Barbie

You may be wondering why I would post something with the title "Barbie". Well, I did a pretty fun thing this morning. All of the Mattel Barbies in the world are made in either China or Indonesia. Mattel Indonesia grants one tour/month, and one of those tours every year is granted to the AWA. Only 20 people get to go and I was lucky enough to have my name drawn in the lottery. So, this morning I drove to eastern Jakarta and toured the factory.

This one factory employs between 5,500-10,000 employees depending on the production demands and, if I'm remembering correctly, ships up to 1,000,000 Barbies/week. The factory only has an export license so all of the dolls have to be shipped out of the country and then imported back before they can be sold in Indonesian stores (stupid, I know). The place was immense, as you'd expect. And just thinking about the organization of producing all these little parts was mind boggling, even to my Virgo self. What I was most astonished by was how much hand work is involved in each doll. Every outfit is sewed by a woman on a sewing machine and all the hair is stitched on by a woman on a sewing machine. Then there are the "groomers", the women (I keep saying "woman" because over 80% of the production crew are women) who actually brush her hair, braid it or tie it up, and put on the hat or crown or sunglasses or whatever accessory she's shown with. Then there are the painters, the women who paint on the make-up by using a cut-out face mask over the face and running the face under a paint sprayer. And finally at the end there were the women who hand fixed the dolls to the packaging. It was incredible. I just assumed most of the work was done by machines, but instead so much of it is by hand. They say that producing one Barbie takes 3 minutes of actual work, and from design phase (headquarters are in California where all the Barbies are designed) to engineering to finished product takes about 1 month.

In the factory there was a huge map of Indonesia with a Barbie doll affixed to every part of the country. Each doll was dressed in clothes that were typical of that part of the country. It was quite cool. But the only Indonesian Barbie they sell is the Sumatra Barbie. It was definitely not the most interesting one though. The Barbies now wear underwear (I really don't know why, they don't have bras on and its not like they used to be anatomically correct) and their size proportions are much more realistic. She now looks like a shapely but fit young woman. If you remember, the first dolls, which debuted in 1959, had measurements that were nearly impossible.

And after the tour they fed us lunch and gave us a Barbie doll!!! I have to admit that the little girl in me is thrilled. I haven't owned a Barbie doll in like 20+ years and with having 2 sons I assumed I'd never have any girlie things in my house. But here I am with a Princess Barbie! Well, C has a Princess Barbie. I of course gave it to him and he loves it. My wonderful little boy loves his Barbie doll. I couldn't be happier! Of course he laughed like crazy when I took her gown off and she was naked. But I'll take it. And now she's taking a bath with him (all I could think about was that her beautiful ringlets were going to be ruined! I guess I'm still such a girl inside).

Christmas and such

Santa came early this year, carrying a big bag o' presents. Since we're leaving Saturday for our grand adventure in New Zealand, we asked Santa to deliver most of the presents last weekend. Especially the big ones. Like C's new Batman Bike! It was a huge hit as expected. He is racing around the complex, feeling the wind in his hair, showing off to the girls... He really was in need of a new bike too. He had outgrown his tricycle and I felt a little bad watching his little legs peddling furiously as he tried to keep up with the big kids (and even kids his own age). Now he has a bike that is a little on the big side and has an adjustable seat, so it should last a while. LC didn't score nearly as big in the Christmas windfall. He has all of C's baby toys and doesn't know the difference anyway.

Christmas is more visible here than I had expected. There is Christmas music playing in the malls, decorations adorning shop windows, plenty of ornaments and fake Christmas trees. Thankfully it isn't overkill though; it doesn't make me want to throw up from all the dripping tinsel and jingle bells. It would be awfully silly if it were overdone anyway; it's already a little odd to see Christmas decorations in a Muslim country in the tropics.

In other news, C is really turning into a little boy. He has entered the "poopey head" phase. Evidently it is HILARIOUS! All of a sudden he will yell out, "poop!", and burst out laughing. He and his friends amuse each other endlessly yelling out different phrases with the word "poop" in it. I read that this is a healthy phase because they are developing their sense of humor, so I waver between laughing along or ignoring it depending on my mood. What I don't tolerate is the screaming. Agh. It's amazing how loud one 3 year old can be, and especially a group of them! He also seems to have a harder and harder time listening. We will repeatedly tell him no to something and he will do it anyway. The time-outs are returning with increased frequency lately, and we're getting quite sick of it. I'm bracing myself for the likelihood that this will last a while.

