Music, swimming and play!

Yesterday, Juliana had her last music class at Gymboree (hopefully, more music to follow in the next few months, we shall see) and she had a blast, as usual.

She is quite the dancer too when the mood strikes her...

Ah, the maracas, one of her favortie instruments...

After lots of fun with music yesterday, it was off to MOPS this morning. We had some separation anxiety (towards the end of MOPS, I had to go get her from daycare, but she was okay once she was with mommy and I attribute some of it to exhaustion and recovering from her infection) but it was a great meeting. There were separate tables with topics such as potty training, extended family, discipline, separation anxiety (haha, good timing), exercising with your kids, etc. There was time for three tables and it was very helpful and informative. It's always reassuring to know you're not alone and that people have a lot of wisdom and experience to share to help ease the stress. I left feeling confirmed that I've been doing the right things and that the power of prayer is undeniable. I also learned a few lessons in what I need to change about my parenting technique, such as the fact that it's okay to let go and use some "tough love" when necessary!

After MOPS and a nice lunch with some friends, Juliana was pooped and ready for her nap the minute we got home. Thankfully, the sun was still out this afternoon when she woke up so we could go down for a swim and play time!She loves these sprays of water...ducks under them and then gets brave enough to walk through them too!

We had a blast in the water and she kept saying, "Mommy, I love swimming!" Maybe more swim lessons are in store??
Juliana eventually got out of the pool on her own, said "All done" and went to get her towel! I was so impressed that I told her we could go to the playground next...

What a sweet girl!

'Tis the Season to be Jolly

Ah, the holidays...yes, they are wonderful, especially with our daughter to share it with, but they can also be hard too. Thank goodness I have this cute face to look at...

We started to put up some decorations this weekend to get into the spirit of the season and start to teach Juliana about Jesus, Santa and everything else about Christmas. She now says, "Ho ho ho" if we ask her what Santa says and we'll be pulling out her Little People nativity set too!

Ever since my father passed away (and other loved ones before and after), the holidays can sometimes seem bleak. I have been reminding myself to focus on the present, thank God for all the blessings in my life and remember: Life is short and every moment matters. The drama and chaos is NOT worth it and any energy spent on people or things that do not fit into my life, for whatever reason, is just a waste of precious time. I miss my family deeply and wish I could see them for Thanksgiving and Christmas, share Juliana with them and be close for the birth of my second niece (Brittellen is due right after Christmas!). There's something to be said about the family dinners, the rounds of charades, the laughter and fun. Being out here in Singapore just means that we have to create different traditions and now that Juliana is old enough to start learning about what Christmas means, it will be a lot more fun.

Part of my heart will be back in the U.S. with my family and friends throughout the coming months, but I have a wonderful husband and a precious little girl to focus on here. A friend recently added this to her e-mail to me:

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. -Hebrews 7:25

Just another reminder that God will provide and intercede when we need him. He's always there for us, just need to reach out and trust in Him. God bless everyone in your preparations for the holidays!

What fun!

After our emergency trip to the doctor on Thursday night, Juliana has been on medication for a viral infection. She's had a few rough nights and is exhausted, but the fever is slowly going away.

On Friday, she was too tired to go to the MOPS & MOPPETS outing, unfortunately, but it was a chance for her to rest a bit at home and play. She even got some art time in...
Once Juliana fell in love with the Monkeydoos, "Go Animals," I looked up other DVDs by the same company and got hold of the Monkeydoos, "Things That Go." We ordered it in the States and brought it back with us, so she's been learning how to be an airplane, a trolley, a scooter and other things that go...

This morning, Juliana slept in after waking up in the middle of the night and then got to play with us all ! Lately, the loves her little ponies, but doesn't say the word quite right, so it comes out sounding like "horny!" It's funny to hear, but we keep trying to help her say, "p-ony!"

After her nap, we headed to Jurong Point to get out of the house since it was raining and dreary. Juliana enjoyed her chicken nuggets and corn and even asked to see Ronald this time. She still won't sit next to him, but she did offer her microphone for him to sing...

