The Browns in East Asia

The Park

2012-02-17T07:16:00.000-06:00

You see this park? We went there while in Thailand. We were so confused. Where are all the people? We have apparently lived in a very crowded part of Asia so long that it confuses us when we visit places void of people. Once we got over the weirdness, it became very relaxing.
By the way, it is a Lions club park. Who knew the Lions club was in Thailand?

AB jumped right into a swing so excited to not have to wait in a 10 minute line for a 2 minute turn. This was DB's first time on a swing. We were a bit concerned since AB's first time on a swing was when she was about DB's age, and she just held her breath and then screamed like she was falling. DB absolutely loved it. In fact, he fell a sleep on it.

One of the most handy gadgets on this trip was KB's belt. Most restaurants did not had high chairs, so we often grabbed bar stools and strapped DB in with KB's belt. It was always a sight to see him taking it off in the middle of a restaurant. Anyways, here it once again served as a strap, holding DB to his swing.

Funny moment of the day. While in Thailand, both of our kids had runny noses. It must of have been allergies since it started as soon as we got to Thailand, and stopped as soon as we returned home.

While at the park, apparently (apparently because we did not see it) AB face planted in the sand, and since sand likes to stick to moisture, this is where the sand stuck. Also, apparently her mouth was open when she fell because she was spat sand for quite a while. Is it bad to laugh at your kid's expense? Maybe, but it was really funny.

AB's Birthday

2012-02-15T06:36:00.003-06:00

So AB turned 3 last month...like more than a month ago. We had a little party for her that included her foreign and nationals friends. It was a nice little one hour thing that included cake, balloons, some fun singing, and a rousing game of find the pieces of the flower and put if back together - they thought it was fun (I think).

I forgot to take a picture of her cake. It did not turn out how I planned, but in the end it was not as ugly as I predicted it would be while I was in the process of decorating it. Let's just say I did not foresee very yellowness of our butter effecting the color of frosting as much as it did - it was supposed to be a very bright purple, not brownish purple. Whatever, it tasted good.

This little (big) guy was in attendance, but not in any other pictures.

So were these two. DB napped during the party.
The next day was her actual birthday, so that morning she got to open some gifts.
I did not manage to get a better picture of it, but this doll was made by her Loli.

After we got dressed, AB and I headed over to a mall where I let her pick out a dress for the first time. She got a cute one I must say. Then I let her pick out which flavor and toppings (strawberry ice cream with graham crackers, strawberries, and bananas) she wanted for a little birthday treat at Cold Stone. Afterwards we came home to her favorite lunch of carrot and egg dumplings. Life could not get much better for the girl on her first birthday overseas - that is unless you can throw in a couple sets of grandparents for the day : )

She is a girl after my own heart.

DB enjoying one of his favorite activities - helping daddy push around the empty water jug.

New Friend

2012-02-08T06:25:00.002-06:00

While in Thailand we finally got to meet one of our newest friends...and possible future Mrs. DB? I mean, look at her! What a striking beauty she is. Plus is if she has a mix of both her parent's personalities, how could our DB not fall head over heels for her?

Is it young love?

I think he is looking more and more "boyish" every day.

AB's curls were super fun and had quite a mind of their own while in Thailand. They needed no encouragement to curl up during our 2 1/2 weeks there.

Random Thailand Pics

2012-01-30T03:35:00.005-06:00

We leave for the airport in a few hours and I wanted to take advantage of faster internet (but still not fast enough to upload videos). Here are some random pictures we took while in Thailand.

This first picture is AB excited about seeing the tigers.
No words needed for this one.

AB picked this orchid off off a plant at the hotel. I felt really bad about it, so we kept it in water for a long time. When the petals began to fall off I let her play with it and took a few pictures as AB qickly destroyed the remaining flower. Also, that was the last day we saw the hairbow she is wearing. Later that evening she stuck her head out of the window of a songtiao and the wind blew off in an instant. Drat.

This is how DB spent most of his meals in Thailand. I have learned that most restaurants do not have high chairs.

Part of our time in Thailand was spent staying at a guesthouse. It was quite comfortable, and this was the view from our balcony.

What We Did Today

2012-01-28T01:58:00.011-06:00

We went to Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai, Thailand - it was rocking awesome! I just want to make sure you notice that in the picture below KB and I are petting month and half old tigers. Baby tigers guys!

Tiger Kingdom is kind of a tiger petting zoo. Although there was one random lion and a few parrots, the rest of the place was crawling (litterally) with tigers. Unlike some internet websites claim, these tigers are not drugged so that tourists can safely pet and play with them. These tigers are loved and cared for by their trainers.

Although they also have adult tigers available for your petting pleasure, Tiger Kingdom only allows children into the baby tiger cage. They are heavy sleepers and I guess are less annoyed with the little ones. That was fine with me since all I wanted to do was cuddle a baby tiger anyways.

Each group was given 20 minutes in the baby tiger room. We each had to wash up before entering and were not to let the tigers lick us. They said they did not want us to make the tigers sick. Serriously the cub room was cleaner than many human homes I have been to in my life.

AB was a shy at first, but eventually she got brave and even tried to give them a hug.

These tigers are 2 months old. Next to them are the 6 week old cubs. It is amazing the difference 2 weeks can make.
DB was a bit more wary of the tigers and only let me put his hand on them once.
These little guys are less thand a week old. I saw their trainer feeding them with a Nuk bottle...just like DB drinks juice from.

Look below the tip box. In case you cannot read it, the sign says to not put anything into the cage, especially fingers...guess someone tried it once so they had to put of the signs. I will refrain from sarcastic comments about that trailblazer.
This tiger wanted to eat AB. The trainer said because she was little the tiger thought she was a toy to play with and that was why he stalked her up and down his cage, but we are pretty certain he wanted to eat her.
If you ever go to Chiang Mai, Thailand, you must put Tiger Kingdom on your list of attractions to visit. I have heard of places before that allow you to interact with Tigers, but I cannot image a more safe and clean place than this one. Also, the tigers are very well treated. Thus far we have visited the Elephant reserve, the zoo and now Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai. We have been quite impressed by the cleanlines of the grounds and amount of respect the workers seem to have for the animals. I was geninely suprised, and it adds further to the reasons that I love Chiang Mai.

Funnies

2012-01-19T09:29:00.002-06:00

My kids have been cracking me up lately. I managed to take a few pictures of such events. Most of them require a bit of explanation.

This first picture is not one of the funny pictures, but I wanted to include it because most of my recent posts have included pictures of my cutie boy but not my sweetie girl.

The night before AB's 3rd birthday I went into her room to tuck her in as usual, but instead of her sleeping in her bed, this is what I found. I think she was laying beside her baby doll bed, trying to help her baby fall a sleep. We are still not clear on this, but we laughed so hard it eventually woke her up.

We finally started playing hide-and-seek last week. I am not sure why we waited so long to teach AB, but she loved it. However, her innocent perspective of "hide" was quite precious. When KB and I finished counting, this is what we found - she was hiding. Since then she has started hiding behind our huge air conditioner unit, but apparently the anticipation of waiting for us to find her is too great because she usually comes running out of her hiding spot saying "I'm here!" before we even have a chance to pretend to look for her. It is quite endearing.

A couple weeks ago we had dinner at a friend's house. DB fell a sleep on the way home. I needed to change him into his PJ's before putting him in bed, so I took him out of the baby carrier and laid him on the ground. The boy did not move. This too cracked us up.

Lastly, just before we came to Thailand we kept on of our friend's baby, Sami, so they could have a lovely anniversary evening to themselves. Check this out, Sami is just 3 months older than my DB...but like twice the size. I hope they will become best friends because my DB is little and Sami is not, but no one will mess with DB if he is besties with Sami.

Anyways, Sami takes his milk in a bottle and prefers it fed to him. No problem. However, DB did not like seeing his mommy holding another baby and he certainly did not like seeing her feed another baby! No sir! So every time I fed Sami, I had to hold DB just like I am in the picture below.

I love this picture. It is like DB is saying " are you done yet?" Sami is cool though. DB did not bother him one bit.

DB and the Eliptical

2012-01-17T09:27:00.004-06:00

DB Sleeping

DB Waking

DB Playing

DB About to Fall

DB Crying

DB Recovering

DB Playing

DB Not Learning His Lesson

My Adventurous DB

What We Did Today

2012-01-16T09:55:00.005-06:00

We got to spend the morning with some elephants! It was totally awesome!

We rode a little.
We saw some sights during our ride.

We fed a very hungry momma some bananas and sugar cane.

Best of all, we were able to do the whole thing with these guys!

Our Little Cinnamon Roll

2012-01-16T02:30:00.010-06:00

Did I ever mention that DB can do this? Starting December 23rd he began standing on his own. However, he refuses to stand long since there is really no point to it, as far has he is concerned. What does standing accomplish for him? He can only take a step at a time and crawling is much more efficient at this point, so usually he quickly resumes his crawling position.

Also, notice his chubby cheeks? Maybe my little guy is finally packing on the lbs. I wonder what he is eating...

...raw cinnamon rolls.

A couple weeks ago Zhou Mei made a pan of cinnamon rolls. To help them rise she sat them by our radiator, a perfectly rational place to put them. However, every adult in our house forgot that DB is mobile and curious. While meeting with my language tutor KB called me out of the office to see what DB had gotten himself into - the raw cinnamon rolls. Don't get me wrong, these things are so good that I have been tempted to eat them before baking them but my rationality sets in and I hold off. However, the poweress of cinnamon, butter and sugar were too great and DB did not care a bit that he was eating essentially raw bread dough.

KB: Dash hand over the dough.

Dash: Daddy it is so good and you guys never let me have anything sweet.

KB: Son, hand it over.
Dash: Ok daddy.

Dash: Little does daddy know, I dipped my Nuk in those rolls...almost just as good.

Going on aTrip

2012-01-08T02:10:00.004-06:00

I am not sure what is wrong but for some reason I cannot post pictures on our blog! What's going on? This is not the first time I have had trouble with this recently, and I am not sure why since my VPN is working but whatever.

At this moment it is not a very big deal because I can just make up for lost time when we are in Thailand this time next week! Can I tell you how blissfully excited I am about this? First, Thailad is warm and moist. Our feet will thaw out and our kid's eczema problems will fade away. It will be awesome. Second, it is AB's birth country. She was born in Bangkok and if she one day chooses, she can have a dual citizenship there. I think that is kind of neat and I look forward to her visiting it when she might actually remember it. Third, we are going to see and ride on Elephants! Fourth, Thailand has a superior internet connection and we will not have to use our VPN. Fifth, we need a vacation, and I canno think of a better place to relax. Sixth, and most awesome of all, we are going to see our longtime friends in Thailand. We have known them since we were married, but have been in different countries for the past 4 1/2 years, and so much has happened in that time (primarilly babies). However or Friday we will reunite with them, and this makes me the happiest of all.

This is going to be a one of our "planes, trains, and automobile" trips which would have been quite odd for me before moving here, but now it is quite the norm. Hopefully I will be able to post a flurry of pictures while we are there.

Present for a Day

2011-12-29T01:08:00.003-06:00

I ordered this cute thing from what most people call the Asian version of Ebay, but I think it is more like Amazon.com. Anyways a lot of what we find online are things that were manufactured here but did not make it on the boat to the US or imported food from the US. This is one of the "did not make it on the boat" items. We were thrilled to get it for Dash and he was excited to play with it...AB was excited to take it from him. The day after Christmas I looked it up online because I wanted to see how much it would cost to buy in the US, and that is when I saw it. This item was recalled. In fact it is one of like 50 toys that were recalled in the US by Fisher-Price that were made in 2006 from this country for having toxic levels of lead paint. On the website it said if you have such and such numbers on the bottom of your toy, you are to discontinue use and return immediately. Yes, those numbers were on the bottom of DB's Elmo Jack-in-the-Box. Returning it was not an option, and since I know our trash is sorted through, and I feared someone wiping it off and giving it to another kid, I did the only thing I thought to do, I tried to smash it into pieces. Turns out it, other than the lead paint it was really well made. I hurt my hand before I eventually gave up and dropped it perfectly unmanned into our trash. Bye bye Elmo.

He will never even know Elmo was here...did I take him out again without wiping the food off of his face? Bad mommy.

Matching PJs

2011-12-21T08:11:00.003-06:00

Before DB was born, I bought AB and DB some matching PJs at a after Christmas sale in the US - my favorite shopping time of the year. I love sales. Anyways, like any self respecting mom, I wanted a picture of them in their matching PJs. This is how it started out.

Below I am brusing AB's teeth. Usually this is done in the bathroom, but for some reason that evening she had her teeth brushed in bed. Already DB is seeing this as awesome playtime and is on his way to get us.

Once I handed over the pink Dora toothbrush, I decided to put DB in my lap for the pic as I did not think he would sit still on his own...

...or with me either, apparently.

If this is any indication of his energy level in the future, I am in trouble.

Eventually I put him back in my lap and this happened - cutest cry face ever.

It continued and AB added her two bits in.

Eventually he calmed down and although still slightly redfaced, he ended up looking more confused than anything. I decided this was the best we were going to get and gave up.

Clearly AB was happy about the forced photo opportunity ending. See DB coming? He was happy too.

It is playtime like this that reminds me why I wanted to have them closer in age.

Good kids.

Pacifier

2011-12-14T06:22:00.002-06:00

I do not like pacifiers. They just seem like one other thing we will have to break the babies of at some point. Fortunately AB never cared for one and was able to self soothe quite easily. However DB loves it and cannot seem to get enough of it. When we are at home his pacifier is reserved for crib time only, but recently he has learned he can fish it out of his crib while playing in his room. To keep it from falling out of the crib I chained it to his elephant, so he cannot take it when him. If I do not take it from him, he will sit by his bed in order to keep it in his mouth for the enture duration of playtime. He is usually quite upset with me when I move it out of his reach, but in the long run I think it is best.

