Auntie Nancie's visit

It's nearly a month since Auntie Nancie visited us. It was a wonderful 4-day visit. These are some of her photos...

On the balcony at our house with our magnificent view. (I should say "one of our magnificent views", for we have several.)
And this was on our visit to Victor's family in his village. From L-R: nephew Nat, nephew Cross, Me, A Nancie, Ranee, niece New, New's son, nephew Deewa, Roman.
(New and Deewa are brother and sister of James who was Victor's groomsman.)
And this is the waterfall close to Victor's village. I put this in for those of you asking for bump photos!

Auntie Nancie

Sankampaeng Hot Springs with Dad

It's a couple of weeks now since we took Dad to the Sankampaeng Hot Springs. We had a wonderfully relaxing day there. The gardens are beautiful and butterfly-filled as always.

Dad boiled his eggs in the 105 degree C spring water.


And this shot is actually later, at the airport farewelling Dad. Victor's Dad came too - a real honour as not much gets him to leave his village, let alone come all the way to the city.

We're back!

We have a new computer! (Huge thanks to our very generous and anonymous friends...)

So now all those photos that have been collecting on our camera can finally be viewed. It's a bit hard to know where to begin so I'll start with the most recent photos taken and then work backwards a bit as I have time.

We were given this great car seat and Khaw has discovered it's a great place to sleep. So Victor's getting some practice.

And our frangipanis are in beautiful flower. We have 3 white frangipani trees which Victor saved from pruning being done at the hospital. All the trees have taken well and 2 are now in flower.

Dad's visit

We've just had Dad staying with us for a week. It was lovely to have him here and to have the opportunity to share our life in Chiang Mai with him.
He came with me to my work at Sunshine House, to my church and bible study, to Spaghetti Dinner. He visited my favourite coffee shop, my favourite Italian restaurant, my internet shop (where I'm sitting right now.)
And we did a fair smattering of tourist activities: the elephant camp, the hot springs, Doi Suthep (the big mountain next to Chiang Mai).
And we had lots of time in our home looking at photos, chatting, touring 'the estate' and eating yummy Victor-cooked meals.
I love having family here. It reconnects me with much of myself that gets faded at other times.

Our baby

Last week we had the 20-week ultrasound for our baby. What an amazing experience!
He was sleeping this time, so not as active as at 14 weeks, though his little heart was keeping busy and he was swallowing lots.

Yes, it's a boy! At least the doctor was "100% sure". I'm always conscious that Megan was told her first baby was a boy - then Eowyn arrived! - so I'm still reserving a little bit of doubt.
We looked at baby's brain, kidneys, liver, stomach, bladder. We counted his fingers. We looked closely at his heart and saw the 4 chambers and no holes in any walls, and the aorta as it should be. We looked lots at his face - I think he looks like Victor, though his nose is longer!

I wish we could put a picture here. Actually, we have the whole ultrasound on dvd, so some of you will get to see it ... at some stage!

He is starting to be very active and I love it! It makes his presence so much more real.

text only, i'm afraid...

Since our computer was stolen I haven't been blogging as I can't add photos. I realise that this shouldn't have stopped me but the photos are always the best bit. How else can I show you where our house is at and how we're settling in?

Mum helped out a lot when she was here. The kitchen is finally finished and I have my BEAUTIFUL shelves, handmade by Victor! They had long been part of my vision for the kitchen and, although it took some time to convince Victor that they were a good idea, we got there in the end. I am enjoying them very much.

Our garden is developing beautifully too. One of our frangipani trees has flowered. And our fruit trees are all enjoying the constant heat and moisture of the wet season. We have mango, lamyay, pomelo (my FAVOURITE Thai fruit!), banana... that's all I can think of right now, though I'm pretty sure there's more than that. We also have lots of palm trees, coconut trees, fig trees, and 2 beautiful (still small) shade trees.

Please let me know if this is too much text to get through without pictures. Thanks if you've made it this far!