Little Artist

Ben got a dry-erase board and chalk board from Ikea yesterday so he's been letting the artistic juices flow. He's enjoying creating his own works but hasn't realized yet that the wood is not part of the canvas! I still think he's going to be a lefty because he nearly always uses his left hand to eat and hold markers or crayons. Hopefully he'll be flexible enough to learn to eat with his right hand for the sake of those around him.


Since he's picking up new things every day, I decided to teach Ben some helpful habits! Actually, I had to buy a different trash can with a lid for the study since he's always considered this one a toy or depository for books, keys, computer parts, and pretty much anything useful or valuable.


Ben has been talking up a storm lately. I need to get a video of all his new words like "Ben", "night-night", "car", "uh-oh", or pretty much anything interesting I say. He's really trying to repeat every word that catches his attention.

Family Trip to the Zoo

We had a GREAT day at the zoo on Saturday! It was our first time to go as a family and we all enjoyed our trip.


Ben was excited to see the white tigers and was pointing them out to Daddy. To him, every animal is still a "dog". We'll get that straightened out one day!




We just missed feeding time for the kangaroos but Ben still got to pet a friendly wallaby.




A keeper fished enough food out of the sand for Ben to give a handful to the wallaby, and as soon as it was gone Ben tried to keep feeding sand to the wallaby. Nice try!

Ben got his first ride on an Asian elephant with Daddy. I think he enjoyed the big "dog".


One of the highlights of the Singapore Zoo is the free-ranging orangutans. There are 40 in the park that are free to swing around in the treetops and they're a lot of fun to watch.


Ben was a busy little guy checking everything out!


His favorite part was definitely the children's area because it had a big pool with fountains.


The cold water was a little shock but it didn't take him long to run in.


wait...that's not Daddy!


THAT's Daddy.


Once Ben was finally done we managed to coax him out of the water.


I think we wore the little guy out! He very rarely falls asleep anywhere except in bed.


Back home he was ready to kick back and relax with his favorite puppy and blanket.

Lovin the Blankie

Ben has been a huge fan of his blanket lately. We don't have to take it with us out of the house or anything, but it really makes him happy when he's puttering around the house.


Here he is with the "special" shoes that I'm supposed to wear at his request several times a day. Once he tried a different pair on me but decided they weren't as good.


A 17-week belly update. After a net weight gain of 0 for the first 16 weeks, suddenly I gained 5 lbs in a week!

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.