20 weeks

 I'm now 21 weeks but we took these pics last week, so I was at 20 weeks. Everything is going well and I'm feeling baby boy move quite a bit.  Although I could compare some of his moves to a boxing match, it's not to the point where it hurts me or is uncomfortable (I'll never forget the last 2 weeks of pregnancy with Reister when his kicking and moving hurt so bad I cried!)  I'm sure as he grows and gets stronger we'll get to that point. :)  My only complaint at this point in the second trimester is the bulging veins in my legs.  I'm going to try out some support hose that my mother-in-law will be sending in a package soon.  I've read they can get worse with each succeeding pregnancy and with age, so I've got those both against me.
We're researching names and making a list of our top choices. Hopefully we'll pick sometime soon and let you all know so we can start calling him by name!

Summer Haircuts

Yesterday I took the boys to get summer haircuts. Well, they definitely got short cuts! I wanted to leave Mason's a little longer, but since they were getting them done at the same time and Reister is a little more "sensitive" about hair falling in his face, etc, I was too busy comforting him to notice that the stylist was cutting off a lot more than I expected with Mason. By the time I turned back to Mason his curls were all GONE!  He looks like a totally different boy, even more so with his glasses off.  Here are my big boys with their short hair. Micah likes both of their hair long, I prefer it short. So I guess we'll compromise by keeping it longer in the winter and shorter in the summer. I feel bad for them when they wake up in a pool of sweat from naps or are dripping outside. I guess the heat will get to them even with short hair, but I feel like they'll feel more comfortable with less!  Oh and it's so nice to get both of their haircut for $4USD!  If we lived in the states, I'd have to do it myself it costs so much! (that wouldn't be too pretty, I promise!)

Brothers... + one

I found some old pictures on our Nikon camera - even though they're not looking at the camera I thought it was sweet.
Plus, I realized that we announced on Facebook but not on the blog that we found out baby #3 is also a BOY!  Before too long (in about 20 weeks actually) we'll have three boys in the Webb clan!

Urgent Prayer Requests

I believe in the power of prayer.  Would you please visit this site this weekend and pray for and consider giving to my friend Meredith's family? Read their story and see how they have faced incredible trials over the last 7 years but have stayed so strong in their faith.  Meredith and I went to college together and were in a Christian women's organization together.
I have been praying for Meredith for a long time but feel that a weekend dedicated to prayer for her and her family will be a powerful thing.
Meredith and Ben Fox Relief Project








While I'm at it, can I ask you to please also pray for my high school friend, Kim F? She has five kids 7 and under and suffers from pretty extreme Rheumatoid Arthritis and probable Lupas.  She just had a pretty intense surgery on her right (dominant) arm and finger.  The recovery is not going so well and I know she's really struggling. Please ask for good medical help, healing and sanity and peace for her.  She and her family live in Georgetown, Texas.

Mason Goes to School (again)

Remember my post about Mason going to school? Well that little school closed down at the end of March. But his teacher forewarned us at the end of February that it was going to, so we took him out at that point.  We went on vacation in March and then Micah's parents were here visiting (I need to post about that) so it was okay.  Then at the beginning of May we decided to put him in at Reister's preschool.  Reister goes to a full blown preschool for 2-6 year olds. Essentially kids can go there all the way through what we consider the "kindergarten" year. Both boys are only going half days, 5 days a week.  Although Mason had a hard time saying goodbye the first week or so, he's doing well now.  He really enjoys the 'exercise' part where they do little dances / movements to music. Both boys are preparing for the June 1 Children's day performance and will participate in little performances for the parents. They will have to wear special outfits for it.  I'm excited and promise to take lots of pictures and video.
Here are the boys at the bottom entrance to their school:

Up close of them

Mason in his classroom on the first day

We're very thankful for this school, although it costs more than we would like :)  It is so convenient - right across the street from our gate.  The teachers are all nice and speak standard Mandarin, it is a nice clean facility, and the boys get to make local friends and learn Chinese (Mandarin)!

Mason loves his friends

Lately Mason has been talking a lot about his friends. He likes to pray for his friends and talk about who his friends are. We recently were at a meeting where he had a caregiver who was a young male college graduate named Tim. He really liked him and said "Tim is my friend".
Unfortunately Mason's little school that he was going to closed down. We are waiting until he is potty-trained and will start him at Reister's school in the younger class. But we are still in touch with the families of some of Mason's old classmates. Here is Mason and his friend, Iron Head. Lest you think I'm joking, this boy's Chinese name is truly "Tie Tou" - which literally means "Iron Head". I need to remember to ask his Mom what the intended meaning of that was!

