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.

Baby Jack's Hospital Adventure

Jack and I had a crazy 24 hours earlier this week.

It all started after a late afternoon nap. Jack woke up and I put him down to play while I finished up dinner. I heard him start making some sad little moans and when I went to check on him he was super hot. We took his temperature and it had gone from normal to almost 103 in about ten minutes. Little guy looked awful and felt awful, he wouldn't even eat.

After a quick call to the doctor we headed to the hospital to get Jack checked out. Of course, this was rush hour in Bangkok and it was just about to rain. I grabbed Jack and a bag (remembered the Kindle, forgot the diapers) and ran to try and get a taxi before the rain started. I found a taxi, but he didn't want to take me all the way to our hospital because of the traffic. I held up the sick Baby Jack and he quickly changed his mind.

The monsoon came almost as soon as we were in the taxi. I was glad I didn't try to get to the train. During the hour (HOUR!) it took us to get to the hospital Jack just moaned and lay in my arms. We had one of Bangkok's most talkative taxi drivers. He told me all about his family and his village. At one point he even pulled out a Buddhism brochure and gave me a lecture on something about good karma and his new taxi car. I really need to study more Thai. Finally he got us close to the hospital and told me I was better off walking in the rain than waiting for the taxi to make it. So, off across six lanes of stopped traffic I went with a burning hot infant. I splashed through some puddles and made it to the children's clinic.

Our doctor had already left, but the doctor on call checked Jack out (high fever, dehydrated), asked how traffic was (awful) and decided that it would be best if we just spent the night at the hospital to make sure Jack didn't have any of those weird mosquito/tropical illnesses. I absolutely love our hospital. As soon as the doctor said we were staying 4 nurses and a customer service lady popped in the room. They gave Jack a sponge bath, some more tylenol and had him admitted before I had time to dig my phone out of my bag and call Roger. Ten minutes later we were up in our room with an IV started and blood drawn.

Jack perked back up after about an hour of fluids and finally started eating again. The test results came back a little later and showed that Jack had some kind of infection, so they started some antibiotics. After a long night of watching his fever go down I woke up to see my happy Baby Jack looking a little more lively. The doctor came by and said he thought he would be just fine, but he wanted us to stay the rest of the day so Jack could get another dose of his antibiotics. Jack slept almost all day and by the time the doctor came by to discharge us he was pretty much back to normal.

Here are some pictures of my sweet boy that I took while we were hanging out at the hospital.

Awake one minute.

Asleep the next.

Ayutthaya

We made a day trip to Ayutthaya earlier this week to check out the old temples and have some out-of-the-city fun. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Roger pushing over an old chedi. He's so strong!

Asher exploring some really old stuff.

Jack also joined us. He looked cute and was generally adorable and easy going, even when an old Thai grandma got a hold of those big cheeks while we were eating lunch.

There were lots of headless Buddhas. It is impolite and against the rules to stick your baby behind them for a funny picture.

The old stuff we went to see.

There has been much debate as to whether Asher is screaming in this picture because he is happy or if he is screaming because he is 2. I think the consensus is that he was currently enjoying himself.

Jack's First Flight

Jack took his first airplane trip a few weeks ago when we went to Chiang Mai.

We took the new airport link train. Love it. Definitely recommend it if you are traveling in and out of Bangkok.

Baby Jack hanging out in the stroller waiting to board the plane. Of course, he was wearing The Hampton Family First Flight shirt.

Asher was soooo excited about the airplanes. He still talks about them, "Asher Boy ride airplane, take off, up sky, go Chiang Mai, go Krungthep (Thai name for Bangkok). See CLOUDS!"

Jack slept and ate and then slept some more. Easy.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

We had a cold spell last week in Bangkok. It was freezing. We got to sit under blankets at night, we almost froze on the motorbikes and Baby Jack got to wear a hat. A hat!

I guess I should mention that our idea of cold may have changed since The Great Ice Storm of 2009. It was around 70 degrees and we were wearing sweaters and jackets. Jackets!

This week we are back to normal March weather in Bangkok. High of 93, low of 91. But last week was fun. We had cornbread muffins and soup for dinner and pretended, just for a few days, that we lived in a temperate climate.

Jack's Birth Story

I had said all along I would be ready for Jack to be born as soon as Roger and I did our language evaluations and finished our Thai classes for the year. Well, on Friday the 17th I did my evaluation, on Monday I finished class, on Tuesday Roger finished class, on Wednesday Roger did his language evaluation and by Thursday morning I was having contractions.

