Beautiful Ben

Before I had kids, I had no idea how much a mother can love her children, or how a mom can share her love with her husband and still have an endless supply for her kid(s). So when we added a fourth member to our family I couldn't imagine how I could ever love another baby as much as our precious Ben and now I can't imagine how we lived without beautiful little Alex. There is no question that my love for each of them is infinite. They are both our source of pride and joy. But there are occasions that my love for Ben goes so deep that I can't breathe and it's because I can still picture him smaller than Matt's hand and clinging to life with the tenacity he's had since the minute he was born. He's the miracle we almost lost and when I see reminders of how perfect he is today it makes me so thankful that we can appreciate more than most what an amazing gift we've received.

So why the deep thoughts today? I got a beautiful gift of unexpected pictures from the Dulaneys again, and these were even more fun because they took Ben swimming while Matt and I were gone so these pictures were a total surprise. Oh, how I love this little boy...





And this little (well, big) face just melts my heart. Alex is my little teddy bear and he is all over the place these days. He's very confident but, unlike Ben, he sticks really close to me when we explore outside the house. Ben would always take off and never look back but Alex hovers pretty close to me in different situations. He loves people and is very happy to be handed to new faces as long as I'm nearby, but set him in view of a pretty lady and he'll be waving for her attention in no time. Already such a flirt!

I took Alex to Fidget's today while Ben was in school. Ben would have been heartbroken to know he didn't get to go to his favorite playground but there's no way I could keep up with both of them in the huge space. Alex definitely enjoyed having all of my attention and a big padded place to roam.

No, Alex, you can't eat EVERYTHING! His favorite thing at the moment besides anything edible is any kind of ball so he was in heaven in the ball pit.

Even more fun that throwing them was tossing them over the side. He gets a lot of entertainment each day dropping things from the crib, the high chair, the stroller...you get the picture....

Once he had enough balls outside, he had to get out and throw them back in. Never a dull moment!

The big news in the Singapore expat community this week is the grand opening of the new Chili's! My favorite mall just got a little bit better. I've always liked Chili's although it wasn't a place we frequented in Texas, but here it's a little piece of home. Everything was just like I remembered, even having to take a pager and wait for a table which is completely unheard of here...the hostess apologized several times for asking us to wait. Most places expect you to make reservations for dinner and sometimes for lunch but in true American fashion, Chili's doesn't take them. I met my friend Christina and had to email poor Matt some pictures of what he missed while he was busy working!

Ahhhh, bliss.....thin crispy chips and a skillet of queso...

And a little piece of heaven to top it off....
Somewhere in the middle we had quesadillas as well but I too busy gorging myself to take a picture. Everything tasted just like home :)

Playin' Around

The boys are into everything these days. It's fun to watch them play together occasionally (but usually not long enough for me to grab the camera) like when they were both interested in this toy. Alex was putting balls in the top as fast as he could and Ben was letting them out the bottom just as quickly. I was really surprised there was no wrestling match over it because they were having a great time doing it together. Maybe there will be more of this in our future :)

And what could be more fun that riding the see saw with Daddy??

Or blowing bubbles at the park? I just love how Alex likes to explore everything with one finger.

He loves bubbles but can't ever seem to catch the ones he wants.

Ben and Daddy had a lot of fun blowing them down for little brother.

And the little monkey went climbing around everywhere. The playground is great for Ben's age but it's going to be a while before Alex can enjoy anything besides crawling around and getting dirty. Luckily, those are two of his favorite activities at the moment so he doesn't feel left out.

Our Entertainment

How did we ever live before these two little faces kept us laughing all day? I'm not happy to wake up at 6am most days (although I'm getting used to it and can deal with it much easier than anything that starts with 5) but it's hard to stay grumpy around this little face. Alex rustles around in bed until he finds his paci and blankie, then he's happy to play for a while. Or stand up and throw them out of the crib and start screaming. I haven't decided what to do about that little game, especially if it starts before naptime because I'm not going to keep going in to find his paci. Any other moms have suggestions? Ben didn't have any sleep necessities until he was a lot older so this is all new to me.

We go to United Square mall about every day now since it's a quick walk and has almost everything we need. They have a bunch of little cars and trains for the kids to ride but lately Ben keeps putting his dollar in this fun machine to get Mentos. He doesn't even eat the mentos, just likes to watch them come out. Good for him, bad for me because I can't resist them!

