Singapore Life

A few interesting notes about Singapore...

It's been quite fun living in a small city/state that's only about 228 square miles with a population approaching 4 million. In comparison, Houston has about 2 million people in its 600 square miles. Needless to say, people are packed in here pretty tightly! Singapore is the second most densely populated country in the world behind Monaco. Since it's an island real estate is very limited so when condos get old (10-15 years by the local standards) they are usually torn down and rebuilt. We're watching this firsthand at the moment as 4 buildings next to us have just been sold and are being demolished to make way for a big new development.

We're only about 85 miles north of the equator so seasons, temperatures, and daylight hours change very little throughout the year.

When the Singapore Air Force planes are flying, we tend to see them over and over because they have to make big circles around the island so they don't cross international borders into Malaysia or Indonesia.

There are 4 national languages here: Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English. Unofficially, the national language is Singlish and it's something of a mix of them all and can be very difficult for a slow-speaking Texan to understand!

Overall, it's been a wonderful place to live for the past 9 months because it's very clean, extremely safe, and so cosmopolitan that we don't always feel like we're in Asia.

Siloso Beach

We enjoyed another day at the beach last weekend. We found a different beach club on Siloso beach that was a lot of fun and great for kids because they have a pool and big beds where everyone can stretch out and enjoy the sunshine. The weather here has been absolutely beautiful for several weeks. The rain has stopped but we're still getting a nice breeze from a cooler direction (west? who knows, they don't do weather reports here since it doesn't tend to change day to day) which makes it really pleasant to be outside in the shade. I'd compare it to an average May in Houston where you can be outside and not sweat through your shirt in 5 minutes.


Ben got to order a mango juice at the swim-up bar.


Ben is becoming very interested in our shoes. Thank goodness he's only wearing Daddy's so far! He is crazy about a pair of flats I have in the closet but he only brings them to me to wear. We leave most of our shoes at the door outside and Ben is learning how to take his own off and put them on the rack before he comes inside.


Silly boy eating his raisins.


I bought a little snack trap for Ben to carry around and feed himself without making a mess all over the house. So what does he do? Pull out raisins by the handful and eat them off the floor!

Pink??

I had my 16-week ultrasound yesterday for Baby #2 and we got some exciting news - the doctor is pretty sure we're having a girl! The umbilical cord was positioned in a way that it could be hiding some boy parts so the doctor wouldn't promise me it was a girl, but all signs are pointing in that direction. I compared my ultrasound picture to some online that were definitely girls and they looked identical so we're starting to think pink :) We couldn't be more excited! Of course if we find out later it really is a boy we'll still be thrilled (and I'm sure Ben would vote for a brother over a sister any day) because what we want more than anything is a healthy full-term baby. My next ultrasound is in 3 weeks so we'll hopefully get a confirmation then.

The Playground

Ben is loving the playground these days. Especially because he can tell me he's not ready to stop playing. Here he's saying "more" on the see saw so I won't stop.


His favorite thing is the tall slide because he's finally big enough to do it all himself. He'll climb the stairs...


...cross the bridge, climb up a little higher, and wave down to Mom...


....then head down the slide....


....and jump out do to it all over again!

I love it because I know he'll sleep well tonight after he totally wears himself out! It will be even more fun for me once he can safely do it all alone and I can stop doing the protective mother hover behind him and sit down and watch.

Ben also thinks a small step on the side of the playground is loads of fun. I haven't figured that one out yet but if it makes him happy, I'm happy.


There's a small slide in another courtyard that is entertaining sometimes, but not quite as much fun after all the excitement of the big one. I'm really glad we opted for a low-rise condo that is spread out instead of a high-rise on a small plot, because Ben has plenty of outdoor space to explore.


Ben had a great time on this toy car at a playground yesterday afternoon. He's finally getting the hang of how to speed around so it's one place I do get to sit and talk while he has a great time...fun for both of us!


I love to watch Ben try to negotiate large objects into his chair with him. The big wagon was a no-go today but he was having a good time with the ball.

Dancing to Timbaland

Ben learned "where did it go?" today and he had a lot of fun hiding toys and waiting for me to ask where it went. It's the first time he's played a game with me instead of the other way around so we laughed a lot together playing today.


We are so fortunate to have a live-in maid right now because it frees up so much of my time to completely devote to Ben, not to mention the fact that I am able to get help lifting him and a lot of rest during the day which is so important for the next baby. That was a big factor in our decision to have a baby over here because it wouldn't be possible for me to do everything and still spend several hours off my feet every day if we were back in the States. The Lord has really worked all the timing in our favor for trying to add to our family this year and we are very grateful.

Here are Ben's latest dance moves. He is very particular about what type of music he'll dance to (Timbaland is still his favorite, although some days he likes a little Justin Timberlake as well) and he has to be right in the middle of all the speakers. I love to turn the music up just before bathtime and burn up any energy he has left!

Children's Garden

Ben got some oranges from a friend in class on Wednesday and decided to try them out when he got home. Pairs of oranges are supposed to be good luck for the lunar new year.


Thursday and Friday were holidays here so we took advantages of Matt's time off and went to the children's garden at the botanic garden. Ben loved the big slide out of the treehouse and made Daddy take him several times.


He had a great time playing in the water area and pumping water.


The fountains are always a lot of fun. They stop every 5 minutes for about 30 seconds and each time Ben would look over at us and sign "more" because he wanted to keep playing.


After we dragged Ben out of the water we dried him off and sat down for ice cream...those little hands kept signing "more" nonstop! His poor eyes were bloodshot from putting his face in the fountains.


Ben's fine motor skills continue to impress me. This kid that sometimes trips over a grain of sand can feed toothpicks back into a small hole....go figure...


Here's a belly update at 15 weeks. The baby's growing! We've been getting lots of ultrasounds and I just love seeing the little one develop in there.

Layin Low

Ben and I haven't exactly been adventurous lately but we have managed to get outside a little bit. We've really enjoyed our neighbor's orchids. A lot of the doors in our complex are decorated right now for Chinese New Year because it's said to be good luck for the next year. We never quite got around to buying the traditional mandarin orange trees so hopefully we won't have bad luck in the year of the rat :)


Ben had a lot of fun stacking rocks one by one in the hole of this log...it was probably the most exciting thing he got to do all day. Like I said, we haven't gotten out much! I'm spending as much time as I can laying down just to be safe.


Ben wore these goggles for a couple of hours this morning but obviously didn't want his picture taken in them! I still thought it was cute.


He's not exactly saying the right numbers, but Ben is "counting" the animals in his book.