Travel Gear, April 2007

Yes, we've managed to get matching outfits. It isn't bad enough that the poor kid inherts most of his features from my side of the family, but he's stuck with the influence of bad fashion sense to boot.



The only thing though is that I don't get to wear light blue gloves and my shirt doesn't have three snaps at the crotch. Seriously though, there's nothing wrong with having matching light grey shirts.



Antonio all locked in safe in his travel basket with his little stuffed toy, "Blue". He's got a really cool pillow over his head that helps keep his head propped up preventing it from rolling around. I think we purchased that from "Le Pétit Pumm" over at Siam Paragon. His incredible basket locks in securely to both a base in the car and his heavy duty trolley... and it helps us to create opportunities for travel and adventure.



After his pediatrician's appointment, we took a long detour to visit the office so he could say "hello" to everyone. Unfortunately, he slept through most of the visit. He seems to sleep very well when there are crowds and lots of things going on. Here he is surrounded by some of my colleagues at the office. From left-to-right — Khun Jeab is crouched down in front, then Khun Puen, Khun Ros, Khun Pair, then my wife Kanittha, beside her is Khun Parn and then my friend, Khun Jae. Antonio looks very happy to be surrounded by all these ladies.



Part of all his travel adventures to date include a brief visit to the newly renovated ZEN department store, which is part of the enormous Central World shopping complex.



Here we all are at Iberry at La Villa, very near to our apartment, with one of our very good friends, Tata Montilla — Little Nio's "Tito Tata". I know that I look a bit oversized in the photo, but that's just perspective making everyone in the back of the shot look small. I think. All the sherbets and gellatos are finished, but we're bound to come back for more. Definitely sometime in the future Nio will be enjoying a sherbet with us.



Late at night my wife, Kanittha, snuck in to snap this photo of myself and Nio fast asleep together. It's not the most flattering photograph in the world, but she laughed herself silly when she pointed out how much we looked alike. Again, the slight double chin there is really an odd positioning of the camera and gravity being unkind. Besides if I really have put on a bit of weight I only have my wife to blame.

One Month Old, March 2007

It's been almost a month already and Little Nio is getting bigger. From his original 2.964 kilograms, he's now at 3.995 kilograms. That's a lot of growing in a very short span of time.



Here we are together at home in a rare family photo. He's also gotten quite a few visitors to come and see us here at home. Among them was my good friend, Kenny Marshall, his girlfriend, Khun Tai and our friend Khun Jum. Too bad we weren't able to get any photographs from their visit.



Earlier this month, my colleague, Khun Jae and her husband, Khun Sak, came over to visit Nio and spend time with us. Nio was a little spooked by the visit with all the new faces, but I think that Khun Sak was even more stressed out. He's a big guy and he's a little scared about handling tiny babies.



Later that same evening, Nio's cousin, Khun Toy came to visit him and pick up Nio's grandmother to go back up country to Sakhon Nakorn. Khun Toy came by bus on a ride that took twelve hours for him to get to Bangkok. He stayed for less than eight hours, and then got on a bus with grandmother for another twelve hour trip.

Everyone at my office, my clients and a lot of the other people I work with on site have all been delighted with Nio's birth... and they have been sending gifts... and more gifts... and more gifts. There has truly been a tremendous outpouring of love and sharing.



One of Nio's favorite gifts at the moment is this stuffed animal — a dog with a music box that you can wind up by pulling on his tail. Kanittha and I have named him "Blue". This cute toy is a gift from my officemates, Khun Jeab, Khun Ros and Khun Mouth.



The biggest downside to the miracle of having a son around is that I don't have as much time to work on my online computer projects. But, Nio is very understanding, so he comes in to visit me whenever he can take a break from his busy schedule. Although we do try to keep the exposure from all the high tech gear down to a minimum by keeping the visits short.



One of the amazing things about Antonio is his tremendous range of expressions. We haven't figured out exactly what this cute expression is all about, but he puckers up his lips into a real tiny mouth and then opens his eyes wide and lifts his eyebrows high. We call this his "kissy face". Simply hilarious.



