The Bottle Thief

I couldn’t help but tape this…he reminds me of the monkeys at the park who steal people’s food!

Brandon James

I don’t usually post about things like this, but I had never heard of this until it happened to me last night and I thought that it was important for other parents to hear it as well.  Keep in mind that I am in a country that does not have the luxury of 911, ambulances, actual ER facilities, etc…and I don’t know the answer yet, but I will find out…

I put the twins to sleep at a normal time, around 6 pm last night.  Zach was downstairs playing, I was cooking dinner and waiting for Jim to get home from running.  Around 6:45, I heard a very loud scream on the baby monitor coming from their room and new it was Brandon and thought he must have had a bad dream and waited a second and he screamed again…he has this habit of throwing up when he gets upset, so I turned off everything on the stove and went upstairs…not racing because I figured he just needed a little hug to calm down.  I walked into his room and said, “Hey sweetie, what’s the matter?” while patting his belly.  My mind is foggy now, but I knew instantly something was wrong…I do not know how, but I could tell he was struggling.  Well, I picked him up and he was completely limp and could not breathe.  He could not hold his head up, his arms were lifeless, his entire body was lifeless except for the fact that he was making this noise, but could not breathe.  I didn’t know if he just needed a little pat on the back to startle him out of it, so I turned him on his tummy and rubbed his back and then I did the CPR on my knee where you face him down and give a thrust on the back in case something is lodged in there…a couple of time of that and he was still lifeless…I carried him into the hallway because I needed more light and kept massaging his back and finally did a swipe in his throat.  He coughed up a little bit of phlegm, but was still limp and blue at this point.  I believe I gave him a few compressions on his chest and turned him over to get him to gag again.  He finally threw up a tiny bit and was able to catch a breathe but it took a few more compressions and rubs on the back to get him to where he could actually breathe a breath of air in.  There really isn’t anyone to call, but I had a driver in the driveway and we went to the “ER” at “SOS International Clinic”.  By the time we got there he was breathing, his O2 saturation was good, his lungs were clear and his pulse was normal.  I do not know what happened…the Dr. said sometimes when they scream, they can cause an apnea (not to be confused with sleep apnea) which will make them not be able to breathe.  I am not sure of this, but fortunately, we meet with an ENT on Wednesday and this WILL be discussed. 

My reason for telling this story is because we are all told to not run into the room for every scream or noise they make…and generally I do not.  So when holding Brandon, riding in a tuk tuk to the SOS, I had to keep myself from vomiting…I was thinking, what if I had just let him “put himself back to sleep”…he may have never woken up.  Until you have your child in your arms and he cannot breath and is lifeless, you do not know the helpless feeling.  I had no idea a scream could cause this…and I’m still not so sure I buy it…but until I get another answer, I will be responding to those screams very quickly.  I never want to feel that panic again, hear the gasping, trying to rouse him and get him to breath.

I love you little Brando…

New Fun!

We have always belonged to some sort of fitness club…somehow we have managed to belong to 24 Hour Fitness for forever, so we get a very good deal…To this day, we pay $17.20 for both of us to go to any 24 Hour Fitness Sport in the world.  Not too shabby…

Since arriving here, I have taken note of a lot of things in my life…now this post isn’t about how I’m sacrificing, because I am not.  I have a good life here, I like it here, my babies are thriving here, Jim & I are getting more time alone than we’ve had in 4 years…so, no, you will not hear me complaining or puffing up about the sacrifices I am making.  You don’t know what sacrifices are until you leave the comfort of your own country (speaking of the USA)…it’s an eye opener for sure.  However, I am digressing…like I said, don’t think this post is about sacrifices, because it’s not.  Yes, we have had some BIG changes in our life, but it’s quite wonderful how your body allows your mind to a new “normal”.

So…yes, we don’t have hot water, we have no closets, no drawers for silverware, no dryer, no dishwasher, we ride around in a tuk tuk without car seats, we often jump on the back of a moto to go out for a date, there is no Starbucks, there are no malls, I get food poisoning once per month, I often don’t understand what people are saying to me, I cannot find dry deodorant, no instant oatmeal, breakfast bars are not sold in the stores, Lucky Charms are in the store about 1 time per month, you cannot buy candles to make your house smell yummy, sometimes a vagabond snake shows up in your yard, my husband has stepped on a rat while walking in the streets, I’ve been pick pocketed, I’m sweaty and gross ALL of the time, my hair just plain sucks right now and, well, I could tell you all about these “things” all day long…but they are really quite petty.  I mean, what do you really really need to live?? 

