Another award!

Thank you fellow blogger, Jill for this wondrful award!

To all my friends and family

I got this from a good friend and had fun figuring it out, so I wanted to share with all of my friends and family. I hope you enjoy it too :-)
On a side note: although it's rather simple, I got this as a recent review for my blog, yay!

God's Hug

Lord, you lift me up,
You raise me to a place
I never knew existed,
Of peace and serenity.
You gather me up
Inside your loving arms
And hold me close
Out of harm’s way.
Your eyes never leave mine,
Your touch never cools
And your strength
Never weakens.
This moment,
Right now,
Makes me feel ashamed
Of all the times I doubted you.
I feel sad that I questioned
Your guidance
And became angry at you
When things didn’t go my way.
I’m guilty of lying,
Of sinning of my own fault
And I ask you now
For forgiveness.
I know from your smile
That you see past the sins
And focus on my loving heart
My kind nature.
Before you go, God,
Will you hug me just once more?

More Fall Fun

We went to a Halloween party yesterday and Juliana got to dress up again! She's so proud of her Alice in Wonderland costumer...

Busted out the sweater because it was cold! She loved riding on this horse, but no ideas because we have no place to put one!

Decorating pumpkins...

Happy girl :-)

We've been trying to get her to stop sucking her fingers and it's not an easy task. Her solution- cover her face and maybe we won't notice!!!

Parenthood

Parents

Here’s to the joy of being a parent,
Of watching our children grow,
Learning all about the world
And growing up before we know it.

Here’s to the ups and downs
Of dealing with a toddler,
It’s the best of times
And the worst of times.

Here’s to the little kisses they give,
Their warm hugs,
The conversations that don’t always make sense,
And the endless questions.

Here’s to the tea parties,
The dollhouses and books,
That brings us back to our childhood
And make us feel young again.

Here’s to the blessings they bring us,
The responsibility of raising them
And teaching them what they need to know,
Before they’re too old to need us.

Here’s to being a parent,
The most important job in the world,
The greatest gift God can give us,
To watch our precious angels grow.

Cutie patutie!

Just some cute pictures to share! Wearing Nanny's glasses...
Wearing ALL of her necklaces, bracelets and rings!

Pumpkin carving

One of the things we had missed about New England while we living in Singapore was the change of seasons. Fall has always been my favorite season, with the foliage, cooler weather, apple picking, apple cider and pumpkins. I especially missed how the holiday season feels more real - there's something about hot and humid weather that takes away from Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Yesterday, we headed up to my mom's for dinner and she had bought two pumpkins with Juliana. Jacob got the task of carving them and Juliana paid attention for all of ten minutes! She did help a little with digging out the seeds though and loved the pumpkins after they were done. Since I haven't found my camera yet, I took these pictures with my phone and they came our bright and blurry, but it's all I've got!

It's been a while...

I haven't been getting around to blogging as much as I used to. I guess since we're not living in Singapore, I feel like I don't have as much to say- but really, it's all the same except back in the US!!

We finally moved into "permanent housing" after I spent July at my mom's with Juliana and then the three of us spent August and September in a hotel for a week then a temporary apartment up until our move the third week of September. We're renting for now, to see how we like living in Massachusetts- it's a nice townhouse in Malden, much different than the top two floors of a high rise! For one thing, we don't have people living above and below us, only next to us. It's also nice and quiet at night time since we're in a condo complex off a side road. You wouldn't know we lived in a city, which is great.

Juliana started classes at the Little Gym and it's just the same as it was in Singapore except a different group dynamic. She still impresses me with how adventurous and strong she is, especially on the bars! She has an amazing grip for a little girl and I love going to the classes with her and watching her on the beam and bars. Reminds me of my days as a gymnast :-) We're thinking of enrolling her in dance classes after the holidays since she loves to dance and enjoys copying Angelina Ballerina. She's even taking up prancing around on her toes!

Another new addition to Juliana's life has been preschool three days a week. Day one, I cried, because even though she's been asking to go to school for a while now, she had a rough time being dropped off the first two weeks and although this week was much better, she still got upset when I was on my way out the door. One saving grace is that she has found a favorite teacher, so when we show up, she goes from hugging me to walking over to her with her arms up waiting to be picked up. I hope another week or two will help her adjust to being at school, because it breaks my heart to see her sad when I have to turn around and leave :-(

Other than the move, Jacob's new job and the new additions to Juliana's life, it's been good to be back. I continue to miss a few things about Singapore, but we've been able to spend time with family and friends which is what we missed most about being so far. It's going to be especially nice to see them all for the upcoming holidays, especially for Juliana.

