Bangkok Day 1

It is doubtful I will do daily posts, but why not start with day 1!

Our Air Conditioner, for which we are truly grateful, froze up. It started sounding like an ice machine from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. And at 6 a.m. Sophia came in and said: "It is 7 o'clock!" 
"honey, your watch is on China time, another hour until 7!"
Finally all the kids started waking, to limit the noise for any other guests around, I said:
"let's just go down stairs, drink coffee, and let them play."

After breakfast, we walked along the river watching the river taxis make big waves and finally ended up at the hospital for our check-ups. We decided to do the kids' first. We love their pediatrician and she was thrilled that we asked her to be the pediatrician for this baby girl too.

Bella got a dtap booster that did cause a slight fever tonight, and Tobin got his first of 3 in the series for Rabies. They both did cry, and then Sophia, who did not get a shot, could not stand to see both her bro and sis so distraught, that she cried too. All three needed comforting. Serious sweetness by older sis. The tears were short-lived and we went to Au Bon Pain for mid-morning snack, a special treat reward for their stellar travels yesterday, and because they got shots, muffins and chocolate croissants were involved in this little picnic.

Next up, baby check up for me! My doctor was walking out of the door, saw me, smiled, and turned right back around. An ultrasound was not needed, he checked the heartbeat, and felt the position, said she felt a little small, maybe less than 3 kg, not sure. We reviewed the birth weight of the previous 3, he did not seem worried. Bella weighed in at under 3kg, she is still our petite little girl, maybe this girl will be like her. Everything seems fine, and we set the date (again), September 17, 10 a.m. or thereabouts. He at first said we would need to arrive at 7 a.m for a 9 a.m. delivery. But out of convenience for those watching our kids, etc. we pushed it back an hour. I will see him weekly until then, every Friday!

We had lots of waiting on paperwork, finally we grabbed lunch to take back to the guesthouse. After an attempt at naps for everyone, we made plans to find a pool. Finally, we found one with a decent rate and bought a membership. It was raining on and off, but we still swam. Tobin told us when he had to use the bathroom, and did not pee in the pool! Yeah!

We walked straight from the pool to buy groceries, it was dinner time and we were not up for anything big, so we bought cereal, yogurt and fruit for dinner, along with other groceries, got them delivered to the guest house (the $2 was worth it). It was really raining by then and we finally found an available tuk-tuk!

No idea what our Saturday may bring. Maybe I will get my haircut, maybe not...

We have arrived in Bangkok!

We left at 8:15 a.m. and arrived at the guest house around 6:00 p.m. local time (so, 7 p.m. in China), we ordered our standard Lebanese fare, played a little and came upstairs. Our actual apartment is not ready yet, and we are not sure when it will be available, possible 6 days. We are now in the main guest house in two rooms. But we are SO glad to be here!

The kids traveled very well! Tomorrow we will see my doctor and the the kids will get check-ups(and possibly shots!).

We plan to chill out over the weekend, get a little settled, and figure out what kind of fun outings we plan to do. David will try keep office hours most days from morning until after nap until the baby comes, but like last time we have learned to plan fun family outings during the week and work on the weekends in order to avoid traffic and crowds! Plus he has promised the girls a huge reward (possibly a water park) for learning (mostly) all of their 80 catechism questions!

Up first for me? A haircut hopefully.

More later. 

Tobin's Superhero

Background:

In July we traveled to Thailand and met up with some friends. One specific family that we spent some time with made a deep impression on Tobin, actually, the dad, "Uncle Spencer". This was primarily due to the fact that on one songtao (truck taxi) ride Uncle Spencer let Tobin pull on his beard, laugh and giggle, and do it again, the WHOLE ride. He also got to listen to Uncle Spencer's music, and would sing right along. 

What month are we in now? Oh yes, almost September. A month back, early August, David was listening to the music on his computer, Tobin ran in and said: 'I want to see Uncle Penper! Uncle Penper!'

It took just a few times of repetition for Tobin to be able to clearly say Spencer, and now, we hear about him every. day. And just to not exaggerate, we actually hear Tobin say "Uncle Spencer" about 15 times a day.

Uncle Spencer sent us some music, with a funny pic, and Tobin thinks it is really him. We listen to this and sing along in the mornings some days. But even before we ever start, Tobin is pleading: 'I want to listen to Uncle Spencer, Uncle Spencer'.

