Bring it on, rabies!

We finally finished our round of required immunizations for China.  Hep A, B, Japanese Encephalitis, Rabies...  Not that we're going to be encountering rabid creatures on a regular basis in Shenyang, but might as well if we're going to be in China and most likely travelling around in Asia.

The Japanese Encephalitis was a series of 2 shots and Rabies was a series of 3.  We were at the FSI clinic a lot this month, especially since J was a week behind all of us. (The first time we went, he was sick with a fever so we held off on him for a week.)  J and K took the shots like champs.  J all but forgot the shots as soon as we got him a "Patient of the Day" sticker afterwards.  K was mostly upset for the parts that I had to put her down.  NJ, however, screamed so loud and so much before he was even stuck.  I guess at age 6, a lot of it is mental.

I'm not crazy about getting shots either, but I just remind myself that I pushed out 3 babies with no meds.  I can do this!  Stop being a weenie!

Sworn in

N and his 166th A-100 classmates were sworn in on Friday.  It's official!  This ceremony marked the end of the general orientation.  He and his colleagues will start their job/language training this week.  We, along with the kids, N's parents and my parents celebrated at Uncle Julio's (again) for dinner.  Yes, crazy pregnant lady is still craving tamales.

Flag Day!

It's finally here!

We are going to Shenyang, China!  It was one of our top choices, one of the ones we added late to our list of highs.  We won't be leaving until April of 2013, which is great.  It's that much more time to get us prepared and spend time with family.  NJ will have a good year of Kindergarten here and we will have plenty of time to have the baby and get settled as a family of 5.  Plus J will be 2.5 years old by then, much more manageable on the plane, I hope!  Baby girl will be 9 months old and NJ will be 6.5.


What an awesome experience.  It only lasted maybe 45 minutes but the energy in the room was contagious and it was so encouraging to see everyone genuinely excited for one another.  They flashed the picture of the flag of the country on the screen, announced the job title, and revealed the name of the FSO who will be going there and presented to them a mini flag of the country in which they will be serving.  I think a lot of people got their high choices.  I am thrilled for everyone.  I even got teary eyed several times because I was so happy for these people whom I don't even know!  Crazy pregnant lady...  Even J had a blast, despite the fact that he was sleep deprived and recovering from an ear infection.  After each person was called, he clapped and said "Yaaaaaay!!" and said "Byyyyyyye!!"  It was nice to have Mom and Dad Lindsey and Cousin Neely join us.  We all went out to Uncle Julio's afterwards to celebrate, since crazy pregnant lady was craving tamales.

We are excited.   The more I research and think about it, the more excited I get!  I've been reading a few blogs written by expat families who are there.  Shenyang is a big industrial hub and there are many international corporations there.  So in addition to meeting Chinese people, we will be interacting with expats from all over the world.

The diplomat and the diplotots

This blog probably won't get THAT exciting until April of next year.  I might have to fill in with stories of the kids and the new baby.  But I'm sure there will be mini adventures along the way as Nathan and I start learning more about Shenyang, start our Mandarin training (can't wait to see my blonde husband busting out in Chinese!) and as we handle the logistics circus.

Done

We did some final deliberation and research and turned in the bid list on Tuesday.  Done!  No more analyzing, no more research, no more imagining the worst and the best (for now).  I won't bore you with details of Places Whatevers we added, but we did add 3 more to our list of highs.  That makes for a total of 17 "high" places, though 3 of them have multiple positions open.  So technically 9 cities.  We are hoping that this makes the CDOs' jobs easier as they take the next week or so plugging FSOs into their first posts.

Now for some more waiting.  2 more week until Flag Day.

Role reversal

Nathan and I switched roles on Saturday as I spent the whole day at FSI taking classes on moving and logistics and he stayed home with the boys.  We both developed a newly found appreciation for what the other does.  While it is a bit more relaxing to be away from the everyday of chaos of running a home and running after 2 boys, it is exhausting physically and mentally to be bombarded with information for hours.

Nathan said that it was exhausting looking after the boys (which included feeding, diapering, shuttling back and forth from birthday party, keeping track of naps) while trying to keep the house in decent condition and that he barely made it.  And that he couldn't have imagined doing it while 6 months pregnant.  High five to me.

I got a lot of good information.  Maybe a bit too much.  A lot of my questions were answered and a lot of questions I didn't even know I had were answered.  I left feeling both relieved and overwhelmed at the same time.  I am glad, however, that I have months and months, hopefully almost a year, before I have to deal with the moving and the logistics of it all.  So glad I took the classes early.  There were some people there who were leaving within the new few months.  I feel stressed out for them.

After I came home, I made some tacos and we all piled into the basement and had a good hour of playtime.  The boys (Nathan included) had a BLAST and I just sat back and watched and laughed.  It is so much fun to see NJ and J interacting more and more and becoming friends.  In the midst of all the wrestling, giggles and fun, it made me realize that yeah, it's going to be crazy to have to pack everything up and move across Lord knows how many time zones and be without our stuff for Lord knows how many weeks (months?). But everything will be ok because we will always have each other.

You can't take it (all) with you

As I go through my kitchen preparing meals and cleaning, I find myself making a mental list of all the things I will have to ship and all the things I hope to sell at a yard sale.  Like that frying pan (a nice All-Clad one mind you) that I haven't used in years, that bundt cake pan I used just once and the set of cute dessert plates our real estate agent got for us as part of our welcome home gift basket, never used.  I also have 3 sets of measuring spoons and cups (Why??).  And toys... don't even get me started on toys.  Or what about that dress that I got on clearance just because it was on clearance, never wore it?  And probably never will?

Did I ever tell you that having my own yard sale has been a childhood dream of mine?  There's just something about cleaning house, organizing, setting prices, labeling, sitting on a lawn chair watching people consider your junk to be treasures.

I'll also have to have a "Raid My Pantry and Fridge" party before we leave.  I can't exactly take a half bag of pretzels, a partially used jug of soy sauce or a stick of butter with us abroad.  Well maybe the pretzels, considering we'll have 3 kids and most likely a nursing mommy on the plane.

The State Dept. will provide furnished housing wherever we go.  From what I have read, the housing is pretty decent.  We wouldn't pay rent or utilities.  We would just need to bring decorative items, rugs, kitchen stuff, kid stuff, etc.  They put everything else in storage for you.  It is also nice that they send movers to pack and move/ship things for you.  All I have to do is to basically put stuff in piles.  They really try to make things easier on you.  If we are not able to bring our car, they will put that in storage for you and even start it up once a month and maintain it.

We hope to hold onto our house for the time being.  DC will always be our home base in between posts so it will be nice to come back to some place familiar.  I think our house is very rentable: good school district, close to GMU (although the idea of a bunch of college frat boys students renting our house kind of scares me), minutes away from the VRE commuter train (takes you straight into Arlington and DC) and walking distance to Target.  So local friends- if you know of anyone looking to rent a 3 BR, 2 FB, 2 HB townhouse in a quiet neighborhood with nice neighbors within the next year, let me know!