Bangkok Christmas version 1.0

Today Maggie and I celebrated our first Christmas in Bangkok, while Nicole and Avery were enjoying the holidays back in the land of wafflehouses (Georgia for those of you who have never been south of the Mason/Dixie). We both misseed "mommy" and baby AJ. Daddy also missed the maid since he gave her the day off and was left on his own to cook, clean, and take care of Maggie and the pugs. Having a maid has officially made me incapable of fending for myself. The other day I couldn't figure out how bread became toast. I also forgot how the food gets off my clothes.



Maggie was not a fan at first of the antlers. Thank you super glue.



Christmas Loot! I was suppose to only open a few gifts and wait until Nicole got back, but we kind of got carried away and maybe accidently opened everything. I blame it on too much syrup on our pancakes and Obama.



Maggie's favorite gift so far was from my sisters. Her recent obsession with all things princesses was taken to the next level after receiving a "bath tub friendly Princess Belle from Beauty and the Beast." Now the house is echoing with "Where's Belle?," "Princess belle!" "Princess shower!" Thanks sisters, you might have saved Christmas.



New best friend.

I'm sure Nicole will resume posting duties as soon as she gets back. In the meantime I wanted to wish all our friends and family back home a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Aquarium

This weekend we went to the aquarium. It had lots of fish which coincided nicely with Maggie's current "Finding Nemo" obsession. When it was time to leave, Jonny had to go run an errand, so I had to drive the girls home by myself. There was crazy traffic and I had to take a huge road to get home, no big deal. Oh, except that Bangkok has roads that turn into one-ways randomly and so I couldn't drive home the way we came and I got lost, and then I was frantically looking at my maps trying to figure out where I was and all the street signs were in Thai. Oh, and then I rear-ended someone. Oops. Luckily both cars were fine, but the driver was definitely annoyed with me and then when I tried to ask for directions she just rolled up her window. Well, I am 100% certain this will not be the first time I run into something while driving here, so watch out Bangkok. I can't be stopped.

A little Mosquito

A mosquito snuck into Maggie's room last night and she woke up with maybe 25 bites. Including one right on the tip of her nose. The mosquitos out here suck. They are everywhere! Avery has my sweet scent, and she gets a couple new bites a day, so we're just waiting for the dengue fever to set in. We do have this cool battery-powered tennis racquet that they sell out here to zap them, and it is sooo satisfying to hear when you get one.

We drove around for two hours yesterday in the middle of nowhere to finally find the Christmas Store. It was well worth the drive. We bought a big Christmas Tree, and I'm finally starting to fill the Christmas Spirit. All we're missing now is some Christmas tunes. Pandora is blocked here, so does anyone know of another place on the Internet where you can listen to music for free???

Finally, I think I am free from my TV addiction. Before I left the States, I was out of control. I had so many shows I just had to watch, and my DVR was jam-packed. And now I pretty much have nothing. Ok, we did buy the nicest cable package they offered, but there are about 5 channels that have anything worth watching, and the only show right now that's up to date with the States is Survivor. And I can never figure out when that's on. It just fills so good to not be watching so much. To actually finish the book I started 6 months ago. To play Trains with the hubby some nights instead of our usual lay-on-the-couch-and-watch-boob-tube. But oh, how I miss Greys...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was wierd. It's just really hard to get in the holiday spirit when it's 90 degrees outside. And I found out that this is the cool season. Though I am loving the warm weather, it is really trying my testimony of wearing g's...Anyways, we celebrated by eating at our American neighbors' BBQ. I'm not gonna lie, I really really missed my grandma's fudge and Christine's rolls. I got so momentarily homesick that I bought a plane ticket for me and Avery to go home for a week at Christmas.

We also went to the zoo on Turkey Day. I guess this is a new family tradition.

The zoo was definitly a different experience being in another country. For example, this picture shows how close we were to the tigers.

Yes, you are looking at a two foot high wooden fence protecting the spectators. To their credit, there was a little moat between the tiger and us. And this sturdy looking string in the moat, I guess to prevent the tiger from crossing it.

We bought a scooter this week which cuts travel time in half because you can scoot between all the cars stuck in traffic. Jonny has made me promise to never drive it by myself, which actually I think is a smart idea because I'm learning that the right of way is always determined by who is in the bigger vehicle. Which is nice because our car is huge so I can just pull out into crazy busy intersections and everyone stops.

We had our first visitors this week from the States - Davis and Melissa. We took them out to see the Red Light District. It was a Monday night, so it wasn't as hopping as we'd hoped. Actually, I really thought that Vegas was much dirtier and trashier than here. Not that I don't still love Vegas. I guess what's different here is they are just more open about the prostitution. Inside all of the bars/clubs, there were Thai women with numbers pinned on. So that the guys could order them. Also as we walked around, people kept showing us menus of the different things you could order to watch. Which are much to graphic to describe on here.