Mac and Cheese

2011-12-11T01:02:00.003-06:00

Last week DB was introduced to Mac and Cheese and it is safe to say he is a fan. I think he ate more than his almost 3 year old sister. I cannot seem to leave things alone, and I could not give my baby purely processed cheese Mac and Cheese, so I of course added real cheese and cauliflower puree. No one in my family seems to notice the healthy addition and KB says it is his favorite Mac and Cheese ever. I wonder if he knew it was 2 months expired? Anyhoo. DB absolutely got a sink bath after this meal. It was everywhere...even in his ears.

See that one noodle, trying to make it in his mouth?

There it is!

I am not sure what that glare is about, but it is really cute.

You can almost see the cheesy cauliflower goodness dripping off of his dimply little hands.

We Paid for This?

2011-12-06T03:34:00.005-06:00

Since our new apartment is without a bathtub and we have kids, it is necessary to for us to get one. I am sure DB is anxious to get into a tub and out of the kitche sink. Also, AB has a fear of falling down and of the hot water in the shower and it frequently results in a meltdown during shower time.

Two weeks before we moved into our new apartment we ordered a bathtub. It is simple but big enough for us to sit in without having to bend our legs. Like I have metioned earlier, doing rennovations here is slightly more complicated. WE are the contractors and finding someone to do the individual jobs is both challening and risky. So far we have been pretty lucky, but our luck apparently ran out with the bathtub guy. While I was in the capital with DB, KB and AB were at home while the "bathroom" guy "installed" our bathtub. His only job was to prop the tub up on some bricks, cement the bricks in place and build a tile wall around it. Really, we could do this except I figured an expert would be better at it. We were wrong...I absolutely in all serriousness think I could have done a better job than this guy. On the positive side, KB said he was a really nice guy.

Anyhoo. Now we have to pay another guy to come and smash up this wall and build another one. Our bathroom has been this way for about 2 weeks, but it will be worth the wait once we get it done right. Fortunately we have another bathroom to take showers in. It is not exactly a kid friendly bathroom, but right now we are happy to have 2 bathrooms or we would be in trouble.

We have heard a new bathroom guy is coming tomorrow and I have heard good things about him. I am hopeful that this time next week we will be able to take nice warm baths in our lovely new tub.

I really think these pictures give a good dipiction of what I saw when I first walked in our bathroom after returning from the capital. Most homes in this country have exposed water pipes in the bathroom. They are quite ugly, but very practical. It allows for cheap and relatively easy rennovations.

It is like the hill-billies of bathtubs. It is missing one of its front teeth.

Recovered

2011-12-01T06:15:00.002-06:00

These pics where taken the evening DB and I returned from his hospital visit in the capital. Sometime while AB was 1 year old she learned that we think it is cute when she gets inside of this bucket and sometimes take pictures of it. She often now climbs into it and says, "take a picture?"

AB was happy to have us home.

DB was happy to see his daddy...

...and other than being a little bit thinner, none of us could tell DB was ill enough for a trip to the capital two days earlier.

Busy Busy

2011-11-20T00:02:00.005-06:00

I think it is that time of year when everyone is busy. Almost my entire life spent in the US was as a student, and Fall always seemed a little more overwhelming than the springtime. Somehow as a parent it still seems to be the busiest time of the year. Anyways, we have been busy.

We have spent the last month and a half getting ready to move. Finally on Monday last week we loaded all of our earthly belongings, in this country at least, into a truck for the 1 mile drive to our new apartment. Actually KB had more of a hand in this than me because I was a bit useless. It seems my body has a knack for knowing when I need it to preform the most and instead decides to get sick. A little over a year ago when we began packing up to move and pack to return to the US for 5 months, I caught a beastly cold. Six months later when we actually moved to our new city, I got Mastitis. The day before our move this time, I got Mastitis again. This was my 5th time to get it, and let me tell you it was the worst. It probably did not help that I had already packed all my Advil and I could only find some that had already been expired for 2 years. I just did not seem to have the punch it usually does. The day before our move KB was at the new apartment supervising the installation of our kitchen cabinets, light fixtures and other things, so I was supposed to be at home packing and watching the kids. Fortunately our helper came over and helped me, otherwise I am certain I would have called crying and begging for him to come home and take care of the kids so I could get busy laying and bed being miserable with my aches, chills and fever. Fortunately two days later I felt much better. Thank you Augmentin.

Anyways, we are in our new apartment and I love it! It is so spacious. However, there is still a lot to be done. Our bathtub is not yet installed. None of our closets have doors. Our bathroom sink is has yet to arrive in this city. Air conditioners have not been ordered, nor does our kitchen hot water heater. Several windows do not have curtains. Two bedrooms still do not have wardrobes, and on top of it all, this place is filthy. When Dash stands up from crawling, the knees on his pants are always grey. Apartments are impossible to keep clean here, but they are extra impossible to keep clean when workers are coming and going while doing renovations. I told myself I can only sweep and mop once a day.

On top of all this moving stuff, Dash seemed to be sleeping quite a bit. At first this was welcomed since it gave me the opportunity to get more done. However soon I became concerned something was wrong with him, especially when it seemed all he did was sleep. I even had to wake him to eat, which he did not want to do. After throwing up once I emailed his doctor who recommended we get him to the capital immediately, so at 11pm on Wednesday night I began the frantic search for clothes and toiletries for Dash and I because it seemed the next morning we were going to the capital. Basically it was a long morning, but thanks to the ingenuity of Zhou Mei, Dash and I were safely in the capital by 1pm on Thursday and were seeing a doctor by 2pm.

While examining Dash the doctor asked me several questions about how Dash was doing. When the doctor took off Dash's diaper to check his tummy I noticed his diaper was dry and I had not changed his diaper since 8 that morning. The doctor said he was not sure why Dash was sick but was very dehydrated. For the next 6 hours Dash and I hung out in a hospital room while he received an I.V. At one point he threw up all over himself and me. The hospital gave him a blue gown with purple daises to wear. I had no choice but to keep wearing my vomit clothes (I wore those vomit jeans for 3 days). Dash's poor little hand with the IV was so sad, but he was so weak he did not even have have the strength to mess with it. Ultimately the doctor said it seems the combination of my low milk production from my Mastitis and Dash having some sort of virus combined to make him feel like not eating, caused him to vomit and become very dehydrated which led to him further not want to eat, which led him to become even more dehydrated and so on.

Two days later Dash is almost 100% better. I could not find Pedialite, but he was introduced to apple juice, and oh how he loves it. I alway thought he did not like drinking non-milk drinks, it turns out he just did not like water. He want sweetness. Well my little sweetie is playful and eating again. He gave us a good scare, but we are happy to have him back to normal.

Let me see if I can say this without saying it. We could not make trips to see wonderful doctors like we did with Dash if it was not for the support people give - especially the support given in the month of December. Thanks and please keep it up!

Packing Up

2011-11-01T01:21:00.002-05:00

I have been a little absent recently - just giving friend Andy a chance to catch up right? My actual my reason is a lot less altruistic than that. We are moving again. Fortunately this time we are just moving a few blocks. Our cute but extremely tiny apartment is very new, and the city will not turn on our heat this winter because it is less than 40% occupied. Our first winter in this country was essentially without heat and it was record-holding cold winter. I remember exercising just so my feet would get warm. KB and I spent the majority of our time at home wearing 3 layers, laying in bed, and watching movies. Not extremely productive. Anyways, even though our tiny apartment makes us feel claustrophobic and is hilarious when people came over and have to take turn walking around, the ultimate reason we are moving is because we cannot ask our kids to endure a winter here without heat.

Our new apartment is approximately twice the size of our current apartment. I am so excited. In the past I thought size was not a big deal to me, but apparently it is. Also our new apartment is in a better location for getting taxis. Currently we wait up to 1 hour during peek traffic - we have never waited longer than that since we have always quit and returned home after 1 hour. Our new apartment has a view of a mountain, which is really cool. Our new apartment has wonderful natural lighting. Our new apartment has 4 bedrooms! KB will have a place to study in which the can close the door and have less interruptions. Most importantly, it will have heat this winter.

When I was in college I thought I liked moving, but that was not really moving. I was able to move all my belongings in trash bags and laundry baskets - it just not the same. I thought liked moving because it gave me a chance to purge myself of unnecessary things. Unfortunately the things I would like to purge myself of now, i.e. furniture, are too expensive to replace. Therefore it is going to get packed up again and will hopefully survive another move. Moving last time also helped me realize I do not need nice things. I need durable things. Nothing survived our last move undamaged, and I expect the same outcome this time.

Anyways, we are in the process of moving. We are boxing our stuff up and buying stuff like curtains, blinds, wardrobes and lighting fixtures for the new place. The apartments tend to come pretty empty so we are even having to install kitchen cabinets, buy and install air conditioners and hot water heaters, put doors on closets, install a bathtub and finish the floor where the floor is just cement.

Organizing all the renovations to the apartment has been a bit complicated. In the US - I think since I have never actually renovated anything in the US, a contractor is often hired. Here it seems we are the contractor and we are entering into very unfamiliar territory. Without our local friends we would be in over our heads.

Our move date is set for November 14th. I will post pictures of our new place after we get settled in. I am excited and think all of this work will be worth it!

Happy Boy

2011-10-18T09:05:00.004-05:00

I love smiling pictures of my baby boy.

This is not actually a smile, but it is just as cute.

What are we going to do if we ever go back to the US and lose easy access to his favorite purple food - Taro?

Hey Parker!!!

2011-10-13T09:10:00.002-05:00

AB is facinated by the fact that her cousin, Parker, sent her a real letter. When she first got it, she continually looked at it and kept saying "Parker?" You are a great cousin Parker.

This is what DB did while AB looked at the card. Life is rough.

Big-O-Thanks

2011-10-09T23:50:00.002-05:00

Folks in this country get their water primarily one of two ways - have it delivered or have purfication system installed. Most go for the first option since day to day it is cheaper, but in the long run it is more expensive and less convinent. Until recently we had our water delivered. However thanks to generosity my brother-in-law's parents, Joe and Virginia, we have a wonderful purfication installed and is working beautifully! Thanks so much!

I am not sure how but the black bag and the clear plastic bag apparently serve some sort of purpose. I am not sure what, but we are not moving them just to be safe.

Bad Parenting 101

2011-10-09T08:42:00.004-05:00

When I walked into the living room one morning and saw this, I knew it was time to start strapping DB into the swing. However this was a couple months ago, and the swing is now gently rocking his friend Caleb to sleep accross town. Good times with the swing.

New Wheels

2011-09-26T07:48:00.007-05:00

A month ago KB decided it was time to get AB a bike. He debated on getting her a bike that fits her now or a bike she could grow into...meaning her feet do not reach the pedals yet. Ultimately our desire to not buy another bike for her in a year or two won, and we bought her a bike she can grow into. Unfortunately this bike will not be a hand-me-down for DB. The only bike available was a very girlie pink bike.

The sales people told KB he should pay someone to put it together. However, we felt like it was a rite (or is right?) of passage to spend countless hours putting your kid's bikes together. Therefore KB spent quite a while working on this thing only to find out...

It was missing some important pieces. We could not attach the cute little trunk thing to the back, but more importantly the brakes did not work. The next day KB's teacher called the store to tell them they sold KB a bum bike. They said they did not have any more. KB's teacher told them, in the way that only a native of this country could, that they needed to have a new bike for KB that afternoon and they needed to put it together for KB since he already spent too much time working on the other bike. They agreed. Although it is not really the same bike, and although instead of cute Disney princesses there are weird-o bears on her bike, AB looooves it.

It does have some cute elements, like this "rear view" mirror...

and this cute little bike bell that says exactly what AB feels about her bike.

KB is probably only 1 of 10 people in this city of millions that wears a bike helmet, so you can bet he made sure AB had one as well. He called this is blue steel face, whatever that means.
We bought the bike in the middle of a rainy week. It killed AB that we had to wait to take it out for a spin, but at last we made the inaugural trip. AB was so excited about riding and proud of her helmet. This is just outside of our apartment door and in front of the elevator.

That is real bike ridding seriousness.

And this is what they did for about 10 minutes. Super daddy pulled her around this circle in our courtyard. She did not quite get the concept of how to move the bike herself, and it did not matter anyways since her feet cannot even reach the pedals. This is the same circle she runs around when we take her outside.

This is the lady who mercilessly stares at us every single time we go outside. We go outside at random times, so we do not know how she knows we are outside, but knows... she does. Also, she refuses to talk to us. Some of the people we meet can only speak the local dialect, but with some effort they can usually understand us since we speak the common language. I know this lady has the ability to speak since I have seen her talking to others. Anyways, I figure she either does not understand the common language or has closed her ears to us because talking to her is like talking to a wall. I think I might just start saying silly things to her. If she laughs, then I know she can understand me : )

This is how DB and I spent the time watching AB.

After AB got tired of being rolled around on her bike, she decided to get a good look of herself in the reflective door. She does this routinely when we go outside. Vanity does not have to be taught.

This is DB's favorite pastime, not playing with daddy but sticking things in his mouth. Makes him happy.

Last Warm Day at the Park

2011-09-23T02:31:00.001-05:00

At the time we were unaware of it, but this might have been our last outing to the park on a still warm day. At that time we thought it was an outing to the park in between the days of rain

Uggg. I am so sorry fellow Texans currently living in Texas. I do not mean to sound insensitive. My own mom threatened to hang up on me yesterday when I mentioned how the rain kept ruining our plans and how it seems it may get cold too soon. Don't worry guys, you will get me back during your mild winter while I am freezing my end off.

Anyways, we will miss the park during the winter. I am a fair weather girl, and I just cannot see myself taking the kids out for "fun" in freezing weather. This is why I always preferred New Mexico over Colorado for snow skiing. I just do not see how you can have fun when you cannot feel your fingers or toes.

By the way, thanks Madeline for the all summer clothes. AB has greatly enjoyed them and might even still fit into them next summer.
KB thought it was funny when she looked up into the tree. Kept prompting her to look up into the tree so he could take a picture of how funny it looked. Sneaky daddy.

It is so lame I am even mentioning this but someone asked. This was the first haircut. The bad part of the haircut was in the front, so until it was "fixed" (not really) I pulled it back with hair pins.

Squishy cheeks, perfect for kissing.