After Juliana's dinner and some walking around, it was time for Jacob and I to fill our bellies, so we tried a new Spanish place at JP and it was pretty good. She enjoyed her french fries, otherwise known as her "reward" for eating her entire meal at McDonald's...

Hopefully, she'll sleep better tonight and be rested in the morning for another family day. God bless you little girl!

Ouch!!

Well, I seem to have a pinched nerve in my shoulder/neck on the right side. Boy, it's painful! I can't do much with my right arm as it's numb and tingling for the better part of the day. I went to the acupuncture center today after a training session and it was incredibly painful. They helped me a lot a few months ago with my lower back, but I was actually a bit scared to go with this problem since it's gotten to be so bad. I was afraid of muscle spasms, pain, etc. and I experience all of it with some relief too. It's quite amazing how good they are at what they do, because I walked in, explained the problem and he immediately touched the exact spot that it was stemming from as well as all the pressure points affected throughout my neck and arm. Wow. I'm just hoping that in a few more days, I have full use of my arm again since I am right handed and it's making life incredibly difficult. I must admit though, that it has been a lesson in gratefulness, that I have two arms without (up until now of course) any problems to speak of. Makes you realize just how lucky you are for all of the small things in life...

On top of this, Juliana seems to have gotten a viral infection and when her temperature spiked to 41 (105), I got concerned and brought her to the clinic. She's okay, but it's never been that high before, so it was scary. Medicine and rest are the best remedy and lots of love from mommy and daddy :-)

Another tiring week almost over, with some fun in the morning at MOPS and MOPPETS...I just hope Juliana is up to it!

Such a girly girl

Juliana definitely has a tomboy side to her, but when it comes to playing with her dress up clothes and accessories, she is all girl!! She got a package of bracelets for a gift on Sunday, among other things, and couldn't wait to dig in. We got to count them several times, name the colors and put them on and off...
That's the one thing that is so adorable about little girls...so much girly stuff like dresses, jewellery, dollhouses, etc. and ever since our trip back home, Juliana has enjoyed putting on her own chap stick!! She feels like a big girl, like mommy, and even puts it on for me :-)

Happy belated birthday Juliana!

Yesterday was Juliana's birthday party here in Singapore, so she got to celebrate turning two one more time! In the morning, she woke up and we told her she had another party and she said, "It's a happy day!" Here she is munching away on pretzels while waiting for her guests to arrive...
She knew that a party meant lots of time in the pool, so she couldn't wait to get in. We had to wait for some of her friends to arrive and once she was ready, there was no holding her back!

Juliana and Violet were fighting over Kaelan and I'm sure if Pierce had come, it would have been more of the same!

The cake that Sue Lynn and Mun Cheong brought was beautiful and delicious! Here we are with her sunglasses from the goodie bags waiting for the cake...

Mommy and daddy had to help her blow out the candles...

She was a big fan of the icing!

Thank you everyone for coming to celebrate with us. We've made some wonderful friends out here and Juliana has enjoyed spending time with all of the kids. Happy (belated) birthday my girl!

Murder Mystery Dinner

On Saturday night, we had our monthly dinner at Jenn and Toby's house. She wrote a great post about it on her page with alot more photos of each couple as they got on board the MV Tipanic...click here. Jacob was Sylvester Stillstoned, the shady bartender and I was Tilly Operator, the boat's shop keeper and undercover investigator! It was our first murder mystery and it was a lot of fun trying to keep up with all of the information and characters.

Here are the girls: from left is Gillian (aka Trikki Shuffles), Jenn (Sally, the director), me, Jessica (aka Wanda Lust), Jennifer (aka Lola Lilo) and in front is Camille (aka Fifi Galores).
The boys: Travis (aka Barry Glitter), Jamey (aka Al Fresco), Jacob, Toby (aka Rusty Crankshaft), Justin (aka Captain Birdseye) and in front is Blake (aka Walter Ski).
The killer in the end was Barry Glitter, the ship's entertainment director, who was out to get his brother for money! It was a lot of fun and now the pressure is on for us to have a great supper here in January. Thank you Jenn and Toby for a great night.
Thanks for the great picture Camille!

