A very Happy Easter

My mom brought along an Easter basket, plastic eggs and candy for Juliana's Easter morning! She got to wake up to a basket outside her door and then go on an egg hunt. She had a lot of fun...and I think she wished there were more! Showing off her basket full of eggs. Oh and yes, it's official, she loves chocolate!

Doesn't she look absolutely precious! The dress and hat are precious on her...

God love her! This was the first Easter season that Juliana could really take part in...Feeding daddy some chocolates...

One of the other Easter gifts was a Mr. Potato head that was originally dressed up as an Easter bunny, but she wanted to see the fireman's outfit...

Yes, still sooooooo proud! She's been showing them off all morning.Hugging the Bunny stuffed animal that was also party of the Easter gifts...
After the excitement of Easter eggs passed, my mom had brought along some arts and crafts, so they got started on some coloring and painting. The final products were quite a site to see!
Happy Easter to everyone, especially our loved ones back home in the U.S.

A wonderful surprise

Sue Lynn and Mun Cheong had mentioned this place to us a long time ago, but we never got around to visiting. They were kind enough to pick us up this morning and bring us to the Pottery Jungle which was founded in 1965 and houses the only working Dragon kiln in Singapore. It was remarkable and huge!
As you can see, it's practically a tunnel and Juliana went inside with Jacob to explore...

My mom and I sat down on one of the many handmade benches, each one very unique and beautiful!

This is definitely not a place for kids, but she still had fun looking (we had to hold her) at all of the sculptures, especially the ones of animals...

There was a small dock out on a pond that was very nice and quiet... Ah, the queen!

It's so nice to have family here :-)

Sue Lynn spotted this perfect photo moment and I love it! Such a great picture of my mom and I...

I love these trees and they make for great pictures... After leaving, we drove through NTU, which was an enormous campus, much bigger than I could have imagined. We stopped for lunch and tried a little of everything. We got my mom to try some more local dishes like Mee Goreng, Chicken Rice and Carrot Cake (not that kind of carrot cake that we Americans would think of). It was a delicious meal and Jacob finally got his coconut drink too!

We still always leave after spending time with Sue Lynn and Mun Cheong feeling blessed to have them in our lives. They have helped us explore so many different parts of the city, different foods and been wonderful friends. I'm glad my mom got to visit again to see them as well. It was a lovely morning and we hope to go back to look at the pottery again kid-free so we don't have to worry about anything breaking!

Nana's here!

Yay! My mom finally arrived early this morning from the U.S. for her visit. She'll be here until the 28th, so about 4 weeks all together. We're excited to have the company and Juliana is already on cloud 9.

My mom brought Juliana some gifts, of course, and one of them was this tent with a tunnel... She wanted Nana to climb in with her, but there is definitely not enough room in that tent for an adult!

She also got some binoculars from Nana...

Coloring together...

One other present was the Table Manners set for her Mrs. Goodbee dollhouse, which she played with a lot this morning!

Like Juliana, I am thrilled to have my mom here for the next few weeks. We took my mom to eat some local food for lunch...

Looking forward to the next few weeks, for some fun with my mom!

Jacob Ballas garden with friends

This morning, we had a play date with Chris and her two girls, Sophie and Miriam at the Jacob Ballas garden, the kids section of the Botanical gardens. Then, we got lucky and ran into Jenn, Elyse and her in laws. The girls had plenty to keep themselves occupied and the weather wasn't too bad since the blazing sun wasn't out.
Time to play in the sand...

I love the wooden tables and chairs carved out for the kids to sit at. Juliana would sit down, put her snack in front of her and then say a prayer before eating. How precious!

Elyse and Juliana were picking flowers to put in their pail. It came to a point that we had to stop them though or else there wouldn't be any more flowers!

All the girls sitting around the table eating some "dinner" of leaves!

Juliana and Elyse took turns singing, "Do you know the muffin man?" and then peeking through the bamboo to see if I was looking!