Learning

2011-09-20T02:02:00.002-05:00

When AB was a baby I read all the books on development and knew if she was falling within such and such range of development. I have not cracked open even one of those books with DB, so whenever he does something more advanced than the week before, I am so surprised and proud of him - with AB I was more expecting it to happen. DB is now able to help me (a little) with getting him dressed or in this case, undressed. It is endearing.

Also, have I mentioned that DB says "mama?" He says it usually while in distress. I am not sure if he realizes I am mama, or if he is just saying it because it is a fun sound and he likes to say it. Either way, I am going to conclude he said my name first. Yeah DB! He also growls a lot, so I often call him "little bear."

Whew! That was exhausting for him! DB prefers being naked, so if I would just let him go without his diaper, he would be a happy camper. Believe it or not, that weird-o looking diaper is a Huggies diaper. None of those cute Disney characters for DB's bottom.

Playland

2011-09-11T05:30:00.006-05:00

Talk about getting behind on blogs! I have a small amount of time alloted for internet each day. It is usually between the time the kids go to bed and when I feed Dash once more. If I spend it looking at People.com then, that is what I did rather than things more productive, so I should be wise in my time right? Recently our weather has begun changing and is rapidly growing more and more cool. Today we all wore jackets. Therefore my internet time has been spent scouring the internet for deals on new shoes for fall, some winter clothes and clearance summer clothes for the kids. However, I am done. If I look at The Children's Place website even once during in the next 2 months, it will be too soon.

A few weeks ago we had incessant rain, so we took AB to a local play place. We mostly like it. They have all the kids use antibacterial on their hands before entering. No shoes inside. They require all non potty trained kids to wear diapers (still saw some split bottom pants and bare bottoms though), and they have air purifiers. They have taken greater than average steps to keep the place clean which goes a long way with us.

AB had a blast. Her favorite thing was the kitchen, and she spent most of her time playing in the kitchen area. The best part for KB and I was watching AB face plant and barrel roll down a bouncy slide. After we saw she was okay we could not stop laughing. As she was tumbling down, all we could see was a blur of blue hairbow, green gingham bloomers, legs, arms and her dress. Since America's Funniest Home Videos is still my favorite TV show, this was right up my alley as far has humor goes...apparently my humor has not matured since I was 5 years old.

Eating her dress.

I am not sure if she was doing something interesting or if just she was interesting.

Once we got home AB had her bath and bedtime reading.

Blog War (That is what my friend called it)

2011-09-04T20:22:00.006-05:00

Living overseas it is important to go extra lengths to keep up with my friends living elsewhere, otherwise we could easily lose touch with some precious people in our lives. We have friends living all over the world and like in our country, using Facebook is neither convenient nor...umm encouraged by the local government. Actually if you buy a international internet connection then you can access Facebook, but let me tell you, it is slow, very slow, so slow I log onto Facebook about once a month. Blogging is also tedious. I have spent hours trying to upload a photo or two (once it took 6 hours to upload a video), but it is much easier and less time consuming that Facebook. Therefore we blog, and most of our other friends living abroad blog too. I blog primarily for my family and my few friends that I know periodically check in on us. This is why our blog is chalk full of pictures of our kids, because let's face it, KB and I are now both 30, it is downhill from now on in the looks department for us.

One of my other motivations for trying to post something at least once a week is because of the small depression I fall into every single time look up one of my friend's blogs and see the same old (albeit usually very cute) pictures of their kids from months before. Wanting to spare my friends from a similar depression I made it a goal to post something once a week. I am generous like that (wink wink). I have a friend of 4 years (Andi can you believe it has been 4 years?) who also lives abroad. She has two teenagers and, a toddler and a newborn. If anyone has a reason to take month long breaks between their posts, it is her...and all you other people with more kids than I have.

To my point. My sweet friend Andi has decided to post something every single time I post and has said so on her blog. I do not think this is fair to her since she has 4 kids and all, but I really look forward to getting to see more pics of her kids and hear stories like the one she posted recently. I need to ask her if it is okay to paste a link to her blog, and if she is cool with it, I will share her blog with you all. They are great and you all will enjoy getting to know them.

Update: Andi said yes, so her blog address is http://abrahamsinheritance.blogspot.com/

For the grandparents -

This is several weeks ago when DB was trying to develop the concept of going from one point to another. He used his head as an extra appendage. I believe AB did this too when she was learning to crawl. Unfortunately DB can now assume the proper crawl position and is becoming better and better at getting from point A to point B. I am grieving his mobility.

Taking a break.

Trying again.

Trying to eat mommy's nose.

Trying to rip mommy's nose off her face with his super strong tiny fingers. Look at the intensity on his face. It is fierce.

Many Thanks

2011-09-04T20:15:00.003-05:00

Thanks to our friends in Belton for the treats you sent us this week. We sure felt special. The books you sent us already migrated upstairs, so I do not have a picture of them. Rest assured they have been read many times already. Thanks friends!

DB's favorite thing in the box were not these tiny super cute sunglasses -

...it was his Prilosec. The day after it arrived, he had a Prilosec and Motrin (teething) induced sleep coma and had one of the best morning naps he has ever had. Now if the mother-load of Prilosec that our lovely United States Postal service lost sometime last month would just arrive, we would be set for months of happy acid reflux free bliss. Thanks mom for getting it to us.

Date Night

2011-08-30T02:21:00.002-05:00

Since moving to our new city we have been blessed by a sweet young couple who comes over every Tuesday night to watch AB so KB and I can get a little "alone" time. Our idea of alone time has changed since we were first married. As newlyweds and after having AB we considered alone time as when it was just KB and myself. However now that we have DB we realize as long as DB remains immobile and quiet, having him with us is just as good as alone time. Therefore, date night is usually KB, DB and myself. Unfortunately the immobile part is ending soon, and I hope our friends will be willing to watch DB too. Last week we had to take turns eating dinner because DB kept trying to take the food from us as we were eating it.

Anyways, when we go on dates we often go to the local mall. Gosh that sounds like a lame teenager date, but it has everything we need, Papa Johns, Starbucks, Dairy Queen (drinks and sweets only) and a movie theater. Have we ever mentioned that the young people of this country absolutely and completely loooooove Transformers? They like to decorate their cars with Transformer stickers. Adults wear Transformer t-shirts. You can hear ringtones dedicated to the movie everywhere. Local advertisers even got in on the action. Much to the delight of nationals of this country, a local famous milk is mentioned by name in the movie. The mention received applause during the showing of the movie we attended. So it was no surprise to us that a huge spectacle was made of the #3 movie release. Outside the mall they erected a HUGE statue of Optimus Prime (I do not care if I spelled that right). KB wanted to let you all see how respectable adults lose their dignity over this movie. Check out the guy in the striped shirt. He was just one of many doing the same thing.

We came home to see AB dressed up like this -

The next morning -

How He Has Grown

2011-08-28T01:56:00.003-05:00

Although I have still managed to take monthly photos of DB, I have failed to post them. Here are his -

5th Month

6th Month

and 7th Month photos. I think in this last one we can finally see his legs getting longer, that or his enormous diaper is distorting it.

Here is my little tribute to him.

DB is now 7 months old. I still think he looks like a boy version of his older sister - with brown hair and a completely different hairline.

AB at 7 months

DB at 7 months

DB is a happy baby. The only thing that messes up his day is a bad case of acid reflux. Unfortunately his medication has been in transit for almost a month now and he has about 3 bad days a week without it. He is really a little guy, about the 10th percentile in height and 5th in weight. AB was like that too, so I guess that is the norm for our babies. To me it means we get more use out of their clothes before they outgrow them - for now at least.

Recently his personality has seemed to pop. He is no longer frightened when KB razzes his tummy and even likes to watch daddy wrestle with AB. When he was younger his daddy's laugh scared him, causing him to throw out his arms and cry. It was precious. He loves his mommy, and I just cannot get enough of that.

DB is on the go now. He cannot get very far, but he can push himself around on his belly. He can sit on his own, however after a few minutes he usually tips over. It does not bother him. He really likes for me to assist him in standing and is showing signs of trying to pull up. He is very grabby. Anything within reach is in danger, especially mommy's hair and her tea. He also likes to grab the skin on our necks, face and collarbones. DB loves his baths and consistently pees in the water each and every time I put him in. He kind of growls at us, especially when he is reaching to grab us. Very cute indeed.

Things that make him laugh - AB laughing, mommy kissing him, AB jumping, daddy pretending to wrestle with him, AB twirling, mommy tickling him, AB running up to him, when we hold him up and let him "fly" over our heads, bouncing on our knees and touching (grabbing) our faces.

DB is sleeping in his own bed in his own room now. He goes to bed at 8pm, wakes up to eat at 10pm, goes right back to sleep and wakes up around 7am. He prefers to sleep on his tummy with is face smashed into the corner of the bed. He loves his mobile and pacifier. I prefer he not like a pacifier, but we will work on that later. For now it makes him happy and that makes everyone happy.

DB is a hearty eater of all things sweet. He loves applesauce, pumpkin, pears, bananas, and a locally grown purple sweet potato called taro. He does not like broccoli, potatoes or cauliflower. He likes rice cereal, but rice cereal does not like him. Poor guy can't use the bathroom for two days after eating it. He is still not a fan of water.

In the last week DB has begun to chew on AB's floor. She has one of those foam puzzle floors. DB often uses his tiny little fingers to pry up a piece of the floor and starts to chew on it. I find it strange to say "son, don't chew on the floor!" Also, yesterday he got a hold of my indoor shoes (we do not wear our outside shoes inside) and apparently chewed/slobbered on it because it was definitely wet when I put it on.

He wears both cloth and disposable diapers. I am done with washing poopie diapers. After a nice glob of it fell on my foot as I was trying to flip that junk into the toilet, I said "stick a fork in me, I am done!" For two weeks after that I only used disposable. Now I alternate. He wears disposable until he has pooped for the day, then he switches to cloth. I greatly prefer this situation. (Also since AB only uses her diapers to poo in, she now only wears disposable).

I never thought I could love a little boy as much as I do DB. I cannot get enough of him and I am already dreading him leaving us to go to college in 18 years. I have also found myself quoting Monica from Friends saying to her newly adopted baby boy, "I will love you so much that no girl will ever be good enough for you," but fortunately for DB, I am a rational person and I am praying for his girl right now. We love you DB.

Sudden Finish

2011-08-28T00:20:00.004-05:00

I was told a couple of my family members have requested a video of the kids. They are in luck! Our internet seemed to be working in our favor today and I was able to upload this video. Just in case you are worried about the end, I caught him.

Also, our apartment is in one of many stages of disarray, but this video was too funny to not post just because I am mortified that it looks this way. It is messy.

Dinner Out

2011-08-21T00:53:00.003-05:00

Recently we went to a local Thai restaurant. Like most foreign food, it was an East Asian version of Thai food. I cannot be too harsh on them though, most East Asian restaurants in the US are just American versions of East Asian food...I just cannot figure out the disparity since most of the East Asian restaurants in the US are owned by actual East Asians. Anyways, it was decent, but the decor was extra fun. It was also at this restaurant we figured out DB has entered into the "I want to grab any and everything in front of me" stage. It is beginning. The easy low maintenance baby stage is passing.

Also, AB was born in Bangkok, something she has not seemed to grasp yet. The "where are you from" verses "where were you born" questions just confuse her. She will answer Texas (I realize Texas is a state and not the name of our country) and Thailand for either of the questions but usually just Texas. We want her to have some sort of connection with the country she was born in and could have a dual citizenship with if she wants, so we hope by the time we visit Thailand early next year she will have a better grasp of "I was born in Thailand." We thought going to a Thai restaurant would help introduce AB to the concept of Thailand. It is the best we can do right now, even if the food did not really taste like Thai food.

DB loves his lay and play, but it too will be put away all too soon. He is now scooting across the floor and is managing to grab things that I put out of reach. Bring out the baby gates and child safety locks. Sigh.

Glutton for Punishment

2011-08-17T11:23:00.002-05:00

I am not delusional enough to believe people visit our blog to look at KB and myself. Let's face it, it is all about our cute kids, so I leave it them to be the face of our family. Also, if I do venture into talking directly about myself I generally try to avoid talking about my weight or appearance, because unless someone is really really funny, insecure or overly confident rants about one's appearances are usually really annoying more than anything. I do not think people consider me funny, so this post might fall into the category of lame. Sorry. This post is about my hair.

I have lived overseas for 3 1/2 years and had my hair cut in this country 5 times. All 5 times I have regretted it and vowed to never cut my hair in this country again. Alas, I just cannot seem to help myself. I am apparently too optimistic and continue to give them another shot at cutting my hair and it always turns out wrong. The most recent mistake was yesterday.

My hair has gotten long recently, like about halfway down my back. KB likes it because he has a thing for long hair, however he could see pass the longness of my hair to the fact that it was stringy and looking sparse. For the last three months my hair has been falling out like crazy. I expected this to happen since I lost hair like this after I gave birth to AB. I also expected I would need to cut it and planned accordingly. During our last visit to the capital I was planned to visit Tony and Guy, but our schedule did not allow it. So when I sat at our dining room table day after day starring at my stringy hair in the mirror during language class I decided I could not wait three months until we went back to the capital. It had to be cut immediately.

My language tutor set up an appointment at her salon and went with me. I told the guy I wanted my hair to be cut just below my collar bone and did not want any layers shorter than my chin. I said I did not want my hair thinned out since it was already very thin and under no circumstances did I want bangs. Tisk. Tisk. Tisk. Where did I go wrong? I know where I went wrong. I went against past Leslie's advice. FUTURE LESLIE, DON'T DO IT!!! The sad thing is, I know future Leslie won't listen. She will get her hair cut in East Asia again.

Basically, my hair was cut to just below my collar bone and feathered up to my chin. Yes, he had the audacity to feather my baby fine hair up to my chin. Ironically it is the exact same haircut I have had 2 other times. Both also disasters. The only difference is that this time I was thankfully not given bangs...well actually he did give me bangs, but they are long. He also curled my feathered hair under. It created a 2 layer triangle shape. It was bad and he was confused when I asked him to straighten it out. He said it was more beautiful curled and left it like that.