I will try to keep this updated since it's also like a journal for our life and add more pictures as soon as I figure out where the camera disappeared to - Juliana will be three soon, so I better find it before her birthday!

It's that time of year

Even after over a year and a half in Singapore, I never got used to the humidity. I did, however, enjoy the fact that there was only one wardrobe all year long and that jackets weren't needed. We've only just begun to have some cooler days here in the U.S., but I'm already dreading the cold weather. It means snow will be coming, jackets, hats and gloves will be needed and a whole different wardrobe. I am enjoying the fact that I get to see the seasons change though, because it helps pass the time and fall has always been my favorite with the beautiful foliage and cool, but not cold weather.

Some of the best things about fall besides the foliage are pumpkins and apples. We did get to go apple picking during our visit home in October 2009, but it was different this year knowing we live here. Juliana had a blast of course... She picks them, but she won't eat them!
I can't wait to take her to pick out pumpkins and maybe we'll even get around to carving one this year!!

On a side note, I have been missing some of the things I took for granted in Singapore, such as the pool and playgrounds, the parks, our helper (of course- that extra set of hands was helpful and I loved having another adult around to keep me company- you are missed Jean!), not needing a car and being able to walk to the mall and grocery store within 10 minutes. I also miss being able to throw on shorts and a tank every day, without worrying about whether or not I'll be cold. It's amazing, because I didn't realize just how much these things meant to me while I was there, but now I do. It's time to get ready for more changes though, one of which is being able to experience the holiday season back at home with family and friends.

Happy Fall everyone!

Update and BCM

In case you wanted to know, here's the update! Things are good, but we are still in temporary housing in Cambridge MA while searching for our newest home. I admit that looking for a home this time around isn't all that exciting after moving 5 times in the last 5 years that we've been married. It's also much more difficult this time around with Juliana, so thankfully my mom has been able to watch her the last 2 times we've gone searching. We've narrowed it down a bit to a townhouse, not an apartment and we're trying to live close to the T or bus so Jacob has a good commute to work.

Other than housing, things are good and it's been nice to be back in the U.S. Just yesterday, my mom and grandmother came down and we took Juliana to the Children's Museum here in Boston!
She had a good time and enjoyed the bubble room... As well as many other adventures there!

Playing music with Nana...

Had to get this picture for her daddy in the hard hat inside the Construction Zone!

She even got to sit in a Bobcat...

I do feel bad for Juliana, because I think all of the recent changes have been hard for her. She's pretty resilient, but she was sick last week and took days to recover. Now that she's healthy again, she's back to challenging all authority and seeing just how far she can push her limits. Needless to say, it hasn't been easy. I feel like I spend most of my day saying "No" and "Don't do that." It's exhausting!

I'll keep you all posted once we find a place to move!!

Adjusting to being back

I didn't think I would have a lot of adjusting to do with the return to the U.S., but I have a feeling I am because we're in temporary housing. Actually, we've been in a hotel for a week and a half and will be moving into the temporary apartment tomorrow until we find our permanent place to live. Without a "home," it's hard to get used to being here instead of Singapore, where we were all set up. I enjoy being able to see family and friends, I just wish I could fast forward two to three months to be in our place.

Aside from housing, it's been wonderful to be back in the U.S. The weather has been warm, but not hot and humid like SG, making it enjoyable to be outside since we don't sweat the moment we step outside. It's also been nice to be close to everyone we know, but I do miss the people I met in Singapore, especially Jean. I also miss Juliana's classes, but that will be over soon since I set up some trial art, music and gym classes and she'll be starting school as soon as I find a suitable school. I got used to having Jean around for company during the days and help with Juliana. It was always a lot easier to get ready in the morning and do errands with Jean's help!

For the most part, Juliana has been handling all of these changes well. She does talk about Summerdale (where our apartment was) a lot when she asks to go home. She will also say, "I want to see Eden and Bethel" or "I miss my friends" when we look at pictures of our friends from Singapore. I hope I can find a school and classes soon, so she can be around other kids more often to keep her busy.

There are a few things about moving back to the U.S. I'm not looking forward to (snow, unpacking and setting up house again, moving stuff out of storage, etc.) but other than these small things, it's going to be nice being home!

