Wednesday, December 31, 2008

eeerrrr… may be a little too much?

Once you are on the ground, you are just like a little remote control car at full throttle… and Thailand (due to the heat), most of the houses have marble floors instead of carpets (as in England), the hard floor isn’t so kind on your hands and knees. Following one of our friend, we have decided to get some rubber mattresses for you… judging by the pic., may be we went over board “just a little… :)”

IMG_6009 Each mattress is 1.8 by 2 metres, and without much thought we had ordered 5… haa haa haa. I must say, so far your mother and I are enjoying the mattresses more than you have, trying to re-live our PE classes all those many years ago… (I have a vdo of your mother trying to stand on her head… with a ‘perfect’ failure rate of 100%.

Unfortunately, the mattresses are made of real rubber and it is giving a funny smell, so we are going to leave it out at the front of the house for a couple of days before moving it to the back where we have our living room.

I am sure your mother will try yet again to stand on her head, and as you will find out when you are older, your mother can be very determined, especially when I said there was no way she was going to make it :)

Monday, December 29, 2008

Bits of Bangkok, Banjakiti Park

DSC_0065Benjakiti%20Park[9]









We had a few hours to kill after your monthly injection, so firstly we went to Chamchuri Complex (one of the new lifestyle mall), had a quick lunch at the ‘Water Bar’, where you’d slept all the way through. Then we had decided to visit ‘Bangkok Dolphins’, this is where you’ll be swimming next month, :) judging by the way how much you enjoy your bath time, we thought you would love this (by the way, we did find it but it was closed)

DSC_0028 The weather was on our side and with a little bit of time left on our hands, we headed to ‘Benjakiti park’, this park is situated not too far from Bangkok’s most well known ‘Lumpinee’ park, Benjakiti park runs along the Ratchadapisek (ring) Road, next to the ‘Asoke’ intersection.

The highlight is definitely the huge man made lake which took up the majority of the park. But now with hindsight, it was a mistake to take you there after your injection, as there was a small chance of you running a temperature.

We must have spent almost an hour there, at the end of it all you had looked a little tired, so after a couple of more places we arrived home at around eight pm.





DSC_0052(I am not too happy with the pics, to me they are all over exposed, may be it was my fault…)… (3 days later… yes it was my fault, the exposure was set at +0.7… :( )













DSC_0018

It was a terrible night for you (and your mother), your temperature was around 38.2 and you kept waking up and crying every 20 to 30 minutes all through the night (meaning that your mother had no sleep whatsoever). Finally Monday morning came, and just before all of us got into the car, you had a huge number 2… then we understood why you were tossing and turning and crying most of the night.









DSC_0072 (2)You were suffering from a tummy bug… that of course could also explained the high temperature…









 
DSC_0058
Well it is now Monday’s evening, and all seemed to be back to normal (touch wood)… tomorrow is the last working day of 2008, and we get to spend the next 5 days looking after you… oh, what a delight (not being sarcastic at all, haa haa haa).

Love you,

M&D

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Hunger for Speed

25122008[12] After resisting for so long, it was time to be a part of the modern Thailand… and go ADSL… There really wasn’t a need before, but after trying to load ‘Windows Live Apps.’ and having to wait all bloo*y night, it was just too much.

Not to mention that uploading a simple blog took about a minute shy of an eternity…

The signal should be on in a couple of days… True Internet is the number one ISP provider in Thailand, as long as you have a True’s fix line number you are pretty set to go. I have chosen to self install, at least it will keep me amuse for about half an hour…

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Almost 2009 :)

Your mother and I were just talking this evening (while we were giving you a bath), that everything was so different to just only 6 – 7 months ago. When you first got home, it was so easy to give you a bath… Then, all we had to do was to wrap you up in a blanket to keep you as still as a tree, but now I don’t think even Wonder Women’s Lasso of Truth could have kept you still. Giving you a bath is like putting a 8 Kgs lump of Sodium into a bath of warm water (don’t try this when you grow up).

We are very much looking forward to your first New Year, basically because we shall be getting 5 days off, and so we are planning a couple of short one day trips somewhere (originally we were going to go away for a few days, but the thought of packing all of the things that you would need have put us off the idea almost instantaneously)… The infamous Bangkok’s traffic would be just a legend for those coming 5 days, it is almost worth not going anywhere just for that.

