January

I am sitting here in a very peaceful apartment. It's 10 to 11 on Sunday morning. Tara has gone for her morning nap. Alex and Gary have gone to the airport to take Ann to her flight home to the UK. I feel I should be tidying up a bit, but that will wait!! We have had a really nice January. When I last wrote, Ann was just coming back from Bangkok. She arrived back in Singapore on Saturday Jan 16th, 2 days after her birthday. For Ann's birthday, we bought her tickets to the musical "Merchants of Bollywood". It was a fabulous show - we went on the Saturday night and we all loved it.



This is Alex helping to blow out the candle on Ann's birthday cake (icing was melting a bit!!)

A couple of nights prior to that, Gary and I went to the Indoor Stadium to see Green Day. It was an excellent concert - we weren't the oldest ones in the crowd and the stadium was a fabulous venue. I have just subscribed to Time Out and look forward to knowing what else is on in town so we can go along!

In the past 2 weeks, Alex has been enjoying his school days. His potty training has come along very well (thank goodness) and we even venture out in taxis now. Yesterday, we went to the zoo. On the way home, around 10 minutes from home, he announced he needed to go to the potty. Aaagggghhhh, Gary and I kept him occupied, and also used bribery (if you do hold on, you'll get a treat when you get home). Thankfully, we made it!! I'm sure the day will come when there will be an accident in a taxi - I hope we have an understanding driver.

Tara is doing really well - developing so quickly. She understands so much, she is very co-operative and will try to get me a tissue or something off the bookshelf when asked. It's lovely to see her understanding as well.



One of Tara's favorite things to do is to climb in the stroller when it's not in use!

Our house has had a little sickness over the last couple of weeks. Gary caught a very bad cold and hasn't yet recovered 100%. Alex is also coughing and sneezing and I have had a sore throat that I can't seem to shake over the last couple of weeks. Fingers crossed, we will all feel much better soon.

We have had a lovely time with Ann whilst she's been here. The kids have loved having their Granny here - Alex has been sharing his room with Ann and has jumped into her bed on most mornings before coming to visit Mummy & Daddy.





Ann and I went to Johor Bahru - just across the water to Malaysia last week for a morning's shopping. Fabulous shopping over there, I managed to get a pair of shoes, a handbag, shorts and a dress! It is a fun day out - especially as this time we didn't take either of the children with us.



We had a lovely dinner at home last night for Ann's last night. Anelen cooked a rack of lamb and we had a 1998 Mildara Cab Sauv. Then I cooked a lemon delicious pudding and we had a glass of sticky with this. Yummm!!

I have managed to fit in 2 climbing courses in the past few weeks. I did the Level 1 toprope system course, and also a course on basic climbing techniques. Loads of fun -I'm really looking forward to going climbing with Gary now. Gary has started to go dragon boat racing with the British team. He has enjoyed it, but says it's pretty physical. I'm looking forward to going out too, but not too sure whether I might be a better spectator rather than participant! I have gradually got back into jogging. I need to find a 10km run to do now so that I have something to work towards. So far, I have run 8km and that felt pretty good - it's great to finally have a base back as I used to love jogging but then didn't do a lot of it in the past 3 years with pregnancy etc. It's great to get back into it.

School Days

We are only 2 weeks into the new year, but it feels like ages. We have had a really good 2 weeks and been very busy! 'School' started on January 4th here in Singapore. We were trying to get Alex enrolled into the local nursery which is just across the road from our condo as a friend of his from the building was going to be attending there. On day 1, they told me they were full but that we could probably get a space, they just needed to wait to see if they had any places that weren't taken by people who enrolled but then decided for one reason or another not to send their kids there. On Thursday I went over to enquire again and found out that Alex could get in, so that was very exciting as he really wanted to go to school with Lilah - his little friend from the condo. So, on Friday, he got dressed in his brand new sports uniform (which is for Fridays and excursion days) and Gary and I took him across to school. As Gary and I were checking to see he was ok, he was firmly engrossed in a project with ice cream sticks, so I'm sure he was fine. He seemed to have a lot of
fun.



