The Holidays

 December was a blur.  When we just had the three kids, we were barely functioning.  Now we are barely functioning with a baby crying in the background.  I keep telling myself that I will figure things out.  And that I only have 12 more days till school starts again.  Then I can go back to spending all my time snuggling the baby.  Anyways, here are the highlights from the holidays:

 Maggie decided to help Santa out by recording AJ's behavior.  Her final decision:  a toss up (hence the "I don't no.")

 This was at Maggie's school's Christmas program.  Which included an actual nativity scene.  I was impressed.  But when Maggie's class came out to sing, I couldn't find her.  Apparently slicking her hair back with gel is all it takes for this mother to not recognize her own daughter.  Also, she took the sitting directions very seriously.

 

 

 AJ's school performance did not include a nativity.  Actually it only consisted of Disney songs.  AJ did the Bear Necessities. 

Christmas Morning.  Ah yes, more Frozen stuff.  AJ is faking surprise here since she'd snuck downstairs earlier and tore through her presents while we were still upstairs getting ready. 

Santa brought this guy lots and lots of very BOY toys.

Jonny's best present - Thai fishermen pants. 

Hazel pictured with her one and only present. 

 

 

Speaking of Hazel, she is the cutest peanut I've produced.

AJ is completely smitten with her.  Which means I rescue her from being snuggled about 50 times a day.

 Anna, my mom, and Bob came to visit.  Anna's due with a boy in two months, and couldn't be cuter :)

 Hazel's baby blessing.

 

 Maggie is notably more excited for T-ball this season compared to last year.

 Tuck playing with his girlfriend that lives next door.  These two are always up to trouble.  Recently we were at a neighbor's house for dinner, and realized they were missing.  They'd snuck out, worked together to open our gate, and were playing alone at our house.  When we found them, Tuck kept saying "We did it!"

This is how I found the kids yesterday afternoon.  Having a picnic in the street.  In perfect 80 degree weather.  This is why I love living here.

 

 

 

 

Hazel Louisa

Months ago, I was reading my favorite blog - dooce.com - and she referenced her second child's birth story, which I read and loved and suddenly I decided that I was having this last baby with no drugs.  Her story was just so inspiring and so I started researching about the medicalization of birthing, cesarean rates, etc, and I became determined.  Especially since Tucker's birth had been so difficult resulting in the doctor using a vacuum like device to help pull Tuck out.   Also, this was my last chance.  LAST.  I enlisted the help of Jonny, and he promised not to let me falter when the time came...

So during the early morning of November 17th, I woke up with some back pain.  I decided to go see my doctor because I thought I might be leaking fluid.  When I pulled up to my appointment, my water broke as I got out of the car, and let me say that nothing is more mortifying than walking around with your pants soaking wet and nothing to change into.  When I walked into the waiting room, the nurses went bananas, made me sit in a wheelchair, and the doctor immediately said I had to be admitted.  So far, nothing was going to plan.  I was supposed to be in labor at home for hours so that by the time I got to the hospital, I wouldn't have time for an epidural.  Anyways, the contractions started getting stronger, Jonny got to the hospital, and we were taken to the natural room that had rope, tubs, all sorts of "natural" baby inducing devices.  I started practicing all of my researched technics, walked around a lot, visualized waves at the beach, made Jonny rub my back, and I thought, this really hurts, but I can totally do this.  Then unfortunately, my doctor decided that since my water had been broken for less than four hours, she definitely needed to speed things up, and insisted that I get hooked up to Pitocin.  This was not my plan again.  So I had to lie down and get hooked up to machines, and this is when things went downhill.  Suddenly the pain was so bad that I couldn't do any of my coping technics.  It is my opinion that lying down is the worst possible way to experience a contraction.  How are you supposed to visualize f*****g waves when it feels like your uterus is being stabbed from the inside???  I do not know how those women on all the youtube videos I watched remained so composed.  I was not composed. I changed my mind about wanting to go natural within 3 nanoseconds of experiencing a serious contraction, and I started screaming obscenities at Jonny to convince him I'd changed my mind.  When he ignored me, I may have at one time punched, scratched, and bitten him.  He just laughed.  When I screamed to the nurses to get me drugs, they simply looked at Jonny and he shook his head no.  During my lowest moments, I was screaming towards the door that if anyone could hear me, I needed help.  After about an hour of complete hell, the nurses finally said that the doctor was here and I could move back to the delivery room.  I thought they meant the anesthesiologist and was thrilled.  As soon as they unhooked me from all the machines and I could stand up, I felt ten times better.  The thought even crossed my mind that maybe I could wait a few more contractions out.  I was still having a significant break between them, so I figured I still had several more hours of pain.  I walked into the other room and another contraction started, and without even thinking about it, I pushed, and her little head started coming out.  Everyone went crazy.  My doctor shouted for me to lay down and stop pushing.  Everyone lifted me onto the bed, and her head literally popped out.  I could not believe it.  Everyone was yelling at me to stop pushing, and I just lay there in this euphoric state of shock.  Finally they let me finish pushing her out, and as I was holding her, I felt like I was dreaming, I was so happy.  I'd read about this high on the blog I mentioned, and it was real.  Nothing had gone as I'd visualized in my head for months, but I did it!?!  All thanks to my sweet husband :)  Though I wish I could sneak back there and tell myself how quickly everything was going to go so that I could have maintained some semblance of dignity.  But whatever.  And recovery was a breeze compared to the others.  I could walk around, nothing was swollen, and I felt like I could've gone home that afternoon. 

