#22. Parks, Pagodas, Play dates, and Passports!!

Monday March Through the Park

Our goal of getting out of the apartment has been achieved each day this week.  It's been nice to get out a bit, but carting two twins in a stroller or carrying them in their portable bassinets definitely takes its toll on two dads. On Monday, we headed to Lumpini Park,

Park gate

which is the park I have been jogging in the past few weeks.  The park is Bangkok's largest outdoor public space and is a popular place in the late afternoon when the sun begins to fade.

Ready for a lap around the park

I like how the park frames parts of the Bangkok skyline.

Bangkok's 'Central Park'

Chris and Luke with Bangkok buildings behind

Apparently the park wasn't too exciting for the 16-day old crowd,

Beginning of the park loop...

since the twins slept through the entire walk.

...and end of the park loop

We enjoyed the walk, however.  There are many interesting sculptures,

Row of hearts

Dunno what this is about

 

gym equipment,

Crossfit didn't prepare me for this

and the Chinese Pavilion.

Still snoozin'...love Clare's pose

We couldn't find a taxi that would take us home after our trip around the park.  Bangkok traffic is so bad in the late afternoon that nobody wanted to travel down our gridlocked street.  We were denied by a couple of drivers, so we walked home instead.  Even though the park wasn't interesting to the twins, it seemed to motivate Clare in her early evening naps.  I caught her in a couple trademark Clare sleeping poses.

Playin' Super Mario Bros. in her sleep 

Rocky pose

Temple Tuesday

On Tuesday, we decided to take the twins to their first temple.  We headed to Wat Traimit near Bangkok's bustling Chinatown area.  For this trip, we took the kids in their bassinet carriers.

Luke and Clare...reporting for (sleeping through) another adventure

Wat Traimit is the temple built to house the 'Golden Buddha'.

Bring on the gold

Before we could head inside to see the Buddha, we were flanked by folks more interested in our babies than the gold.  This included some sweet temple workers who were absolutely smitten by Luke and Clare.  After they took a photo for us,

Wats up Knapp-Heald family??

they begged us to hold the twins, and we could not refuse these two friendly Thai women.

Clare and Luke making new friends

They even asked if they could 'take just one'.  After we stole our babies back, we headed up the stairs to see the famous Golden Buddha.

Worth its weight in gold

This statue is 700+ years old and was actually only recently discovered to be 'golden'.  At one time, it had been covered in plaster to hide its identity from looters.  In the 1950's it was moved and dropped, cracking the plaster and revealing its 'golden-ness'.  It weighs 5.5 tons and is estimated to be worth $40 million.

The Bangkok trinity...me, Bubba, and Buddha

We had plenty of time to inspect the Buddha since another temple worker (unprompted) took care of watching over and fanning the twins while others took photos and fawned over our two golden buddhas.

Can we take this nice woman home with us?!?

It took awhile to exit the temple as the amassed entourage said their goodbyes to Clare and Luke.  We also had a lot of luck wished upon us.  We enjoyed interacting with the locals who absolutely adore children. After viewing the temple, we walked into Chinatown

Crazy, chaotic, Chinatown

in search of the indoors to cool off.  Chris had his typical watermelon drink, I had my Thai iced tea, and the twins had their 2+ ounces of formula.

Luke lounging indoors

Clare cooling off

Papa Chris performed his first public bathroom diaper changes at the indoor establishment.  Luke enjoyed the experience so much, that he wanted a return trip right away!  After we all cooled down, we headed back out to the humid streets to have a look at the scenes and markets in and around Chinatown. We saw this vendor selling durians.

The controversial fruit banned from public transport for its awful smell

We also saw many markets selling gold, souvenirs, toys, fruits, vegetables, seafood,

Dried seafood to be exact...

unidentifiable body parts of animals, identifiable body parts of animals,

Pretty sure this is duck...maybe not

and much more!  The streets were narrow and crowded and the smells were, unfortunately, free.  It didn't take long for us to call it a day and head back to the comforts of our apartment.

Hanging out on the big bed

Welcome to the 'Burbs Wednesday

Yesterday, we started our morning with a special Face Time session with our dog, Trig.  It's hard to believe we have been away from her (and our house for that matter) for a whole month now.  We miss her so much and can't wait to see her slam that happy tail against the walls when we get home.

Thanks for the Face Time assist, Uncle Steve...we miss you Trig!!

In the late morning, we headed out to the Bangkok suburbs for Luke and Clare's first play date.  It was the first time the twins got all dressed up,

Dressed to the nines

 

even though one of them was none to happy.

Auditioning for The Crying Game sequel?

We met Marc and Zac's dads a couple of weeks ago for dinner in the city.  While the kids 'hung out',

Zac, Clare, Luke, and Marc...guess which pair of twins was sleeping??

the adults enjoyed having pizza and sharing stories of what the first two weeks of fatherhood (that can be remembered given the sleep deprivation) have been like. We also got to meet the two family dogs, which made us even more excited to be closer to seeing Trig again.  Thanks guys for a fun afternoon at your home!

Finally, we have some really good news.  The passports are in!!  We headed over to the US Embassy to pick them up this morning.

One step closer to home

Clare and Luke are now officially able to leave Thailand! We will be working on organizing our flights to come home for sometime next week.  Our days in Bangkok are coming to a close.  More to come on our return details in the near future...  

#21. The Crying Game

Are you ready for some football?!?  I definitely am after catching some Aussie rules football matches this weekend on TV.  They play games Fri-Sun.  I saw a riveting clash between two teams near the top of the ladder, Collingwood and Port Adelaide.  It's actually an interesting and exciting sport to follow (more action than soccer and no start-stop like American football).  I saw a few matches live years ago when I was in Perth.  I'm definitely pumped for the upcoming NFL season.

