WHEW! I did the craziest thing ever this weekend. I went on a trip, just Jonas and I, to Bangkok, Thailand. What was I thinking?
One of my friends here loaned me her baby backpack thing so that I could manage in the airports. I carried him around in it pretty much all day Thursday (we left Thursday morning at 8:30AM) and all day Friday. It left my shoulders all red and painful like a sunburn. He does weigh 20 pounds, after all.
On Thursday our journey started with a ride to the bus station in our neighbor's Jeep. Then we rode the bus for 2 hours over the border of Laos/Thailand. Jonas did not enjoy the last hour of the bus ride and made it known with a terrible crying jag which included gagging coughs that sounded like he was being abused. But before that he had a great time being passed up and down the aisles of the bus by kind Thai and Lao people.
After we got to Udon Thani (city the airport is in) we rode a TukTuk (motorcycle taxi) to the mall and ate lunch at Sizzler. Jonas crawled around on the floor while I made 3 trips to the salad bar. Heck, yes.
We went to the airport after that. We were way early and it was a small airport. Jonas fell asleep in the baby backpack. We also met a nice Thai granny who had lived in the states for 30 years. She became our friend and we sat next to her on the flight to Bangkok. She liked Jonas but she couldn't carry him because one arm was paralyzed. She did watch him while I went to use the bathroom which was a great relief.
We got to Bangkok and took a Taxi to our guesthouse and I gave him a bath and put him to bed. It was like 9pm by then.
The next morning we played at a playground and then went to the Airline office downtown to pick up our tickets for our trip to America on June 21st. (yay!). Then we went shopping at this huge 7 story department store where everything is 4 times more expensive than it should be.
I went to Bangkok to try to meet a friend of mine who was passing through. In order to find her we took the sky train to the opposite end of the city and then got in a cab. I called a friend of my friend on the cell phone while in the cab and he gave directions in Thai to the driver so that we could find them. It was very complicated. I'm just glad I have a cell phone.
When we were finally at my friend's friend's house Jonas practice pulling up on the dining table and then totally smashed his face. It brought tears to my eyes to see him in so much pain. I let him suck on an ice cube for a while wrapped in saran wrap so that I could hold on to it.
We didn't get home from our friend visit until about midnight, so the next day we took it easy and played in the playground and took a long nap before we went back to the airport at about 3PM.
I was so glad to see husband again, yet somehow my responsibility over Jonas didn't decrease with the addition of husband to our company. Friday was our 5 year wedding anniversary.
I feel like Jonas and I bonded on our trip. He has started to snuggle a little when I carry him now. He doesn't usually do that.
The most challenging moment of the trip: trying to use a squatty potty with Jonas in the stall. He looked at my face and laughed.
Oh and also, he is used to sleeping in the pack-and-play. When I put him in the hotel crib, he started to cry, then he looked around to check it out and started laughing. He was like "What is this place?!" Silly baby.
ckb

Monday, May. 30, 2005 at 8:46 AM