Our silly little girl

Last night, Juliana was playing with her "hat" and wanted daddy to have one too!!

I adore this picture, because she is so excited! Jacob is about to pour all the balls out to play with and she can't wait!!

Daddy's little girl...just a bit too small for his shirt!! I took this picture just a few minutes ago of Juliana cuddled up on her daddy's lap. Having refused to take her nap this afternoon, she's pretty sleepy now...

SAFRA in Jurong is now open

The new SAFRA opened up in Jurong and this weekend was the Open House. We knew that it was going to be ridiculously crowded and busy, but we decided to check it out anyway since there were a lot of free entries, prizes, etc. I had previously signed Juliana up as a Kidz Amaze member to take advantage of the new three floor playground, which was really nice. This pictures only captures a small portion of the area. Here's Juliana very excited to be climbingThe outdoor pool is great, but it was starting to rain while we were there so we didn't get a chance to take advantage of it.

The monkeys (which are the mascots for SAFRA) came out as we were about to leave and Juliana got very excited! She was doing the monkey noises and wanted to meet them. I couldn't catch her face in this picture, but she was smiling and it was adorable!

We are looking forward to taking advantage of this facility that is so close to our place!! It also has a preschool facility, gym, enrichment classes, restaurants, a karaoke room and a few other facilities.

Then and Now

I can't take responsibility for this idea since I saw it on another blog, but I came up with my own list!

Then: I could leave the house with my purse, one bag filled with my phone, wallet and a couple of personal items
Now: I leave the house with a stroller, a massive bag filled with snacks, drinks, diapers, wipes, toys, changing pad, etc. as well as an energetic toddler!

Then: I could walk through the kids department without stopping once to look around
Now: It's the first place I stop and I have a hard time leaving without purchasing something

Then: My vocabulary was normal, sometimes even sophisticated
Now: It consists of words like yuck, poop, pee-pee, sleepies, tootsies and many others I won't bother to embarrass myself with

Then: I could go to sleep late and get up late
Now: I can barely make it past 10pm and sleeping in no longer exists

Then: Grocery shopping was easy and quick
Now: It takes twice as long and I have to maneuver around the aisles in such a way to make sure Juliana doesn't pull everything off the shelves

Then: Going out to eat was a relaxing experience and choice of restaurants depended on what food we were in the mood for
Now: Going out to eat is a chore and we have to be sure the restaurant is kid-friendly and that we time it just right so we don't miss nap times, never mind the fact that I can't seem to eat my meal until it's already cold

Then: The only "parenting" articles I looked at happened to be in one of my fitness magazines
Now: My bookshelf is loaded with parenting books, I subscribe to parenting magazines and about 80% of my saved websites are parenting pages or blogs

Then: I could expect about the same thing most days
Now: There is so consistency from day to day and I never know what to expect!

Then: It was all about me
Now: It's all about Juliana

.....and even though there are so many changes in becoming a mom, it's been the most amazing and rewarding experience! Finding time for me or for Jacob & I is a challenge, but it's certainly worth it. The best memories I have over the last year and a half always include my precious little girl. She's helped me grow into a better person and I enjoy seeing the world through her eyes. I may have had a little more freedom before becoming a mom, but now I feel blessed in ways I could never have imagined and I am one of the two most important people in her life.

She's on the run

After our lovely trip to the US embassy today, Juliana was sick and tired of being in her stroller. As soon as we left, we let her free to run around and boy was she happy!!!

I love watching her run too, because she bobs up and down and makes cute little noises!!

Ponytail!

Her hair is growing so fast lately! It looks super cute when it's up, but it's always a matter of time before she pulls the elastic out.

She's preparing her morning tea :-)

Sleeping beauty

Had to snap this picture last night while she was cuddling with her pillow...she always look so adorable when she's sleeping!

Hi, my name is Dora!

One of Juliana's favorite cartoon characters lately is Dora. In fact, at her gym class the other day, when the teacher had the kids introduce themselves, Juliana's response to "What is your name?" was "Dora!" So, when I saw this beach ball, I knew she would love it.