Even though he's barely a month old, that hasn't really stopped him from taking a tour of Bangkok. He's gotten tucked in securely to his basket which has an effective five-point harness, which in turn locks safely into a base unit that transforms the basket into a car seat. The basket alternatively locks into his trolley, which has gotten him to Central World, to La Villa, to Big C... and most recently he's gone to visit Siam Paragon.



Here we all are together having a late lunch at Café Chilli over at Siam Paragon. Nio really enjoys riding in the car, and in his trolley as well. He stays nice and quiet, except when he's hungry or needs a quick change of underwear. I suppose that as his needs get more complicated, he's going to get a bit more complicated as well. We're ready for that too.

Nio's Summer Fashion Collection, March 2007

We really can't help ourselves. Between my wife and I, we are really enjoying dressing up our son and having him model all his different outfits. It helps to have a digital camera to keep things updated really quick.



This is the pale yellow outfit with the light brown gloves by Good Bear. Nio is doing his froggy feet in this image.



This is Nio with the "Soleil" bird print on a white outfit by Absorba, with the blue mismatched gloves from De Bon.



This pale blue outfit with matching gloves has little bear prints on it, but I'm not sure who made this one.



This single suit with short sleeves in blue with matching gloves is also by Good Bear, but the bright red socks come from MotherCare. Kanittha says that Nio really looks like a monk here.



This white outfit with yellow trim and little duckling patterns was given to us as a gift. The gloves are from Good Bear and the socks from MotherCare.



Not afraid to be a fashion deviant, Nio strikes a curious pose wearing a two-toned green stripped outfit given as a gift by one of my officemates. The mismatched tan gloves and dark blue socks are from Good Bear and MotherCare respectively.



Fresh after a morning bath with his hair all slicked back, Nio sports his light grey Good Bear outfit with his favorite light brown gloves and wearing spotless white socks from MotherCare.



Fast asleep in an all MotherCare ensemble in neutral browns, with a stylized dragon insignia on the chest.



One of the most fun sets of outfits we've gotten for Nio is from MotherCare, which is a set of seven white outfits... each labeled from Monday to Sunday... one for every day of the week.

You're all probably going to get very sick and tired of all the baby pictures that are going on this site, and eventually we might get sick and tired of them as well. Although I doubt that very much though.

In the meantime, we are all just going to have to deal with it and enjoy it while we can.

Baby Pictures, February 2007

Lots of people have been asking how my wife, Kanittha, is doing.



Here she is still in the hospital, hamming it up for the camera. This was taken on Sunday morning, the day after the delivery. You can see that she is in extremely high spirits. Still a bit weak, but very much on the mend. Lots of fluids, soft foods and plenty of rest are on the agenda for recovery.



This is Nio with his second visitor, Khun Taw, or "Uncle Kenneth", who is the Design Director at the firm where I work. Taw brought us a beautiful arrangement of flowers that really brightened up the whole room. Nio's first visitor, however, was our very good friend, Tata Montilla, or "Tito Tata" to my son. Tata was extremely helpful and we probably wouldn't have managed the easy homecoming without his invaluable help. Unfortunately, we still don't have a photo of Nio with Tata.



Of course Nio's day wouldn't be complete without the visit of our good friend, Gerald Gonzalez, or "Tita Gerald". We have all jokingly agreed that he's going to be Nio's fairy godmother. No enchanting fairytale would be complete without one. And whom better to choose than a person with a beautiful spirit.



All swaddled up and tucked in tight with his mommy.



The next day, Monday, 26-Feb-2007, we brought our son home. The silly looking person with the insanely happy expression is me.



Here he is all tucked into his own bed ready to spend his first night at home. My wife really likes this grey outfit and says that our son looks like a monk in this photograph.

On the evening of Tuesday, 27-Feb-2007, after a late night change of diapers we were concerned about some slight bleeding around the area of the circumcision operation. Not wanting to take even the slightest chance, we all piled into the car and headed off to Vichaiyut Hospital early Wednesday morning, 28-Feb-2007 at 01:00 H.

