The Podcast - Episode 3 - Special Feature

In this episiode, we present a short video documenting Ryan's birth day.

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Happy American Thanksgiving

Thanks for the new Clothes Grandma!

I got cute clothes, so what?

Superman!

Father and Son

Pictures for the Day

More Ryan Pictures

Due to popular demand (or at least our imagined popular demand) here are some more pictures.

We have enjoyed a weekend all together at home and have to say that it has been quite wonderful.

We have been blessed with a baby who really loves to sleep (serious wood knocking now). And, when he is awake, he does not like to cry much (more knocking).

He has been eating quite well and loves to take a bath (OK sore knuckles now).

It is still a lot of work, but Ryan has certainly made things easy for us. Now we have to wait for the other shoe to drop as perhaps this is just the calm before the storm.

Enough cliches? OK on to the pictures...

Put Your Hand in Mine

好舒服! (How Comfortable!)

The Happy Parents

Lay off the Ears Mommy (or I'm calling Zenith 1234)

Thanks for the Outfit Auntie Hsin Mei!

More Fun with Signs

It's not wrong, but it made me laugh

Homecoming Part II - Electric Boogaloo

Hooray! Ryan is home again. We hope it will last longer this time. I will post more this weekend.

Homecoming Pictures and Video

Ryan is still in the Hospital and we are visiting once per day. His jaundice level has gone way down now and he probably can come back home tomorrow. Here are some Photos and videos from his short trip home. He is starting to look more like a caucasian, blue eyed, male version of his mom.

There's Something about Mali

I don't know what a "Keriting Rambut" is, but it sounds like they're fixing the wrong end.

Only $150NT for the Cameron Diaz special!

Homecomings and Goings

After being in the hospital for 2 weeks, Ryan was cleared to leave the hospital on Saturday afternoon. Since we were also staying in the hospital, it meant we could all go home.

We decided this week not to stay at the "month stay" hospice as Anting wanted to get on with looking after Ryan and we had learned most of what we needed to learn in the hospital.

While Ryan was able to leave the hospital, his jaundice was still being monitored. The doctors discovered that he is missing an enzyme and so he is "G6pd positive". While this appears to be nothing to worry about, he has to avoid certain medications and certain beans. I guess he wont be uttering this phrase: "The last time a census taker came to my door, I had his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti". It also means, his jaundice issues may be extended. We were told to bring him back to the hospital if he was getting more yellow.

Most of our conversations this weekend have been:

"Does he look more yellow?"
"I don't know, he was pretty yellow when he left".
"I think he's more yellow, What should we do?"

"Now, he looks less yellow"

"I think he's more yellow"...

Being jaundiced means the doctor thinks Ryan should not have breast milk. Unfortunately, this means not only do we have to prepare the formula and feed him, Anting has to keep pumping to keep her milk production up.

Our first night with Ryan home was a sleepless one, not because he was crying a lot, but because of the feeding and pumping sessions. When we did have a chance to rest, we were both intently listening to him sleep. His gurgling or groaning sounds would keep us up, and when he was really quiet, we worried he wasn't breathing.

Sunday night was quite a bit better. After worrying that he was not eating enough, we went out and bought some new nipples for his bottle and he chugged down a whole meal in 15 minutes. We were quite impressed and relieved. Of course now, he may have some difficulty going back to the breast after seeing how easy it is to get formula.

Monday morning he had to be checked for his jaundice level so we had our first outing, bringing along all his supplies.

Anting has just called me and said Ryan has to go back to the hospital for at least 3 days because his jaundice has increased again.

We have not decided what we are going to do, perhaps stay in a hotel in the neighbourhood, but I will keep you all posted as to our comings and goings.

More Bootlegged Footage

We were caught this time and scolded for taking pictures of our own baby, but it was worth it to get some shots of Ryan with his eyes open. Plus, here's some quick video footage of him crying like a baby.

So this is what Mom and Dad look like.

Sitting up makes me stop crying

Hello World!

Stolen Picture

He Loves to Sleep


We were able to sneak a picture today.

The Podcast - Episode 2 - Ryan Update

In this episode, I update what's happening with Ryan as of Friday evening, November 3, 2006. We also made some silly audio files on my new cell phone (before and after interviews) that I downloaded onto the computer and mixed in. Sorry for the quality of those audio bits, but it is just the cell phone note taking function, not meant to be included in a professional, high quality podcast such as this.

If you would like to listen, press on LISTEN HERE below.

I have also discovered that you can search and find the podcast in itunes. Search for "Our life in Taiwan" and you shall find it. You can subscribe there or click on the RSS symbol on the right to be hooked up.

Thanks for listening and I promise to provide some more Taiwan centred podcasts in the future, but for now you'll just have to suffer through the baby talk.

LISTEN HERE