Still thinking she's small enough to fit into this mesh container...And the other one is her hat...Although we aren't really potty training her just yet, Juliana is definitely getting used to the idea. She goes over to it all the time to sit and read! Sometimes we're quick enough to get the diaper off, but at least she's starting to get the concept.

Fun day at home

Today was an uneventful day since I had to stay at the apartment for a morning delivery and then a visit from the air con contractor this afternoon. Don't you just love how they give you those three hours time spans and then show up at the last minute?? Anyway, we did our best to keep busy and enjoyed some of the sunshine out on the terrace.

This morning, after breakfast, we did some activities to work on her colors and shapes.

Then some drawing...

All of the fun moved to the floor. I love it when she lies down on her stomach and concentrates so hard on what she's drawing!

After hanging out on the terrace, Juliana was covered in sand and water from her play table, so we had to do a quick bath. She hates the feel of the sand when it's stuck to her! I also had to vacuum up the traces of sand throughout the apartment and she decided to help out...

It must have been the fact that we were stuck at home for the day, but Juliana had A LOT of extra energy. As soon as Jacob walked in the door, she was all excited to play with him. He poured out her balls over her head, which she found hilarious!

Thankfully, we are fully equipped here at the apartment with enough toys and activities to get through a day, but it's so much nicer to get out!

It's Show Day

Today marked the end of the spring term for Juliana's Little Gym classes and it was "Show Day." Basically, that means they go over all of the skills they have learned over the last ten weeks and get a chance to show off. Even after all this time, I am still amazed at the amount of energy that she has for this class...I end up being completely exhausted by the end of it from chasing her around!

So here she is starting class off with some bells and songs...

Juliana has grown to LOVE the bars...definitely her favorite and she's become so strong at holding herself up and swinging.

Parachute time is also very exciting. The teacher didn't even have a chance to spread it out before Juliana attacked it!

Exploration time...

This was after she did her forward roll down the mat and right before getting up to do a back handspring over the hot dog mat...
Ball time! Today, the instructor sang "Ring around the Rosie" while they sat (or in Juliana's case, bounced) on the balls and then fell off at the end. It was cute, all of the kids were giggling.

On my way out, I happened to notice a poem on the bulletin board that I have apparently missed all these months about the Little Gym's philosophy. Thought it was cute and very fitting.

I am different.
I am growth.
Both of body and of spirit.
I am helping hands that boost
Arms that hug
Smiles that guide.

I am different.
I am confidence.
A straighter spine and wider eyes.
I’m a teacher raising tiny hopes.
I’m a spirit on tiptoes, reaching.

I am different.
I am connection.
Between mother and child and future.
I am bonds formed over floor mats,
Friendships forged in happy song.

I am different.
I am playful.
I am so much more than play.
I roll, I toddle, I jump, I run.
I try. I try again.
I stretch the definition of fin
And strengthen healthy habits;
I open my doors to giggling lives,
I both feed off and field their potential.

I will leave a child energized.
I will leave a parent breathless.
I will bring a lifetime of chances to say
“Look what I can do!”

I am different.
I am magical.
I am The Little Gym.
I’m busy creating winners at life.
Come and grow with me.

Juliana has her free camp and a few mini-term classes during the month of June, but then she'll be trying out Gymboree's play and learn classes for a little bit. I have a feeling we'll end up back at the Little Gym soon though since she loves it so much. Having done gymnastics throughout my childhood, I don't mind one bit :-)

Missing home

I don't know if I'm just hitting a lull, but suddenly I am missing so many different things about home....