I have come to the conclusion that this haircut must be some sort of standard haircut. I cannot explain why three different men in 2 different cities would give me the same haircut (with different instructions and photos) each time. Tomorrow I am going to go back and have him cut off the feathered hair. My collar bone length hair will become chin length hair. I knew this was the inevitable outcome, but I just could not seem to help myself...and next year when my hair gets ridiculously long and stringy I will probably do it again.

Afternoon at the Park

2011-08-14T00:42:00.004-05:00

Recently we once again visited the city park. Here are some highlight pics. I like this first picture because there is a random truck driving down the walking path and the passengers were a family, not park workers. I still do not know how they got in. We had to lift the stroller over several barriers just to get it in.

AB was proud of this leaf.

AB and daddy played this game of daddy hiding, AB finding him and then daddy throwing her up in the air. It was a hit.

After all that fun of getting tossed around, AB was in no mood to stand still and take a picture with mommy and DB.

Firsts

2011-08-14T00:03:00.003-05:00

Here are some of DB's firsts -

First time he poop sprayed mommy. He was about 2 months old. Our friends who live here with us are probably not surprised about this at all. I am quite known for my fearlesness when changing my little boy...which leads me to picture #2.

This was recent and absolutely not the first time he wizzed on me (note the wet spot on my shirt).

This is the first time he met his new buddy Sami. Although Sami weighs as much as DB's older sister, they are just 3 little months apart in age. They plan to become great friends and are anxiously waiting for their newest little buddy Caleb to be born, maybe even this week!

First time to drink from a sippy cup. He has been drinking his sweet citrus reflux medication for 4 months now and I am afraid water was just too plain for him. He was not a fan.

First solid food. Although quite unconvinced he would like it on day one, it was a different story on day two. Now he cannot seem to get enough.

Few More

2011-08-10T10:45:00.004-05:00

DB's battle wounds.

Usually Ikea gets it right, but their children's play area was definately lacking this time.
AB still managed to hurt herself on the one thing in the children's play area. As she was sliding down the slide, she put the brakes on and went over face first. It was one of those moments that you hold them close becuase they are in pain and also so they cannot see you laughing at what they just did to hurt themselves.

Relaxing.

Yep. She still cannot successfully count completely to 10 (five and nine apparently sound too similar) but she CAN type the password into my iPhone.

More Vacation Pics

2011-08-09T07:59:00.001-05:00

I realize going to the hospital is not what most people would consider something fun to do on vacation. However I enjoy going to the international hospital almost as much as I enjoy going to Target...I miss you Target! Sigh. I think my appreciation for great hospitals grew exponentially after I visited some of the smaller local hospitals in our old city. They were scary, chaotic and intimidating. With that said, I know hospitals in the US are crazy expensive, but you get what you pay for and being able to see a great doctor in a clean hospital is a privilege I am glad we get to have. Below AB is hanging out, waiting for DB's well baby check-up. At this appointment we learned DB is still a little guy and will probably be a little guy for quite a while. However, he took his injections like a champ and tried to flirt with his doctor. What a heartbreaker!

Later that evening we went swimming.

Poor AB. She is so skinny that her little butt cheeks do not hold her bathing suit in place. I think this just might be AB's first wedgie pick ever.

DB's first dip in the pool. He liked it for about 5 minutes.

AB is freezing, and thank goodness we "accidentally" left that scary goat floatie at the hotel.

Vacation Pics

2011-08-07T05:50:00.004-05:00

We spent far too much time in the hotel during our vacation, but DB did not seem to mind. In fact I think he prefers it to going all over the city.

AB is eating her oatmeal, and by the spots on the sofa it is safe to say she did not successfully get it all in her mouth. Thankfully it was easy to clean up.

While waiting for a taxi at our hotel, we watched the morning rush go on in front of us. Our hotel is conveniently located just 20 feet from a subway entrance. However the subway crowd insists on cutting through the hotel parking lot on their morning commute, so the hotel puts up a little barrier. It was there everyday we stayed at the hotel, so I believe it is safe to assume the barrier is always up. Therefore it humored us that the commuters seemed very surprised by it and consistently tripped over it, knocking it down. When it fell over it made a loud metal on rock sound. This occurred almost every couple minutes and it amused not only us, but the other people waiting for a taxi, and especially the hotel workers who no doubt witness this every single morning. I think they might have even had a bet going.

Since we were on vacation we treated our sweetie to a sweet while we killed some time at Starbucks between our doctor appointments.

Satisfied indeed!

Arrival

2011-08-02T20:47:00.003-05:00

I think this is funny. Jo our helper told us she wanted to help us get to the train station the morning of our trip. We thought, "great!" She showed up at our apartment at 6:30am with a taxi waiting for us. She watched Avril and helped us get loaded. It was awesome. When we arrived at the train station she got out of the taxi and started to help us get inside. Then she helped us through "security" - a metal detector that no one monitors and up to our gate. I thought she was really going above and beyond the call of duty here, but if she was willing to help, I was going to take it.

After a while I asked her what she was going to do while we were out of town. She said she was taking the train to the capital too...I began to get concerned. That was when I also noticed her backpack; she never carries a backpack. I asked her where she would be staying - I was afraid she was going to say "with you." I began to fear a major breakdown in communication. Did we ask her to come with us and not know it? Are we paying for her trip? Fortunately she said in a hotel with her family. Whew! I asked when her what hotel? She said since our hotel was too expensive they would stay elsewhere. I love this culture's bluntness when it comes to money. Soon I noticed it was time board the train but her family was nowhere in sight. Eventually we had to leave her and hope her husband and son showed up before the train left. Fortunately they made it in time.

After arriving in the capital, Jo and her family met up with us after we got off the train. Jo strolled AB through the train station and her husband helped with our big-O suitcase. This was especially helpful since the escalators did not work (or were not turned on, which is very likely), but after living here for more than 3 years, this was expected and did not throw us off.

For reasons I have yet to figure out, we have to scan our tickets to get out of the train station. So, the couple thousand people riding on our train all needed to get through one of the 5 gates. Ironically the little scanners did not like the majority of the tickets. Most people just forced their way though or jumped over the gates. The workers did not care. They stood and watched. However with our stroller it was not possible. Eventually we rolled the thing under one of the gates. Below is a picture of me taking in this situation. In front of me are the gates that will not open, and Jo is in orange trying to get AB through.

After getting through the gates we said bye to Jo and her family. They told us the taxis were too expensive and headed for the subway. We actually think the subway is the best way to travel in this city. However with 2 kids, a stroller and a heavy suitcase, a taxi was for us. Unfortunately it was the choice for a lot of people that day. We got in line and began to realize the outlook was bleak. In the picture you can see a man in orange. He is at the front of the line and almost all of the people in the line were individual riders. We waited for almost 45 minutes for a taxi since the taxis trickled in one by one about 3-4 minutes apart. Our driver did not even want to take us, but our superhero, the taxi line guy, basically told him to have pity on us because we have 2 babies - they still consider AB a baby.

AB being a trooper while waiting in line. This stroller is great for traveling. It is light and has a carrying strap.

That evening we made it to one of our favorite restaurants in the entire country. If any of you come visit us, you too can eat there if you like : )

AB's poor face had a terrible allergic reaction to some misquito bites and then later sent her into a terrible chain of reactions to food she ate but was not previously allergic to. Fortunately we were in the capital and were given some awesome meds that have cleared it up nicely.

The Speedy Train

2011-08-01T07:31:00.003-05:00

A week ago, against the advice of most of our local friends, we put our lives in the hands of Asian engineers that have now famously cut corners to build one of the world's fastest built bullet trains ever. We were scared, but alas our desire to not waste our tickets and the need to get to the capital was greater. Somehow we managed to score the best 1st class tickets on the entire train. We were in the last car (we are going backwards about 200 miles an hour) which only seats 5 people. Two of the seats were VIP and the other three were 1st class. Since we did not see the need for Internet connections and a flat screen on an hour and half train ride, we decided we would save the $100 and just ride first class. We generally avoid economy since in economy we get starred at like a monkey at a zoo. They also like to provoke us just as people like to provoke monkeys at a zoo. On the trains there seems to be a distinction between those who have had exposure to foreigners and those who have not, and that distinction is economy and first class.

That red suitcase with the neon strap is our most faithful of all our suitcases. It is a hard Samsonite and it goes everywhere with us. After our disastrous return trip from the US in March. We made a pact - we can only bring one personal bag per person capable of carrying a bag and one suitcase for the entire family. KB even went so far as to forget half of his shirts, you know, for the family. He had to wash his two shirts on this trip.

I looooove our iPad. It has so many great uses, but the greatest by far (in my book) is its ability to keep AB's attention for an entire train ride. Thanks friends for giving it to us!

Folks those are nice red leather seats and smelled like nice new red leather seats. However when we were done with them they were nice red leather seats with crumbs in the seams : )

All in all it was a very nice train ride and we are glad to have survived. However we have been sufficiently scolded by the majority of our friends for taking the train and might just fly next time. It costs almost the same.

My Girl

2011-07-22T07:24:00.004-05:00

Here she is. My little girl. I am amazed at how she seemed to transform overnight from my baby girl into a little girl. No longer does she have that huge belly and short legs. Her legs are now long and she is slim everywhere except her head when her hair frows out.

I am still amazed that she has strawberry blond hair that at times looks more golden than anything. She has my eye shape, my nose, my cheeks, my hair texture (fine), my hair line and my extremely pale skin yet people still think she looks more like her daddy. Also, that glare in the picture above - that is a signature look of mine. I practically patented it when I was a little girl.

AB loves to "help" me in the kitchen. Just the other day she emptied half the salt shaker in a pot of soup I was cooking. She is becoming better every week at stirring and has finally learned that hot really is hot. She wants to stand beside me when I wash dishes and bolts to the bathroom whenever she seems me get ready to cook so she can get her stool. She has also learned her stool is handy to snatch freshly cooked items off of the kitchen counter. The other day I walked into the dining/living area to see her eating a pumpkin muffin at the table. She even got a napkin to put the muffin on. She loves to wear her apron and knows it signals she is in work mode.

She has recently fallen for all things princess. I have got to get her some dress-up clothes! She even sat today and watched Cinderella in its entirety just because she wanted to watch a princess. Usually after putting her in a dress she looks at me and says "I'm a princess!"

She is short and skinny. Although she can wear her friend Madeline's 2T shorts, she can still wear her 12 month shorts.

Her curls are crazy. When she bounces on her bouncy moose her curls go up and down; it is really cute. They are great on humid days and clump together nicely. On dry days I have encourage them to come together. She has ridiculous bed-head. It is a tangly rat's nest after any time laying in bed. She knows that doing her hair means we are about to go somewhere. More than once she has proudly walked out of the bathroom with hair gel globed all over her hair as we are getting dressed to leave.

She usually remembers to pee in the potty and NEVER poos in the potty. She waits all day for me to put on her nap time diaper and poos in it. I just cannot seem to break her of the habit.

She likes to get her bowl, spoon and cup when she eats and finds absolute joy in washing her hands. Once she even used about 1/2 a bottle of hand soap in one hand washing. Unfortunately for her she has terrible eczema and all that hand washing has made the skin on her hands and wrists as smooth as sandpaper.

When she watched a movie she insists on having a pillow and blanket. She loves Veggie Tales, Mickey Mouse and Dora. Recently we have watched a couple Disney movies, but I skipped the scary parts and the fighting scenes. Apparently I did not realize Snow White is a weird-o movie, so AB probably only watched like 20 minutes of it since I had to skip the the weird-o and scary stuff.

When someone comes over she tells them "hi" like every 30 seconds.

Much to my dismay, she is a bit of a daredevil. Obviously she does not realize her limits. Sometimes she is very tough and does not cry when she gets hurt. Other times she insists on a bandaid for any red spot she can manage to find on her body. She seems to think the are magic and will take care of anything. I hear I believed this as a child too.

She loves to give her baby brother kisses and bring him toys. She is able to crack him up by just jumping up and down. DB is so attached to her that he starts crying when AB and her daddy wrestle and AB squeals. Her favorite time is when the whole family piles into mommy and daddy's bed. Mommy and DB watch while AB and daddy tickle each other. She does not allow KB and I to hug without squeezing between us with her arms ready for us to pull her up into our embrace. Also, she becomes very protective of me when daddy starts tickling me (Dash just cries). Apparently "getting" mommy is a no no.

AB is bit strong willed. If she sets her mind to something, it is very hard to change it. She does not listen to reason...I realize she is 2. This gets her in a lot of trouble. She must be managed during meal times because she will not try new food on her own. She will also drink too much and not eat anything at all. Her favorite foods are pizza, scrambled eggs, tortillas (that she calls "tillas"), oatmeal, PB&J, cheese, and all things sweet (including fruit).

AB loves swimming. She loves going out in her stroller. She loves to run. She CONSTANTLY talks to us and herself. She enjoys coloring and coloring with us. She prefers to play with us than play with her toys. She loves to be read to. She wants to be part of every part of our day. She wants to clean and cook with me. She does not like my hair in a ponytail and often tries to pull the rubber band out so she can brush it. She cannot wait to brush her teeth with me and give DB a bath. She even helps rub lotion all over him.

Her favorite song is "Live Your Life" by I.T. featuring Rihanna. It is not exactly the type of song want her to listen to, but I liked while I was pregnant with her because it had a catchy beat and now she likes it too. She often says over and over again "I like the de de de de de de de song." That is what she calls it and she even manages to get the beat right. Recently, like this week, she has begun singing with me songs that I have sung to her since birth like Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Sleep Baby Sleep...and other songs.

AB sayings:

Tiny Hinnie (referring to her bottom) - When she has fallen down she says "my tiny hinnie hurts."
Happy Cakes - All things cake
Naked Baby! - She says this will running around without clothes.
Nasty Poo Poo - When she sees me washing the diapers
How 'bout this one? - When she is choosing something
I like that one - When she likes something, and she says it over and over and over again.