As for LC, he is entering into one of my all time favorite ages. I feel that for the first 6 months a parent is making a deposit on the fun and wonder that comes in the next 6 months. LC is rolling over more and more often. He is always quite happy with himself when he does it, until he realizes he's stuck on his belly. He is laughing more easily now as well. His father is particularly good at making him laugh and smile and he has a wonderful full giggly laugh that is totally addictive. He is sleeping better too most nights. He has slept through the night or straight through until 4 or 5 a number of times in the last week or two. There are 2 main problems though (there is always something, isn't there?). He wakes up too early. Sometimes he doesn't go back to sleep if he wakes up at 5, and he almost never goes back to sleep if he wakes up at 5:30. If we make it until 6 I feel fortunate. I think it's crazy for a 5 month old to wake up so early, but maybe it's common. The other problem is his sleep has become totally random. One night he'll sleep through the night, and the next he'll wake up 5 times. I rack my brain trying to figure out why, but I can never come up with a consistent reason. It's maddening. And of course now that he's rolling over more he's probably going to sleep poorly again. Plus we're going on a major trip that, based on our Bali trip experience, is going to totally mess him up again. I just pray it doesn't take us 5 weeks to get back on track!

What other bits of randomness can I tell you... Work is in the lull before the storm I think. January is certain to be crazy and I expect I'll have to work close to full time. It looks like I'm going to have to open a project office, manage it, hire employees, and both do and oversee the technical work for the project to be up and running in March, all on 50% time. It makes my belly flip over just thinking about it. So let's move on to...

Our vacation to New Zealand in 4 days! (I'm going to ignore the fact that we're quite unprepared for this). I can't wait for the majestic views, cooler temps and fresh air! We're spending 4 days in Queenstown, 4 days in Christchurch (one of which will be seeing my uncle who now lives nearby), 2 days in Auckland and 4 days with my Aussie host parents (from when I was an exchange student in high school) on this island west of Auckland. I think it's a good itinerary, except for the 2 kid factor. We may be a bit insane to do this; I hope we don't end up having a miserable time... This of course depends on LC and how well he sleeps for us and how hard of a time he gives us about his naps. Having a nanny is great for so many reasons, but the down side is that he's accustomed to only sleeping in his crib and won't sleep easily in the car or stroller. Let's hope he learns how quickly on this trip! When we planned it we knew it could be very challenging. But, we've never been to Asia before and we have a lot to see in this part of the world. So, we need to start before we run out of time.

So, I'll have lots to talk about in the new year, and hopefully I will have time to write. Here's wishing you all happy holidays, safe travels, good gifts, much merry making, and warm toes!

Happy December

I was going to wait until Christmas to post this photo, but I really can't wait. I mean, come on! can my son be ANY CUTER?! It feels like cruel and unusual punishment to deny you the joy of this photo for any length of time (yes, I know I'm such a modest mom). Plus, I'm hoping during our two Christmas celebrations we'll snap a couple more gems. Enjoy!

Nights of hell

LC rolled over 2 days ago! And I had just left the room not 5 seconds before it happened. He hasn't repeated his performance, despite our efforts, but I'm sure they will happen with increased frequency. He even rolled over from his back to his front, which is harder to do. Such a strong kid.

Perhaps this new developmental stage can explain the horrible nights LC has given us over the past several weeks. Fortunately they have improved dramatically this past week, but there was one week recently that was even worse than when he was a newborn. For about 3 nights in a row I was awake from about 2-5 every morning, and J had it almost as bad. LC kept waking up, wouldn't go back to sleep easily, waking up early and thinking it was time to get up, you name it we had it. So I'm not sure if it was due to the upcoming rolling over breakthrough, or the vaccinations he got, or a possible allergy to cow's milk, or to him just being a pain in the a**. I took him to the doctor last week to find out if there was anything medically wrong with him, like an ear infection, etc. The doctor took a stool and urine sample as well and discovered that he doesn't process fat well. I have long suspected that he doesn't tolerate dairy well, so I have limited my diet of cheese, milk, ice cream, etc. since he was just a couple weeks old. We have been giving him one bottle of formula for some time now, and didn't notice anything dramatically different when we started (except for some constipation issues if you want to know the details...). We've now switched him to soy milk formula but aren't sure if the improvements in sleeping are due to this change or to getting over the effects from the vaccinations or because our many threats to send him out with the trash finally sunk in. In any case, god willing his sleep will continue to improve and we will be a happier household.