Yesterday, David had some stubble on his face, and was hugging on Tobin. Tobin grabbed David's chin and said: 'I like your Uncle Spencer'. (his whole world is defined by this super hero of his).

Today, as I write, David needed to give Tobin a haircut, and Tobin usually does really well, but just in case there was a problem, David promised: 'we will listen to Uncle Spencer'. They did. And Tobin sat perfectly still. 

He even sat still while Sophia combed his hair. He really didn't budge.

This look is because it was storming and a loud thunder boom rocked the valley. 

But Uncle Spencer sang on, and Tobin just sat there....

Now at my computer...

Tobin just walked up to my desk, got out his play cell phone and said: "I want to turn on my Uncle Spencer" and then he put the phone to his ear and said: "Hi Uncle Spencer".... (see what I mean by the 15x a day!)

We actually love real life super heroes in our children's lives. Thanks Uncle Spencer for being a worthy one. 

Like Daddy

Here is a peek into David's office. Look at that little fella down there, looking just like his daddy! This also was on the weekend, Tobin was watching a Dora. And just so I don't feel guilty about letting my 2-year-old watch a video, let's consider it his Chinese language lesson. I have learned quite a good bit of Chinese from these Dora videos.

I did ask David if he was worried about Tobin peeing and it getting near his ipad. Nah! Tobin has not had an accident in a long time!!! And even though we put pull ups on at nap and night, for 3 nights he has been dry! Crazy. But nap time is more inconsistent. He is doing great!

DIY Life-size ruler: Kids' growth chart

When I saw this on pinterest a long time ago I put it on my project list. Then it made the list 'to do before baby 4'. And there it stayed...and stayed. On Saturday I mentioned to David, somewhat on a whim, that maybe we could go get a piece of wood and start. David liked the idea of this project from the beginning, a way to measure our kids' growth and have it be transportable in case of a move, plus it just looks cool. 

David knew where to go to get some wood (he made our flower beds remember), he found an awesome piece of solid Teak Wood. While David had the guy plane and sand it some and get it looking good, the kids and I danced in the car to our catechism songs, they still LOVE them. We waited at least 30 minutes, with NO complaining....buy the album! We went and ate noodles, egg pancakes, and lemon drinks for lunch, and David bought an 'L' measuring thing (have no idea what this is called), to make sure we would get things straight on our board. Without this instrument this would not have turned out well at all.

We really did not quite know what we were getting into. Online we found the paper/poster kind starting at $30, the wooden variety were never less than $100 and we found one of solid oak that was going for (gasp) $456.00. We were just browsing for ideas of how to put the numbers on, and since we live in Asia, we knew we had to do both Metric and Feet. 

We chose a side, and then started practicing on the back. I did buy some decent stencils last time we were in the U.S. and these are what we used! We opted out of paint, too messy, we used a sharpie. I could write an ode to this sharpie pen, seriously.

It was a Saturday, Tobin was napping, Bella was allowed to watch a video because Sophia went to the movies with a friend. Bella also colored and watched us a lot. We got a solid 2.5 hours of work in and had a long way to go. 

We toyed with the idea of starting a business, rare teak wood, made-to-order. After hour 4 we said no way.

 Lighting is bad, but it started to take shape and we were pleased.

 We had to stop for dinner, and to take care of kiddos! We still had all the metric measurements to go! Ugh. We wanted this to end in a day, so as soon as the kids were down we went back to it. Because David is even more meticulous than I am in measuring, aligning, perfecting, we spent some time on trying to get all the numbers straight, spaced correctly, etc. Not to mention the fact that we were constantly re-checking to make sure that we were actually writing the correct numbers!

We aren't super sure how long it took us total. We always stopped in-between to take care of kids, etc. But I think about five hours is a good estimate. It was tedious and nerve-racking, but every time we finished a number we would fix any smears, and be encouraged...it was looking really good. In the end, we loved it, smudges and all. 

It is ours, we did it, home-made, with all its flaws, it was worth it! 

 The actual centimeter to inches may be a little off, but just by a little, we do not care! It is 6'2" tall, and will be mounted against the wall somehow. We can always cut the bottom off and mount it necessary, most on-line did not start at zero on the bottom.

 Major props go to David, who really spear-headed this whole thing after I made my passing comment. And he always sees things through and needs completion, so we stayed up until 11 p.m. and finished it! He was amazing, and patient, and encouraging. He didn't consider this one of my 'home-decor' whims, he considered it a great/fun thing to add to our family traditions.

