Merry Christmas from Thailand!

What do you get when you put together sunshine, sand, family and good food?  A fabulous holiday in Thailand with the Haskes!  Instead of doing our normal camping/hiking Christmas we decided to meet up with Jim's sister, brother and family in Koh Lanta.  It has been so nice being together for the holidays.  We've had a lot of laughs and fun times together - all between naps, of course!  We have just a few more days in here (how sad!) and then we fly to Bali to meet some dear friends.  It is going to be sad to leave Jim's family, but great to see some special friends.  And plus, it's Bali:)

We made arrangements with Santa to visit us before we left Jakarta.  It's a good thing he is so flexible!  Amelia was so thrilled to find a pair of sandals in her stocking that we could have stopped there and saved everything else for a rainy day:)  She asked us to put them on so she could run around the house.  She continued to do victory laps each time she opened something new.  It was funny watching her reactions - much different from last year.  

 

New sandals and new jammies!  

What more does a girl need?

 Amelia loved her shopping cart so much that she pushed it around the house from the moment she opened it to the moment we left...only taking breaks for food, sleep and diaper changes!

 

Enjoying a Christmas book from Grandpa Steve and Grandma Nancy

 

Grandma Mary Ann sent a peek-a-boo book and without prompting Amelia joined in.  It was the cutest thing!  The blanket she is sitting on was sent from her Aunt Renee in Iowa.  She made it herself and sent it just in time for Amelia to enjoy!  Thanks for that!

As always, Amelia's development continues to astound us!  Just this week she has added some new fancy words to her vocabulary: down (with sign), flower, bubble, rice, cracker.  She is building quite the vocabulary and now tells us night-night when she wants to go to sleep with her nay-nay (paci and blanket) which is something I never thought would happen.  Friends had talked about their son asking to go to bed and I thought, "yeah that will never happen," but it did.  Whew...keeping a consistent bed time routine pays off:)  She is on her second skinned knee from running on pavement faster than her body can coordinate and if she had her way would live on mango smoothies.  (Every time she hears the resort blender go she says, "Yum, yum!")  Needless to say, we are enjoying every minute of our time off with her.  Hopefully you can see her in action very soon either on skype or videos we will surely post.

Missing all of you and wishing you the best for the coming new year.  

Lots of Love from,

Liz, Jim and Amelia

XO

Bring on the ball pit

Belated Birthday Blog

So the best intentions are, well...intentions. I thought that this year would be different now that my Master's studies are finished, but the blog continues to be quiet. Just a video here and photo there. So many events have passed and I have written countless posts in my head, but they haven't actually made it to this space! What can I say? Life is busy!

So, to catch up on what we have been up to, we will start with the first and most important: Amelia's birthday was on October 5th. Since I know several of you have been waiting for photos. We kept Amelia's celebration small and simple. We had her baby group over for an afternoon play date. Lots of yummy snacks, a cowboy cake (no connection to actual cowboys, just a name given by Jim's dad and friend) and a stuffed animal pit made for a fun time.

Photos are taking forever to upload so for now I will just post an album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lizhaske/AmeliaSFirstBirthday

Watch Amelia Grow

52 weeks of growth captured! This was Jim's idea and I am so glad we did it. It is so incredible to see the growth from week to week.

If you have better suggestions for a song, please post them in the comments section below...

Ahh chooo!

Amelia and Daddy pretend to sneeze...ahh choo!

Happy Oktoberfest!

Amelia discovered the delights of a cold block of ice and a little polka music during Oktoberfest 2011. Cheers!

We had five blissful days last week in Bali as the rest of Indonesia celebrated Idul Fitri, the closing of Ramadan. We checked out a new area, Sanur, and will definitely go back. We had such a lovely time swimming, eating and strolling about. Jim even got in a dive! We have plans to go back in December and will hopefully meet up with our friends from DCS, the Longs.

Amelia is so friendly and loves to interact with new faces. She makes a silly giggle to catch someones attention and then goes through her routine of tricks. It is really funny to watch. By the end of our time at Hotel Sanur Beach, the wait staff knew her name and several other guests had to greet her daily. It is funny to witness just how much people love babies.

We seem to be in a continuous hunch these days as Amelia cruises around with her quickly fading goose step. She is now moving much faster and instead of high kicks is developing quite a quick pace. She wants to climb up everything - including tall shelves and the base of our table. She is over crawling up the stairs and would much rather hold your hands and walk up them. She has even shocked us with a few moments of free standing, but we think walking is a little ways off. We'll see as she is always full of surprises!

