Our weekend

Small update on the sleep training - last night, like I said, down in less than 10 minutes, woke around 10:00, fell asleep again before the 10 minute mark. Woke at around 11:30, cried for more than 10 minutes, Joe went it. Said he needed a diaper change, so I went to help and then Joe disappeared!! I nursed Martin quickly (as that nurse always seemed like a true feed). Put him down awake, he cried for less than 15 minutes. Slept until 7:00am.

Was able to do the sleep training for morning nap, with going in twice. The biggest thing that worked was getting Oliver out of the house. Tonight he was asleep before the 15 minute mark.

So besides sleep training this weekend, we did other things.

On Saturday we took Oliver to a trial taekwondo (which Firefox spell check puts in Wonderbra!) lesson. He did the first 15 minutes or so, then had a melt down and sat on my lap rest of the lesson. He says he doesn't like it. We'll see if he goes back soon. The place was really good and it looked fun. They said we could have another free trial lesson if we wanted.

Saturday afternoon we went swimming and in the evening watched Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles last 2 episodes.

Sunday, Joe let me sleep in until almost 9:00 am!! After waking at 7:00 for a nurse. We went to the Changi Sailing Club after lunch, and Joe went sailing on a dingy and I took Oliver and Martin to the beach and pool. Our friends Mark and Mel were there as well. The boys and I spent almost 2 hours in the pool, so we are quite waterlogged.

We had Sheppard's Pie outside for dinner, and Joe is now reading Oliver stories. I think I'll stitch and see what's on TV.

In Vancouver now

We left Montreal today. We had a nice visit with the family, and the highlight was the Exporail, or the train museum (I'll do a separate blog post on it). Trip is going well, but looking forward to going home.

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day to all the papas out there! Hope you have a good one.

I let Joe sleep in today and we had raspberry pancakes. Oliver made Joe a nice picture with Kate's help. He's going later to Henry's (the camera store), I'm sure he'll pick himself up something there.

Yarn Shopping

We came to Ontario yesterday. The flight was easy, Martin slept the entire time and I watched TV on the plane. Then we had lunch at Swiss Chalet (quarterchickenwhitewithfries - yes it is one word). We drove down to Waterloo, to see Paulina, Todd and Kate. Julia is at camp unfortunately, but will be here tomorrow.

Paulina and I went yarn shopping today. She drove us (Martin and I) down to Mary Maxim in Paris and we spent a good hour there (at least, time flies when you are having fun). I bought a cross-stitch stocking pattern, it will be for Joe, if he likes it. I bought a pink sweater kit with horses on it, it might be for a niece in Winnipeg, it's a size 6 so I have some time, but it's with intarsia (which I haven't done before), so I'm going to start it here so Paulina can help me. And I bought a knit t-shirt book for me, and some bamboo yarn. Bamboo yarn is supposed to be cool and anti-bacterial (I don't know what they mean either).

We had lunch in Paris, and Martin was his usual charming self.

All in all a very successful trip.

Happy Birthday Paulina!!!

Today is Paulina's birthday, and it was her birthday last year, that spurred on all this blog activity. I always teased Joe that he married his sister, as we actually have a lot of interests in common with the crafting. Paulina taught me how to crochet, and re-taught me how to knit (I had learned years ago, but never did anything with it). We can talk for hours about crafts.

She's also into scrapbooking (as you can tell from her blog), but its the one craft I refuse to do.

I'm very lucky that my sister-in-law, is someone who I would choose to be friends with voluntarily.

Happy Birthday Paulina!!!

Can't wait to see you and chat. And Martin is very excited to meet you.

Double Date Night

Mom and Dad (well Mom volunteered, Dad acquiesced) to babysit the boys so we could go out and actually visit.

So on Thursday we went to The Keg with Lana and Brent. I love The Keg. It's just my style. Joe and Brent talked a lot of business, so Lana and I chatted until we called them on it. It was a really nice time, and I hope we can do it again next time.

Last night, we went out for dinner with Lianne and Jeff. Lianne lived down the street when we were growing up, and I've been friends with her since grade 4. Since I'm not going to reveal her age (and thus reveal mine - though I think it's on the blog), let's just say we have known each other for a couple of years. That too was a very enjoyable time, though again, I spoke mostly with Lianne. I guess we don't know how to converse in foursome anymore, just twosome.

