First month with Jeff

I'll just write my comments this time in with the pics...

Sam got a big bike for being a big brother. He can zoom around so fast.


Jeff has grown so much- he is a lot bigger than the other two newborns I know here that were born his week- I am including a few pics of him over the month, even though he doesn't look like himself :-)

Looking back at these pics, I realize that I really did a lot with the kids on my own. John was so busy getting the house ready that he worked three Saturdays in a row and most nights until after 7. Here we were enjoying some painting time outside
And this is one of Sam's concentration faces
We went to the night safari during the day on the Sunday that Jeff was 2 weeks old. Maybe I didn't take it as slow as I should have, huh? Anyway, Sam got up the courage to touch an elephant.

We hired a new helper- Pi Pound (pronounced Pon- I don't always get why things are spelled the way they are when they transliterate into English- like Sawasdee is Sawadee- now why add the "s"?) Anyway, Pi Pound is awesome- she is everything I was looking for and we feel really comfortable, which is good because she's with us full-time. I could really go on and on about what I like about her, but I'll just leave it at that. Oh and she's a fabulous artist- watercoloring has never been the same for Sam.
Daddy/Jeff time on a lunch break
Sam loves swimming with his ring now- but I need to find a pool nearby that will allow us to swim. The place we were going to before told me not to come back with the baby (I had Jeff in the car seat and wanted to set him down by the pool while Sam and I swam- they don't want anything except for towels in the pool area (no food/snacks/bags, etc). Oh well.) This pic is actually from a different trip though- when Jeff was nearly 3 weeks old we went to Mae Sot for John's work. The boys and I just hung out at the hotel and it would have been perfect but I got mastitis :-(
I adore my peanut shell (the apron thing in this pic)- it is so awesome and handy and light weight. I get comments on it all the time too and it is so much better than just using a big cloth. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you (C, J, and A)
Jeff took his first trip down a slide. I try to accommodate Sam's ideas as much as is safely possible. I figure it increases the brotherly love.


Another pic of my growing Jeff
We have been having fun with playdough- this was my work- from left to right - our car with all of us around it, a tree, Sam in his little pool, Sam giving bananas to a hoop twirling elephant, and Sam's bike). That was fun!
I took the boys to the park one afternoon- we bought fish food (that's what Sam is doing here) and then played on the playground until dark. I did find the two kids at once and by myself thing a bit challenging, but Sam was flexible with me and Jeff. Sam's hair was getting so so long (I now realize from looking at this picture).
So we had it cut- but I had a miscommunication and the Thai barber shaved an inch wide swath above his ears- John called it his Friar Tuck cut. Oh well. Anyway, this picture is from Sam's preschool. We are going on Mondays and it is one of my favorite times in the week as I hang out with the other parents while he is in his class.
And this is from his playgroup on Thursdays. It's slightly less recreative for me because I'm chasing him around, but the week that we went to the ball pit and softplay area was a lot easier because I could just sit and watch. When we're at a park, it's a bit more hands-on. Still, it's hard to get in a real conversation with any of the moms since we're all distracted by our little ones. It is a lot of fun though and Sam loves it.
I haven't taken many pics of our new place yet- we've only been here for two weeks but we were away for one of those weeks. The inside of our house is definitely not finished yet and we are still unpacking- I'll take more pics later on though. I also need to take some pics of the full garden and some of the garden at night- it is so pretty with the lights on. Anyway, our backyard has a covered play area with this table and sandbox.
And this swing... There is also a grassy area with a soccer net, some pretty lanterns and vines, and a bench swing.
The front yard is a gorgeous garden with brick work, bamboo lined flower beds, gorgeous ceramic lanterns along the pathways, and this lovely fish pond with so many kinds of water lilies and a perfect little bubble fountain.


John even planted my favorite tree- plumeria :-)
And here's one more pic of Jeff smiling last week.