Did we just take a stay-cation?

First, I hate the word "stay-cation".
Second, I think we just accidentally took one.
We had a long weekend and ended up doing quite a bit. None of it was really planned, it's just that the entire city left to go to the beach and since all of the hotels at the beach were full we stayed in the city and had a great time.
The weekend started out with Roger getting to go play golf. He had a great morning hitting golf balls and getting a foot massage. Asher and I got into his pool (I bought him a normal one, I did not try to get into the baby bathtub) and spent the morning working on our tans and playing car-car crash under water. We may have also gone to Carrefour, but those trips are painful and I try to block them from my memory.
Saturday after nap time we jumped in a taxi and headed out to Lumpini Park, a huge park right in the middle of the city. It was full of families enjoying the pleasant evening. We played on the playground and then for a special treat we rented a paddle boat and took a ride around the lake.

Asher loved every second of it.


While we were out on the lake we realized it was almost 6 pm and we got out the camera to capture what happens every day at 8 am and 6 pm in the Kingdom of Thailand.

Everyone stops what they are doing, stops talking, stands up and listens while the national anthem is played. I love being out in the city when this happens. The sky train stations are probably the best place to be. The guards blow their whistles, everyone freezes, the song plays, the guards blow their whistles and the city goes back to its frantic pace.

Roger also captured a great picture of the city while we were out in the boat.


Sunday morning we got up and decided to go to the aquarium (our entire church went to the beach, so no church to go to). Asher had fun looking at the fish, playing on the playground and checking out the giant turtle.


He kept following around a tour group of little Thai girls. Every time the tour guide would say (in Thai), "Kids, kids, come here," he would run over to see what they were looking at. They were pretty confused at first, but then I think they realized that he thought they were talking to him.


Monday morning rolled around and we wanted to enjoy our day off of school, so we decided to go to the zoo. We didn't take any pictures and we didn't really see anything new. We checked out the elephants (Asher is still fascinated, but scared to death), laughed at the monkeys and even got to see a hippo (which thrilled Asher since he was wearing his hippo shirt that day). Probably the best thing was that we got in for the Thai price, not because we had our proof of residency with us, but because the lady selling tickets said that Roger spoke so wonderfully and clearly in Thai. Take that language school. The next best thing was the barbeque chicken we bought for lunch. Amazing.

After the weekend was over we realized we had pretty much taken a three day vacation without ever leaving home. Hmm, I guess that pretty much would be the definition of "stay-cation".

32 Weeks

So it begins...


I've finally started getting ready for Baby Boy. The baby clothes have been sorted and the first load has been washed and dried and is now laying in a pile in Asher's closet.
I thought getting started on the laundry would make me feel more prepared for the baby's arrival, but I think it's had the opposite effect. Now I'm just realizing that I really need to clean out Asher's closet.


And here's the belly, 32 weeks big. Everything is still going great, I feel fine and Baby Boy is kicking around as I write. I have to go to the doctor every 2 weeks now. I think this is normal? With Asher I think I just went once a month up until his due date and then I might have gone every week after that. I think my doctor here might be a little more on top of things than good 'ol Dr. Pujo was.

The poor boy almost has a name. It's down to the final two. I have my favorite (it's been my favorite from the very beginning) and Roger changes his mind pretty much every night. The good news is Asher can say both names and he sounds very sweet saying them. I guess we will decide eventually and until then he will just be the poor second child that doesn't even have a name.

Around the Hampton House

Here's a peek into our daily lives here in Bangkok.

Most days after breakfast I try to get some housework done. Asher starts yelling, "MOP!" as soon as he sees me get the broom out and continues to yell it until I have all of the house swept and the mop and bucket out. Then he usually runs and hides because he knows he will get in trouble if his little feet touch my clean floors before they are dry. On this particular day he gained control of the mop and showed off his skills.



Some days we try to get into the kitchen and make something to snack on (usually it's not brownies, but the pictures are too cute). Asher has recently started to enjoy standing on a chair and helping me mix together all of the ingredients. Our favorite new recipe is for Giant Breakfast Cookies. Asher loves to snack on them, in fact he yells, "SNACK!" when he gets hungry in the mornings.



