Our house, in the middle of our street

I'm really happy where we live. It is a small townhouse community of about 20 units. Almost all expat, with a lot of Francophones (from France - the ones from Dijon are the nicest!).

There are a couple of Asian quirks with our house. Like all "wet" rooms (kitchen, washroom) are sunk an inch from rest of the house. To prevent flooding I suppose. There is no air conditioning in the kitchen (since the maid does the cooking, and no one cares about the maid....), the backdoor, while having a deadbolt, does not have a door handle. Which is extremely annoying. The washer and dryer are outside. There is no central air conditioning, it's all separate units. Oh, and you have a "light switch" to turn on the hot water.

We had to buy new furniture upon arrival. For those who remember our Toronto apartment, we had a very tiny 3 person table. No wonder we ate out all the time.

Here is our new table:with the sideboard in the background.

Here is the new bookcase:

The new shoe bench (lighting is terrible in our house, we have two different ceiling bulbs which causes terrible shadows):

And la piece de resistence - the TV:
My modeling moves are learned from watching the Price is Right and America's Next Top Model. Oh, and I'm not wearing a black headband, that's how bad my roots where. Yikes!!!

Oliver's First Report Card

We got this package today from the school, it's a nice package about 10 pages long with pictures of Oliver and some of his artwork. We are bringing it to our first parent-teacher interview on Saturday (see - it's happening all too fast! Just like I said yesterday).

Anyway, want to read the report card? If not - stop now. Italic comments are mine.

Physical
Oliver is able to climb well, walk upstairs with alternative feet, run and walk well and able to pedal a tricycle. He is able to walk backwards, push and pull objects, kick a stationary ball, jump with two feet together and climbs over low equipment. Oliver is able to feed himself, put on shoes and shirt with little help. He is able to hold a pencil in writing position, turn on rotating handles (I don't know what this means either - a tap?), holds pencil in preferred hands and pulls down pants during toileting or changing clothes. He is able to use a round rod to roll and flatten the play dough.

Intellectual
Oliver is able to follow a two part instruction, recognize most common objects, understand the concepts of in, on, under. He is able to name pictures and label actions. He is also able to construct 4-5 word sentences verbally, knows names and sex of his classmates, able to use pronouns (I, we, you, me, they). Oliver is also able to ask "what" and "where" questions and is able to rote count and recognize 1-10. He is able to do a 6 pieces jigsaw puzzle.

Emotional
Oliver displays emotions openly, whenever his is being disturbed or when he is feeling moody, he will cry and say that he did not like the way it is (I don't think they mean he is a crybaby.). He is willing to be separated from parents in the morning and he is able to sit through and listen during story telling.

Social
Oliver is able to show affection towards his friends especially Ashton. Oliver is able to understand concepts of "mine, his/hers". He enjoyed playing with all his friends and he always play with Ashton (Half the pictures in the book, Ashton is in them). Oliver is able to use toilet with no assistance. (What!?!?! Since when?!?!?)

Chinese
I don't know, it's all written in Chinese.

Sigh, the end of a chapter

Martin is growing too fast (and he's all of 3.5 months old). He's already at 15 pounds, and I told Basil to dig out 6 month sized clothing as the 3 month size is getting too small. He's starting to try to make raspberries also. It's funny, with the oldest one, you can't wait for them to do the next milestone. The youngest one, you wish they would take it even slower than what they are doing and just linger longer at that age.

But, in the interest of decluttering we are getting rid of the bassinet and the clothing that is too small. And so by getting rid of it, it figuratively closes the door to having more children.

I'll never be pregnant again. Never give birth again (and think how fast the next one would have been!). Never hold my newborn, when they are newly born again.

It's not that I really want to have a third child. The expense alone is daunting. We would be outnumbered. It's just the end of an era. That's all.

Monday Craft Update

Knitting
Nothing.