Birthday season is officially open as we celebrated with the first of the Bintaro Baby Boom: Zia. She is a month and a day older than Amelia so now we have to shift our focus to think about how we are going to ring in this year. I have plans to put together all the weekly photos and post a slide show. We have never missed a week, but unfortunately our memory card had an error and three photos are unviewable. (We also lost photos from our crab feast on our new porch with Richmond friends.) We decided that we are just going to reenact the photos we missed so that the series is complete. It has been a fun project, but we both agree that 52 is where we stop:)

Mirror Smooches

Amelia is such a funny little girl. She had such a great time amusing herself in our hotel room in Bali that she decided to give herself a kiss!

Getting ready for Halloween

Halloween may be a month away, but that doesn't stop us from playing dress up with her costume bits. Watch out, she might just put a spell on you!

Spaghetti Aftermath

A marvelous mess after a dinner of spaghetti. It was even in her belly button!

Snapshots of Summer 2011

There were just too many great photos to share so I put them together as a movie. We had such a lovely holiday with all of you and can't wait to see you again next year. As I put this together, I realized just how little we had the camera out in Iowa. I really wish that I would have taken more photos of Amelia with her midwest clan! Mental note for next year:)

Amelia meets Matea

The High Stepper

The Ups and Downs of International Travel...

We finally made it back to Jakarta after quite an interesting few days of travel. Since I know many of you were curious how Amelia would do, here is a recap of our journey...

We were checked in by the rudest airline employee in Richmond, who charged us $400 for two "extra" bags that we were actually entitled two, but assured us that, "The computer is NEVER wrong." Boo!
We arrived in Chicago and spoke with a customer service agent who assured us that we should not have been charged. After contacting the agent in Richmond, who refused to issue a refund, they manually did it for us. Yeah!

Our flight to Hong Kong was delayed for four hours. Which meant that we would miss our connection to Jakarta. Boo!

We were supposed to get a bassinet seat, but boarded to find we were in the last row. Boo!

After talking to the flight attendant we were given an extra seat, which is way better than a bassinet. Yeah!

Leaving later meant that our 14 hour leg started much closer to Amelia's bed time and we all got a fair amount of sleep. Yeah!
We arrived in Hong Kong feeling rested and ready for our next leg, but it wasn't for another ten hours. Boo! But, United put us up in a hotel for the night. Yeah!

We arrived at the airport bright and early to receive our new tickets since we had to be re-booked, but the counter was closed. Boo!

Once we were finally checked in we found out that the bassinet seat was booked so they gave us an extra seat. Yeah!

We all had a nap just in to make it home for an impromptu baby group reunion. Double Yeah!

Once the jet leg (yes, I have been awake since 2am and despite my best deep breathing have not been able to fall back asleep!) has subsided. I will post some photos from our summer. We were not online a whole lot so I have some great photos that have not been shared!

Peek-a-boo!

A Weekend in Yogjakarta

Last month we spent an enjoyable long weekend in Yogjakarta, a city on the island of Java. Yogja is about an hour flight from Jakarta, which was perfect for a weekend getaway. We had been wanting to go to Borobudur, a Buddhist temple, for some time and finally had the chance.

Most people go to Borobudur for sunrise because apparently the view is stunning. We opted to go once we had a "full" nights rest. (I think our days of sunrise adventures are on hold until Amelia is a bit older.) From our hotel it took about an hour to get to the temple and on the way we were able to see some of the aftermath from the recent eruption of Mt. Merapi.

Although there were plenty other temples to visit, we decided to save them for next time and instead took advantage of the lovely pool at our hotel.

Click on the photo below to open the web album...

Standing Tall

A Few Recent Favorites...

Jim has most of our photos on his computer and he is in the midst of marking, marking and more marking so I will share a few recent favorites that I have snapped with my iPhone. It has been a while since there has been a proper Amelia update and now that my course work is finished, I have no excuse!

So what's new and exciting in our parenting adventure? Well, we are having a wonderful time with eating. I cannot say enough good things about Baby Led Weaning. I am so glad that we went this route. Amelia really does know how much she needs and when to stop. It is really remarkable how well she is eating and willing to try anything, especially since she is in control. She hasn't really refused anything, but definitely shows preferences. It has also been easier to feed on the road because she eats what we do. I don't have to cart along a bunch of jars, etc. Once the marking slows down I will hijack Jim's computer and do an "Adventures in Eating" photo blitz.

