DB Video

It worked ("It" being our internet was finally fast enough)! I finally uploaded a video!

Indonesia Satay flavor Pringles

DB Several Weeks Ago

The Toby Delima - The Conclusion

Toby and the Brown family have separated. He is now living with one of KB's friends back in our old hometown. It came down to me, I think. I began to resent that little creature every time I walked into our newspaper, pee and poo covered bathroom. There is actually an area for dogs to use the bathroom on the roof of our apartment, but apparently it has not been cleaned in like a month or there are a lot of dogs in this building. Toby needed to have his feet washed every time we took him outside, and with his long fur that got really old for him and us. Our friend is KB's best local friend. He is single and what could help him meet the girl of his dreams but a fluffy little white dog? KB's friend, Roger, has enjoyed having Toby and said he considers it temporary, that whenever we want him back, we can have him back. He said he will keep Toby for months or years, whatever is best for our family. What a guy!

We have enjoyed hearing stories of Roger and Toby. So far Toby has fallen into a river, into a manhole, and has been partially covered in honey. KB visited him when he was in town earlier this week and said Toby looked filthy and would probably need shaved. I do not know why I find that so funny but I do.

For the Grandparents

I owe a huge thanks to my friend Becky who is letting me borrow her camera. It was just painful to let these days of absolute cuteness pass by without taking any pictures of my kids. My littlest heart breaker is filling out and has developed those awesome cheeks his older sister also had and inherited from me. Also, he can old up his head completely on his own now. My little redhead is looking more and more like a little girl and less like a toddler everyday. Both of you, slow down! Stop growing up!

Incidentally I finally chose yesterday to be the first day for DB to use cloth diapers. Cotton Babies gave us a full supply of diapers, and I have been waiting until 1. his tiny hinie was big enough for them, 2. I could locate all of them, and 3. my washing situation was firmly established and routine. I have learned that not one bit of those handy liners should be sticking out of the diaper cover because it will make whatever it touches wet. Also, I should wash the poopie diapers and liners in a not so full washer because otherwise there may be some poppie bits caught in the bunched up elastic areas. Lastly, I should double up on liners at night. I have chosen to use cloth because AB was allergic to something in Asian diapers (but not to US diapers) and had an almost constant diaper rash. The local doctor said even the foreign diaper companies put junk in the diapers that should not be in them. They are not regulated here like they are in the US.

Also incidentally, yesterday was my birthday and I have come to terms that I am now 30. I have never adjusted to change very quickly, especially change that I have not sanctioned - like getting older. Also it does not help that I truly do not feel any different than I did in college; I do not feel older or even more mature (that's scary), I feel 23. It was a good age for me, but I am not 23. I am 30. Anyways, I had moments of self pity that were quickly followed by self-loathing for being so self-centered and short sighted. Ultimately I came to the point of gratitude. I am grateful for the years I have been given and can only hope that I next 30 years are as wonderful as I have experienced so far. I have accomplished everything I hoped to accomplish by the time I am 30, so now it is time to set new goals. Hello 30's. I will enjoy you to the best of my abilities because I would rather by in my 3o's than in my 40's.

Random Pics

Our camera is still M.I.A. but these are from before the move, that is the move to where we live now, not the move back overseas.

Because DB has a problem with reflux, we have found he prefers sleeping in his bouncer. It keeps him up somewhat upright and helps keep that nasty acid down. It is also convenient for us because a bouncer is much smaller than a pack and play. However, now that he wiggles a lot, it is not such a good idea to forgo strapping him in. In my very weak defense, I did not strap him in because sometimes he fell a sleep in my arms and strapping him in woke him up...that still makes me sound bad, but sometimes new moms will do almost anything to keep their baby sleeping peacefully, even risk their saftey - what was I thinking?

The other thing that helps DB sleep is his medication. I love his medication. He probably does too.

We arrived back in country on a Wednesday. Friday morning KB boarded a train to go to the capital of our province and file some paperwork. Come to find out there was another piece of paper he needed to file first in the town we were living in at that time, but fortunately he had other matters to take care of keeping it from being a wasted trip. AB, DB and I got to spend a couple of days alone working through our jet-lag. We only ventured out once to go register with the local government. Basically we stayed in our PJ's almost the entire day and laid around.

