New sights and experiences from Shanghai

Going on day 5 in Shanghai and I am learning new things. Chinese food is not anything like Leanne Chin's or any other American Chinese food. The key take away points are that you better like pork (Think Bubba from the movie Forest Gump - pork noodles, pork dumplings, rice with pork juice, etc) and be careful when chewing any meat as they don't really believe in taking out the bones prior to serving. My first piece of chicken went something like this...chew, chew, crunch, spit. Good thing I had a napkin nearby to spit the bone into but their napkins here are a box of kleenex, weird. So far I have not had any bad reactions to the food (knock on wood) which is good because I am not sure I am limber enough to use the non-western toilets that are at the conference center where we are working. How do they do that? I would need a handrail or someone tethering me (belay on!) just like in climbing.

My chinese language skills consist of two words, I know thank you which is xie xie (pronounced she-eh she-eh) and tai gui le which means too expensive. I learned this one from one of our local employees when shopping at one of the markets. It is fun to barter but you have to be in the right mood and it does take both time and patience. Below is a picture of the larger of the two markets that I have visited.

I went on a factory visit today and I have one tomorrow. It is amazing to see furniture being made from jumbo rolls of metal to finished goods with a combination of both sweat and engineering. It certainly has made me appreciate the environment that I work in back in the states and the life that I have been blessed with. Speaking of which I can't wait to get home to family....and meat without bones will be nice too. 7 more days!

Greetings from Shanghai

Day 1 in Shanghai for a two week business trip. I really can't put into words how large the city is with just building after building. Below is a picture from my hotel room to give you a little bit of an idea of what it is like here. Imagine this skyline for miles and miles, it is really amazing.













First night was a restless night of sleep due to the fact that my body thought it was daytime when it is nightime here, 13hrs difference to CST. Thankfully I caughts some ZZZ's on the flight. We are allowed to fly business class so the seats fully recline and after a couple of drinks I was out for a few hours which made the 15hr flight better than I thought it would be. Below is a picture of the bubble or the top floor of the 747 which is a great location, nice and quiet.













I will try to send out some other updates but much of my time here will be in a convention center reviewing patio furniture. Enjoy the states, especially the food, I miss both tremendously.

Roly Poly

Here's our little guy doing some tricks - rolling over both ways and discovering he has hair :)

Mommy and Trevor took an infant massage class today and learned some new things to add to his bedtime routine. He especially liked the face and ear massage, probably because it helps with his congestion and ear pain!

4 Month Appt

Trevor had his 4 month appointment today and we learned he is growing right on track. He's 26.5" (89th percentile), 16 lbs 7 ounces (63rd percentile), and has a head circumference of 17" (82nd percentile). His head is growing very well (last time it was 53rd percentile) but the pediatrician said that a baby's head grows the most between 4 and 6 months to be on track with what it will be later in life. So, he's set to have a larger head like his Daddy! Cute!

He did a great job with his shots - didn't cry after the first one but as the second one was going in his face turned bright red and he did his best mad face ever. He only cried for about a minute, such a good boy. He took 2 long naps today and is now back to his usual happy self!

The best part of the appointment was learning that his ears are finally improving on the new antibiotic! So we like Augmentin but they need to make it taste better. Tonight Trevor wouldn't even take it hidden in a bottle :( Daddy is more patient than Mommy though so he spent about 30 minutes getting the little stinker to take it down.

Our next purchase?!?!?

On Sunday, Sara's Dad came up to help Brian dethatch the lawn. What that entailed was Brian driving the riding lawn mower dethatching and Steve using the push lawn mower to bag up the dead grass. Sure looks like Brian enjoyed riding the lawn mower :) Sara couldn't stop laughing watching such a big guy on such a little contraption! Cute!

Even Randle looked a little concerned!

And what was Mr. Trevor doing during all of this? He was having a ball in his office! Such a proud little man!

Slumber Party!