Alex and Ben rode Thomas together although I'm not sure how much Alex liked it. He held onto Ben the entire time but Ben was too busy driving to notice.

Alex can explore the entire house up to about 3 feet now. It's great fun for him but means lots of bumps and plenty of "no!"s because it's a lot harder to childproof with older toys around and a baby that thinks he can do everything his big brother does.

Our afternoons are usually spent with the hose one way or another. I guess it's making up for not having a pool. They don't seem to mind!

Ben loves to run in the sprinkler! I never see other kids doing this here but we spent our summers in the sprinkler growing up...is that just a Texas thing?

Alex tends to back off a bit once he gets soaked...Ben's a little too crazy for him sometimes.

Sweet boys in the bathtub. They wrestle over every single toy but seem to be happier in the bath together.

Here are Alex's adorable new tricks. He's using both to get attention and it's working!
The Blink

and The Dance

Weekend in Borneo

Matt and I got a rare treat over the weekend - a getaway without the kids! We love our maid Lea and she is terrific with the kids, often anticipating their needs exactly when I'm thinking of something, so we trusted that she would have no problems keeping them for two nights. Plus, I left about half a dozen phone numbers for her and alerted all my friends and neighbors that she'd be flying solo for the weekend. So while she and the boys camped out here, Mama and Daddy hopped a two-hour flight to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It's a gorgeous place!

We are normally budget hotel travelers since we're usually on the go nonstop during vacations and don't take advantage of the facilities, but this time we chose to splurge a bit and pick a resort with no reasons to leave. The Shangri-La Rasa Ria was the perfect place....tropical, beautiful, relaxing, and inviting. This is the main lobby where we sat on couches with iced tea and cold towels while they checked us in.

Live traditional music welcomes the guests all day by these talented guys on the big instruments. No idea what they're called but the music is calming and immediately makes you feel like you're on vacation.

Our home sweet home for two nights. I tipped them off that we were celebrating our anniversary (a little late, but who's counting?) so they left us a nice surprise. We were on the first floor so we could walk straight out the door, across a lawn, and right onto the beach.

We were also fortunate enough to be joined but the Denton family from Singapore! I never got a picture of all of us together, but we stole Blake away from Camille and their 2-year old son Pierce to go water skiing.

Matt had a great time on the wakeboard, skis, and slalom while I enjoyed the scenery from the boat.

Unfortunately we weren't able to do any watersports in the cove in front of the hotel because of jellyfish everywhere! The boat driver took the guys into the mouth of a river to ski since it was free of jellyfish but we saw hundreds of these guys in the water. Matt and I sailed several times in the little Hobie cats and it was fascinating to watch these float around (and good reason not to tip the thing over!).

We spent our first evening in one of these gazebos watching the sun go down over the water.

The happy vacationers! We usually miss this special time of day because it inevitably coincides with bedtime.

Going...

...going....

....gone!

A look back at the resort in the twilight. It was really well done with beautiful landscaping and a huge powdery beach in front.

We met up with Camille for dinner (Pierce was in bed and Blake was unfortunately sick) at the Japanese teppanyaki restaurant. Love how they give everyone aprons to protect against the wild cooking.

On Saturday we went straight to the 400-acre nature reserve. I was hoping to see some true Borneo wildlife and while we weren't able to just wander around or anything, we did the most exciting part - got up close and personal with some young orangutans in rehabilitation at the reserve. They stay in this reserve until they're older and more equipped to fend for themselves in the wild, then get transferred to a halfway house before release into the jungle.

On our way up the trail we saw some huge white butterflies.

At the orangutan feeding area, a ranger called out for them and spread some fruit out for them to dine on. There are six juvenile orangutans in the reserve and we got to see three of the little guys.

The first guy dug right in and enjoyed everything before the next two rushed him off.

One little guy was begging the ranger for a drink from a bottle!

This guy was scooping a specially mixed formula from a hole in the tree. I saw a can of enfamil in the orangutan kitchen so I guess they still get powdered milk. He would dip his hand in, watch it drip out a bit, then suck it off his fingers.

Yummm....what a sweet face!

