Alexandra Arch and the Henderson Wave Bridge

Yesterday was my dad's 10th anniversary from when he passed from a heart attack and I wanted to do something in his memory. He always loved nature, so that's what we opted for. The original plan was the tree top walk, but my health hasn't been too good, so we chose the lesser of the two evils, the Southern Ridges.

Juliana hailing us a taxi...
We stopped at Vivo first for some lunch and couldn't pass up this photo opportunity...
Lunch was yummy!

We started out at the Alexandra Arch. It features a 80 meter long bridge, quite the walk! But Juliana enjoyed running around.
A short drink and rest, many it was hot! She was trying to snuggle up to me, so cute!

This is where the break is from the Alexandra Arch to the Henderson Wave Bridge and yet another uphill trek to get there!
The Henderson Waves area a 274-metre (900 ft) long pedestrian bridge. At 36 metres (120 ft) above Henderson Road, it is the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. I put together a collage of some of the pictures I took...

Jacob and his girl posing right at the beginning of our walk!

The "waves" were really cool and provided shade from the insanely hot sun.

It was a great experience and a hot one too! It's a great outing for kids, because they can run around there are rail guard everywhere. Next up is the tree top walk and many others we haven't even begun to explore yet!

Rest in peace daddy, AKA, David George Luciano. You are always in my heart.

Just like her mommy!

As we were getting ready this morning, Juliana invaded my shoe collection and began trying them on. She was a bit wobbly, but it was adorable!

Oh, so proud of herself!

I guess she's "Mommy's Little Girl" Today :-)

Yay, gift box from home!!

Today was a good day: care packages!! They were delivered while Juliana was napping, so I went through, pulled out the stuff for me and left a full box for Juliana to dig into with daddy when he got home.

She was very excited to have lots of gifts from Nana and Nanny...
Checking out her arts & crafts and books. She's also wearing bunny ears, but I'll have to get a better picture of it!

A new bunny for the Easter season...

As you can see she's constantly spoiled by those two. We had a few new books to read tonight and a lot of new crafts to do next week!

That's the smile of happiness! Thank you Nana and Nanny for all the wonderful gifts.

Where did my family go?

Now that I read the blog with Juliana, she asks me for "comments" and ahem....you've all been lacking there. So I try to make something up, but believe me, she is way too smart for that. So, I beg of you leaeve comments! If for o other reason than to make an adorable little 2 year old smile and giggle :-)

Gymboree's School Skills trial

So, Juliana was attending Gymboree classes at Tanglin, but we decided to try out the location at harbourfront and so far, we have been pleased. She's in the drop off program for music and yesterday, they had an open house for members for their School Skills II program. As Gymboree states, it's set up to, "Build the key social, emotional, and intellectual skills needed for school and life." It was a two hour drop off program.

Here she is, being a monkey. We have monkey bars here at Summerdale the play park, so she has had a lot of practice with them and it shows!
A collage of play pictures, with balls, scarves, climbing structures and a slide. Apparently, there was also some basketball among other things to get them active and moving.

This is the art collage, because the theme of the day was the letter "A." Juliana has enjoyed art since the first class she took last year and of course, she dug right in to color in that A!

The final product that all of the children got to contribute to...

Snack time, yum!

Next, the children got to practice writing the letter A on this "high-tech" learning device that they use headphone with as you will see in the next collage. Such a great idea and the work she brought home was very good!

I'm left to assume it's similar to the vtech book we have at home that helps you out loud learn about tracing and making letters. Word is, Juliana did very well!! Now I want one of these for home.

What would Gymboree be without play dough? Here's Juliana, thoroughly studying what the teacher is doing in order to copy here...

She was successful and made an A with her play dough!

The feedback was good, that Juliana pays attention, enjoys all of the tasks and is learning at a fast pace for her age. All good things for parents to hear. So, we'll be continuing with her current classes and see how the "School Skill" could come into play int he future. Thanks Gymboree!

Just a few lovely pics

The little artist wearing a homemade hat and obviously very happy about it!
Off to the pool and that's a PATS hat, ah, I love my girl!

Pool toys in a bag, ready to go...

OK, this is one of the best pictures of a genuine smile from her! I love it and I love her hair. It's been growing so fast lately, giving me lots of possibilities with pigtails, braids, etc. A mom's dream :-)

Just another snapshot of that gorgeous face... Each and every moment that I'm a mom, I am gracious and blessed for God to have given Jacob and I this remarkable gift. With everything she does (okay, maybe not so much the tantrums!), she lights up our lives and enriches our values in so many ways.