Today we added a new type of fun to our days at home: backyard baby bathtub swimming! I know, I know, it's pathetic. But really, if I thought Asher would swim in a small pool I would go buy him one. In fact we have already bought one such pool, it got filled up many times and never used. He wouldn't get in it, so I eventually gave it away. Now of course he is super interested in swimming. Every time he sees his swimming trunks he yells, "POOL!" even though he hasn't been swimming in months. I would love to take the boy swimming everyday, but the pools near our house are so expensive. Lucky for Asher I bought a baby bathtub today. I tried explaining that it was for the new baby to take a bath in, but Asher got no farther than seeing it as a swimming pool. So I put on his swimming trunks, gave him a cup and put him out in the backyard. I had no hope of him actually being entertained by this, so you can imagine my surprise when he got in the (freezing cold) water and started splashing. Thirty minutes later I realized that:
A. I had just managed to get laundry done without my little helper "helping" me hang up the clothes on the clothes line.
B. Asher was still playing in the water and enjoying himself.
C. Equator, close to lunch time, white baby turning pink...oops.





And then comes the most exciting part of the entire day: waiting for Daddy to come home. Roger studies Thai each morning and then grabs lunch for us on the way home. We eat Thai for lunch everyday, so that means rice and veggies. Asher loves to stand on the couch and watch for Daddy. Asher loves Daddy, but Asher also really loves rice. Enjoy the video.

Asher's Next Big Move

Well, we did it. We took the plunge. We kicked Asher out of his crib.

I really didn't want to do it. Asher LOVES his crib. He sleeps great at night, he takes long naps and he has never even considered the idea of trying to climb out of the crib. But in a few more weeks we need the crib for the new baby boy, so Asher had to move.

Of course as I thought about moving my baby out of his baby bed I got all nostalgic. At least this wasn't the bed we brought him home from the hospital and put him in or the bed he spent 6 months in Kentucky in or the bed he spent two months in Virginia in or the bed he spent 4 months in Vancouver in. But it was the only bed that was actually his, that we actually had to buy.

So I did what any emotional pregnant woman would do. I got out the camera and started creeping into Asher's room at night and taking pictures of him sleeping in his crib.


He's such a sweet little guy when he's all clean and comfy in his jammies, all snuggled up with his blanket and dog and passy.

Still the day came when we said we were moving him to the new bed. We put on the new bedding, got him a pillow and rearranged the room.

Here's a shot of the room with our previous set up.


We had Asher's big boy bed in the corner, but I don't trust him next to the curtains. He gets in trouble almost everyday for pulling on the curtains. And considering they are hung on a curtain rod that the neighbors helped me rig up I know they will fall down sooner or later. Plus I figured if we put his big boy bed where the crib used to be it would sort of be like he wasn't having to go through that big of a change.

Here's the new arrangement.


Of course this will all change again when the new kid gets here. We are going to just stick the crib in our room until we get the little one sleeping pretty well and then switch to having the boys share a room.

So, we had absolutely no faith in Asher making this adjustment. We just figured that we would try it, he would freak out and be scared and we would stick him back in the crib and try again later. After all, Asher did refuse to get in his crib the first night we gave him a pillow to sleep with (we removed the pillow and he went right to sleep).

Last night rolled around, Asher was a big apprehensive we could tell. Typically he gets really into prayer time. We have to pray for cars, taxis, bus, BIG BUS, the ceiling fan, etc. But last night he just sort of whimpered. We prayed for him to be brave and put him in the bed. We turned out the light, shut the door and I took up a post outside of his room so I would hear him cry or get out of the bed. Five minutes passed, then ten, then thirty. We never heard anything.

The emotional pregnant woman got her camera and went to check on her baby boy.


Sound asleep.

He slept all night. He woke up this morning and we found him sitting in his bed just like always. Nap time came around and he went right to sleep. He slept for his normal 2.5 hours and I went in to find him just sitting in his bed waiting for me to get him up. I don't think it's occurred to him that he could get up if he wanted to. I'm not complaining, it's just that this kid continues to amaze me with his sleep. We have moved 5 times (including two trips that should have left him jet lagged) and it's never interrupted his sleep schedule.

I just hope the next one is as easy.

Boys at the Park

A few weeks ago Roger, Asher and Num took a little trip out of the city. As is the norm with these kinds of things, we had no idea what they were doing or where they were going. In fact, it wasn't until they returned home and Roger did some research that he found out where they had gone.


Asher was super excited because he got to go somewhere with Num in the Num car car (not to be confused with the Spiderman car Num gave him for his birthday that is also referred to as Num car car). Num has a white Honda and Asher can pick it out in a crowded parking lot.