Copy of DSC_0057 Today we took you to the Gymboree again,  you’ll be glad to here that next week they are closed, so next Saturday you don’t even have to get out from your pyjamas (again) :)

Each week we could see our progress, the speed that you are ‘caterpillar-ing’ around on the floor (well, one certainly can not call it crawling) is quiet amazing’

Love you.

Mum & Dad

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

No more Blurry pictures... (I hope)

Was looking through some pictures of you, and discovered as of today I have 4,425 pictures/short videos of you. Honestly, I only like about 9 of them... :) I have missed some great shots because you were moving (I have so many blurry pictures of you while you were smiling), or there wasn't enough light to get a good picture of you, so I have decided to use you as an excuse to get a new camera (and probably for the first time, your mother was positively encouraging me to get this new toy).

So this past Saturday I went to AVCamera (quite a well known camera store) to get myself a Nikon D90, it was a difficult choice between this and the Canon 50D... as this was to be my first SLR and due to my photographic need (basically, just taking pictures of you and your mother) the 50D came out second (it isn't really fair to compare these two, different price point and segment)... besides, I think D90's body looks better :)

dsda As far as I could remember Nikon L35AD (QD) was given to me by your grandfather, it was extensively used during my years at Wellington (1986 - 1991) (this is a boarding school, so you can imagine the content of the pictures... arses and fire everywhere).

few Then there was a huge gap until I bought my own (2002), a Canon S40 (somehow there wasn't a need to have a camera for several years)


sefwg Canon G6, obviously came after the S40... (running out of stuff to write). I had actually had 2 G6s... the one that I had bought was stolen when your mother and I went to help out with the Tsunami in the South of Thailand. Your grandfather was kind enough to have bought the replacement

 

we I was in love with the G6, and hadn't wanted to step up to the DSLR (too big), thus the logical step was to move to the G7, this model had a lot of flack from almost everyone... the lens was too slow, the screen was fixed, no raw and etc... Bought it anyway, come on... a black G7...

 

eg So, here it is, the latest toy... having loads of fun with it, it is so easy to upgrade the hardware (as all you need is money), it will be a total waste if I don't also improve the photographic skills. Just bought a book, and have been asking around for tips, no wonder why some people are so addicted to this...





DSC_0173DSC_0176Not too bad…












  
 
DSC_0041Just stuck the dial on P... spruce up the exposure just a little... then click away... there must have been over 150 clicks on the first day... was not disappointed... far better than any pics. from the Point & Shoot... the whole experience was superb... taking a photograph with a DSLR was rather addictive... :) (P.S. the VDO capability is terrible, extremely choppy... maybe needing a faster lens).

Can not wait to be have more skills and needs, to give myself a good enough reason (also to your mother) for me to move to the level of D700 or 5D Mark ii...

Love you.

Dad

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

7 Months and Moving...

Copy of IMG_5283 A few weeks ago, we were wondering why you were chewing so much (carpet, curtains, toys, even the remote control), well, it certainly wasn't because you were hungry. Then we discovered 2 white lines appearing on your bottom gum... Your teeth are coming :), and soon you'll be packing your stuff and head off to University.

Much to our initial excitement, you are no longer just a lump of joy laying (giggling) in one spot (sure, you can roll over from your tummy to your back and spin 360 on your tummy but for the most part you have been pretty much remaining in one spot).

 

Well, no more, it took you about 7 months to co-ordinate your arms, legs and bottom to give you forward motion (it was exciting at first, but now it is just hard work pulling you back every 2 minutes).

IMG_5420The procedures go something like this... 1. Get into a crawling position (on your hands and knees)... 2. Stretch out both legs so that your bottom sticks out in the air... and here is the best part... 3. Remove both hands, and let your body fall forward... 4. Repeat until arriving at the most dangerous location (eg. the edge of the bed)... 5. Reset (this is basically where your mother and I pull you back).