On Friday night we got a call from our sister-in-law Dawn letting us know that our niece Brooke was in the hospital. She had been fighting a stomach virus since Wednesday. It just wasn't getting better and she needed some fluids. Poor little Brooke! So, our niece Lauren was spending the night! FUN! We didn't have too much time together because by the time she had some dinner (cereal, a girl after Sara's own heart!) and made Brooke a get well card, it was time for bed.

She really enjoyed spending time with Trevor, even helped feed him a bottle. Trevor is getting two bottles a day so that he gets his own antibiotic in him (he just spits out the medicine otherwise). Also check out Trevor's death grip on the bottle. It's hilarious how he has to have his hands on it, like if he doesn't you are going to take it out!


We made pancakes together and she really wanted Sara to french braid her hair, which Sara did! She loves, loves, loves Hannah Montana and even watched an episode from Trevor's bumbo chair (and yes, she also seemed to enjoy playing with his music table)!


We really enjoyed having her spend the night. She's at such a fun age right now! We just hope that she didn't get sick after being at our house. Brian stayed home from work on Friday because he too caught whatever went around the Hillins' AZ house. So far only Jeff and Lauren have not succumb to it!

Those feet!

Prior to our departure for Arizona, Mommy and Trevor dropped off Randle at his "doggie spa" down by Sara's parents house. Why down there? It is less than half the price of the doggie spas in the Twin Cities and we get to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Roslansky. We did a little shopping at the Outlets and Trevor got some good play time in. He was all about exploring his feet, even sticking them in his mouth! Pew! Pew!

Dumb Ears

Trevor was back at his pediatrician this morning after having a pretty rough evening. He had a temp of 101.5 and was pretty irritable, crying in his sleep, not wanting to lay flat, etc. The nurse at night said to use his ear numbing drops and give him Tylenol and bring him back in. Luckily after following the nurse's instructions and feeding him he fell asleep from 11:30 until 8 only waking up at 4 needing his pacifier back in. So, the pediatrician looked at his ears and announced that his ears are worse than they were last week so the antibiotics weren't working (he'd been on them 8 days). We're now on more powerful antibiotics that hopefully clear up his double ear infection and help with the crud he also has (the plane definitely didn't help our little guy). Cross your fingers and say some prayers that Trevor gets better soon. We feel so helpless. You can just tell he doesn't feel good and all we can do is give him medicine and lots of cuddles. His high fever last night was scary for these first-time parents :(

It was a "ruff" day (also pj day at the Hillins house - love puppy footie pajamas!)

Trevor's First Trip to AZ

Trevor had a wonderful time in Arizona with his Hillins side of the family. On the flight down he cried for about 5 or so minutes after the plane's door was shut. That seems to be the time that he breaks down a bit (well at least that was the time each way of the Florida trip too), maybe because of the pressure change or maybe because the air isn't on and he's too hot. After that he ate and went to sleep only to wake again to eat at the descent. Good baby!

In Arizona he enjoyed lots of playing, reading and cuddles with Grandma and Grandpa Hillins, Aunt Dawn, Uncle Jeff, and cousins Brooke and Lauren.

Grandma and Grandpa Hillins had the house stocked with Trevor's favorites - an office and a swing. Thanks goodness for that swing! He still naps in it and when he got fussy in the middle of the night in his crib he would go in the swing and go right to sleep.

He also enjoyed a quick swim in the pool. He seemed to enjoy it but with his double ear infection he was just one mellow fella on the trip.

On Monday night we went to Cartwright's for steaks, since Sara and Brian gave up red meat for Lent. Here are the boys in their steak shirts:

And here is the only family photo we took while in AZ :(

The flight home was a piece of cake since Mommy and Daddy outsmarted his usual crying routine by dressing him in just a onesie outfit and letting him have space before the door closed. Then we fed him right as the plane pushed away from the gate. Success! Not one tear shed that flight!!

Happy Easter!