We're Moving!

No, we are not leaving Papua New Guinea, the Kudjip mission station, or even our house. We are proud to announce that we are moving our blog address. You will still be able to visit this site and re-read all your favorite stories about Aden and Wiley. But to see new stories about the Riggins Boys, you'll have to visit the New Blog. A few weeks ago, we ran a poll to get your ideas for a new name for the blog.

And the winner is . . .

Uncle Andy and Aunt Judy Bennett,
with their write-in vote of
"Band of Brothers".

Perhaps they had some "inside information" and knew we were suspecting a third boy. Not surprisingly, when we tried to use "Band of Brothers" in the blog address, we discovered that it was taken, along with any variation on it. So, the address you'll now need to save is a rough Pidgin translation of the phrase: mipelabrata.blogspot.com. You can begin to visit the new site immediately, and if you forget the address, just come back to this post and click the link above to find new stories about our growing Band of Brothers.

"Hollo-cotchter" (Helicopter)

As we've posted before, patients are sometimes transported to Nazarene Hospital, where we live, by helicopter. Usually when we hear a helicopter circling, we grab shoes, hats, and camera and run out the door to see it land. Today, however, we already knew the helicopter was coming, so when we heard it in the distance, we left the house and leisurely walked the 100 yards or so down to the field where they usually land, just outside Daddy's office. There was great excitement around the field as a handful of the hundred or so gathered to gawk knew there would be a special treat today. After the patient (another missionary) was helped out of the chopper and moved to guest housing, the pilots agreed to give a short ride to Uncle Mike and Josiah. Uncle Mike was prepared to take some aerial photos of the new hospital, and Jo just loves airplanes and helicopters. (What 13 year old boy wouldn't jump at the chance to ride in a chopper?)

There was a short delay in the plans when the pilots requested help with charging the battery - apparently the alternator belt was broken and they could not get the helicopter started again. While we were waiting, I asked if Aden wanted to get a little closer and see the helicopter or meet the pilots. "No," he quickly replied. At his request, to get away from the wind and noise, we had already moved several yards away from the scene. Not wanting any regrets later, I asked again if Aden just wanted to stand near it so that I could take his picture. It wasn't moving and wouldn't be moving until a battery was found. Again, he answered, "No." But this time I realized that Wiley had also been answering my questions all along, as I heard a little, "Yeah." Without hesitating, I picked up Wiley and Aden followed as we walked back to the field. Aden got excited about getting close, but still refused to sit in the helicopter. I was able to set Wiley inside next to Jo long enough to get a picture, and then got a picture of Lydia with Aden and Wiley standing close to the helicopter.


When they were ready to take off again, Uncle Bill spotted us from a distance and we remembered there was more to this spectacle than the boys' getting to see a helicopter. Five of us (Uncle Bill, Lydia, Aden, Wiley, and Mommy) quickly made our way to the new hospital. As we stepped into a small open area between a couple of the wards, we held up our hands and waved at the chopper - and at Uncle Mike's camera hanging out the open door - a moment that will be etched in the history of Nazarene Hospital for years to come.

Bunkin' Up

Aden and Wiley have officially moved in together! Wiley essentially spends most of his waking hours in Aden's room since that is where most of the toys are, and so it was only natural that they become roommates. Although, having a baby on the way, in a three bedroom house, also has a way of making this seem like a great idea.
To save on 'play space' we decided to go with bunk beds. We found some old ones in the Mission warehouse (where furniture from the last 54 years of the Mission's existence here in PNG is kept) that we converted to a loft bed and then used Aden's existing bed to form 'L' shaped bunk beds. With Uncle Bill's help, we used his vast knowledge, experience, craftsmanship, strength, and patience as both a father and grandfather, and accomplished this in just one afternoon.
Aden slept on the top bunk right away as though he has been sleeping five feet off the ground all his life. The best part to him, of course, is going up and down the ladder. He fell from the second or third step once, and that has been enough for him to be very sure-footed as he backs down the ladder each time. Wiley didn't move in until the fourth night. We still had a little work to do for it to be completely ready for him to move to a 'big boy' bed. He seems to like the idea of sleeping in the same room with Aden though, and after two nights he has slept through the night and loves to be able to get out of his own bed in the morning. He usually walks out of their room in the morning, saying "Big Boy bed." Right now, Wiley is not able to climb the steps and will search to find anyone who is willing to help him up. When he does learn to climb the ladder on his own, watch out!!
With an 'L' shape, you get a little space under the top bunk and beside the bottom bunk that can become a natural 'clubhouse' of sorts. However, this quickly became the boys' cafe. Orders are taken on a magna-doodle. The space between the first and second step of the ladder is the window where orders can be placed as well as picked up. The menu is pretty wide open, but the specialties seem to be chocolate pizza, chocolate pudding, chocolate milk, and Pepsi. You can order whatever you want though. Chances are, they will have it. If they don't, Aden will be quick to let you know. This space has also been an airport and a hospital (probably reflective of where we live and spend a lot of time.) I am sure this space will become many other things over the next few days, weeks, months and years.