 

 

IMG_5167IMG_5637g



 





This is one of my favourite :), You are still attending your weekly class, and making new friends every week, I must say you and your friends don't talk much but absolutely enjoying bashing each other in the head with any toys you can grab.

You now speak some kind of a forgotten language, which contains only O, U, A and M, well only 22 more alphabets to go... :)

IMG_5229Self censorship on my part... haa haa haa, you have just had one huge doo doo and as you can see on your face, you seemed to be extremely proud of yourself :)

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_5461 This was your first social event, at our friend's wedding, I must say, you were in top form... Besides arriving very, very late... you, a baby who hardly cries decided to have a change of habit and decided to turn on the water work, it was of a Niagara falls proportion, the amount of tears produced could have drown a fully grown blue whale :)

Love you

M&D

Monday, November 3, 2008

Strange Saturday

I can not believe how complex you can be, you are not just about eat, play, poo and sleep :) It all started quite early this past Saturday, your mother's parents came to visit with your Auntie Tip. Your Aunt came up to our room and took you downstairs, as you were quite sleepy you didn't minded, that was until you were downstairs and got your bearing back.

I think the rabbit on the moon must have heard your scream, as you were not familiar with Tip it must have given you quite a shock. Once you were back in your mother's arms you were your playful-self again.

That is until we got to Gymboree, usually you are so social, smiling and laughing to all the new faces who would come up to you to say hi, but this time there were no smiles just buckets and buckets of tears, whenever a stranger would come up to you.

Hopefully things will be back to normal next Saturday... so no new pictures this week, all was a bit of a downer... especially when I have just bought a new SD card (8 gigs)...

Love you.

Dad

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

2 Years (officially)

Today is our second wedding anniversary, because this day fell on a weekday so the plan was just to have a nice lunch at the hotel where your mother and I got married... it was not to be, your mother's schedule was so tight around lunch time, on top of that I had meeting away from the office... :(

By the way, your mother and I got married twice... the first one was 28.10.2006 and the second one was on the 26.11.2006... I'll explain it to you once you are old enough to understand...

We have been together now for 8 years (27.11.2000)... you may wonder why I have the exact date... that is another story to be told in private... :)

Monday, October 27, 2008

Going Back to Pyjamas

IMG_4056 IMG_4322 We don’t know how to apologise enough, having just realised that your wardrobe consists of nothing but pyjamas! Between you and I, it is only your mother, and my mother who are fretting over this very, very minor issue. So far judging by your reaction, you certainly don’t mind socialising with the outside world in your colourful jimjams.


So, not to my surprise, this past extra long weekend (Piya Majaraj day, King Rama V’s commemoration day was on Thursday, and on the Friday both your mother and I took the day off, meaning we had 4 glorious days with you), thus your mother’s main mission was to buy some (what she calls) proper clothes for you…

Just guess where we went to shop? Your mother’s second home… Central Chidlom… So here is my first tip for you, once your mother is old and senile (hee hee) and if she ever gone missing, the first place you should look for her is the ‘shoes section’ at Central Chidlom.

IMG_4535 IMG_4508 The last time we checked you were about 74 cms, meaning the shirts and trousers we were looking to get was going to be tiny and cute (in comparison to my size). We weren’t disappointed, there were rows and rows of super adorable polo shirts, jeans, slacks and so on, it was fantastic (you should have seen your mother, she was positively beaming).

By all sense of reasoning, the tininess of your clothes should also reflect in the ‘tininess’ of the price? Right? So without checking anything apart from the sizes, your mother was picking this, feeling that, composing the colour scheme between tops and trousers… this went on long enough for me to loose interest, at the end you had 3 super duper outfits (see pic).


IMG_4510 IMG_4486 Now it was the time to pay… let me compose myself a little here… let just say, one of your shirt costs 475 bahts… this isn’t a typo… 475 bahts for a few cm2 of material (ok, if you want to be pedantic about it, including labour, logistic, storage and so on) but it is still one hell of a lot considering if they make it by the thousands… economy of scale… let me stop here and just say… you are going back to pyjamas (of course this is just a lot of hot air… there is no way your mother would let you look like a #$%^&, hee hee).

