And we are off...

Hopefully we have been up in the other air for about an hour and are on our way from Bangkok to Tokyo. We should be in Missouri in 24 hours!!

Here are a couple pictures of Keely helping Jacob pack up!

Prayer Bear

Keely likes to recite or sing with her toys that talk or play music. She also likes to sing along to songs on her CDs as well. She doesn't get all of the words (which reminds me of myself sometimes when I don't know all the words to a song), but it's cute. Grandma Franklin loves precious moments and gave Keely this bear that is saying a nighttime prayer.

Can you tell Keely likes to play in her crib even when we come to get her in the morning? Sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get her out of bed because she wants to play with us while she's in her crib.

Tiny Shoes

My aunt sent Jordan some cute tiny shoes. I don't normally remember to put shoes on her since getting out the door takes a bit of time as it is and she's normally starving when I dress her. The other day I pulled them out and realized she was about to outgrow them. So I had to get a picture (even though it's not the best picture)!

How does the baby sleep?

Before Jordan was born, Keely and I would read a book about a family who's mom was having a baby. Sometimes I would ask Keely how the baby sleeps and she would put her hand under the side of her head. We still play the game now and we have an added sleep position when we ask how Jordan sleeps.

Note that in the beginning of the movie, Jordan is sleeping in the position Keely is demonstrating. I also thought it was funny that Keely was using the toilet paper roll as a bracelet.

Swim?

Since Jacob has had his class the past two weeks, he wasn't able to come home for lunch. He's only home for 45 minutes- 1 hour, but it does give Keely a break from me and a chance for her to play with Jacob a little while. So, I tried to come up with different things for us to do. We swam a few different times out on our driveway. She had fun pouring water from container to container! And of course just being outside, which she LOVES!


Wednesday I was planning on letting Keely swim after lunch, but Jordan was really fussy. I wanted her to fall asleep before we went outside and when she finally did I was thinking about not mentioning it. Keely was in the dining room and I went to go see what she was doing and she was looking out the door at the driveway holding her swimsuit, swim diaper and one swim shoe. That's when I realized we better still go outside and swim!!

Crazy Night

When you get so sleep deprived and tired, you better watch out because you may become delirious! If you become delirious you might do some dumb things! Sweet Jordan did let me sleep a bit longer Tuesday and Wednesday night, but with trying to pack up and then Jacob has had class the past two weeks so he hasn't been home at lunchtime and has had homework...I have still been exhausted. Jacob has been exhausted with class and being out in the afternoons interviewing people for his class.

What did these delirious parents do? Jacob was studying for his test last night and I was trying to finish up a couple things on the computer. I was about to go pick up a few things so the helper could clean around and under today when Jacob suddenly got the inspiration to design his display when he goes to speak when we are home. The next think I know it is 10:45 and I haven't done the things I needed before feeding Jordan at 11! After that realization I did do what I originally needed to do along with deep cleaning the bathroom (why I did that then I have no idea)! It's 11:30 by the time I feed Jordan. As I'm feeding her, she gets all excited and kicks off a cup of water on my nightstand, which I'm not sure how it got so close to the edge in the first place! So, I change her clothes and then finish feeding her. Then for some odd reason I started sketching out more ideas for Jacob and the next thing I know I'm turning the light off at 1:30 am and was just praying Jordan would sleep until 5 am again this morning. That hope was dashed at 3 am when Jordan woke up with a diaper that leaked. After she was in PJ's number 3, I fed her and then put her back to bed. I was so excited it had only taken us 30 minutes hoping we'd all get right back to sleep. THEN every little bit Jordan cries and I have to get up to give her the pacifier and calm her down. By the time 4:30 rolled around Jacob and I were not thinking clearly at all and just wanted everyone to sleep. I finally rolled out of bed to find the gas medicine and I can't seem to find the light switch to the lamp in the den and I can't find the medicine. Jordan calms down on her own so I got back in bed. Then she starts crying hysterically again and so Jacob gets up to find the medicine. We finally found it on my night stand! I didn't see it there when I looked earlier! She calmed down a bit after the medicine but still couldn't go to sleep and kept crying. Finally in desperation Jordan found herself in our bed and we all found ourselves asleep! I sure hope I stop such silly things so that I don't go to bed that late again--then maybe crazy nights like these won't seem quite so bad!

