Massage

Last Friday, the first thing Kaia said to my mom and Jordan after they arrived home from picking up my Grandma Tamara at the airport was, "I'm ready to go get a foot massage!" So we all headed over after my grandma had settled in a bit (I'm so excited we get to spend time with her in Thailand, too!). The ladies at the massage parlor thought it was so sweet that this little 3 year old wanted to get a massage. They got her situated on her own chair and brought her water. Kaia's masseuse was going to do a short massage, but I think the lady was having so much fun that it turned into a 45 minute massage. Now, Kaia's not really one for lots of physical affection and touch. I think we've realized she prefers the massages her dad gives her - the 2 minute type. She didn't complain at all during the massage, but a few minutes into it she turned to me and said, "I'm ready to go get my nails done now." But then the lady came back and kept massaging her. She's like me - we have a really hard time showing our displeasure to someone's face. Whenever we asked if she liked the massage while we were there she said yes, but when I asked her back at Grandma's house, she said it was too long.

Jordan's masseuse asked him how old he was. I said, "He looks a lot older with all that hair and his beard, doesn't he?" I thought she responded by saying he looks like he's "sixty." But, as it turns out, she was actually saying he is "Sexy. Man. Sexy man, hair." So much for getting an outsider to convince Jordan to reduce his hairness at least a little bit. =) Then the masseuse asked for his e-mail address.

The US Dollar has fallen in value since the last time I was in Thailand 2 years ago, which basically makes things a little more expensive here in Thailand than I've been used to in the past. But even still, the massages came out to $9.50 for an hour, including tip. All the fabulous fruit here in Thailand is one of my favorite things about coming here. And the fruit in this picture costs 33 cents a bag! Amazing!

We made it!!

Well, the kids and I arrived in Thailand about 2 days ago without incident. The flight went very well for 3 main reasons: 1. Asher got a fever on the airplane, which meant he was very docile and just wanted to be held the whole time. 2. We each had our own individual TV to watch, and the kids were actually entertained by these. I personally watched at least part of 7 different movies! My personal favorite: Martian Child. 3. It was a nonstop 17 hour flight. I know this sounds awful, but I have now done it this way and with a layover - this was infinitely better. I cannot even describe in words how wonderful it was to get on the plane in New York and get off in Bangkok. I think this is partly due to my personality - as long as I'm headed towards my destination literally or in life, I can deal with some boredom or hardship. But when I feel like I'm stalled, it drives me crazy. That was a long way to say I LOVED the nonstop flight!!

We've had a bit of a difficult time adjusting to the time difference. The first night Kaia slept for about 3 hours until 1 a.m. Then I think she was up the rest of the night - I'm not sure about this because I was in and out of sleep the whole night because she kept poking me and saying, "Mommy, I need to hold your hand. Mommy, I really miss my Daddy (lots of tears). Mommy, I'm very hungry." The next morning, Kaia told her Uncle Jordan: "I didn't sleep at all last night! I cried, and I needed a tissue, and I talked, and I didn't sleep at all!" Pretty accurate. Yesterday she was running only on adrenaline and literally ran in circles for most of the day. We took the kids swimming to get them really tired for bed. I'm not actually trying to wink in this picture, but I included it because I think it's funny. It was so bright I couldn't keep my eyes open.

By about 5:30 in the evening, both of them had crashed. I'm shocked Kaia made it that long. Last night we all got a much better night of sleep, although I'm now battling a cold and Asher still isn't feeling tiptop. I guess everything can't be perfect in paradise, right?

Hot Stuff!

On Saturday, we headed to the Short Hills Mall to use a gift card we'd received for Christmas 2006. And we picked the Short Hills Mall since it has an Apple Store. While at the mall, we went into Janie & Jack, a posh and very expensive children's clothes store, for the first time. Of course, we headed straight for the clearance racks at the back of the store. And we scored!! We got this church ensemble for Asher, originally retailing for around $120, for only $28!

In case the little ladies at church didn't have enough reason to fight over Asher, he thought he'd take some flowers to tempt them!

Nothing like a...

foot massage while watching a movie on the iPhone!

Almost every time Kaia has seen Peter recently, she sticks her foot in his face and says, "I like massages, Daddy." One of these times, Peter started squeezing her calf. "No, Daddy, you do my foot first, then you can do my leg." Well, well.

