Three Months

Happy 3 months Baby Jack!

I'm not sure how much Jack weighs at three months, but he definitely looks chunkier to me. He is still sleeping good and eating good. And drooling good, he's getting better and better at that.

This past month he took his first airplane ride and started sitting in the Bumbo chair. He really hasn't reached any big milestones. I keep waiting for him to roll over, but it hasn't happened yet.

Baby Jack is doing much better at bedtime (meaning that he has a bedtime and actually goes to bed before 11 pm). He goes to bed right after Asher, I feed him before I go to bed and he sleeps until close to 7 am most days. In the mornings he takes good naps, but in the afternoons he likes to be awake. I still swaddle him and put him on his back at night and he sleeps on his belly for his naps. The thing I like the best is that Jack actually falls asleep by himself for all of his naps and at night. I love getting to hold him while he gets sleepy and I love not having to rock him to sleep and hope he stays asleep when I put him in the bed.

Here's a few more pictures from Baby Jack's 3 month photo shoot. Feel free to add your own captions.

We Bleed Blue

These two Kentucky boys (one of whom has never even been to Kentucky) are being brought up and trained in the way of March Madness.

Of course our March Madness is a little different: we get up at 4 am and eat waffles while watching the game.

Thanks to Granny Asher was well dressed as we watched UK make their way to the Final Four.

And this little guy was pretty happy to be wearing blue as well (he was also wearing his UK blue cloth diaper that I bought just for tournament time).

This coming weekend we are planning another morning of waffles and basketball with our boys while we teach them a few things about being from Kentucky.

Just so you know: Roger emailed the UK athletic department and said he would fly to Houston from Bangkok if he could get a free ticket to the Final Four. He even found a ticket from BKK to Houston for $1100. No luck with getting a ticket to the game, but the guy did email Roger back and tell him that a plane ticket from Lexington to Houston was $1100. How crazy is that?

Something About Asher

Roger is trying to make sure he knows how to spell all of our names in Thai so we can fill out forms to register Asher for preschool and make sure that Asher's name will be spelled correctly on his uniform.

Now you know:

1. Asher is starting preschool in May.

2. He will be attending a Thai preschool.

3. We are definitely going to be the parents that send our kid to school in a red shirt on blue shirt day because we confused the words for red and blue.

4. Even preschools in Thailand require a cute little uniform with matching shoes.

Rainy Days and Laundry Days

This is what happens when it rains on laundry day.

Added bonus: we were leaving to go out of town the next day, so I actually needed everything to be dry rather quickly.

Don't worry, everything dried and we got it all packed up for our trip. I never did figure out why it was raining during hot season. It actually was 65 degrees the next day. I've been told that it's one of the coldest days anyone remembers experiencing in Bangkok in the past 10 years.

Sidewalk Chalk

We spent most of the past week in Chiang Mai going to meetings and hanging out with friends. Now we are back in Bangkok and trying to have some good, fun, stay at home days. We got sidewalk chalk, courtesy of some wonderful volunteers from Mississippi, while we were in Chiang Mai.

Sidenote: These volunteers were so stinkin' generous. Besides the fact they came all the way here to take care of our kids they brought us a lot of stuff. We ended up with new toys for Asher and Jack, bags and bags of snacks (supposed to be for Asher, but we didn't share), a new beach towel for Asher, and lots of Mary Kay make-up. They brought us Honey Buns! And those little white powdered doughnuts! And they watched our kids from 8 am - 5 pm!

So, back to the sidewalk chalk. We have a sidewalk and decided today was a good day to open it up.

Asher had fun drawing moons and scribbling all over the place.

Later in the afternoon Jack joined us (and he tried out the Bumbo chair for the first time).

I think Asher missed Jack last week, he seemed pretty excited to have him around today.

Roger got in on the fun and wrote us a little message in Thai.

To save you the trouble of going to Google Translate:

Step 1 - Daddy loves Asher, Jack and Mommy.

Step 2 - Jack, Asher

Step 3 - Courtney, Roger

I wish I had pictures to share from Chiang Mai, but Asher didn't sleep while we were there (Baby Jack remained perfect and slept perfectly) and we were all tired and grumpy and not in the picture taking frame of mind. And let me tell you, there is nothing as scary as a two year old waking up at 2 am, looking at you and saying, "Asher done sleeping!"

Tummy Time

Tummy time from the front.

Tummy time from the back.

Tummy time finished.

Baby Dates

I invited my friend Rebecca to come over the other day. She has a sweet baby boy a few weeks younger than Jack. The night before she came over she had the following conversation (that I am probably mostly making up since I don't really remember exactly what she said) with her husband.

Rebecca: Tomorrow I'm taking the baby to Courtney's house for a play date with Asher and Jack.

Husband: Play date? He's five weeks old. He doesn't play. Why does he need a play date?

Rebecca: Play dates are not for children. They are for mothers.