Bring on DA BEARS!

What better way to start your work week (this post is designed to be read on a sluggish Monday morning) than to look through some photos and videos of babies crying??  We've got a lot of 'em!  While we'd like to say everything is always sunshine, rainbows, unicorns, and 2 ounces of formula, those of you who have parented babies know that would be far from telling the truth. Clare continues to awaken every hour or so needing something.  Here's her way of notifying us.

Brother Luke is typically more laid back, though he has a tendency to launch a bucket in his sleep leaving him scared and confused.  I caught him whining here when he wasn't looking.

Luckily, Clare's screaming issues haven't enabled brother Luke.  Here is a video of the two of them together. Poor little guy.

It's usually an unwinnable game to try to figure out what these crazy little people want...formula, gas relief, cuddling, a muzzle.  With our limited resources here in the hotel room, we try to figure things out as best we can but usually things end with the Price is Right trombone sound bite indicating we lost yet again.

We are tired of losing...

This blog post is dedicated to those moments where we are not-so-Pharrell 'Happy' (though I enjoyed grabbing my camera all of these times asking the twins to pose their pouty best!).

Clare Shots...

I don't like your lap!

I don't like this stroller!

I'd rather wear this diaper forever!

Luke Shots...

Hey, I can get what I want too, right?!?

I want food and I want it now!

Bath time blows!

We can't leave the blog on an unhappy note.  Every cry/scream is typically, immediately followed by a smile/yawn (and vice versa), and the world lives happily ever after...until the next round of screaming, of course.

She was probably screaming 5 seconds ago

You'd never know the power of his lungs

When all else fails, shove a bottle in their mouths

With this likely being our last full week in Bangkok, we are hoping to get out for short excursions with the twins to see some more of the city and take pictures of the babies in their birth city.  We are hoping for happy and/or tired versions of our children in the upcoming days.  Yeah, right.  Don't be surprised if 'The Crying Game' has a sequel!

#20. Extreme Makeover: Weight Gain Edition

First things first, I would like to report that with 99.999% (Luke) and 99.996% (Clare) certainty, there is 'Very Strong Support' that Luke and Clare are the descendants of 'good Midwestern stock' (see post #19).  Let the passport making begin!

Being away from the US almost a month now, one of the things we are surprised to learn that we miss (and we never would have predicted this) is commercials.  TV for us is pretty much one of a handful of English-speaking channels:  CNN Asia (there are only so many Air Malaysian flight disasters we can watch), HBO (a random selection of movies including Men in Black, Les Miserables, The Smurfs 2, and Superman), National Geographic (yawn after awhile), and our most watched station, TLC Asia (Project Runway, Extreme Makeover Weight Loss, Sister Wives, Breaking Amish, Say Yes to the Dress, etc....yeah, sad that this is about as good as it gets). Most TLC shows are from seasons past, but the worst part is, by far, watching the same 8-10 commercials promoting their limited programming over and over again.  I'd do anything to see somebody advertising something (or a game show if someone is granting me wishes!), and I'd do anything and more to eliminate Honey Boo-Boo.

We're sick of being told we better 'redneckognize'...go away

Yesterday, we headed back to the hospital for our 2-week checkup.  We stopped at our favorite food stall again for lunch on the way,

Nothing spicy, please

and noticed that a whole lot more of these are beginning to pop up in front of businesses and in public spaces.

The Queen's Birthday, also when Thai's celebrate Mother's Day, is coming soon...Aug. 12

After lunch, we made our way to the hospital, checked in, and headed to the scales.  We were, again, hoping to see some weight gains.  We are proud to say that both or our children managed to urinate on the scale this week.  Fantastic.  Clare weighed in first at 2508g/5.5 lbs (up 368g/0.8 lbs from last week), and Luke weighed in at 2714g/6.0lbs (up 424g/1.0lbs from last week).

Whoa, Bubba!  Good boy!

The numbers made the nearly 150 combined feedings and sleep deprivation all count for something! Next, we waited to see the doctor, sitting in the pastel colored seating area.  The twins were wide awake so we all hung out looking at the other families around us and the strange Thai cartoons on the TV screen.

Clare psyching herself up for another successful checkup

Luke doing the 'Luke pose'

Me imitating Luke, or is it Luke imitating me??

Our pediatrician was actually tending to a freshly born baby, so we had quite a long wait.  One thing that humored us during the wait was a girl wearing a t-shirt with English wording.

WTF??  Totally lost in translation!

We have seen this all over Asia this summer, in China, Cambodia, and now, Thailand.  Usually the phrases are something insignificant and/or nonsensical and we guess it must be 'cool' over here to wear English on your shirt. This shirt left us stunned.  I am guessing (hoping) this girl (who was with her family) has no idea what her shirt says.

Soon, we were in Dr. T's office for her to take a closer look at the twins.  She applauded the fast weight gains saying, 'now is good...later, not good' (hahaha!)  Clare is looking great.  Her umbilical cord fell off a couple of days ago.

Now there's a little less Clare

We asked about Clare's inability to stay comfortably asleep for more than an hour or so at a time, especially at night. The doctor told us babies don't know night vs. day for the first few months.  As far as any gas issues she might have, the doctor vividly described to us how hard it is for babies to pass their business due to such a tiny opening at the exit.  Most of her commentary sounded like, 'better get used to it'.  Luke had a good report as well. The doctor says he is doing well to catch up to a normal 2-week old.  The Knapp-Heald twins are rocking these checkups!  We made one last appointment for an eye check in about a week.  This should be our last trip to the hospital here in Bangkok.  We can't say enough about how pleased we have been with the level of care at BNH Hospital.  

Now, it's off to Saturday night dinner.  Clare and Luke are taking us out to celebrate this week's work and gains. We are hoping our momentum continues into next week.