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. :)

Still waiting for Aubrey

Em likes to give Eskimo kisses to her Daddy, even in the middle of the mall's food court.
Fun play area in the department store's children's department.
We have no car here obviously, so we get around in the back of pickup trucks. A ride costs about 75 cents a person, for these lovely slightly padded bench seats. :) Emily's always glad for a chance to wear her sunglasses.

Nana is really good at making Emily's wild hair look nice! Emily will sit still for quite awhile if she gets to see the beautiful finished project in the mirror. :)
Daddy and Em share a fruit smoothie. I shared mine with Aubrey. :)

Sweaty fun in the sun

We're doing well.... haven't had internet in our apartment for the last 4 days or so, but we found a little wireless cafe here so we are back in touch with the world. :) We're all having fun... no baby yet.... but all is well!

Enjoying beautiful Thailand

We've made it to Thailand... mom is with us... taking the picture!  :)  It's warm here, but lotsa fun! 
I had my first prenatal appointment with our Thai doctor here.  Everything looks good... he did an ultrasound and measured lots of parts.  He says it really is a girl, and she already weighs about 6 pounds 3 ounces.  :)  We're hoping she won't really make us wait another month to meet her!  
But meanwhile there's lots to see and do to amuse ourselves.  :)  And things we're happy to have access to... like quality dental care, rabies vaccinations, Baskin Robbins, Mexican restaurants, and elephant training camps!  
Thanks for remembering us all!  We are still trying to study language while here... Scott has been much more disciplined about it than I have!  I have the time though, I just need to buckle down... my mom is cooking, cleaning, taking care of Emily.  I get lots of naps.  What a life!  :) 

Hopefully within the next few posts we'll have a newborn picture!  Love to all!  

Recent happenings...

Moving out of our old place... leaving behind Em's Asian grandpa... our gate guard man.
Helping to unpack at our new apartment... found daddy's hat!
Nana came and brought a favorite old baby from America! Baby and Emily like to do everything together.
Fun times on public transportation... part of our everyday life.
Nana also brought this backpack from America... a favorite old toy of Em's. She was VERY happy to see all these familiar things!
Walking around our new neighborhood with Nana.
Visiting a friend's house... and some kitties!
This sweet dress was hand-made by our dear friend... and Emily gets to hold a kitty in her lap.
Yummy yummy dinner with dear friends!
Fun in the kitchen... I have much to learn about cooking here still!
Escorting us back to our place... with the doggie too.

Odd, but good

Emily and a little friend on the playground.
The odd thing is - we have police coming to our home at least 3 times a week.
The good thing is - this is because the police woman is actually Carey's language teacher.

The odd thing is - since I'm pregnant, locals say I can't eat or drink anything cold.
The good thing is - I still eat ice-cream and have diet sodas over ice at home.

The odd thing is - the only way to the bathroom is through the kitchen.
The good thing is - there's a western toilet in there.

The odd thing is - you have to go through the master bedroom to get to the other bedroom.
The good thing is - Emily has her own room.

The odd thing is - locals say I'm having a boy, because boys make your belly button poke out.
The good thing is - my belly button poked out with Emily too, so I'm trusting the ultrasound.

The odd thing is - you can't buy just 4 lightbulbs, that's unlucky.
The good thing is - they'll happily sell you 5.

The odd thing is - you're supposed to leave all your trash on your fast food table when you leave.
The good thing is - this table clearing provides a job for yet one more person.

The odd thing is - you can't pick at your teeth in public.
The good thing is - to dig around in your nose is completely acceptable. (Emily practices this.)

Day Trip

Out in the countryside walking through a fresh market. This lady really wanted to give Emily one of her tomatoes for free. Emily scored some free candy along the way too.
We met lots of people. Emily especially liked the little ones.
When we found a place to eat lunch, the restaurant owner let Emily use her one year old's toy tricycle.
Some of the scenery....
Emily and Daddy enjoying all the beautiful hills in the area.

Studying the language

The other day all was quiet and I was not hearing or seeing Emily.  I found her sitting on the chair in her own room reading the bilingual dictionary.  :)  I guess she desires to understand her surroundings more too! :)
She gave me a big grin and just kept "reading".  An inspiration to us all!  :)

So this week has been rough on us. We've all had colds.... and Carey's turned into a sinus infection. :( But we've managed to still get our language classes in this week. I (Carey) also decided to bond with the nasty dirty sidewalk outside of Walmart. I was carrying Emily (and Aubrey I guess) and stepped on some uneven patch, and down we went. Thankfully no part of Emily touched the ground. My knee and my pride took the hit! It was really embarrassing. The moral of the story... watch where you're walking. I also had an encounter with a 3 inch nail recently. It was pointing exactly straight up with the help of a broken bracket it was in, and was right in the middle of the sidewalk. It went through my shoe, through my sock, and poked the fleshy part of my foot .... but thankfully due to sore hips I was walking slowly enough to stop before it broke the skin. It took some tugging to get it out of my tennis shoe, but we were so thankful we don't have to deal with Tetanus issues. Especially because I don't think I'm up to date due to not getting shots while pregnant!
Anyways, we are surviving.... liking our language teachers..... and hope to have pictures to come soon!