After they had all had their fill, they played around in the vines for a while then slowly wandered back into the thick jungle. It was a real treat to watch them from just a few yards away!

Here's one guy having a ball swinging from vine to vine.

Afterward we spent the rest of this gorgeous afternoon on the beach and at the pool. The weather was perfect for us. The temperature and climate are exactly like Singapore at the moment but we got a delicious breeze off the ocean all day that made it completely enjoyable to be outside all day.

I spent several hours in this chair enjoying the warm sun, cool water, and a good book. On the left side of the pool you can see the water slides in the kiddy area. Ben would have loved it so we kept thinking of how much fun it would have been to have the kids with us, but it was so wonderful to not wear a watch or be concerned with naptimes or mealtimes. It's not often we get to wake up when we want, eat whenever we choose (and without interruptions!), and completely relax without worrying about anyone else.

Saturday night we enjoyed a terrific dinner at Coast, their flagship restaurant right on the beach.

After we had both gorged ourselves on our meals and declared we couldn't eat another bite, the staff surprised us with a dessert sampler. I thought it was the dessert demonstration tray but the ENTIRE thing was for us. Before I even thought of taking a picture, I had already inhaled half of the chocolate fondant cake and Matt had polished off the fruit tart. We also had (clockwise from the bottom left above the cake) creme brulee, espresso soup (sounds gross, but think melted espresso ice cream), vanilla panna cotta, several little cookies and cakes, ice cream and sorbet, watermelon something, and lemon tart. We shamelessly ate almost everything!

This morning we ran across this interesting fruit at breakfast. It's aptly named snake fruit and had a nice, crunchy texture but not a lot of taste. Still worth the picture though.

After breakfast we packed up and headed to the airport to come home to our babies! It was a great day to leave because it was pretty hazy so we didn't feel like we were missing a great day at the beach. In this picture you can just barely make out Mt. Kota Kinabalu, elevation around 13,400 feet.
Both kids were napping when we got in so we had to wait a while longer to see their beautiful faces, but there were 4 very happy people in this house all afternoon. We love our kids to pieces but a little time away as a couple was much needed and greatly appreciated. Hopefully we won't wait three more years before we get to do it again!

More Pictures

I just got more pictures from Mr. Scott, who took some excellent shots of Ben's party. Look at this happy little partygoer! He's such a good little guy, especially now that he can freely explore the entire house.

Ben was really excited about his new Mickey Mouse hat from the Dunlaps, straight from Hong Kong Disney. He had just finished his hot dog, in case you're wondering why he has ketchup all over his face.

Ben was in deep discussion with Miss Lou Anne...maybe because Elyse was sitting in his favorite place?

Ben was getting ready to blow out his candles. He's probably wondering why he doesn't hear Happy Birthday anymore after getting it 3 days in a row.

I had to give him a little help because this boy can't blow to save his life. He still makes a "fffff" sound which doesn't help in blowing out candles, blowing bubbles, or any kind of annoying instrumental toy. Maybe that's a blessing for me!

Thanks to the Dulaneys for taking and sharing such great pictures!

Two Year Anniversary

Exactly two years ago Saturday Ben and I arrived in Singapore to start our overseas adventure. Matt had been here for several weeks and I waited to make the trip until our shipment had made it across the Pacific and been unpacked, which turned out to be the best decision because it didn't feel so foreign to move when I got to spend the first night in my own bed. Nevermind that I had to take a cold first shower because I didn't know you had to turn on the hot water switch outside the bathroom, because I learned all those things with time.

Overall, I still think it has been a great move for us as a family. I can't think of any time in our lives that we could use domestic help more than with two little boys underfoot and I've been able to stay home and raise them myself. It is such a blessing to see all the firsts and experience the wonder of babies turning into little boys. We have all gotten to travel more than we ever expected (and still hope to do lots more) and expose both kids to new cultures and languages. Whether they retain anything or not, they should both be able to speak Mandarin much better as adults having heard it frequently as children while they can still distinguish intonations that older ears can't hear. We get to spend our weekends exploring, playing, or relaxing as a family because there is little yardwork or housework requiring our attention. We have made friends from all corners of the world, eaten (and become addicted) to food I'd never even heard of before, and learned the geography and history of the Southeast Asian region that seems largely ignored in the US.