The thing that really disturbed all of us though was the disgusting fat middle aged men looking for a nice Thai treat. They just looked so pathetic and dead inside.

Look at this guy's face as some poor woman is giving him a massage. I bet his grandkids and wife back in the States are proud.

In continuing my documentary, I'd like to talk for a minute about how much I respect the Thai people. I was talking to my brother the other day, telling him about my maid. After talking about how she lives with us, and the different things she does, he said that it sounded kind of sad. And that surprised me because she doesn't seem sad at all. She seems very grateful to have a job. And she really takes pride in her work. Like all of the Thai people I've met. From the woman who sweeps our street every day to the parking guys in every single tiny parking lot who help you back into your spot. They work so hard and take their jobs very seriously. There are lots of things I miss about America - the infrastructure, the order, Chilis - but I definitely don't miss the sense of entitlement.

Finally Settling In

So we've been here now for 2 and half weeks, and I finally feel like I'm starting to get my bearings. I've ventured out once solo to the grocery store, and I was able to tell the taxi driver how to get me home. Ok maybe I was only a mile from my house, but still...I also drove with the girls but without Jonny last week, and we all survived. I seriously drove 5 mph on some of the streets and there was a huge line of cars behind me. Of course no one got angry or honked. A few patient drivers passed me while giving me an understanding nod as they drove by. I can't get over how polite everyone here is. I've learned that the key to driving on these ultra skinny roads is to drive as much as possible in the middle of both lanes when no one is coming at you, and to hit this wonderful little button that the cars here are built with that makes your side mirrors fold in. Yes, you are often driving so close to other cars and huge cement poles and trees in the road, that those little mirrors will hit things if they're sticking out like normal. Side note - Jonny and I's favorite Thai so far is this tiny old man who works as the guard to the front of our neighborhood. He always looks to happy to see us when we drive in, and he is just the perfect little neighborhood greeter. I think he's 85 years old and weighs about 60 pounds, and this is a fairly accurate guess since half the time, he's shirts off in his little post. Yesterday we drove by and his pants were hanging from the guard rail, so he must have been super hot. I'll have to try to sneak a picture of him. Here are some pictures I have taken:

Baby AJ (as Maggie calls her) learned how to sit up.

It really rained for the first time since we've been here. Our front yard turned into a pool.

I ventured out with some friends we met in the ward to go celebrate our first Thai holiday, that I can't pronounce. Everyone buys these candle flower arrangement thingies and put them in the water to recieve forgiveness for their sins and for polluting the water so much. Jonny was off having the greatest day ever getting a two hour massage with some friends that just came in town from Utah, so I decided to take the girls without him. Very. Bad. Choice. It started off ok, but then Mags decided she was hot and miserable, and she went into meltdown mode. Which is shocking to people out here because I haven't seen a single Thai child melt down yet. As we left, everyone stared at the screaming white child as I plowed the double stroller through basically a mosh pit. Making friends everywhere we went. The only pictures I took are pre-meltdown, but I am not going to forget her behavior, and I told her she's never leaving the house again.

This is Jhoi, our maid. Having a maid is just as great as it sounds. And you get used to it much quicker than you would think. She cleans, does laundry, makes dinner. I am very concerned about how I am going to be able to live in the real world whenever we move back home. Ok, well I don't want to go on about the maid too much, because I'm afraid that you guys will hate me. One funny thing did happen though. I went into our closet and found that Jhoi had folded and organized everything nice and neat. Then I looked in my "goody" drawer and found that those outfits were also folded nice and neat. She had even found my "nurse" outfit, and had folded my little nurse hat perfectly and had pulled out the nurse dress and hung it up with my church dresses. Um...embarrassing.

Hello Thailand!

We're finally here. Well, we got here about 10 days ago, but my internet has been having serious issues. Which I was angrily blaming Thailand for, but I'm beginning to suspect is my computer's fault.

Anyways, here we are at the Atlanta airport about to leave. Tina and my mom both had to drive to get all our stuff here.
A true miracle happened, and the flights went great. We had a 5 hour one to LA, and then a monster 18 hour one to Bangkok. Once Maggie figured out the headphones, she watched TV and slept the ENTIRE time. TV is a true blessing from God. We had bought about 20 new toys and jammed them in a carry-on, and we only pulled out one of them for the last 30 minutes of the second flight. Aves just made squeaks and slept, happy as can be that she got to be held so much. The only kink we had traveling was with the d word pugs. For some reason they were dropped off at baggage claim in LA instead of being taken straight to the second flight. And no one was even going to tell us. The second miracle of the trip occured when we picked the absolute slowest line for the Thai Airways ticket counter. We were only the fourth group in line, and we probably waited over 45 minutes. Well, lucky for us, this put us at the counter at the exact same moment that one of the workers a couple counters over from us said something to another worker about the Wood pets being stranded at baggage claim. After a huge fuss, Jonny had to walk literally half a mile to the baggage claim and haul the howling pugs back to the ticket counter to recheck them. And since the little stinkers have decided that they are no longer house-trained, I'm pretty sure Jonny now wishes we hadn't overheard and just accidentally left them in LA..
This was during our first flight when the guy next to me got completely hammered after seeing who he was flying next to.
Here's our house! It's surrounded by a wall, so it feels like we live in a fortress.

