Happy Valentine's Day

I can't believe how bad I am at keeping this thing updated. I think I'm now so busy reading everyone else's blogs, that it doesn't leave me enough time to update my own. Anyhow, things have been pretty quiet for us here. We had orginially scheduled a trip for the Chinese New Year holiday up to the Cameron Highlands here in Malaysia (the northern part up in the hills), but after scares from several people about how dreadful the drive was going to be due to the holiday traffic (our 5 hour drive could have supposedly turn into 10 hours....and travelling with Evan for 10 hours in a car was not our idea of a vacation!!), we decided to nix our trip and just stay in Melaka. It also looks like we won't be making our expected trip to Australia before the baby gets here either. Andrew's schedule just won't allow for it this month and then the Dr. has directed me not to travel after the beginning of March....so guess Australia will just have to wait. It would have been nice to make the trip with only one kiddo, but guess we are now going to have to do it with 2 of them. I can't imagine living over here and not at least visiting the place once. We had planned on doing a bit more travelling while we were here since Evan was getting older, but the baby sort of put a kink in that plan. Oh well, guess we'll have to bring him back to his roots at some point in his life ...maybe we can see more of the area then!

Pregnancy is going well. I just seem to be getting fatter and fatter each day. My mom and I have been working on getting all the new things ordered for the baby so we can get the movers to pack them up and ship them over here. The crib and armoire arrived today....and the bedding also made it last week. The only thing we are still waiting on is the stroller. I had to order everything over the Internet (excpet the furniture which I actually got the chance to look at while we were home for the holidays) so hopefully we'll like everything we've ordered. I'm looking forward to getting the nursery in order. I don't think we'll do any painting since we won't be here that long and it was just repainted when we moved in.

Evan in his Dad's Elton John sunglasses!

As for the little guy, he is just getting so big. He has become quite the clean freak. He hates to have his hands dirty, so he is constantly wiping them if he gets something on them.....and he loves to get his wipes and either clean the floor or the windows or anything else he can find. He also loves to help Marte vacuum the floors. He also hates to have a dirty diaper lying on the floor. If I don't throw it away immediately, he goes to pick it up and looks for the nearest trash can!! It's great to have such a helper...I love it that he likes things to be clean! Now I just hope I can get him to keep it up when he gets older and needs to keep his room clean!!

Evan also started the Level 4 Gymboree class last week. It is for 16-22 month olds, so he is one of the younger ones in the group. It was funny watching him because in the song we sing at the beginning of class, the teacher now has them jump up and down and kick one foot forward. Evan just watched in amazement at all these other kids doing something he couldn't. He did his version of jumping, but it is one where he never leaves the ground! I think he thought it was pretty cool these other kiddos could actually catch some air!!! Hopefully, he can learn from watching them. He had really outgrown the last class where some of the smaller kids still couldn't even walk. I sometimes just can't believe how fast he is growing.

E has also started to say a few more things like "book" and "birds". He also says "pop" when he plays with bubbles (Of course, his Pop was just thrilled to hear about this!!). He also has the funniest imitations of all his animals....he makes a sound for birds, monkeys, dogs and elephants. He also imitates the sound of a car honking, so Andrew now honks everyday he comes home since Evan loves it! And boys will be boys I suppose, he also imitates the sound of his dad's toots!! Did I mention how lucky I will be to have a house full of boys!!!

We've started playing outside a bit more since the early evenings seem to be a bit more breezy lately and thus not so hot. Evan loves to be outside, but I try to keep him in the driveway and out of the grass since there are still tons of mosquitos around the yard. Poor kid won't ever know what it is like to play in grass. He sometimes walks into the yard and it's hilarious to watch because he does it so cautiously. Since it's a bit squishy, I think he isn't sure what to think about it since he is so used to walking on hard surfaces, like tile, wooden floors or pavement. But we try to fly his kite sometimes and play with bubbles....just so he isn't such a bubble boy that stays inside all the time!

This is E's "I want a snack" face after a nap....unfortunately, his Dad likes to snack on Bacos (yes, those unhealthy bacon pieces), so Evan too now asks for and goes to the fridge for Bacos! I've started to hide them from him now. Although you'll notice in the picture above, he still likes his healthy snacks...like apples.

He loves his bubbles!! Oh yeah, and Marte has also taught him to "laugh" on cue....he does this "ha ha" thing...it's too cute.