On a side note, we found a wonderful doctor. And she's close! I was taking the kids to a pediatrician who was relatively nearby. However, after twice having to wait over 1 hour for our scheduled appointment I switched over to a family doctor in a new clinic just down the road. And she is wonderful! I can call the day of, get a scheduled appointment, and am seeing her at the appointed time. I love having a family doctor who knows the whole family, etc. She is very thorough and takes her time. And she calls within 1 week of the visit to check on the patient! Can you believe it?

Some photos from today and this past Saturday. C's school put on a charity bazaar/open house event that was actually really nice. They had all sorts of little games, face painting, and Santa Clause. So, for the first time in C's life he was willing to sit on Santa's lap. Right here in Muslim Indonesia!

The hungry boy and other randomness

We have moved on to a next stage in LC's little life. He started rice cereal 3 days ago and is already eating everything we offer him. I wasn't planning to start him on solids until he was 6 months old. I remember that it's a bit of a pain and I wasn't in any hurry. But then it finally dawned on me that perhaps the reason he kept waking up between going to bed and his 10 pm bottle was because he was still hungry. Actually, it was this and realizing the only time he is cranky after nursing (he's usually happy as a clam and starts chatting away) is after his 6 pm feed, so maybe it's because he's still hungry. Ah ha! DUH! So we'll see how it goes. The last couple nights he's only woken briefly so it may be the trick. I wish I had thought of this when J left for the US; it may have saved me many nights of hell and exhaustion...

C and I got flu shots today. It's the first shot C has had since this time last year. It's a different story when he's so much more cognizant of what's going on around him. He did a good job though. Sort of. He started crying before the needle even touched him, cried through it, and then promptly stopped when it was over. I've been sick 3 times since moving to Jakarta, so I feel like I need all the help I can get to stay well. I seem to pick up everything that C brings home from school. My defenses are always so weak when I'm run down, from being pregnant and now sleep deprived. Plus, we need to protect LC from getting anything bad.

J came home yesterday afternoon and we are all thrilled to have him back. And C waited a whole 2 minutes before he asked for his presents. I can't really blame him...J did come home baring some great gifts! Just one of his bags weighed 67 lbs, so you get the idea why it felt like an early Christmas. Some of the gifts for C are for Christmas, but he got a few right away (including batman matchbox cars - this boy is still crazy about his cars. He has so many and yet he never tires of more) so he's been busy playing with those and carrying them around with him everywhere he goes. Speaking of which, what is that?? Why do all toddlers and preschoolers like to carry bags and their favorite toys du jour everywhere they go? Anyway, so we are still basking in the glory of having our family complete again, although J is very jet lagged and was in bed by 9 tonight, which isn't bad actually. It is a very long way to come.

November update

Just before LC's 5 month birthday, and he weighs in at 18 lbs. He's not rolling over yet, probably due to all the fat he has to move! But he's getting there and I expect he'll start doing it soon. He loves playing with his toys and is now getting mad at us if we take them away. His favorite toys are a vibrating butterfly that his nana gave him, a different butterfly that was also one of C's favorites, and really anything that he can hold and put in his mouth. He likes his bouncy seat although he's getting too big for it, likes his gymini and mobile. And now he's been introduced to the exersaucer and it's a big hit!



I think he's a pretty textbook kind of kid - generally happy and smiley but fussy when he wants something. He's given us a few wakeless nights and we pray that they become more and more common. Of course his dad managed to miss the worst of it. He left for a business trip to the US about 1 week after we moved into our new house. Well, all the changes with the Bali trip and the new house didn't sit so well with LC, and he turned into a Terrible Sleeper. It was a solid week or so of hell. New house with boxes unpacked, me squeezing in work whenever I could, and a very wakeful and screaming baby. All on my own. Thanks dear. Fortunately he's on the mend though and his dad returns soon. Just as things are calming down, of course.