I told her that I completely agree. After all a 5 week old and a 10 week old don't play. They just lay there while the 2 year old runs around like a wild man. But, us mothers, we had a nice play date. We ate muffins and watched our babies lay there and talked while the 2 year old ran around like a wild man.

And then we took pictures of the boys.

Jack and Asher see the camera (or more likely Mommy). Daniel smiles.

Jack and Asher still see Mommy. Jack also grabs Asher's ear.

Daniel and Asher stare lovingly (or mischievously) at Jack. Jack still sees Mommy.

Asher must now see something exciting, like a bug or a muffin. Jack is unfazed.

Daniel finds his Mommy. Jack has his eyes on the prize. Asher is probably asking for more muffins.

And finally the spell is broken. The babies spot something off to the side and Asher is either really happy or really sad. Mostly likely sad because we ran out of muffins.

Escaping the City

Last weekend we escaped the city and went to the beach for a few days. We went with several of our friends and had a great time hanging around the pool, getting massages and pedicures and eating a lot of food. The best part of traveling with friends: they help out with boys so Roger and I can have some fun.

And now lots of pictures of Asher and Jack.

Asher spent two hours in the pool, most of it was spent driving this boat.

Still playing with the boats. He did briefly enjoy jumping off the side of the pool before returning to the boats.

Asher post-pool in his towel.

Beach bum Jack.

Walking back to the room after swimming.

Jack sleeping on the beach.

Asher wasn't really a fan of the sand.

Jack's first time in the ocean.

Asher ate almost the entire time we were there.

Asher was scared of the water (amongst other things).

Baby Jack napped by the pool and even though he was in the shade he got burned.

Jack in his vacation clothes.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Outside my window... motorcycles are going back and forth to pick up kids from the school down the street. When Asher wakes up from his nap he will hear them and ask, "What's that noise? Go see?"

I am thinking... I already need another shower.

I am thankful for... friends and co-workers (mostly these are the same people). We went to the beach this weekend and our friends pretty much held Baby Jack the whole time we were there. They would take him to their room to nap so I could go get a pedicure or just lay by the pool and read.

From the kitchen... salad is ready for dinner tonight, I just need to fry some chicken (Pioneer Woman's Homemade Chicken Strips) and make some potatoes.

I am wearing... sweaty clothes. Hot season is returning and we are re-adjusting to sweating all day long.

I am creating... memories, or at least we tried to when we went to the beach this weekend.

I am going... to visit Asher's new preschool on Wednesday. I'm sort of nervous and excited about getting him registered and seeing what a Thai preschool is like.

I am reading... my friend's blog. I love getting to see pictures of people I don't get to see in person very often.

I am hoping... that Asher will sleep better when we go to Chiang Mai next week than he did when we went to the beach this weekend. Sleepy Asher = crazy, screaming, crying parents Asher

I am hearing... Asher clapping for himself and giggling, I guess nap time is just about over. And there's Jack grunting. Yep, nap time is definitely over.

Around the house... all is quiet now. I started writing this during nap time this afternoon, now it's 9:15 pm. Both boys are in bed, Roger is going to the store to grab a few things for tomorrow and I just got home from my Monday night coffee date with a good friend.

One of my favorite things... Fringe. We just started watching a few weeks ago and we are pretty hooked.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Birthday party tomorrow, Bible study and visiting Asher's school on Wednesday and a going away party for a good friend on Friday. And, oh yeah, language study almost every afternoon.

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing... I picked Asher up after Bible study a few weeks ago and found him covered in Band-Aids. None of the other kids had them on and his teacher said something about helping our friends. Asher also said his friends helped him and he gave me a little craft he made about Jesus helping people. I still don't get it.

Christmas in February

Aunt Beth sent her two favorite nephews a package last week. Once Roger got the box home Asher was super excited to see what she had sent.

A Lightning McQueen toy!

And Lightning McQueen cups!

He was thrilled (this is a thrilled face in case you were wondering).

Baby Jack was pretty happy, too.

He got an elf (Asher also got an elf, but an elf really can't compete with McQueen) and a new singing bear.

Thanks Aunt Beth! Asher and Jack loved all of the gifts and they can't wait to see their cousins the next time we go to Kentucky.

Mothering

Last week Jack was wearing his (formerly Asher's) cute little monkey shirt.

I put him down on his belly for a nap and 2 hours later got him up. I lifted up his shirt to change his diaper and found this:

Mothering: Fail.

This morning I went to get Asher out of the bed. We played around for a few minutes and then I went to the changing table to grab a diaper. No more diapers. And I'm at home alone with Asher and Jack. And it's 8 am, both of the stores by my house open at 10 am. And I don't have a car.

Mothering: Fail.

Thank goodness for Bum Genius one-size diapers. I enjoyed cloth diapering two little boys in green diapers this morning. And I enjoyed washing an extra load of diapers this afternoon.

But then tonight came. Everybody had a bath. Everybody was in their pajamas. And by 8 pm everybody was in their own bed sound asleep.

Mothering: Success!