Love/Scare Toy

baby A and i love/are scared of this wrap
baby A loves it because she can stay close to me at all times
i love it because it lets me get things done
(she can be a bit demanding/attention-wanting/high maintenance lol)
we're scared of the wrap because she keeps sinking down
more so than you see in this pic
starts choking her, actually...
(turned around, her head keeps falling back, can't be properly supported)
basically she's too skinny to fit properly
(with cloth diapers too...whole other story...)
we keep trying, though
one day, we'll succeed!!

Cambodia!

So...better late than never...right?

This summer, my darling younger sis, M, left her family for 2 weeks to come see me (well, it was really adventure she was looking for) and help move me back to the States.

We spent 3 not-whole days in Cambodia, mostly near Angkor Wat.  Amazing place.  The area, that is.  Angkor Wat, itself, was cool, but not the most exciting temple.

This is Angkor Wat.
It looks very awesome, and really it is.
But compared to the other temples, it is incredibly pristine,
almost Hollywood-like with it's manicured everything,
and loaded with tourists

The highest level of Angkor Wat is regulated.
Prego-me was not allowed to go,
so I stayed on the next level down and entertained myself by taking pictures...

...of monks...
...and the incredibly steep staircase...

...and this way too cute toddler that was running all over.

We saw 3 (?) other temples--this was one of our favorites
Angkor Thom
M is standing on the bridge leading across the moat toward the temple grounds.
On the left side are the Heavenly gods, playing tug-of-war with the gods from Hell on the right side.

This is one of the entrances to the grounds for Angkor Thom.
This gate was actually used in the movie Tomb Raider,
as are other parts of other temple grounds around Angkor Wat.

The grounds of Angkor Thom are still mostly rubble.
There is construction everywhere to rebuild,
kind of like at Pompeii.
Angkor Thom is incredibly huge, as it was actually a capital city for a time, with a temple at the center.
We're still doing our homework on Angkor Wat, as we did not prep at all for this tour.
(Angkor Wat is the name of the area, not just the temple.)

Casting idols of their gods were incredibly important.
4-sided tiers like this are everywhere (4 cardinal directions).
Each temple was assigned a god, either Buddhist or Hindu.
This temple, in Angkor Thom, called Bayon, was Buddhist,
however, those faces are not of Buddha.
If I remember right, they don't actually know whose face that is.

A close-up shot of one of the faces.

A Cambodian spider.
Ew.
Our tour guide was absolutely amazing!
As no one else signed up for our tour, we ended up with a personal guide at a group price.
:-)
He took us to places around the temple that most tourists don't get to go on normal tours.
We found this spider up on the grassy/wooded top of a wall that we walked on between two of the entrances at Angkor Thom.

There are wayyyy more pictures that I will have to score from M.  My camera melted while taking pictures of that really steep staircase at Angkor Wat...

I will get those up here later this week.

me with my lovely older sis and her youngest, T
T and her sister are both in middle school and both on their cheer squad
Go Bon Lin!!
Last week, they made first place which placed them for the next higher competition
(i don't remember much these days, but it could be the nationals?...)

we're smiling because baby A finally quit screaming (relative)
usually she sleeps through crazy amounts of noise
but tonight...
the hip-hop music and my dad were putting her to sleep
--then a new song with a strong beat started and startled her
...so much for a happy baby...

my sleepy ones

one of my favorite times of the day...

                 ...cuddled up with baby A and my man (both passed out)

...it's great when they're awake too, of course...

                                    ...but i love this super quiet time

...and they're both so cute when they drool...(jk)

:-)

November Birthdays

November is one of the big months in my family.

My dear dad, two of his sisters, my older sister, and my man all have birthdays this month

and all within a couple of weeks

:-D

(can we say valentines was a happenin' time!)

this weekend we had both my dad's and my sis' birthday

(that was a pretty sweet b-day present for my dad, with jen born one day after his birthday!)

we were all able to get together, show off baby A (jen and family hadn't met her yet), watch two my my nieces perform in a cheerleading competition (the first i've been able to see--the downside to living everywhere but here for the past 10 years)--all while celebrating jen's big 40th!!

she's lucky--we kept it pretty lowkey :-)

pictures will be posted tomorrow

GaGaDeal!!!

Baby Trend-Ion Travel System-Walking

Sadly, I have yet to take a jog with this lovely jogger.

(When my baby is a couple months old, I'll be sure to rave about how much I like to run with the jogger.)

So far, we have used the Ion jogger to go on walks and use as a stand while we work outside.

The jogger is smooth.  Incredibly smooth.  Every jogger has its claims about how smooth they are on a walk or run, off-road or on.  Now, we have always stayed on-road (so far), but it handled and maneuvered very well.  While walking, we keep the front wheel unlocked, but even with one hand pushing, I have never lost control of the steering.

The matching carrier is also easy to port around (I love the triangle handle!).  We also like how the base has the ability to elevate on the back side so the carrier can recline more (letting the baby relax better).  My complaints about the carrier are very minor.  I am not crazy about the 5-point harness with the overlaying clip.  Having to hold the two pieces together in order to plug them into place over a wiggling baby is not the easiest thing.  We also do not care too much for the infant head rest, it keeps slipping up above her head.  I'm sure this will get better as she gets bigger, it just makes us more cautious about travel (and we end up stuffing the head area around the head rest to support both the head rest).

Overall, we really like the Ion travel system.  It is good quality at a decent price.  I would definitely recommend the Ion.

Jogger!!

A and i went on a walk today!  Finally!
Well, my man took us on a couple walks a couple weeks ago, but it was a couple weeks too soon...and I had to take myself back to bed quite soon after...
But we're at 4 weeks now :-) I still don't feel too great after walking a little...
but oh man...was it worth it :-)

hAPPY bIRTHDAY mY mAN

from baby A and me

you're an amazing man

&>'s

...sleep...

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. 
 ~Leo J. Burke


lolol........this is my third time up tonight, or is it morning.......