C started swimming lessons yesterday, finally. It's something I've wanted to do for him since we moved here, and it's finally happening. All of his 3 year old friends can swim fairly independently, and so C has a long way to go. I don't like living in a place with so many swimming pools and C not being able to swim. I like that the swim instructor teaches them (or tries to anyway) how to turn around and swim to the side in case they were to fall in. Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death in the US, so I'm not totally paranoid. I'm going to start LC in early '08, so he grows up knowing how to swim.

Below is C in a bajaj. It's basically a shell around a motorcycle, and I think you find them all over Asia (this website says you find them in Africa too, but I don't remember ever seeing them there). C loves them! On the rare occasion when our car isn't available to pick up C from school, the nanny will go get him and bring him back in one of these. It costs like $1 for the trip and he he has such a good time. Of course, here I am rambling before about injury prevention, and I'm letting my son ride in one of these death traps. Oops. I guess that's where the silver lining in the constant Jakarta traffic can be found. He'd never pick up enough speed to experience much damage.

Worker bee

I haven’t really spent any time telling you about the work I’m doing here in Indo. Until last month there wasn’t a whole lot to tell as the amount of work I was doing was pretty minimal and only mildly interesting. However, as of 3 weeks ago my workload has been bumped up to half-time and has become much more intense. On one hand I am struggling to keep it to 50% because I could be doing this full time right now, but on the other hand I’m doing this largely from home and with 2 little kids in the house it’s proving to be very challenging to find the time. Plus, I don’t even have to be working right now. There are other things I want to be doing and I have to readjust my state of mind and schedules to find the right balance.

The work is very interesting though, and important. As some of you may know, more cases of human Avian Influenza (bird flu) have occurred in Indonesia (113 to date) than anywhere else. Because of this and the great fear around the world of this disease becoming either efficiently transmitted from bird to human, or even worse from human to human, the US government (and others) is pouring quite a bit of money and resources into learning about the disease and containing it. This is where I come in. USAID has a contract with my company to procure various drugs and supplies to donate to developing countries. In 2006 they decided to send some decontamination kits and personal protective equipment to Indo to help protect investigators when they go out to investigate an outbreak among birds. So for the last several months I have been doing a little work to help bring those supplies into Indo and track their use and reorder when necessary.

Now, however, the US government has decided that vaccinating chickens against bird flu may help reduce the viral load in chickens and therefore help contain the disease. Well, there are 3 million chickens born every day in Indo. There are 17,000 islands in Indo. Complicated and overwhelming task? Yes! So, my project has been asked to procure the vaccines and get them down to the district level. They are only doing this in 6-8 districts in West Java, where 60% of the chickens are, so that makes things easier. I don’t think they realistically believe all chickens in Indo will ever be vaccinated. We can’t even get all children in Indo vaccinated, much less chickens! This task is further complicated by the fact that vaccines have to be stored at a certain cold temperature (4-8 degrees Celsius in this case) until they are used. This is a huge task in a tropical climate and developing country where electricity is not always ensured nor working refrigerators present in all locations. Therefore, we have to figure out how we’re going to get it there under the right conditions (cold chain logistics). Another complication to this already daunting task is the fact they don’t have a really efficacious vaccine. There are vaccines (for chickens, not for humans) and they work against some strains, but not against others. Being influenza, the virus is always mutating, so the powers that be will continuously have to monitor the ever changing virus strains (just like you have to get a new flu vaccine every year).

And seeing as I’m the only project employee living here, I will be doing much of the work dealing with the logistics of vaccinating a whole pant load of chickens. Plus I’m on a huge learning curve here. I do not know much about vaccines or chickens or cold chain logistics! It feels overwhelming, especially since this came as a huge surprise. Three weeks ago I had no idea I’d be thrown into this. I was going on my merry way thinking that come March or so I’d start drumming up some more work. And now I’ve got more than expected. Fortunately I'm working with some really great people who are doing other components of the work required to get this thing off the ground.

There are other things that have been added to my workload as well. Like organizing a workshop for the government's bird flu committee on emergency preparedness. Again, what? Zoinks scoob...

It’s exciting to be doing this work though. It’s an emerging disease and I’m living in the epicenter. I imagine I’ll gain a lot of expertise and will be at the forefront of what’s being done to combat it. The drawback though is that it’s taking me farther and farther away from my true passion of maternal and child health. That is what I got my master’s degree in, and yet my career so far has been related but not directly linked. But I do like it and it’s a good deal for me right now, and it’s certainly exciting!