more family pics

We went to a place called "The Imaginary Jungle" for dinner. It was like a real-life Rainforest Cafe... but with Thai food... therefore very cheap. It was beautiful! 2 week olds aren't very photogenic... what can you do??

Emily Turns TWO

She got the hang of unwrapping presents very quickly this year! :)
She's looking down in all these pictures... too many new fun things to play with.
New stroller and new doggie.... a great combo.
Ice Cream at Swensens....

Beautiful gardens we enjoyed later that week.....

Fun at the Elephant Camp

Emily didn't know we were there to watch elephants play in the water. She thought it was great dirt though!
The elephant show included them playing soccer and painting pictures. Emily did some clapping and cheering for them. Then we rode the elephants. Me and my dad and Aubrey are on this front elephant, and my mom and Emily are on the one way back there. Scott stayed home sick.... :( You notice Emily's elephant has no driver.... he jumped off to take these pictures for us and left them on their own for a little while. That seemed strange to us, but the entire 30 minute ride was ripe with opportunities for things to go terribly wrong. "Safety first" was apparently not part of their motto.
It was a lurchy, slopey, scary ride, but no one fell off into the mud, so we're thankful!
See Aubrey's little head??


Eating peanuts with Papa before heading home.

Emily and Aubrey's first trip to the zoo

A trip to the zoo with 8 day old Aubrey. It was hot and sticky, but had plenty of cool animals! Camels and leopards, monkeys and koalas.... and lots of pretty spots to enjoy.

The giraffes were graceful and gentle.
Nana and Papa with the elephant fountains.

A three day old's story

The nursery staff brought her to us bundled like this when it was time to leave. She seemed to really like it. She's lost about 8 percent of her body weight already, so hopefully the tiny thing will gain it back soon! They also always gave her this pillow. :) What a life!

The 3 day old's story.....

3 days after Papa Buss arrived in Asia
3 people went to the hospital in a
3 wheeled motorbike.
3 hours later, Aubrey was born with the cord wrapped around her
3 times- once around her upper arm, twice around the neck, but no problem.
3 cheers for a great doctor and sweet, fun nurses.
3 kilos is what little Aubrey weighed.
3 days later, it's
3 pm Thursday and we are "home" now via a complementary
3 minute ambulance ride (we seem to be VIPS to them). In
3 days we'll go back to check on her jaundice, and
3 days after that is the appointment to get her passport.
3 weeks after today we hope to be headed back to the big country.
3 hours of sleep a night seems to make me silly, so I'll wrap it up. Besides,
3pm feeding starts now. :)

She's here!

Aubrey Mei was born July 7 at 2:02 am. She weighed in at 6 pounds 11 ounces and 20.5 inches long. Everything went very smoothly.... she was born just 2 and a half hours after we got to the hospital. We flagged down a 3 wheeled motorbike at the curbside to get us to the hospital. I had been to see my doctor at 5pm that day (July 6), and even though I wasn't having any contractions, he said "you seem ready, see you tonight..." He was right... and we're thankful for a really great doctor!
Emily and Aubrey wave at each other.

We're all adoring sweet little Aubrey today! And we're so thankful to the Maker for this dear precious gift. We'll get better pictures up when we aren't so sleep deprived. :)