Amelia has been sitting up on her own for quite some time. She is starting to shift a bit on her belly, but crawling appears to be a ways off. Who knows though, every week brings something new and exciting. She now plays peek-a-boo and gives open mouth kisses randomly. She is the happiest little monkey and squeals with delight when I come through the door after school. I cannot wait to have all summer at home with her and Jim. The infant life jacket has been ordered and the kayaks are calling! She is going to love life on the bay. We fly home on June 10th and will make our Cedar Rapids debut on July 7th. Hopefully we can connect with lots of you!

And now for the photos...

I didn't even have to pose this one!

Amelia testing out the backpack before our trip to Yogjakarta.

Can you say, "Royal Wedding?"

Enjoying bits of apple in the Yogjakarta airport

Speechless for Once...

Finito, basta, hlas, finis...my last paper is D-O-N-E! Everything is turned in and I received my Master's in Literacy Education from the University of Missouri last weekend. Wahooo!!! Because we were going away, I thought it was going to be an unmarked occasion...boy, was I wrong!


Jim managed to organize a surprise ceremony and celebration with our neighbors and friends. He had everyone doing something and they all managed to keep everything a secret! I had no idea!


I was tricked into a play date and then a walk, which ended up at our community club house. I saw a banner from afar and even said, "Hey, there's a party. Let's go see if they have cake." We walked through the gates and I was stunned to see everyone sitting in formation, ready for my commencement to begin. Of course I immediately burst in to tears as Jim said, "Liz this is for you...Happy graduation." Next thing I knew I was suited up with a cap and a gown that I couldn't figure out how to put my hands through - how I managed to get a Master's remains to be explained!

Jim had organized every detail in a way that totally blew me away. It was so touching to see how much he cared about making something he knew was so important to me a big deal. I guess that is why he is my best friend, husband, father to our child, and the man I share this blog with! It seemed that there was one surprise after another - even a card shower from loved ones at home. (Thank you family and friends for being there in spirit!) A special thank you also to Tessa for helping to set-up and decorating and to my sister-in-law, Margaret, who created Super Liz posters!

Here is a video our neighbor shot (thanks John!) and passed on to us. You can tell I had no idea because I am pretty much wearing sleep wear...I was tired after a staff vs. students soccer match.

http://www.youtube.com/user/holmesjw

And the winners are...

As you know, we held a contest last week asking for your creative captions.  After spending hours sifting through all the entries we have selected our winners.  Remember, if your name is chosen you are entitled to the following:

An all expense paid trip to Jakarta, Indonesia which will include a stay in our private guest room with queen bed and your very own adjacent bath. All meals are included, and prepared to your liking by our very own, local Indonesian chef. Your prize also includes airport pick-up and drop off, all beverages, wireless Internet, satellite TV and pool. You may claim your prize up until the month prior to us leaving which may be in approximately 3 - 10 years. Airfare not included.

If your caption was not chosen we do appreciate your participation.  We will be holding another creative caption contest where the winner or winners will be entitled to a free crab lunch OR dinner at our home in Mathews, Virginia.  Drinks and sides included.

Drum roll please...

  Just another day at the bouncing baby farm. – Molly Herr Gartlan
 

No more margaritas for now. – Steve Sandstrom

Hey where is my cabana boy with my cocktail? – Joni Kerr

  Hey Mom, do you realize that when we go outside of this nice air-conditioned store into the heat that my balloon will expand proportionally! – Barry Leslie

What are you looking at? Do I have something on my face? – “T” - Not sure who this is, but a valid ID will need to be presented in order to gain entry into our home.

Dinner Time!

Happy Easter...

Scarf Fun

Jumping with John

One Piece Band

We want your caption suggestions!

This week we are asking our plethora of followers to let us know their caption ideas for 1 or more of the following images. If we use yours, we will award you with an all expense paid trip to Jakarta, Indonesia. Your trip will include a stay in our private guest room which includes a queen bed and your very own adjacent bath. All meals are free, and prepared to your liking by our very own, local Indonesian chef. Your prize also includes airport pick-up and drop off, all beverages, wireless Internet, satellite TV and pool. Offer expires in 3 - 10 years. Airfare not included.

Amelia and Bear

Amelia Renee is 6 months today!

