Happy Father's Day to all of fathers in this world.

Today is a special day to honor our father. Zach has made a feet-painting for his Daddy and he wrote (of course, Mommy helped him):

above are my little footprint

one day they will fit in your shoes

I watch what you are doing

because Daddy I want to be like you

Sayang, thanks a lot for being a good Daddy and a bestfriend for our kids. You always give us the best, you always here with us, you always give us smiles, kissess and hugs eventhough you are tired, your love and your patience always make me want to be a better wife and Mom, and I am the luckiest woman in this earth because you are mine.

the luckiest wife


Below are our greetings to our fathers

Dear Dad,

Happy Father's Day to my Dad! Thank you for all that you have given me. I wish I was not so far away. As a new dad, I appreciate all that you have done for your kids and now try to do the same for mine. I'm happy to hear your health is improving and look to seeing you soon. Have a happy Father's Day!

Your first son,
Jerome

Buat Bapak, terimakasih banyak atas semua bimbingan dan doanya. Bapak adalah idola, guru dan temanku. Dari Bapak, aku mendapat banyak pelajaran dalam memahami makna kehidupan ini dan terutama dalam membantu diriku mencari jawaban atas pertanyaan-pertanyaan "nyelenehku" tentang arti kehidupan ini. Makasih banyak Bapak .... dan Selamat Hari Bapak!

anak wedhok dhewe,
galuh

Yesterday was Zach's 4th Birthday. He had been waiting this moment for last few months. He counted month by month and in June, he started to count day by day. He also asked for Roboraptor as his birthday present. Jerome took a leave yesterday. We committed to gave a best day for Zach. We spent most of the day together with Zach.

Firstly, we doubted that we would get Roboraptor in Jakarta. Jerome looked in the internet where we could get it and the closest place was in Singapore. We thought to ask Leanna and Jo to buy it in Canada and bring it when they were here, but we thought that it was not a good idea since the toy are very big. Fortunately, when we looked for a present for Mira's son, Jerome saw it in the toy store in Plaza Senayan last two months. We decided to buy it right away because the store only had 5 roboraptor. We wrapped and put it in our storage for two months (thanks God, Zach did not see it).

A night before Zach's birthday, we put all his presents on the table in living room so he could find them when he woke up in the morning. I woke up early yesterday and Zach did not woke up yet. I just opened my room door so that I could see Zach's reaction when he saw his presents. Usually when he wakes up he will come to our room. Andddd ..... when he woke up, he stood in front of our door and looked the presents for a long time. Then, he asked me "why I have two presents Mom?". I said "do you want one or two presents?". Without looking at me, he said that he wanted two presents. He read our card first then he came to our room and said "Mom, Dad, I am very surpraised!Thank you for the presents!" He gave us hugs and kisses. Then, together with his Daddy, he opened all presents. We were very happy that he loved his presents.

His Nanny and Jeremy (our neighbour downstair) also gave him presents that morning. Zach was happier and said "Wow, I have so many presents today. I am a lucky boy!" Yes, you were a lucky boy and so many people love you!

For this year, we decided to celebrate his birthday in his school since he has a strong social emotional with his friends. I ordered a dragon chocolate cake and made t-shirts with the picture of Zach's class friends and teachers on it as a present for his friends and teachers. We sang a happy birthday song in the hall of the school, afterward Zach blew the candle. His class friends sang a special song for him too.

In the class, we sang a happy birthday song for Zach again and Zach gave his present to each of his classmates. Everytime he gave the present, he also gave a hug. He was so cute.

He also got many presents from his friends and his school. Even today, he said that he was very happy because he got many presents from his friends again. Well, happy birthday my boy. Hope you had a great day yesterday. You are our bigger boy now. We are proud of you and we are happy to have an intelligent boy like you. We are lucky to have you. Mommy and Daddy love you so much.

Galuh
Today, after Zach got back from school, he gave me hugs and kisses. He said that he was very happy for his birthday

On 27 May 2006, Saturday, we were still in Sanur Bali. We woke up early that day because we, together with Leanna and Jo, were going to Ubud in Bali which took one hour to get there from Sanur.