Love you

M&D

Then and Now

In the last few weeks before your arrival, your mother tipped the scale at around 70 Kg, that doesn't sound too bad... well, you have to consider she started off from 45 Kg!, which means it was a 56% net gain. Recently she had confided in me that she was slightly miffed to have only lost 8 Kg after you were born.

IMG_4141 IMG_1324 8 Kg gone, means she still had another 17 Kg to loose, and that have been her mission for the past 5 months, whether it be a special cream (made from a special 3 legged, 7 years old Yak's Bladder which have been marinated in a special Herb that draws water from the fountain of youth within in a small town call Atlantis), rigorous exercise and low carb. diet... But the worst of all, for some strange reason I was also roped into this insane plan (take away the water that I drink, take away the air that I breath, you can even take away my TV... but don't touch my carb... noodles, rice, potatoes... please).




Recently your mother had told me that she is now under 49 Kg (I really think she is more like 50 something, but for the sake of our marriage... she is definitely 49 something kg... probably 49.99995). All jokes aside, your mother had gone through a lot for you, and she will go through a lot more if need be, just don’t never ever forget that.

Love you

Dad

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Social Gathering...

The main gate totally died last night, so I had to get out of the car (moan), unlock and go through a small door (which is a part of the gate (moan, moan), take out a small key, bend down and open a tiny door on the motor's housing that operates the gate (moan, moan, moan), unlock the mechanism then open the gate manually (moan, moan, moan and moan to the power of a Kajijullian).

IMG_3919 Anyway, today is a Saturday, and all week we have been looking forward to today, because you are going to have your first class at Gymboree. For your mother and I, we didn't think it will make you super smart or anything so pretentious, we just wanted you to meet other people, but more importantly, they have loads of toys... it sure beats you sitting and doing nothing much at home... :)

Personally, I was hoping to get some great pics of you having fun, but it turned out to be such a laugh for your mother and I, I hardly had the time to push the shutter button. Including you, there were only 4 in the class and most of them were over 9 months old, meaning they were mobile (crawling/walking) and sitting unaided, while you laid on your tummy like a huge Thai North Eastern Sausage.

IMG_3955xFor what it was, just an hour, you seemed to have loads of fun, I think the change did you a world of good.

Some of the crawling exercises looked so fun, but you'll just have to wait a little longer, and you'll be glad to know we have already singed you up for next week class, so you'll have more chance to drool all over the exercise mat again... :)

Love you

Dad

 

IMG_3933xIMG_3981


   
 

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

As Big as a House (a slight exaggeration)

A friend of mine would have suffered from a heart attack if this thing came running. He/She was well hidden, but the sound of his/her footsteps gave its position away, I was actually on the third floor when I heard several footsteps on the ground floor, at first I'd thought it was a large dog that got loose and was ransacking our living room but it turned out to be something very different...

IMG_3891IMG_3892

Seriously, when I caught this, I wondered if this was the thing that gave you your swollen foot a few weeks back.

We'll never know, but at least it is now out for the house (until it breaks our door down and crawls back to the bathroom, haa haa haa).


IMG_3879 c The natural milk stock is running low, so we have decided to use formula for one of your meal each day. There seem to be no issue from your point of view, it looks like you'll eat anything now a day. My mother have started to give your fish again in the morning, and you scoffed that down like there is no tomorrow, the only thing I think you don't care much for is Prune Juice... you should have seen your face... :)

We are so looking forward to the long weekend next week, much more so than before you arrived... we are still discussing on where to take you, it must be a day trip because we don't own a lorry (a lorry is the only thing large enough that will be able to carry all that you need, who could imagine a two foot nothing baby would need to have so much stuff... haa haa haa).

Love you

Dad

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Interesting Day (05.10.2008)

The winter is here (sort of)! Instead of a horrid sticky heat we have been suffering lately (monsoon’s heat can be quite suffocating), this morning was fantastic, the sun was shining and the air was cool (in relation to the usual temperature we’ve been getting), so my mood was in high gear, for once I am actually looking forward to today's visit to the Dr.

Usually, Sunday is a universal day of ‘doing nothing much’, well, we normally also follow this mantra with total devotion, but I am afraid not this Sunday.

