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.

No need for a trip to the zoo

Well, I guess our backyard (or back garden...if I'm to use the correct lingo) friends must have missed us because we were welcomed home by about 30 to 40 monkeys the weekend after we returned from the holidays (I started this post several weeks ago, but never got around to finishing it). It seems like they are getting less and less afraid of coming up to the house now (as you can see in some of the pictures below!) . They were everywhere - from the living room patio to the patio connected to the kitchen and even on our outside patio table downstairs. Andrew managed to get a video clip of all of them playing on our back fence, too (last picture below). Enjoy...

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

And the news everyone has been waiting for....

So for all of you who thought we were in for a little girl....guess you were wrong!! While I thought it might be interesting to see how a little girl would change Andrew, we are overjoyed to be adding another boy to our family! A house full of boys....whatever will I do?!?!

Nana, sorry we still couldn't produce a little girl for you...those boys just keep on coming!! And BeBe, it's a good thing it's not a girl, I'm not sure we would have had the closet space for all the dresses you would have gone crazy buying!! Regardless, I know the 2nd is going to be just as spoiled by both sets of grandparents as Evan is!! The Dr. initially told us he may not be able to determine the sex this time either....because as you can see from the picture above, the little guy was a little shy at showing us his goods and kept his legs crossed for quite some time, but then.....
for those of you who need more proof.....well there you have it ladies and gentleman....our new little one and all his manlihood!! Looks to be quite sizeable, don't you think?!?!?

And from the looks of it, this one might have some of Andrew's features this time....we think the nose looks a bit more like his than mine.

Now for a name.....here we go again....hopefully this one will get a name sooner than Evan did!! We'll keep you posted. As far as the pregnancy is concerned, our little man is looking very healthy, developing nicely and measuring right on track for a May 20th delivery.

And oh yeah, as for an update on our new live-in nanny/maid....oh my goodness, why didn't we do this 9 months ago!! We seemed to have gotten really lucky with Marte! She's good.... I've never had our house look and smell so clean...daily...and she is wonderful with Evan!! We actually left E with her today while Andrew and I went to KL for our Dr appt and he didn't miss me one bit. Everytime I called to check in he was giggling in the background and when we returned he could have cared less. Good thing I suppose, but I'd hoped he would have missed me just a bit!!! God knows I missed being away from him for those 7 hours (I think that is the longest we've ever been apart since he was born...aside from a night he spent with my parents while we were in OK!!) I told Andrew everything is great until he starts calling her "Mom" , then she is out of here ;-). But seriously, the weirdness I thought we might experience of having a complete stranger live with us might have made this not-so-fun, but she's been here a week now, and it doesn't feel like an imposition at all. I'm not sure how we'll ever go without her now....especially once #2 arrives!!

We've made it back home from the holidays!!

I'd intended on posting a couple of entries while we were in the US so this one wouldn't be so long, but like I'm sure everyone else, we seemed to stay so busy visiting with family. I can't believe how fast 18 days flew by. Luckily, we travelled both ways with no problems whatsoever! We thought the weather in Chicago might have caused some problems, but we seemed to have missed the worst days on both sides....we did get to see alot of snow though! While we didn't actually go out in it, we pointed out to E what snow looked like since he'd never seen it before....but can't say he was too impressed!! As for travelling with a 14 month old....all I can say is it could have been a million times worse. Evan was actually quite a good kid and slept a good bit of the way, which made it nice. He received several comments from fellow passengers about how well he travelled...so we called that success!! I'm not sure how we will ever do it with 2 kiddos, but I guess it happens...we saw several people traveling with 2 or 3...it definitely will take some patience!!!