• My family
• The luxury of having a car
• Drive through windows, but of course that's only useful with a car!
• Food, especially the restaurants back home. To name just a few: Panera, T-Bones, La Caretta, The Common Man, Pizzico, Longhorn, The Phonecian, Dunkin Donuts, The 99 and so many more
• Grocery shopping where I can fill up the entire cart for a week or two and not have to return for something every couple of days
• So many different shopping places like Target, Barnes & Noble, Macy's, BJs, The Paper Store, Staples, Toys 'R Us (yes, they have it here, but it's just not the same) and so on and so forth
• The privacy of a house, even though I definitely don't miss all of the work involved in having to maintain a house

There are other things I miss that I'm forgetting to mention, but then I stop and think about how lucky we are to be here in Singapore, experiencing an entirely new culture. I go through phases, because I don't always miss New Hampshire, just the people from there that I love and the conveniences of an American lifestyle. There are so many things that the US didn't offer us though, so I am grateful every day for this chance and hope that it lasts for a while. We've met so many amazing people, I've had a chance to start work in a new field and I will be helping out with MOPS for the coming term. Juliana has grown so much, experienced all kinds of different enrichment classes, visited numerous sights, made some great friends and been exposed to things she simply wouldn't have been back in the States. More importantly, this opportunity is HUGE for Jacob's career and I am amazed at how much he has grown in such a short time. He's an impressive man and I just hope that the company he works for can see that too!

Well, now that I have gotten all of that off my chest, I feel much better having reminded myself of all the wonderful benefits of being here in Singapore. I do miss all my friends and family from home though...love to you all!

Our little "Jewel"

I love that I can finally put her hair into pigtails, but they never last too long. She's always trying to pull out the elastics to play with :-) Anything on the floor is fair game for her, so when I dropped this little piece of paper, she enjoyed sticking it on her nose. She was all sweaty from running around, so it stuck pretty well!

Her newest toy, a wooden shape sorting caterpillar, keeps her pretty busy. She likes to stack the blocks to see how high she can get them before they fall over.

This morning, she was playing with her dolls from the Mrs. Goodbee house and she had the mommy and daddy kiss...it was adorable!

Swim time & mini blogger

Swim today!! Here she is using the fish to blow bubbles in the water...

And trying to blow bubbles in the cup when she was supposed to be pouring it on her face! She did eventually pour it on her face after she splashed her instructor with it a few times.

I guess she figured out how to press the buttons on her instructor's watch at the last lesson, two weeks ago, and she remembered that when she presses, it beeps. So she kept going for the watch!

They did some "zoom zoom," otherwise knows as lying on her tummy and learning to move her arms and legs. Juliana is getting pretty good at kicking, but she still isn't used to lying on her back or tummy for longer periods of time. Next week, it looks like they'll be heading into the big pool to practice more.

After swimming, I was getting ready to post and Juliana decided she wanted to blog for me instead!

Superstar!!

Playing with my sunglasses always amuses her!

Rambutan fruit

The Rambutan fruit is one of the most common fruits in Southeast Asia, but to anyone else around the world, it's considered exotic. They're small, about 2"-3" and easy to eat. Once you remove the rind, you eat the fruit around the seed.

Jacob & I tried it last night...not much taste really and I'm a big texture person and it was just too weird for me (chewy, a bit tough). I tried to see if Juliana would like it, but she spit it right out without even trying to chew.

Well, this is what they look like:

I'm making any attempts to get Juliana to try new foods, since she has been very picky lately. She barely eats any fruits or vegetables, so I'm trying to come up with creative ways of getting her to try new things. She's too smart for me though and will either refuse the bite I'm trying to offer or take it and then spit out what she doesn't want from it and then swallow the rest. Some things have been successful, like fried rice (made with all kinds of vegetables cut up into tiny pieces) and noodles with some veggies buried in. I'm hoping she'll outgrow this phase and be willing to try more, especially fruits since she won't eat any right now except for the ones in her yogurt!

Daddy's caddy!

Juliana got this golf set a while back from my mom and after finding out that Jacob is going golfing on Friday with his coworkers, I asked Juliana if she wanted to be his caddy. Of course she said yes!!So, off the subject...Jacob came home today with this piece of stainless steel attached to a note from someone he works with. Apparently, Jacob didn't believe that something like this existed to clean your ears, so someone proved it to him by providing him with his own! It's this tiny piece of stainless steel that is commonly used by the Chinese to clean their ears. Personally, I think it look like it would hurt, but I just thought I would share this random piece of information I just learned about!