My little princess

Just had to share this picture...she looks like she's trying to be Marilyn Monroe!

This week's events

It's been a busy and tiring week, but we're all adjusting back to Singapore time and routine well. Juliana is still rather cranky, but I think it has more to do with her age and testing her limits than anything else. She gets very upset now when she doesn't get her way and it can be very exhausting to deal with, but when she's happy, she is ecstatic!

At Gymboree's Play and Learn on Wednesday...
That night, Jacob had a dinner for work, so it was just us girls! She ate a good dinner (rare these days), so she got to eat one of her candies from Halloween. Boy, did that bring a smile to her face...

Yesterday, Juliana must have gone through half her toys to find what she wanted to play with most...boredom at home? Hard to believe when you look at how full of toys the place is!! Finally, she pulled out one of her new dolls that she got for her birthday from Uncle Jason, Aunt Niki and Sydney. She kept hugging and kissing baby Sleeping Beauty!

Other than the struggles with parenting a toddler that enjoys testing Jacob and I and pushing the limits, I've been very homesick this week. No surprise there with the recent loss and nearly three weeks spent with friends and family. Fortunately, things get pretty busy starting next week with work, class, Juliana's enrichment programs and other commitments. Hoping for a good holiday season and making the most of our time here, even without visitors like last year when my mom was here for Christmas and New Year's. Luckily, Juliana is two now and can start to take part in Christmas in a way that she couldn't last year, so it makes it more fun for us!

Talk about inspiration

Yesterday morning, I had MOPS for the first time in several weeks since I missed the last two meetings while I was in the states. It was so good to see my friends out here and get some hugs that I really needed! The speaker was very inspirational (more below) and I had been praying about whether or not to do something in my life and during MOPS, two VERY clear signs pointed to "Yes Mel, do it!" Well, I did and I'm praying that it does happen and goes well...don't worry, I will update you too!

One of the quotes that the speaker used was, If only we have the will to walk, then God is pleased with out stumbles" -C.S. Lewis. How wonderful! Life is not about being perfect or meeting expectations, whether they are our own or others, but it is about learning from our "stumbles" and finding peace with our past in order to create a better life for our future. While presenting the speaker, the pastor's wife also spoke about how we are all in "different seasons of our life" and that we all have gifts that God intends for us to use for some purpose, however small or grand we may think they are. She was asking us not to compare ourselves to the speaker and raise our expectations of ourselves, but to find inspiration in her words in order to use the gifts we already have. We don't need to search for a bigger purpose, just a more meaningful one in the life we are already living.

I just wanted to share that the speaker, Rose Siow, founded a volunteer welfare organization here in Singapore called Sanctuary House and the website is here. They are always looking for help through donations, volunteers, supplies, etc. If you think you can help, please do!!

Yesterday's devotion

I really wanted to share my devotion from yesterday, because I found it inspiring and fitting for some of the things going on in my life. Hope you enjoy it too.

The only people for me are the mad ones...the ones who never yawn and say a commonplace thing, but burn burn burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars. - Jack Kerouac

The enormous success of the first Rocky movie surprised the experts. They saw it as just another low-budget boxing story. Little did they guess it would win so many awards and capture the imagination of millions all over the world.

The experts didn't foresee that the story was really about us. They didn't recognize that the magic of the Rocky character was in his very ordinariness. Rocky was "just a guy," after all, an unlikely, unpromising unknown who didn't look one bit different than any other young punk on the street. But viewers saw that immediately and they identified with it. When Rocky dared to buck the odds, to come roaring out of nowhere, and to shoot for the top, they identified with that, too. Rocky's success was ours; if Rocky can do it, maybe I can, too.

Real life if not lived on the silver screen, of course. But even movie messages may deliver important truths that can inspire our real lives. The central truth of the Rocky phenomenon is that passion and dedication can move mountains. However humble our beginnings, if we have "fire in the belly," those who bet against us will have a big surprise coming.