Here's in at the Shanghai airport on the way back to the US. We had a fantastic time at both our parents houses. E had a great time riding in his new red wagon. Boss took him down to the park a couple of days and he said they had the best time. The weather was actually just beautiful...not too hot and not too cold...it was perfect. My parents had also set up a "mini-playground" in their garage for E in case it was too cold outside for him and he loved it....although we found out he hated the sound of the garage door being opened. He was actually terrified of going back into the garage for a couple of days after he first heard it. It took some coercing to get him back in it and then he was fine after he realized the door wasn't some big "monster mouth!" It seemed like he started opening presents from the time we arrived. There were so many toys for him to play with that he had to open them early so he'd get a chance to play with those we didn't have room to bring back with us. And oh my goodness, you should have seen the nursery my parents put together for him. It looked better than the one I have for him here. They had wallpapered on one of those murals that takes up the entire wall with a scene from like the Jungle Book and had a matching bedding set and everything....it looked great! You would have thought they were planning on keeping Evan with them!! They did way too much for the short time we were visiting, but my mom insisted that she was doing it for her "precious angel" regardless of how long he was visiting. I'm not sure why I never got a picture of it, but I'll have to have my mom get one to me somehow so I can post it out here.Anyhow, so E also had 2 Dr. appts while we were in Laredo...a pedi appt to get his 12 month vaccinations and his 1st dentist appt. The pediatrician appt was miserable....the nurse who gave him the vaccinations was horrible....I don't think she could have made it anymore painful if she tried...the poor guy whailed and ended up with a knot in his right thigh that is only now starting to disappear. He was a real trooper though and only cried until we walked out of the Dr's office...guess he'd had enough of the place. As for his dentist appt....all is great and we found out that E was getting 4 of his molars....so we've had some teething issues lately. They've finally all cut through so it's not so bad any longer. We weren't ever sure if it was his teeth that were bothering him because he also chose Christmas Eve to get sick on us. He puked up his entire Christmas Eve dinner (by the way, I've never seen so much come out of such a little person!!), had diarehha and began running a high fever. So when his fever was even higher on Christmas Day, we chose to take him to the ER...since all the Dr's offices and 24 hour clinics were closed for Christmas. Of course, the ER Dr made us feel like we were complete fools for taking him there because he said he only had a virus. We were traveling to OK the next day, so I wanted to be sure he got some antibiotics in case it was a bacterial infection, but the Dr. ensured us it was only a virus....he was a real ass and could have been a bit nicer given it was Christmas Day....we weren't at home either enjoying the day!!

While in Laredo, we also made a trip to Eldorado (a memorable one given that Andrew didn't make it one week back in the country without getting a speeding ticket...another ass who you would have thought would have been in the giving mood given the holiday season...NOPE....$185 for 12 miles over the speed limit - which we still don't believe....crazy!!). We also had a great time there. We were able to visit with my Honey (my Mom's mom) and then my aunt and a few cousins also came into town for a nice visit. We also visited with my Grandma T (my Dad's mom) and another aunt and some cousins. It was so good to be able to see everyone. We just wish we'd been able to see more of my family. We were only there for a day, but it was worth the trip.

Here is Evan and Honey in Eldorado.
And Evan and Grandma T
Saying goodbye to BeBe and Boss before we head to Oklahoma.
So on the 26th we travelled to Oklahoma to visit the Thompsons. The flight was a breeze given that we'd already done 30 hours of traveling just the week before, but once we got to Tulsa....4 of our 5 bags hadn't made it with us. They'd had some confusion in Dallas and our bags were still there. Funny enough, the only piece of luggage that did make it was the one filled with toys that BeBe and Boss had given Evan....alot of good those were going to do us. Fortunately, they were able to locate them and we had them delivered to Muskogee at 2 in the morning....just in time to get up and brush our teeth the next morning!!! We had our 2nd Christmas Day the evening we arrived...although everyone had to wait and get our gifts the next morning since they were in one of the pieces of luggage that was missing. We had a great time visiting with all the family and E had a great time playing with his cousin Drew. You can see some pictures below of the 2 of them in their matching PJs. Our time in Muskogee was really great....we did alot of laying low which is exactly what we needed. Evan didn't feel great most of the time we were there...running a fever and with a horribly runny nose. You could tell he just didn't feel well at all. Unfortunately, we had a photographer coming by early in the week to get a few pictures of the boys (of course, in their matching sweaters) as well as some family photos and E just wasn't having a great day...so no smiles and alot of crying during the whole event. Needless to say, there were very few photos worth purchasing. He did start feeling a bit better a couple of days before we headed out (lucky for us, since a sick kid on that long of a flight would not have been fun at all!!!), so at least Nana and Pop had a happy grandkid for at least some of our visit....you can tell he was back in full swing when the video was taken.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

