task: twins

Looking after the twins Justin and Jason is fun but also a very exhausting task - I honestly admire every mother of twins who does that on her own. While Max and Holger are having fun in New York I am still in Mt Barker helping Nim with not going mad. A shop keeper called me her "sanity lady" the other day, I liked that. ;-)

While they are being really good boys, yes, they do cry. Sometimes a lot. Jason can get real hysterical fits. I spend hours walking them in turns up and down the house.
Funnily he cries when I try to sing him "Twinkle twinkle little star" (I looked up the lyrics as I only know German lullabies and they'll be growing up with English, Thai and Lao, which is the main language in the North Eastern part of Thailand where Nim is from, which will be quite enough I guess) - but loves me singing the bass line of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" and the guitar solo of Iron Maiden's "Afraid to shoot strangers"! :-)

But of course it's extremely cute seeing them grow (Jason is already more than 5 kg and Justin 4,3 - that makes him and average twin (although 2 cm longer) and Jason and average singleton baby (and 4 cm longer!)!! I know, I'm talking like the proud mother. ;-))

Today at nine o'clock (because Saturday is a good day and 9 a good number for Thais) we followed a Thai tradition and shaved off their "fire hair" for health and good luck.

Jason before and after shaving:


And Justin:


It really suits him, doesn't it?!

We've got nice Thai nicknames for them, too (Thais never use their real names, Nim's real name is "Sompratthana", which means "wish come true" but "Nim" means "soft"): Nim first called Jason Luk Ma (puppy) and Justin Luk Meow (kitty), but only Jason's named sticked - while I asked her to translate me "hamster" into Thai for Jason - Nupuk! - and "bird" and "monkey" for Justin - and that sticked because it sounds so cute: So Jason is "Luk Ma" and Justin is "Nok Ling".

Two weeks to go and Nim and I will take the two little boys -- to Germany!! Max and Nim are going travelling again (Nim loves Germany and can't wait to have a Weissbier in a Biergarten again!) and as twins always need two support persons to fly, I'll have a prolonged work appointment. On the 14th of June we are flying to Frankfurt and already got an apartment booked in Munich - on Balanstrasse, not far from where Holger and I used to live. Wish us luck that everything goes well........ I'm totally excited to see all our friends again!!!! :-) :-)

New York & Germany!!

News von den Weltenbummlern: Am Montag fliegen Max und Holger fuer 3 Wochen nach New York. Das hier ist ihr gebuchtes Apartment:

Max will sich eine Klinik in Manhattan anschauen, die Stammzellenbehandlung anbieten und sich evtl einer solchen unterziehen, da sein Lungenproblem sich mit althergebrachten Therapien nicht verbessert, und nimmt Holger als seinen Assistenten mit. Nim und ich bleiben derweil hier und Max zahlt mir mein Millie's Bakery-Gehalt weiter als Nanny und Haushaltshilfe - und wenn mit den Babies alles glatt geht, heisst es fuer Nim, Jason, Justin und mich Mitte Juni: ab nach Deutschland! Max und Holger nehmen dann die Queen Mary II von Manhattan nach London (weil das Fliegen fuer Max so eine Qual ist und er ein echt gutes Angebot gefunden hat) und wir treffen uns alle - im guten alten Minga! Und wohnen dann von 15. Juni bis 30. August (bevor wir wieder hierher zurueckfliegen und dann unsere Westaustralienreise, evtl. mit Erntehelfer-Zwischenjobs, antreten... man darf weiterhin neidisch sein) - vermutlich in der Kirchenstrasse! Schoenes altvertrautes Haidhausen! Aber sicher ist noch nichts - wie ja nie mit den beiden. Aber langweilig wird's uns jedenfalls nie!
Auf ein baldigs Wiedersehen in der Heimat!!

Happy Easter from Jason and Justin! :-)

The cutest thing

After a Thai tradition Nim stayed for 2 nights in front of the fire with the babies. I loved her "camp", so comfy!

But the cutest thing ever is how trusting and just great Nim is with other people and even lets Debbie the dog sniff the babies - and when she's away Debbie takes over looking after them! ;-)

I so LOVE this foto! Debbie, the Nanny! ;-))

Change of names: After we had called them Jason (left) and Justin (right) for one week, Nim and Max decided to swap the names the other way around because it fits their characters better - so Jason is now the first born (right, with the more yellowish, Asian skin and eyes) and Justin the smaller one (left, with the more Western, as Nim says "Falang" skin and appearance) :-)

Both twins are home!

Justin & Jason - Fotos!!

The day we went to the hospital

Thursday: Lunch at a Chinese restaurant, then Max and Nim played Blackjack in the Casino.

Nok and I pat Nim's huge Buddha-like belly.

Thursday evening in the hospital: All the birthing suites are full, the doctors busy, we have to wait..... but you can do a lot of stuff with rubbergloves to entertain youself....

Friday evening: we finally got a birthing suite! Not a bad view either.

Saturday (9th of April) morning 5:09 am: Justin is having his first cuddle on Mommy's chest. Both twins were born with the help of forceps (Geburtszangen) and you could see the marks on their heads for about 3 days, but as they were positioned perfectly everything went quite smoothly.

Little Jason's first cry at 5:37! They were born after 37 1/2 weeks of pregnancy (40 weeks are "full term", but for twins no more then 38 weeks are advised) and are pretty big for twins!

Justin sleeping peacefully Saturday afternoon.

Both twins have a lot of hair already, as I was told is quite usual with Asian babies.

Justin already came home Tuesday afternoon. Debbie is feeling very responsible in her role as Nanny and comes running in looking worried every time little Justin makes a noise.

Justin, day 3.


Jason had to stay in an Incubator (Brutkasten) for 4 days (on the right), but is out now. They are still watching his blood sugar levels - but

by tomorrow (Friday) he should be able to come home!

Justin & Jason

Proudly announcing: Saturday morning at 05:06 and 05:35 Nim's twin boys Justin (3,17 kg) and Jason (2,55 kg) were born!! Nim and Justin can leave the hospital tomorrow, but Jason has to stay a bit longer, because they want to observate his changing blood sugar levels. But all - Mommy and the two little cuties - are well and healthy! We've been spending most of our days at the hospital.... today I spent at home doing all the piling housework and now I'm on my way back to the hospital to spent Nim's last night there with her and help her..... hopefully tomorrow I'll find time to upload pictures!!!