We were relieved when his pediatrician, Dr. Wanasiri, who just happened to be on duty that night, told us that it had just gotten scratched by his diapers. She prescribed some antibiotic topical ointment to prevent any possibility of infections, and to help soothe the wound.

Unfortunately the trip to the hospital and the four fights of stairs in our apartment building took it's toll on my wife, Kanittha. I had to miss another day of work to make sure that my mother-in-law and I could take care of both mother and child.

The next morning, our son, was definitely feeling much better...









In the image right above he's busy watching the teddy bears on his musical mobile go round and round. He can't quite see them yet, but the shapes are blotting out the light and he can see that happening. It appears that he takes after his father, in that he is easily entertained.



Fresh after a bath, here is Nio all dressed up in an oriental inspired outfit with super baggy pants. He's getting ready to do what he does best...



... sleep!

Another day in the life of our son, Antonio.

Happy Birthday, Nio! - February 24, 2007

I just wanted to share the wonderful news with everyone! Our son, Nio, is born!



Here we are at the hospital on Friday morning, 23-Feb-2007, around 10:00 AM, with our doctor, Dr. Phiboon. A really nice man and an excellent doctor. This is when we found out the little pains that my wife was having the night before were actually the beginnings of her labor pains.



Here is Kanittha all wired up in the labor ward, ready for the tremendous task of making a miracle happen. At this stage, we are told that the opening is about 2 cm, which is still a long way from the 10 cm that is optimum for delivery.



At 3:00 PM, even though her strength and spirits are still very high she's beginning to get tired and dehydrated. Our doctor tells us that she's still only at 3 cm, and that he would like to give her some rest first. So, he decides to take her off the medications that will induce labor and lets nature take its course.

At 10:00 PM her condition is still the same, but the contractions are coming naturally and are getting quite painful so she requests for some pain killers so that she can save her energy for the next morning. She sends me home to get some rest first.

I get a call waking me up at around 4:00 AM, Kanittha calmly tells me that the contractions are very close together and that she is now at 8 cm. I get dressed and drive over to the hospital, which is only about 10 minutes away. When I arrive she is more than 9 cm. As soon as Dr. Phiboon arrives, we go into the delivery room.

I'd like to share the following images with my family, that might be a bit disturbing to some people, but rest assured these are all framed and cropped to keep things dignified and decent. I was in the delivery room the whole time with both a video camera and digital camera recording this miracle. If you still feel a little squeamish, just scroll down past the next three images.



This was taken just a few minutes before our son came into the world with a strong loud cry declaring his presence to the universe.



Less than a minute after the umbilicus is cut and tied up, Nio is very expertly swaddled up and placed right with his mother.



Unlike most babies, my son is born with eyes wide open. And while he might not be able to focus and see things yet, he is already exploring his world and taking it all in. He was complaining and crying when his pediatrician, Dr. Wanasiri, and the nurses were clearing out his sinuses and airways. But when I started humming the "Lullaby" of Brahms to him, he immediately quieted down. All the nurses and doctors in the room were simply amazed by this. We explained that Nio had been hearing this music ever since we knew his mother was first pregnant.



So here he is — "Antonio Vachirawit Navarro" born at 5:26 AM on February 24, 2007, 2.964 kg (± 6 lbs 8.5 ozs.). He's not a very big baby, but considering his mother is a tiny woman, he is the perfect size and he is in excellent health.



Here he is in the nursery with all the other babies. There were quite a lot of babies born this day as this is an excellent day to be born here. It is a Buddhist holy day.



Here is our son with his maternal grandmother, my mother-in-law. She's having a real hard time putting him down and leaving him alone, but that's understandable as Nio is extremely adorable. Having her around has been extremely helpful for all of us.



And finally, here is Antonio with his very proud father. This was taken later that evening at around 9:00 PM. Happy Birthday, Nio!