As for New Year's Eve - it was fairly uneventful.....as expected being 5 months pregnant, I guess!! Andrew's little brother Jeff and his wife came back to Muskogee from OKC to have NY's eve dinner with us....Nana and Pop stayed at home and watched after E. We had a good time, but didn't quite make it to midnight....I think we all hit the hay about 11:00!So at 4am on the 2nd, we headed to Tulsa to catch our flight back to Malaysia. As I said before, we had no problems at all, with the weather or anything else. Although, it was a bit diffucult in Shanghai. We had to claim our luggage there and recheck it in. So with 6 pieces of luggage (we acquired 2 more than we left with!!), Evan, his stroller, 2 carryon bags and a carseat....it made that process a bit difficult. But other than that, it was a pretty uneventful trip back home. E did well, but was definitely through with being in an airplane for awhile. Luckily, it took no time at all to get readjusted to the time difference. It was quite a different process when we went the other way. It must have taken Evan about 5 days to finally get his nights and days straight. He'd take wonderful naps during the day, but would wake up about 2am every morning, just ready to go. I felt so bad for the poor guy....I know how I felt, so I know it was hard on him too.Anyhow, we are back now and finally settled back into our routine. We wish we'd had a longer visit, but it was nice to get back into our own bed again! We head to pick up the new nanny/maid tomorrow, so we are hoping this new help works out as well as the previous lady we used. Which by the way, was no fun to say good-bye to. I think she had gotten so used to caring for E that she just broke down and cried on her last day. It was so sad, I hated to see her cry. I know she probably felt like Evan was one of her own grandkids, so I insisted that she could come visit anytime or that we would go to her house to visit from time to time....that seemed to help. We just hope and pray that Marti will be as loving and caring with Evan as Ramyee had been.....wish us luck!!! Not to mention I have to get used to having another person in the house 24/7. I'm sure I'm going to look back at this time and totally be wishing I could have this sort of help when are back in the US!!

Sorry again for the rather lengthy posting!! I'll try to keep them brief this year! Hope everyone has a wonder ful 2008!!

Here is a family photo of us on the day that we had the professional photographer over, but didn't get one single good family shot the entire time!! This was the best we could manage....and it was with our own camera before she actually arrived!

Still in suspense

We've returned from our Dr. appt in KL today and no such luck on finding out what we are having....bummer...I was really hoping to finally know! I think Andrew must have jinxed us because he woke up this morning saying he had a feeling we weren't going to find out today...and sure enough. What we did find out is that the baby is healthy and growing just as expected. We got to see his/her face, hands and feet....and legs, which by the way were crossed and why the Dr wasn't able to give us an indication of what we will be having - what a stinker........the baby, not the Dr!! Even though I was a bit disappointed that we didn't find out, it was a nice feeling to know all is going well thus far. But what makes it even worse, is that we now have to wait until we return from the holidays and have our next appt....Jan 16th!! Another month....the suspense is killing me!! I'm not sure how those couples do it.....those that never want to find out the sex of the baby until the baby is born! I could never do it!

Anyhow, we are busily getting ready to leave on Monday now. We have everything we are taking laid out and I will spend tomorrow getting it packed into the suitcases. Luckily, I think we are going to end up having plenty of room to bring things back with us. I was hoping to do some gender specific shopping for the new baby while we were back in the states, but I guess that won't be happening now. Although, I'm sure I'll still manage to do some shopping anyhow. Since we are allowed a baby shipment from the US, we are going ahead and purchasing a crib and dresser and double stroller while we are there for the holidays and having it shipped to us here. I've got a 500lb limit, so I'm hoping to get a few other items included in the shipment as well. I'm glad COP offers this perk because things here just aren't made of the same quality and if they are US type products they cost about 2-3 times as much. For example, you know the simple exersaucers you can get in the US for about $80-90, you find them here (KL or Singapore, not Melaka) for about $220.....it's absurd!!

Wish we had been able to share some exciting news with everyone today, but guess you'll have to wait now too!! We'll be sure and let everyone know how our 26 hour trip back home with a 14 month old goes.....I have a feeling it's going to be an adventure like no other!! Hopefully, it just doesn't turn out being like our last trip back home.....a 2 full day journey!

Oh and by the way, we will have Christmas cards headed your way, but I'm not sure you'll actually get them by Christmas....sorry for my poor planning this year. I'd been thinking about starting the Christmas card process since the end of October and just never got around to it....so, sorry if they are so late. Below is a picture of Evan that I had intended to be our Christmas card, but Andrew thought it looked more like a card we'd send out if we were living in some place like Norway (guess the wool pants and vest looked to snowy!), so we went a different route with the ones you are actually getting. But, I thought this one was too cute not to share with everyone!!