Stroller Decision

What have we decided on the stroller? We are pretty sure we have decided to take the single reclining stroller. I'll use the sling or front carrier for Jordan when Keely wants or needs to use the stroller. The double stroller would be great for the travel home and back, but I'm afraid won't be the most practical once we are home. I'm afraid that the majority of the time I'd end up pushing one child in it! However, it has been great for the grocery store this week! I just put the basket on the handles and off we go!

Keely hasn't used the reclining stroller a lot after she got big enough for the umbrella stroller except for walks around the neighborhood. A couple weeks ago, we went to the night market and Jacob decided to use that stroller (we look like we have a stroller store in the back of our truck!) and we reclined it for her at the end of the night and she thought that was pretty neat. A few nights ago, we went to the market again and immediately she wanted it reclined and laid down the whole time we were in the market. We'll see how long the novelty of that lasts...Jacob hopes at least until we hit Missouri next week!!

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and advice! It did help us being reminded Keely will probably want to walk a lot more than ride and that both of them will probably like the room and reclining option of the single stroller.

Hopefully there will soon be some picture posts...my Adobe Photo Shop keeps crashing and none of Jacob's fixes seemed to work tonight! So hopefully soon!

Bowl

Our bottom kitchen drawer houses plastic lids and Keely's plastic cups, plates and bowls. Sometimes when I'm trying to finish up dinner, I won't deter her from getting into that drawer so I can finish dinner. There has been times when Jacob has come home from work that he has been a bit frustrated by where Keely had found her entertainment since there were things from the drawer all over the kitchen. It's funny, though, after someone has walked in your shoes and they realize the reasoning for things you have done. The week after Jordan was born, Jacob made breakfast sandwiches for us each morning and one morning I came downstairs to a kitchen floor full of plastic lids and plates and said, "So you realized why I let her do it, huh?" "Yep, it entertained her and I was able to finish making breakfast." Since that time, Keely put things together and realized that is where we keep her bowls that we put her snacks in. Often, she'll ask for a snack and then go get a bowl for us. This afternoon, she asked for pretzels for lunch and she went to the drawer but there weren't any bowls. I tried to explain that since it was for lunch I'd put it on her plate but she continued to scan the kitchen and saw one on the counter next to the sink (needing to be washed), got on her tippy toes, pulled it down and handed it to me. I am continually amazed at how she seems to insist we do things according to routine or how we normally do it! After she used the bowl, she came back into the kitchen and returned it to the drawer!

Sleep Poses

I just love the little poses newborns get into when they sleep. I had a ton of pictures of those cute little sleeping poses of Keely, but not Jordan! I couldn't resist the other afternoon and thought I'd share!

Yellow

I think it is hilarious how Keely says yellow and I finally got it on video!

MOM! I'm stuck!

I was nursing Jordan (yes she's finally nursing) and she had fallen asleep. Then she stretched real big, but didn't pull one of her arms down and then started SCREAMING! I'm like are you still hungry? What's wrong? Oh, your hand is stuck! My boppy (nursing pillow) has a toy bar to attach to it so there are little loops on the edges and her hand got stuck! Oops, sorry Jordan!!

ABC Zoo Dance

This is my first time to post a video...so if it doesn't look right let me know! I took this sometime back in May, but it's still cute and I wanted to share. I cut out the part of her putting additional animals on the zoo and pressing the button to make their sound-- I figured you got the picture! And you can tell she probably learned to "dance" from her mom! HAHA!

Any Ideas?

Often when you buy things, you receive free things with it. When we bought our bed, we received a mattress pad, two pillows, a body pillow, a comforter and a flat sheet. When we bought our refrigerator, we received a cooler (in case the refrigerator broke?). Sometimes even at the grocery store things come with free gifts. Keely's diapers came with a free bright yellow towel a couple times. Our orange juice has been coming with these fish containers. We now have six of them so far! So, what in the world do I do with all of these? We have two pink, two orange and two lavender? I've been trying to think up some projects to do with them or craft items to store in them...any creative ideas?

