Where's Reister?

We love to play the peek-a-boo game!

"Where's Reister? Daddy, have you seen him?"


"Oh! There he is!"

a poll on websites

This post is on Micah's behalf. He suggested I take a poll on everyone's favorite website to visit - i.e. one you visit almost everyday. It could be any kind of website - news (ex. cnn.com), shopping (ex. moosejaw.com), social (facebook.com) etc. (Micah goes to the first two regularly, I go to Facebook)
So comment and tell us where you like to "browse" - we're curious. I'll ask Micah to let me know what his top sites are and I'll post again with some of those.

Oh, and I never could get Google Reader to load again, so thanks to Jen & Andrea's suggestions, I switched to Bloglines. For the most part I like it except that it marks all new posts as read when I click on the feed. Google Reader used to only mark the posts as read as I scrolled down through each post.

Google Reader

I use Google Reader to look at all my friends' blogs. I've loved it so far but in the last 3 days I can't get it to load. Has anyone else had this problem before? Any tips?

belly

When I was pregnant with Reister, I was really good about sending pictures to my friends and family of my growing belly. This time around I haven't really done that as much. But recently, I myself have become more and more aware of my growing belly, so I thought it was time to post a "belly-shot". I am feeling pretty huge but know that it's nothing compared to what I'll feel during the last month. I remember being so big with Reister that I was asked multiple times if I was having twins or if I was about to deliver when I was a month away from my due date. I was in my work out clothes the other day and thought they showed my belly size better than perhaps other loose fitting clothes so I snapped a shot. Here it is - I think I was around 24 weeks here.

Monkey!

Reister's new favorite animal is the monkey (with the Lion as a close second). I thought it would be dogs forever! But now, since Lili & Poppo (my mom and dad) gave him a monkey backpack/harness as well as two Curious George books, Reister loves monkeys!

Oh and I should tell you that when he says "monkey" he pronounces it "muntchee". It's pretty cute. He's "fed" the monkey, "diapered" the monkey, "kissed" the monkey and I think even "patted" the monkey when I told him to put the monkey to sleep.

We went to the zoo this past week and although our local zoo is really lame and dirty, they still had monkeys. They were pretty crazy - aren't most monkeys? - but Reister enjoyed watching them in their cage. I was appalled to see a local give a monkey a plastic bag after all the snacks inside it were gone and the monkey actually started snacking on the plastic. I said maybe they were underfed but Micah pointed out all the uneaten carrots lying around on the ground. I guess the monkeys just preferred the plastic to the nourishment of carrots.

Playdate

Last week I had my local BFF and my American friend Kelli over along with their kids. Here's Reister & Cheng Cheng - he's grown up a little since the last post of him & Reister, huh?


Kelli's daughter, Evangelia, or known to Reister as "Ah-Vee" enjoyed getting in the coffee table. Cheng Cheng can't walk yet but enjoyed playing around the edge.

My Daddy

Reister loves his daddy! He calls him Daddy now instead of Dadda. Lately he's been getting his toy laptop and sitting in the "chair" (=couch) by Micah as he does emails and internet. It's pretty cute - glad I caught it on camera.

This might have been the same day... I think Micah was getting ready to leave and they were saying good-bye. How precious! :)

Another ultrasound

I posted that we were having another boy but I didn't share that during the ultrasound we got on January 31st, the doctor found that one of the baby's kidneys was bigger than the other. She suggested that we get another ultrasound in a month to see if that was still the case. Well, we were advised by an American doctor to go ahead and get another one before we left Thailand (even though it wouldn't have been a month) because the chances of the ultrasound machines and doctor skills being up to par where we live were slim. So we went for another ultrasound on February 18th at the hospital where Reister was born. Both ultrasounds were very thorough, and the doctors measured what seemed like every possible organ, including the kidneys. While everything else is completely normal and healthy, the left kidney was still almost twice as big as the right one. This is most likely due to urine retention and might correct itself before the baby is born or after. Or it might pose some sort of problem for the baby after delivery - that hasn't been explained or made clear to us. But because of this we have been advised to return to Bangkok for the delivery instead of Chiang Mai where we were planning to go. Bangkok's Bumrungrad Hospital is more advanced and has neo-natal ICU facilities whereas Chiang Mai does not. So we'll head back to Bangkok in early June. Baby #2's due date was confirmed as June 28 on both ultrasounds. Please join us in asking our Father that this would not pose any problem for the baby - that He would heal his kidney before he is even born. We are really excited about this second little one that will soon bless our lives. Reister still doesn't fully understand how his world is about to change. As of right now, he really doesn't like it when either Micah or I hold other babies or toddlers. He likes to be the focus of our attention. He does love other kids though, and is pretty sweet to the babies he is around.

Here is one of the shots from the February 18th ultrasound - You can see his face and hand really clearly.

Oh by the way, we haven't decided on a name yet - we have several ideas but nothing has totally stuck yet.

Lantern Festival

We returned to the Shining City February 21st. February 22nd was the Lantern Festival, the last night of Spring Festival celebrations around this country. We have never been able to observe the festivities before - normally we're traveling - but this year we went out to see the excitement. The main street in front of our apartment complex was full of people, closed to all traffic. The city government had put up a huge dragon over the street (and in several other key places around town). We were told that everyone would make their way to the dragon and then "rub" it's tail for good luck. So there were literally thousands of people making their way down the street to the dragon and then making a U-turn back the way they came after touching the tail. It was quite a site to see so many people out and about at that time of night (normally after it's dark in our city people don't really get out). People of all ages were out. It was neat to be able to walk around and experience a little of the biggest holiday of the year year.

This is the moon on the night of Lantern Festival - it was really full.


Here is the dragon - all lit up - and notice ALL the people on the street.

Here's a cute little girl holding a mini-lantern - many of the children were carrying these around.

pictures...

Well, looks like I got one chance, and one success. Now I can't upload any more pictures. Maybe another day...

Finally, some pictures!

I have been trying to upload pictures for over a week now but our internet connection hasn't bee working well. These will be random because I'm going to try to just get as many uploaded as quickly as I can!

This was on vacation - we went to a beachside family friendly resort with several families and singles. Here is Reister with his buddy, Josh, which he learned to say, along with Josh's brother's names, Jordan and Joe (Josiah). They love him and Reister loves them so much and really enjoyed playing with them.

Buddy Pic

Reister gets to see his little friend, Schafer, about twice a year. As parents, we have high hopes for our boys to become good buddies in the future. Schafer is 13 months now, and Reister is 17 months.

Uncle Sean

We were able to spend time with my brother Sean last week who came on a short trip to help out with our activities here. Reister loved seeing him and said his name constantly while he was around "Sean ..... Sean..... Sean" I don't think Sean ever got tired of it though :)

Here are some good pics...

Another BOY!

We had an ultrasound here in the country we're in for the second part of our time and we found out that we are having another boy! It was unmistakable from the ultrasound that it's definitely a boy. We are very excited and know that Reister will really enjoy having a brother to play with! They will be about 22 months apart.

Trip

Our vacation to see our friends in SE Asia was AWESOME! Here's a picture at a waterfall there. More to come!