Life in Singapore

Our time living in Singapore taught us a lot about life in other cultures and we are moving back to the U.S. having learned a lot of lessons about how we want to live our own life. There are many things that Jacob and I will miss about living in Singapore, such as:

1. Efficient public transportation
2. Walking distance to the MRT, the mall, grocery store, movie theater, restaurants
3. Cleanliness of the entire city
4. Safe to walk around, even at night time
5. Good sushi, Indian food and other local favorites at Hawker centers
6. The Lokes
7. Jean
8. Having a swimming pool 12 months of the year
9. Tons of activities, parks and playgrounds for Juliana
10. Warm weather at all times (but we definitely won't miss the humidity)
11. People from all different cultures
12. Being able to travel to parts of Asia in 8 hours or less
13. One wardrobe for the entire year instead of different wardrobes for each season

Singapore was our home for over a year and a half and as we transition back to life in the U.S., I'm sure we will realize that there are even more things we'll miss about it. Fortunately, there are a lot of things we're already enjoying about being back, such as:

1. Grocery stores
2. Shopping malls aren't "the place to be" at all times, 7 days a week
3. American food
4. Having a car (although this is sometimes frustrating)
5. Spending time with family and friends
6. Being able to enjoy the outdoors without being ridiculously hot

...and the list goes on. One thing I do not like is living in temporary housing again, since it doesn't feel like home just yet, but that will change in the coming months. I do hope we get to visit Singapore again when Juliana is a bit older, so we can revisit and show her where she turned 1 and 2 years old.

A day in Maine

Being back in the U.S. to stay has been wonderful, because it means we get to see our friends and family as well as our favorite places of New England. Yesterday, we went up to Ogunquit Maine with my mom and grandmother for some time at the beach, Perkins Cove, the Marginal Way and lobster! It was a gorgeous day with a nice breeze and the ocean air was just as wonderful as I remembered. Here we are in York, where we stopped for lunch and ice cream by Nubble Lighthouse...

After walking down Marginal Way, we headed to the beautiful beach on Ogunquit where Juliana had a blast in the water...

Jacob and I already know there will be many beach days in the years to come since she's such a little fish. The water was cold, but that didn't stop her from enjoying it!

The day was a reminder of how nice it is to live in New England, especially during the warmer months. I don't look forward to dealing with the snow, but the change of seasons will be nice. I wish we could just skip over the cold months though...oh well!

Home and here to stay

As many of you already know, Jacob was offered a job in Cambridge Mass, and he is finally on U.S. soil. We are officially here to stay!! He accepted the job and we are currently in Charlestown until the temporary apartment is set up in another week and a half. It feels surreal to be here to stay, almost like it's not actually happening. I think things will sink in much more once we're in the temporary apartment and Jacob starts his job in a week. I can't wait to be in permanent housing though, unpacked and settling in to truly make this our home for the months and years to come.

When we left for Singapore, both Jacob and I were excited at the opportunity to live abroad and we have learned so much over the last year and a half. One of the hardest things about living in America is remembering that we don't have to "keep up with the Joneses," a huge lesson we learned in Singapore. Material things don't bring happiness, but quality time with family and friends does.

I look forward to keeping everyone updated as the move unravels and we have many new adventures in store.

Being H-O-M-E

It's been wonderful to be home and see family and friends. There is one major thing missing though and that's Jacob. Juliana's been telling me on a daily basis that she misses her daddy and can't wait to see him and I certainly miss him too. Luckily, the days are going fast since we've been busy and she doesn't have much longer until we see him.

It was a wonderful 4th of July, with family at my aunt's house and my cousin even had a few fireworks to set off in the driveway. This week, we got to go to Canobie with my brother, sister-in-law and niece. Juliana had a blast on the kiddy rides! When I left New Hampshire to move to Singapore for Jacob's job in 2008, I was very nervous as well as excited about the idea of living in another country. I have always been close to my family and very attached to the good friends I have, but I could never have imagined that I would miss them all so much. I just can't wait for Jacob to join us.

I got to meet my niece

Part of what has been so difficult about being in Singapore has been the missed holidays and events in the family, such as the births of my nieces and nephew. I finally got to meet Riley this afternoon and see my brother and sister-in-law. Riley was precious and Juliana had a blast entertaining her and playing with her.
I look forward to spending more time with her in the coming week and I think Juliana does too!

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!!