My birthday

Another year has passed and I celebrated my birthday in Singapore this year. My gift to myself was to sleep in a little, but it didn't work out too well. I did relax in bed, but my internal clock wouldn't allow for much sleep after Jacob left for work. I guess Juliana needed the rest though, because she didn't get up until about 8:45, which is very late for her.

I had a nice picture waiting for me created by Juliana and Jean and a wonderful card from Jean. It wasn't a very eventful day, but that's how I wanted it to be.

Jacob surprised me with gorgeous flowers and a yummy cake when he came home from work and we had a nice meal.

Juliana really liked the flowers and even got up close to smell them!!

I'm looking forward to what the next year is going to bring!

P.S. I shared this birthday with my father-in-law and have a few years of wonderful memories celebrating it with him. RIP Joe.

A day with Dora!

I have been looking forward to Dora's movie for a few weeks now, ever since I purchased the tickets to take Juliana. It was her first movie, "Dora Saves the Snow Princess" and we made such a big deal about it from the moment she woke up. She was pretty tired from her late night, but excited because once she came downstairs, we turned on Dora and she got to eat breakfast in front of the TV, which we never allow. I think she knew something was up and on our way to the theater, we kept asking her if she was excited to see Dora. It was adorable, because she kept saying "Dora" and "Boots."

Once we got to the theater and picked up the tickets, Jacob got some popcorn and drinks. Outside the movie theater was a big poster with a scene from the cartoon and a slide, so Juliana kept busy up until a few minutes before the movie started. We went in the theater to sit down and enjoy some snacks before the show. Juliana really enjoyed the popcorn!

At the end of the movie, when they all sang the "We did it" song, Juliana stood up in her seat and started dancing! She was so excited!!

On the way out, there was a photo opportunity with a real life Dora and Boots (well, Boots was fake, but Dora was real!). We didn't wait in the long line, but just stopped up front to let Juliana see them. She was saying "high five" with her hand in the air, waiting for Dora to respond and it was adorable. When we told her to say goodbye, she looked at Dora and said, "Bye bye, see you soon" with a sad look on her face.

The movie was cute and I was so happy to see how much Juliana enjoyed it.

Family fun

Saturday was a busy day for the family. I had my first class of the new term, so I headed to the Community Centre with a plan to meet Jacob and Juliana at a birthday party afterwards. Class went well with the four children that will be with me for the next ten weeks.

Next up was the birthday party at Go-Go Bambini for the nephew of one of Jacob's coworkers. Juliana had a blast running around!! She enjoyed a nice ball pit...

Played the piano with her feet...

Hung on the ropes while daddy helped push her along...

And she enjoyed watching the other kids dance and play some games. We tried to get her to join in the fun, but she was being shy.

Once the birthday party wrapped up around five, we got a cab to a different coworkers apartment for a delicious meal. They are an Indian family from the U.S. and Juliana must have remembered their apartment, because she was very comfortable playing and giggling. Both Jacob and I expected her to crash after the party, but she got her second wind and entertained all of us. I couldn't even tell you the names of the dishes Monika prepared for us, but it was all really good and I especially enjoyed the homemade Naan!!

Some time with mommy

This morning, Juliana and I had planned on heading to an art class at Gymboree, but there was a mild set back that I won't get into. Anyway, we were already on the MRT, so we still got off at Orchard. Seeing as we had already missed the start of the class, I decided just to relax and enjoy being with my girl! It was very hot, as usual, so we headed towards Forum to make a stop at Toys 'R Us. There used to be a nice big Toys 'R Us here at Jurong Point, but they closed :-( and they have the most reasonable prices on some stuff. One of the purchases was paintbrushes, because we just started playing with the paint more and. Here she is yesterday so here she is making some art!

Oh, and I had to share this cute picture...this was her "hat" for the day!After Toys 'R Us, we went to the Early Learning Center where Juliana got to play with some toys while I looked around and then we had a delicious lunch while playing with her new Dora coloring set that she picked out at the store. On the taxi ride back home, she felt asleep in less than five minutes, out cold on my lap. I guess she had fun with mommy and I pooped her out for her nap!

I love spending my time with Juliana and I am constantly in awe of her. She can be rather difficult at times, but all of the hard times are well worth the good ones. She's growing so much and developing such a bold personality. She talks a lot now, putting words together and using gestures to help me understand what she's trying to say. I'm simply amazed at how quickly she catches on to something new and I adore that gorgeous smile that I get to see every morning. I could go on and on, but I just wanted to share and remind myself once again that I am truly blessed.

She's our little monkey!

Here's our adorable little gymnast enjoying one of her last Little Gym classes for the spring and summer term. She's so good on the bars!

Their newest structure was a treat...

What an amazing dad

Father's Day made me think about the last two years...the pregnancy, our first days with Juliana and the last twenty months of watching her grow into the beautiful girl that she is today. It's been an amazing journey and I am truly blessed that Jacob is a remarkable father, deeply devoted to his little girl. I just wanted to share some pictures from our journey that I was looking at.

