoes and playing with the plant in the corner where we were sitting. We got very concerned looks from other Chinese guests. I think because I did not panic the instant Lexie took her sock off. She was playing by herself and was occupied with that. When she started to play with the rocks under the plant it was time to put her shoe back on, just in case ;) She also played with crayons a bit for the first time. The restaurant provided them.

All this playing and experimenting wore her out and she was asleep in no time on the cab ride back. I managed to carry her to our bed without her waking up. She ad a nice long nap before going outside to play.

Look at misses swing expert here!! I went a bit slow in the beginning but I think it was boring her. She was sitting tight and holding on well so I dared to let her go faster. She was happy and laughed a lot. Oh oooh, the need for speed is already present.....

Malapascua

This blog is coming to you from the beach :)
Yesterday late morning the rain finally stopped. It rained non stop for 24 hours.
The rest of the day was cloudy but we could spend some time at the beach.

Last night we went to a partially Dutch owned resort for dinner. Yup, bitter ballen,
nasi blokken and frikandel speciaal. Haha, very nice after so much time in Asia ;) I had the bitter ballen but they were just OK.

After dinner it started to rain again and it lasted the whole night. We were a bit worried but the rain stopped at 8.15 and an absolutely gorgeous day began.
UV index must be extreme by now so I'm sitting in the shade of some trees.

We did some snorkeling this morning but did not see anything special. It was nice to be in the water and to move around a bit.

Tonight is our last night on the island and we will try out another restaurant. Food here is nice and very international. I haven't woken up in the middle of the night feeling hungry once!!

Tomorrow it is back to Lexie and China.

Malapasqua

Lots to do!

Getting bigger......

Phew, day 5 of the New Year already. For the first 15 days of the New Year the 'normal' calendar is hardly used. The days are counted as 初一，初二，初三 and so on. 初 (chu) means as much as 'beginning'. 

All shops are closed.

A very rare sight in Guangzhou!

Lexie of Arabia

When we left grandma's house the other day, Lexie's hair was still a bit wet after her bath. So, we covered her up, with this as a very cute result :)

Relaxing at a terrace.

Life is sometimes tough but when the sun is out and hubby is free it can be quite manageable.... We stopped by at this terrace after buying our train tickets for tomorrow night. We are flying out of HK very late. Problem is that all the border crossing are run over with people and queueing time can be mad. Luckily we could get tickets so we should travel smoothly. The best part is that you go through customs before you board the train (exiting China). So even when the train is packed (as it will be) there's a maximum amount of people at the border crossing.

Lexie entertaining the staff.

Today we met up with Kenny and Cathy. We hadn't seen them in years as they live in London now. We chilled out together while Lexie kept the staff occupied. It wasn't very busy so they were happy to play with Lexie. Later we all went to our place and Kenny and I jammed for a bit. Lexie liked it and was dancing, hihi. In our break I put her to bed as she was obviously getting tired. I stayed with her until she was out. We played a bit more but she slept right through it.

Happy grandparents

The grandparents had a mahjong day with friends. We decided to go out for dinner but the restaurant at their compound was fully booked by somebody. We walked to another restaurant and found out it was packed. We waited for about 20 minutes to be seated. After that all went well. I don't think that I ate a lot but I still feel a bit full (22.20 now). My work out still awaits so I'd better get started....... ;)

New Year's week

Last week I went to HongKong to celebrate Monica's 30th birthday. She flew in from Canada. Michael was also there and we spent the day together. In the evening they left for the airport and they have been chilling in the Philippines ever since. Haiwen and I will join them on Saturday!

After dinner I visited Ans and Chiel. He's had a really bad hernia and is doing lots of physical therapy now. Recovery is going well (he had almost zero feeling in his legs before) but he'd like it to go a lot faster. Last weekend he walked a bit at home wearing his brace. Awesome!! It's going to take a lot more hard work but he's right on top of it.

Grandpa and kaofu (Lexie's great uncle)

On Saturday evening the New Year's celebrations began. I think I did something bad to my back by walking around in HK with a bag pack on. Ouch!!! I was K.O. for the day and my belly wasn't happy either. The plan was to leave around 16.00 to go visit auntie and uncle but I was in bad shape. Qiang, her friend and the inlaws went first and Haiwen and I joined them later.

I was in no mood for a 'Chinese' evening but it turned out to be quite nice. I wasn't looking forward to dirty bathrooms and yucky food (when restaurants get too busy, the food sucks). Turned out that we were eating in the second round and that the restaurant wasn't packed anymore and the toilets were in decent shape. I cheered up quite a bit and didn't feel so bad anymore.

On the first day of the New Year we went to the Chinese restaurant in the Westin. The food was good but when we wanted to pay they claimed we couldn't use a discount coupon. That was weird because HW had told them when we booked and also before ordering. There was no note of the coupon not being valid either. A very long discussion followed and in the end we got the discount. Their argument was that discounts do not apply to dim sum. Yeah right, that isn't stated anywhere!! They said a lot of stupid stuff but HW did not budge.

After lunch we went to visit the family's friends who live in the area. One family lives on the 17th floor and the other one on the 13th. Lexie was due for a nap so I stayed with her while the mahjong-ing took off at the 13th floor. She'd gone to bed late the night before so she was starting to get fussy. On top of that she had a bad cough, the poor thing. She slept a bit and it took her a long time to wake up. She was content just sitting with me and staring ahead blankly. At that time grandma Tummers called and we had a chat.

These last few pictures have all been taken on the 13th floor. These friends are quite rich and they have a lot of expensive things in their house. The flowers are all there especially for the New Year.

Expensive as the things may be, I'd rather not have them (or sell some, haha).

We stayed until dinner which was seafood only. By that time I was feeling quite bad again and we left after HW finished eating. Grandma made dinner for Lexie in between and I nibbled at some rice, which did nothing to make me feel better ;) Just a bit too much after a tiring HK trip and so much family stuff going on. I was simply knackered. Lexie was done for the day as well and after some extensive screaming when we got home I put her to bed. Also a bit too much for her too and she was happy to see her bed. She slept well and her cough has almost disappeared.

Yesterday HW and I joined Nicole for lunch at the Four Seasons. It was very nice and we all ate too much. Just a little Chinese section in the buffet and I steered clear from that. Some nice veggies, cheese and desserts, yum! Too bad I can't have any raw fish because the salmon looked delicious. But hey, I can have it again in a few months, no big deal.

Oh, I almost forgot! On Friday I went to the hospital for a check up and everything is OK :) The heart beat is strong and the size is good. On the 4th of March I will have an ultra sound and we should find out what the sex is. Place your bets!!