Our New Car, February 2007

After lots of thought and some serious consideration, we decided to purchase our first car — a Nissan Tiida (it's known as a Nissan Versa in the United States). With a loan from my boss, Donal, we were able to make our downpayment and the car was delivered just yesterday evening. Nissan Leasing got us the rest of the funds and we'll own it 100% in about 36-months. We got ourselves a nice little black hatchback with a 1.8 liter engine and an automatic transmission. We still have the red car registration plates, but we should have the proper white plates in about a month or so.

Despite the fact that I am a firm believer in the power and control of a manual transmission, the traffic in Bangkok really is too brutal for driving around with a manual gear shift car. I've also been told that the resale value of an automatic is much better as well.

Our first big trip was a visit to the hospital early this morning. My wife's doctor was really very pleased to see us and assured us that everything was normal. Our son, Antonio, is probably the biggest reason we decided to purchase a vehicle. After the hospital we went to visit one of the big new malls in Bangkok. We usually avoid going there because the traffic can be quite bad around this area and catching a taxi cab can be extremely difficult.



Here we are parked at Central World Plaza, with my wife, Kanittha, and my mother-in-law, Khun Thiap. Purchasing the car has enabled us to create new possibilities filled with adventure. We're probably going to go to the park tomorrow to enjoy a bit of sunshine and fresh air. The only obstacle is that I don't really know my way around Bangkok too well. Like I said... "possibilities filled with adventure".

Ready for Nio, February 2007

There are a lot of things we have to prepare for the coming of our son, Antonio. Aside from the mental and physical preparation, there's quite a few gizmos and gadgets that had to get purchased for Nio.



Take for example his bed, which is really a collapsible Playard from Graco. But, with a firm mattress it works as a really nice bed complete with teddy bears on a mobile with a wind-up music box that plays "twinkle, twinkle, little star". Actually the tinkling melody works very well on my wife, Kanittha, and it knocks her out in about five minutes flat. Let's hope it will work just as well on Nio.



His bed also comes with a fold-out, waterproof diaper changing area and a pouch on the side for diapers. You can also take off the upper level and drop the mattress to the base to create a playpen enclosure. The entire rig can get knocked down in a few minutes and packed up into a bag half the size of a small golf bag. This is supposed to be good for up to three years old.



We've also gotten him a stroller. We got a tremendous discount on the Alano™ Travel System from Graco. This full-size travel system comes with a heavy-duty stroller and a carrying basket that locks securely into the stroller or into its own car seat base. It's really easy to push around, but it's not as simple to collape and stuff into the back of a car.



In case the stroller gets a bit too involved, we have already prepared an alternative means of carrying Nio around. Here's a simple baby carrier we can use for him.



We've also got the bottle sterilizer for him, which has a capacity of up to eight bottles and also functions as a food warmer.



Nio will need all of his stuff safely put out of the way and stored properly, so we got him a real nice chest of drawers. It's probably the nicest and most expensive piece of furniture we own (right after our king-size bed). The drawers are already stuffed with clothes, diapers and all sorts of baby supplies, but there's still room for a little more.



We've also got bath time well covered with this really cool baby tub that comes with a very sturdy stand and a small compartmentalized basin for the various toiletries. Most likely my wife will prefer to put this tub on the floor, but I think I prefer the stand.



The stuffed toy department is covered as well... a monkey, a pig, a duck, a dog, a rhinocerous, a penguin and the Mamy Poko mascot. We also have a big white rabbit (not shown in this photo). Nio's got lots of toys waiting for him. And yes, that's our Siamese cat, Samuel, wearing a deep mustard yellow tee-shirt. Don't ask why. He's only supposed to be wearing that shirt on Monday's in honor of HRM the King.

Aside from all the baby stuff we've purchased, we've had all the mosquito screens in our little apartment replaced, all the air conditioning filters are cleaned, and we've gotten rid of the old refrigerator that came with the apartment and bought a brand new one that will keep Nio's food fresh and safe. There are still a few more bits and pieces we need to get, but I think we're ready.