After lots of playing in the sand and trees, we spent a little bit of time in the water park area for them to cool off. Juliana had a blast, Anything to do with water, she loves! I can't wait to return there with my mom during her visit since we never made it here last time.After being stuck inside way more than I ever want to be again over the last few weeks, t was good to get out, walk around and enjoy being with my girl.

My mom gets in Friday morning, so we are looking forward to spending the next several weeks playing with her, going to the parks, swimming and sight seeing. I can't believe she's here in less than two days and will be staying for nearly the entire month of April. We can't wait!! Juliana seems to be getting excited too, because whenever I mention Nana coming, she says, "Yes, so much fun!" It will be nice to have a family member here for Easter too, since we didn't have that last year. Yay!

Blessings to all of our family and friends back in the U.S. We miss you all so much!

Dr. Juliana is here to save the day!

My precious little girl has been exhausted for days now, so there's been a lot of play time at home when she doesn't have classes. Yesterday, it was dress up which began with necklaces, a crown and two magic wands! She was casting spells on me, so I had to guess what they were...
Then she pulled out her doctor's kit and decided to put on the scrubs that her Aunt Niki and Uncle Jason sent to her. She was Dr. Juliana Stephen, checking my temperature and giving me shots. She looked adorable.

I'm not sure I'd want a shot from a doctor in this position!

Using her stethoscope... I asked Juliana if mommy was healthy and she said, "No!" Uh oh, better work on that some more. But she certainly makes an adorable doctor!

And so it goes

I admit, it's been a bit dull around here lately. Most of last week, I spent inside with my leg up, trying to heal the damage from the accident with the glass door. It's still sore and sometimes painful, but there is an improvement in all of the other cuts up and down my leg. I had a good family weekend, but was exhausted and sore, so I took it easy the beginning of this week. Just enjoyed time with Juliana and got some writing done.

She's full of fun lately, although she is pushing all of her limits too, seeing just how far she can get. We've been better with handling this though and much more patience, I think, and she's responsive for the most part. I can't expect more, considering she's nearly two and a half and it's all typical for her age. She still makes me so happy though.

Yesterday, to impress her Nana and Nanny on skype, she got all her bracelets on and her sunglasses. She was styling!
Then, after our chat with them, we played and she lounged on the couch...

I'm amazed at the things that come out of her mouth, mainly because I don't know where she learns half of it. It's remarkable how much she retains. Her newest thing is her love for dolphins and we're not quite sure what started this, but it's always, "I like dolphins" our of the blue! Hmmmm, guess we'll see what we can do with that!

Out the other day, posing like a model again... Even though it's been a bit dull, I finally get my stitches out in two days, but I'm a bit concerned about how it's going to look and the swelling in my knee. Guess I'll find out on Friday. Then, with only one week to go from there, my mom will be here!! I am so looking forward to her company, conversation and just being with us for nearly four weeks. Juliana is going to have a blast and I may be a grown up, but I fully admit that I miss my mom!! I can't wait to have her here. I'll be able to go in the pool in a couple weeks hopefully and we can take Juliana out to the parks and just have lots of time to bond. It's definitely not coming fast enough and we'll have company for Easter this year, which is nice. Restaurant has already been chosen.

Not much else to report. The blog is still a passion for me, so I like to keep everyone updated, but no BIG news on our front. Who knows though! For now, it's just day by day and seeing what God has in store for us :-)

So life has downs too, right?

Interesting day on Tuesday. I was having a pretty good one, spent the morning chatting with my cousins and Uncle, then mom and grandmother on skype with Juliana, then having a picnic/tea party with her before she left for music class. I was then keeping busy at home before yet another accident (am I somehow cursed? just kidding!) happened.

There were (and I say were, because Jacob removed all the rest of them that afternoon when we got back) glass doors on the entertainment center, tempered. One had come loose, but we did a "quick fix" for now and looking back, are just annoyed that we didn't just take it down in the first place. I opened the left side of the cabinet to get a book and the right side came flying off the top and then snapped at the bottom hinge. ARG! My reaction time is a bit bad lately, so no time to just snatch it up.