I can't believe Mason will be 3 in only two months!

15 weeks

Here I am in a picture taken today. I am 15 weeks along. I can feel the baby moving sometimes. Micah was even able to feel him/her kick once or twice last night.

I know I'm still way behind in posting since Christmas! I hope to catch up someday.
The first tri-mester was not really that bad. I had some nausea and fatigue in the early part and then felt pretty good for the latter part. I have actually felt a little more tired since starting the second tri-mester. Surprisingly, the more I exercise (my running habit has morphed into a slow jog habit) the better I feel and the less muscle aches I have. So, I'm trying to be diligent about "running" 2-3 times a week.

Doctor Visit #2

I am amazed this video uploaded - it was a very large file. Have fun hearing the baby's heartbeat AND the 'sound' of him/her kicking :0

Sometime in early October...

We'll be welcoming Webb baby #3 into the world! Most of you probably know this already, but I thought I'd make sure to post about it for any of you that may only read the blog...


I am 12 weeks along today. I have felt a lot better in this pregnancy than the 2 previous. Of course a little nausea and tiredness, but no throwing up! I had this ultrasound done when I was about 8-9 weeks along. I'll be seeing a local doctor here in our city for my prenatal but will probably be delivering in Thailand. We are all very excited and looking forward to our precious addition! Praise be to Father!

Christmas 2010 Part 1

I can't believe it's March and I'm just now posting pictures from Christmas. Unfortunately most of my pictures are just of the boys opening presents. But I'll try to post a couple more of other things in another post.
Transformers were the theme this year for Reister - he got one from Nana & Granddaddy, and a couple others from Robin & Paula and their families

Mason was slow at opening but enjoyed it

Reister's gift from LiLi and Poppo (my parents) - a Veggie Tales DVD - always a hit

Mason's from LiLi & Poppo - Boz - a new favorite of his

We got the boys spiderman pajamas from the newly opened H&M clothing store in town

Mason's favorite gift - from us and Nana & Granddaddy - a 'piano' with a microphone!

Stockings were a hit too!



Nothing like cheap stocking stuffer toys :)

Reister displaying the transformers

We really had a wonderful Christmas this year. For the month of December we took time each night to use the advent calendar you probably saw in the background which helped the boys learn the Christmas story. We also were able to spend a lot time with local friends celebrating the True meaning of Christmas.

Trip to Shining City Part 3

This will be the third and final post on our trip to the Shining City.
Here is our friend Lucy. We met her on Christmas 2006. She is actually from the province where we live now but moved to the Shining City to first study English and now works there. She is a sweet sister and very dear to us. We enjoyed catching up with her a little in KFC and she loved seeing the boys. They have grown a lot since the last time we saw her.

Here are some other dear friends of ours, Jack & Cherry. We went to their wedding in 2006. They are pregnant with their first (and likely only) child. Cherry is wearing a special smock dress that is supposed to protect her belly from harmful elements.... :)

We went to one friends house to hang out with several families at once. All the kids gathered around the computer to play games and watch movies. In the culture here, the older children are supposed to take care the younger and that includes letting them play first or more. Reister was loving this special attention.

Here's all the guys that night. We sure love those friends and it was bittersweet to hang out with them knowing that it was for such a short time and we have no idea when we'll see them again.

Here are the women and children

Here's a kids only shot

We stayed in the apartment of some American friends who were out of town. They live in a pretty snazzy complex and there was an elaborate Christmas display I just had to get a picture of.

Here is our old househelper "Big Sister Wang" She was so happy to see Reister since she took care of him for over 2 years. He was really happy she brought him a toy :) He also enjoyed playing and talking with her.

She enjoyed holding Mason. She met him when he was just a month old but then we moved shortly after. We visited the Shining City in the summer of 2009 so she had seen him briefly then.

These two women are both good friends of mine. Crystal is on the left and Hui Fang is on the right. I introduced them because I thought they'd enjoy hanging out. They were pleasantly surprised to find out they share the same family name. Hui Fang is who I call my "local BFF" from the Shining City. I got to see them both a couple times and am so thankful for that quality time with them.