Cross-stitch
Working solely on Paulina's ornament. Will be done by end of week, even if I have to stay up late, but I don't think so. I'm about 65% done.

Photography
Nothing.

Since it is such a boring post, I'll give you my Christmas to-do list:

• Research Christmas games for the party & buy necessary supplies
• Finish Paulina's ornament & mail out
• Finish cross-stitch Christmas picture and get framed
• Write Christmas letter. Print
• Write Christmas cards.
  
• Review mailing address list. Print
• Mail
• Decorate house
• Buy gifts:
• On-line
• Oliver, Martin, Joe
• Wrap presents

So, what do you think will get done and what won't get done?

Swimming, swimming in the swimming pool

One thing about living in Singapore, is it is hot and humid (think we mention that enough?). One of the benefits is that we go swimming. A lot. I've actually dried my hair out due to the swimming, but that's not what this post is about.

Oliver is a natural swimmer. He has a natural dive and loves to play in the water. We love to play this game called "Flying Oliver" where we toss him in the air. Here are some pictures our neighbour took this weekend.

Ready for blastoff:

Flying Oliver!!!!

Well, that was a bit of a bust

I went shopping after the boys were in bed with Jane and Annabelle. We were going to buy supplies for the Christmas party. We thought, let's go to Mustafa. Mustafa is this large department store in Little India, with loads and loads of cheap goods. Like an Honest Ed's if you are from Toronto.

So we take a cab and set out. We get there and start looking around. Can't find anything, I finally ask a worker. They only have Christmas cards, no Christmas supplies. Hmm, I guess Little INDIA is not the place to go shopping. So we decide to head to Plaza Singapura.

Can't catch a cab, so we walk about 20 minutes through Little India at night to the MRT station. That was nice. Something I wouldn't normally get to do. And oddly enough, none of the little stores had Christmas decorations either. You'd think Indians don't celebrate Christmas. Maybe we should try Arab street next. Or Chinatown.

Get to Plaza Singapura at 10:00. All the stores are closing except Carrefour. You know, the big French chain that's the equivalent to Wal-mart. They have one tiny aisle with really ugly Christmas decorations. I guess they celebrate Christmas in France, but they don't like it.

So we headed back home. Stopped at a bar and had a drink and called it a night. But the company was excellent.

TV: The Amazing Race

The Amazing Race (TAR) is the first TV reality show that I watched (besides regular game shows). Lana introduced it to me after the first season (so I haven't seen that one) and I love it.

This season of TAR has been especially good, even though only 3 episodes have been on. Why have they been so good? Because it turns out that pack animals (donkeys and camels) are excellent judges of character, so the people that annoy the viewers also annoy the animals. Which is highly amusing to watch people yell at the animals, and the animals just bray or neigh (what is the noise a camel makes?) back at them.

One of the advantages I have is that tonight, I get to watch The Amazing Race: Asia. It's from the same producers as TAR. Unfortunately, Phil isn't the host. But this fellow is:

not too bad, eh?

A tale of two boys

I thought I'd give an update. Sorry no new pictures, I need Joe to do a download.

Oliver
Oliver is coping pretty well with me being back at work. Though, he does pretty much ignore me when I'm in my work clothes. Last Friday, he actually said "I don't love Mommy as she in her work clothes". Oliver has always been a fussy pot about what I would wear.

He reminds me a lot of Kate with his facial actions and looks he gives. I don't know if it's because Kate is the most recent toddler that I know well, or if it is because they are related. I lean more towards it's because they are related as I don't see other toddlers making the same faces.

He's also started calling me "Mom" at times instead of "Mommy" or "Mama". He started calling me Mama since we moved here, so it must be something from school. I prefer Mommy, but Mom is slipping in there. Of course, it's still "Daddy" for Joe.

Martin
Martin is a happy baby. I have to say, that Joe and I produce cute, happy babies. If we do nothing else right, we do that at least. He's growing well, has excellent muscle strength, and I suspect he'll roll over in the next week or two (but what do I know?).