This week has been his first full week there. He goes at 8:30 in the morning for 3 hours. Every day when I pick Alex up, he is very happy and seems to really like it. I say, "What did you do today Alex?" "I played". "Good, did you learn Chinese?" "Yes" "What did you learn?" "Chinese". OK - he is having fun and likes his class and his teacher - he informed me on Monday that he needed to go to school to see 'all of my friends' so it is really nice that he seems to enjoy it. They do learn Chinese every day as well as English. There is a mix of nationalities in his class, a few of them also live in our building so that is really nice for him.



Tara has gone from crawling a lot of the time and walking some of the time to walking pretty much all of the time. I am still surprised to see her walking - she however is delighted with herself and is learning to move quite quickly. She delights in her brother and yesterday when Alex was asleep and Tara should have been asleep, she went and banged on his door. She has taken to nodding and shaking her head, in answer to all sorts of questions. She has an opinion on everything. I was having a joke with Alex telling him he had to eat vegemite as he's Australian. Now if we ask Tara if she's British - she will shake her head and nod vigourously when asked is she's Australian.



Ann is due back from Bangkok tomorrow - she will be back with us for 2 weeks before heading back to England. Alex and Tara are looking forward to seeing Granny Ann and especially to helping her eat her birthday cake.

It's 2010 - Happy New Year

It's Saturday morning - 7:20am - I am sitting here with both kids playing on the lounge room floor. It's been a good new year so far. It was Tara's first birthday on Thursday. She enjoyed the cake and us singing to her. She also enjoyed seeing friends and family on skype - she is quite good at waving and blowing kisses now. Gary had a half day on Thursday so got home around 2pm which was nice.


Sometimes, I find it hard to believe Tara is 1 already. It is a beautiful age, learning to walk and talk. She is very happily walking around 50% of the time now. When Alex started walking within a week, he was walking pretty much all of the time, but I guess as Tara is an earlier walker, she still alternates between crawling and walking. She is very much into climbing now too - she can make it onto the couch which can be an issue and kind of means someone needs to keep an eye on her all the time. When Alex was this age, we had a playpen! She is also learning to talk. She says 'ba' repeatedly (ball) and 'ma' pretty much means food or milk.


Since Monday, we have been attempting potty training with Alex. I have to say it's going better than I expected. He has been happy to hop on his potty for the last few days and gets excited about what goes in to it! Our biggest challenge now is timing. He gives about 2 seconds notice of needing to go. To deal with this, he has been running around naked at home and this works quite well. But as soon as we put pants on, we seem to get accidents again. I'm sure it will work itself out though.


Alex is very into Bob The Builder at the moment. He knows all of the characters and loves putting on the DVD's which we use to help him to sit still when we want him to sit on the potty especially. So, yesterday we were watching a DVD and he says "FARK saves the plane". I said "Pardon?" "Yes Mummy, Fark". "Really?" Hmmm, I am trying to supress my laughter and saying to Gary, have you heard this? "Alex, who saves the plane" "Fark". Very earnestly. Hmmm, not Muck? "No Mummy, Fark". I have to watch this DVD again and work out what he is trying to say and then correct him!! We are very careful with language in front of the kids and I'm pretty sure he is trying to say something else but has got a little confused and struggling with the pronounciation!


New Years for us was a pretty quiet affair. We hung out at home and had a bit of an Indian feast. Anelen and I cooked a couple of things from our "Taste of India" cookbook. We had a glass of champagne (Mumm '99) to toast the New Year, but we were asleep before midnight!!