We saw several other friends but i can't post ALL the pictures! It was such a tremendous blessing to return to our "old home" and reconnect with so many friends and 'family'. The Shining City will always have a special place in our hearts and we continue to lift up all the people there. We appreciate you remembering them too!

Trip to Shining City Part 2

Well, sorry about that long delay in getting the second post about Shining City up. I actually think I'll have a 3rd one too!

We spent several mornings at a newly (to us) opened coffee shop - they had great coffee, and breakfast items. We met some friends there too. I wish it had been there when we lived there!
Here's the inside:

And the outside:

Here is the front entrance to one of our old homes in the Shining City. We didn't go in the yard to look around but enjoyed driving around in a taxi looking at it.

The city had a lot of these around town under overpasses. I liked this one because it had a local minority man grilling lamb meat skewers - shao kao - which is a famous snack food of our old city.

Here is the entrance to our first home in the Shining City - it was in the yard of a local preschool/kindergarten. The people waiting at the gate are waiting for it to be 5pm, when they can go in and pick up their kids. When we lived there it was always tricky figuring out how to get in or out of our gate around that time of day. Sometimes the guard would let us out but sometimes not (because parents would flood in when they opened the gate!)

Here's a shot of the main city center square. I was still loving the blue skies and clear air and had to get more pictures of it.

Mason made new friend with the daughter of our American friends. She's about 4 months older than him.

The we took a kids picture of all the kids of the 3 families that ate dinner together one night.

This was the second one because Reister wanted to take one "in order".

One more post of our trip to show you some more of us with local friends that we saw.

Trip to Shining City Part 1

In early December we took a trip back to the city we lived in for almost 3 years, the Shining City. We went for about 5 days, and were able to see lots of old friends. It was such a blessing!
Here's Micah and Reister on a pedestrian cross over on a busy well known road - #81 road.

Me and Mason facing the opposite direction on the same cross over. We LOVED seeing the blue skies and sunshine that are so hard to come by where we live now. It was colder, there, though, but we went prepared!


I took a lot of pictures that included the sky... ;)

I thought this door was pretty

This was a new building since we left - at the end of "Big North Road". Again, beautiful blue skies (even with the haze of pollution lower down)





Although the city is less modern and developed than where we live now, it is really nice. We reminisce about the small size and how easy it was to get around, meet friends, shop, etc. We often took buses rather than taxis just because it took about the same amount of time. I'll post some more pictures in another post.

Open House at Reister's School

At the end of November, Reister's school had a open house morning where parents could come and observe what a "normal" morning at school looked like. I went and got some pictures:
Every morning they do "exercises" to music and sometimes use props. There is one other American boy in Reister's class, and he's to R's left.

I was impressed with how well Reister knew the routines and moves

After exercise time, they went to the bathroom and then had an interesting activity in which the teachers slowly led the kids in a line around their classroom in a follow the leader type thing. The kids were supposed to be quiet and they had music playing. I assume it was supposed to calm them down.

Later on they had their Montesorri time where the kids could choose the toy or activity they played with. Actually Reister was supposed to be in the back with the group of kids watching the teacher - she was teaching them Math with manipulatives. But he didn't want to do that and the teachers encouraged me to not force him. He is playing on a carpet mat with a developmental toy.

Here are some of his classmates playing with blocks during that free play time.

Here is the other side of the classroom where children are playing or coloring at tables.

This boy, Li Zhuo Long, is the one that grabbed Reister's hand the first day he went back to school last summer. He is still Reister's favorite friend in the class, but he also has several other kids enjoys playing with.

Here is Ms. Li, the head teacher of his class, helping him complete the challenge of the building toy.

I enjoyed the morning but I did learn one thing. Our goal in putting Reister in local preschool is for him to learn Chinese. But i observed that he didn't have much opportunity for language practice when he got to chose his own toy and play by himself on a mat. I know they do lots of other things that require him to listen and interact with the local teachers and kids, but it did kind of change my perspective on the advantage of Montessori type classes. I think it's still good because that's the kind of environment he's somewhat used to at home, but I think the more formal classroom setting will be good in the future when he's required to listen and respond more. His Chinese really has improved a lot in the last seven months but he's got a long ways to go. :)