Lao Lao!!

Yep it's just 3 more days till Lao Lao (my mom) comes to visit!  We are just a little bit excited to have her come and stay with us for 3 whole weeks!  Eliana is talking about it lots (although i don't think she realizes just how big of a deal it is for Lao Lao to come all this way!), and we are already thinking of all the things we are going to do with her like play with the toys she's bringing, cook rice krispy treats and a mexican fiesta, and maybe even make a pinata for the big mexican fiesta birthday bash we are going to through while she is here.  Of course, there will be lots of cuddling with Eliana and Titus, a few trips to the park I'm sure, and a few shopping outings too.  so, if you don't hear much from me in the next three weeks that's because we are enjoying our Lao Lao.  now, if only she could fit in Nanny and the two Papas in her suitcase too! :)

home again, home again, jig a jig jig!!

Late last tuesday night, we walked back into our apartment here in Asia with our family of four in tow.  We were two very sleepy (as well as hot and sweaty!) parents, one passed out infant, and one extremely exhausted but delirious with excitement toddler upon our arrival!  We woke Eliana up around 5 a.m. to go to the airport for the first of three flights.  then, she took a 15 minute nap while we ran through the airport to barely make our last connection, and was finally asleep at 11 p.m. that night.  is still do not know how she could function at all, let alone climb all over her monkey bars and make us 10 cups of tea in her play kitchen when we got home at 10 p.m.!!  so, needless to say, she is very excited to be back home with all her toys and to see her friends here.  we are all very excited to be sleeping in our own beds again and have more than 5 days worth of clothing to wear again too!!  we even had three days of home cooked dinners delivered to us by some very sweet friends the first three days here! 

unfortunately, our internet has been a little messed up since getting back, so for right now i can't post any pics of all the excitement around here.  :(  soryr. 

so, until the pics come, here's an update on our little dude...
he turned 1 month yesterday! (so a new giraffe meter picture will be coming soon!)
he's still eating every 2-3 hours and sometimes every 4 at night
he's consistantly gaining weight and was 8.1 pounds when we left tland...i think he's going to be much bigger than his big sister! he's already filling out his newborn clothes, which took her two months to do! 
he makes some very serious expressions that are seriously cute!  (but i guess i have to say that being his mother!)
his big sister still loves him like crazy!  her voice raises up an octave at least whenever she talks to him, and she is generally very gentle as well as quick to shower him with kisses!  love it!
he really likes to cuddle with his daddy

we haven't gotten outside too much yet, but we also haven't been home a full week yet either.  we have big plans this week to go to the park with some friends here who also had a baby 3 days after titus was born.  this will be their baby's first time out of the house (except for the hospital when he was born), and they invited us to go along!  i'm sure that eliana will enjoy this outing even more than the babies it is intended for since all they do is eat and sleep!  :) 

well, i will wrap this random post up for now.  just wanted to let everyone know we were alive and well and that posts might be kind of slow in coming for a few more days...hopefully not much longer though! 

giraffe meter

so serious...must mean he's going to be a smart one!

what is this giraffe doing to me, mommy?

some of you might remember that i did a "bunny meter" with Eliana each month to see how she was growing.  so, we want to continue on in that tradition, hence the first installment of Titus' giraffe meter.  

little momma

yep, that's eliana nursing her baby doll!  she's such a good little momma!

so handsome!

more swimming!

we recently went for a swim at some friends' hotel.  there's a nice shallow kiddy pool Elly Bean can walk around in as well as two little friends to play with, so she LOVES it when we do this!

this is what titus did.  what a life!  eat, sleep, eat sleep...

my kids are soooo cool

really really cool

I pledge allegiance...

Here's Titus at 6 days old (on my original due date!) ready to go to the American Consulate so we could apply for his passport and the Consular Report of Birth Abroad. 

as you can tell, he's thrilled about this outing!

really, really thrilled!

oh, but a glove in the mouth will make it all better i guess.  

 

 

 

 

and here's Eliana sportin; the same onesie on the day we took her to the American embassy to apply for her documents.  we just might have to make this a tradition if Father blesses us again with another child!

my two precious gifts!

belly shots....better late than never!

well, i had intended to put these up about 2 weeks ago, but then Titus came and life got a little busier.  i still thought they were too cute to not share.  i love Eliana's expressions in all of them!