Oliver was very very good for Mom and Dad. Martin, well, let's just say that he enjoyed staying up with Grandma and Grandpa and being held the entire time.

What we have been up to...

Friday
We took it pretty easy. Joe had to run some errands and then we did some shopping to buy some fleecys and sweatshirts for ourself - as it's cooler here than we anticipated. Thank goodness Mom and Dad live near a Roots outlet. Lana and Marysa came over for dinner, and Marysa really liked Martin.

Saturday
We celebrated Marysa's 2nd birthday with a party at her new house. It is really nice and Lana and Brent seem very happy there. Marysa's other cousins came over, and Matthew (her other cousin), is Oliver's age, and the two of them got along like gang busters. Poor Marysa tried to keep up, but they have a year on her and well, are boys. And have boy energy. Lana's house backs onto a lake, and the neighbour lent them his paddleboats so some of the guests went out of them, including Oliver and Joe. Oliver was a bit worried about sharks, but there weren't any.

Sunday
We drove to Saskatchewan to see Grandpa. We had the added bonus of seeing my Aunt Gail and my cousin Shanna and her children. We had order in Chinese food, which isn't as good as Singapore, but definitely hit the spot. Martin isn't the biggest fan of sitting in the car seat for that long, but he was a pretty good sport. Oliver was fine. Lana and Marysa also came.

Monday
We visited with Grandpa in the morning, and then began the long drive home.

Tuesday
In the morning, we (Jill, Mom, Oliver and Martin) went with Lana and Marysa to the zoo. Joe stayed home and worked. We rented a stroller that looked like a jeep and Oliver and Marysa road in that. Definitely the highlight for Oliver. He was a typical 3 year old and kept saying "Let's go!" anytime we stopped to look at the animals. We had ham and perogies for dinner. Yummy.

Wednesday
I got my haircut this morning and we did a playdate with Marysa in the afternoon (Lana has taken the week off). Oliver, Joe and Dad have gone out to watch Lana's riding lesson, hence I don't have the camera to give you any pictures of our events. We had roast beef for dinner.

Oliver has been super charming the entire visit. Singing songs. Getting along well with everyone. He even sat on Grandma's lap last night and ate strawberries!! Martin is his usual cute self, and is ever so curious. He isn't walking yet, but he's still getting into everything!!

Happy Birthday Marysa!!!

Sweet Marysa turned two on Tuesday. Yes, I missed her birthday blog, but it was kind of on purpose, as I knew I'd be seeing her on Friday & Saturday and therefore could update her pictures.

Uncle Joe actually got to see her first on Friday, as he was right next to her daycare. Well, she took to him right away, with big hugs and smiles. After work, Lana and Marysa came over for dinner. Well, to say that Oliver is a bit overwhelming, is like saying that my hair colour is a little bit fake. An understatement in the least. And she didn't warm up to me that much either. However, Martin she liked him right away (and what's not to like about a cute baby?).

But I eventually convinced Marysa to give me a hug. And that was great.

Marysa is a sweet, soft-spoken girl. At her party, she wanted to keep up with her cousins Oliver and Matthew (her other 3 year old cousin) and join in the fun. She has lots of sly little smiles, that then burst out into a great big smile for everyone (but Aunt Jill). She has her grandparents, wrapped around her little finger, which is exactly where they should be. She seems like a girly-girl, who loves shoes and purses. And, like her Aunt Jill, is a total bookworm.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARYSA!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there.

Mom, I can only hope to be half as good as mother as you were to Lana and I.

Paulina, you (and Todd) are examples of how to parent to us, and show us what is coming up ahead, and how to handle it.

Lana, your love and strength that you have for Marysa is amazing.

Happy Mother's Day to all!!!

For mine, it's been a pretty busy day. I got a flower from Oliver and a card made at school, Martin gave me a nice card with a picture of himself in it, and Basil bought me some roses and wrote a very nice note. We had a birthday party this morning, went to the Botanical Gardens this afternoon, watching Cars now, and going to go swimming and have Chicken Rice later on tonight.

Consider it practice for when we are old

is what I said to Joe today, as he was playing mad chemist, or the dispenser of meds. We are still all sick, so finally went to the doctor.