March, 2010 already? Wow! What's in store?

Whew! After all that reminiscing, I'm amazed at just how much has happened in such a short period of time. We've now been in Singapore for 16 months and who knows what's in store for 2010? We have so much more learning to do, about ourselves and the world around us.

I find myself having a new appreciation for something I (being blunt) may have laughed at back in Windham, NH.

I'm beginning to be okay with the fact that some people just may not like me for who I am and that's okay. I'm not going to change for them anymore, like I used to.

I'm learning about the time I spend with my daughter...yes, quantity is important, but quality beats that anytime.

I've learned that it's okay to voice my opinion, but it's not okay to force it onto other people. Just put it out there and maybe it will touch someone. If not, oh well. Made me a better, stronger person for sharing a part of myself.

Life is amazing. God has so much in store for us. So many possibilities and those that choose to be a part of our life are lucky and we are lucky that they care so much about us as well. It's become more and more clear who "those people" are after our move out here. You know what I mean, the people who love you no matter how many miles or hours separate you. No matter what happens, bad or good, they still stand by you, lovingly and supportively. It's rare, but when you find it, you hold on tight.

I could go on and on about all the life lessons I'm facing, have faced and hope to face, but I'll just go with it as time goes by. My blog began as a simple "yearbook" of our ife, but it's become a form of self-expression too about how life can change at any moment.

Wrapping up my memories of 2008

These are some pictures from the rest of my mom's visit, which flew by of course. I wish I could have just kept her here! But hey, we got to ring in 2009 at Clark Quay after a visit to Marina Bay. We sat by the water, watched the fireworks and rang in the New Year before 3/4 of the world!

Collage below: The top left is Clark Quay where we thoroughly enjoyed many meals with both my mom and then her, my cousin and Nana when they visited in July last year. Brewertz: good food, good beer, good prices! And Juliana loves the fountains there.

Anyway, back to my mom's visits...we went all out for Christmas Eve last year, knowing my mom was here and we booked a Christmas Eve Buffet at Orchard Hotel (a big to-do around here). Her visit was so enjoyable, to show her where our new "home" was, the place we live in, she got to meet Jean and see lots of sights in the city. These are some of my favorite pictures from the the end of 2008, prior to my mom getting in. We visited the Bird Park (Juliana LOVES this place) and other local sites. I look forward to showing her all these amazing photos when she's older! So, this post was poorly planned, but oh well. Out of order! Back to my mom's visit. We took her to Sentosa and had a blast! My mom fell in the water, but didn't care since it was with Juliana and with the heat out here, you dry in no time! I love this picture of the three of us...Well, Singapore has certainly been a learning experience for us and our first few weeks here were a HUGE wake up call as to how Americans live their lives. Yes, culture shock, but also a new awareness as to how very lucky we are as Americans, for the freedoms we have. It also helped us learn about a new way of life that is accepting of all cultures, all religions, all beliefs, etc. A tiny city that just accepts people for who they already are. There isn't such a pressure to "keep up with the Jonses," because for the most part (expats aside), locals are focused on just getting food on their plates, having fun without spending tons of money, enjoying the local entertainment, the kopitiams, etc.

Reflecting on 2008, prior to moving to SG

2008 was a chaotic year, in good ways and some bad. But all of it led us to where we are today and God always works in mysterious ways.

This collage has so of my favorite pictures. Top right is my first Mother's Day and top left is Jacob's first Father's Day. The middle was from when we attended my cousin's Bar-mitzvah and the other two were taken at (left with me) our first home with Juliana and (right with Jacob) our second home with her. She basically took over the living room, half the kitchen, half of our bedroom and the guest bathroom. I think the only true space of ours was the office, for obvious reasons! But it's all worth it and not much has changed! Got worse actually! This is a completely mixed collage, ranging from 2 months old to 8 months old. In the bottom right, my mom buried her in her toy box and she kept getting out to do it all over again! And doesn't she look mischievous in that top left one, like, "What am I about to do?"

One thing I miss a ton are the fairs in New England. It's always been a tradition to attend the Hopkinton State Fair, which usually falls on labor day week at the beginning of September. This year, we got to take Juliana to enjoy the animals, some of the food she could eat and just the atmosphere. I grew up going to this fair every year, so it felt amazing to bring my daughter. We miss it a lot and hope to attend one day again...