Believe it or not, our little bundle of joy is half a year! I can't believe just how quickly six months have flown by! It is crazy to think back to the day she was born and the wave of emotions we experienced: excitement, anxiety, fear, and the purest form of joy and love as we first laid eyes on her. We have a LOT of photos to post from recent weeks - we know we are behind in sharing. Thank you to everyone who faithfully follows Amelia's growth...and what the rest of us are up to, too!

Hitting the sixth month mark means that lots of new and exciting things are on the horizon. We officially have reintroduced solids. (We flirted with them before, but after seeing uncomfortable rice cereal made Amelia, we held off.) This time we are taking a different approach: baby led weaning. Instead of smashing and spoon feeding, we are letting Amelia learn to eat through play. We give her safe pieces so she can learn to pinch, grab and coordinate her movements to get different foods, in their regular form, into her mouth.

The first time I must admit we were both a bit nervous when a huge hunk of banana broke off in her mouth, but magically she spit it out. This is all part of the learning process. So far she has tried banana, carrots and avocado. She took to avocado the best out of the three...which is no surprise considering how nice the texture and mild taste are! (We have a few videos from these feeds that we will post very soon.)

We were introduced to this feeding approach by our friends Tessa and Eric who have been doing it with their daughter for a month now. She feeds her self and eats lots of yummy fruits and veggies by gumming them down. If you want to know more, you can visit http://www.babyledweaning.com/.

No Description Needed...

Can we really tick Borneo off the list?

Jackson, Amelia, Nikki, Tucker, and Russell in Kota Kinabalu

Last week we headed to sunny Kota Kinabalu on the island of Borneo in Malaysia...and the only thing we have to show for the entire weeks trip is a stamp in our passport! It was more like a hotel vacation and I am not embarrassed to admit that we did not see one cultural thing the entire trip - well unless you count the gamelan playing in the hotel lobby! It was just the vacation we needed, full of quality relaxing time as a family and catching up with old friends...in a lush setting!

The plan was to meet up with Nikki, Russell and their two boys Jackson and Tucker. We taught together in Damascus and since being exited in 2008 they have moved to Beijing. We had a wonderful week together. Nikki got in her baby snuggles and we all enjoyed a few lazy days by the pool, some good food and lots of laughs. It was great seeing them and we hope to do it again very soon!

We came back to Jakarta feeling refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the year. Graduation is on the horizon. My master's paper is written and ready to be proofed one last time. Only about five more weeks to go and then I will take the biggest sigh of relief ever! The end of the year will be here before we know it and we will be making the rounds for the Amelia meet and greet!

Daddy with Amelia in Kota Kinabalu

24 weeks old

Helping mommy pack up my diapers - yes we use cloth even when we travel

"Wake up daddy! It's time to go swimming."

Jolly Jumping at 23 weeks.wmv

Amelia and Zia have an afternoon bounce together!

Flirting with Solids

Amelia encounters rice cereal (which was really more like milk soup with a few soft bits) for the first time. If you don't want to watch the whole experience, skip to the end when it turns into a cup feed!

Swimming in Bali

4 month old Amelia takes a dip with mommy in Bali.

I'm Back...

So after three VERY crazy weeks, I am finally catching my breath. I am in my final semester of my graduate program and was a bit overwhelmed by the workload the last few weeks. The good news is that the major section of my final graduation requirement (action research paper) is complete and the feedback is positive. I have a few minor revisions to do before we head to Borneo in a few weeks.

Believe it or not, Amelia is going to be five months this Saturday...yes, you read that correctly FIVE MONTHS! Wow...what a learning journey we have been on. Our latest discovery has been through the book, The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. A friend suggested this after both of our sweet little angels started to have more frequent night wakings. (Whew...this was another reason I have been so disconnected!) We have been using the techniques suggested and have already seen amazing results in Amelia's ability to go to sleep without help and to fall back asleep when she wakes up at night. And...all without crying! We'll keep you posted on this one.

Amelia continues to be full of smiles and giggles. She is such an outdoors girl...I guess nature is just in her genes:) Today I took her on the community trampoline and bounced with her - sitting down together. She is still a little small for jumping just yet! But, we do have a jolly jumper for her that needs a stand. Once this is up and running you can surely expect some entertaining videos.

The photos this week are going to be the first in our recent fashion show. Anyone who visited with us this summer saw my extreme organization - everything sorted by size, stage, use. When we came back to Jakarta, I put everything in Amelia's dresser not realizing how different each brand is sized. Now that she is growing so quickly, I have discovered that so many things fit her and if we don't put them on soon we are going to miss the window. I am so thankful that we didn't buy any more clothes than we did because she can barely wear what she has. Enjoy the many looks of Amelia.