He still wakes up 2 to 3 times a night to feed, but it's not too bad. He goes to sleep around 7:30 and wakes either at 12:30 or 2:30 and then again around 5:30. In the morning, he usually wakes up when I'm leaving, and he's lying in his crib, smiling away at his mobile and happily kicking his feet. He also coos and gurgles (but never when I have the video camera on him!).

Martin has two girlfriends, Sofya and Tiffany. They are two nine year old girls who live in our complex. Sofya is the main girlfriend, and Tiffany comes along because Sofya is her best friend. Sofya just thinks Martin is the cutest thing ever, and always wants to hold him. Then when Martin fusses, I hold him, and they play with Oliver, so it works out quite well. Two little babysitters for free!

One month

until Lana's birthday blog. What will it be about? Will I tell the story of the tape measure? Or perhaps fighting over the yellow cup? Will it be nice or will it be funny or will it be both?

Will the anticipation be greater than the blog post? Most definitely.

But the good news is that I've decided not to age for a while, neither do you Lana. So you will be celebrating 33 for the second time!

Monday Craft Update

Knitting
Did 5 stripes on Martin's ball.

Cross-stitch
Finished the snow "mom". Probably 50% done

Started ornament for Paulina. Won't work on anything else until this is done and in the mail.

Photography
Nothing.

Games Night

I'm so happy to say we finally found someone to play board games with! Yay!!

Last night, we played Settlers of Catan with our neighbours, Jane & Serge. Jane won, but it was a pretty close game. I was in the lead for a while, before I did a "free fall" (as Joe put it) and lost the Longest Road card to Jane. It was a lot of fun, and they enjoyed it also.

Settlers of Catan, is my favorite game of all time. There has only been one couple that I've introduced it to that did not like it. Everyone else has liked it so much, they have bought their own copy. I must say though, that Kristi & Tyson have taken it to the furthest extreme.

I learned to play the game from my Uncle Morley, who learned from my cousin Melanie. So everyone, you owe Melanie a big thanks!!

Next game night, we are going to learn how to play Blockers! Whatever that is.

Book Review: Make way for ducklings

I've been reading Oliver "Make Way for Ducklings". It's a book that Mom and Dad used to read Lana and I when we were young. It's a beautifully drawn story, and if you are from Boston, it probably is even more special.

I bought a copy when Joe and I were in Boston in 1999 visiting Remco & Ines. Boston is a great city, we were only there for a weekend, but what we say we liked a lot. And I even saw the statue of the 8 little ducklings they have in the Public Gardens.

Turns out there is a whole Wikipedia article on the book. What isn't on Wikipedia? You should read the entry, pretty interesting.

P.S. Happy 3 month birthday Martin!!

Hi Ho Hi Ho

It's off to work I go. Work is going okay so far. The boss is away this week, so it's a pretty easy start. I'm managing to pump twice a day at work, while at the same time taking care of work that is "Important but not urgent", i.e. "sharpening the saw" type of work. As Oliver would say "What you say?". I'm reading actuarial newsletters. Exciting, no?

Home life is beginning to get a balance. I don't know how mothers do it where the fathers aren't involved. Both Joe and I are involved with the bedtime routine, but due to Martin's nursing, Joe has to do more for Oliver. Oliver has been really good and doesn't seem to miss me (sigh). I'm looking forward to the weekend when I can spend some more time with him.

Martin is getting along fine with Basil and when he is awake she plays with him.

My new goal is to try and get Martin to 6 months without taking any formula! Don't you thing he's worth it?

Facebook

Also known as Crackbook, for it's addictive qualities has made its way into our house. I can see how people get addicted to it for the little games. I noticed Paul had a TV Trivia game, so I downloaded it and 15 minutes later I had 880 points. The only thing that stopped me was that my TV show was coming on and I wanted to stitch.

