What to do…What to do

So apparently the water cutting off isn’t an apartment issue it is a building issue, the building management worked on it Tuesday (why the water was off for half the day) and they are still working out the kinks.  Meanwhile out of the maybe 5 times I went to use the sink yesterday the water worked once…the other times it worked after a min. or so, but when you have hands full of soap that’s a problem.
The heating issue is my favorite.  I showed up at noon with lunch for Adam and his coworker (our hot water advocate).  The landlord bought a hot water tank that was to be installed in our bathroom it would be big and ugly…but hey I would have hot water.  When the repairman (the poor little man who came the day before) went to install it they found out that there was already a separate hot water heater for the shower.  Meanwhile the new heater fixed our hot water in the rest of the house issue and this explains why it wouldn’t fix our bathroom issue. 
OK, so we have had this separate heater since we have moved in and up until October (the last hot shower was right before we left for Japan on the 15^th) it worked fine.  Now they are telling me that because it has been cold for the past week that the pipes are getting cold and that is the problem.  I don’t buy it because: what about all the hot days (in the high 70’s at least) between October and last week?  The next reason they gave was that the issue with the water pump in the building was the problem.  If that is the problem why can I get hot water in the bathroom sink and in any other faucet in the house but not the shower in our bedroom?  And here is the kicker…why did it work 5 min before I entered the apartment and when they went to show me it didn’t work?  I am assured that everything will fix itself in 2 days.  Normally I am a trusting person and I like to think I have a positive attitude, but honestly I don’t know…
Here is what I am thinking about at 2:30 am when I should be sleeping: A) What if something breaks in a week again and we don’t find out until we get back from Australia.  B) My friend is moving out of her apartment in the beginning of Jan, we could move right in (she has kept it clean, the furniture is nice, it is 3 bedroom but a little smaller then our current place, and she has hot water consistently) She lives in the complex that would have been Adam and I’s first choice apartment wise but second choice location wise.  C) Say everything having to do with the water will work, what if we have another problem…will it take 2 months to fix because the Landlord isn’t local?  D) Moving would be a nightmare, but it would be an even bigger nightmare when I am huge or dealing with an infant.  E) Maybe this time people actually know what they are talking about and I won’t have another issue before we are scheduled to move back to the states (where I will appreciate a hot shower as often as my little boy allows).  F) What if we move and have issues at the next apartment…what next?  (The good thing is I know my friend hasn’t had any problems since she moved in back in April.)
So here is where I need help…should I risk staying in an apartment that we otherwise love and have settled into or should we move to another apartment knowing that the water works?  If we move, we need to do it now.  If we stay I really need to trust that when I turn on the shower it’s safe to put shampoo in my hair because the water won’t cut off and I won’t get goose bumps because the water isn’t hot. 

Not Quite the End…

I am laying in a very nice bed at the best hotel in Huizhou.  I no longer feel sorry for the poor repair man who had to deal with the wrath of Lindsay yesterday. 
Last night I decided to take a shower, I expected to be disappointed, but what could I do?  When I stepped into the shower it was actually hot (and not room temperature), just when I was able to “pre rinse” the water cut off completely.  I called Adam who was on his way home.  He suggested we go to a hotel for the night. I was pretty calm considering.  A couple min. later the water turned back on so I assumed that it was air in the pipe, forgot about the hotel and was relieved.  I waited for it to get hot again then got back in the shower…30 seconds later the water turned off again.  I sent Adam a text that said “WE ARE GOING TO A HOTEL THEN WE ARE MOVING!”.  I assume that the guy that came today to “check things out” did something to mess something…however he didn’t step foot in the bathroom where the problem started. 
Adam and his Chinese coworker (who has been or water advocate throughout all this) will be meeting the same little repair man who was there yesterday.  Adam’s coworker told us months ago that we were being way too nice and he would call and yell at anyone we wanted him to.  I honestly think he is more upset at this new development then I am.  Chinese people are big on “saving face” and while dealing with people you have to make sure they are able to save face and you have to keep in mind that they are trying to save face.  Jiambo felt like his involvement in this is making him lose face.  In my eyes Jiambo is my favorite Chinese person, he has given up his time to help out Adam and I, we both know he is basically the translator and we don’t hold him responsible at all.  At this point my biggest worry is that Jiambo will never know how thankful we are that he has been helping us.  I am really glad that Adam and Jiambo will be there with the repair men today, respect for women is not the same and the people that come never seem to believe me or care whether or not I am satisfied with the job.  I have to call Adam and have one of his coworkers talk to them…if no one is available the repair men just leave.
I still don’t know whether or not we will move, but this is obviously a problem that won’t go away.  I feel like I need to write up a document that I need to make all repairmen sign before they walk through my door.  It would say something like this: “I will not break anything that works OK, and I will not leave until I have fixed or identified the problem and will fix it within 24 hours.  If I don’t accomplish anything or make things worse I understand that I will have to deal with the angry foreign pregnant woman who lives here.” 
Meanwhile I am in a hotel room when I have 40+ people coming to my house tomorrow night…