Just for fun

In this season of our life, taking candid pictures are difficult to do and are few and far between! With Keely, a big reason is that she is fascinated at looking at the pictures and as soon as she hears or sees the camera I am in trouble! I hope this passes so I can capture those cute little moments again! I really liked how blue her eyes are in this picture, even though her hair is driving me crazy and I'm always putting it behind her ears! It just won't grow at the same speed...it was all evened up at one time...and it's never all laying down at the same time! I'm ready to grab the scissors, but I know I should wait until we get to the states to see if the guy who cuts my hair can help me shape it and come up with a doable toddler style!

Family Picture

We finally managed to get a family picture taken last night! Of course with two little girls, it was impossible to get them both looking at the camera at the same time...oh well!!

Repairmen

The past couple days our internet hasn’t been working very well. We assumed it was because we hadn’t paid the bill yet and went to the mall Wednesday night to pay our bill (the phone company, which our internet is through, has an office at the mall). Jacob mentions our internet problem and we find out that we actually aren’t late with our payment, it wasn’t due until the 15th! She tells Jacob that if we still have the problem to call Technical Support. By the time we get the kids home and in bed, it is almost 8pm when Jacob calls. They say they’ll call back and around 11pm (yes 11!) they call and say that it looks it is a problem on our end and they will be out to fix it. We assume they mean at the box in our area and not at the house, therefore I am not expecting repairmen to come to the house. (The way things can get crazy, I like to have notice when a repairman is coming to my house. However, that isn’t normally the case, especially living here!) Our afternoon gets crazy, and I’m trying to feed Jordan but her tummy is bothering her and I’m trying to read books and entertain Keely at the same time. I also had just recently started itching all over (and I don’t know why) and had been thinking (maybe more like dreaming) about how I was going to take a shower after the girls were down. Around that time the phone rings, but the handset is downstairs and I decide things are crazy enough that I’m not going to worry about it. It goes to the answering machine, which is in the den where we are, and it’s a neighbor calling to say that the internet men are outside needing to come work on our internet connection. I lay an unhappy Jordan down on the floor, tell Keely I’ll be right back, climb over the gate and go downstairs. As I’m hurrying to the door, I notice the mess we have in our house. I try really hard to keep things picked up, but sometimes by the end of the week things are a mess! The laundry was done but partially folded on the dining room floor (near where you enter the house and get to the stairs)! The diaper bags and diapers we bought the night before are on the kitchen table. And in the room where the internet connection and modem is there are toys EVERYWHERE! I let the men in and lead them upstairs and start making paths to the cabinet where the modem is located. We were in Keely’s room at one point when they were working on the internet and I hear one of her toys go off…one of them must have stepped on it or something! Oops! The men work on it awhile and then tell me they have to work on the box and will call me later. So, during naptime when I normally do my computer work or take a nap (or take a shower like I had been dreaming about)…I couldn’t because I was waiting on the repairmen! Don’t get me wrong, I like having a really good internet connection and like it when it’s working, but it’s always the wrong day when things need to be fixed!! THEN the men never called...I could have napped or taken a shower!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

We leave for the States in 2 1/2 weeks and we have been trying to start getting packed up and do things we have been meaning to do for awhile. With two little ones now, my time is very limited (I know many of you know what I mean). To help me not get overwhelmed, I have been trying to take small bites out of the to do list and hopefully by the time travel day arrives we will be all ready! I have been really proud of us this week, because we have gotten quite a few things accomplished. We are packing up a lot of our personal belongs since we will be gone for 5 months. This week we got living room things packed up like videos, DVDs, CDs and games and we wrapped and packed up all of our knick knack type items and frames. We need to take our rugs to get cleaned, and Jacob rolled our living room rug up last night. This morning he put it in the plastic it came in before the helper arrived and we left. We came home and the rug was rolled back out and the plastic was nowhere to be found! As I searched the house and the trash outside, Jacob called the helper's daughter who speaks English to find out where it was. Her mom didn't seem to know what we were talking about, but finally it sounded like it was in the trash. So, Jacob went out this time and finally found it! Nothing like making headway and then going backwards! The ironic thing about it was that it took us a few minutes to find the plastic this morning, because when we organized things under the bed a few months ago I had put all plastic wrappings and bags for items like this in one bag. However, I forgot and it was the last place I looked under the bed! Then we had to search for that silly plastic all over again this afternoon!! Hope this isn't the way the rest of our packing and cleaning up will be like!

