Maya's first month

Wow, wasn't that quick? Can't believe she'll be a month old tomorrow. She's settling well into life with us and we love her more each day if that's at all possible. To celebrate her first month we held a small gathering at our place, with all the yummy food catered by my Mum, including red eggs (hen eggs dyed red) which symbolizes harmony and fertility. Pictures have been posted on my Picasa album.

Awee she's just gorgeous and so lovely to photograph!

She's growing very quickly too, like all healthy babies her age, going through rapid growth in both physical and mental development. She no longer has skinny chicken legs but is filling out nicely. She also feels much heavier, I won't know how much exactly until her 6 week health check. At tummy time she can lift her head and turn from side to side. She loves to look at the light out the window and watch the flashing lights under her play gym. She's also starting to bat and kick the rattles that dangle from it. She's still rolling up on her side so we have to keep a close eye on her. Over the past week she's broken out in little spots all over her head, face and neck but it looks to be starting to clear up. I've put together a short photo compilation of Maya first month which can be view on my YouTube channel or by clicking here

I forgot to mention that Maya started smiling back at us a couple of weeks ago, real smiles and not the ones brought on involuntarily in newborns by gas/wind ;)

Matthew is starting to get used to the idea of having Maya around. There's been a dramatic and positive change in his behaviour in the past few days. He's been giving Maya plenty of kisses and cuddles without prompting or suggestion from us. He's VERY polite, sweet and affectionate towards everyone including his friends at school. His teachers are suitably impressed and so are we. He's also showing concern over people's feelings eg. asking his Poh Poh 'are you happy Poh Poh?'

On other news, we've booked flights home to Sydney on the 22nd of Oct for 3 weeks and we are all very excited about the prospect of seeing family and friends and showing off our new addition. Maya looks incredibly cute in her new passport photo and Matthew is new a frequent flyer member.

Art Garden Exhibition 2011@Singapore Art Museum

For those of you who have been reading my blog might remember that this time last year I took Matthew to a wonderful exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum called Art Garden. This year's exhibit is no less interesting and fun for kids and those young at heart! It's just a great way to spend a couple of hours with your little one and watch their little face light up with glee.

Here are some pictures from our visit, the full set is posted on picasa Matthew 25-26 Months

Posing with Walter the rabbit, you may remember him from last year's exhibit! You can actually buy your own inflatable Walter from the SAM shop.

Ticket for entry are $10 for adults and $5 for children aged 6 years and above. A real bargain compared to the ArtScience Museum. Museum tickets also entitle the holder to discounts at the cafes and shops on the premises.

Matthew stopped short when he walked into the first room, he was in awe and went really really quiet trying to take it all in.

Matthew "I like choo choo train"

Fruit made out of paper, with each paying adult ticket, you can trade this in for a cut out template for making paper fruit. Once completed you can trade your paper fruit for a real one :)

Matthew and Dad hard at work making a paper apple and banana.

Eventually Matthew (and I) got a bit distracted and started drawing on the papier mache trees... which you were encouraged to.

Maid? No thanks.

Since arriving in Singapore I've lost count of the number of times I've been asked if I have a 'helper'. A helper essentially is a live in maid that help with chores and pitches in with the care of children. I've seen helpers pushing kids in prams around the shops while Mum browses through the shops and helpers feeding the kids at mealtimes while Mum and Dad carry on with their own meals. Once I fell pregnant, the frequency of which this question is asked since has doubled. What's even more surprising to the person asking the question is my answer: 'no, we don't have a helper nor do we intend to hire one in the foreseeable future.'

I don't object to hiring a live in helper to help with domestic chores, however I do think that as a stay at home mum (SAHM) that a part-time cleaner or house keeper once or twice a week is a perfectly reasonable solution to help stay on top of the cleaning. Helpers are very common here in Singapore and hiring one is inexpensive, approximately SGD$750 a month, which means that she won't get a hell of a lot out of that once the government get their hands on their portion of their wages. What I do object to is the way some helpers are treated (not all fortunately). For example, it is considered the norm for helpers to be roomed in what is in most cases the storage room or the bomb shelter. Every Singapore apartment has one of these, they are windowless tiny rooms barely large enough for a single bed, that are often located in the 'yard' which is open air outdoor area attached to the kitchen. I wouldn't sleep in one, nor would I expect any person to do the same.

Yes I have no doubt that raising 2 children on my own without hired help or family nearby and with a husband that works ridiculously long hours will have it's challenges but I feel that for us it's the natural thing to do. Many many mums manage perfectly fine with 2, 3 and even 4 kids, so will I. I know that the last 2 years with Matthew has just breezed by and I have to acknowledge how lucky we have been to have had such an easy time of being first time parents. Perhaps if the learning curve of being new parents had been steeper I might have a different view point and jump at the chance of having a helper?

One thing is for sure, having the opportunity to be a SAHM is a wonderful once in a life time experience to bond with your baby/toddler and if circumstances allow, I would highly recommend it to any Mum. This opinion is also in line with my own personal views on natural birthing and water birthing, positive discipline, attachment parenting, and extended breastfeeding. I think being out of the corporate environment is turning me into a hippie.

