My cousin is A-MAZING!

Sorry Jess, you're public! But I just had to share this, it was so good and I was so proud! Click HERE.

So cute together :-)

We're in the USA!

After a grueling 33 hour travel day (one late flight leading to a missed connecting flight and 5 hours in the D.C. airport) we are here! We got home last week, but have been so busy since. Juliana had a hard time adjusting to the time difference and misses her daddy who's not here yet, but seeing family and friends has been wonderful!

My mom's new place is nice and I love the weather since anything is cooler than Singapore. We go outside a lot and there's a huge playground within a 10 minute walk.
She's getting spoiled...chocolate frosted donuts!

Reading the paper to Nanny...

At the park, on the train. She kept saying "We're going to China!"

Real swings!

Trying on Nana's shoes and heading out the door...

We will actually be in the U.S. for Independence day for the first time since 2007.

More to come!!

What's been going on

It hasn't been too eventful around here since our return from Beijing. Juliana and I leave for the U.S. on June 22 and Jacob leaves June 30 so we are looking forward to seeing our family and friends. It's a much more relaxing visit than the last since there are no parties or weddings. I am looking forward to the weather too, because it's been insanely got in Singapore lately. Maybe it's just me but I think it's much hotter than this time last year!

Juliana has been attending her art classes and is becoming more talented at tracing and coloring in. When we return from the U.S. we'll sign up for some other classes.

Jacob is busy as usual with work and I've been doing some writing and recovering from a small accident. My left hand is weak, but in time, it should be back to normal.

One of her favorite things to put on is my brown shoes and walk around like she's a big girl! She added this necklace too... I'm astonished at how fast she is growing and the things that come out of her mouth. However, she is very challenging too. "No" and "It's okay" seem to be popular and listening to us? Yeah right. It's exhausting and I am not looking forward to 24+ hours of traveling and two plane switched with her by myself. But in the end, I'll be back home!

So many talents...

As soon as she could hold those large toddler crayons, Juliana has thoroughly enjoyed art, as well as many other things. We have paints, markers, crayons, stamps, stickers, stencils, etc. etc. We also came across this great Art school when we went along with some friends for Halloween last year to go to a kid's party. Juliana gets lots of attention from Teacher Paul and her art is improving so much!!

She's getting so big... Showing off her school!!!

I'm afraid she likes the idea of "school" way too much right now. Soon I'll be waving her off as she trots away to her friends and teachers...

I guess she was proud of it, huh?

I love the look of determination on her face when she's hard at work!

I didn't get the art gene, so I'm glad she's enjoying it....her Uncle Justin got the musical and artistic talents!! With all the dancing, art, swimming, gymnastics, singing, and everything else, she could be anything! Yup, PROUD MOMMY here! I love the look of satisfaction on her face too when I hang up a new drawing.

Dancing Queen :-)

So you can't hear it, but she's shaking her cute bum to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance!! She's been dancing her way along lately, through Beijing, here in Singapore and soon in the States.

Yes, we dance along, but we won't be sharing any of that, not to worry!

Take it all in!

Life is too short

Life passes too quickly,
And before you can take it all in,
It’s all over, so fast.

I wish I could experience it all,
See the entire world
And all the amazing sites to see.

But God has a different pan for me,
To use my past to help others,
To heal them of their grief.

Will I be able to do it?
Can I make a lasting effect on people?
Will I make a difference?

These are the questions that run through my head,
Because I WILL get better
And then I want to help those suffering like I did.

Life is full of opportunities,
Challenges we all have to face
And beauty that is hard to describe in words.

I have learned that judgments are useless,
Appearances are deceiving
And generally, people acre good deep down.

I hope to raise my daughter with these beliefs,
To be open-minded and explore the world,
To absorb all that God has to offer.

In order for that to happen,
I need to be healthy, happy and strong
As well as content with myself for the person I already am.

Looking back and reminiscing

As I was going through the pictures of our trip this morning with Juliana, I felt so happy to have had this amazing opportunity, not only to see Beijing, but to be living in Singapore and experiencing a completely new culture. Hard to believe Juliana has spent more of her life in Singapore than in the United States!!

She used to be so tiny! We called her "Baby Moses" in this picture!
Rooting for the Pats after their HUGE letdown in the Superbowl. UGH. But Juliana enjoyed the excitement, even as young as she was...

This was one of the first great pictures I took of a huge, straight smile, looking right at the camera. I happened to time it just right ad what better day? It was Valentine's Day!

Look at those big brown eyes and rosy cheeks!

A big tradition for those of us from New England(no, we are not hicks!) is to attend state fairs in the fall and we went to the Hopkinton State Fair in 2008, just a month before leaving for Singapore. I actually look forward to attending these again...

Birthday 1 that got pushed up due to our very quick departure (3 weeks) to Singapore after Jacob signed the contract. But everyone came, Juliana was center of attention and it also gave us a chance to say goodbye to all of our family and friends.

Juliana's first plane ride and man, it was a long one!

After discovering the water fountains and then eventually the water park at IMM, we knew we had a little fish on our hands. LOVES the water!

During our visit home in October last year, we got to celebrate once again with our family and friends Juliana turning two and she was much more into the food and cake this time around. It was a Dora theme, so that got her excited! It was the night before we left to return here though, so there were a lot of sad farewells and tears.

I can't wait for what the next year brings and I especially am looking forward to our trip to the U.S. at the end of this month. Can't wait to see everyone and share all of our experiences with them...the things you don't hear about on the blog :-)

Now that she's older, it should be interesting to see how this plane ride goes, especially since I'm taking the one back with Juliana by myself, followed by Jacob a week and a half later. I pray for good moods, lots of distractions and tons of sleep!