This is the view behind our house. Back there is a rooster that wakes up every morning at 4:30 and begins crowing his head off. Hopefully I'll get a picture of him soon.

Every day I feel a little less disoriented here, but I still feel like I'm living in the twilight zone. The Thai people so far seem very polite, reserved, and pretty much opposite of Americans. The traffic here is bananas, and everyone is constantly cutting everyone else off, but no one seems to mind or get angry. I've only heard one car honk so far in anger, and it was at us :) I drove for the first time today, and it was so scary because they drive on the left hand side of the road and the streets are sooooo skinny, and there are scooters zipping around everywhere. I kept drifting to the left since it's opposite, and I accidentally bumped someone on their scooter, but luckily we were both going like 5mph, so it didn't seem to phaze him. Of course he didn't honk or even look mad. Also, Thai people are in excellent shape. I've only seen two Thais so far that even looked a little chubby. Which reminds me, the biggest adjustment I've had is the food. The first real Thai food I tried was so so so spicy that I could only eat one bite. The first couple of days here I just lived on a loaf of bread. We have found some stores that sell American food, but it is crazy expensive. I'm now surviving on pizza which is what we've eaten the last two nights. But today we interviewed a woman who I think we're going to hire to be our maid, and this decision is 99% based on the fact that she said she can cook American food. EVERYONE here has a maid, and I think the neighborhood thinks we're white trash since we don't have one yet. Ok, we'll I've gone on and on and nobody has probably read this far, so I'll continue my Thai documentary later.

Goodbye USA

I have been terrible at blogging, but am committing to do better since now that I've moved out of my parents' basement, hopefully I'll have more to write about. So I'm just going to do a quick catch-up post about our last few weeks in the States.
Yellow River Game Ranch with Grandpa. My dad is seriously the best grandpa, and my girls already miss him like crazy. Maggie talks about him all the time. I love you dad.


Maggie's first haircut. It was a team effort by me and Jonny.

Lots of playtime with friends in the parents' basement. This picture captures the essence of Maggie and Drake's relationship. She's always bugging him, but he secretly loves it.

Trip up to Kentucky to see Holly and the boys.

Ok, this picture is in the wrong place, but it's too late at night to fix. This was the day before Halloween, and we were at TGIFridays for lunch and saw a sign that said free appetizers would be given to anyone in costume. So Avery suddenly dressed up like a diaper head and scored us free food. The manager came over to our table to see if we were serious, and we were.

Aves had her first bite of cereal.

Logan and Christine came to visit.

Maggie misses you too, mom.

Surprise birthday weekend up at a cabin for Kristina.

Things got crazy.

This is me warming up the lake for everyone before they jumped in.

Halloween. The girls dressed up as the princess and the pea.

Maggie had a wardrobe malfunction after wearing her costume for about five minutes. Her cute little belly just didn't quite fit. And yes, that is a thong around her neck.

I am so in love with this little pea pod, even if she has forgotten how to sleep through the night and is now demanding to be held all day long. Look at that face.

Savannah

My BFF Tasha turned 30 last week, so we met in Savannah to celebrate. Her friend Robyn let us stay at her place and showed us around town. This picture was taken in downtown Savannah and I would like to point out two things. I'm wearing my new "Thai" outfit, bought especially for when I arrive in Thailand because it says Thailand to me. Also, I'm not pregnant. I just appear that way because of all the food we ate while there, which I will be discussing.

I left Maggie at home, but had to bring Avery because of the nursing situation, and Tash brought Mea, an adorable little girl she's fostering who is almost the exact same age as Aves. We tried to dress them alike everyday.

The main activity we did was eat. There are sooooo many good restaurants in Savannah, and I seriously gained 10 pounds while I was there. (Sorry, husband) My favorite place was the Melting Pot which is Fondue. The only thing that sucked was we told them it was Tasha's birthday hoping to score free dessert, and instead they gave her a birthday card signed by all the people that worked there. Seriously?

My second favorite was this Paula Dean restaurant that had this super yummy buffet with really Southern food. I probably consumed 5000 calories in one sitting.

Besides eat, we went to the beach a couple times with the babies.

Isn't this little boy the cutest? Robyn's little boy Cohen made me actually want a boy next. However if Maggie keeps this up, I will not be having any more children. She's spent half the time I've been writing this post in time-out for throwing things at the computer. She thinks the computer is where daddy lives (he's already in Thailand working) and she gets very irritated when she talks to daddy (computer) and his face doesn't pop up...