23 Months ... almost 2 years old.

May' 11 issue of Motherhood Magazine.

Matthew has just been gorgeous these few weeks which have just flown by. As most of you may already know, his magazine cover is out on the newsstands at the moment and it's a little strange seeing his little face at the gas station, at 7Eleven, at the grocery stores and at the book shops. He is another little look at his cover...

We had a busy Easter break, Good Friday was spent picnicking and playing at Pasir Ris Park where there is a huge children's play area. It's a great place for children (& adults) of all ages. We were exhausted by the time we got home. The rest of the long weekend was spent hanging out with our with our good friends either at brunch or eating a lovely claypot crab.

Good Friday@ Pasir Ris Park

Alyssa, Abigail & Matthew

The following weekend was another long weekend because of Labour Day and we kicked off the holiday with play date with Matthew's good friends, Abigail & Alyssa. Matthew has been friends with them since the first week we arrived in Singapore and we catch up whenever our schedules allow. It's wonderful for us Mums to see them play together and compare all the little changes we've seen in our children over the past year.

In preparation for his 2nd birthday at the end of the month we also been on a toy shopping spree. We bought him some new toys as is customary when little boys have birthdays. The big present he's received us is a scooter. He's still getting used to scooting around the apartment and is quite tentative on it. But he likes yelling out 'SCOOTA!' We've also bought him new Buzz Lightyear toys, a whole lot of new bunch of books and additions to his Thomas the Tank Engine train set.

In readiness for the inevitable transition to a 'big boy bed' we've also got a new bed on order and it should be arriving early in June.

Mother's card from Matthew

Matthew's Nanna and Pop also arrived on Wednesday this week and they've been busy getting re-acquainted. We are all off to Phuket for an 8 day holiday shortly. I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to post after the trip.

As it's Mother's day tomorrow, Matthew made me a lovely Mother's day card. There's a picture of Matthew in the middle holding a sign which says 'I love you Mommy'. He also bought be a beautiful pair of pearl earrings care of Duncan which I love.

Happy New Year! and Matthew's first day at School

It's been a very busy start to the new year. So much so that I've not had time to blog! If we havent been in touch with you over the holidays here's a quick recap.

Christmas was spent in Hong Kong with our good friends Paul and Dina and their 2 kids Charlie and Lizzie and their 3 four legged kids Bruce, Toby and Lucy. They live in a very serene and beautiful part of Hong Kong called Sai Kung. The landscape is very hilly and green with lots of hiking trails surrounded by the sea and reminds me of the New South Wales Central Coast except greener.  It's a 45 min to an hour trip into town by public transport. We really had a wonderful time with lots of good company, good food and wine. We even managed to catch up with a few of our cousins during our visit and squeeze in a brief shopping trip in the city. Though I must say the trip wasn't entirely without some misadventures, but mostly there were lots of fun and excitement. Matthew caught a really bad cough while we were there which in turn made Duncan and I sick. The New Year came and went without much fanfare for us as we declined all social invitations over the last week to recover at home. Because of illness, Matthew missed his entire first week at school. I'm glad to say that the worse seems to be now over and we are all back on the road to recovery - YIPPEE.

Matthew had his first day at school yesterday, and admittedly I was anxious about leaving him in the care of his teachers. When we arrived at the school we were greeted by a staff member who did a check of Matthew's temperature and a once over of his hands and feet. (Foot and mouth disease is just as big problem here in Singapore as it is in Australia) We where then shown Matthew's classroom and cubbyhole where he could leave his schoolbag. His teacher, Ms Jesslyn then did a run through with me about what would happen over the course of the morning. After that Duncan and I said our goodbyes to Matthew as he was ushered through the gates of his room to be with the 6 other children there (about half of them were crying). It was only as I was waving to him through the gate and saying my final goodbyes that it dawned on him that we were leaving him there...

The plan had been to drop our little guy off at 830am and pick him up early at 11am (we are only sending him for a half day) to ease him gently into his new routine without Mum. When I returned to pick him up, Gwen the principal informed me that though he cried at the beginning, he still participated in all the class activities and was playing very well at the moment and suggested that he's stayed till after he'd had his lunch with the other children.

Matthew never fails to surprise and remind us how resilient and independent he can be. The report back from his teachers yesterday was that he did really well. This morning when we dropped him off, he walked right into the music class to join his teacher and other children without a backward glance at Mum or Dad :(

January and upcoming travel and visitors....
I might as well add that it's going to be a busy few months ahead for travel, Duncan is extremely busy at the moment as his counterparts from all over the globe has descended upon Singapore to keep him occupied for a while. Once that's over, I'm sure something else will crop up as it always does. In early February, Duncan will be flying to Sydney to attend our good friends, Josh & Bec's wedding as Best Man. I'm still undecided as to whether I'll make the journey home with Matthew to visit for a week, especially now that Matthew is enrolled at school. Sometime in March and possibly into April, we are planning a family trip away,  most likely to Europe.  We are also expecting visitors from Perth and my parents to visit us again during April which will be very fun. We are planning a trip away to Phuket in early May and possibly a trip to Hong Kong again or Tokyo for Matthew's 2nd birthday on the 28th. That's what's on the cards for now. Will update with firmer plans as the dates approach...