Pregnant Woman Who Hasn’t Had A Hot Shower In Her Own Home Since Mid October VS. innocent Repair Men Who Have No Idea What She is Saying And Her Poor Husband Who Has To Be The Punching Bag Because He Understands English

In case you didn’t know we have had water issues since the day we moved in…we had repair men come off and on during the first couple months.  Adam works all day so this is more of a Lindsay issue.  As annoying as it is to be stuck in a house waiting for repair men, imagine having them not understand you and if they do not believing you.  I may not know anything about plumbing but I do know that most plumbers carry tools (not in China…and the one that did bring tools brought a hammer…not a typical plumber tool if you ask me).  I am sure most of our issue is communication, but that isn’t the whole problem. 

We have had a couple of days of warm water after the Cree engineers came.  After that didn’t work we demanded a new hot water heater.  This was a couple weeks ago, the landlord was great about replacing it quickly.  Unfortunately it only fixed the kitchen hot water.  Adam decided to take a look at it himself and he discovered that the heater wouldn’t turn on when we turned on the shower.  We had a maintenance worker come and confirm that that could be the issue.  He told us the temporary fix was to turn on the hot water in the kitchen just enough to switch the heater on then take a shower…it was better than nothing but it wasn’t much fun running back and forth from the kitchen to the bathroom so as not to over work the heater.  The long term fix is to tear up all of the tile in the bathroom (floor to ceiling) and fix the pipe, or buy a separate heater for the shower. 

Our landlord refused to do either and instead sent his “expert” to fix the problem.  Which brings us to today…2 days before I have 40+ people coming for a Christmas party and 2 months since I have had a hot shower in my own home.  The guy came with only a hammer (again correct me if I am wrong but don’t you need a wrench to fix a pipe and wouldn’t the hammer be totally useless).  After he turned off the water in the middle of me doing laundry and baking, and flooded under our bathroom sink I was finished.  I tried yelling at him, and I think he was a little scared of me (possibly because I was 3 inches taller than him and yelling at him in a language he couldn’t understand…he did understand my face and the miming).  After 3 hours of turning the water on and off, finding a wrench and taking everything apart he decided that there was a problem. 

Poor Adam had to listen to me yell over the phone, it’s not satisfying yelling at someone who doesn’t understand.  I decided that our Landlord had until the end of the day today to decide if he was going to buy us a heater and when to have it installed…if I don’t like his answer I will be moving.  I have actually already received apartment information from a friend who is leaving in the beginning of January.  All we have to do is make a phone call and we will be out of here in the middle of January. 

I just figured that if he is going to be difficult and if it takes people coming to my apartment 3 times for him to do something I don’t want to deal with him.  I especially don’t want to worry about something going wrong and having people in and out of our apartment when we have an infant.  I have been nice up until now because I know Chinese standards are different then American standards; however none of my international friends here have issues with their landlord.  They have problems fixed the day they discover them or a couple days later if it requires lots of work.  In fact landlords here LOVE having foreigners live in their apartments because they say Chinese people don’t take care of their things.  Tomorrow I will update you on our decision.