Anyways, what really matters is that my sweet little Hazel is here and healthy and angelic.  Especially compared to the three hooligans currently destroying my house.  Here are some pictures:

The Ultimate girls trip

For the two of you that follow our blog, you may remember that Jonny went on an insane man's trip to hunt wolves in Mongolia last year.  While the husbands were gone for 10 days, the wives plotted revenge.  We decided to go Italy and Greece the next year, and make the husbands work from home so we wouldn't feel guilty about leaving the kids.  I envisioned Jonny frazzled all week, barely surviving, calling me to say I have the hardest job in the world.  Instead, he and the kids seemed to have a perfect week, all smiles and joy and rainbows.  I'm now in the market for a high-paying career solving math problems (my best skill) so we can swap places and he can be a stay-at-home dad.  Anyways, here are the highlights of our trip:

We started in Rome, and this was in the elevator going up to our hotel.  It was an old one where you have to shut the doors for it to move.  Rome was BEAUTIFUL, and I think my new favorite city.  They've worked so hard to preserve their history and architecture, and so the buildings throughout the whole city are ancient.  A local told us that in order to change anything to your house, including something that wouldn't affect the outside, like tearing down a wall between two rooms, you have to get the approval of everyone on your street.

This is the Pantheon.  Just one of the tons of super old buildings that Rome has kept looking pristine.

 We saw tons of these smart cars, and I'm wondering why these don't catch on in the States.

 We went to the Vatican, saw the Sistine chapel, and the Swiss Guards.

The Colosseum

My favorite thing we did in Rome was go on a food tour.  We got to explore the local neighborhoods away from so many tourists, and eat lots of cheese.

 Next we traveled to the Almafi coast and stayed in one of these villas built into the cliff.  The walk from the beach up to our place almost put me in labor, and Jonny had prepared me for this by laminating a list of hospitals in each place we were staying.  The manager of the villa saw me at the end of this walk and was so alarmed, he insisted on driving us everywhere after that.  Which reminds me.  Italian men.  All the stereotypes are true.

It's steeper than it looks.

 This was a very good purchase.  Not nerdy-looking at all.

 We visited Herculaneum, which was covered in mud by the same volcano that covered Pompeii, and then was discovered recently.  It was awesome.  You feel like you've gone back in time 2000 years.  Even some of the wood was the original.

 These are the skeletons of the people waiting for boats to come and rescue them.

Next we went to Santorini, a Greek island.  This was the view from our villa.

 

This was my best day.  We took ATVs around the island.  I hid while my friends rented them so that no one would say I was too pregnant.  Unfortunately we went with the cheaper ones, thinking we wouldn't be driving very fast, but then they had a VERY rough time making it up the hills.  At one point, ours just couldn't go anymore and I had to get out and walk.  Next time, we're splurging.

 The black beach in Santorini

 

Last, we went to Athens.  This is the Parthenon.  I loved seeing the historical sites, but I felt like it paled in comparison to Rome.  They haven't been preserved nearly as well due to being attacked over and over.  My opinion may have also been swayed by the fact that at this point in our trip, I could only stand or walk for about 3 minutes between sittings.

