So I Never Forget...

...that Baby Jack's toes are so chubby he has one toe that sticks up in the air.

At Mimi's House

While we were at Mimi's house we took advantage of the wonderfully clean air and the fabulously cool temperatures and spent a lot of time playing outside.

Oddly enough, some of that playing involved a ball from Thailand.

Asher loved having all of that green space to play in.

And I loved that we could wear long sleeves! I think fall clothes are so fun.

Mimi borrowed a bike from a friend and Asher spent hours going up and down the driveway.

He also waved for a taxi to stop and pick him up. He was sad to learn that there are no taxis in America.

Baby Jack enjoyed the outdoors as well. Most of his time was spent watching Asher or trying to eat leaves and fingers.

Jack really learned to pull up and stand up while we were in America.

Welcome Back to Bangkok, We're Having a Flood

Well, we survived 29 hours of travel with two little boys to arrive back in a panic-filled Bangkok full of sandbags and void of bottled water.

We were thinking ahead when we left the States and brought instant noodles, granola bars, Pop-Tarts and a few other supplies with us. Our main problem was trying to find bottled water. Store after store had empty shelves, but by the end of the day we found a lady on the side of the road selling water. We bought a bunch from her and started boiling water at home.

We didn't have a problem buying food earlier this week, although tonight Roger went by the store and found mostly empty shelves. For now we are well supplied with eggs, peanut butter, crackers, bread, fruit and meat. And Girl Scout cookies. I mean, what crisis can't be made better by Girl Scout Cookies.

Besides our food and water we have filled all of our extra containers with tap water for bathing and flushing, charged all of our electronics and made sure we have plenty of diapers. And, speaking of diapers, I have found a major disadvantage of using cloth diapers. They are not too handy when you don't know if you will have water or electricity to wash them.

So, for now we are hanging out in Bangkok. Watching Thai news, following breaking news on Twitter and praying for the best while preparing for the worst. So far we haven't seen any flood water, but we hear that may change tonight or tomorrow or this weekend or last weekend or next week or sometime during the next month.

Well, for now me and my 108 bottles of water are going to get some rest. Below is a video about what has caused the floods. It's in Thai, but has English subtitles.

Uncle Mel

One of Asher's favorite things about America...Uncle Mel!

Mel and Asher went to Chuck E. Cheese.

They took pictures.

Rode rides.

Played games.

Ran around and giggled.

After all of that fun, they headed home to spend some time driving the golf cart around the yard.

Play Time

Last week I took the boys with me to visit some high school friends and all of their kids. We had 5 mamas and 9 kids...the oldest was 3 and the youngest was 3 months. It was a crazy morning and it definitely didn't leave us much time to talk, but we had a blast watching all of the kids run/toddle/crawl/roll around the house. There pacifiers, goldfish and sippy cups getting passed around and lots of diapers that needed to be changed.

We managed to get 8 of the 9 kids on the couch for a picture.

And I managed to get pictures of those 8 before we left.

Alex, 3.5 years.

Asher, 3 years.

Emmett, 2.5 years.

Olivia, 2 years.

Carson, 18 months.

Elyse, 15 months.

Jack, 9 months.

Grayson, 4 months.

Luke, 3 months, didn't make it into any of the pictures. He was giving his mama a nice break and taking a nap.

When we were last in America Olivia was about 1 week old, Asher was 1 year old and Alex was 18 months. What a difference 2 years makes!

9 Months

The last month has been crazy for Baby Jack! He has gotten 3 new teeth, flown 10,000 miles and learned to move.

Jack is crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything. We always find him standing up in his crib. Like in the middle of the night. Or the middle of nap time. Not so fun, but it is fun to watch him explore and get into stuff. Asher was in full time childcare when he started crawling, so we didn't really get to see him go through this stage as much.

Jack weighs about 17.5 lbs and still has chunky thighs. He was sleeping great before we left Bangkok. Most nights he would sleep 7:30 pm - 8:30 am and take two good naps. I think one reason he has been sleeping so good is that he now has his own room. Unfortunately this means that Roger and I don't have a room to sleep in. So we sleep downstairs on the couch. Totally worth it. And we have an amazingly comfortable couch.

He's still a good eater. I made some baby food and he likes to eat that, but most of the time we have just been giving him little pieces of rice and whatever we are eating. Dragon fruit has been the big favorite lately along with some little rice cakes that we bought at the park.

Jack was pretty easy on the flight over to America. He mostly slept and grabbed stuff. And one time he flipped my entire meal tray on the ground. Oops. Hopefully the return trip will be just as easy.