Here are some of our favorite things about Singapore (in no particular order):

• great transportation - taxis 24 hours a day, buses, subways...it's easy to get around. Unless it's raining.
  
• ERP (electronic road pricing) in every single car. Many popular roads are toll roads at certain hours of the day but there are no toll booths, only tall gantries over the road that charge your card without slowing down traffic. The drawback is that you have to have a cashcard with funds inserted into the reader or you get a ticket, meaning you have to remember to take the card out and go to a 7-11 to add money before you park or drive through a gantry. Let's just say I've gotten a few tickets.
• Smart parking garages! The parking is also paid by the ERP so you never have to wait in line to get out or dig around for cash. Most garages also have signs indicating how many open spots are on each level and even red or green lights over each space so you can look down an aisle and see if anything is available.
• No weather forecast. It's like groundhog day...every day you look out the window and know it will be hot, sunny, and might rain. No guessing, no seasonal wardrobes, no bundling kids up to go outside.
• Grocery delivery. Free! Daily!
• Fresh seafood everywhere. Mostly shellfish, which I love.
• Full-service gas stations. Asians are NOT do it yourself people. In cases like this, it's really nice. Other times, not so much (read below)
• Beautiful, lush greenery everywhere. I've always compared Singapore to Manhattan mixed with Honolulu. Think big, densely populated city with huge trees and beautiful landscaping (minus the beaches and mountains, unfortunately).
• Fantastic restuarants. There are more than we could possibly visit here but we love to explore and find interesting new places. Very few are chains so they're all unique and many are outdoors. I am thrilled about a Chili's that is opening soon, though, so I still love my good ole American chains!
  
• Hawker stands. The Singapore version of fast food without the drive-thru. You can get a great meal for $3 US dollars. I had no idea how much I loved noodles and how many varieties exist.
• Full-time domestic help. It's very well regulated here so the maids have a nice life and a large community to gather with on their days off.
• Skype! Every expat lives for the webcam calls back home.
• The expatriate community. Singapore encourages workers from other countries to bring their expertise here so there is a huge community of expats from all over the world. It doesn't feel so far away from home when you can still celebrate your own holidays with fellow Americans.
  

But everything has its downside:

• Our families and friends are 10,000 miles away. That's not a weekend trip and it's very expensive. We have to compress all our time together into a few short weeks at the end of the year.
  
• There is a 13 or 14 hour time difference between Houston and Singapore.
• We only have one car so I've had to adjust to life with 2 kids and public transportation most of the time.
• Singaporeans are NOT do-it-yourselfers. There is no Home Depot or Lowe's here where you can find all kinds of hardware or yard equipment. You have to call a contractor or handyman who knows which tiny store carries what you need and then pay him to do it. That's the complete opposite of a Texan! And no one has pickup trucks so you have to call another handyman to move your big items.
• Singaporeans also don't like to fix things, just patch them up. Really irritating when I look at all the leaks in this house. Things are made of brick and concrete here so it's a little more complicated to look inside the walls compared to sheetrock.
  
• Mailboxes are one way. You have to go look for outgoing mail at a drop box somewhere other than where you receive your mail.
• There are no outlets in the bathrooms here and very few in the rest of the house. Do locals not like to plug things in?
• Drivers are terrible. Not angry and crazy like Houston drivers, but pretty ignorant and dangerous here. And taxis will stop on a dime on any street so drivers have to be much more alert.
• Groceries and alcohol are very expensive. It still hurts to pay 2 or 3 times what we'd pay back home for the same things, but we've found local alternatives to several of our favorites and we consider ourselves lucky that we can find our favorite orange juice and cereal most of the time.
• There is construction EVERYWHERE. It's noisy. It blocks roads. It's 24 hours a day. But thank goodness we no longer live on the edge of a high-rise condo under construction! I have enjoyed the quiet in this house every day.

Overall, we love Singapore and have had a great two years here. The time has really flown by, mostly thanks to our wonderful friends here who have shared in our lives and our children's lives. We have met some unforgettable people and thank goodness many of them will also be returning to the Houston area eventually so we'll get to stay in touch down the road. This marks our original halfway point in our overseas adventure and we look forward to what the next few years have in store for our little family!