miss us?

we finally arrived in SG in the wee hours on monday, after a loooong 20 hour flight. with 3 kids, 10 pieces of luggage, 2 strollers & car seats & 17 boxes of barang barang that we accumulated in US after 2 years. most were already in SG, with a few more making their way home about the same time as ourselves. i console myself with the fact that FY shipped 22 boxes after 4 years but we have 2 more kids. :)

after 5 days (or nights?) of jetlag, the boys finally settled down to SG time. no more waking up at midnight & partying till dawn. what a relief for our neighbours.

to date, i had been a stay at home mum for 3 weeks in SG. thankfully i have not lost my sanity yet. :) there have been crazy days but i would like to think there were more good times than bad.

in the meantime, there are still no photos on this blog until we get a proper laptop or PC that i know how to upload pictures. :)

new stuff the boys learnt. hot & smelly, i'm wet (jerald has never perspired before in his whole 2 yrs in US), i want to go home (to 1047 - our apt in US), why is the floor in SG made of wood? (cos it's soooo hot), 2-3 baths daily are a must!

new stuff adele learnt. to smile ever so sweetly to her zonked out mummy in the morning. :)

last days

as we enter our last 7 days in america, it's time to take stock.

things i'll miss about america.

1) the seasons.

spring : the joy of seeing green buds sprouting from branches, grass emerging after a dreary & long drawn MN winter, yellow dandelions dancing among the grass, baby animals at the zoo

summer : the smell of sunscreen, splash pads, wading pools, swims in lakes, strawberry & raspberry picking, picnics at playgrounds, lakes & parks

fall : apple picking, wagon rides, hay stacks, cool breezy days, jumping in leaves, beautiful colours of leaves in gold, red & orange

winter : sledding, snowmen, snowballs, baking

2) stroller-friendly places with tons of automatic doors & ramps

3) clean bathrooms (toilets) with paper, hand soap, towels & diaper changing table. it's a bonus if we find a family restroom (big enough for the whole family, shopping cart (trolley)

4) free parking in most places

5) indoor play areas in shopping malls (great for parents' tired legs & kids' energetic ones)

my sweet pea

adele turned full month last sat. it was a quiet event. us being here. sorry, no pictures to show except this one taken a little before that.

for now, she's my "sweet pea", jerome's "sweet baby", jerald's "pretty girl" & daddy's "princess". it's amazing how much she resembles her 2 big brothers at birth. we reckon we would one day return to MN to show her her place of birth. other than that, MN is a quiet place boasting perhaps only of mall of america - the biggest mall of US.

we're now in the process of packing 2 yrs' worth of barang for our move home for good. "for good" somehow has a nice ring to it.

little bundle of sunshine

wed morn 5 am - we rushed down to the hospital in the freezing -20C cold with howling winds easily bringing the temperature down to -30C. not my idea of a perfect timing for adele's delivery, i whined to God. i was exhausted after a sleepless night. the boys were really co-operative on this drowsy morning. after 6 hours of monitoring, contractions became irregular. we were discharged at noon, totally exhausted.

fri noon - J's dad arrived to help us out. relief sets in. now we feel ready.

sat morn - contractions start. feel quite unsure now. after monitoring for 2 hrs, i decide this was really it. leaving the boys with grandpa, we left for the hospital. the nurse checked & started yelling into the intercom that she needs help to get the room ready & for the recep to page the doctor NOW! it sunk in that she was coming. our regular doctor could not rush down in time. a flurry of activities started. page the doctor on stand-by again. nurses rushed into the room to set things up. adele attempts to wriggle her way out. doctor comes. rushed introduction. adele was ready to arrive. 3 pushes, 6 mins & a cry erupts in our ward.

our little one has arrived to the warm sunshine of MN. after endless months of winter, she has brought an early spring. happy birthday, adele sweetheart.

thank you, Jesus. for all 3 parts of my prayer for her delivery answered in perfect timing.

snowed in

camping indoors. trust J to come up with this ingenious idea of setting up tents for the kids. their fav toys were also invited to the session.

boom-boom shoes. indoor version of ice skates.

when the cold winter weather drives us indoors & the boys crazy, we often have to think of "outdoor" things to do indoors.

i'm thinking of our old neigbor's spring tulips, chirping birds, green budding leaves, colorful blooms, farm babies at the zoo... in the dead of winter. spring offically starts mar 20. in MN, it starts warming up much later.

this spring we have something extra to look forward to. adele's birth! which is any time now. we trust in God's perfect timing. though i have my own selfish little extras - morning, when J is home & not in school, when J's dad is here. :)

my numerous blogs tonight are a reflection of a 3rd trimester nestling instinct - instinct to clean the house & tie some loose ends before baby comes along. i'm hoping to do some arty spring stuff with the boys before adele arrives. green grass, colorful spring flowers, fluffy bunnies, chirping birds, rainbows....

skyscrapers

read somewhere that it's fun for kids to paint with different paint mediums & surfaces. so this is a 3D version. Jr promptly concluded these boxes could be skyscrapers. :)

love is in the air

1st saw this on another blog as a Christmas angel but i thought this fits well too. just nicely for 2 siblings. till march, at least... :)

V-Day's cookie decorating at our community. cookies, frosting, sprinkles n candy. how sweet...