Fun at a Park and Other News

Last Saturday night we went to a new park on the other side of the city. After a train ride and a long, hot walk we finally found it. Jack rode in the baby carrier and Asher rode in the stroller. When we got to the park I took Jack out of the carrier and had to walk around with a sweaty imprint of him on my shirt. If you look carefully you can see it in the picture.

The reason we went all the way to this park was to rent a bicycle. Roger and Asher got a bike and had a blast riding around. I think in the picture Asher was yelling "Go Daddy go!" in a not so patient voice.

While they were enjoying their bike ride Jack and I strolled around, ate some fruit and sat on a bench by the pond.

In other news, school starts next week. Asher finished up his summer school term and has been enjoying a nice break at home with me and Baby Gack. Asher loves his school, loves his teacher and loves eating.

We now have Asher's uniforms (with his name sewn on the front) and we have his black school shoes, still need to get white shoes for sports day and socks. Next Wednesday Asher will join millions of other Thai school children on the first day of Term 1, Year 2554 (Thailand even has it's own years).

In even more news, Asher is potty trained. He's such a perfectionist. He refused and refused and refused the past few months and then all the sudden he was like, okay, got it. And that was that. It was very typically Asher.

And in Jack news, well, nothing new to report. He's still chunky and sweet and he has really big eyes.

Two Months

Baby Jack is two months old. We went to the doctor this week so he could get some shots and he weighed 11 lbs. 10 oz. (5.275 kg) and was almost 23 inches (58 cm) long. I always think that Jack is bigger than Asher was at this age, but at two months old Asher already weighed 12.5 pounds and was 24 inches long.

Jack is still an easy baby and really doesn't cry unless he gets really hungry. He's on a good schedule, eating every 3 hours during the day and taking 2 hour naps, and he sleeps all night long. For a long time he liked to be awake from about 6 pm - 11 pm, but the past few nights he has gone to bed around 8 pm, woken up to eat at 11 pm and then slept until 7 am. I definitely can't complain. During the day he sleeps on his belly in his crib and at night we swaddle him and put him on his back. When we are out during the day he will nap in the Moby Wrap and when my Thai tutor is here he usually naps while getting passed back and forth between the two of us.

Asher gets excited every time we go get Jack up from a nap. He can't wait until he can see him, but then as soon as I pick Jack up Asher starts asking (and demanding) that I put Jack down. It's a little love/hate thing, but overall I think Asher sort of likes having him around. Jack definitely loves Asher, he gives Asher the biggest smiles and giggles.

Now that Jack is bigger the cloth diapers fit him even better, he even wears them out of the house (I was a little scared to do that at first because Jack was too skinny and the diapers would leak a little bit). He still wears a disposable overnight, but I think I'm going to try cloth one night and just see what happens.

Jack spends most of his awake time playing with the play gym, hanging out in his swing or sitting on the couch with me while Asher plays cars. We have been taking him to the park in the evenings, but he has yet to stay awake long enough to actually see the park. The taxi ride puts him to sleep every time.

We are having so much fun with Baby Jack and this next month should be even more fun. Baby Jack is taking his first trip to the beach next week and then his first airplane ride the week after that.

My Baby Wish List

Since we are having another precious little boy and I brought a lot of our baby stuff with us there's really not much I need to get before our new little guy joins us. I put together a little wish list of the things I would love to have. I would love to hear what you think. Have you used any of these things? Do you love them? Hate them? Think they are a waste of money? Let me know!

A Baby Carrier
I'm wanting to get either a Action Baby Carrier or Ergo Baby Carrier with Infant Insert. Originally I was sold on the Ergo (thanks Beth Puckett!), but now I am leaning towards the Action Baby Carrier (ABC). The ABC is cheaper ($90 vs. $105 for Ergo and $25 for Infant Insert), comes in pretty colors and from what I have read online it is the best structured carrier when it's hot outside. The Ergo comes highly recommended and I know it works well, so I'm still having a little trouble deciding. I thought I had hit the jackpot a few days ago on the Bangkok Craig's List when I found a used Ergo for sale. Then I saw the price. The lady wanted nearly $200 for it because she bought it new in Bangkok for around $275.
Any suggestions or personal experiences?