I love watching the kids interact these days. This morning, Alex and I were up in the lounge room around 6:45. Then Alex heard Tara make a noise and he says very excitedly "That's Tara". We were in the middle of using the potty for the first time today so thankfully Tara was patient and didn't require immediate attention. We then went to get Tara up and Alex says to her, "Sorry Tara, I haven't got your milk yet, I'll just go and get it" and he trots off to the fridge to get Tara's bottle for her. They are just starting to chat and interact a lot more which is just beautiful to watch. As I currently have Tara climbing up on the couch beside me, I think I'd better sign off now. Here's a couple of photos of Granny Ann (Gary's Mum) with the kids. Ann has been visiting for the past few weeks and on Monday went off to Bangkok to see her brother Neville. She is back with us in 2 weeks time for another 2 weeks.

Saying goodbye

On November 30th, around 7:20pm Singapore time, Mum phoned to tell me that Dad had passed away that night, around 3 hours earlier. Dad had Alzheimer's diagnosed in 1998 and for the past 5 years, he had been living in a nursing home. In some ways it wasn't a shock - we had expected the news for years, but the reality was that it still did rock me a bit. That Monday night was spent planning our trip back to Adelaide. At first, I suggested to Gary that I go out on Thursday night with the 2 kids and that he join me on the weekend. Gary then suggested that I go with just Tara and he come along 2 days later with Alex. This is what we did in the end. It was actually a really good way to go and although it was quite expensive to fly out for a short time, I'm really glad we did all go. In a really short time we managed to catch up with lots of family and friends.

The funeral service was a really fitting tribute to Dad. There were a lot of people there and all of the family were able to be there. I know that Dad would have been very happy with it. The burial was at the cemetery and Alex enjoyed throwing rose petals on to Poppa's coffin and saying "Bye Bye Poppa". Tara enjoyed struggling with me continuously trying to yank her hat off. Alex then had a blast chasing his cousins around at the rooms after the burial where we had a light lunch.

My brother John did the eulogy for Dad. It was really lovely and I asked him if I could post a copy of it here. Here's a link to it:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/19885987/?key=MjAyMTFhNDIt&pass=YThhNS00Yzk2


Here's the last photo I have of Dad. It was taken on July 5th, a week before we left Adelaide.



On the Friday before Dad's funeral, Mum had arranged for me to go to see Dad. In his coffin, he looked really peaceful, and a lot better than he does in the image above. I'm really grateful that he is finally at peace. He was a wonderful father to me and I am privileged to have had such a great Dad.

Dad, I love you and will miss you but am very glad you are now at rest. xx

Thanksgiving

As yesterday was the US Thanksgiving day and I have a very close connection to the US through my year as an exchange student there (22 years ago!!), I wanted to write about being thankful. As I write this, it is 6:51am and I have my 2 beautiful cherubs on the lounge room floor, playing together. For some reason, they are both waking earlier these days. I fear our 7am sleep in days are over. Ho hum, we will just have to get to bed earlier. I am so thankful to have Alex and Tara in our lives. They light up my world and I cannot imagine life without them.

Tara is on the verge of walking and talking. She stands independently (very wobbly) and walks with the aid of a finger, a trouser leg, pretty much anything. She says "Dada" and "Mama" a lot and is at a beautiful stage of life. So much will change very soon. She is just 5 weeks away from her first birthday. She recently weaned herself. Yes, I did think this was supposed to be my decision, but I am very grateful that I was able to nurse both my babies and I guess that by 10 months, she had received the goodness from it.

I receive a weekly email every Wednesday telling me how old Tara is and what she is up to this week in terms of behaviour etc. This week said "Your baby is 47 weeks old and all of a sudden is showing fussiness where she would previously eat foods without any bother, she is now showing her opinions". Yes, Tara had obviously read this one before - she is definitely acting this way. She is a very opinionated 47 week old!