The only question now is: how to mark it? A different color for each child? Initials, etc? we have not decided! The kids love it too! Thanks David for doing this with me!

Progress in 'Big Boy Boot Camp' among other things

We did have breakthrough in the potty area! Yes, he still has accidents, and does not stay dry at night or nap yet, but he is done with real diapers! Yeah. No, I haven't put the rugs back down yet.

By day 5 and some more tactic changes and major consistency in disobedience issues, he began to get it without so much rebellion. And now that he can actually feel it (most of the time), he is more confident too!

We are so proud of him. 

I found this new toy, which is something the girls have in their classrooms at school, and it occupied the kiddos for a while today.

There is his 'big boy bed' in the background, do you like our guardrail? Used with every child, this huge pillow, has kept our kids from falling off their beds.

I am seven days without our helper, which so far has been fine, since I pre-made and prepped my meals last week, and enforced child labor today. Bella surprised me by sweeping the floors really well, and Sophia tried her hand at mopping. My motto was simply: 'cleaner than it was before'. They succeeded.

 

Yes, there has been much progress in 'Big Boy Boot Camp', this is what my friend, a mother of 5, calls what she starts when her kids turn 2. You spend a few weeks on each big step. 

• Taking the high chair away, (we had a booster seat, but since potty training we took that too)
•  no more use of the stroller (in restaurants we used the stroller as his seat a lot, since there are no high chairs here) (we actually may use the stroller in the airport on our way out, but then it becomes baby sis'.), 
• if going to the market with Ayi he has to walk, she sometimes would do the standard wrapping him on her back, no longer!
• No more crib/pack-n-play: on to big boy bed.
•  and lastly, potty training.

 This has taken and will continue to take a lot of training, but he really is doing well. In Bangkok he will share a bedroom with Soph and Bella, and then when we return he will move into their room for awhile until baby sis sleeps through the night, or whatever time is best for her to transition to the girls' room.
I am sure you are tired of hearing about the potty, let's move on...

We may just call this baby girl meimei, 'little sis' since we are coming up with names and tossing many as soon as we come up with them. I have some I like, but I tend to be on the hippie weirder side, David reels me back. Please send us any advice on girl names you may have!!! We are all ears.
Of course, we had no idea when naming Sophia or Isabella, that their names for their year would be #1 in America, ugh. We love their names, and their meanings, and I still have not met one Sophia in Sophia's generation. Bella, on the other hand, does seem a little more common.

I am digressing. I am tired. I just dug through and figured the algorithm for all three current kids' immunizations. It takes some maneuvering, even though we have kept extensive records, I still always check and double check. Looks like some shots will be needed. We are all due for a Rabies booster, a shot we firmly believe in, since it pretty much saved David's life. Another story. I go to bed now.

Sofeu and other miscellanies right now

This is how Bella spelled Sophia all on her own. We thought it clever since she was following all the English phonetic sounds. I have yet to do any formal handwriting, but she copies us all the time and is sounding it out obviously.

This past weekend was not restful, not only did we start this potty training fiasco fun, but we had workers in our house pulling huge, fat wires out of our wall.

 These are video wires and though we didn't want them to do this, they are connected to all the 2nd, 3rd, 4th floor video feeds that go to the front entrance, so we really couldn't stop them. Yes they had to take down our cabinet to get to it. 

Our landlord is to the far right, he is young and newly married, they live in the same complex, one building over, on the second floor. They are super nice, we like them a lot.  The contractor/boss of the folks who actually finished our apartment also came, to make sure things were okay and help. We had some unsatisfactory results a year ago, he was very helpful this time. 

Our life RIGHT now:

Outside our window: cloudy and rain one minute, rainbow and sunshine the next, I have gotten caught in the rain with the girls many times on the moto returning from school. Really I should know better, this being our 8th rainy season.

Pests: ants, ants, everywhere! But they are our preferred pests, better than huge spiders, roaches, rats, and the like.

On our table: greek wraps again, whole family loves these, in the top five of fam favorites, and so easy. Daily though would be green smoothies still, pineapple, mango, and kefir water!

On our TV: not too much really. We have ditched some previous watched shows whose story lines kept having too much violence and/or children involved in the crime. In the fall we will probably continue with NCIS (which tends to keep it tame, and rarely ever involves crimes with children), and Bluebloods. We don't watch news or anything like that, rarely visit media sites, and therefore, don't really know what is going on in the world, enough is going on right where we are!

