Ben, Em, Diana, and Helen

Greetings from the Northwest!

Together again

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Em and Diana made it back to Tembagapura on Saturday, and got to ride the helicopter for the last 15 minutes of the long trip. Both were pretty dazed, but perked up back at the apartment. Diana even got on her nap schedule right away, and has slept through the night without a peep every night since she’s been back. She’s even developed a few new tricks since she’s been back. She has a “ow” face for when she pinches her fingers in the drawers, and she sometimes makes it in anticipation, just to see if mommy will fawn over her. She’s had a lot of grown up food now that she’s one too – a grilled cheese sandwich, chicken satay, and spaghetti were on the menu this week, along with coconut milk squash and scrambled eggs. She’s loving getting to eat what we do, and having more texture to her food. She’s also tried cow’s milk a few times, and isn’t quite sure what to think of it. She’s learning and discovering new things every day, so we’re glad to be together as a family again.

What? No baby pictures?!?

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Since Diana and Emily aren’t around, here are some photos from work! I really enjoy working underground and usually wish I wasn’t on the computer so much. At least I feel like I am helping the geologists communicate with the engineers – which is often a challenge even when everybody speaks the same language. Diana and Emily return home on Saturday, so there will be more baby pictures soon…

Printable pics

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Here are a few more pictures from the past two weeks.  Sorry about the mega size, but Em is witout photo-editing software.

Vacation Pictures – Round 2

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Diana has had a lot of “firsts” the last two weeks: first birthday, first cupcake, her first pancake and her first time to hold a fishing rod. (She didn’t catch anything in the yard in front of the house.) She also received her first doll as a birthday present and has loved playing with it. Although Madeline enjoyed changing the doll’s diaper, Diana enjoyed biting the doll’s head like an apple. Madeline was a lot of fun and Diana had a great time with her “big sister”. Madeline’s little brother Adam was unimpressed with the festivities and spent much of the visit napping.

Vacation Pictures: Round 1

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We have had a great vacation here in Woodstock, NY. All of Diana’s grandparents got to spend some time with her and we had great visits from other family and friends. We’ve had great weather which gave us a chance to remind Diana what the sun looks like. Woodstock is a fun town with shops and restaurants that cater to both a veggie /recycle /ride bikes crowd and a steak/real estate/drive Mercedes crowd. (Of course, none of the businesses manage to appeal to both crowds at the same time.)
Diana had a great 1st birthday on August 8th. Madeline, who is two years old, helped Diana open her presents and nobody told Diana that she was actually only 11 months old. Her birthday will be on September 8th, but it was more fun to celebrate when everyone could be here. Diana had her first cupcake but we saved frosting as a treat for next year.

Diana’s First Birthday Ideas

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We’ve been thinking about Diana’s upcoming first birthday, and didn’t realize that “baby’s first birthday” is a HUGE deal to a lot of people. Here are a few ideas from BabyCenter.com parents:

We will have catered sandwiches, party platters and some hot dishes my mom and [husband] will make. I’m getting someone to decorate for me also since I won’t have time. We are going all out since he’s only 1 once and will have small party’s in the future.


The parties in the future can be smaller, but since she can’t remember this one, we might as well go all out and get someone else to decorate!

Our immediate family with first cousins, uncles and aunts, closest family friends is about 90+ people, I have managed to get the list to 75 adults and 15 kids. We have a big back yard, a large and medium sized tent to put up and a deck, and a bar in the basement. I really want to have it at my house but my [husband] wants to have it at a hall (of course he refuses to except that they all book up in the Fall by the Spring). He is worried he’ll be tending the bar and I will be running around and we’ll miss the party but I feel like we can’t start having her party in a hall now, the number will never get smaller and we entertain a lot…

Should we serve Jack Daniels or Maker’s Mark at Diana’s first birthday? And we’d better book a bartender so we don’t miss anything!

I’m not doing kid’s stuff with the exception of the theme of Moose A. Moose and Zee since it’s really a family/friends party (none of my friends have little ones anymore). But I will be giving out a party favor of a piece of chocolate, or a lollipop, or a cookie with his picture on it.

All the adults we’re inviting are really excited about that sissy theme too! But we have to get cookies with Diana’s picture on them? This party is starting to get out of control…

Small is NOT an option…. I have 9 aunts 2 uncles, 30 cousins and 17 2nd cousins…. lol. [My significant other] has some ppl he wants to invite as well who have children. Not sure if his family will b here as the r distant and live at least 700 miles away. I am not sure if they will all be coming… just being nice and inviting w/RSVP’s the week b4 to be sure. I am an event planner so I have been thinking since May.