Alex is starting potty training. I had initially thought we would leave it till after Christmas and we haven't started it fully, but are trying it out. He has a sticker chart which he currently has 7 stickers on. He does really well at telling us when he needs to go, but it is often at the time of going, rather than waiting till we make it to the bathroom. However, we are making progress. I think it will be a slow process though. Yesterday at the zoo, we had 4 visits to the toilet - the first 3 produced nothing and the 4th one (when Gary was on duty) produced the business on the way to the toilet in the nappy. Oh well!! :) He is also quite funny with his announcements - seems like we are always in a taxi when he announces very loudly "I'm doing a poo". I usually say something like "It's ok, you have a nappy on" or "See if you can wait". The other day we caught a taxi and the guy had quite long hair. As we were climbing in Alex announces very loudly "It's a LADY!" I quickly said "No Alex - say hello to Uncle" to which he obligingly said "Hello Uncle".

The past 2 weeks Gary has been on holiday. We have had a really nice time - had a few outings - went to the Bird Park and to the Zoo. We had our first barbie last Sunday - it was a success (lamb chops and sausages). Life will return to 'normal' next week when Gary goes back to work. Gary's Mum will arrive in Singapore next Friday and she will be with us for 3 weeks before heading off to Thailand to spend a couple of weeks with her brother.

I am thankful for my family and friends - I really am very lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life.

I am also thankful for my wonderful husband who is currently making me a cup of coffee. I love you Gary.

The past month

As I write this, Gary is lying on the couch with a book covering his eyes sleeping. I think I shouldn't have to convince him too much that it's a hard gig looking after the kids! But also a very rewarding one. Gary is on holidays this week and next and we have just got both kids down for a nap. I'm going to go to the gym shortly.....

We have done a lot in the past month, I really must update this more often.

Mum came to stay for 10 days on November 1st. It was lovely to see her and for her to spend time with Alex and Tara but it was also challenging. Mum's mobility is pretty limited and I really felt the strain of not having a car, so we were completely reliant on taxis. Our condo is reasonably accessible but does have a small hill at both the front and the back so it was difficult for Mum to get out and get in the taxis. She walks with a walker but very slowly and it is tricky trying to deal with 2 small children and help Mum out as well. The taxi at the airport dropped us off at the wrong place and I had a really hard time pushing Mum on her walker and pushing her suitcase along too. We did manage to get out and about a bit though.

Our next visitor is Gary's Mum - she arrives in 2 weeks time. We are looking forward to seeing Ann again - it's been 11 months since we saw her last. Ann will be with us for around 3 weeks then will be off to Thailand to see her brother Neville for a couple of weeks and then back with us for a couple of weeks.

We left Singapore for the first time in 4 months (for the kids and I) last weekend. We took a ferry over to Batam which is an Indonesian Island only a 35 minute ferry ride from Singapore. We had originally intended to stay for 4 nights but as both of the kids were not feeling well - especially Alex, we decided to cut our trip short by a day and came home yesterday. We did have fun and I wish I had more time to go shopping at the mall, but things like naps for the kids cut that trip short! It is interesting going away and I think I know now a lot more about what to pack etc when we are going away for a few days. It was also hard work being out of the familiar environment and needing to ensure everything is safe and kid friendly. We forgot things like Alex's potty seat - he is showing some interest in potty training so I sat him on the toilet and was holding him there, then Tara crawls up, stands up and pushes the lid down, thereby cracking her brother in the back of the head. Oh dear! Anyway, it was a learning experience and we will be better prepared for travelling next time!! It doesn't help packing at the last minute when Gary and I had been out on Saturday night.

We did a fun thing for kids last weekend - we went for a visit to the fire station. All of the Singapore fire stations are open on a Saturday morning for open house and so we were shown around by the firemen who were very enthusiastic and gave the kids loads of attention. A fun trip out - we will definitely go again.






For the rest of Gary's holidays, we are planning a day trip to Malaysia, a trip to the zoo, maybe a farm visit and a few other fun things for the kids to do.

Oh yeah, I turned 40 last Sunday. That was the day we left for holidays. In hindsight, a travel day is not the best day for a birthday - it wasn't exactly stress free but we did enjoy some champagne and wine on the Saturday night followed by a visit to a comedy club here - that was a fun night out. Turning 40, I don't feel any older, it just sounds older than being in your 30's!! In some ways, I still feel like I'm mid 20's!!