Pooh

Keely has a pooh bear that lights up and plays 30 seconds of music when pushed. Lately pooh has been played a lot. When I get up to feed Jordan, I have been discovering that Keely is awake a lot of the time. Some nights, Pooh gets played the whole 30 minutes I am up! About every other day we have to change Pooh's batteries (thank goodness we use rechargables)! One night last week, I woke up at 1:30am not to Jordan's crying but Keely's! I go check on her and comfort her. I help her lay back down and press Pooh like we normally do as we are about to leave and Pooh is completely dead. I tell Keely that I will change Pooh's batteries in the morning and in a pitiful voice Keely keeps saying, "Pooh." So, I give in and go get the screw driver and the charged batteries. As I'm sitting in the den changing Pooh's batteries I can't get over the realization that I will probably be up in another hour to feed Jordan and here I was up changing batteries in a toy!! Oh the things we do for our children!

I'm Trying to Sleep!

Jordan seems to already be getting use to being the second child. She sleeps through laughing, playing and crying. She mostly goes back to sleep pretty easily after being woken up (i.e. when dad trips on the vibrator chair, when Keely hits her with a ball or when Keely climbs on the pillows around her). We thought it was funny this night when she had her hands over her face.

"I'm trying really hard to sleep here!"

Those are cabbage patch doll legs in front of her. You can see in the picture below all of the toys Keely has put around Jordan to play with! What a sweet big sister!!

What Do You Think?

I have been going back and forth for months now on which stroller we should take back to the States with us. Then some friends bought a new stroller and gave us their double stroller, but now I have a third option! Many of you have two or more young children and I thought you may have some good advice! Even if you don't, if you have an opinion please post it too! I would appreciate everyone's thoughts because there may be something we aren't thinking about.

Here are my thoughts on our three strollers.

1. Large stroller that fully reclines: This is the one I had been thinking we would take with us. Both Keely and Jordan can use it since it fully reclines.

Pro:

• Both Keely and Jordan can use it (in the airport and our whole time in the States). (My plan has been to use the sling for Jordan and the stroller for Keely and then when Keely wants to walk we could use the stroller for Jordan if we wanted.)

Cons:

• It's bulky and heavier than our umbrella stroller.

• It's a little difficult to hang bags on the back because the handles are connected by a bar.

2. Umbrella Stroller

Pro:

• It's light weight and has a bag so it won't get messed up when we gate check it.

Cons:

• Only Keely could use this stroller in the airport and most of our time in the States (until November or so).

• It doesn't recline a lot if Keely wants to rest or sleep in it.

3. Double Stroller

Pros:

• Both Keely and Jordan will have a seat at any time.

• Keely seems to like the openness of this stroller and being able to sit by Jordan and check on her when she wants.

• Even though it is an umbrella stroller it reclines pretty well so Jordan can use it and Keely could rest.

Cons:

• It's heavy and bulky.

• Wherever we would go in the States we would only have this bulkier stroller and not a thinner single stroller.

I appreciate everyone's opinions and thoughts and helping us in our decision making!!

4th of July Fun

Friday, our office had a 4th of July picnic at the international school's pool. As soon as we arrived, Keely was mesmerized by the pool. Grandma and Grandpa Franklin had sent Keely these arm floaties awhile back.

Jacob and Keely showing off her Strawberry Shortcake arm floaties

However, they say for age 3 and up so we hadn't used them yet. I had seen a lot of friends use them with their children Keely's age and younger so we decided to try them out. I was pretty impressed she let us put them on her and she wore them the whole time! The pool has a large wading pool area and Keely loves to be able to touch the bottom! The floaties were great because if she lost her balance-- no problem! She didn't float around too much but enjoyed it when she did.
(Before the picnic, some of the guys played ultimate Frisbee and Jacob got that nice raspberry on his shoulder from diving for the Frisbee. He says he caught it though!!)

Keely floating in the pool

Keely trying to swim

Thanks for the floaties Grandma and Grandpa!

1 Month!

Jordan is one-month-old today! I can barely believe it! This month has flown by, but sometimes it is unbelievable that she came early and spent most of the month of June with us! She was here for our shower on June 13th and her passport came last Tuesday! We had been preparing ourselves for it arriving at the last minute before we left!

Of course when we take pictures Keely wants to be involved as well! She loves to climb up on the chair and see what Jordan is doing.

Keely posing for the camera.
(She was actually pretty tired and is probably just resting!!)

Jordan's One Month Pictures