On our date nights: usually Sushi and noodles at a new Korean restaurant, the folks speak some English, not much Chinese, and are very sweet. These days we run errands or shop a little.

We keep forgetting: that we actually need to start thinking of a name for babygirl...

On the calendar:

     -Aug 9: last day of Chinese school, next semester starts 9/1, but we will be gone, Our girls will start almost 2 months late

    -Aug 10: Sophia and Bella go to first 'drop-off' birthday party

    -Aug 29th: we go to Bangkok for awhile

    -Sept 17th: possible C-section date 

In the garden: Our cucumbers grew big and tall, then it rained with no sun for nearly 3 weeks. All died. The grandpa next door decided to help us, we barely nudged him, he is meticulous about his yard and all that he is growing, and he has nothing better to do except smoke and garden. He is very nice and hard to understand. He pulled all those up and planted some beans and another green leafy veg. The other stuff doesn't seem to be faring well either, though there are some plants up and looking healthy, just no 'fruit' yet. This has been a very wet rainy season, I am sure it has affected them, that and our complete lack of knowledge on the subject. This was our trial year....

Potty Training: Epic failure....?

 Let's start with something positive, aren't these kids hilarious? 

And look at that boy, handsome and sweet? 

He is...but... I threw in the towel today, on day 4 of potty training. It is not that I expected him to get it in 4 days, I just didn't expect the stubborn will and all his tactics at refusal....

Day 3 seemed better, though his victories on the potty were really just because we timed it right, and that is okay at this stage. But every instance was a struggle. By today, his mantra was 'no potty, mommy...no skittles mommy....no marshmallows, no drink, no juice'. After having him on the potty, then getting him off and him going on the floor 4 times, I put a diaper on him. The last straw was when he threatened to flush a new little truck down the potty. 

I am 8 1/2 months prego, I do not sleep well at night, and all my other excuses have made this hard. I do have to say, that though I had a splitting headache in the afternoon, I sat down, put my feet up, and actually relaxed, while Tobin played outside...in his diaper. I honestly did not care. 

We are going to chill out a few days and regroup. 

I just received an encouraging email with some more tactics, and really good advice, so we may wait until this weekend and try again....or until he enters college. Not sure at this point.

And don't worry, in all my frustration, I made sure I loved on him hard. 

I am considering for next baby girl, at 6 months old, hiring a Chinese grandma to come and potty train Chinese style (split pants and whistling are involved).

A few more quotes from today: 

I put a button up shirt on Tobin and said : This is a 'shuai ge' (handsome guy) shirt. He went around saying, just like I did mixing the English and Chinese: "I am shuai ge", yes, you are but you shouldn't go around announcing it!

He called for David (Daddy!!!), after he closed the door at bedtime. When David entered he said: 'sound machine, daddy!' David had forgotten to turn the sound machine on, Tobin loves it.

Potty training....oh my!

We decided to start potty training Tobin today. We had talked about it all week, he has talked about it too. I called a friend, discussed standing vs. sitting for a boy, etc. and she reminded me that I needed some underwear (oops). I had remembered this a few weeks ago but forgot. I went out and bought 13 pair.

After the first hour we switched tactics and that started working better. He actually stayed dry through his nap (though we put a pull up on over his underwear), but he got up and had an accident. He had many accidents, that is what you do when you don't yet know the feeling. He also had many victories. We really are not sure if he is getting it or not.
It was a. long. day.
Long, especially for David because Tobin refused most of the time to let me help him. We have no idea why. I kept expecting him to say ' because daddy is a boy' but he didn't. So, yes, today David did the brunt of the work, while the girls and I encouraged him and played together. I was so very exhausted anyway, which seems to be my life these days.

In the middle of the morning the internet guys came over (it took 4 of them) to install new internet, David had to deal with that, while Tobin would not cooperate with me helping him...it was chaotic, and looking back, not a little comedic, it could have been a TV show.

I was ready to throw in the towel and wait 6 months, but we may just pull through this over the next few days/weeks....

Reading these days...months...

I like to note what I have been reading every once in a while, simply to remember...except it has been so long since I have done this that I am sure I will leave out some books, oh well.

