[9 months]

cedar james seems less & less like a baby by the day.  at 9 months his personality is really coming out (mischevious & jolly, i'd say).   the bottom's of his feet are no longer baby smooth & this little guy is on the move.  his recent check-up stats came in at 80th percentile for height, 30th for weight, & 90th for head size.  on paper that adds up to an odd looking baby, but luckily for cedar it adds up to continued cuteness.  

cedar's acquired some new skills this month (loyal fans, i.e. grandparents, see video here) & also added in some new stranger anxiety along the way as well.  (we're hoping thats just a phase!)  the quirky guy doesn't seem to mind cambodian strangers holding him, but has been crying at other foreigners lately.

he's been eating lots of rice & vegetables & is proud of his lone tooth.  we're happy for him to stay mostly toothless for now, because we still can't get enough of his wide, toothless grins!

we'd like to hit pause for awhile, because we can't really get enough of this sweet little 9-month old.

*photos by our great friend & wonderful photographer steve chee

reunion in a russian tourist trap [phuket]

the hastings family reunion really kicked into full swing when we all (blaine, lindsay, daniel, cedar & i) met up with our brother ben & his girlfriend lindsay in bangkok.  we had found a great deal on a trip to phuket, so we headed to the beach!

we had NO idea what we were getting into.  i think i thought that phuket would be like our beloved kep, but just bigger & with more hotels.  

not even close.  

phuket was tourist-filled beyond anything we'd seen in southeast asia.  despite the tourist trap vibe, we had a good time relaxing at our hotel (which turned out to be completely full of russians, even the menu & signs were in russian!) & taking a really amazing boat trip out to phi phi island.  turns out phuket is popular for a reason; its beaches & islands are fantastically bright & beautiful & even a boat full of feisty russians couldn't ruin that.    

& I'll meet you at the station [night train from laos]

[my favorite train photo - cedar & his buddy sophia]

our travels with blaine & lindsay took us on an overnight train from vientiane, laos to bangkok, thailand with our entire MCC team.
it was 12-hours, but we actually really enjoyed it!

our seats had fold down tables where we could eat & play games & after that they folded down into bunk beds! when it got dark a nice train worker came & made up our beds with sheets & blankets & we all snuggled up for a night of sleeping to the soothing sounds of the rolling train.

gratitude [elle's parcel of sweetness & light]

ever since this parcel arrived,  it seems like the phrase "thanks, my friend michelle sent it to me" has been a constant refrain around here.

thanks, elle, for the parcel filled to the brim with sweetness & love & for keeping our whole family attired with style & charm!

snapshots [september 2011]

seasons [3]

turns out mohawks run in the family.

we heart it because we made it [cloth high chair]

having baby cedar has changed our lives in a very lot of ways, but actually one of the changes we notice the  most is how it has changed the way we move around the city.  in our pre-cedar days, we traveled very happily to & fro on our little 100 cc moto (what they are called here, i think its the french word for motor scooter).

[the "you" sign was for a project - this was the only picture i could find of us on our moto!]

since we have seen several moto accidents involving babies, we figured we'd wait awhile before our family moto riding begins.  so, in the meantime, we've taken to traveling around by tuk tuk. which is basically a little carriage carried behind a moto

now, a tuk tuk feels pretty luxurious compared to a moto, but its still no piece of cake trying to transport ourselves & cedar & all his baby accouterments (really, who knew how much stuff one little baby can use!).  which brings me to our current dilemma - how to eat out (a real cultural pastime here since its often the same price as cooking at home....& doesn't heat up your house & is easier too!) with cedar.  in the past we just took him & set him on the table or on a blanket on the floor (plus the restaurant staff often take turns holding him anyway which is always great!).  but now our little guy can move a lot & basically needs a place to be restrained. since high chairs at restaurants aren't very common here, when we go out, we have to take along some sort of chair or umbrella stroller, which is a pain, particularly when traveling alone in a tuk tuk or by bus, which is how we travel whenever we leave phnom penh. dilemma.

 

so! i was excited to find the perfect solution while we were in kampot a few months ago.  a family there had this cool high chair thing that was made out of cloth & could fold up to be really small.   now, with  the solution to our troubles in mind, i searched high & low on google for "cloth high chair patterns", but couldn't find any in the totseat style.  thankfully, daniel (who is a much, much better sewer than i) was able to make a pattern based on some pictures we took of the baby in kampot & now we have our very own homemade version! (if you want a copy of the pattern, just email me)

so far, baby cedar seems to like it.

we're off for a week in hanoi tomorrow, which will be the true test.  daniel made a sweet little carrying case too, so it sure was easy to pack!