Kaia ends up in our bed at some point every night these days. The first thing she says when she wakes up in the morning is, "Daddy, can I play with your iPhone?" And she's amazing when using it. She can find her favorite movies, the Enchanted song she loves, and she can even call people!! I find it amazing to see the things my kids are growing up with that I never even imagined possible.

I've been tagged!!

This is the first time I've been tagged. My friend, Erica, tagged me. Here are the rules:

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the question about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 other people and posts their names, and then leaves a message on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog to get the directions.

What I was doing 10 years ago...
I was 16 and a junior in high school. I had just moved back to the States from Hong Kong. My 16th birthday worked an almost magical change on me - I went from being an anti-social nerd to being a social being that was still pretty nerdy but at least I started to have friends, too, instead of just doing my homework all the time. It was right around this time 10 years ago that I had my first kiss. This first kiss involved a closet, a glow-in-the-dark planet, and a kiss on the nose before it reached it's target. =) It was very sweet and very innocent.

5 Things on My To-Do List Today
1. Go running - ha ha ha - this one got scratched off the list for today because it was 11 degrees this morning - I don't think so!

2. Finish reading Jane Austen's Mansfield Park

3. Go to Target to get a few things for our trip to Thailand that we leave for a week from tomorrow!!

4. Drop off some of Peter's dry cleaning

5. Scrapbook a couple pages that are stuck in my head

3 Bad Habits I Have
1. I love to pick, pick, pick. This drives all my victims crazy! If I see something in an ear or nose (this one ONLY applies to the kids!) I have to pick it or it drives me nuts. As Adrian Monk would say, "We'll all be so much happier when that's out of there."

2. I'm a little too vocal about my dislike of New Jersey drivers. When Kaia hears me say something like, "Oh, my gosh!" she now says, "These are crazy drivers, Mom!"

3. I consistently buy more vegetables than I ever use in a week and end up throwing things away. It drives me crazy, but I also don't like not having fresh veggies in the house.

Places I Have Lived
Utah: Fruit Heights, Provo
Washington, D.C. (as a baby)
China: Guangzhou, Nanjing, Qingdao
California: San Diego (when I was about 5)
Taiwan (for a couple months during the summer when I was 5)
Hong Kong
Thailand
New Jersey

Things Most People Don't Know About Me
This is a tough one. Mistie's replies triggered one for me - I really would be happy if people just didn't have hair - I mean, if all people were born without hair so it was normal. I don't like doing my hair and don't feel like I have any clue what I'm doing with it. My life would be so much easier without hair. Well, maybe that's not true. But at least I wouldn't always wonder if I could make my hair look a lot better than it does?!?

I've tagged: Sienna, Katie, Jess, Becca, and Jenn

Bloglines

I wanted to share with all of you a website that helps manage the blogs you read. My friend Becca told me about Bloglines, but it took me a long time to actually sign up for it. I finally got tired of clicking through every blog in the list of those I visit to see if anyone had updated. That's where Bloglines comes in. Go to Bloglines.com and you can sign up for a free account. Then go to the Feeds tab. Here you can search for and enter in any of the blogs you read. Once you do this, you need to select the option to "Mark all read." Then, every time you get on the site, it will show you a number next to any blog that has been updated. Using this site has SIGNIFICANTLY cut down on the time I take to check blogs. Instead of checking individual blogs, I know within seconds if any blog has been updated. I thought I would pass this information on in the hopes that it might be useful to anyone else!

A quick story of Kaia - she's not overly affectionate usually, but today she asked very nicely if she could sit on my lap while she ate lunch and I agreed. After a little while, she put her arm around me and was stroking my back. I thought, Wow, this is so sweet! She hardly ever does this. After sitting in solitude like this for a couple moments, Kaia observed, "Looks like I'm wiping something on your back!" WHAT?!? So much for sweetness. As it turns out, she was wiping an unwanted nectarine peel on the back of my shirt.

And here are a couple pics of Asher having a "Toilet Picnic" - so sanitary, I know - while Kaia was in the bath.