 

 One really cool thing about the city is that in many places, there are glass floors so that you can see all the ruins under the new buildings.

Well, I guess this blog has now turned into a travel log, and I've probably lost my two followers, including family.  I promise to at least start writing more about my kids in the future for the grandparents.  The kids are fine.  Crazy.  Wondering when I can go out of town again because dad is soooo much more fun than me.

 

Another time we were attacked by monkeys

 Jonny surprised me with a last-minute trip down to Railey Bay (southern Thailand) so that we could spend some time together before things go from out-of-control-but-we're-managing to complete pandemonium next month when the baby comes.  Our neighbors watched our kids and as we drove away, their last words to us were, "Payback's a b*#ch."  As I type this I'm prepping for this weekend where I will be watching six kids and a puppy with Jonny out of town.  Bring it. 

 Besides laying in the shade reading a book 90% of the time, we decided to be adventurous and go on a hike/climb to get a good view of the area.  I felt okay going up, not so great coming down, and then thought I was going into labor the rest of the night.  The contractions were so strong that I could only walk about 20 meters and then would have to sit and rest. Luckily they stopped after a few hours, but things have not been the same since.  Which I have not mentioned to my doctor since I needed her to clear my flights to Europe for the ultimate girls trip (next post.) 

When we checked in to the hotel, they warned us to always lock our door because there were wild monkeys that might try to get in.  We thought that sounded a little exaggerated, and quickly moved on to the more pressing wildlife concern of a rat that was living in our little outdoor Jacuzzi area.  Then our second night, we started hearing large animals run all over our roof.  All night we kept getting woken up by the sounds of the monkeys trying to get in.  No joke, they were frantically shaking the door knob.  Just your normal vacation hiccups.  This is why I love living here.

Summer Highlights

We just got back from an extended Summer Vacation in America.  Nicole was a champ for taking care of the kids all Summer while shacked up in my parent's basement.  While we are thrilled to be back in our home and enjoying Thailand living again, we are already missing friends and family who bent over backwards to accommodate  our unruly brood for so long.

   Top 5 things we loved about being back in the US of A

1 - Infinite devestatingly unhealthy food options.  As a family we have ZERO self control when it comes to eating out.  $5 pizzas at Little Ceasers.  Seriously?  How can anyone turn that offer down.    When we weren't gorging ourselves on fast food, my mother/masterchef was whipping up 5 course meals and delicious breakfasts.  Our kids syrup intake jumped up about 700% this Summer.

2 - Open Spaces:  Parks.  Everyhwere.  And so accessible.  We got into a routine of picnics and park escapades during the day and fishing at the local pond in the evening.  Our kids lived outside.

3 - Family and Friends and every turn:  It was great to be able to reconnect with all of our friends and family.  As I mentioned above, everyone went out of their way to make sure we had a great time.

4 - 4th of July / Parades:  The local Parades were amazeballs.  Our kids got more candy during the parade then their accumulative Haloween hauls over the last several years.

     Subcategory:  Glow Sticks. Our kids were obsessed with these.  Why don't they have these in Bangkok?

5 -  Church:  As in, no callings, no responsibilities, just showing up and zoning out.  Beautiful.

  Some of our Summer Highlights were:

- Maggie's 6 year old Bday bash
Once again my sister took it upon herself to throw Magpie a birthday party and once again she out did herself in making sure Mags had a fantastic time.    Sidenote:  I can't believe Maggie is 6 years old.  I know every parent says the same thing at every bday.   She is such a little adult now and seems to have grown up overnight.

AJ caught sneaking the cake

- Family BEAR LAKE Adventure:

Camping in tents for three nights was probably not Nicole's favorite part of the trip, but our kids were in heaven.

My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Cousins


- Park City Wedding

Nicole's mom married Bob at the Lion House in SLC.  The wedding was beautiful.

Thanks for the hulu skirt grandma.

While awake, the girls fought tooth and nail over having a clear line down the middle of the bed.  They forget that they're mortal enemies while they sleep.

Do not be fooled by the innocent expressions.  If you look closely at Tuck's arm, there are scratches all over it from AJ.

Nicole and Lynds - pregger twins.

Nicole went on a quick girls trip to NYC with her BFF, Tasha. 

As fun as the summer was, we are happy to be back in Thailand, land of eternal summer and maids.  And the girls are back in school.  Hallelujah!