Go Go Bambini

This is how I excuse all my typos...I get some help whether I need it or not!


I took Ben to an indoor playground called Go Go Bambini that is usually a madhouse of children. We lucked out and found it empty yesterday so Ben got to play in the big 3-story playground instead of the toddler area. This place is great because it has a cafe for lunch and even a nail salon so the moms of bigger kids can get their nails done while the kids play. Why didn't I think of a place like this?

Ben got to climb up....


and in...


and over all kinds of things. He was exhausted when we left! (Just a note - I forgot his socks so I had to buy a pair there...I don't typically torture Ben with retina-burning blue)


I finally did one of those things that's hilarious on your own kid and pretty irritating on other people's kids...I bought some of those squeeky shoes for Ben to cruise around in. He had no idea where the sound was coming from at first then he had a great time running around and listening to all the noise he could make.


We had to stop at the playground so Ben could enjoy the playhouse for a while.


His Swedish friend Ella joined him in there. They share the same due date although Ben was 15 weeks early and Ella was 2 weeks late.


As for baby #2, I'm checking into the hospital later this morning for a cerclage this afternoon. I don't expect to be released until Thursday or Friday so I'll try to have Matt post an update later to let everyone know how things are going. It's not quite as easy to make phone calls from over here! Please keep us in your prayers. There is really no risk to me, other than going under general anesthesia, but the risks to the baby include infection, premature rupture of the membranes, and early labor. They are slight risks and the possible benefit a full-term delivery far outweigh them, but they are still potential problems. We hope for a few very uneventful days in the hospital and a safe and healthy return home at the end of the week!

Smiles!

Finally, a few smiles! Ben is a big fan of the bobby car at the playground.


He's also loving his little chair and he sits and "reads" several books a day.


Ben will drop everything to run and get a book for Mommy to read. He's always in a hurry these days.


After careful consideration, he'll bring me the book he's chosen to read and we'll sit down and read it once or twenty times.


Silly boy in the bathtub...


Ben is also enjoying another Christmas present, and I'm loving not having to carry him back and forth to the pool!


With his arm floaties on, Ben can play really well in the baby pool. He's learned to blow bubbles and hold his breath pretty well when he's underwater.


A big smile from my happy guy!


At play class today Ben played with the kitchen for a long time, considering the length of his attention span. I was laughing because they had a plastic taco in the microwave and most of the kids here probably have no idea what that is! All the toys are imported and my guess is that this set came from the US.


Another new word in the vocabulary...he's picking up new words every day. Ben also said "taxi" today.

No Smiles.

Ben absolutely will not smile for the camera these days, so don't expect to see any grins in these pictures! As soon as he sees the camera he gets very serious...


He does enjoy riding his "pony" around the house!


I've only recently started letting Ben watch videos (just Baby Einstein signing and Elmo) and we've run into a big problem. As if the TV wasn't big enough to see from across the house, he wants to be close enough to touch Elmo. We've had to get creative about blocking the path to the TV.


We spent the afternoon at Sentosa Island, the closest we can get to a real beach in Singapore. It's actually not all that bad, if you don't mind waves from the passing tankers or seaweed, but nothing like the beautiful beaches in neighboring countries. Ben enjoyed (although he doesn't look like it) playing on the extra large lounge chairs at the beach club we found.


Once he got down in the sand and started digging he was having a ball. After spending several weeks in cold weather, our fair little guy is going to have to get acclimated to the heat here again. That's just heat rash on his face and arms, not sunburn. We had to take a swim to cool him off from the intense sun.


Sand does NOT taste good. Apparently Ben forgets and has to check again from time to time.


Ben is crazy about this wagon and legos he got for Christmas. He's getting really good at stacking them, although I'm not quite sure what he's building!


Watch out - crazy driver coming through!


Check out Ben's new moves...

He will dance anywhere and loves to have an audience, like all the adults that were laughing at the crazy kid dancing at the beach club today. Ben is an endless source of entertainment.

4 Generations

A few late arrivals from Matt's camera:
Four generations of Kirkham men together!


Christmas afternoon at the Kirkham's house.


One of Ben's favorite things lately is to put things around his neck...really safe, I know...only I don't think he'll hurt himself too much with one of my sports bras! And yes, that's a big scrape on his forehead. That would be the result of jetlag, clumsiness, and a concrete step outside, and it's taking forever to heal.


We've been trying to teach Ben baby sign language since he was about 10 months old and he picked up a few things along the way like "milk" and "more", but now it's really taking off. He knows "eat", "all done" (which I pretend not to notice if it's the first bite of a meal he doesn't like), "airplane", "book", and several others. He's also learning things like eyes, ears, and mouth, though he won't always identify them correctly. In this video he does airplane (the finger flying around) and half of book (both palms opening like a book, easier to do without a computer cable in your hand).