DB's Room

2011-07-21T07:12:00.002-05:00

DB's room is the pink wallpaper with pink flowers and pink butterfly room. He actually has not slept a night in his room yet since he does not have curtains and the sun rises at 4:30 am. Next week we plan to head to the capital for DB's 6th month injections and to make an Ikea trip. We hope to get some fabric for his curtains there. All the local curtain fabric tends to look like 1980's reject prom dress fabric. He already has a girl room, I just cannot reason giving him girl curtains as well. He still sleeps in his bouncer which fits nicely just beside our bed in our bedroom. I do not think his reflux is completely gone, so until it is gone or he outgrows his bouncer, he will probably be sleeping it. I do not mind though. After seeing how quickly AB has grown-up, I am in no hurry to have him far away from me in his room. I love the baby stage.

Below AB and DB are on the futon. I think futons get a bad rap because this one is pretty darn comfortable. We bought it off of a foreign friend thinking we might use it, but is has become quite handy. Right now it is out of commission though...AB peed on it and I am waiting until I get up the nerve to wash the thing. Washing it not convenient or handy. Taking the cover off and putting it back on is an workout in and of itself. I do not envy future Leslie for having to do it.

Sharing

2011-07-20T07:32:00.004-05:00

This house is one of the toys we managed to bring back from the US. AB got kind of bored with it since we apparently forgot to bring the Little People that go along with it, but after being back here for almost 3 months we finally put batteries in it. It is fun again!

By the way, this is our living room - our entire living room. It kind of hinders entertaining more than a couple people at a time, but it definitely falls into the category of cozy. This rug only lasted a couple days in the living room since AB mad-peed on it while in timeout the day after I took this picture. I guess the super white rug will have to wait until she decides peeing on herself is a negative thing.

Standing

2011-07-18T20:15:00.002-05:00

Well, he is actually being propped up, but for his ego we will go ahead and say he is standing up. Here big sis is trying to help him, and she has learned the best way to get in a picture is to cuddle up next to her baby brother. She will often go lay or sit next to him and say "take a picture?"

DB's priorities are clearly not on taking a picture, he wants to look at his mommy. Melt my heart!

Over the past couple of weeks, AB has become very interactive with DB. She brings him toys and even tries to turn him over when he is on his tummy. Yesterday I realized she had dragged him across the floor. He is able to rotate his body in circles, but he certainly cannot move 4 feet from where I laid him.

See that cord behind me? It the power cord to our air conditioner. It looks so tacky and safe hanging down like that. We are trying to think of a creative way to fix it.

Yeah!!! He did it! For all of you parents with young kids out there, I am specifically sining the Dora song "We Did It!" in my head...it is so lame and addictive.

Our Cooks

2011-07-15T23:49:00.002-05:00

Our helper's name is Zhou Mei. But from here on out on our blog I will just refer to her as Joe. Joe has been with us for about 2 1/2 months. She cooks, cleans and shops for me. I have taught her (or one of our other foreign friend's helpers have taught her) to make bagels, tortillas, crescent rolls, granola, banana muffins, carrot muffins, apple sauce and many other great things. She also prepares my chicken and veggies before she leaves so I can make dinner in a snap. Although she is a very typical Asian woman in that she gives me more unwanted advice in one day than I receive in a month in the US, she is a hard worker and really eases the extra burden of taking care of our home in Asia.

I always feel like I need to explain myself whenever I talk about having a helper...I do not want to sound spoiled. Living overseas is different and living overseas while hoping to maintain our standards of food preparation and cleanliness is quite time consuming. Things get dirtier much faster and it takes longer to clean. We also are short on all those handy cleaning tools and cleansers that are in every single Walmart in the US. Also food preparation is a beast. Our chicken is tough, nothing comes frozen or prepared, and we end up making almost everything from scratch. Things just seems to take longer and at the end of the day without a helper we have neglected our children just to be able to make food and keep our homes clean. Having helpers make it possible to take care of our kids and carry out the other work that we are here to do.

Back to Joe. AB does not understand much of what she says, so she often ends up saying "no" to everything. We are working on AB telling her "I do not understand." However since she is still currently unable to say that in English, it is a stretch for her to say it in another language. One thing that Joe has going for her is the fact that AB looooooves to "help" cook. She like to sit beside the stove while I make dinner, stir when she can and especially loves to help pat out the dough when we make pizza. AB gets excited when Joe starts making lunch. Joe helps her put on her apron and AB gets to work.

Below is a pic of our kitchen...ummm...I did not choose the cabinet decor. We had them boost our countertops (as you can probably see), we installed an oven, put in the wooden table behind Joe and several racks. This is a "one butt" kitchen for sure. We have to take turns getting past each other. Since our apartment is new and not yet 40% occupied, our gas has not been turned on. So until that day we are cooking on a single hot plate. We have made it work.

Air Conditioner Repairman

2011-07-13T07:20:00.002-05:00

So our air conditioner was on the fritz this past week. Water was dripping from the inside unit. It being the hot time of the year and all, it took about 5 days for a repair man to make it to our apartment. I was the only one home when our air conditioner was repaired in our old apartment, so I knew what to expect. This was KB's first experience. They did all the work on the inside unit then went into our bedroom (that is lovely pink flower wall paper on our walls folks) tied one end of a rope around one guy and tied the other end around the other guy. Then the daredevil climbed out of our window! We live on 4th floor, but it is technically the 8th floor since all apartment units are actually 2 floors.

Gosh. Does this look like a guy who is ready to save his buddy's life? The daredevil said he never gets scared.

The daredevil ended up hanging out our window a total of 3 times. The second time his buddy just held onto his leg, but the third time KB got in on the action.

Swimming

2011-07-09T01:38:00.001-05:00

Getting Things Fixed

2011-07-07T23:49:00.003-05:00

Stuff breaks...especially here. Our friends have explained to us that people would prefer to buy cheap and buy often rather than buy good quality and have it forever. This results in two circumstances. First is that it is very difficult to find good quality items. There just is not a demand for it. Secondly, most renters trash their apartments and do not take care of the place, so the landlords buy cheap stuff. Therefore we renters are stuck with stuff is already low on the reliable spectrum, but even lower since we are given worse quality items.

As a side note, our old city relied heavily on manufacturing for foreign companies that most Americans would easily recognize. There were a very limited number of flights everyday, so if we were flying somewhere is was a very good possibility we would be sitting beside some executive from one of these foreign companies. Once KB and I struck up a conversation with a guy who worked for Caterpillar. He told us that they make very good quality equipment to sell in US, but make lesser quality items to be sold in most Asian countries. He said the Asian countries will not buy the better quality items. My Asian friends told us from the time we arrived that foreign companies old sell poor quality items in Asia, but we did not believe them. However we have come to see it is true. Therefore our "investment" items we prefer to buy in the US and bring with us. Too bad I could not pack a clothes dryer in my suitcase.

Back to my story. The same understanding regarding buying cheap also applies to getting things fixed. They would rather fix it cheap and often rather than do it right and a bit more expensive. Since the day we moved into our new apartment, something has leaked in our bathroom. There is a constant puddle of water in our bathroom floor. I quickly gave up on using our bath mat because I was tired of it absorbing the "mystery" water that gathered on the floor. We called it "mystery" water because water regularly leaked from 4 different places in our bathroom, and since it all pooled in the same spot, we did not know where the water came from on any given day. First was the drip from our hot water heater. In most homes this drip is routed into the shower but for some reason was not in our home. This water is the lowest on the nasty spectrum. Second is water from our sink. Rather than use metal pipes under the sink, most Asian home use flexible plastic. Our pipe drips and sometimes completely falls off the bottom of our sink. This is a little higher on the nasty spectrum. Third is the water from the bathtub. Sometimes is backs up while draining and leaks from the pipes through our, apparently not sealed, tile wall. This is a bit higher on the nasty spectrum. The highest was the water that leaked from the bottom of the toilet. This is straight poo and pee water. It was gross, but unfortunately we never knew it if the mystery water was from the toilet, bathtub, sink or hot water heater.

Before having success a grand total of five "plumbers" visited our home to address primarily the bathtub/toilet issue. However, they wanted to witness the water leaking and since the leakage was sporadic, we could not make it leak on command. Also, we have learned that when a plumbing company is called, they send the least trained worker for the first visit. If he does not fix it they send their next most trained worker, and that is how we managed to have 5 plumbers visit our home before a competent one fixed our toilet...our bathtub is still leaking.

The first "plumber" (I use the word loosely) told us it is better to flush our toilet by pouring large amounts of water down it. Basically he did not want to fix the little flushing button. One "plumber" (I still use the word loosely) told us to drain the bathtub for about 30 seconds then wait about 5 minutes and drain it again for 30 seconds, repeating this cycle again until it is empty. This would prevent it from backing up. He expected us to do this every time we drained it. These were the first two "plumbers."

Finally a couple weeks ago we witnessed the water coming out from under the toilet and our landlord was able to make it to our apartment before it stopped oozing out. He finally believed us! He called his own personal plumber who completely removed the toilet and reinstalled it after fixing the problem.

KB watched the whole experience and had a few highlights to share with me. Apparently in the U.S. we usually use wax to create a seal connecting the toilet to the pipe below. Not here. The toilet was just sitting on top of the hole. Everything that fell from the toilet landed on the floor and eventually made its way into the hole in the floor. The only thing preventing the nastiness from making its way into the rest of the bathroom was a silicone seal around the base of the toilet...which was apparently faulty. So, yes it was poo and pee water in our bathroom floor. Also, the plumber touched all sorts of excrement and never once washed his hands, not even when he was finished. Seeing things like this explains why my husband is now a germ-a-phobe.

Although our bathroom floor is still continually wet, at least #1 on the list of nasty moisture in the bathroom is now just leftover bathtub water.

Family Day

2011-06-26T01:29:00.000-05:00

At this Very Moment

2011-06-25T05:43:00.005-05:00

I am sitting with my girl at the table smelling the brownies that just came out of the oven. Daddy is at a meeting, DB is a sleep so it is just her and me. Sounds like a precious moment right? Let me put it in context. She and I have been sitting at the table for an hour and a half now and she will continue to sit here for another 30 minutes till her bath time unless she decides to finally eat her dinner! Oh, also she peed on herself about 30 minutes ago as a tactic to get out of her chair. Yep, she is still sitting in it. Guess her tactic backfired. Maybe she will think of that when she tries it again tomorrow.

I have had it with her super skinniness. If her body is going to be below the 5th percentile in weight that is fine, but it is not going to be because she does eat anymore. I know the books say that a baby/kid will not starve themselves, but her stage of not eating has gone on long enough. I will win. She will eat, eventually.

I cannot believe I have come to this point with her. As a little girl I remember sitting at the kitchen table at my parent's house for hours for refusing to eat things like squash, zucchini, broccoli, and peas - who wouldn't refuse to eat those veggies? Even to this day I still dislike all of those nasty veggies, except for for broccoli, I like it now. Until I had kids I was convinced that I would not force my kids to eat their food. I did not feel it helped me in learning to like those veggies, and kids have more sensitive taste buds that adults do. However, something must be done. This is no longer about her just eating a small select group of food, it is about the girl's health. I have tried every thing I can think of. This is my last resort, and must MUST work! Also, I am in it for the long haul. I am willing to commit to letting her sit in her chair everyday if need be.

I am very confused, because with AB we are not talking about nasty peas or horrible pimento cheese, she is not eating Mexican cornbread casserole, lasagna, and (the horror) grilled cheese sandwiches. Seriously something must be wrong with her. If it was up to AB she would sustain on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, scrambled eggs, pizza, bananas, oatmeal, tortillas, milk and anything sweet. Notice there is nothing green or animal in that list.

Anyways, other than her blue eyes, strawberry blond hair, and her feet, she is quite similar to me...demeanor and all. It is payback right? Are my parents laughing somewhere?

Here are some pics from happier times, yesterday. She is dressed up for our Friday night fellowship. I kept saving this dress for something special, but I realized that Friday nights are as special as they get here and if I keep waiting, this dress will be too small before I know it.

This has become her favorite face to make for the camera recently. I don't get it but at least it is an expression rather than the bank face she used to make.

Strangely, she closed her eyes on purpose for this one.

What are the they doing?

2011-06-24T01:19:00.000-05:00

What keeps two kids (the bigger one at least...the little one thankfully still cannot move around) still for 30 minutes?

VEGGIE TALES!!!

Outside

2011-06-22T00:37:00.000-05:00

These pictures were taken in the courtyard outside of our apartment buildings. We try to let AB get out once a day so she can run around.

See this? This is how most interactions between AB and the local kids go. Sometimes they will come up and touch her or put their faces a couple inches from AB's face. It freaks her out.

Our apartment building is one of 26 identical golden apartment buildings in a massive apartment complex. It is still under construction. It is going to be huge. Our building is the one just behind KB in this picture.

Bath time

2011-06-20T01:04:00.003-05:00

AB loves bath time and now that she seems to either have an accident or falls in the dirt at least once a day, bath time is no longer every other day. It is mandatory everyday, but it does not bother her one bit.

4th & 2nd Month Photos

2011-06-20T00:53:00.001-05:00

These pics are on DB's 4th month birthday.

I just noticed I did not post his 2nd month pics. He is defiantly getting bigger.

Playing Around

2011-06-20T00:03:00.002-05:00

DB loves to play with rattles. AB did not care for them at all, so I was surprised to find that DB enjoys them. Ironically now that DB likes them AB has decided that they are now something she can enjoy. I have to watch her when he is playing with them because she frequently snatches them from him. When she snatches them from DB, he is too young to realize what happened and just goes back to chewing on his hands. I have to protect the little guy.

Grocery store rules

2011-06-15T05:00:00.001-05:00

Six Years of Togetherness

2011-06-13T07:08:00.005-05:00

On May 28th my hubby and I celebrated 6 years of marriage and just 7 short days later we celebrated knowing each other for one year...and on the 24th of this month it will be the anniversary of our first date!

For our first anniversary KB pulled out all the stops! He surprised me with a trip to Chicago so we could eat our mutually favorite food, pizza, and go see Wicked. We were in Chicago for just over 24 hours and it was a blast.

On our second anniversay we spent the day moving out of our tiny town house in Fort Worth. I remember it rained the whole day. We ate Sonic for dinner as we headed out of town and grabbed a ice cream Snickers bar along the way to Houston. It was not a great day since I am maybe the world's worst mover, but we did spent it together.