Our little Monkey with her monkey. Thank you Auntie Margaret for the cute little onesie.

Amelia in the sun suit mommy knew she just could not live without!

Reading with mommy in her Ween onesie -

Daddy is trying to indoctrinate her early!

Sitting up tall in her Bumbo

We're all feeling a little pain one way or another

Amelia continues to entertain and surprise. Over the last 2 weeks we have watched her begin grabbing her toes, rolling over from her stomach to her back, and today, if not a fluke, from her back to her stomach. A number of monumental firsts that are exciting to see, but we also had our first cold this week as well. Unfortunately Amelia had a cough and was congested but now she seems to be over the worst.

Liz is busy with being a teacher, a mom, a student, oh... and a wife. It will be a huge weight off her shoulders when she earns her Masters this spring. A tough road lies ahead, but if anyone can do it it's Liz. I recently aggravated my back playing basketball and have been seeing a chiropractor. Typically I avoid health care offices at all costs but this was too much. I am on the mend, but it has been more difficult these last few days getting down to play with Amelia.

Below are some recent photos, a few of which were from a short trip to Bali. Amelia has become more accustomed to the water which makes us even more excited about getting home to the Bay this summer. Liz and I have stayed strong with only using cloth diapers. Thus far Amelia's buns have only had one disposable on them and that was when she was brought into our room at the hospital after she was born. Most would think it is such a chore to wash them, but even on vacation, and only having a bathtub to use, it wasn't that big of an inconvenience. If only more people would get on board.

Morning Giggles in Bali

Amelia 16 weeks

Airplane!

Sweet Sixteen...

Amelia's sixteenth week brought lots of smiles...but that is not any different than any other week! We made another attempt at swimming, only to realize that she has already grown out of her bikini top! We were able to get one good shot...good thing it was only $1 at a summer yard sale. Amelia and her pals joined a music class at school. Having her come to campus makes Friday that much sweeter! Jim continues to get smiles from his song creations. Soon he will have enough hits to cut an album...watch for it on iTunes.

This big stuffed toy inspired another one of daddy's hits...Big Banana

Highlights from Week 15

Here is the highlight reel from week 15...Amelia can now reach, grab, hold her head steady and screech with delight. Enjoy seeing a snap shot of her development!

If you are viewing this from facebook - click "View Original Post" to link to the video clip.

Belated Blog...

Last week I mourned the end of my maternity leave and returned to work. I have been sick about leaving Amelia for over a month and the day arrived, ending my fantasy of being a stay-at-home mom. It has taken a real mind shift to move from being so focused on Amelia and her needs to my students. Learning to have adult conversations that do not involve feeding or diaper changes has also required a mental shift. I am adjusting and have accepted that this is the way life is. Luckily I have an understanding with my administrators so that I leave early each day to get home to feed. It is amazing how much more efficient I have become, whereas in the past I would often stay until 5:00pm and still not feel be prepared. I often wonder what I was doing with my time!

Last weekend celebrate me surviving my first week as a working mom, we took Amelia to the zoo. We enjoyed the park like atmosphere and were entertained by the animals, especially the monkeys.

Making friends at the zoo while we waited out the rain...Amelia is very verbal and loves to chatter to new faces. It was so cute the way she cooed and squealed to this little girl, who was very unsure of what to make of this little bouley baby.

Entering the primate center at the zoo

Australia Part 1

Here are a few photos from our holiday trip to Australia. We stayed around Sydney, visiting Manly beach, the Blue Mountains and another beach town, Wollongong. We had a great time enjoying the outdoors with Amelia. She was a great little traveler!

Amelia's first plane ride - a red eye from Jakarta to Sydney Snuggling with Daddy

Manly Beach
Family shot at the Sydney Opera HouseBundled up with Daddy at Manly Beach on a windy day...
don't you love that there are bikinis in the background and we were freezing! Coming from Jakarta, it was chilly.Camping for ChristmasOur merry little family on Christmas morning after a wonderful sleep...
Amelia took to camping and had no problems sleeping in the tent. Instead of reindeer, we were visited by kangaroos on Christmas morning. It was perfect! There were four kangaroos. This is a shot of a female with a joey in her pouch.

Peace, Joy and LOVE!