IMG_3714 IMG_3701 First of all, you had a Dr. appointment at 11.00, meaning we had to be up early to fit in all of your morning routine (medicine, breakfast, bath and a quick nap). Although in our house your mother is ‘The Architect’ (refers to Matrix the film), no matter how powerful she is, she still could not control time (hee hee), so as per the grand design we were very late in leaving  the house and didn’t get to the Dr. until around 11.40. The paediatrics’ waiting area was as fun and chaotic as ever, just imagine 10 – 12 kids running around in every direction but the doctor’s office. As per our expectation, the Dr. showed a sign of relieve, not at your read rash but at your swollen foot (so were we), all you have to do now is to finish off all your medicine (YIPPPPPPP PEEEEEEEE).

dg Apirak df Today (apart from you being exactly 5 months old), is also Bangkok’s Mayoral election, there are really 2 strong contenders (by proxy, representing the two biggest political party (Pa-Lang-sdfPrachaochon (People’s Power Party (incumbent ruling party) & Pra-Chat-Ti-Pak (Democratic Party, the main opposition party)), while the rest are extremely colourful but don’t quite have enough clout to make a real challenge to those two.

So after the visit to the Dr., we had to drive across town to the election station, admittedly it only took your mother and I 5 minutes to submit our electoral vote, but getting there was a nightmare (going through the Talad Klong-Tom on a Sunday would be a last choice for any motorists, unless of course you are a totally masochist).

Although the official results have not come in yet, but it looks like the current Mayor (Apirak) will keep this position for another term, probably meaning more woe for the ruling party who seems to just be making all the wrong move at the moment.

The rest of the day was just too boring to tell you about (got you a new toy and a couple of story books), but just wanted to let you know that your mother and I are so relieve now, may be I am being paranoid but I still think your foot is still very, very slightly swollen.

Cheers

Dad

Friday, October 3, 2008

Still Smiling (03.10.2008)

Just wanted to quickly give you an update, you are now all tucked in nice and warm in your cot. This evening I came to see you at around seven forty five, the traffic was terrible again, so your mother didn't come and pick me up as usual, but instead I caught the underground (MRT here in Thailand) from Silom to Hua Lam Pong main station, then caught a Tuk Tuk (or Sam Lor (3 Wheels) in Thai) to my parents (40 Baths, my mother said I had paid too much and told me for the next time to haggle for less, and of course I won't... I am just rubbish at it), one of the first thing I did was to take a picture of your back…

03102008(004_3) 03102008(001) In just twenty four hours the red rash have improved so much, but your hands and feet are still swollen, however on a better note, it looks like the original swell (by the way, which I still suspect that it was caused by an insect) have now gone, better wait for the Doc. to confirm it though.

So you are on the mend, fingers cross, lets hope tomorrow still bring more improvement… I am so happy to see your mother more relax now, tomorrow is a Saturday, which means we get to spend the whole day with you.

Love you

 

Dad

The Calm after the Storm (03.10.2008)

I want to start by showing these pictures of your face and back, so you can appreciate why your mother was so upset yesterday’s morning.

02102008(010) 02102008(011)

 












You’ll notice there was a little smile on your mother’s face, of course the red rash was a concern, but last evening (when these pics were taken) your temperature was normal and you were so cheerful, in short you were back to your old-self and that was the reason why your mother was smiling… (and so was I), more importantly, although your back looks terrible, the rash on your legs and your little (fat) belly have virtually disappeared. 

02102008(005_3)02102008(007)


 

 

 

 

 



As soon as we went to bed last night, we just wanted the night to pass as quickly as possible so that we can see how the rash will have improve in the morning… and we were not disappointed, your back is looking great now, still some small islands of red rash, but looking less angry than it did yesterday.

Your left foot that have been swollen for the past 5 – 6 days have also improved, I think it is back to normal now. When I tried to compare your left foot to your right foot, I found that your right foot is now swollen because of the rash (will this never end?), hopefully by this evening, most (if not all) of the rash should be gone…

It was great to see your mother so cheerful last night, she is talking about taking you on another trip… being a totally risk averse freak that I am, I said we should wait until you have recovered completely (you still felt a little warm this morning).

So looking forward to see you this evening…

Love you.

Dad