Catch-up Photos: Halloween

This Halloween, our good friends Josh and Danielle Shelley hosted a pirate-themed murder mystery dinner party called "Murder Among the Mateys." This is the 2nd year one of our friends has done one of these, which are really amazingly fun! You can purchase a kit online that basically provides everything you need to host a murder mystery, from character descriptions, to instructions on what happens at each stage of the evening, etc. The websites our friends have used are www.nightofmystery.com and www.dinnerandamurder.com . Both of the kits from these websites are very professional and will definitely deliver a fun evening, so if you are interested in doing a murder mystery dinner, I would highly recommend anything from either of those sites. Anyway, we had a great time, and David especially really got into his character. At the end of the evening, everyone guesses who they think the murderer is, and everyone also votes on who had the best costume, did the best job of getting into character, etc. This year, David won everything! He was the only one to correctly guess the murderer, and was voted best costume and best character! He deserved it--he did wear eyeliner after all!

Catch-up Photos: Baby Shower

So, I just might be the world's least consistent blogger, but I do occasionally do a little catch-up for all the things I'd been meaning to post about but simply haven't gotten around to doing. A little over a month ago, several friends here in Asia threw me a wonderful baby shower, complete with an amazing "pea in the pod" cake, and a hilarious video of David answering pregnancy and birth related questions!! So, here are some photo highlights:

More Ultrasound Videos

Because of the popularity of the yawn video I posted a few days ago (OK, well, it was popular with my mom!!), I am posting a few more ultrasound videos here. For those who complained they couldn't tell what they are seeing in the yawn video, basically in the top part of the screen you can see what looks like a skeleton face resting on a pillow. The pillow is the placenta, and the face is the baby's face, turned sideways like he/she is laying down, but facing you. The top of his/her head is on the left, with the mouth and jaw on the right. The motion you see on the screen is the jaw opening for a yawn, then the baby's head recedes a little bit into the background. Anyway, here are the other videos:

Baby's Hand in Mouth:


Baby's Heart Beating:

This one is pretty amazing I think. It is a close up of the heart, and you can see the different chambers and everything!

Baby's Feet Crossed:

Sleepy Baby

We got an ultrasound the other day and saw the most amazing thing--the baby yawned! Here is the video of the yawn from the ultrasound. Immediately after the yawn, the baby brought its hand up and put it in its mouth, but unfortunately that cute little action was not captured by the ultrasound technician. Anyway, enjoy!

Bathroom Repairs

So, this week was a holiday to celebrate this country's National Day. David and I had Thursday and Friday off, and my pregnant self was looking forward to some serious laziness. However, it was simply not to be. Instead, we spent those two days superintending some serious bathroom repairs.

About a week or so ago, I noticed a puddle of water accumulating outside our bathroom door. I asked David, "Did you spill a cup of water and not mop it up?" I know, I wasn't exactly giving him a lot of credit. He of course said no, and so I examined the puddle more closely. It turned out our WALL was leaking. Not any bathroom fixture per se, but the wall itself! Each day, it would get worse and worse, and the puddle spread to a whole other wall!! I would mop them up, and they would reappear the next day. So, I knew our two days off would be spent dealing with the problem.

The phone call to our landlady was interesting. I asked her to come over, explaining that we had a "fairly serious bathroom problem." She asked if it was the toilet or the sink. I said no, it was the wall!! Well, it peaked her curiosity enough, and she came the next day.

Repairs ensued, and after much banging with a sledge-hammer, the solid concrete wall was chipped away enough to reveal the pipes (hoses, in actuality) behind the sink in our bathroom. Sure enough, one had sprung a leak and several others had problems. The leak had saturated the solid concrete walls with water, and thus eventually the wall itself began to drip with water! Here are some photos:



You can see the pool of water here. This wall is actually in our living room!
Here you can see where the wall began to mold. Eww.
The exposed "pipes" and the mound of concrete that had to be chipped away in order to access them!!
After the repairs. Notice the water bottle that for some reason became an essential part of the repair!!

5 Month Belly Photos

So, here it is. The belly at 5 months! I feel like I am SOOO much bigger than I was just a month or so ago when we left the states. There is definitely no mistaking I am pregnant now. Although, I still get a shocked reaction from local people when I tell them I am pregnant. I think it is because I wear "normal" clothes. For the most part, maternity wear here basically consists of either pajamas or overalls. So maybe it is the jeans and t-shirts that are throwing them off. :) These pictures I took a few days ago when we had our first official "Huffman Dean Sleepover Switch." Basically, Andy Huffman came into the city and spent the night with David, staying up all night playing video games. I went out to where the Huffmans live, and stayed with Erin-Ashley. We stayed up SUPER late (i.e. 11 p.m.!) talking, no technology needed for us to have fun. Anyway, we of course had to document our coinciding pregnancies, so here are the photos we took:
She is 8 weeks ahead of me, but in this photo, I think our bellies are very comparably sized! Kind of frightening!
She posted this one on her blog, and commented that her belly looks so much bigger than mine. Photos above are proof that that is only an optical illusion, based on camera angle!

Where I Got My Awesome Napping Skills

Due to technical difficulties with my camera, its been quite a while since my last post. But, no fear! I am back. :) Here are a couple photos I took back in June during my family's vacation in Utah. The title pretty much says it all: Where I got my awesome napping skills . . .