Here's Juliana with her daddy, adoring her, in the hospital after she was born.

Our first Christmas with our baby girl.Her baptism in December of 2007.Isn't she just so precious!? This was her first Valentine's day and I still love this picture. She has the best smile.Father's Day, last year.
Daddy and Juliana chilling out before bed time. I miss the pajamas with the footies!!Celebrating her first birthday with my family at my mom's place.The time has gone by so fast and I enjoy looking back at how much she has grown over the last twenty months. There is so much to look forward to as she continues to grow!!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful dads out there and to my amazing husband! We decided to go to East Coast Park this morning after breakfast to get some time outside and let Juliana run around.

After a nice walk along the water, the heat got a lot worse, so we decided it was the perfect time to stop for our lunch. We chose a place with air conditioning since all three of us needed some cold air for a while and ended up having a wonderful meal. Juliana especially enjoyed the toasted bread!!

Miss you dad, Grampy, Papa, Joe and Grand-pere. You all left lasting impressions on our lives and taught us about how to be a devoted and loving parent.

Just waiting....

...for the next two weeks to go by to see my family! We're counting down the days and can't wait!

It was a busy week for all of us, but we managed to squeeze in plenty of fun time too. Now that Juliana is a bit older, we are trying the play dough again and it seems to be catching on!! She stopped trying to eat it, so that was a step in the right direction and this time, we used the cutters and other little gadgets that were part of the play dough case. Here she is trying to figure out what this red thing is for...Making some green spaghetti, YUM!

After eating a very good lunch yesterday, she enjoyed half of a giant chocolate chip cookie. Guess it was good!
Jacob's been very busy with work lately, but he managed to make it home a bit early this evening, so we had some extra time to play after dinner. Juliana was in the mood to go outside and enjoy the view as the sun was setting.

Gazing at the clouds.

Then some jumping, which she is very good at now!!

Finally, she got another bite of cookie with daddy.
I wish this picture had come out better, but switching it to black and white made it a bit clearer. They look so cute!!
We are off to the Little Gym tomorrow and then lots of family time for the rest of the weekend, bringing us even closer to the arrival of our visitors!

So proud!!

Every new thing she does is such a big triumph!! I love it when she throws her hands up in the air and yells, "Tada!" As if I wasn't already in awe of her, she continues to amaze me. When I got back from work yesterday, she was still sleeping, but when she woke up and saw that I was home, she was very excited!! We spent some time at the playground and running around by the pool.

This is her, "Come on Mommy, hurry up" pose!She was on the sea horse, rocking back and forth, trying to impress another little girl who was on the dolphin.Okay, so I know she's been climbing up this chain ladder for a while now, but I still get nervous and hover around her. This time, she looked right at me and said, "OK mommy," so I took the hint and backed off!

Now that she has also learned how to climb up another part, she was doing it over and over again, saying "tada" with her arms up each and every time.

It's a matter of time before she tries those monkey bars, because she's always watching the other kids very closely to see how they're doing it!

Oh, how she loves her daddy...

How cute is this? She must have sat on his lap for a good ten minutes when he got home from work, just cuddling and playing with his necklace. Whenever she's feeling sick or tired, she wants extra attention from us, lots of hugs and kisses and plenty of cuddles. Not a problem for us of course!!

Then she decided she wanted to try to lift daddy's heavy bag from work and as you can see, she's looking for his approval...

Then she's wondering why mom needs a picture of this...

...and she finally gives up!

After dinner, Juliana had a random burst of energy (she was VERY tired today and not feeling as good as usual), so we danced with Elmo and Pooh...

She was so happy that she gave Elmo a high five!

Fun in the pool and with a new toy

It was a gorgeous afternoon, so after Juliana's nap, she was asking to go to the pool. I am officially a dork and decided to humble myself enough to share this picture. Juliana thought it was funny that I was wearing her towel.
Had to stop at the playground first before heading to the pool. She can now climb up this all by herself, without any help! The water was the perfect temperature, not too cold and not too warm. Juliana is always thrilled when both mom and dad are at the pool with her, so she was in no rush to go back inside. After a few minutes, the guard turned on the water, so all of the showers and sprays were working too.

Going down the slide all by herself and so proud of herself!

Still loves the tire swing too.

I love that smile!! She is so happy in the water and loves being tossed up in the air just to come back down and splash us.

After swimming, we had another stop at the playground. She wanted to go down the slides a few times and then take a ride on the dolphin.

Our little gymnast has to do her acrobats on the bar!After swimming, a bath and waiting for dinner, she was getting a bit antsy when I remembered that I had bought her a very cheap toy from Fairprice the other day. With her boredom, it was a good time to pull it out and give to her. Here she is with daddy as he shows her how to use it!!
Now, copying daddy, she was speaking into the microphone for a check on an item (it's a cash register). It was adorable!!