The last pregnant picture at 39 weeks and 4 days.
Thursday morning I woke up early and noticed I was having a few contractions but I pretty much just ignored them. I was assuming that Baby Jack would take his time getting here just like Asher did. On Monday I had been to the doctor and she had told me that I hadn't made any progress yet. I had resigned myself to wait until I had to be induced.

Asher and I had a Christmas cookie decorating party to go to on Thursday morning so I started making graham cracker Christmas cookies as soon as I got up. The contractions definitely continued, but I was busy and didn't really have time to see how frequently they were coming.

Asher and I went to our party and the whole time we were there I had contractions and I thought they were pretty regular and a little painful. I didn't feel too great, but I still just thought the contractions would stop after a few hours. I had told Roger I was having contractions and he asked me if I thought that Jack would be born that day. I kept telling him no pretty much up until the time we went to the hospital.

Finally around noon Asher and I left the party and headed home. I could tell the contractions were getting more painful and I was anxious to get home and time them. After Asher went to sleep I sat down and thought they would stop. They didn't. For the next few hours I had contractions every 7-8 minutes. At 4 pm Asher woke up and as soon as I stood up to go get him they started coming more frequently.

Roger and I decided to go ahead and move the crib out of Asher's room and into our room just in case Baby Jack was on his way. We didn't want to have to deal with that after we brought a newborn home from the hospital. By the time that project was finished I was starting to consider that maybe this was the real thing. I sent a text message to our friend that was going to watch Asher just to give her a heads up and tried to get a few things done around the house. I got about half of the dishes done before I needed to sit down. While I was on my feet the contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute.


I sent Roger and Asher up to the park to play for a little bit and we decided that they would pick up dinner and after dinner we would probably go to the hospital. While they were gone I sat down and the contractions got more painful. I called our friend to come over and told Roger to head home from the park so we could get ready to go. After the boys got home they ate dinner and we got Asher settled down watching a movie. Around 7:15 pm we headed out the door to check out the traffic situation and decide how we would go to the hospital.

We got in a taxi and figured we would just see how far we could get. If traffic was really bad we figured we could jump onto the train and be at the hospital in a few minutes. Praise the Lord there was not much traffic. It only took us 25 minutes to get from our house to the hospital. At 7:45 we walked into the emergency room and told them I was in labor.


They called my doctor and sent me up to labor and delivery. For the next hour they monitored my contractions and checked to see that I was 2 cm dilated. I was obviously hoping to be farther along, but I was excited that I went into labor on my own and before my due date! After an hour of being monitored my contractions were getting into the really-hurting-don't-talk-to-me range. They walked me across the hallway to a delivery room and Roger and I finally realized that this was the real thing.

Soon after my doctor came by to check on me and I think I was about 3 or 4 cm, but I don't remember. We talked about what had happened when Asher was born and she kept reassuring me that this one would be much easier. At some point we had to fill out a form with all of our names written in Thai. The nurses of course loved that Roger could speak, read and write Thai and they started talking to both of us in Thai. I was just sort of nodding and not listening and not understanding (I was in labor, not exactly the best time work on language comprehension). I refused to answer them in Thai, I didn't care what language they spoke to me I just answered in English.

Around 9:30 I told Roger that I would wait another hour and then I wanted an epidural. After the hour was up I was more than ready for it. Around 11 pm I had reached 5-6 cm and I got the wonderful epidural. My doctor stopped by again to check on things and let me know she was going to be near by. She told me to rest and she thought that Baby Jack would be there around 3 am. She broke my water and also went ahead and gave me a little pitocin because everything slowed down once I got the epidural.

I did rest for a little while and Roger was able to take a little nap as well. But soon after that I started to feel the contractions on my left side. They were getting stronger and stronger and very close together. I could tell that things were happening quickly. I told the nurse I was starting to feel more pain and she called the anesthesiologist. He did something and I felt relief for a few minutes, but I also started feeling a lot of pressure. I knew that Baby Jack would be there soon.

The nurse checked and I was almost ready to push. They started getting the room ready for delivery (including making Roger go change into some silly looking scrubs). I'm not sure what they did with the epidural but I could feel the contractions to know when to push. It was so much better than when Asher was born and I couldn't feel anything.

They called my doctor and I started to push. A few minutes later they were still waiting for my doctor. They called her again and Roger and I smiled at what they said. Loosely translated they said "he's gonna be born now." My doctor walked in a minute later and said she was surprised it had gone so fast. I pushed a few more times and felt Jack's head start to be born. Wow. It hurt. Another push and he was out. It was so fast. I couldn't believe it was over.