Oliver has 7 different meds, but 3 go into the nebulizer. Joe made a colour coded spreadsheet to manage it all.

Joe has 5 meds and his own spreadsheet.

I was prescribed 3, but I'm not taking any of them, as when I researched them, they didn't seem to be safe with nursing.

Basil now also has a cold.

Martin is still holding strong, but his nose is starting to look runny.

Oh, and the TV computer decided to get in on the act, and the hard drive crashed. Luckily, we have another computer we can hook up.

House of Sick

Patient Zero - aka Jill
Sore throat started on Sunday. Full blown cold by Thursday. Started going horse on Thursday lunchtime. Full out loss of voice by Friday. A little tired but okay energy wise.

Patient One - aka Joe
Coughing, sniffling, all around miserable. Pretty low on energy.

Patient Two - aka Oliver
Fever, some coughing and sniffling.

Should be a fun weekend. Not.

Happy (belated) Birthday Brent!!!

I left a long painful voicemail yesterday, but it's really no excuse, but better late than never....

Happy Birthday Brent!!!!

Brent is a very fun and funny guy. A great addition to our family. Besides having the ability to bug Lana (a trait we all approve of), he knows all the characters on Young & The Restless.

But while Brent is a enjoyable and sometimes silly person to be around, he has a quiet strength, and will fight for what needs fighting for. He's a successful businessman, a dedicated family man, and a great uncle. Okay, now it just sounds like a country song. Oh, and he likes country music also!

Apparently though, he isn't photogenic, as I don't have a recent picture of him. I'll fix that next trip.

Hope you had a great day and have a great year. You deserve it!!!

Guests

Like all good things, it must come to an end. Our house guests are gone. I believe they are on their cruise, but who really knows?

It was great seeing Antonio and Big Aunt, and meeting Joe's cousin. Of course, the highlight was seeing Joe's parents.

Today was an adventure for Joe trying to pick up his parents from the cruise ship, as first he went to the Cruise Terminal (seems logical - no?), and then they sent him to the ferry terminal at the airport (huh?) which had restricted access, so they sent him back to the Cruise Terminal. Turns out all passengers were shuttled to a duty free stop right around the corner from where we live (d'oh!).

Since pretty much the whole morning was wasted, we just went out for lunch at the food court (which is very Singaporean culture - we aren't just a bunch of cheap skates) and Joe took them back to the duty free shop for shuttling back to the ship. I hope they are all on board. No one has called, so I'm assuming they are and not sleeping at the airport trying to get a flight home.

We had pizza for dinner and everyone is sleeping in their own beds. Oliver is very happy about that.

Visitors & Visas

Well, it has been an interesting day to say the least. We received an email early this morning from Joe's cousin, Antonio. He and Big Aunt were on their way to join up with Joe's parents and Cousin in Bangkok. Turns out if you are traveling under a Mexican passport (like Big Aunt and Cousin) you need a visa. The travel agency did not get one for them.

So, after much fussing around today, Cousin is staying here until to Friday, when the cruise ship arrives, and Big Aunt and Antonio are arriving on Monday night to stay until the cruise comes. Good thing we live in Singapore!

We had a very nice visit with Joe's parents. On Thursday, they slept in because of jet lag and we went out for dim sum. That night Joe's mom and cousin cooked us a nice meal.

On Friday, we pulled Oliver out of school, and went to the zoo. We saw the elephant show, Joe played with his new zoom lens, and generally had a good time. That night Joe's mom and cousin cooked us some yummy black bean chicken. There was also fish, I couldn't tell you if it was yummy or not.

Today, as it was rainy we stayed home and had the fussing about the flights. Oliver did go swimming and Joe's dad went also, and was impressed with his abilities.

I don't have a good picture of Oliver with Joe's parents, but this is from the zoo splash pad, taking with the zoom lens. Isn't this a beautiful picture?

The in-laws

Joe's parents and cousin arrived safely in Singapore last night. They said the flight was good. They slept in today and we did dim sum for lunch. Tonight they are making us dinner.

It's an interesting relationship I have with them, as Joe's mother doesn't really speak English. Joe's parents are super nice, and always very complimentary to me. Just last night, Joe's father was saying that as I'm an actuary, I must be smarter than Joe. Who am I to argue with my father-in-law?