On our third anniversay we were expecting AB. We had just found out a couple weeks before and I was feeling a bit crummy. We skipped one of our language classes and went to our favorite tea house that served a chicken noodle soup that became my favorite thing in the whole city to eat for my enitre 1st trimester. After lunch we went to the local department store and bought ourselves some nice new pillows.

I hate to admit this, but I do not recall our 4th anniversary. Bummer.

For our 5th anniversary two of our foreign friends watched AB while KB and I spent the night in the local "Five Star" hotel...a five star in that city is more like a 2 or 3 star in the US. It was our first night away from AB, and I was pregnant with DB. It was very early in my pregnancy and I was having cramps. I remember feeling sick from worry the whole night because I was afraid I was miscarrying him. I was still quite raw from losing the baby in March, but DB made it!

This year some of our friends kept AB while KB, DB and I went to the capital to get DB's 4th month injections and to make an Ikea run. Unfortunately I was a poor picture taker and below are the only two photos we have to commerate the trip. I did not realize how much I feel like a parent when AB is around, but at DB's age he was like having a little puppy with us. He was quiet, loved to be held, and could sleep in his little bed (the bouncer) in the corner. We almost felt free again - uh that sounds bad, please know I do love my children.

This is how DB spent his time at one of our favorite restaurants in this whole country. We ate there twice in a 36 hour period.

Family Day

2011-06-12T02:49:00.007-05:00

Although it might sound like we are home and together a lot, which we are, a very few moments in our day could ever be considered quality time together. Therefore, we have instituted what we call "family day." It is a day, usually Sunday, that we spent time doing fun things together that involves us leaving our apartment. It also usually includes a trip over to PJ's (a.k.a. Papa John's). It is a good day.

Today we went to the city park. Until this week we did not know it existed. LB saw it when riding in a taxi this week and asked around for the name of it. Although we looked forward to spending time together we dreaded going. It has been our experience that public places which do not have an admission fee are crawling with people so much that it ruins the enjoyment and it is exponentially even worse on Sundays - everyone else's family day. However we were very pleasantly surprised. This park was not crowded. It was clean and well groomed, even for this Texas girl's standards, and most amazingly we picked a day to go that was not blazing hot and the pollution was low, so low I could even see the mountains in the distance and the blue sky. We only spent about 45 minutes there since DB's lunchtime feeding was quickly approaching and AB was wearing big girl panties (this park was clean but we were not about to venture into the restrooms) but we hope to make a return trip soon.

Although you can find them in some locations, parks here tend to be a bit sparse when it comes to children's play areas. Most of the equipment is more tailored to adults...which is kind of strange to us but not to the locals. Fortunately AB is pretty happy to swing on a bar for a few minutes. Maybe one day we will find a slide or a swing somewhere.

The ladies of this country, and most of Asia for that matter, want lily white skin. They often ask me what I do to keep my skin so white. They are shocked to find out I did not like my milky white skin as a youth and did bad things to it in order to make it tan - well as tan as this very white girl can get. I would still really like to have more of a tan, ya know - cause it helps hide cellulite and spider veins, but I am not willing to damage it in the sun and I have NEVER seen self tanning sprays or lotions in this country. If I did I am sure they would be too expensive or untrustworthy. So, pale it is! Anyways, the ladies often carry umbrellas lined with a solar coating to prevent the sun from penetrating the umbrella and darkening their skin. I carry one but today AB preferred to use it. She smacked a lot of people with it, but they all thought she was such a cute foreign kid they almost seemed happy to have her do it.

KB is carrying the stroller and baby bag. Good daddy, but we have got to get you some new sunglasses. The bridge of these are taped with red duct tape.

DB slept most of the time but woke as we were about to leave. He was hungry.

They found a caterpillar.

OK. I know what this looks like. Yes a woman is straddling a man, and no this is not the first time I have seen this sort of inappropriate display in public here. However what you may not be able to see is that she is not trying to be close to her guy because she likes him, she is cleaning out his ears and needed to get a closer look at what she was doing. Kind of romantic, huh?

Strawberry flavor popcorn

2011-06-10T05:00:00.002-05:00

Trash Push Here

2011-06-05T05:00:00.005-05:00

More DB Pics

2011-05-31T06:57:00.004-05:00

What was that about 2nd child neglect? It seems DB gets more camera time that AB right now. It might be because time focused on him is mostly fun time and recently AB time has been spent cleaning up puddles by the potty, washing her hands after she stuck them in the potty and telling her to "use words" when she pitches the inevitable fit over nothing important every 10 minutes. She is happy as long as she gets her way, but what 2 year old ever gets their way on a consistent basis? So on with the first child neglect. Below are more pics of DB.

The next photo I took after this one was taken just as he was peeing on the floor. Unfortunately the angle was a bit different and it showed a little more of DB than I want to post on our blog, but otherwise it was priceless! Either way, doesn't he have the cutest tiny little cheek? I took this photo to commemorate the 1st time he ever rolled over. This was about 3 weeks ago, so he was 3 1/2 months old when he rolled over. What a go-getter! Now stop it DB! I need you to remain stationary for as long as possible. When you start moving my days of laying you on the rug and walking off are over.

This is how DB spends about 20 minutes of is "wake" time. It soothes him just before his nap time. See his rattle? He loves it. He is a bit of a drooler and needs to wear a bib.

Finally a daddy and DB pic...even if it is really obvious that daddy is pretending to sleep. At least we know DB is not faking it for the pic : )

Little frog man!

This is DB at 3 months old. He is now 4 months old, so I am a bit behind.

Banana flavor popcorn

2011-05-30T05:00:00.000-05:00

I Can Never Choose

2011-05-26T23:19:00.002-05:00

I can never choose which pictures I like the best, so I am just going to post all of my favorites. I get a little DB time every evening after AB goes to sleep. That is when I get to take cute pictures like the one below.

I call this one his tough guy pic.

This is his smoldering hearbreaker look.

This is his polished "politician-style" grin.

The kiddos and mommy.

What was I saying last week about AB refusing to ham it up for the camera?

Little Traveler

2011-05-25T07:55:00.005-05:00

DB is a breast fed baby. Therefore where he goes I go, and where I go he goes. We are always together and I like it that way. Knowing that in a few months he will no longer let me hold him and cuddle with him is enough to help me savor each and every moment I get with him. He is my happy little boy who loves to smile and giggle for me. He still sleeps a lot, so he takes a lot of naps while on the go. Below is how he usually looks or some other variation of this. Since it is getting warmer I a letting him hang out of the sling a bit so he cool off. I know he has to be so hot in there.

Metting Room

2011-05-25T05:00:00.001-05:00

Mischief

2011-05-21T07:49:00.005-05:00

AB is now in a "big girl" bed. She has only fallen off of it once (ironically the evening we took away the pillows on the floor by her bed to soften a fall), and she acts as if she has always had a bed like this - like it is not something new. Someday I will post a picture of it, but if you are really interested in what bed she is sleeping in, it is a white Ikea daybed from the Hemnes line.

Anyways, as we predicted the major issue with having a big girl bed is the freedom to get in and out of her bed. Usually she gets herself in trouble playing with her toys or trying to read to herself out loud in the dark, but on Thursday she got herself in a different kind of mess. AB has a bit of a problem with Eczema. We are not sure what the cause of her eczema is, but it is only an issue in this country and not in the US. When it flares up we put a very thin layer of hydracortisone cream on her flare-up spots for a couple times a day for 2 weeks. Thursday afternoon I put some on her and then put the tube in the drawer of her dresser where I have always put things like that - you know, because she has never been able to reach them. Guess who can reach into the drawer now?

This girl.

I was not home when this happened. It was actually on KB's watch, but it could have happened to either of us. He said he put the cream on her face and chest, painstakingly put any extra cream he had back in the tube (it is from the US, and no one here wastes precious things brought from the US), put it back into the drawer and tucked AB into bed. He said he heard her about 3 or 4 minutes later messing around in her room and opened the door to find her face covered in it. She apparently speared it on the chair too. We thought it was funny that KB worked so hard to save like 1/8 a teaspoon of the cream when AB cleared out more than half of a brand new tube of cream.

We think KB got to her before it could really absorb into her skin. I heard it takes 17 minutes for medicine administered in a cream form to fully absorb through skin, but I have never checked to see if that is accurate. Also, as far as we know she did not eat any, but we cannot be certain of it.

This bath is not a result the cream experience. I just wanted to post this pic with a big thanks to Amy and her family for giving AB a few of their bath beads. She got a kick out bathing in pink water. By the way, does anyone have any tricks for getting their kids to smile for the camera? This is AB's smile face. She has a family member, who will remain nameless, who makes a similar face when appropriate to smile for the camera. Is weird stuff like this genetic?

Bangkok Chicken Wing

2011-05-20T05:16:00.000-05:00

Cute Faces and a Little Poo

2011-05-17T03:07:00.003-05:00

Guess who found their camera? We did! Last night after texting with one of my friends regarding my missing camera situation, it occurred to me, there was one place I was not absolutely certain I had checked twice for my camera - the black trunk. We have 5 black trunks we used when we initially moved here about 3 1/2 years ago. One of them holds a bunch of stuff like our medical records and other such important documents. It occurred to me that I had not needed to get into that trunk since we moved and perhaps that was where our camera was hiding. Unfortunately there were about 50lbs of KB's clothes on top of it, but that did not stop me from getting into it. Sure enough, right there on top was our camera! Happy Day! I was on the verge of ordering one online and having it shipped to me because who cares about ridiculous customs fees when you are missing precious pictures of your young children. But, I do not have to think about that any longer because I have my camera!

Below is a little video I took of DB. I thought it was cute because he was doing this funny thing with his lips. However what you cannot see in the video is that he is not wearing a diaper. I like to let him air out between changes, so at that moment he was going commando - his favorite. At the end of the video you will hear a tooting sound, DB will look up at me, and I will say "no!" It is up to you to guess what all happened after I turned off the camera, but I will say just like he does about 5 other times during the day, he got me.

Do Not Throw Cigarette

2011-05-15T05:11:00.000-05:00

Been Up To

2011-05-11T08:32:00.003-05:00

Our life here is settling down. Although we are not extremely organized and in our bedroom we still have more clothes sitting on top of the dresser than inside of it, we are more unpacked than packed now. Actually we just have one more box to unpack. Now we are trying to go through all the cabinets and drawers that we shoved things into and organize them or contemplate moving them to another spot. It is a slow tedious process, but thankfully most days when I run out of time I can just shut the drawer or cabinet and not have to look at it again until I have a moment to address it again.

On Sunday our basement storage room flooded with some nasty muddy water. KB spent about 4 hours cleaning it out and now we have our 10 suitcases spread out trying to dry. That was annoying but we are just thankful our neighbors were kind enough to tell us about it (the entire basement flooded) - otherwise our things would have certainly been ruined and not just dirty.

KB was sweet and got me flowers for mother's day. I am only saying this because I think it is really funny and not to put him down, but he just happened to get me the one flower I am allergic to. I am allergic to lilies and I have told him this before. Whenever I remind him that I am allergic to them, he says he remembered there was something special about lilies and me. He assumed it was because they were my favorite flower, not that I was allergic to them. After a couple days their potency wore off and I stopped having to take Advil for the headaches they cause. It sounds like the time my dad cut down a cedar tree to use as a Christmas tree when my parents were newlyweds. Little did he (or she) know, my mom was like deathly allergic to cedar trees. I think she thought she had the flu for the entire Christmas season. It is the thought that counts, right?

We will be starting language classes soon. I am glad about that because it will give us a schedule to stick to and plan around. I like the structure of it. Also, SUPER YEA!, we now have a house helper. There is a lot of training that must go on with a new house helper, but it is already totally worth it. I was able to read to AB today rather than spend the 3 hours she spent making tortillas. I was able to work on my expense report today rather than wash dishes for an hour and so on. It is nice and totally necessary (according to me) when living overseas. However I do not ask her to wash my kid's diapers. There are things that no one outside of family should be asked to do, and specifically AB's poo diapers fall in that category.

Speaking of diapers, the cloth diapers are going well. I am loving not spending more than $120 a month on disposable diapers now. AB wears a diaper when she naps and when she sleeps. The rest of the day she is wearing panties. However, she holds her poo for those two times of the day we put a diaper on her. I won't lie. It is really really really nasty. If DB is still in diapers when we get pregnant again (God willing of course), KB will have to do the washing of the pooie diapers because I will most certainly vomit. It is horrible. The smell is awful and then seeing it so up close is just too much for me. I do not like it. But, DB's diapers are just breast milk diapers and pretty easy to clean. We are just counting the days until AB finally decides the toilet is the best place to poo.

SWEET CHEEKS!!!

Hong Kong Fish Ball flavored Pringles

2011-05-10T05:02:00.000-05:00

No Smoking & Fire

2011-05-05T05:01:00.000-05:00

I guess one could lead to the other.

2011-05-03T05:05:00.000-05:00

Good Effort

2011-05-02T21:20:00.003-05:00

The other day when we were leaving to go see some friends, AB insisted on putting her shoes on by herself. Neither KB or myself realized there were a couple issues with her shoe job until we got into the taxi. It made sense why she was walking so funny.

Seeing this picture makes me realize she has her daddy's feet but a very cute non-hairy version of her daddy's feet. Those are not my toes.

Egg Hunting

2011-05-01T10:59:00.006-05:00

On Good Friday our little group of friends held an Easter Egg Hunt. This was AB's first time to do an Egg Hunt. Our friends were so sweet to let the younger kids have a private little hunt then let the big kids loose to find the more creatively hidden eggs. AB enjoyed finding the treats hidden inside the plastic eggs, but she really enjoyed her egg cookie (Mommy enjoyed her cookie too).

This is how DB and I spent the afternoon.

Can't forget daddy.

DB Video

2011-04-29T08:44:00.003-05:00

It worked ("It" being our internet was finally fast enough)! I finally uploaded a video!