One thing I don't fully understand is the throwing of livestock (cow, sheep, fish) at people. Lana likes to do it, so I do it back, but I must confess, I don't really get it. Maybe I'm too old for Facebook?

So if you are on it, and I haven't found you, come be my friend!

Monday Craft Update

Cross-stitch
Continued working on snowman family - about 45-50% done.
Decided on ornament for Paulina, need to buy supplies.

Knitting
Started a knit ball for Martin.

Y&R

So, I'm behind on my Young and the Restless, but I would like to state for the record, I think David Chow killed Ji Min Kim. He could have had the dog hair on him from Niki's house (Zapato) and his motive would be that he didn't want the Clear Springs development to crashing down (pun intended) for some misguided thing for Niki.

That all I said, let's talk about Jack and Victor. For the longest time, I was a Jack gal. Sure, he's done wrong by Victor (i.e. leaving him to die after he was shot), but generally Jack always loses out to Victor and I felt sorry for him. Plus Jack tends to be a bit more charming. I'm leaning now towards being a Victor gal. Frankly, he's nearly always right. He clawed his way Ruthlessly (ha ha) to the top, whereas Jack was born into money. Plus Jack's business sense is a bit lacking. He's lost Jabot, what at least twice?

My favorite, is when Victor yells at people (usually his family) or gets all really quiet and mean. "Now, you listen to me!". Though it was funny after Victor had his epileptic seizures and was a "nice guy".

But the all time classic, was the Zellers commercials he did years ago.

Family Assistant

I've been asked numerous times what it is like to have a live-in maid & nanny, or as I like to call her now, the Family Assistant. In a word - awesome.

Bascilia (or Basil) works 6 days a week, getting Sundays and public holidays off. She starts around 7am, washes the main floor, unloads the dishwasher, and gets the main floor clean. After breakfast, she cleans Joe's office, and cleans the second floor, including doing all laundry. Everyday our washroom is cleaned - it is so great. I actually now notice when it isn't cleaned on Sundays, and this from the gal who cleaned her washroom once every 2 weeks (if lucky).

She's very unobtrusive, but she is there when you need her. She lives with us, but it's a separate apartment with its own entrance and actually is not in our living space.

Starting Monday, she'll be taking care of Martin. She is very good with him, and will look after him while I eat or if I'm busy. I've been leaving him with her, so that he can get used to the bottle, and it seems to be going well (not like he can complain anyway).

She also does the little things for us, unasked. Last Saturday night, we went out for Joe's birthday. Basil babysat for us, when we came back, she had baked Joe a birthday cake. Last night she babysat for us also (just so we don't sound like slacker parents, we didn't go out until the kids where in bed), and put up some Christmas decorations. Yes, it's a bit early even for me, but it is the thought that counts. And no, the tree isn't up.

And I won't tell you how much I'm paying her, but let's just say its very affordable.

Last day of maternity leave

All good things must come to an end, unfortunately. The past 12 weeks have been some of the best weeks of my life. It has been a joy getting to know Martin, to reconnect with Joe and to be involved in Oliver's daily routine.

When I was originally thinking of my mat leave, I had some goals. Let's see how I did:

Goals accomplished

• Nursed Martin exclusively - luckily he's a good nurser
• Bond with Martin - the nursing obviously helps
  
• Completed birth samplers and got them framed
• Completed knit balls as gifts (still haven't done Martin's!) and knit pumpkin
• See what it is like to be a lady of leisure. By the way, it's great!
• Meet up with new friends. Did lunch almost every week with a friend after the first month. That was a lot of fun. Now I'll do lunch with their husbands!
• Blog regularly
• Buy furniture
  

Goals partially accomplished

• Shower daily - turns out I showered about every 2-3 days
• Cross-stitch of snow family is about 45% done. But I didn't really expect to finish it during mat leave anyway.
• Declutter - I did declutter a couple of times, but I still have a mess under the stairs, but it's better than before.
• Read my insurance textbook - I wanted to finish, but I didn't.
• Buy new work clothes. I bought one new shirt. But mind you, I can't do this one, as everything in the stores is winter clothes! Aaarrrgggg!!
• Get pictures framed and hung. We've hung pictures in Oliver's room only, and just took in the Bahamas pictures for framing today. Once they are back, all pictures are going up.
  

