Happy Halloween x3!

Gretta had 3 outfits for today so she more than made up for our lack of costumes. This cat hat, socks and I Love My Mummy shirt were from our friend Abby. She already had the orange shorts from our friend Laura, so they completed the ensemble.

The Lil Pumpkin onesie was made by our friend Jess back at my baby shower, so now the season finally came for her to wear it and of course had to add the pumpkin socks, more from Abby!






And finally, our Lady Bug!

This guy wanted a picture with Josh, Gretta and him and his son

Lady bug flying

Trick or Treat!

We had a fun night! No trick or treating, but we went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Bourbon Street, Gretta got a kiss from a random Thai man on our way back from dinner, then we went out front to take pictures by all the decorations (yes they have Halloween and Christmas up at the same time if you didn't notice!) so besides the picture taken with Josh and the other guy and his son, another woman wanted a picture with herself and Gretta and other people were just taking her picture while we were walking around with her. Another day in the life of a celebrity.......

We did something new.....

Today we tried a playgroup, finally. I was excited to be venturing out somewhere new and finding my way. Gretta didn’t know what she was in for, but I think she was excited too! After her visit with the maids I strapped her on and away we went. We had to walk a little ways, but it was fine. We got to see some new Soi’s (pronounced soy) which is what all the side streets followed by a number are named and for a moment thought we might not be on the right Soi, but then there it was. I rang the bell and we were admitted inside. Once we were there we found our way to the room where this particular playgroup was held. Ahh….it was air conditioned, which I was thankful for especially after the little walk with a baby strapped to my chest! There were only 3 kids there when we first got there. Then they started multiplying……and soon there were about 20 kids plus their mothers. All Japanese. All at least 1 year old or older. Hm….I thought this was going to be a little younger group with maybe some other westerners…..Oh well, we’ll try and have fun. It wasn’t too bad, Gretta enjoyed the new toys and watching all the kids and the noise didn’t seem to bother her. It didn’t really bother me either until the bully of the group made himself known by hitting everyone and taking their toys. Even Gretta got a swat, more of a nudge really, but I still decided it would be better to move away from him. I don’t think she’s ready to defend herself quite yet, especially against a 4-year-old.

Now imagine if you will, about 20 approximately 4 and under Japanese children running around a 10 x 30 room……cue the obnoxious nursery rhyme music……the crying kids from the bully (whose mother was the leader of the group, go figure) and we have a little chaos on our hands that I don’t know if either of us was prepared for. Of course Gretta, being her usual social self, was all smiles. I, on the other hand, was cringing a little on the inside, but definitely smiling on the outside. The group leader assured me that the group was usually not this big and when it was snack time I decided it was time to leave and another mother was also leaving and she said that it wasn’t usually this big of group either so maybe it was a bad day to go. At least we tried it!

We made it back to the main road and then the rain started….not just trickles. A nice downpour. Of course I didn’t bring an umbrella even though I just heard on CNN the other day how October is the wettest month here.

Luckily we weren’t too far from the open skyway. We got up there and got into the mall connected to our building where I noticed Gretta had spit up so I stopped to clean her up a little and then she spit up some more…..strategically on my foot. I was wearing flip flops of course. Oh, the loveliness of spit up between the toes! I decided that I definitely deserved a mango smoothie.

Moral of the story, I did something new today, it didn’t kill me and I enjoyed a mango smoothie in our quiet apartment!



YUM!

Benjasiri Park

Here is our park, it is hard to get good pictures as it is quite big, but this at least gives you an idea!

Gretta and I working out......

The park view from above, I couldn't really get the whole park because I was on the pool level and there wasn't a good place to look over without getting out the climbing gear....but anyway the rest of the park is to the left of the big courtyard, where all the trees are.

Hanging out on a park bench.

The pool.

Our apartment/hotel building

The pool from our balcony.