Cairns

After 3 days and 4 nights on the Gold Coast, we used Mommy's frequent flyer points to fly to warmer weather in Cairns. For Aden and Wiley, the best part of Treetops, where we stayed, was "upstairs," a room above the office with toys and books. One of Mommy's favorite finds at Treetops was in a swap box of sorts, where she found a sleeper gown for the baby. We spent part of our time just as we'd planned - relaxing and not doing much of anything, just enjoying the time together away from our normal routine. We also found some new things to explore. On our last day in Cairns, we managed to squeeze in all of the boys' favorite activities - a train ride, visiting animals, a ride on a skyrail, and swimming at the Esplanade (which we had already enjoyed earlier in the week).

We started the morning on the Kuranda Scenic Railway, riding up to a village a few kilometers away. Although we arrived at the train station 45 minutes early, the boys loved every minute of waiting on the platform. While we waited, we had a special treat of watching a steam engine pass through the station en route from Brisbane, in celebration of 150 years of the railway. We finally boarded our train and began the 1 1/2 hour journey up to the village, through tunnels and over bridges. The boys loved all the sights and sounds of the railway, from the train's whistle to the spectacular views of waterfalls and coastline. Although the train made one 15 minute stop at a scenic lookout, Aden was too excited to get off with the rest of the passengers, and he and Mommy stayed on board.

Because of the spectacle of the steam engine, we were late arriving into the village, where our time was already short. We had also discovered on our trip up that Wiley was running a fever (probably lingering symptoms suspiciously akin to swine flu - see "Honesty is the Best Policy"). So our first stop was to the local pharmacist for some medicine for Wiley. After lunch, Daddy took Wiley to the local doctor, just to make sure the ear infection was not raring its ugly head in time for more airplane travel, while Mommy and Aden set off to see some Australian animals. Aden seemed to enjoy the experience, but a playground had caught his eye on our way, so the animals only held his attention for about 15 minutes altogether - the same amount of time that Wiley was in the doctor's office, finding out that Mommy's worries were for naught. We met back at the skyrail station in time to catch our ride back down to the city. While the train was especially exciting for the boys, everyone enjoyed the relaxing ride on the skyrail, skimming the tops of the trees and making the return trip a bit faster.

After a full day already, however, our day had only begun. We finished some shopping, and took the boys to the Esplanade for one last picnic. This time we went at night, and had Pizza Hut dinner by the free public pool. Since it was later and getting dark, we had the entire pool almost to ourselves. Splashing through the fountains, walking through the sand, and swimming under the stars was a great way to cap off our family vacation.

SeaWorld

It rained quite a bit during our time on the Gold Coast in Australia, but the one day that the weather cooperated happened to be on the day that we had decided to go to SeaWorld. It was really a fun day for Aden and Wiley (and Mommy and Daddy) that started off by getting to ride on public transportation. This was always one of the highlights for Aden and Wiley to ride on a big city bus. And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, the bus takes you to SeaWorld, full of dolphins, seals, sharks, polar bears, penguins and fun rides and shows. We did our best to cram it all in, and here are some of the highlights:

The Dolphin Show - Aden and Wiley loved seeing them soar out of the water an do flips, and also throw the trainers up into the air on some of the jumps. This show really made an impression.

The Shark Tank - There was an underground viewing level making it like a giant aquarium. Lots of sharks, rays, large fish and other sea creatures to look at.

The Water Ski Show - Lots of acrobatics and jumps to enjoy watching while we ate our lunch.

The Sesame Street-themed amusement park - there were rides that the boys (along with Mommy and Daddy) could enjoy. Some were trucks that went around a track that we all rode on. The boys rode in the driver's seat and pretended to drive. There were helicopters that we were all able to ride in. Aden was the pilot and loved every minute of flying us around. It went up in the air about 15 feet or so. There was another that was an airplane that Daddy rode on with Aden. And there was a carousel that was a lot of fun too.

The Viking Ship - this was similar to a 'Log Ride' where you float around through tunnels and caves relaxingly and then go up the conveyor to the top of a hill, only to come sliding down into a pool of water which of course splashes everyone in the boat. Daddy rode this one by himself the first time, but later Aden asked if he could ride it. The two of them stood in line uncertain if Aden was even tall enough. When he was measured, he was just at the line and was able to go. They had a boat all to themselves. They went all around and then came splashing down. Daddy quickly asked Aden if he liked that (not really knowing if Aden would be terrified by such a ride in the first place) and the only response that came from Aden with a stunned look on his face was, "My pants got wet!"