The jetlag was definitely easier to recover from on this end of the trip, probably due in part to the fact that we're in our own home this time. Ben adjusted pretty quickly but he's still not sleeping particularly well at night or in the morning so I'm hoping he'll get well-rested and back to his normal schedule so I can sleep past 6 or 6:30am!

Update on baby #2 - I'm 12 weeks already! I had my first visit with my OB here in Singapore since becoming pregnant and I really like her. Unfortunately, so do a lot of other women so her office is always really busy but she did not seem rushed at all once I was in the office talking to her. My visit lasted 3 hours, but mostly because the baby was uncooperative and we had to try 3 separate times to get it to sit still for measurements during an ultrasound. I was completely blown away that a baby this size (about 5cm) would already be so active, but he/she was waving and kicking like crazy in there. I really look forward to being able to feel those little kicks in the coming months.

We scheduled the cerclage procedure two weeks from now and the doctor is hoping I'll stay in the hospital 3-4 days to fully recover and go home stable. I was surprised because I thought it would only be an overnight thing but she wants to monitor me for contractions or any complications for several days and then send me home on strict bedrest for 2 weeks. I'm not exactly looking forward to this but if it will help me carry this baby full-term then I'll do whatever it takes.

(Be warned - I might tell you a little more than you want to know here) My doctor did answer the burning question "Why was Ben born so early" in less than a minute. With a quick look at my cervical length through ultrasound, she immediately found that mine is about 30-50% shorter than average. That means that it's structurally not as sound to support the weight of a growing baby and when enough pressure is applied (usually in the second trimester) it will give, typically without pain or contractions so the mother has no idea. Sound familiar? It's very reassuring to know that there was a physical problem that hastened Ben's birth and not something I did wrong, and now to know what we have to work with for this pregnancy. Please, please keeps us in your prayers. Specifically, for me to relax and leave this baby in God's hands, and for this baby to grow healthy and strong and enjoy a full 9 months in the protection of the womb. Or maybe even go a week overdue - then it would get that great 08/08/08 birthday!

Headed Home

We somehow managed to fit all of our boxes AND Ben in the car on the trip to the Houston airport. He was packed pretty tightly into a little cave in the backseat.


Here is all of our stuff! Since I'm pregnant Matt got the privilege of moving all of these suitcases every time. Needless to say, he was pretty tired by the time we got home!


My favorite sight - Ben completely sacked out on the plane. The seats are so close together now that when he's sitting in his carseat he can easily kick the seat in front of him, much to that passenger's displeasure. Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do about it because I can't hold his feet for 20 hours, so it's much easier when Ben is sleeping.


Ben is back in action in his own home and happy to play with all of his old favorites. We've gone through 3 shirts today alone because he's had so much fun playing in the sink with the water on full blast.

We're Expecting!

Happy New Year! We hope 2008 is a year full of joy for everyone. May God bless you all in everything you do.

I'm still way behind on the blog but my excuse this time is our trip back to Singapore. We made it in safely last night and are happy to report that all 6 of our suitcases made it as well! We had an unbelievable amount of stuff to bring back with us and I'm sure it's going to be that way every year, but it's so exciting to get to shop in the US and find all the things we want at normal prices. Ben was great on the flights and didn't throw up this time so I was very happy as well :)

This was our family Christmas present this year! We got our first glimpse just before Christmas of the 2cm fetus and the tiny heart beating.


We're due August 1, 2008, and would love nothing more than a healthy full-term baby. It's exciting to be pregnant again because I absolutely loved being pregnant with Ben and felt so cheated on the 3 1/2 months we missed together. It's also a little bit terrifying because we could very likely have another preemie, although we are hoping and praying that the Lord will bless us with a nice chubby baby this time around. In the next month or two, I will have a cerclage procedure to hopefully help me carry this baby at least 36 weeks, which is considered full-term. I won't go into detail but you can read about it at http://www.webmd.com/baby/cervical-cerclage-to-prevent-preterm-delivery. We have an excellent neonatalogist in Singapore if needed and they have all of the same technology found in the NICUs stateside so at least we know that living abroad shouldn't pose any additional risks to this baby.

My only regret is that I spent most of my time in the states with morning sickness and fatigue so I didn't get to visit everyone I'd hoped to see, but it was nice having fast food close at hand so when I needed a whataburger taquito it was easy to find. I had originally hoped to return to Texas in the summer with Ben for a few weeks but since we'll be busy with a newborn it looks like we won't be back until next Christmas. Baby #2 should be about 4 months old next December so hopefully that will be a good time to travel with a toddler and an infant.

I'll get more pictures updated soon!