Shoot, we forgot to invite all of our 2nd cousins! I sure hope all the relatives that live at least 700 miles away will make it on a week’s notice, or at least send a gift!!
My children’s parties are usually in the $1000 range, but that is okay with us. We do venues, or home parties with rentals (dunk tank, cotton candy machine, etc.)

How many cupcakes does $1000 buy? Good thing that budget “is okay” with you.

I know [my son] will not remember his big day, but I think it’s more a party for the adults to celebrate having him in our lives. I am getting a bouncy house, cotton candy machine, and a petting zoo for the older kids. [My darling son] will love the petting zoo and being able to touch animals that don’t run away like the cats. Oh, and a margarita machine for all the adults!

The combination of margaritas, cotton candy, carnies, and a bouncy house will surely crush junior’s innocence.

We’re up to about 100 people, but I know not all will be able to attend. We have a finished basement/playroom for the kids, tables to set up in the garage, and the backyard/deck area to entertain. We also bought a bouncy house from ToysRUs for some of our smaller guests. I know my son won’t remember his first birthday, but since it is his first I want to make it special for him. He’ll have lots of pictures/videos to look back at when he’s older. As far as food, we’re getting catered pulled pork and I’ll grab some large containers of mac salad /potato salad, chips,etc. I also grabbed some banana runts, M&Ms with his name/picture on them, and we’re making chocolate covered bananas – it’s a monkey theme.

Ooooh, a monkey theme! Because I’m sure when Diana’s 15 she’s going to want to watch a video of herself puking up a chocolate covered banana in a bouncy house!

Music anyone?

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It’s been a long week for us here in Papua, and we’re still feeling the effects of last weekend’s tragedy. But, Diana has managed to keep our spirits up and keep us entertained with her new tricks. She’s getting much better at standing up, and is loving walking around while holding our hands. She’s also discovered that she likes peas, so she’s been getting more vegetables this week. She likes to open and clothes the doors on our CD case, and they are the perfect height for her to stand up with.

My first job

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Mommy has let me get my first job which is organizing all of the papers in these drawers.  It is a lot of hard work, but I like it.

Happy Birthday Emily!

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We had a great 4th of July weekend in Tembagapura!  We went to our first barbeque which was in our neighborhood on Saturday evening and then attended the 4th of July softball game on Sunday.  The barbeque was fun and Diana didn’t mind being “passed around” and there were lots of people there who wanted to hold her.  She tried watermelon for the first time and (no surprise) she really liked it.  Because of Diana’s nap-time, we showed up late to the softball game, which was held at the driving range.  That was fine with Ben because most of the players were bloodied from the slippery ground.  They tried to improve the field by spreading gravel on the wet grass before the game.  This made things much worse because they were still slipping on the grass but then falling in the gravel!  We had fun afterwards and met a few more expats.

On Saturday morning Ben bumped into some coworkers making a photography tour from Tembagapura up to Hidden Valley.  (Emily usually does the grocery shopping on Saturday mornings because you can get stuff delivered if you shop before 11AM.)  It was a nice sunny morning for a walk and everyone had brought their cameras.

Photos (Finally)

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Our internet is slogging its way up to acceptable performance, so we were finally able to get some photos of the last two weeks posted. Diana LOVED swimming in the pool in Timika – she laughed and splashed kicked so much it was hard to keep a good hold on her. She’s also been happier with more finger foods now, broccoli and toast being her current favorites. She’s finally figured out how to use both legs to help her crawl, though she still isn’t getting her belly off the ground. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t able to get into trouble. There are some low drawers as part of our “entertainment center” and she’s drawn to them like a moth to a flame. She must know that there are batteries and box cutters and other fun things inside. It’s time for us to reorganize things! She also likes playing with everyday things like cereal boxes and the telephone, and “brushing” her teeth with a little rubber baby toothbrush.

"I want to go see my grandparents!"

"I want to go see my grandparents!"

We’re headed to a 4th of July BBQ today, and there is a softball game and hotdogs tomorrow down at the driving range. Otherwise our weekend is focused on organizing and cleaning up the guest room, which still has a pile of things that never got put away when we got our sea freight.