Other fun things were the monorail and skyrail around the park, watching Daddy on the big roller coasters (not sure this was as much of a highlight for the boys as it was for Daddy) and seeing the polar bear and penguins. All in all, it was a fun day that was of course capped off by another ride on the city bus back to our hotel. That night, there was quite a splash in the bathtub when we were able to see the Dolphin Show re-enacted.

Honesty is the Best Policy

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to land into Brisbane International Airport. We have a small boy in the back of the plane, however, that has a slight cough. Due to Quarantine regulations, we are going to ask that everyone remain seated with your seatbelt fastened, once we reach the gate, until a Quarantine Officer can come aboard and have a look at the young lad."
As we flew from Papua New Guinea down to Australia, we were required to fill out a Health Check form for the Australian Quarantine Officials. This was due to the "Swine Flu" scare. Australia has always been very strict with their quarantine rituals, and rightfully so. Because the form asked specifically if you have a cough, headache (although I thought this one was rather random), fever, shortness of breath or other flu-like symptoms, we felt that we should be honest. After all, here was Wiley coughing quite regularly and it would be fairly difficult to hide that from any officials. Not as easy to do with a one year old as it might be for people to hide the fact that they did have a headache, but marked NO on the form. (I still find it odd that we were the only people on the whole plane who could say YES to any of those symptoms.) Knowing the stiff penalties of Australia, we just wanted to be honest.
The plane pulled up to the gate, and we sat there. Nobody entered the plane and nobody was allowed to get up. Finally, the silence was broken once again with an announcement, "Ladies and Gentlemen, again we are just waiting on a Quarantine Officer to come and check out the little boy in the back of the plane. Shouldn't take long. In the meantime, we have begun re-fueling the aircraft and we are not allowed to have passengers with their seatbelt on while doing this. Please remove your seatbelt, but do not get out of your seats until the little boy has been checked. (People are starting to look at us at this point since we are sitting on the last row and have a little boy who happens to cough every now and then.)
Finally, we see him. A man in a "Swine Flue Mask" (as we have seen them advertised for sale in stores here in Cairns) walking down the aisle to the back of the plane. He finds us and first asks us to put one of the masks (child-size with Disney characters) on Wiley. Yeah right. That wasn't happening as Wiley refused and fought every attempt. The Officer proceeded with his routine questions of whether or not we have recently been in the US or Mexico. How long has he had the cough and if he had any other symptoms. We explained that Wiley was coming off of an ear infections (still on the antibiotics) and had no other symptoms. After several more questions, they eventually let the rest of the passengers get off the plane and we followed shortly behind. The Officer escorted us inside and we were led through an area that appeared to have video cameras set up. We were told to walk separately through this area. Apparently, it was taking our body temperature. Daddy was holding Wiley and they appeared to have borderline high temperature, but not enough to worry about. After this, we still had to be seen by additional Quarantine Officers, which included a Nurse. He asked a few questions, but was not concerned by us so let us go on through after taking a few details from us. We were finally cleared, but still got a few looks from fellow passengers as we collected our luggage.
Ironically, after hearing and seeing that the cough was perhaps just part of the ear infection, or at least was no way a symptom of "Swine Flu," the Officer told us that we should have just marked NO on the form. We could have avoided having to be seen by the Nurse. As it turned out though, being seen by the Nurse helped us avoid having to stand in the long lines of people at Immigration. Proving once again that Honesty really is the best policy.

Drooling

About 6 weeks ago, Daddy came home drooling over the possibility of owning a Labrador Retriever puppy. A nearby missionary was leaving the country and had several lab puppies for sale for 2000 kina each (roughly 600 US dollars). Daddy had already done his homework and excitedly told Mommy that this was an excellent price for a lab puppy, that labs are great dogs for kids especially, and even showed her a picture of a lab puppy that he had found online. Mommy, however, was not convinced. She thought of the Baby on the way, and all the work and expense involved in owning a dog (feeding, bathing, making a suitable home - for us this would mean improving our fence, training, finding fleas, and the list went on). We didn't make any decisions or say anything to the boys, but a month later we received word that the price had been cut in half. The missionary really wanted to find good homes for the puppies before he left. This made the offer a bit more tempting, but Mommy still had a lot of good reasons not to buy one.

Then, over the weekend, we found out that a couple of single ladies on our station were going to purchase the last black lab puppy; there were two yellow labs left, and they would be offered for free to two interested families on our station. (Daddy had written that there could still be some interest at Kudjip - referring in part, of course, to us.) Daddy read the e-mail, then pulled up the photo on his computer and showed it to the boys, not mentioning that we could possibly own such a dog. That didn't seem to matter to the boys - Aden and Wiley sat in front of the computer drooling over the picture. Wiley kept pointing and saying "Doggie! Cute!" for about 15 or 20 minutes. To help pull him away from the screen, Mommy printed the picture for him, which he carried around the rest of the morning.