Now, I really must get to the gym before one or both wake up!

Friends coming to visit!

It's been a while since I last wrote, we have had a couple of good weeks. Life with Anelen in our house is going well. The kids are both very used to having her with us now which is great - they really seem to have adjusted very well to having a new person living with us. My life has got so much easier! Just having an extra pair of hands to do the cleaning, help out with the kid's meals etc is fantastic. And Anelen is also a great cook. So, when the kids go down at 7pm, Gary and I get served a lovely dinner and we then feel like we have so much more time together. Gary and I have enjoyed having a few nights out together. Also given the fact that Tara is now consistently sleeping through the night, we have been making the most of been able to go out.

Last Friday night, we had our first visitors come to stay with us. Karen and Tom flew in from Brisbane and stayed with us just for the Friday night, decamping to the Holiday Inn on Saturday. It was lovely to see them (we last saw them in Adelaide last October) and so the 4 of us caught up on Friday night. During the day on Saturday, we went for a walk through Chinatown. Unfortunately, due to Saturday been a public holiday for Deepavali, a lot of stuff was shut, but we still managed to find a couple of things of interest.


Gary and Alex in Chinatown...

On Saturday night, Gary flew to Santiago - leaving us around 6:30pm. I got the kids put to bed, and went into town to meet Karen & Tom at their hotel. They had a deal where they got access to the Executive Lounge and free bar between 6 and 8pm. I arrived around 7:30 but still managed to have a couple of glasses of red wine - very nice. We then decided to go to Clarke Quay and had a wander before finding a restaurant to eat at by the river. Then a bit more of a wander around, and another stop before finishing the night just after midnight. It was the first time I've had to pay the 50% surcharge in a cab!! (If you catch a cab after midnight, there's a late night surcharge). It was a shame that Gary couldn't be with us to share in the fun.


Karen & I at Clarke Quay....

On Sunday, we went to the Botanic Gardens which was really nice.



I have been to the Children's Garden but not to the main gardens since we've been living here (been there once before as a tourist). On Monday, Karen and I had the very asian experience of going for a "fish spa".





This is where you put your feet in the water and fish of varying sizes, will come to eat the dead skin off of your feet. It is a freaky experience - I liked it and think it definitely has to be on the itinerary for all of our visitors from now on!! On Monday night, Karen, Tom and I went for a meal in Little India - love the curry!

Yesterday, Karen and I went down to our local shopping centre whilst the kids were napping and had laksa at the food court (yum) and then a pedicure. Oh what a luxury. We said goodbye to Karen last night - it was great to see you Kaz and I look forward to meeting up again soon - wherever in the world that may be!

I have also been spoilt over the last few days with birthday presents (I'm still in my 30's for another 3.5 weeks though!!) Karen and Tom bought some lovely wine, a Jamie Oliver cookbook (America), a book and some other goodies - I was very spoilt. I also received in the post yesterday a DVD set of "The Cook and The Chef" from Allisa. Thanks everyone - I feel very spoilt.

Gary has been doing well in Santiago and in less than 48 hours, he will be back home with us. He seems to have done quite well with jetlag - he managed to stay awake till Auckland on the flight over to Santiago but I am sure he will be shattered by the time he arrives home on Friday.

Anyway, I'd better sign off now as I'm sure I'm on borrowed time - Alex has been down for just over 2 hours and Tara for 1 hr 15 so I think I will get called very soon. Today whilst they have napped, I have made a caramelised pistachio and lemon slice! It is a great recipe I got from Gary's aunt in New Zealand - thanks Carol. But you can't get caramelised condensed milk here (I don't think) so we did have to do it from scratch! I think it will taste fab though!! It's to take along tonight to girl's night out - yum!

Finally, here's a short video of Tara using our thai cushions. She is quite a keen climber - probably more so than her brother!!