My mom and grandmother were a huge help during the last several weeks before our move to Singapore, even before we found out and told them. I used to pick my Nana up on Wednesday's, my day off and bring her to the house to be with Juliana and I. Then, my mom would come after work and we'd have dinner all together. Juliana also spent many overnights at Nana and Nanny's so we could have some quality couple time. Other times, they just dropped over to babysit so we could do errands or work in the yard or sleep!! They were amazing. This picture was when it was getting very cold, so the only way to keep her warm was with layers, blankets and body warmth.

Anyway, I love how she cuddles into her Nanny in the above picture and the face my mom is making. Such a deep affection for Juliana. God, I miss them!

We had planned a big first birthday celebration for the weekend of her birthday, but when we found out about moving to Singapore, we had to push it up two weeks. We're lucky, because nearly all of our friends and family cleared their scheduled to make it. In a way, it was also a farewell party for all of us since this party took place the night before we flew to Singapore. Juliana had a blast, playing the the girls and getting TONS of attention. I could barely get my own hands on her for a cuddle! And as you can see, the Elmo cake did it's job, covering her in icing!!

It was a bittersweet farewell, as we had no idea what to expect here in Singapore and no idea when we would see everyone again. Fortunately, we did know that my mom had already booked her tickets for Christmas and New Year's, so it made those first couple of months easier to get through.

More to come. Hey, I gotta finish up 2008 :-)

Flashback to 2007

I've been looking at old pictures a lot lately, going through old poems and decided to do some flashbacks.

This was me at 7.5 months old at the shower that my mom and Nana threw for me... My mom went all out, making the laundry line of clothes, a diaper cake and a bassinet filled with lots of goodies for our unborn little girl. I have an amazing family and my mother is my best friend. She has been by my side each and every step of the way, good times and bad, never judging, just loving and supporting me. I miss them so much every day. And I can't leave out the rest of my amazing family, who helped us out so much when Juliana came along, through meals, gifts and just simply providing advise and support. But yes, my to person (aside from hubby) is my mom. She's a remarkable and strong person who has provided me with the image of the kind of mother I want to be.

Next is a collage of the first few days with our new bundle of joy. The top left was in the hospital. Bottom right was bath #3 I think? We jokingly sent it to Jacob's brother and his wife who were on an expat assignment in Den Haag with the caption, "Moses says to come home!" Bottom middle, she was about a month old for her first Thanksgiving!

This is one of my favorite pictures. I had to zoom in on the cute little girl, sorry Jacob! I miss those days of her falling asleep on our chests while we lied down. She looks so peaceful...

This collage features her Christmas picture, her baptism pictures to the right and then in the middle, Super bowl pride, even though it was a HUGE upset that year after a perfect season and then the PATS go and throw it all away. Anyway, she's a doll!

I must have several thousand pictures from the day she was born and it's hard to pick my favorites, so 2008 may take a little longer. Stay tuned!

Life with our princess

I love being a mom. I love seeing Juliana's beautiful face every morning and enjoying her giggles, dances and music. The big hugs and kisses melt my heart and the best is when all three of us are together. She's been so much more cuddly lately and likes to give a lot of random hugs and kisses as well raspberries now too!

Chilling out on daddy...
She loves her Dora memory game my mom gave her a while ago and she's getting a lot better at it. Lately, she likes to kick her foot up like she's a ballerina when choosing a card. It's adorable!

So serious about finding the match...

Hey, anything can be a hat, right? This is one of her toy bins turned into a makeshift hat. She was playing peek-a-boo with it and I caught her peeking out...

One of her favorite breakfast foods has become waffles. It's always a special treat when Jacob makes homemade waffles for us!

Isn't that the most beautiful smile ever? Okay, I'm biased, but it lights up the room and it's hard not to smile when you see her like this!

This is her at music class, which is now a "drop-off" program, so she goes in without an adult. Ah, she's growing up so fast!

A good friend of mine just had her baby girl, Marleigh Grace, so CONGRATULATIONS to Kathy and Jeff on entering the whirlwind world of parenthood. It's babies galore lately and I also have a nephew on the way too...Jacob's brother and his wife are expecting in a couple months. More too, but I won't "out" anyone since I don't want to be THAT person!!

Kids are amazing and every day, Juliana teaches me something new about myself or life. She's amazing and we are blessed that she is growing, healthy and learning so much, so fast!