Wanting to share:

True Love

Over lunch today, Kaia told me that she wanted to get true love's kiss. She said that after lunch she would go in her room and lay on her toy chest. "Mommy, will you pick Asher up so he can kiss me on the lip?" That's right, she just wanted a kiss on one of her lips! After lunch, we went in and Kaia fell into a deep sleep:


Asher was only too happy to oblige with some big, wet smackaroos! After a couple, Kaia said, "Mom, I don't want wet ones." Well, I'm afraid they only come in one style from our boy. Later, Kaia asked to call my sister Sienna. She ended up talking to her husband, Brandon, and said, "I want to tell you about true love..."




On a different note...a while back I posted links to some talks I find inspiring. I thought I'd add another to the list:

The Functional Family by James MacArthur

The speaker talks from his own experiences growing up in a dysfunctional family, as well as his 20+ years working as a psychiatrist, to talk in a positive way about the things that make up a functional family. I particularly like his ideas of intentionally parenting and setting up a time once a week to sit down and talk about your family and where you want those relationships to go.

Hand Stand

Here's another little video from right after Church the other day.
Almost as soon as we got in the door, Kaia walked over to the couch and
showed me how to do a handstand. I have no idea how she learned - maybe
they were practicing in Primary?

Great Job, Ash!

This is my first time attempting to put video on this blog. I was in
the kitchen recently when I heard Kaia giving Asher a spontaneous quiz
on the animal sounds. Every time he'd say one, she'd exclaim, "Great
job, Ash!" Of course I had to grab the camera. Here it is:


A couple other little stories:
Kaia and I were making little books together the other day (cutting
& stapling paper, then she would speak the "story" and I would
transcribe - "dcrlmnopstlmnoqstlmno..."). This was a conversation we
had:
K: You're brave, Mom.
M: Thanks! Are you brave?
K: No.
M: What are you?
K: I'm so happy!

Later that day Kaia randomly said, "Mom, I want you to be a little girl
again. Then I could pick you up and carry you!"

A Few Anecdotes

Fortunately, Asher has been screaming a little less recently. We've been having better days since the hard one a little while ago. Following are some anecdotes that give a little taste of what's been happening around here recently.

The other day Asher came up to me when I was busy in the kitchen. He lifted his hand up to show me something on his fingers. I caught a whiff and realized it was poop! Gross, I know. Of course I gave a huge reaction to this fact, so Asher thought it was very funny. And I did laugh a little. I mean, it was kind of funny. So then, as I'm holding the poopy hand so he doesn't get it anywhere and trying to wash the food I'd been preparing off my other hand, Asher stuck his other hand into the back of his pants and pulled out more poop. It became this very funny game to him as I tried desperately to keep him from getting poop on himself or me or anything else until I was able to get him changed. All in a day's work!

As I was getting ready for the day in the bathroom, I heard Kaia saying from the living room, "Don't get the fish, Ash! You're not supposed to get the fish!" Needless to say, I quickly ran out. Shakakan the fish had not been thrown across the living room as I had feared, thanks to Kaia's bodyguarding attempts. But now that Asher has seen Kaia carry one of the chairs over to where the fish is kept, I'm not sure if he'll survive for much longer.

I took my camera to church last Sunday to get pictures of the kid to display on a bulletin board. I had them line up one by one against the wall to get their picture. After seeing this a number of times, Asher decided it was his turn. He walked right up to the wall, turned around, and posed for this very serious photo (he was all business):


Kaia has been joining us in bed every night for quite a while. I resorted to trying bribery to get her to stay in her bed, which has not worked. But she decided to try it in reverse. As I was putting her to bed a couple nights ago she said, "Mommy, I have a secret to tell you. If you sleep in my bed all night with me, you'll get new Play-doh for Christmas!"

This morning Kaia and I had the following discussion:
K: Mom, I want to see the snake movie.
M: Oh, Kaia, that one's gross.
K: No, Mom, it's not eating the mouse. It's playing hide and seek!

Why, you might ask, would I even need to have a conversation with my daughter about a movie where a snake may or may not be eating a mouse? Because my dear brother Jordan put such a movie on my computer from his camera. When I saw it on our computer I had no idea what it was until I watched with Kaia as a snake comes out of nowhere to attack an unsuspecting rat. But, as Kaia said, they were only playing hide and seek. I guess that's the job of an uncle - to keep things interesting!