We broke down and got Gretta a new toy.....a walker! She hasn't quite mastered moving all around the place, but she goes a little ways and will soon probably be scooting all over. Considering that they have a crib and high chair here where we're staying, we figured we haven't had to buy much for her here besides a stroller and diapers, which is great!

And in Grown Up news......

(We realize Gretta is kind of becoming the star of the blog) Josh is back in Bangkok now! The project is going well and is on schedule to go live when he is in Bangladesh in November. We're enjoying some time together before he leaves again and went out to the mall the other day and to the park. We got to try some pizza with corn on top, which was quite tasty. Also, we sent in our absentee ballots! Glad we got to be part of the politics in the US without having to watch the bad commercials for the last 2 months!

High chairs and low spirits

We were without Josh again this week and there were a few lonely days for me! I guess its a little harder to have him gone when we're over here, although I miss him just as much back home. Pretty much either way it isn't very fun! Absence makes the heart grow fonder though. Gretta seems to be teething again so some rough nights and days for her (and I) were also making the week hard. She seems to have gotten better as the week went on. Still no sign of those dang teeth though, guess its a come and go thing with no reward for her troubles as of right now. We've been spending most days taking walks in the park and wandering the mall looking at all sorts of things and getting stopped by all of her admirers. Josh gets home tomorrow and we are all looking forward to being together again! We'll have to take some pictures in our park one of these days, I kind of forget to take the camera since its a work out walk, not just a stroll!

I think this is actually her "tough" cookie look.....watch out!

Here's the smiling face we know and love!

Gretta graduated to a high chair this week.....thought it looked more grown up with the hamburger and fries in the picture. She doesn't look too sure about it, that is a lot of big food. Anyway, that was my meal because I was feeling like some American food for a change!

See she is much happier with her peas. We have been making all her food since all they really have for jarred baby food is bananas and apples mixed with other things like cereal or peaches. They have no veggies, which is quite weird. It is also really expensive so making it has been so much cheaper and actually kind of fun. Not as hard as it sounds since you can make big batches and freeze it. So our much sought after food grinder from a couple entries back has come in handy!

We thought we should mention some things about Gretta, being that she is the big 6 months old now! She sits up by herself all the time now and she sits very straight and looks so proud of herself! She loves to be in her stroller and go places and see things. She pulls herself right up and wants to see the world. She loves to roll....all over the place. We find her in her crib in different positions all the time and it is becoming challenging having her on a couch or bed because she has almost rolled off more times than we can count, and on one occasion....she actually accomplished her goal and did (oops) she was, however, unharmed! She has learned to play by herself, sometimes, usually in her crib when she wakes up.

She has found her "voice" and LOVES to use it! Screeching, babbling, "singing", a new enhanced babble just this week actually, she found her tongue, so now she can do more pronounced sounds. She giggles quite a bit when we play peek-a-boo or tickle her tummy. She has also learned to peek-a-boo herself if we put a blanket over her head, she will pull it off.

She is eating carrots, peas, barley, squash and bananas right now and we plan on introducing new foods every few days. So far she loves it all! She grabs.....anything and everything. She likes the cords coming out of the computer, hair, skin and food from our plates the best (of course all the things we don't want her to have). Its truly amazing how strong she is!

She has also learned her toes are just as tasty as her fingers!

She likes listening to music and dancing and also getting read to. What we've found out is that she is not particular about her musical or reading tastes and she will listen to anything we want to read or listen to. So we do read her kids books, but don't have to read "Goodnight Moon" 80,000 times, The Economist is just as entertaining and more fun to grab since it will rip! She is sleeping quite well through the night, which we are so thankful for and overall we have been spoiled, she is a great baby! :)

Happy Half Birthday Gretta!

That is right, Gretta is 6 months old!

Cannot believe how fast its gone and how big she is.

Pictures with dad before he left for Bangladesh.

So that you can actually read the sign, we hold it away from the baby......

This is so much better than cake....what she doesn't know won't hurt her!