Hope everyone has a great holiday season!!

Less than a week away....

until we make our 25 hour trek back to the US!!! We are so excited. It has been 6 months since we've been back and not that I miss it too much...I'm just ready to get to spend time with all our family during the holidays. We leave on the 17th and will spend through Christmas day with my parents in Laredo (also travelling to Eldorado to see my grandparents and other family members) and then on the 26th we will travel to Oklahoma to spend some time with Andrew's side of the family. We then head back to Melaka on the 2nd of January. We might be needing some of the Malaysian warmth after spending some time in OK with the weather they have been getting the last few days. I think Andrew's mom is secretly praying for some serious winter weather so that our flight is canceled and we can stay a bit longer!

I love Christmas time and it will be so much more exciting this year with Evan. Last year, he was just a tiny one so he pretty much slept through the holidays. We are looking forward to watching E spend some time with his cousin in Oklahoma. Since Evan wasn't getting around much on his own during our last visit, it was a little hard for Drew and him to play together, but I think this visit will be a whole different story. His BeBe and Boss are also thrilled to see him again. They've gone out and bought him a new slide and swing to play on while we are there and he also got a new red wagon...so his Boss is eagerly awaiting for E to arrive so he can pull him to the playground down the street from their house in it. And well, his Nana and Pop are just dying to see him too ....they haven't seen him in 6 months (well, except via our webcam), so they aren't going to believe how much he has changed since they last saw him! I'm still amazed at how much he changes on a daily basis these days!! His lastest is turning around in circles when you tell him to dance and then turn around and we've finally got him saying "please"....although it comes out more like "eezzzz". He is much better at asking for "cheese", which actually comes out like "cheese"!

I've spent the last couple of days trying to get things in order (as well as do my holiday on-line shopping.....I just love the internet!!) before we head out. I'm trying to ensure we take the right things - hmmmm, 80 degress in Laredo....and 40 degress in Oklahoma - that presents a problem of its own....and then making sure we take enough luggage to be able to bring back things from Christmas and all our other "can't do without" US items. And well, I'm just not really fitting into any of my jeans or other winter clothes any longer, so guess I'll have to do some shopping while back in the states. By the way, big news on the way - hopefully we find out what we are having on Friday....hopefully, the baby will be in the right position...I'm tired of calling him a her or her a him! Although, I have a really strong feeling we might have another boy on our hands....guess we'll know soon enough!!

We went to S'pore this weekend and had a great time. There were Christmas lights, trees, and music everywhere we went. Our hotel even had 2 beautiful, REAL trees in the lobby....they smelled wonderful and looked beautiful!!! I miss not having our own tree this year, but it was nice to surround ourselves in the Christmas feel while we were there. E and I got our flu vaccinations while we were there as well. We thought we'd wait and get E his when he visits the pedi while back in the US, but then I thought it might help against anything he might catch while we are travelling back. Although, I think it takes a couple of weeks for it to become effective so hopefully neither of us catch it while travelling. This was the first injection he has had since he was 6 months old, so we weren't sure what to expect....and strangely enough, we got nothing when the Dr gave him the shot. He tensed up a bit, but never let out even the tiniest whimper....he actually laughed at Andrew and I as we tried to distract him!! What a tough little man....sure hope his set of vaccinations go as well when we visit the pediatrician next week!!

And oh yeah, E got his 5th haircut while we were there as welll.

Well, we hope everyone is having a great time getting ready for the holidays and looking forward to being away from work for a bit and enjoying some family time....we sure are!!! We'll be sure and post something this weekend about what we are having.

Priceless!!

When my parents came for Evan's birthday in September, my mom brought along my old cowboy boots she had stored away from when I was little. While Evan and I were going through his closet yesterday to clean out some of the stuff that doesn't fit any longer, we came across the boots. I figured he had a bit longer before he'd actually fit into them, but as we discovered....after 5 minutes of trying to squeeze him into them.... they barely fit him anymore. He has quite a fat foot so it made it almost impossible to get them on. He was a good trooper as I forced them on to at least get a picture!! It was hilarious...since they are so slick on the bottom, he had a hard time trying to walk around in them on the wood and tile floors. He would just stand there until I took his hand to help him walk. :-) Anyhow, here are a couple of the pictures we managed to take of him in his....or rather Mommy's.... cowboy boots!