I didn't even know what to do. Yes, I panicked. I slipped and landed knee first in a pile of glass, and cut open my right knee pretty bad. I am actually thankful I was home alone, because I can't imagine something like this happening with Juliana here. So, first call: Jacob, which pretty much consisted of "Can you just get home now!" and then I called my landlords since I know they live close. I was waiting on that, hoping I could make it, but then I saw the damage to my knee and slowly crawled my way to the fridge (NOW I memorize that number for the ambulance) and then back to where I left my phone. So, ambulance showed up, Sue Lynn, Mun Cheong and then Jacob. I even called my neighbor because I was feeling out of it and did not want to loose consciousness before someone showed up. First of all, THANK YOU to all of you for helping. One ruined blanket in the trash (sigh, it was a nice one), 13 stitches in my knee, one in my right palm and a criss cross of scratches up and down my right leg later and I'm okay!

I must admit, the service at the NUH was pretty good. It took them quick a while to clean off my legs and take all the pieces of glass off. A few were embedded, but gone now. It was just my right knee that required the most attention and it's going to be a nasty scar. As if I don't have enough! I asked a million questions, poor doctor, but he was kind enough to answer every single one! Well, it definitely could have been worse. Fortunately, I got hold of Jean and she went to my friend Chris' downstairs with Juliana until we all got home, the place was completely cleaned up and she didn't have to see all the glass and blood.



Who knew such a great day could turn so badly, so quickly? Oh well, that's life. I'm just fortunate no major nerves were hit and that besides my knee, the rest of the damage is minor, although just a lot more scars to add to my collage of "body art."


One thing Tuesday's experience taught me, besides BE MORE CAREFUL AT ALL TIMES is that there's always a silver lining. It took that experience to wake us up to any other household dangers (for about the millionth time since we had Juliana) that there may be. Now, we can be even more aware, for her sake and ours.


Last night, Sue Lynn and Mun Cheong came by with these beautiful flowers...
Had to put them in a trash bin since they were so big! Juliana got her own one (she had just stubbed her toe and was milking it, still is) and loved the extra attention from Sue Lynn and Mun Cheong before bed!Stitches come out in a week from tomorrow and the bandage up my entire leg comes off tomorrow. Then I think I'll just have to cover up the major cuts. Ah, but my leg will be able to breathe!

Off to the theater

Yesterday was theater day! Juliana got to see "Ollie and the Slurge" which she thoroughly enjoyed as usual...

Such a big girl in her theater seat...

Just to make you smile :-)

Our little swimmer!

Aw, her fist big boo boo

As a toddler, Juliana has definitely had her fair share of bumps and bruises, but this was the first that required a band aid! She picked Minnie Mouse and made a big deal about getting lots of kisses for her boo boo and then continuing on with this routine throughout the rest of the evening...Cuddle time with her Poohs, yes that's plural. She has a Mommy Pooh and a Daddy Pooh as well as a Baby Pooh!

Then, as they sat down to watch Veggie Tales, she asked daddy, "Lie down?" and "Where's the pillow?" It was so adorable...

Our little cuddle bug :-) She loves hugs and kisses. Whenever Jacob and I hug or kiss, she comes running over to hug our legs and let us know she wants to be part of it!!

Is it time to leap?

I'm amazed at how life can throw us a curve ball now and then and make us realize we need a change. Through my work over the years on myself and with social work, I've learned that it's all in the individuals hands to choose when to really change. It's often related to the metaphor of climbing a mountain. Two steps up, one down. It may take while to get to the top and you may fall along the way, you may even get hurt. But eventuality, you reach the top and once you're there, the choice is, "Do I leap or don't I?" That leap could be forgiveness, freedom, recovery, a new job, and so on and so forth. I'm at the top of my enormous mountain and every now and then, I fall back a little, but I made it this far and there is so much more to come. I know I"m not truly ready to leap just yet, but I have high hopes for my future!
All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward. ~Ellen Glasgow
If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. ~Mary Engelbreit
It's the most unhappy people who most fear change. ~Mignon McLaughlin

God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me.

Are you ready to leap?