24 Weeks

Ok…so these weeks are going by faster and faster.  Meanwhile I am so not prepared for the baby, I am being so un-Lindsay about the whole thing.  The normal Lindsay would have everything she could possibly need for the baby taken care of or at least figured out.  The normal Lindsay would be freaking out right now because she has nothing for the baby to sleep in, she hasn’t started stocking up on diapers and although she has found a few things for the baby to wear, she would be freaking out because she can only find pajamas that are acceptable for her child.  Being in China has caused me to start becoming a lot more “Lindsay” in some ways and let things go…there is no middle ground.  I am kind of happy that I am not stressed out about not being ultra prepared this early, who needs the stress…right now I am just focused on eating. 
Don’t start to worry…this week (actually this afternoon) I am going to a furniture shop that is meant to have decent furniture.  I have also contacted a friend whose brother has a furniture making factory in Huizhou and he takes orders for custom furniture.  If either of those things don’t work out I plan on just picking something up at IKEA (if we were in America I would probably get the furniture from IKEA anyway but most Chinese don’t use cribs so they only have 2 to choose from at our local IKEA).  I figured after our Christmas party this Friday I would start stocking up on wipes and diapers…I just don’t want them stacked when we have people over.  As for the clothes…I have found a few outfits that aren’t pajamas and I ordered a few from America on Black Friday.  I am really only focusing on things Zachary will need while we are here.  There is so much I don’t need to worry about for the first 5 months.  I will most likely be doing a lot of online shopping the month before we move back so I have the things we will need ready and waiting for us in my parent’s garage.

This week I started eating less each time but more frequently.  My typical day is built around food.  I wake up and usually eat a bowl of cereal around 9:00 (this is the most difficult meal because I haven’t eaten all night and I usually need to rest after the cereal…sad…I know) my second breakfast is a granola bar, then I have a snack (maybe a peanut butter bar), I eat lunch at noon which is half of a peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread (which I stock up on in Hong Kong), my second lunch is a piece of fruit, then I eat some sun chips (also smuggled from HK), and I eat peanut butter bars, gummy bears, cereal, granola bars, raisins or whatever I feel like for the 3 or 4 more snack breaks until dinner.  I eat dinner around 6:30 which is usually spaghetti, mac and cheese, or a very small portion of whatever I cook for Adam.  Then I will eat another 3 snacks before bed.  Maybe if you add it up I eat a little more than a normal person does on a given day but not too much more since I eat such small portions.  If I go out for the day all these snacks get put in ziplocks and fill up my purse.  I drink only water (not because it’s good for you but because the thought of anything else makes my mouth dry. 

I am also not sleeping well at all and I wake up with a sore neck and back.  I start with 6 pillows but by the time I fall asleep I am down to 2.  I know I would feel so much better and sleep a lot more if I could sleep propped up like a lounge seat but I just can’t sleep that way.  I don’t get to take naps much because I have kept busy and well honestly every time I think of taking a nap it is either too close to bed time or I feel like I need food.
My ziplock bag preparation and my lack of sleep is really getting me ready for Zachary to be here needing things and crying.  I think taking care of myself is helping me get my feet wet in taking care of the baby and my ability to survive on less sleep will help with night time feedings…hopefully Zachary won’t need to eat every half hour like I need to!
******Cool Week 24 Fact: Zachary is producing white blood cells and he may start hiccupping soon!

Christmas Cheer

Adam and I have been watching a Christmas movie each night for the month of December (meanwhile I watch a couple each day while I fold laundry, eat breakfast etc…).  After we watched Elf this was part of the conversation we had… Me: “I don’t think you have very much Christmas Cheer” Adam: “I have a normal person’s amount of Christmas cheer…unlike you who has a crazy amount of Christmas cheer like Elf”

I am the kind of person who feels just a little happier wearing Christmas socks, I still wake up unreasonably early on Christmas morning, Christmas carols play in my head all day and night, I love the movies where someone who hates Christmas but because of the magic of the season becomes a good person/falls in love/finds their family etc…, I can’t hear the story of Christmas enough, I love waking up early the day after Thanksgiving to brave the malls, I love picking out the perfect gift for my friends and family and I especially love them watching them open it, and I love everything else that goes along with Christmas (the lights, the decorations, Santa, the kindness, the giving, the cookies, the parties). 