SO the whole point of my post is this…with all of that, we have found this:

http://www.sofitel.com/gb/hotel-6526-sofitel-phnom-penh-phokeethra/index.shtml

The Phookethra Health Club at the Sofitel Hotel

It is a little slice of heaven for us…less than 1 mile from our front door, we can swim, exercise, play in a new park, be covered from rain in a fancy playroom, have a steam drawn for us so it is ready after our workout, play tennis, have a cocktail or a fabulous cappuccino, order a burger, take a yoga class…you name it.  Some of our friends joined as well, so there is never a problem of finding someone to play with or share a mojito with!  Can’t wait to share it with our family and friends coming over!!!!!!

The kids pool…

Yes…it has been a big change for us…but, yes, there are many wonderful benefits as well!!!  It’s funny how what seems expensive to us now is going to a “fine restaurant” that has prices comparable to Red Robin!!!!  See…there is a positive in everything…there are sacrifices, but there are benefits too!!!!

GOOSE EGG

You just know when a day starts off on the wrong foot…My boys have had the worst colds and ear infections (I noticed a correlation between them being weaned to their ear infections starting…another stab at this mama’s heart…I wanted to breastfeed until 1 years old…but they had other plans…).  Well, they cough so hard, they throw up … a LOT…I mean, some weeks, it is just a puke fest at our house…good thing I have 4 sheets and 2 mattress pads for each crib…because some days, we go thru all of them and are waiting for the sun to dry the first ones we washed.

Anyway, I woke up yesterday morning…rather, I was waken yesterday morning at 5 am to the sounds of cough induced puking on the monitor…I jumped up, snuggled my little Trev and turned on the shower…Brandon was awake too and talking to his brother from across the room while he threw up…they both got showers to get the dried up snotties off their faces…they were happy playing in the cho, I changed the sheets, washed them up and took their sweet little bottoms out of the shower…during the 10 seconds it took me to put the towels away, I turned around to brown puke on the floor and Brandon squishing it…SHIT…that’s not puke…Oh, God, I’m going to throw up, get back in the cho, don’t put those hands in your mouth, I better grab Trev before he gets the poop, oh, no, Brando is going to put it in his mouth, where in the hell is the anti-bacterial soap?, Trev…gotta get Trev…what do I do…what do I do?????  So I dump them both in the cho, rinse their hands as quickly as I can and run out of the bathroom to grab the big orange tub so they can sit in clean water while I rinse the crap off the shower floor…running around the corner, kids screaming because they DO NOT want another cho, I’m frantically trying to wash their hands and anything else that touched the poop, in plops the tub and both boys go in…poop floating around the bottom of the shower stall floor, both kids still crying, there is no actual “faucet” to get warm water out of…only a piece of shit shower head that will NOT stay in its holder…I’m frustrated beyond anything and just as I think it’s going to stay, Trevor looks up and down it crashes…right on to his head.  SHIT…how did my day start like this?  Rather…how did these poor little babies start their day like this? 

These photos were taken HOURS after the event…but as you can see, it started this poor little guys day out on a sour note.

Life is not perfect, being a mama isn’t always easy, but I love my boys with every bit of me.  I recently heard some news about a person in the past who lost their baby at or shortly after birth…I don’t know all of the details, but just the thought of that happening takes my breathe away.  I can’t imagine my life without these guys…without knowing their smiles or giggles or grumpy days or hugs or kisses…I stop and think to myself, I’ll take this day over any day of not having these boys to love…it’s not always easy to see the beauty of every day, but if you stop for a second, you can always find something to make it better.  I love you boys…and I’m sorry about that knot on your head little man!!!

Another goes to School!

I have started something that I am enjoying doing!!!  Driving around the streets of Phnom Penh, you see school aged children all over the place doing anything but school during the day.  It’s not because they don’t WANT to go to school, but their family cannot AFFORD to send them to school…Public schools cost money here…it is not very expensive, but when your monthly average salary is only $100 per MONTH…$5 can take a big hit out of your budget.  Awhile back, you may remember that we started sending our tuk tuk driver’s daughter to school…well…

a few months back, I saw the cutest little boy sitting outside at Jim’s office everyday.  He was always friendly and smiling and saying hello…if I stopped to drop something off for Jim, he would get up and help me…He’s probably about 8 or 9…and I wondered who he was, why he had just shown up and why he was there and not at school…with the help of Leak, I determined that he VERY much wanted to go to school, but the family could not afford it…so…here is another child who gets to go to school:

He’s been going for a month now and was hanging out with his dad at the office yesterday (his dad is a security guard for the building).  He is VERY happy and VERY excited that he is getting to go to school!  The family is very thankful and it makes me happy that we can help a little boy go to school!

if you would like to sponsor a child, contact me…I have decided that I am going to try and make a difference in a few people’s life…you never know when what you offer is an answer to prayers…you never know the difference you can make if you never try…