At 7am I turned my cell phone on and got a text message from my brother in Yogya, Edo. I can not remember what time he sent it to me, but I think around 6 am.
He said “Kak, barusan ono gempa gedhe!” (sister, there were an earthquake this morning).
I replied “kuwi kan lak biasa tho .. ning Yogya kan wis kerep gempa” (that was usual, was not it? Yogya often had earthquakes).
“yang ini gedhe tenan Kak, air kolam kita yang gedhe sampai muncrat ke atas dan tinggal setengah!” (this time, the earthquake was very big, our pond water was lurching up and leaving half) he replied.
Suddently, I thought about my parents and tried to call his cell but could not get through. Then I sent him a message again “kok telpon omah gak urip seh. Piye Bapak Ibu dan adik2 yang lain, lan piye omah?” (Why the phone at home is not working? How is our parents and brothers, how is the house?).
He replied “Listrik mati dan HP juga gak bisa dihubungi. Ortu selamat dan rumah juga gak ada yang rusak cuma bbrp barang terutama koleksi keramiknya ibu yang pecah.” (The electricity was dead include the phone. They are all fine, the house are also fine. Just some stuffs broken but nothing serious).
Whew, I felt released …

Then, I turned on the TV but no news about it yet. We thought maybe because it was very early and no news about the eartquake yet. I tried to call home in Yogya but the line was cut off. Tried to call my parents’s cells were also no network.

We decided to have a breakfast and try to call them again later.

In Ubud, I kept trying to call my house in Yogya and still did not get through. Eventhough I was not very worried about them but I wanted to hear their voices and made sure that they were fine and were not traumatized. Finally at 2pm, I could talk to my Mom and Dad. They were fine, they were happy after talked to Zach (for my parents, a call from their grandson can brighten their life). My Dad told me about the earthquake, which buildings were destroyed, how many victims in Sardjito Hospital. We also talked about the relation between earthquake- tsunami-Merapi Mountain. This earthquake has predicted by the scientists since the tsunami, but ironically, everyone has been watching Mt. Merapi.

I was thinking, how many richter scale was the earthquake. Was it same with tsunami? How many number of people who were affected, whether as many as tsunami? How were my friends and their family in Yogya?

Then, I tried to call my friends in Yogya but nobody picked up their cell. So I decided to send them a text message and waited for their reply.

At night in the hotel, I called Dodok, my friend in Yogya. I asked him about the condition of our friends. He said that everybody was fine, just many of our friends’s relatives were died. I felt very sorry to hear that.

Until now, I do not do anything yet. I really want to go to Yogya but the situation is still unpredictable. The condition is not appropriate for the kids. I felt sad because by my limitation, I could not do much for them yet. I am just helping a few organizations in Yogya to collect the donations.

Yogya is my home, a place where I grew up. A beautiful place! But on 27 May 2006, in early morning, an earthquake with a strength of 5.9 on the richter scale has hit my hometown. The number of people who were died around 6300, injured 46.000 and homes damaged or destroyed 139.000. This numbers are still continuing to rise. Yogya needs our help. I am urging to all of you, wherever you are, to help them by doing whatever you can do ….

Galuh
Thank you for all of you who had called or sent me a text message to find out about my family in Yogya. They are all fine.

Yesterday was Jerome's Birthday. We were not doing anything special yesterday. I just made a wonderful breakfast in the bed and gave him some nice presents including coffee-makers, next shirt dan framed family picture. I asked Zach to make a hand-painting in the framed family picture and wrote Happy Birthday for Daddy. Jerome brought the framed family picture to his office and showed to his colleagues, everybody was very like it. I got so many compliments from them.

We are going to Bali tomorrow and will meet Leanna and Jo there. Bali trip is for Jerome's birthday too.

For my best friend and husband, Happy Birthday Say. Hope you had a good day yesterday. We love you so much. Thank you for being a good husband and the best daddy in the world. Thank you for these wonderful years together. Love you ...

