Holidays 2007

Hello everyone! We hope you all had a wonderful Xmas and New Year. This is my "holiday" blog where I'll recap our first trip home since moving so far. It's mainly pictures so scroll at your leisure.

First a quick recap of the kids. Sydney is doing awesome. She's about 7 1/2 months, eating solids and sitting up. She appears to have started a rough bout of teething in the past day but we'll get through that like everything else. She's a super chill, laid back girl. Smiling the majority of the time (not while teething) and laughing like crazy at whatever her big brother chooses to do.

As for Harrison, we've reentered school after the long break and started some other activites like drama (I'm assuming this is "pretend your a lion" type drama), gymnastics and swimming. Our first six months were a bit challenging because of the new sis, big move, then taking awhile to establish a routine and have him around the same kids fairly consistently. I've already noticed he seems much more comfortable in general. He goes to school 4 days a week, and outside of school is around the same kids more consistently than before. Our latest endeavor is potty training which I started a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to wait until life was a little less chaotic. My friends (who have similiar age kids) and I were saying the other day how easy it is to go on and on about things like potty training to family and friends who don't have small children, without realizing they're disinterested or grossed out. So I'll just say that it's going as quickly as most boys potty train. But here's a nice picture of him on the lou (Australian for toilet).

Andy's really enjoying his job. He was at a beach resort last week for a company retreat (I know, it's crap) and is currently in Bangkok at the Asian Headquarters for some meetings. Not only is he enjoying his job, he likes the interaction with the locals since he's only one of two expats in the whole office. Everyone he works with is Chinese Malaysian so he's constantly going to little Chinese dives for lunch where you literally can't order unless you speak Chinese. He's always eating this pork soup called Bah-kuh-teh. Andy and I had a date in Chinatown before our Xmas trip, sat at a hawker stall (like street meat vendor things) and he ordered us some Bah-kuh-teh. So he finds things out, then shares them with me.

As for me, I'm doing my thing like any stay-at-home Mom. Running H to school and activities, planning some activities for the baby and I while H is at school. I've added a couple other things to my schedule. I finally found some tap classes that I attend on Saturdays. I've been searching for an appropriate class ever since we lived in Cincinnati and I had to go across the world to find it. I'm also attending some lectures at a Buddhist Center nearby. I'm attracted to Buddhist psychology and philosophy (much of it is behind a lot of those trendy books these days, The Secret, and such) and I always feel really good afterward, so it's another thing I do for myself. I'm hoping I can have more interaction with Malaysians through both of these activities as it's very easy to find yourself in an expat bubble.

As for upcoming plans, we're finally taking advantage of travel opportunities and going with a couple other families to a beach resort in a couple of weeks. So should have some pictures to share from that.

As for our holidays, this year was so great because Harrison is at an age (3) where we can lie to him about the existence of Santa Claus. It made it so fun. We got all into leaving the milk and cookies and carrots for the reindeer. He was totally into it. And the surprising thing is that all of Malaysia was into it as well. I guess when you offer up a holiday where presents are involved, with a community this diverse, Xmas is going to be one they want to celebrate. All the malls were decked out, Xmas trees everywhere. The only thing missing was cold weather and snow so Harrison could still get excited about it. We celebrated Rusie Family 4 Xmas when Santa Claus visited Kuala Lumpur a few days before our big trip back to the states (he knocks out SE Asia early, you see). Harrison was very excited about his Buzz Lightyear and new stove and Sydney smiled briefly at her new peek-a-boo block toys. Also, Harrison was an angel in his school Xmas play.

Then came our long journey back to the states, about 30 hours door to door. That sounds horrific but it wasn't too bad. H either watches movies or sleeps. Sydney was another story. She wasn't too thrilled when the first flight started when she should be sleeping and wanted to let everyone surrounding us know too. But all in all, aside from the brief bouts of Sydney screams, the flight was good. As you can see, Andy's job (Harrison) was a little easier.
We arrived in Indianapolis and spent some time de-jetlagging with the Rusies. I was actually happy to see there was snow on the ground. It is true that your blood thins when you're in a tropical climate. We were freezing but we eventually got used to it. And Harrison got to play in the snow which was great. Harrison's birthday was December 19th so we celebrated with the Rusies, then drove to Dayton to visit the Harrison's, so it was double the birthday. Here's Harrison celebrating with both grandpas.
We spent Xmas Day morning in Dayton, then traveled to Indiana to spend the remainder with the extended Rusie family at Grandma Ruth's. The following are various family pics:

Kids with Grandma Janice:

Sydney and Auntie Paula:

Rusie Family 4 at Harrison family Xmas:Rusie family Xmas:

Aunt Jen, Uncle Mike, Papa James, Syd, Grandma Becky, Harrison, Mommy and Daddy

Great Grandma Ruth & Syd:


Cousin Laura, Cousin Allison, Syd, Aunt Linda, Aunt Sue:

H & Cousin Kevin rocking it on the piano (or pe-a-ne-o as Harrison's pronounces it):

Rusie Family 4 at Rusie Family Xmas:

And for Harrison, an extremely important visit. Syd just thought his beard was cool:We left on Jan. 3rd and we were sad to leave. Then our 36 hours of flying turned into 48 when our flight out of Chicago got delayed but we took it in stride. De-jetlagging wasn't as bad on the way back and we were all back to normal in less than a week, now here we are.

Am about to do a blog that's more about Malaysia, one I've been planning to do for awhile, but I've been slow. I also plan to add a Facebook site so for anyone (thinking family) interested in more pictures, that will be an easy place to view them, I think you just have to technically join Facebook to view them.

Again, we hope everyone had a great holiday and your new year is starting off exactly as you had hoped. Take care!