I’m gonna be a rockstar…

Zachary has been asking for a “Blue ‘tar with a pickle” (translate:  blue guitar with a pick) since April…and it has taken him this long to get one…you see, he has this knack for going to bed in his own bed, only to show up in our room some time between 1 and 3 am…taking up 90% of the bed, kicking, laughing, singing and talking until he wakes up and is now consciously laughing, singing and talking…when Jim lived in Cambodia and I was in the states, it wasn’t so bad to have him come to bed with me…when we both lived in Cambodia, but Jim at the casino, it wasn’t so bad for him to come to bed with me…but now that Dada is home and we get to sleep in bed together every night…this 42” ball of energy takes up too much space and keeps us up too much of the night…so when he started asking for “blue ‘tar with a pickle” we had an idea…he had to sleep in his room all night for at least 3 nights in a row to get it…and it has taken since April for this to happen…he would get to 2 nights and show up in bed with us…then he would wake up lazily and say, “I just need to try again!”…and he did and he made it…now he wants to be a rock star!!  (I won’t tell you about the rock videos his dad was playing for him on you tube and letting Zachary believe that all of the lead singers were his Dada…true story.  Every new video, Zachary thought the singer was his dad…and we all know about Jim’s singing (in)capability’s)…

So here’s to being a rock star:

Butthole…

Mama needs to watch her mouth…I am NOT a fan of swearing in front of kids…but little did I know that “Butthole” would come back to bite me in the hole!  On a particular morning, after a particular late night out…Daddy Jim was a little on the grumpy side, even though he was saying it was me (but I had come home 3 hours prior to him and had MUCH more sleep and far FEWER drinks than he)!  I was trying to cheer him up and tell him that I wasn’t grumpy…I just wanted to go to bed the night before…that he should be happy that I said, “Stay out and have fun!  I am wiped out and going to bed!”…In pops Zachary, chatting with us on a particular sunny Sunday morning and chimes, “Dada wants to be a butthole!”  …well, he said it…not me!!!  And while “Butthole” has been removed from my vocabulary (around Zachary)…it has not been removed from our house…shows his face in each of us every so often!

Clever Little Boys!

These boys keep me on my toes.  Without a question, we are running here, there, jumping up, shutting gates, stopping falls, putting things back together, swiping mouths, kissing booboos and enjoying EVERY “step”! 

Trevor taking a few steps!

It really should come as no surprise to me…I mean, they are the offspring of JIMMY KOCHEL & TERESA JONES…of course they would have this figured out already!!!!  = )  These two are going to keep me on my toes FOREVER!  (an secretly, I’m just fine with that…they will keep me young!)

Have already figured out the gate clasps!

…and OF COURSE they would already know how to act crazy and say no…this, I will admit, probably comes from me…I can say No…and I like to be a little goofy!  Trevor LOVES to say no and shake his head this way…

NO NO NO NO NO!!

A VERY rainy day!

I love sunshine.  I love rain.  I love a day that gives me sunshine AND rain!…welcome to Phnom Penh…you wake up to a clear, sunny morning…hot and humid, get some sunshine in your blood, sweat your butt off, jump on a moto to run some errands and get caught in a rain storm 1/2 way through with nothing left to do but ride it out!

I was so cold my finger nails turned purple…

…and don’t forget to notice the plastic bag on my purse…we were leaving the US Embassy and To says, “You need a bag.”…I thought, I have a bag, no water is getting in here…obviously, I was WRONG!  Glad I took that bag and wrapped my purse, because when I got home, there was not ONE CM of dry on me…I was soaked to the BONE…and it felt WONDERFUL to be THAT cold…I know…I’m a crazy Alaskan!

A year too fast…

One year ago at this time, I was doing different things…like trying to figure out names for TWO babies…chasing a busy 2 year old around…talking to girlfriends about my baby shower they were planning…hitting the beaches and swimming with friends and shopping for clothes that would FIT me…

Teaching a little guy how to use a slip and slide, how to swim, taking him to brunches with Mimi, spending time with Uncle Bob, swimming with friends, keeping cool, days at beaches, cuddles in bed, playing with friends, first days of school, jumps with friends, coffee at Starbucks…just me and Z…

Now I have THREE BEAUTIFUL boys and the Dada home…we have laughs and cuddles and swim days and runs and yoga and ice cream dates and amusement parks and trips planned and casinos and new words and baby steps and peeing on toilets and lots more to pack when we go somewhere…

I don’t know how time goes by so quickly…on one hand I want to feel their little breath on my cheek…smell that sweet little baby breathe…wake up and stare at them in the middle of the night…fall asleep with them on my chest…nurse them till we both/all fall asleep…

…and now I have these 3 big boys who make me smile every day…who can talk back…let me know what they want…who play together…laugh together and make my world just a better place…

So…at this point…

Zachary is 3.5 years old…he is 18 kilos & 104 cm tall…

Trevor is 10 months old…he is 11.68 kilos & 76.5 cm tall…

Brandon is 10 months old…he is 11.58 kilos & 76 cm tall…

…and I love them all to the moon and back!