One round of shots for the little one

We called someone who called someone, who knew someone. Then we talked to someone who knew someone.... who is a nurse. We called that gal, and she informed us she is not a nurse, but she knows someone. Alot of someones later, we found a nurse today in a nearby town who was willing to give Aubrey her 2 month old immunizations. We had brought the medicines and syringes here with us from Thailand and they have been living in our refrigerator. But the Thai doctor made Scott promise he would not give them to Aubrey himself. (Apparently one year of nursing school didn't impress him). Well, we had a great time with this sweet nurse and her family, ended up going out to lunch together, she gave us some baby things, and told us some very helpful info about where we live! We were all very thankful... well, except for Aubrey, who's still not so sure she was thrilled with our outing.
When Scott grabbed his glasses on the way out the door, Emily did too. Here they are.... roadtrippin in Asia.

Grocery shopping. Honestly, I am still figuring this one out. I was spoiled in years past, having lived on a university campus, I just ate in the cafeteria with everyone else. Now I have to figure out where, how, and what to buy to feed a non-veggite and a toddler! I've learned that cooking from scratch usually ends one of two ways... with a great sense of accomplishment, OR tears and a great sense of time and energy wasted! Sometimes I even think I've done well, only to get home and find out that the beautiful "cheese" I'm shredding is actually frozen butter. He's a nice old man who didn't know what he had in his freezer. He honestly thought it was cheese, and sold it to me as such. All in all though, it was a great price for 5 pounds of butter. So, PTL and pass the butter!
I've also learned that the only way to get chicken tender enough to chew is to have them kill it right in front of you. They don't understand why westerners wouldn't want to take the feet and head home too, but they'll gladly keep them for you.


So, the air here is not really known for being clean anyways, but the other night when our living room began to smell like an amazingly smokey campground, we looked out the windows, and 8 stories down saw scenes like this in all directions.
I know it looks like Rack, Shack and Benny in the fiery furnace.... but it's just the locals burning fake money to their ancestors. They believe they should provide them with money for whatever they may be needing in the afterlife. Good news is, our building and the rest of the city still stand. It's an old holiday that people all over the country celebrate on that day. The next day I asked a local friend about it. She asked me "don't people in the US take care of their dead ancestors?".

Playing in our apartment complex

Playing outside in our apartment complex... with Emily sporting her new hairbows from the Thomasson family! That small hill is the view we have out our living room and bedroom windows.
These little boys and their family always invite Emily over to play at their house. :)

Language fun

We are not following the instructions on this sign, and we are all actually having a very nice time here these days. This is our last week of freedom before language classes start next week.

Here are more fun signs and labels from around this great country. We're just enjoying the laughs, not knocking them... their use of our language is still WAY better than our use of theirs!
We recently had to register our residence at the local police station. They were very friendly and helpful. They even post educational signs.
Next week, Aubrey is due to receive her 2 month old immunizations. Some friends recommended we just take her to the neighborhood shot clinic. But signs like this make you think twice about that suggestion...

All in all though, we are glad some signs are in English. And sometimes they are simply good pieces of advice, like this one above. You can never be too careful, right?

Smiles from Aubrey

Aubrey is becoming more interactive now, and will even smile at us when we walk into the room and start talking to her.

She sleeps so much at night I end up waking her up. Backwards, huh? But a good problem to have!! We are so thankful for this little big blessing!

Emily has friends/neighbors over to play at our house. They are older than her and can show her interesting things about her own toys!

Aubrey cracks a smile for Daddy behind the camera. She's doing great these days. She sleeps anywhere from 6-9 hours at night! PTL! Emily really enjoys having a baby around. She closely monitors where Aubrey is, and who is allowed near her. If we let Aubrey fuss on her own, Emily will also come ask us to "check Aubrey?". She pats her tummy softly and shows lots of love for her!

Aubrey Mei - 6 weeks old

Aubrey's new 5 speed. :) Just kickin' it!
Hugging daddy and falling asleep. It's the good life.

Our time with Nana ran out! She was with us for two months... but went back to the US a few days ago. Here is one of her last meals with Aubrey (who had Nana around her whole life!) We are looking forward to more visits!

The girls playing together on mama and daddy's bed

This is from a few weeks ago... Aubrey already looks bigger!

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. :)