Galuh

Three days ago, Jake was six months old. That means I was successfully finished my exclusive brestfeeding. Whew, I felt very happy that I could achieve my mission. To achieve this mission, I had to give up my job so that I could get a longer maternity leave since in Indonesia the maternity leave only for 3 months. Also, I was happier because my butterball is a healthy boy. His weight was 9.8kg (my ex-boss called him as a giant baby).

Yesterday, I started to give him a solid food. A baby-cookie mixed with formula. But he did not like it, he cried. And then I gave him cereal mixed with formula, he did not like it either. Everytime I put the spoon in to his mouth, he tightly closed his mouth and did not want to look at me. Well, I gave up and would like to try the next day. Today, in the morning I made a mixed-fruit puree (apple, banana, and orange). When I gave it to him, he still closed his mouth but I kept putting the spoon into his mouth, meanwhile Jerome tried to make him laugh. And it worked, he ate it eventhough only for 6 small spoon. But we were happy, well done for us as a team work!

In the afternoon, I tried to give him a solid food again but he did not want it. He cried very loud. I gave up and just gave him breastmilk. Well, it will be a hard work. I remember when Zach was eight months old and I started to give him solid food and formula. I need at least two months to get Zach's appetite in solid food and drink formula.

Wish me luck!

Galuh

At five months Jacob can sit up supported by his arms on his own. He still loves to smile and drool alot. He still spits up milks alot and leaves white spots everywhere on his parents cloths. In Javanese, baby spit is called "gumoh" and smiley children are called sumeh", so I call Jacob my gu-meh boy.

But his smiles are beautiful and I like to tickle him to hear his laugh. Also we like to put a towel over his head which makes him laugh as well.

As of last week, Jake weighted in at 9.2 kilos. He's a massive baby. My arms are quickly tired after carrying him for an hour. But he loves to be carried and cries if we set him down. I think actually he feels the acuteness of being the only person in the family who can't walk. He hates being left behind in his crib while we all have dinner. He studies Zach closely when his big brother jumps up and down. He loves to try to stand up with the support of an adult and pushes with his fat legs to support himself.

He also hates to go to sleep, although sometimes he is very very tired and cranky. I think he doesn't want to miss out on all the fun, and fights the sleepiness. So I usually have to close the bedroom door because inevitably Zachary is creating some sort of noise or jumping off the table and landing with big thumps. Once the room is quiet, I cradle Jake despite his whinning until he falls asleep. Watching children fall to sleep is wonderful. Their little faces are angelic when they sleep and Jake usually starts scratching his head with his little hand just before he falls asleep. that's the sure sign he's about to sleep. It's also very cute.

We have started letting Jake try sucking on fruit. He loves jambu and banana and yesterday he was sucking the top of my fruit drink bottle. He is a much more oral kid than Zach. Zach never really put stuff in his mouth but Jake loves to suck and bite things. He has bitten Galuh's nipples on many occassion. I hear a yelp from the bedroom and I run to the bed to find contently Jake nibbling on Galuh as she grimaces in discomfort.

Jerome

Taken by Byron

We had a nice dinner on saturday night at our house. The dinner was for sending off Byron, Dian and Settena to Yogyakarta. Byron will start his new job with CUSO as Knowledge Management Officer next week. Court, Jeremy Stones and family also came to the dinner.

I cooked lasagna, salad, sweet-spiced squash, and pesto toast. Thanks to Parni (our housekeeper) who helped me to cook the lasagna. For the dissert, Court brought apple struddle. Unfortunately, I did not take the picture of my cooking. Ugh I can not show you how beautiful and yummy my cooking. Though, seemed that everybody liked the foods. At least, Court and Jeremy gave me a compliment for my cooking. Jerome also said that the squash was good with lasagna. He even wants to have another dinner with same menu as above for his other friends.

Also, Jerome opened his old wine. Fondation Barton&Guestier, Bordeaux 1990. Very yummy!Usually I can not finish my glass of wine but at that night I could finish it all!

Zach had a great time too because he got new friends, Frea (1.5years, Jeremy's daughter) and Settena (10 months, Byron's daughter). They played together at Zach's room. Zach and Frea run around the house and played nicely together. Meanwhile, Settena crowled around the house.

Galuh