"What were you thinking" goals

• Get Martin sleeping through the night - ha ha ha ha!
• Finish Martin's knit blanket. I don't even want to work on it anymore, what's he going to do with it? Even lying on it on the floor doesn't seem like an option. I'm contemplating finishing it and giving it to someone special as a baby gift. But then I feel bad, as it is supposed to be for Martin.
• Read the country specific reports. I really wanted to, but never "wanted" to. So it never got done.
  

Deepawali

Today is a public holiday in Singapore. They like to celebrate holidays from all the major faiths. It has already rained so we should be able to get out later.

From Wikipedia:

Diwali, or Deepawali, is a major Indian festival, significant in Hinduism and Jainism. Celebrated by Hindus and Jains across the globe, as the "Festival of Lights," where the lights or lamps signify the uplighting of darkness and victory of good over the evil within.

The day also commemorated the homecoming of King Rama of Ayodhya, after a 14-year exile in the forest, and thus the people of Ayodhya (the capital of his kingdom) welcomed him back by lighting up rows of lamps (deepa-wali), thus its name, Deepawali, or simply shortened as Diwali.

The celebrations focus on lights and lamps, particularly traditional dipa or deeya (earthen lamp), and fireworks. Though colloquially called Diwali in North India, in South India it is called Deepavali.

Diwali is celebrated for five consecutive days at the end of Hindu month of Ashwayuja (amanta). It usually occurs in October/November, and is one of the most popular and eagerly awaited festivals in India. Diwali comes exactly twenty days after Dussehra. Hindus, Jains and Sikhs alike regard it as a celebration of life and use the occasion to strengthen family and social relationships. For Hindus it is one of the most important festivals, and beginning of the year in some Hindu calendars, especially in North India.

There are several beliefs regarding the origin of the holiday. The most repeated version is that Hindus celebrate Diwali to mark the time when Lord Rama achieved victory over Ravana. Some also view it as the day Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura or in honor of the day Bali went to rule the nether-world, obeying the order of Vishnu. In Jainism it marks the nirvana of Lord Mahavira, which occurred on Oct. 15, 527 B.C. It is also a significant festival for the Sikh faith. In India, Diwali is now considered to be more of a national festival, and the aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed by most Indians regardless of faith.

Martin Update

Martin had his checkup last Friday. He was about 2 and a half months old at the time. He's doing wonderful (of course), he was 6.24 kg (13.76 pounds) and 61 cm (24 inches). He's got excellent neck control and is quite bright eyed when awake. He got his shots and developed a low fever, but wasn't too fussy about it.

This will probably jinx it, but I'm just stating facts, the past 2 nights he slept from 7:30 to 2:30 then to 6:30. But he wasn't asleep until 8:30 tonight, so we will see.

For those keeping score, at Oliver's 2 month checkup he was 11 pounds 15 ounces and 23 inches long, but he was about 2 weeks younger than Martin.

I go back to work on Monday.

Book Review: The Tipping Point

I just finished reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Surprizingly enough, it is a page turner type of book.

It talks about what causes fads, epidemics, ideas to tip. By tipping he means to be mainstream. He talks about the people involved, Connectors, those with large social networks, Mavens, those interested in the minutia details and pricing and Salespeople, the ones that are convincing.

He uses several diverse examples from Hush Puppies coming back into style in the 1990's, to the AIDS epidemic, to teenage smoking.