Indonesia Satay flavor Pringles

2011-04-28T05:00:00.001-05:00

DB Several Weeks Ago

2011-04-26T18:57:00.001-05:00

The Toby Delima - The Conclusion

2011-04-20T08:36:00.006-05:00

Toby and the Brown family have separated. He is now living with one of KB's friends back in our old hometown. It came down to me, I think. I began to resent that little creature every time I walked into our newspaper, pee and poo covered bathroom. There is actually an area for dogs to use the bathroom on the roof of our apartment, but apparently it has not been cleaned in like a month or there are a lot of dogs in this building. Toby needed to have his feet washed every time we took him outside, and with his long fur that got really old for him and us. Our friend is KB's best local friend. He is single and what could help him meet the girl of his dreams but a fluffy little white dog? KB's friend, Roger, has enjoyed having Toby and said he considers it temporary, that whenever we want him back, we can have him back. He said he will keep Toby for months or years, whatever is best for our family. What a guy!

We have enjoyed hearing stories of Roger and Toby. So far Toby has fallen into a river, into a manhole, and has been partially covered in honey. KB visited him when he was in town earlier this week and said Toby looked filthy and would probably need shaved. I do not know why I find that so funny but I do.

For the Grandparents

2011-04-20T07:51:00.002-05:00

I owe a huge thanks to my friend Becky who is letting me borrow her camera. It was just painful to let these days of absolute cuteness pass by without taking any pictures of my kids. My littlest heart breaker is filling out and has developed those awesome cheeks his older sister also had and inherited from me. Also, he can old up his head completely on his own now. My little redhead is looking more and more like a little girl and less like a toddler everyday. Both of you, slow down! Stop growing up!

Incidentally I finally chose yesterday to be the first day for DB to use cloth diapers. Cotton Babies gave us a full supply of diapers, and I have been waiting until 1. his tiny hinie was big enough for them, 2. I could locate all of them, and 3. my washing situation was firmly established and routine. I have learned that not one bit of those handy liners should be sticking out of the diaper cover because it will make whatever it touches wet. Also, I should wash the poopie diapers and liners in a not so full washer because otherwise there may be some poppie bits caught in the bunched up elastic areas. Lastly, I should double up on liners at night. I have chosen to use cloth because AB was allergic to something in Asian diapers (but not to US diapers) and had an almost constant diaper rash. The local doctor said even the foreign diaper companies put junk in the diapers that should not be in them. They are not regulated here like they are in the US.

Also incidentally, yesterday was my birthday and I have come to terms that I am now 30. I have never adjusted to change very quickly, especially change that I have not sanctioned - like getting older. Also it does not help that I truly do not feel any different than I did in college; I do not feel older or even more mature (that's scary), I feel 23. It was a good age for me, but I am not 23. I am 30. Anyways, I had moments of self pity that were quickly followed by self-loathing for being so self-centered and short sighted. Ultimately I came to the point of gratitude. I am grateful for the years I have been given and can only hope that I next 30 years are as wonderful as I have experienced so far. I have accomplished everything I hoped to accomplish by the time I am 30, so now it is time to set new goals. Hello 30's. I will enjoy you to the best of my abilities because I would rather by in my 3o's than in my 40's.

Random Pics

2011-04-17T09:05:00.002-05:00

Our camera is still M.I.A. but these are from before the move, that is the move to where we live now, not the move back overseas.

Because DB has a problem with reflux, we have found he prefers sleeping in his bouncer. It keeps him up somewhat upright and helps keep that nasty acid down. It is also convenient for us because a bouncer is much smaller than a pack and play. However, now that he wiggles a lot, it is not such a good idea to forgo strapping him in. In my very weak defense, I did not strap him in because sometimes he fell a sleep in my arms and strapping him in woke him up...that still makes me sound bad, but sometimes new moms will do almost anything to keep their baby sleeping peacefully, even risk their saftey - what was I thinking?

The other thing that helps DB sleep is his medication. I love his medication. He probably does too.

We arrived back in country on a Wednesday. Friday morning KB boarded a train to go to the capital of our province and file some paperwork. Come to find out there was another piece of paper he needed to file first in the town we were living in at that time, but fortunately he had other matters to take care of keeping it from being a wasted trip. AB, DB and I got to spend a couple of days alone working through our jet-lag. We only ventured out once to go register with the local government. Basically we stayed in our PJ's almost the entire day and laid around.

Every other picture I took of DB that day was blurry, but this one picture is extremely clear. You may not be able to see it on the blog, but on my computer I can even see the dried milk on his face. He should be so embarrassed.

Like I said, a lot of laying around...and attempts at potty training.

Settling In

2011-04-14T01:04:00.006-05:00

This is a long one and it does not include pictures. Did you know we were moving to a new city? Did you know that we have already moved? A little less than 2 weeks ago we moved to a new city. It was a good move for many reasons. Here are two of our favorites - Papa John's and Starbucks! Actually our favorite reasons for moving have nothing to do with delicious chicken barbeque pizza or non-fat decaf lattes, we have friends! I have several females I can talk to, AB has girls she can play with, and DB is soon to have 4 boys he can call his friends all under the age of 2! This city is also conveniently located along a speed train route to the capital of the country making it so that we can be in the capital in 3-4 hours, no need to fly! There are more foreign amenities like avocados, whipping cream (to make sour cream with), and even cake mixes. Also, with having several new girlfriends, I now can even get some good recipes that they have perfected over the years - there are ways to make food in the US and ways to make the same type of food here. Not the same.

Our new apartment is small but cute. It is actually two stories, but it is quite narrow and not deep. On the first floor we have a bathroom (that usually does not smell, yea!), a little living area that is wide enough for 1 three person sofa, a narrow dining area, the kitchen and our bedroom. Upstairs is a bathroom, dressing area, and the two kid's rooms. We feel the lack of space the most on the first floor. Our kitchen is what I call a 1/2 butt kitchen. It is quite narrow, but thanks to Ikea's specialization in small spaces, we have found some nifty things to help maximize the space. Our round table is too big for our dining area, especially since our double wide refrigerator is also in our dining area - classy I know. In our bedroom we have to walk sideways to get around our bed because our two dressers take up too much space in our bedroom.

DB's room is very small, it is like a little nook. The wall paper is pink with flowers and butterflies, yep. His wallpaper will be the first to go once our landlord says we can take it down. AB's room is a decent sized room covered in pale yellow wallpaper that has clovers and dandelions on it.

Our favorite thing about our apartment is our bathtub. Since our apartment is tiny it makes sense that our bathtub is tiny, like 1/2 size. It is cute, and its size has not hindered me from taking a bath every single night (except for when it was clogged and drained into the floor...which has happend 3 times so far). I just have to be creative in how I lay down to wash my hair since it is not even long enough for me to straighten my legs out.

We have nice dark wood floors, better overhead lighting than in our old apartment, and it just seems this landlord has better taste overall. To create the illusion of more space he installed several mirrors throughout the apartment. In our old place we were mirror poor and here we are mirror rich!

The move itself was not so fun. I did not realize how time consuming it is to move one's entire home. Every time I have ever moved, I basically just moved my clothes. When I went to college I moved my clothes. When I moved graduate school I moved my clothes and bedding. When I moved here we sold everything and moved with our 9 suitcases. I have never experienced boxing everything up and moving. I did not realize it could potentially take a month to get settled in. Thankfully some of our friends here have helped us have realistic expectations for ourselves, because I was getting discouraged that it was taking so long.

We have spent the last few days putting together furniture from Ikea. A couple of our new friends were in the captial last week (on their way to see their now legally adopted boys in Ethoipia) where they and our credit card made a big shopping trip for us at Ikea for us. AB now has pretty white day bed and a matching dresser. DB is getting all of her old furniture. It is in bad shape so we figure he can finish the job she started and then we can get him new stuff after it fully cracks into 2 pieces.

I have a lot more to say, but it is just going to get long and boring since I do not have any pictures to post. Somone (not me) packed our camera in a box and did not put it on our inventory list where it was packed. Why it was packed in a box in the first place and not put in the baby bag can only be attributed to the frenzy that was the morning of our move, but regardless I want my camera. DB is smiling like crazy and I have not gotten a single shot of it!

The Tragic Ear Piercing

2011-03-29T09:01:00.006-05:00

The Wednesday before we flew back overseas we had AB's ear pierced. I had been planning all along to get them done while in the US, but truthfully I have been putting it off primarily because I couldn't bear to purposefully inflict pain on her purely for the sake of vanity. But alas, for her at least, vanity prevailed and I could not put it off any longer.

I myself had just turned 2 when my ears were pierced. However from what I understand my mom's motivation in getting my ears pierced was to stop people from thinking I was a boy. Apparently I looked so much like my dad that even pink clothes could not convince people that I was a she. I wanted to get AB's ears pierced when she is young because the holes are a lot less likely to close later on when she is supposed to be responsible for herself and forgets to put in earrings for months at at time. Also, I do not want her to get a crazy earlobe infection, therefore she must have them done in the US and not where we live right now.

So, my mom, DB, AB and myself took off the the mall late that Wednesday evening. AB had no idea what was coming, not that I did not tell her she was going to get her ears pierced, she just did not know it was going to involve pain. I was told to go when there would be two technicians available to do the piercings. I figured during the week there would be a greater chance of two workers at night, you know, since during the day at at least half of all adults are at work and get their shopping in a night. My reasoning was off because we arrived about 30 minutes after the second technician left for the day. Oops. Sorry AB. It physically hurt you more than it physically hurts me, but I was totally with you emotionally.

AB was excited to get to sit in the tall chair...the piercing chair. She watched with curiosity as the ear piercing technician (is that what they are called?) prepped everything to pierce AB's perfect, unmained ear lobes.

She cleaned AB's ears, marked them with a purple dot, then... WHAMO!!!! AB got her first earring.

Clearly it hurt. While she was dealing with the pain... WHAM-O!!! She was slammed with one in the other ear! Poor AB. Beauty is pain.

After getting both ears pierced the technician needed to clean AB's ears. However, fool AB once, shame on you. Fool AB twice, shame on mommy. Fool AB three times, shame on AB! AB had learned her lesson and she was not about to let the technician touch her again. She used every evasion technique she had acquired in her 2 years of life, but alas Gigi (my mom) was stronger and the technician was quicker.

Do I detect a faint smile? Perhaps you like what you see?

Maybe one day she will thank me for it.

This is how DB spent the whole ordeal, and his facial expression sums what what he is probably thinking, and I think it might be a little cocky. He is thinking "Stinks to be you AB. At least I know mom is not going to damage me when I am 2 years old." That is okay DB. Be a little cocky. Apparently you have forgotten that little procedure that happened to you the day after you were born, ya know? I think AB might have gotten the better deal compared to what happened to you little guy. AB's pain was short lived, but even today AB is convinced her ears still hurt every single time I put the antiseptic on her earlobes. What a drama queen.

Toby Dilemma

2011-03-25T23:50:00.004-05:00

Guess who finally came home on Thursday? Toby the family dog. Guess who was ready to send him back to where he came from Thursday night? Me.

We got Toby about 4 1/2 months after we arrived overseas and 1 1/2 months before we were surprised with being pregnant with AB. He was my baby for 10 1/2 months. I bathed him probably more than he needed. I brushed him just like the Bischon books said to. He took naps with me on our bed. We played with him all the time. I carried him around like he was my baby (remember I was pregnant and needed a baby fix). It did not bother me to clean up his pee and poo, and I had the time to disinfect the area where he used the bathroom (he was paper trained). Then we had AB.

We were in Thailand for 2 1/2 months when AB was born. We paid a girl to live in our apartment and take care of Toby. She took care of him to the best of her abilities, but we came home to a dog who had lost all of his manners. It took months to get him to stop barking so much, but an even wost offence was his angry peeing. Like a cat he peed on our bed when he got into trouble. After he lost bed privileges, he then he took to peeing in other undesignated places. After several months we broke him of that bad habit too. However over time an angry little dog emerged. We did not beat our dog, so we are confused why he had began to react in extreme self defence when he got into trouble.

Now when Toby gets into trouble we send him to his home. When we go to close the door on his cage Toby growls and snarls at us like he is going to take our hand off. He has never snapped at us, and I honestly do not think he will bite us...but what if he does and what if it is one of the kids?

Since Toby came home he has spent the majority of his time in his cage, in the bathroom. His barking wakes up the kids so we cannot let him roam throughout the house while they sleep, but when they are awake we are afraid of him around them. Also, the other day he peed on DB's activity gym/lay and play. What if DB was there, would he have peed on him?

We are in the midst of trying to potty train AB. Her brief spell of holding her pee until we put a diaper on her unfortunately ended as soon as I wrote about it on this blog, and now she pees whenever she needs too, no matter what where she is. I feel like I am constantly cleaning up pee, her pee and Toby's pee. Cleaning up her pee has purpose since ultimately she will be potty trained, but what about his pee? He is older than her and has had known where to go for years!

I feel like we have failed Toby. I do not know what we did to make him so defensive. I do not know why he refuses to pee where he is supposed to. I do not know why he continues to bark even with that darn bark collar on. I read that Bischons are very intelligent but also stubborn. I need to find a dumb dog, one that will just do whatever we tell it to do. Actually I do not want a dog at all now. I spend the day cleaning up after and taking care of two kids. I do not want to have to take care of a dog now.

What do we do? KB has a friend who said he will take him. AB was so excited to have him back. I feel awful taking him away again. I feel like such a failure!

Few Pics from the US

2011-03-25T23:07:00.002-05:00

We attended a family fun night at our church. They played the movie "Up" and served goodies for the kids. I think AB liked the movie, but I am certain she enjoyed the treats even more.

My little motor mouth is talking away while she and her friend Madeline enjoy the movie.

It was my plan all along to get some new jeans before we left the US. Of couse I could not try anything on before DB was born, so while he was just a few weeks old he began to take trips with me while I tried to find jeans. I just tried to make him comfortable, and he seemed to like shopping with me everywhere we went, except for Old Navy. I do not know why, but he cried everytime we went there. Below is a picture of him napping at the Gap.
DB is just a newbie here. He still is a bit yellow from his jaundice. These are his two girl cousins. Paige is 4 and Presley is about 8 months old.

I like DB's expression in this one.

This Post Is All About...

2011-03-22T06:38:00.008-05:00

This girl.

