Tianjin

We went on our first mini vacation with Hink a few weeks ago. We took the speed train to Tianjin on Friday afternoon. It took about 30 minutes to get there. It was kind of a spur of the moment trip. Nick had to go there for work one day and enjoyed it so we went back. It is always nice to get out of Beijing for a little while. Even though Tianjin is still a busy city it didn't feel near as hectic as Beijing.

We stayed at the Astor Hotel there. It was beautiful. It is almost 150 years old and back when it was first built it was used for a lot of diplomatic purposes (the American consulate was established there for a long time). The hotel had a museum downstairs that was fun to walk around. It showed pictures of all the famous people who have stayed there over the years, showed how the rooms would have been decorated and included the menu from Christmas dinner in 1949. Nick said he had never heard of anything on the menu.

After we laid around for a bit we went out to explore Tianjin. We found a yummy restaurant for dinner and then walked along the river outside the hotel. The next morning we explored some of the other buildings around the hotel, then checked out the Italian district before heading home. We got back just in time to catch a taxi before the crazy rainstorms that caused massive floods in Beijing started.

The train

Picture in the hotel museum. Ulysses S. Grant when he stayed a the Astor.

We really wanted to ride in the elevator.

Outside the hotel at night.

An old church in Tianjin

The Italian District

We had a great time and will definitely be going back to Tianjin. It was a great way to escape Beijing without having to travel for hours with Hink.

Video of Hink's 3rd month

We spent pretty much all of Hink's third month in the US visiting/meeting family and playing a lot! Nick made another video to share them all like he did for Hink's first month. I just realized we never posted the second month video so I will work on finding that for the 3 people who are probably interested.



And another cute video Nick made awhile back:

Hink at 3 months

We are back in China after a whole month of fun in the US. We have lots of pictures to share, but we will get to that later in another post. Hink had a doctors appointment this week and I cannot believe how much he has grown!

Height: 58.5 cm (23 inches)
Weight 4.7 kilos (10 pounds 5 ounces)
Head 39.5 cm (15.5 inches)

He looks more and more like a normal (non-preemie) baby everyday. I just stopped having random strangers commenting on how small he is and thinking he is brand new. He is definitely working hard to catch up. He grew 5 more centimeters this month. He is in the 3rd percentile for height, but last month he didn't even make the chart, so we are making progress. The doctor thinks that by his first birthday he will be mostly caught up.

This month was a fun one. Hink started focusing on people more and more and has started smiling a lot. He is much more fun to play with now that I can get a reaction out of him. He did have a little bit of stranger anxiety when we got back to Beijing and he didn't recognize anything, but he's over that now. As far as jet lag, he is doing ok but he does sleep about 18 hours a day now. I'm sure it will be harder next time around when he doesn't sleep so much during the day.

It's good to be home!

Spicy Tuna -best sushi ever!

We have been home for 2 days now and are stuffing our faces every chance we get! This is definitely going to be a very fattening trip for all three of us.

Hinckley did great on our 12 hour flight over the ocean. I hope he does as well when I have to travel back alone with him next month! He pretty much slept the whole time, or sat and looked at everything around him. He hasn't even been jetlagged. I guess when you sleep 20 hours out of everyday its not that hard to rearrange your schedule!

Hinckley at 2 months

Height- 53.5 cm (21 inches)
Weight- 3.65 kilos (8 pounds)
Head- 37.5 cm
Hearing test- Passed both ears!

We went to Hinckley's two month appointment yesterday. I can't believe how much he has grown this month. He gained more than a kilo (2.2 pounds) and grew 5.5 cm (2.16 inches). He has been eating like crazy and the doctor said it is because he is trying to catch up with a normal baby.

He has gotten onto a pretty good schedule and I hope that as he gains weight he will be able to sleep longer at night. Right now about 4 hours is his limit before he wakes up hungry. (Everything I googled said that once 10 pounds is the magic number for preemies. Once they hit that weight they can sleep at least 6 hours. That sounds heavenly right now!)

We are traveling home with him next week. Twelve hours is going to be a long time, but all my friends in China that travel with their babies said that 2 months wasn't a bad age to travel at all. In fact it is supposed to be the best time since he still sleeps most of the day. Flying with him at Christmas time when he is 8 months is going to be more challenging...but I won't think about that yet. We are looking forward to being home and introducing Hink to our families!

This past week Hink's NaiNai and YeYe have been visiting. Here are a few pictures

I've never won anything...

UNTIL NOW!

Nick hates massages, so I can go twice!

Nick and I decided to take Hinckley on a walk one night and we ended up at Fatburger drinking delicious chocolate shakes. While we were there I grabbed a copy of the Beijinger magazine (It's a free magazine that they put out in English every month that you can pick up all over the city). We were flipping through it and in the back Nick saw an ad for an Ice Cream Spa.

I already threw out the magazine, but I found a picture of the ad on their website.

Nick started commenting on how weird that was. Since I read the magazine every month I knew they always put in a bogus ad and the first person to find it wins something. Well we happened to be at Fatburger on June 1, so I made Nick hand over his phone and I emailed the answer right away.

The next few days Nick would tease me and pretend he had a really exciting email so I would think I had won. Yesterday though we got an email asking for our address so these 2 vouchers to Origin Spa could be delivered to our house. I WON! I think we are going to make it a new tradition to go to Fatburger the first of every month so we can drink shakes and peruse the Beijinger together.

Bath Time

Hinckley loves getting his hair washed, but isn't so fond of the rest of the bath. We wash his hair first while he's all wrapped up in a towel, otherwise he would be blue before we finish. Then we strip him and put him in the tub. That's when the wailing starts so we get done as quick as possible.

Funny Nick story for those who aren't Nick's friend on facebook. I turned on my computer the other day to see this status:

"the smell that i've always associated with babies...ends up it's rotten milk."


This makes bath time extra important.  I don't want to be the person with a stinky baby. Hink is going to have to learn to enjoy it so Nick can associate nice Johnson baby wash smells with our baby instead.

Head massage for Hink.

                                     

So relaxed!

Not very happy about this.

All bundled up after the bath, trying to get warm again.