I highly recommend it. I think Dad would like it a lot, as well as Brent, Lana and Joe. I read it as an e-book, from www.ereader.com. Always a good place to buy gift certificates for me. ;-)

Bah!!! Hate my highlights

I went for a haircut, highlights and a pedicure today before starting work. I wanted to get my roots touched up. The haircut and pedicure is fine, but the highlights are terrible.

My hair is now brown and the "blonde" highlights look like silver. I expressed my displeasure at the salon and he said if I don't like it, he'll redo it for free. I'll wash and style my hair tomorrow, but I think I'll be making an appointment.

When we were picking out the colours, he kept pointing to this one for the "base" and I said that it was a bit dark, I wanted blonder, but he said that we needed it for the contrast. He's the professional so I agreed. When I saw my hair after they were done, while it was still wet, I could tell they were too dark. He said they would get lighter with washing - but then what kind of highlights do that except really cheap ones?

It makes me look old. I really really hate them.

Monday Craft Update

Cross-stitch
Did several hours on the snow family. Progressing fine.

Knitting
Completed knitting a ball.

Photography
Loaded up pictures.

Happy Birthday Joe!!!

Today is Joe's 39th birthday. Well, the first time's he's turning 39 anyway.

I'm a bad wife and he didn't really get any gifts. We bought the zoom lens about a month ago, so that's his gift. And Oliver coloured a picture for him, but other than that nada.

We went out for a nice dinner last night with Gary & Linda and Jose & Chantal to Lawry's Prime Rib house. The prime rib was very nice, and the food was good. The atmosphere is a little 1950's, and the waitresses wear this weird hat. But the company was excellent and that's what is most important.

Joe is one of the nicest people that I know. He's an excellent husband, he really did all the heavy lifting with all the changes that we went through this year. He pushes me out of my comfort zone, in a good way, I'm sure I would have never moved to The Bahamas or Singapore if it weren't for his support. He's an awesome father, the boys love him so much, and I'm so happy that he's at home with them. He takes such good care of them and me. Oh, and did I mention, he's a pretty good cook also!

Happy Birthday Joe!

Score!!

We had a trip to the mall today that would make Todd envious. While at Vivo City, there was a promotion for Singapore Golf Digest, we wondered over. Turns out to be a pretty good deal, so Joe signed up for a subscription, because, he signed up, he got a welcome gift, consisting of Nivea face moisturizer, and some golf balls. He also got three free Tiger beers. Then because we have our Visa cards with a certain bank, he got another two free Tiger beers. So I showed my Visa card, and I got two free beers. That's seven free Tiger beers (they are in the can).

Then we got four chances at a putting contest. I did it, and sank the ball twice, and one Joe two bottles of Nivea moisturizer.

We then went to Thai Express for lunch. As we bought the discount card, you get a $15 voucher to use within a 10 day period of your birthday, so we got $15 off of lunch. As we were leaving, they came running out with a bottle of wine.

So for those keeping count:

• For the price of a magazine subscription we got:
• a magazine subscription
• 7 cans of Tiger beer
• 3 bottles of Nivea moisturizer
• a little golf package with a towel, a sleeve of balls and a golf tool (fixes divots, etc)
• For $20 Thai Express discount card we got:
• 10% off every meal for the year
• $15 off today for Joe's birthday
• a bottle of wine

So Todd, are you jealous about the amount of alcohol we got?

Busy on the computer today

I've posted new pictures on www.joeandjill.ca, Joe needs to download them, but by the time you read this, they should be there. There are two new albums, October 2007 and Crafts.

I also created a new blog called the Compass Chronicle, which it's name is a mistake on my part, as apparently I have a hard time typing Chronicle. It won't be updated regularly, but you can go see pictures of our Halloween party. I've also posted the link in the "Blogs I read" in the sidebar.

And I fixed the pictures in the post below. And Lana, it's not a Kentucky Derby hat, it's a witch hat. Though, the rim was all wonky, and reminded me of a cowboy hat. Imagine how it's going to look next year after sitting in a closet for a year!