"Special Day"

It was an exhausting weekend, but we needed to get out of the house yesterday afternoon. After Juliana woke up from her nap, we headed over to IMM for some family fun. We started at the playground, but since it was a weekend and a Sunday, it was very crowded so it didn't last too long. We headed inside to walk around and saw this art place set up to make your own window decorations or sand art. Juliana chose a Hello Kitty one to paint for the window and it came out so good (one of the ladies added the NOV 2009, not me!)...

Such a great idea for kids and it was very inexpensive at $5.90 for the piece, paints to use and time! She was very proud of herself too :-) It was a good afternoon and Juliana has been a chatterbox, so she kept saying things like, "Special day!" and "Happy happy!" She is a handful, but absolutely amazing with forming sentences and her vocabulary is growing every day. I don't know where she learns some of it, but she definitely picks up on every little thing Jacob, Jean and I say...gotta be even more careful now!

Happy Halloween!

This afternoon, we went through some of Juliana's dress up outfits to decide what to wear for this evenings festivities.

Was it going to be Dora...

Or Alice in Wonderland...Or a fairy... Finally decision, the fairy! It fit her the best too, so it worked out well. Here we are at Milan's place after dinner before heading over to Tiong Bahru Plaza...At the Halloween party, Juliana decorated her own trick-or-treat bag with mommy, daddy and Milan's two older children...Next up was trick-or-treating in some of the mall's stores. We didn't last too long though, because Juliana was exhausted and becoming increasingly cranky! Made it to a few stops and decided to head home, but at least she got the experience... It was a good evening and got my mind off everything else for a while!! Happy Halloween everyone :-)

Love you Uncle Gidge

Since I can't be there, my brother will be reading this on my behalf at the funeral. I wanted to honor him in the best way I know how... MY DEAREST UNCLE GIDGE

There are so many thoughts
swarming around inside my head,
“what-ifs” and “should haves”
of all the things I wish I had said.

Life can be so unpredictable,
so cruel in what it takes from us,
and yet somewhere in that pain,
we can look to God to find our trust.

During our last moments together,
I was able to express my respect and love,
for your unconditional support,
and now you must continue that role from above.

When I look back at all of the memories,
I am overwhelmed with emotion
of all the family gatherings and holidays,
always filled with laughter and commotion.

There was always a game of a charades,
following our big family dinner,
and your boisterous laugh and bright smile
were there no matter which team was the winner.

When my own father passed away,
I looked to my uncles to fill the empty hole;
I asked you to give me away at my wedding,
and you gladly took on that role.

Eventually, God will bring us together again,
and that moment will fill me with bliss,
but for now, time is the only cure
for dealing with a loss such as this.

I will love you always and forever,
keeping you close in my heart,
to continue to guide me along my path
as you have done from the start.

Rest in Peace.

Your loving niece, MelanieLove you Auntie Donna, Mike and all the rest of the family...

Some fun with Jean

I must admit, it has not been an easy adjustment back to our life here in Singapore, since there's the jet lag, a long to-do list and the sadness I am feeling. I want to be back in the U.S. with family, to stand by all of them for the wake and funeral for my Uncle. But I'm here, so far away and it's very difficult. I needed some alone time today, so Jean took Juliana out for a few hours this morning and I got some things crossed off my list.

They had fun exploring downtown. By the water fountain in the mall...Outside by a "tree"...not quite like the apple trees we saw while in New Hampshire, but I guess it will have to do!

Riding the carousel horse... Playing at the indoor playground in the ball pit...

I'll take this as a sign that she enjoyed it!!

Fortunately, the weekend is here, which means family time and Halloween tomorrow. We have plans for dinner at a friend's house and then a party and trick or treating at a Plaza downtown. I can't wait to get Juliana dressed up and hopefully lift my spirits. She's still pretty tired and cranky from the time change, but her laughter, hugs, kisses and "I love yous" are so uplifting!