They drove out of the city and went to a big park with a big Buddha statue. Evidently this is near the area where Num used to live when he was younger. He took Roger and Asher there to show them where he used to hang out.


Since this was more out of the city, Roger and Asher stuck out a bit more than usual. From what I hear Asher used this to his advantage when he saw something he wanted to play with. He would take Num, go up to a stranger, Num would tell him to wai and then the person would give him anything he wanted. I think Asher pretty much has this whole white-boy-in-Asia role figured out.


Asher has also figured out how to show us his belly and be silly.

The boys had a great time at the park and when that adventure was done Num took them to eat some pig. Roger brought home the leftovers and we got some BBQ sauce and had quite the feast the next night. I think they finally made it back home around 9:30 pm. Asher stayed awake the whole ride home so he didn't miss a second of his time in the Num car car.

30 Weeks

We had an ultrasound this week and were happy to see that Baby Boy is still a boy and still very healthy. With 10 weeks to go he is weighing in at 3 lbs 2 oz (1431 grams). Who knows, maybe he will even be here sooner than that. The measurements they took had him at anywhere from 30 weeks 3 days (his big head) to 28 weeks 5 days (his little legs). So again it looks like I'm going to be having another baby boy with a big noggin'.


Here's my other baby boy and his big head showing off his little belly along with my big belly.


I pointed to my belly and asked, "What's this?"
He immediately, and confidently, answered, "Ball!"


Who thinks he's going to be disappointed when December rolls around and we end up with a new baby instead of a new ball?

29 Weeks

Well, since I'm sure the suspense was just killing you I will answer the question of what I was up to last night. I spent last night relaxing at a hotel here in Bangkok...ALL BY MYSELF! I went to dinner with some friends, got a new book, ate some Cinnabon, went swimming and just generally enjoyed relaxing, resting and being alone.

While I was at the hotel I realized that Roger and I stayed at this same hotel when I was just about at this point in my pregnancy with Asher. And then I realized I had brought the same shirt to wear that I was wearing when I took a belly pic at this hotel.


Asher in 2008


Baby Boy in 2010

I also realized this weekend that I feel so much better than I did when I was pregnant with Asher. Roger thinks it probably has something to do with the 150 steps I climb everyday going to and from school on the skytrain and the 2 year old I am constantly chasing.

Monday afternoon we are going to get to see our littlest boy again, so hopefully we will have some more pictures of him soon.

Another Day in BKK

What are we up to right now?

Well, here's your first clue: follow this link and I can tell you I am recreating one of these pictures.

Your next clue is that I am definitely not eating at Chili's or bicara Bahasa tonight.

The boys are not with me (well, one of them is), but I hear that they had a manly night filled with pizza and movies.

I have eaten Cinnabon, soaked in a bathtub and pretty much not accomplished anything since 3 pm today.

Just wait...I will post a picture soon.

In other news...
Asher and I went to a Science Center today. Who knew there was one in Bangkok? And that it is free for kids under 3? And that they actually have an entire floor for preschoolers? Now, it wasn't exactly shiny and new and up to American safety standards, but it was fun and air conditioned and for me that was enough.
Asher seemed to enjoy himself. After we got home I asked him about it and he told me, "Taxi. Big Bus. Taxi Asher taxi. Asher taxi? Truck. Baby. Bike." Which of course means that we went in a taxi and while were in the taxi (of course, this is Asher's taxi) we saw a bus. When we got to the Science Center Asher played with all of the trucks, saw a baby and also got to sit on a bike.
I didn't think to take the camera with me, but next time I will.

Asher now has a sheet for his big boy bed thanks to our across the porch neighbor, Aunt Marsha. In fact he has four sheets. His bed is a weird size so we sent Mimi to Atlanta to IKEA to get him some sheets. I am proud to report her first IKEA visit was successful. But, since those are obviously 10,000 miles away for the time being we also sent Aunt Marsha to Chinatown for material and she whipped up some sheets for us to use for the next little bit. I think next weekend may be when we attempt to get Asher to sleep in the big boy bed. I am in no way optimistic that this will be successful. Not that I think the whole getting out of the bed thing will be a huge problem, but I think he will be scared to death of the new bed. He freaked out last week when I tried to get him to sleep with a small pillow in his crib.

Anyway, that's what's going on in BKK. Asher pictures and belly pictures coming soon!