Perhaps that was all it took to push Mommy over the edge; perhaps it was only a matter of time. When Daddy came home and announced that the black lab and one of the yellow labs were being "retrieved" today, he and Mommy did some quick thinking and decided to surprise the boys with the last puppy. Mommy still had reservations, so we worked out a deal with the Radcliffe family - we will share the puppy some, sharing responsibilities and caring for him together. Without further delay, we piled into a truck with the boys and the other soon-to-be-puppy-owners and headed about 15 minutes down the road. The boys didn't know where we were going, but Aden's eyes lit up when we asked if we should take one of the puppies home with us. Now the boys will not be the only ones drooling around our house . . .

He's Back!

After 6 days of fevers on and off, crying or fussing most of the time, barely eating, and 5 nights of sleeping very little, Wiley is finally back to himself. After we discovered that he had an ear infection, we added a regimen of antibiotics and changed his cold medicine, and it made a world of difference! When we woke up yesterday morning, after nearly a full night of sleep, Mommy felt like a new person. Wiley must have as well. Our first clue was when he stood up in his crib and the first word out of his mouth was "Milk!" When we went to the kitchen to get him a drink, he started naming all the foods he could think of "Jell-o!" "Cereal!" "Apple!" He ate breakfast, then promptly decided he was done. He was immediately ready for a walk, donning shoes and hat overtop of his sleeper, and standing at the door, ready for someone to help him outside. However, we have also discovered that one of his new meds seems to wake him up rather than put him to sleep. The last couple of nights he's been so much happier at bedtime that he lays in his bed for an hour or more, talking, singing, laughing, and calling out for anyone willing to be an audience. It is nice to have our little boy back to himself, even if it means he doesn't fall asleep right away!

Aden and Wiley's Big Announcement

Well, if you didn't guess from the title of this post, and haven't already heard the news, Aden and Wiley are expecting a little brother or sister in early October.

Aden in particular seems to be preparing for the many changes this will bring to our lives. He has brought his blankets to Mommy in the living room, wanting to share them with the baby; he's offered to share his room with Wiley so that the Baby can sleep in the crib in Wiley's room (a change we were already planning to make); he continually offers to help Mommy and Daddy, at dinnertime, diaper-change time for Wiley, and anytime Mommy and Daddy seem to be busy. We're hoping he will be just as eager to help after the new baby arrives. Aden has also been eager to share his preference for a baby sister.

The "official" due date is October 5; both Aden and Wiley were about a week early, so we will see. As we wait and prepare, one of the dilemmas we have encountered is what to do with the blog. It will need to include a third child, and if we follow our pattern, we won't be ready to announce the name until the baby is born. So, as you can see in the sidebar, we would like your input into the official Renaming Of The Blog. To write in your own idea, simply leave a comment on this post. Once we make a decision, we will announce what the new blog name will be, and we will also change the URL. Be sure to change the bookmark in your web browser, as we know that the boys' blog is at the top of your bookmarks list.

The Great Nap Time Dilemma

Each afternoon, after lunch, the boys take naps. Some days, this comes easy. Mommy and/or Daddy read a book, turn on some soft music and they are out. Other days are not so easy. Aden has had a few days where he just can't fall asleep. He actually does well to get some books and read in his bed for awhile until he is told that he can get up. There are still times though, when being out of bed seems a lot more fun than being in bed. Here is a recent story from one of those times:

Aden had been in bed for about thirty minutes but was not falling asleep. Finally, a soft voice could be heard from his bedroom.

Aden: Daddy....Daddy....Daddy....
Daddy: Yes, Aden.
Aden: I need to go potty.

They go to the bathroom and after five minutes, nothing has happened. Aden has a slight smile on his face as they get settled back in bed (as if to say that he has found a naptime 'loophole'). Ten minutes later...

Aden: Daddy...Daddy...Daddy... (in a soft whisper again)
Daddy: Yes, Aden.
Aden: I need to go potty.

Fresh off the potty training, we certainly didn't want to deny him of the need and have him not tell us when he needed to go anymore, so we made our way to the bathroom once again. After five minutes and nothing happening...

Aden: Daddy, my body can't be quiet.
Daddy: Why not?
Aden: It can only be loud, and wants to wake up Wiley.
Daddy: Can you tell your body that it would be good for it to get some rest on your bed? Your body doesn't have to sleep, but just needs to rest.
Aden: (pulling up his shirt and looking down at his belly at this point) Body, can you just rest and not go to sleep? (short pause as if he is listening to the response) Daddy, my body said it could try.

Oh, the mind of a three year old. Watch for a Volume II of the "Kids say the 'darndest' things" coming soon once we can compile them together and get them written down.