Rest in peace Uncle Gidge

Last night, my mom called with the sad news that my Uncle Gidge (George) passed away Tuesday evening. He had been fighting cancer for several months now and his heart gave out in his sleep. I am grateful that Jacob & I got to see him on Monday, before heading to the airport for our flight. I have gone through many losses now and rarely do you have the chance to say goodbye and say all of the things that need to be said. In my heart, I knew that this visit may be our last, so I told him all of the things in my heart and didn't hold back the emotions I needed to express to him, nor did Jacob. He was a remarkable man, a devoted husband and father and an amazing Uncle, among so many other things. When my father passed away in 2000, I turned to my two Uncles for fatherly support and they both gave me away on my wedding day. Auntie Donna and Uncle Gidge supported Jacob and I throughout our life, in ways that we will never forget. So, rest in peace Uncle Gidge and may you shine down on us from heaven in the company of our other loved ones who have gone Home. I love you dearly and will forever remember your strength, wisdom, encouragement and unconditional love and support.

We're back...

After a wonderful and very busy trip to the U.S., our departure came way too fast. Below is Juliana at the airport before a very difficult goodbye with my mom and Nana. I am already missing them terribly and we are so thankful for everything they did for us while we were home...the bed, the wonderful meals and spending a lot of time with Juliana.
She was playing, but this is just perfect for how we all felt...not wanting to get on that plane for the long trip back and leaving family and friends again. ::Deep sigh::
The flights went okay, as good as they can I suppose. We weren't too pleased with our seats, but we made it safe and sound. Now it's the challenge of getting back into our routine here. Juliana was up at 2am this morning, ugh!! I can't wait until we're all adjusted back to Singapore time!

Birthday Party #2

This picture is from Saturday night, before Juliana's second party that Nana and Nanny hosted at the function hall where they live. She was in a great mood, so I was crossing my fingers that she would sleep well!

My mom and grandmother went all out, as usual and the party was a blast! A few people couldn't make it last minute due to the flu, but it was still a full house and we got a chance to say goodbye to everyone until our next visit home.

With Juliana's Great Auntie Donna...

Juliana's Great Auntie Cheryl and Great Uncle Jeff...
With her second cousins, Danny and Jessica...
That's my little Tati and her dad, Michael...
Some of our good friends, Kane and Erin...
So, I didn't get a picture of the parents, Jim and Kristena (how did that happen?) but I did get one of their babies!! It's Mickayla and Eoin...
With Juliana's second cousin, Michael whose birthday is the day after hers...Happy Birthday Mike!

Addie, Kali and Juliana eating all the goodies...

With my good friends from grade school, Kathy and Kara...

This is Kara's mom with us, Maureen, who was like my second mother growing up and it was so nice to see her...Three generations! Juliana looked adorable in her Dora party dress that Nana bought for her...

The Powers family, except Addie who was far too busy playing. Bob, Meghan, Emily and Bridget...

When it came time for cake, I was actually surprised that Juliana didn't become too shy. She was in awe of her Dora cake, so that helped!

Singing Happy Birthday to our angel...

She's truly amazing!

She had a lot more fun with the cake this year than last, plus she enjoyed dunking the figurines of Boots, Dora and Diego into the cake...
Here we are with Aaron, Ali and their son Aidan...

Auntie Donna, Sandy, Auntie and Michael...

With Jessica...

Towards the end, as everyone was leaving, Juliana was so tired!! Then, after they all left, she got a second wind (of course!)...

She wanted to help get Bridget and Emily into the car!!
Right before they cleared out, here I am with the girls, my Auntie Cheryl, Jessica, Mom and Claudia...

Always the last to leave because they help SO much (THANK YOU), Greg and Alex...

Then another with the girls...

I couldn't share even half the pictures on here, but here's another collage of some more good pictures...It was a wonderful party...thank you to my mom and grandmother and everyone else who came, helped out and simply enjoyed spending the afternoon with us.

Happy Birthday baby girl!!