What's a Bǎomǔ?

I've gotten this question a lot lately... "What did you do with the baby when you went back to work?"

The awesome thing was I got to leave Noelle with Grandma (my mom) for the first seven weeks that I went back to work! It was such a blessing to know that someone I love and trust was watching over my sweet eight week old baby girl. As mom got closer and closer to going home, Jimmy and I had to buckle down and decide what we were going to do.

What do you do for infant care in Taiwan?

If we were Taiwanese, we would probably have family members available to take care of her. However, we are foreigners in a strange land. We have no family here permanently. So what were our options?

Number 1: Baby Center
A baby center is similar to daycare in the USA. They often have a lot of babies, a lot of sickness, and rarely speak English. On the plus side, the workers do activities with the babies. They send you pictures of things your baby is doing or has done. They fill out a communication book for you so you know how your baby's day was. If you are really, really fortunate there might even be another foreign baby there.

Number 2: Bǎomǔ (保姆) / Nanny
So what's a bǎomǔ? Basically a bǎomǔ is a nanny or a private childcare provider. You can find one that will either come to your home and only care for your child (uber expensive) or for about the same price as the baby center you can send your child to their home where they care for a few children. Just like any child care provider, a nanny can be good or bad. The nannies here almost never speak English. Also, you should make sure to use a registered nanny so they have some accountability on their standards and the number of children they are able to care for at one time. On the plus side, a registered nanny will often fill out a communication book for you. Their schedule is more flexible when it comes to pick up and drop off times. They might live really close to you, and they also do activities with your child!

After lots of research, interviews, and visiting baby centers, we decided that a bǎomǔ would be the best for us and for Noelle. We love Mrs.Wu! She is a really sweet Taiwanese lady who lives right around the corner from us. She doesn't speak much English but she is teaching us lots of new Chinese words and she goes the extra mile to make sure she gets important information translated for us so that we can understand it. Noelle is one of three kids she looks after and they all play well together. If you are considering your childcare options in Taiwan, do what works for you and your baby. But we love our Bǎomǔ!

Well, Taiwan. It's been a Year!

It's officially been a over a year since we moved to Taichung, Taiwan. There are so many things that we have seen, done, and experienced! Some of them have been amazing--like having a baby--and others have been depressing--like having a horrible boss, but they have all been a part of our ramblings.

In the last year we have...

Had a baby.

Noelle is the most amazing addition to our lives! We tried and tried to get pregnant in the USA and our first week in Taiwan, we unknowingly made a baby. Go figure!

Moved to a new country.

Ok so this one was obvious. We moved to Taiwan. Rented a new to us apartment in a new neighborhood. We were surrounded by strange and unfamiliar people and culture. We had to learn a new money system and had no clue what people were saying to us.

Started new jobs.

When we first came to Taiwan, we didn't have jobs. It was highly recommended to us that we would find the best jobs for us by looking for them once we had arrived and were settled. For me, this was true. I worked at an awesome school with good management and super co-workers! For Jimmy, he had a really bad experience at the first bushiban where he worked and ended up changing jobs at semester. His second job was better but still not great.

Made new friends.

We have met so many amazing people in the last year that I can't even list them all! Taiwan is full of people from all over the world and we now have the most diverse group of friends we could ever imagine! We love them all and we look forward to meeting many more people in the next year.

Re-learned how to drive.

Yes, it's been over a year since either of us has driven a car! Our main modes of transport here are the buses, taxis, or our scooters.We were totally intimidated by the traffic at first, and there are times (like when it's rainy) that driving can still be really, really stressful. Overall we enjoy it and their actually is a flow to all this madness--even if it can be a little like playing Frogger!

So what's next for year two...

Starting Chinese lessons.

Although we have learned some "survival" Chinese in our day to day lives and work, we haven't actually had any Chinese lessons yet. That's all changed now. On Sunday, we officially started studying Mandarin with our Chinese tutor. We are looking forward to learning more words and phrases soon!

Working at new schools.

As I said, I loved my school but I was offered a really sweet new contract with a new school. After some prayer and discussion, Jimmy and I decided that I should make a switch. Jimmy has also been offered a contract with a new school which we believe will be even better than the last school so we have both started new jobs.

Traveling to new places.

Now that Noelle is here and we are more financially stable, we are looking forward to a little travelling. I was able to go on some adventures while my parents were here visiting us but now we are planning some family outings too!

Making new friends.

We hope to continue to make new friends and meet lots more interesting people. We have already started down that road with all our new co-workers!

Well, I guess that's about it for now. Year two in Taiwan has gotten off to a great start and we hope to share lots more joy with you!

Until next time,
Jimmy, Christiana, and Noelle out!

Baby! Baby! Baby! Oh!

COMING SOON!!! In approximately 113 days, Christiana and I will be welcoming our baby girl into this world. We are excited beyond words for this exciting adventure in 2014! Things here progressing smoothly with both the pregnancy and the ministry God has called us to here in Taiwan.

However, none of this would be possible without your friendships, continued prayers, and the support we have received from all of you! Thank you so much for helping us embark on this life changing calling in 2013 and for continuing to follow us into 2013. We appreciate you!

Some of you have asked how you can help with the baby since we are far, far away. Obviously, we won't have the opportunity to have a traditional baby shower. If you could pray for Christiana's spirits to be lifted about this that would be great. We have been waiting so long for God to bless us with a child and we have so looked forward to sharing the baby with all of our friends and family that being far from home and not being able to celebrate the baby in some of the more traditional ways has been hard for Christiana.

So that's what this post is mostly about.

We are so thankful for the overwhelming love we have received from you all. We hope you have been enjoying our baby posts and pictures on Facebook and that you feel like you are a part of Baby Girl's coming. Can't wait for April!

Anyway, if you would like to send actual gifts we have registered at Babies R Us, Walmart, and Amazon. If gifts are ordered online they will be sent to Christiana's mom (Janice) and she will send them in a few large packages. Or if you would like to send items directly to us or Chrisitiana's mom just email or message us for the address you need. Please keep in mind that shipping things here is VERY EXPENSIVE so we do ask that you not order any large items for her mom to ship.

If you would rather send a financial gift there are a couple of options. #1 We have Ikea here and we can use gift cards purchased in the US. #2 We can use prepaid Mastercard or Visa giftcards also. #3 you can send money to Christiana's mom (please email or Facebook us for the address). Or #4 You can send money through Paypal. If you choose to send money it can also be used to help ship other gifts too.

Pic from our 23 Week Ultrasound

Thank you all again for all you have already done for our family. We are excited to welcome Baby Girl in April/May and we are beyond blessed by anything you may choose to do to help us celebrate this pure blessing in our lives. Please check below for direct links to our registries.

Jimmy!

Amazon.com	http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/baby/3GV11PHW8G7GC
Walmart.com	http://www.walmart.com/giftregistry/gr_detail.do?registryId=26773403111	Or find us in-store by name
Babiesrus.com	Registry #: 51175993	Or find us in-store by name