They cleaned Jack up a little and brought him over to me. He was making a lot of gurgling noises so they kept coming over to suction him. The nurses helped me to start feeding him and he actually made an attempt to eat. I was so surprised because Asher had so much trouble learning to eat. I held him and the nurses took some pictures for us while my doctor finished up everything.


My doctor told us that I had a horrible scar from Asher's birth and that Dr. Pujo had done a very poor job sewing me up. We weren't really surprised to hear that and finally two years later we had an answer to why it had taken me so long to recover from Asher's birth.


Soon after that Baby Jack and Roger headed off to the nursery. Turns out Jack was having a little trouble clearing out his lungs and they needed to keep him in the NICU for a few hours. I think they brought him back to me first and he had another chance to nurse. He was still making this weird gurgling noises, but they said he would be fine.


My recovery this time has been amazing and easy. I feel so good and really after a day or so I was moving around almost normally. I attribute it all to having a wonderful doctor this time and lots of good care in the hospital. I can't believe what a difference it made having a great doctor and great nurses. Jack ended up getting booted out of the NICU after about 2 hours (much sooner than they had planned) and spent most of his first day laying in bed with me eating and sleeping. I was really worried about how Jack would nurse, but he has done a great job. It also helped that every single nurse in the newborn nursery knew how to help me feed him. I would call them when it was time to feed him and they would make sure we were doing everything the right way.


We did have to spend Christmas Day in the hospital which meant there was no Christmas morning with Asher opening his presents. The day after Christmas we were back at home adjusting to being a family of four. So far it's been good. We are, of course, a little tired, but Asher has done great and Jack is a pretty easy baby.

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.

Exploring with Asher

Last Saturday morning our friends Num and Apple showed up at our house and announced that we were going out for the day. They have a car and this, of course, made Asher very excited about the trip. We didn't really know where we were going or how long we would be gone, so we grabbed our stuff and jumped into their car.


After driving for a long time and realizing we were still in Bangkok we ended up at a giant Chinese temple. We all took off our shoes and went exploring.


Asher found Lion Statues everywhere. There are a few near our house and he gets so excited when we drive by them. He was beyond thrilled to get to see so many of them in person.


Asher smiling in front of a garden.


Asher had fun playing with Num and Apple all day.

After exploring the temple for a while we loaded back up and went to a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. We have now added Vietnamese food to the ever growing list of things that Asher loves to eat.

Roger and I sort of thought we were heading home at this point. After all it was nap time and we pretty much plan our entire lives around Asher being at home around 1 pm each day. We were far from done.

Our next stop was Ko Kret, an island full of pottery villages just outside of the city. We got to ride a boat, which Asher loved, and there was lots of food to eat, which Asher also loved. We didn't take many pictures, but just picture a 2 year old boy eating lots of strange things. Roger and I were just happy to watch Num and Apple tote Asher around and feed him strange Thai snacks.


Asher just kept on going, even without a nap, and never once got tired of exploring the island and talking about the boats.


After all that we headed back home and put a very sleepy Asher to bed early.

Celebrating Asher's Birthday

We had so much fun celebrating Asher's birthday this year. We decided to go ahead and just celebrate the day before since it was a Sunday, so we started off the day with a little party with his church friends.


We took some Dunkin' Donuts and let Asher share them with all of his friends. He had so much fun going around to everybody and giving them a doughnut hole. They all sang Happy Birthday to him (just a random fact: there is no Thai birthday song, they just sing in English) and he clapped really big when they finished.


Since we had a few doughnut holes left over we found one of our friends (who just happens to be named Friend) and shared some doughnuts with her family. Asher was pretty much over the whole birthday thing by this point, he just wanted to go home and take a nap.


Sunday night we invited several of Asher's Aunts and Uncles over for pizza and cupcakes. He had fun playing and running around with a house full of people.


Asher loved eating his pizza off of his Lightning McQueen plate.


We lit some candles (somebody, Roger, accidentally bought trick candles) and Asher tried for a long time to blow them out. He actually managed to blow them out 2 or 3 times. Finally we had to put them in a bowl of water.



Then it was time for the cupcakes.


Asher was really not into getting his hands dirty, so he just stuck his face right into the icing. I don't think he ever made it past the icing.


Asher got some pretty great presents from everyone, but his favorite was the little tricycle that Roger and I got him. I guess I should have not rolled that out first. He pretty much just sat on it and refused to move. I opened his presents and he just sat on the bike looking confused.


It was even more fun to celebrate Asher's birthday this year since he sort of had an idea that something big was going on. I still don't think he quite got it, but he still loved all of the singing, the cupcakes and the presents.