Boppy Travel Swing
Asher loved swinging when he was little and thanks to my cousin Kelly we were able to borrow a swing while we were living with Mimi. Maddie Jackson slept sweetly in her Boppy swing the first time I met her and I love that it's super small. The bad thing is that I can't find it for sale anywhere except Ebay. The good thing is that I can buy a used one on Ebay at a reasonable price. I did actually come across a Fisher Price travel swing here in Bangkok for only $222.15 (actual retail price at Babies R Us in the States $69.99). I think I will be sticking to Ebay.

Cloth Diapers
I have a few and I applied for a cloth diaper grant from Cotton Babies. I'm still waiting to see if I got the grant, but if that doesn't take care of it this little one will probably just join Asher in the disposable diaper club.

3-6 month clothes
Asher was in the States during this time so all we have are winter clothes. I have Mimi shopping the consignment shops for me and I am keeping an eye out for sales now that it is time for Fall clothes in the States.

Personalized Boppy Cover
Asher had one, so it's only fair. If only the baby had a name...


Mobile
This was another thing that we borrowed for Asher while we were living with Mimi. I'm really not particular, so I'm just hoping to pick up one around here somewhere.

Baby Monitor
We had an old intercom thing that we used when Asher was little and we lived with Mimi, but it broke. I would really like to get one of those video monitors just so I could see what really goes on when Asher (and in the future his little brother) are going to sleep and waking up. Probably I will take what I can find, but I hope I don't have to buy it new. Like everything else they are way overpriced here.

Changing Table
This is like my ultimate dream. I've never had one before and really I figure that if I never had one with Asher I really don't need one (pretty much like everything else on this list). But it would be fun to have a nice organized place to put all of the diaper stuff. I found one here that matches the baby bed and seems pretty nice. Items like this leave me wishing that IKEA would just go ahead and come to Bangkok!

20 Weeks

We are maybe halfway to meeting our new baby. I'm just going to go ahead and assume this one will be late like Asher, so really I think next week will be the halfway point. Either way I am now 20 weeks which I guess is 5 months.

Baby Boy is kicking around in my belly and thankfully not making me too nauseous these days. I eat a lot of spicy food, so I get a lot of heartburn. Oh well, the food's good and I guess I could always start eating bland stuff.

Here's the picture I finally had Roger take for me.


The belly is growing, but not too fast. I can still wear some of my regular pants, but most of my shirts are too short. Unfortunately most of my maternity shirts are too big, so I just rotate through the same shirts over and over. Really I'm looking forward to the baby bump growing so that I can have more clothes to wear. And when the bump gets bigger the Thai people on the train will get up and give me their seat. Sweet pregnancy perks!

And here's the sweet big brother looking a bit frightened and confused.


My neighbor made this carrier for her daughter-in-law and Asher and I were testing it out. He wasn't a big fan of it (and no he never wears clothes around the house, it's too hot).

Maplewood Farm

On one of the rare sunny days we have had Asher and I headed off to Maplewood Farm to see some animals. I didn't think Asher would really get it or have fun, but he proved me wrong. He quacked at the ducks, chased some birds and petted a few goats. Here are some pictures from the day.

The morning commuter nap. Asher was all warm and snuggly in his stroller, he stayed awake for the whole train ride, but fell asleep as soon as we got on the first bus.

Asher loves to quack like a duck and evidently he also likes to chase the ducks. He would get scared when they would start to chase him back.

After a while he got tired from all the running and petting and quacking, he took a quick rest in the sling and was ready to go again.

One of my favorite parts of the day was going into the goat pen. All of the goats were walking around and all of the toddlers were petting/hitting/harassing the animals. Luckily the animals were very good natured.

Asher was calm at first, but once he got excited the goats were in trouble.

Finally, we were back on the bus heading for home and he was out. He slept the whole way home.