New mommies tend to focus almost entirely on the new baby. This comes primarily out of necessity but I do not want to neglect my daughter and therefore want to take a few moments and talk about AB.

My first born is well into being a 2 year old. She is slowly falling into the category of "strong willed child." Can you blame her? She got it from both sides. Our biggest adventure with her right now is potty training. We took a hiatus when DB was born and are now back in full swing of things. She is sooooo close, but she refuses to use the potty. One of the benifits of living in an apartment that is entirely tiled is easy clean-up, so we have been letting her run around without a diaper. However, we have not had a single accident, not one, but that does not mean she is using the potty. She is holding it for when we put a diaper on her to take a nap and for when she goes to bed. We know she needs to pee. She knows she needs to pee. In fact she asks us to put a diaper on her because she needs to pee, but alas, she is bound and determined to hold it until we put a diaper on her. Even bribes of chocolate and watching Dora cannot coax her into using the potty. Obviously she is now capable of being entirely potty trained, but she refuses to do it.

I am amazed and a bit scared at how observant she is now. The other day DB pooed in his diaper, and at his age it sounds like a rocket going off in his pants and is hard to miss. I was out of the room when this happened and AB was playing with him. I came back into the room and AB said, "Baby DB (substitute in here your own version of poppie sound)." I had never heard her mimick even an animal sound she heard first hand, and this was her first choice of sounds to mimick. Priceless.

She learned to pick her nose a few weeks ago and then she learned to stick her finger in her mouth afterwards. I am horrified.

Her favorite food is cheese pizza and anything sweet. She refuses to eat almost all veggies except for fried potatoes, aka, French Fries.

AB is very concerned that we get everything done concerning her bedtime routine. While we are giving her a bath she is asking for her allergy medication. While giving her the allergy medication she is asking for her teeth to be brushed. While her teeth are being brushed she is asking to have her ears cleaned...and so on. She will not let us forget a step.

She calles all cake like things (including but not limited to pies, brownies, cupcakes, and fruit pizzas) "happy cakes." Ever since her birthday that has been her choice name for deserts, and it makes sense to me. They make me happy too.

She calls Christmas trees - "Baby Jesus Tree" which seems more appropriate if you think about it.

There is one other AB-isim that is super cute, but I cannot remember it at the moment. Mom, can you?

Once she had a hole in her footie pajamas that her bit toe stuck out of. Hoping she would not notice we put them on her anyways. After putting her down for the evening we heard her yell from her room "toe!" She continued to yell "toe" until it turned into a pitiful cry of "toe." We eventually realized she was so unnerved by her toe sticking out of her PJs that she was absolutely not going to go to sleep unless we changed her PJs.

AB loves to help. It is hard for a mulitasker like myself to step back and allow her to "help" sometimes. Her sweeping tends to spread the dirt more than piling it up, and when she stirs the brownie batter it often turns into a big mess. However, I want her to be involved as much as she would like to be, and I hope she will remember the moments we spent doing things together and cherish them.

My little girl is a skinny little thing. She is in between 18 month clothes and 24 month clothes. They need to make an 18 month in long, because they clearly are not making kids clothes to fit my kid.

AB is a little mommy. She loves to pretend she is putting her baby doll to bed. Once we get settled in to our new apartment I plan to get her a little baby bed from Ikea.

When I nurse DB she often points to my...um breast (it is once again akward to write about my own body parts on our blog), and says "ouchie boobie." Yes AB, it is most definately an ouchie boobie.

AB is quite handy these days. She brings me my phone when it rings. She can get me a tissue. She turns off the vibrator on DB's bouncer, and she managed to drain the entire baby bathtub in our dining room floor - I was bathing DB in the dining room floor because our bathroom is a cold as it is outside.

I think she is hilarious. She makes crazy facial expressions and she does the funniest things. Once when in Old Navy she saw some shoes. Since she was riding in the cart she reached down, pulled off her shoes, threw them both over her shoulder, yanked off her sockes, looked at me and said "shoes?"

AB also melts my hearts when she randomly looks at me and tells me she loves me in both English and our Asian language.

Her favorite song is "The Wheels on the Bus," but she also likes "Jesus Loves Me," "Deep in the Heart of Texas," and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." Everytime she sees a bus, AB insists we sing the song while doing the motions of course.

Right now AB is working on learning her colors. She astounded me the other day when I handed her a brown crayon. I said "this crayon is brown." Then she said "Avie Brown" (she cannot say her real name yet, just her nickname). Who taught her that? Also when we were in the Hong Kong airport she saw the sign for baby changing area and she said, "change diaper" while pointing at the sign. KB and I were stunned.

Anyways, this is our girl. She is so fun. We love her and are alwasy proud of her.

A Few Early Pictures of DB

2011-03-20T19:50:00.002-05:00

These pictures were taken when DB was about 2 weeks old.

The day his umbilical cord fell off DB got his first real bath. He loved it! However his favorite part is the lotion by far. Check out his boobies. The doctor said they were from my hormones, but they are gone now.

Big sis and dad are taking a break from living with a new baby.

I zoomed in on this picture so you cannot see that he is sleeping in a pink cradle. No need for anyone to know about that. Aren't sleeping babies so peaceful?

This is DB when he was just a few days old. Soon after this picture was taken DB pooed in his diaper and AB politey pushed him off of her lap while saying "baby poo poo, nasty."

The Long Way Back

2011-03-19T04:42:00.016-05:00

We are here! We arrived here at 7pm on Wednesday. In case any of you knew our itinerary, that is a day later that our tickets said we would arrive. Altogether we traveled for 2 days and 13 hours. Yikes. If you want to know the whole long story, read on.

First off, we found out the day before we left that AB had an ear infection. So she was a bit cranky from the ear pain, and we never knew if she was not herself due to the infection or sleep deprivation. I am pretty sure it was a icky combination of the two.

It turns out we accumulated a lot of stuff over the past 5 months. We came to the US with 3 suitcases, and the entire contents of one suitcase was handed over to my sister for her baby girl. So, where did all this stuff come from? Friends, family and LB's awesome bargain hunting skills.

It took FOREVER to pack everything. This was primarily because we had to make optimal use of luggage space and this entailed taking everything out of packages (like dumping a box of Mac and Cheese into a baggie), labeling the baggies, taking tags off of everything and weighing everything. Then once we realized we had more stuff than we had space, we had to go pull out all of the clothes for the kids that they would not need for the next year. We were allotted 8 pieces of luggage. The day before we left we realized we needed 9, then the day we left it got bumped up to 10. Extra luggage fees are cheaper than mailing. We really could have filled up 12 or 13 suitcases, but we can only manage handling so much. When friends come later this year they will bring all the things we left - hopefully. When we checked-in at the airport on Sunday we had 10 - 50lb bags, 4 carry-on's, 4 personal items, 2 car seats, and 1 stroller.

Unfortunately we learned the hard way, just because you can do something, does not mean you should. Navigating the airport and getting onto the plane with all of our stuff was a disaster. Absolute disaster. KB and I got separated while boarding the plane in Dallas, and I was stuck with AB's car seat (and car seat dolly), DB and his car seat and 3 of our 8 bags. It was physically impossible for me to get on the plane while maneuvering all of our stuff. Finally 3 very kind strangers helped. I am positive I smacked every person on my right side with the back of the baby bag. I just kept apologizing and moved on. Also, it did not help that we were sitting in the very last row of the plane...guess that is what you get when you buy your plane tickets the day before you leave : )

American Airlines has a rule pertaining to car seats. I understand the safety reasons for the rule, but it is not very practical and it does not add to the other passenger's enjoyment of the flight when you have a upset child. Essentially when you have two car seats, they must be set side by side. We could not put AB by the window, me next, then DB on the isle. Nope. It could only be AB, DB, and then me. So when AB dropped her blanket and started crying (the flight was scheduled to take off an hour and a half after her bedtime - we could not expect her to hold it together), I had to unbuckle, crawl under DB's car seat, retrieve her blanket, crawl back under, get in my seat and then hand it to her.

AB is good on planes; she has lots of experience. In her 2 years of life she has flown more than most adults who do not fly for a living, but she is usually a bit restless until we take off. Therefore delays once we are in the plane are brutal. Guess who's flight was delayed after we boarded the plane? Our's. Apparently there was a bad seat cushion. For the sake of my sanity I will assume the integrity of the seat cushion's ability to serve as a floatation device was compromised, not that there was some junk of the cushion, because their 30 minute search for a new seat cushion lost us a window to land in San Francisco, and we had to wait an additional hour to take off.

Our flight to Hong Kong was an hour and 50 minutes after our DFW flight was scheduled to land. Of course we were the last ones off of the plane, and of course we have more stuff than anyone should have, and of course the one airport person we asked for directions to the international terminal gave us bad directions. We ran/speed walked for 20 minutes to make our flight. We arrived to security and it was closed. Our plane left without us. Now we were stuck a closed airport at 1:05am in San Francisco (that is 3:05 am Texas time), and what were we to do?

Two of us cried, and one of them was not under 3 years old or KB. Then we called American Airlines. They got us on the same flight the next day. I asked them if they could locate our luggage. They said no. They could only confirm where it was not - Dallas. They did not know if it made it on the HK flight or was still in San Francisco, that was helpful. I then asked if they would get us a hotel room. She said they would, but they could not give us a voucher until their counter opened at 4am. That stunk. We spent a miserable night in the closed cafe at the airport with our massive amount of stuff, a cranky 2 year old and a baby. At 4 am I checked the American Airlines desk, not open. I checked every hour until 8 am, and they were never open. Finally at 10 am we found out, oh there is no international American Airlines counter (even though there was a sign for it), only a domestic counter. KB went to their counter and got our vouchers. When he went to get the vouchers he rode the tram - that's right the tram. It took him all of 3 minutes to get to the AA counter. We ran/speed walked for 20 minutes with all of our stuff trying to catch our flight and the whole time there was speedy tram. I do not think the tram would have gotten us there before they closed the gate, but what was that airport worker thinking when he recommended we walk rather than take the tram. He said we could take the tram, but walking would be just as fast. Bad advice for sure or some kind of sick sense of humor.

Based on our experience I have a few recommendations for American Airlines.

1. Have extra seat cushions handy. If they are important enough to delay a flight, they should be easily accessible.

2. Let passengers with kids and most definately those with car seats board the plane first. Those first class passengers would probably be really grateful to not have to worry about being smacked by the car seat as we carry it down the isle. Also that way we would not slow down the line.

3. You have a list of all your passengers who are trying to make connecting flights. If you know you have caused them to miss a flight, have a counter open so that you can help them rebook and get a hotel room right then rather than make them sleep in the airport. Better yet, have someone waiting when you get off the plane. That would be commendable customer service.

4. Telling someone you can only confirm where their bags are not is a cop-out of an answer. It was not the most frustrating part of our evening, but it just added to it.

Also, because our arrival was now a day later we had to find a way to tell our driver who was picking us up at the air airport 4 hours from our home that he needed to come a day later. That was an ordeal, but in the end it was Skype that saved us. Thanks Skype.

AA put us in the Hyatt Regency. For two people in our line of work, there are much worse places to spend a few hours, ya know? We all got much needed baths, the kids slept for a couple hours and room service saved us from having to venture out. Unfortunately we were only there for about 8 hours total, not enough time to catch up on an entire night of lost sleep. Due to our lack of sleep we all began to lose it a bit emotionally...at least the females in the family did, but none more than AB. She was so spent that when she was told "no" for the slightest thing, she burst into tears. She was exhausted and we had a lot more traveling to do. The only one of us who was absolute unfazed by the traveling was DB. Did not bother him a bit.

AB slept most of the way to HK. During the 14 hour flight she was awake maybe 3 hours. DB did excellent, and I can wholeheartedly recommend Cathay Pacific to anyone. They even let families with small children load first. I think this is a great decision. It enabled us to put in our car seats without worrying about slowing others down. This is typical of most Asian airlines (not Air Asia - avoid them). Our 4 hours in HK was great. We got a lot of exercise walking through that HUGE airport, but really it was a good thing and I am not complaining. Our flight in country was uneventful as well - except that they do not allow rear facing car seats on the plane. I was annoyed because that was why we brought DB's car seat, but fortunately it was only a 4 hour flight and they served Hagan Daz ice cream. Who can who can hold a grudge against an airline who serves that? I will say, the closer and closer we got to our final destination the more space invaders and starring we experienced. Once while on our flight into country I caught a lady lifting up the blanket covering DB's car seat to take a look. I also heard someone clipping their fingernails. Other than a crazy guy I worked with in Fort Worth, I have only heard that consistently in public where we live now.

After landing and going through immigration, we had to collect all of our luggage. KB filled 3 carts full of our stuff. Unfortunately I was holding DB's carrier in on hand and pushing AB with the other. He was stuck trying to get our carts through customs and to the door on his own. We decided the best course of action was to push 1 cart about 20 feet, go back and push the next cart 20 feet and then push the third cart 20 feet. Yep that is what he did. He is such a trooper! Finally just as we arrived to customs 2 people helped which was defiantly nice. Somehow our driver's van was just big enough for all of our stuff and 4 hours later we pulled up in front of our apartment.

AB remembered it and asked for Toby first thing - he comes home on Monday. Like I said in the beginning, altogether we traveled 2 days and 13 hours. Fortunately I think I messed my internal clock up so badly that jet lag has not been too bad this time. That has not been the case with the two kiddos but they are adjusting.

Thanks to all who lifted us up during our travels. It truly was a miracle that we made it here with every single thing that we left with - including our sanity.

Fun Rides

2011-03-17T05:00:00.003-05:00

While mommy power shopped at the outlet mall, AB got to play on the rides. Too bad we are her parents and never put money in those things. Also too bad for us next time we come to the US she will probably realize they are meant to do things and will want us to put money in them. Drat.

Public Breastfeeding

2011-03-15T05:02:00.004-05:00

For some reason breasfeeding in public embarasses me. Want to know something even more embarassing? Your husband posting pictures on your blog of you breastfeeding in public.

He has no problem sleeping or eating in public. Lucky.

Getting Ready

2011-03-13T05:03:00.002-05:00

2011-03-11T05:01:00.001-06:00

2011-03-09T05:00:00.001-06:00