I do have to say, especially since the DG blog just posted this post about PG Wodehouse, that his books added to my library have been quite refreshing. Introduced to Wodehouse a few years ago by the brilliant folks at The Circe Institute (classical education website), I started recommending his classics to people around me and got quizzical looks. My first book by Wodehouse was Something New, I think I chose it because it was free on Kindle. Now I have an anthology of his works on kindle. We were traveling in the States when first reading him and I would have to pause and read aloud to David the hilarious scene that had just transpired. I laugh out loud a lot at his writing, and this is what I need right now. Writing comedy is hard to do, his story lines are borderline absurd, and his descriptions wordy yet brilliant. Wodehouse gets away with all of it. Try him out, you won't be disappointed!

But I do read more serious things too, so here we go, this will be in the order in which I remember them and are probably just from this year.

• Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style. This is more of a resource and was on so many 'classical educators' read list that I finally dug in. It was worth it, especially part II where they detail subject by subject how they taught their children, resources used, etc. I read this in parts, would put it down for a while and then return to it.
• Managers of their Homes. Excellent resource for moms of many kids, or anyone really. A mother of five introduced this book to me and it is all about scheduling your day, giving great advice on how to organize and get kids involved in all the activities needed to make a house run smoothly. 
• Basket of Flowers, a story that challenged and encouraged my faith
• Elsie Dinsmore, another fiction story intended to encourage one's faith through the life of  a little girl trying to live it out.
• A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-torn Skies of WWII. This was a Mohler list recommendation and it did not disappoint. I bought this for David for Father's day. We love this genre.
• For Whom the Bell Tolls. Classic Hemingway,  heroic, incredible prose, and tragic.I thought I had read this before, but no. I am sure this is free somewhere.
• Good and Angry: Exchanging Frustration for Character in You Your Kids. This was a great book, it has changed the way we parent (most days). Very valuable and practical.
• Simply Yunnan. A cookbook, yes, but written by a friend about the place we live and places we have visited. This was a nostalgic read, and I still live here, LOL. Really good and helpful in mimicking some of our favorite dishes. Highly recommend!
• From the Tea Village. By the same author as Simply Yunnan, Rebecca Henderson does a great job of capturing the story of Lydia, a local minority girl, and her life growing up in rural China. I read this in two sittings, it flowed that nicely.
• Right Ho, Jeeves. P.G. Wodehouse. Fun and fast read. Free on Kindle, enough said.
• Not to mention the gazillion read alouds that keep our family going. Just picked up a bunch!

On my night stand right now: Peacemaking for families, Mission to Cathay, and Into Thin Air (I have read this before but want to reread)

Kids Quotables

It is our date night. My requirement right now is somewhere with AC, which narrows it down to about two places (if they even have it on). I really don't want KFC fried chicken, but their lemonade and AC is really appealing at the moment.

Tobin at two is quite the talker. I expected a quieter boy since our girls love to talk. That is about where their similarities end. He  is quite different in what he gets into and his constant need to be reminded...
here are some differences I have noticed in the girl v boy at this stage...

....his already discussing private parts and thinking it is funny, too many hilarious quotes about this, non-bloggable!
....his need to destroy. He loves to brake crayons, a big 'no-no', he loves to get into whatever it is the girls are working on and tear it down (legos, drawings, etc.), he likes to throw things, he loves to hit
....he loves to flush the toilet. No, we are not potty training yet, but he likes the bathroom.
....his ability to take things apart. He gets a pen and will break it down, not 'breaking' it, but breaking it down to its minimalist parts, springs and all. He tries to put it back together but doesn't quite get there, maybe there is the Coker engineer in him.
...he doesn't care about getting dirty like the girls did.

These are just a few things that at this point are quite different from the way our girls were....it is fun, and exhausting.

Back to the talking....

• As David closed Tobin's door one night David said: "Good night Tobin" Tobin called back and said: "say 'sleep tight' daddy"
• "can I date mommy?" He was trying to repeat what David was saying about us going on a date, and Tobin wanted to go too.
• Walking outside on our boardwalk with Tobin he kept saying: 'watch your step mommy!'
• on the same walk he said: 'nice outside mommy'. I replied 'yes it is nice outside'.

Sophia:
David said: "I am glad you are doing better, it makes me sad when you are sick"
to which Sophia said: 'you don't need to be fearful, daddy'

When reviewing a new catechism question, Sophia asked: "If God has always been, then how can he be in Mary's Belly?" 

Bella:
When asked how they did on our date: "I didn't obey, mommy.....I mean.....I didn't disobey!"
Before bedtime, when asked if she had used the bathroom yet, I said 'when did you last go to the potty?' she replied: "I went yesterday" she laughed and we all laughed and then she said: "guys!!! don't laugh at me!"