I honestly love Christmas, realistically I love all holidays, but Christmas is in a whole other category of love…picture a 5 year old who sees Santa Clause, or listen to a child tell the story of Baby Jesus…that is Lindsay at Christmas.  I thought maybe my love of holidays especially Christmas wouldn’t be as overwhelming this year…not because I am unhappy…but because I am not in a classroom making holiday crafts, singing holiday songs with children, or reading stories out loud to 20 starry eyed children.  I thought that not hearing Christmas stories from children, and not being surrounded by children that believe in Santa, not being surrounded by decorations and music as I go about my life, not being in church to hear the Christmas story, not shopping for Christmas presents (I finished the shopping a while ago since we had to ship the package); would all be the cause of my loss of Christmas cheer.  It seems like nothing can take away my “crazy” (to quote Adam) amount of cheer this Christmas. 
I LOVE that my Cheer isn’t affected by my surroundings.  My Christmas cookies aren’t coming out just right (I blame it on the low quality ingredients), our Christmas tree has no lights and is only 3 feet tall, the presents under the tree are actually empty boxes wrapped for decoration, I can’t watch ABC family/Hallmark channel/Lifetime Christmas movies 24/7, we don’t have a church here in Huizhou…meanwhile Christmas is still Christmas, the season still feels special, and Lindsay is still like a child at Christmas.  I for one can’t wait until my little boy understands and loves Christmas as much as I do!

Pregnant Woman Who Hasn’t Had A Hot Shower In Her Own Home Since Mid October VS. innocent Repair Men Who Have No Idea What She is Saying And Her Poor Husband Who Has To Be The Punching Bag Because He Understands English

23 Weeks

Not only am I 23 weeks today but it is my mommy’s birthday, I am excited that she will be able to spend her next birthday with her grandson.

I have started a not so strict exercise routine…finally!  I have felt so out of shape and I am convinced that those last few pounds I still need to gain were from muscle loss.  I count my days out where I am walking all day as an exercise day and beyond that I use my maternity yoga and cardio DVD’s.  I still do my walk away the pounds, not that I am trying to lose the pounds, I am just trying to prepare my body for childbirth and for caring for an infant…he will be here before we know it.  Speaking of weight…I am currently 2 lb’s away from my starting weight…I have a feeling that Christmas Cookies will take care of those last couple of pounds, however by now the average weight gain should be 12 to 15 lb’s.  I try not to think about that, I am just proud of my -2.

I finalized the fabric and décor for the nursery, now I need to execute my vision.  I also picked up some craft supplies to see if I could bring my vision to life…should be interesting!

I am feeling huge, my fitted t-shirts are now rolling up my belly, and unfortunately they are the only weather appropriate clothes I have.  I had some winter clothing made to fit over a growing belly but the weather is a lot warmer this year then it was last year (apparently last year it was bitter cold and rainy…this year it is in the mid 70’s in the shade).  I am not sleeping well, I have to switch sides every hour because of blood flow issues and belly ligaments stretching.  I think the baby has hit a major growth spurtJ. 

Another record…it has been 3 weeks since I have gotten sick!!!!  Hopefully that means it is the end…either way I am about 4 weeks from my third trimester and I am still waiting for the burst of energy and that amazing feeling people have been telling me come in the second trimester.  I guess I can settle for not vomiting anymore!

******Cool Week 23 Fact: They say I should now be able to see him move around my belly…meanwhile my belly has been bouncing for weeks…I guess I have an active little boy on my hands (just what I wanted)

No more little Adam...

Zachary Ryan Milton.  Girls think about a lot of things growing up, one thing we think about is our wedding and another (at least as far as I know) is how many kids you will have and what their names will be.  I have always had a few favorites as far as names go and they went on my list when we started talking about what this baby would be named.  One name that I never had a second thought about but was one of the first on my list and a name I couldn’t get my mind off of was Zachary.  When Adam added his names to the list Zachary was one of the first ones he suggested.  We tried a few out but Zachary was our favorite. 

We wanted a name that was strong, classic, a name that could grow with our kid.  We needed something that people could read (well the teacher in me needed) and spell.  I think Zachary meets all of those requirements.

Adam thinks I am crazy but I even tested nicknames, we can use Zack, we can call him Z, Z-man, Z meister and when he makes a big mess we can call it a Zack attack.