Every other picture I took of DB that day was blurry, but this one picture is extremely clear. You may not be able to see it on the blog, but on my computer I can even see the dried milk on his face. He should be so embarrassed.

Like I said, a lot of laying around...and attempts at potty training.

Settling In

This is a long one and it does not include pictures. Did you know we were moving to a new city? Did you know that we have already moved? A little less than 2 weeks ago we moved to a new city. It was a good move for many reasons. Here are two of our favorites - Papa John's and Starbucks! Actually our favorite reasons for moving have nothing to do with delicious chicken barbeque pizza or non-fat decaf lattes, we have friends! I have several females I can talk to, AB has girls she can play with, and DB is soon to have 4 boys he can call his friends all under the age of 2! This city is also conveniently located along a speed train route to the capital of the country making it so that we can be in the capital in 3-4 hours, no need to fly! There are more foreign amenities like avocados, whipping cream (to make sour cream with), and even cake mixes. Also, with having several new girlfriends, I now can even get some good recipes that they have perfected over the years - there are ways to make food in the US and ways to make the same type of food here. Not the same.

Our new apartment is small but cute. It is actually two stories, but it is quite narrow and not deep. On the first floor we have a bathroom (that usually does not smell, yea!), a little living area that is wide enough for 1 three person sofa, a narrow dining area, the kitchen and our bedroom. Upstairs is a bathroom, dressing area, and the two kid's rooms. We feel the lack of space the most on the first floor. Our kitchen is what I call a 1/2 butt kitchen. It is quite narrow, but thanks to Ikea's specialization in small spaces, we have found some nifty things to help maximize the space. Our round table is too big for our dining area, especially since our double wide refrigerator is also in our dining area - classy I know. In our bedroom we have to walk sideways to get around our bed because our two dressers take up too much space in our bedroom.

DB's room is very small, it is like a little nook. The wall paper is pink with flowers and butterflies, yep. His wallpaper will be the first to go once our landlord says we can take it down. AB's room is a decent sized room covered in pale yellow wallpaper that has clovers and dandelions on it.

Our favorite thing about our apartment is our bathtub. Since our apartment is tiny it makes sense that our bathtub is tiny, like 1/2 size. It is cute, and its size has not hindered me from taking a bath every single night (except for when it was clogged and drained into the floor...which has happend 3 times so far). I just have to be creative in how I lay down to wash my hair since it is not even long enough for me to straighten my legs out.

We have nice dark wood floors, better overhead lighting than in our old apartment, and it just seems this landlord has better taste overall. To create the illusion of more space he installed several mirrors throughout the apartment. In our old place we were mirror poor and here we are mirror rich!

The move itself was not so fun. I did not realize how time consuming it is to move one's entire home. Every time I have ever moved, I basically just moved my clothes. When I went to college I moved my clothes. When I moved graduate school I moved my clothes and bedding. When I moved here we sold everything and moved with our 9 suitcases. I have never experienced boxing everything up and moving. I did not realize it could potentially take a month to get settled in. Thankfully some of our friends here have helped us have realistic expectations for ourselves, because I was getting discouraged that it was taking so long.

We have spent the last few days putting together furniture from Ikea. A couple of our new friends were in the captial last week (on their way to see their now legally adopted boys in Ethoipia) where they and our credit card made a big shopping trip for us at Ikea for us. AB now has pretty white day bed and a matching dresser. DB is getting all of her old furniture. It is in bad shape so we figure he can finish the job she started and then we can get him new stuff after it fully cracks into 2 pieces.

I have a lot more to say, but it is just going to get long and boring since I do not have any pictures to post. Somone (not me) packed our camera in a box and did not put it on our inventory list where it was packed. Why it was packed in a box in the first place and not put in the baby bag can only be attributed to the frenzy that was the morning of our move, but regardless I want my camera. DB is smiling like crazy and I have not gotten a single shot of it!