Jordy Stars in Remake of "The Terminal"

At the Candy House, where we were given two minutes to grab as much candy as we wanted that could fill a little Thermos!

Jordy is destined to be a world traveller, methinks. Judging from his reaction to the three times we've brought him to the airport.

Changi Airport is bedecked in Christmas regalia. There's a Disney theme happening, with all the shops tying in promotions to the theme. For example, spend $50 or more on Visa at any outlet and get a chance to spend two-minutes in the Candy House where you can stuff a Changi Airport thermos mug with as much candy as it can hold. But of course we didn't have to do any spending in order to get into the Candy House. The lady at the bookstore - where I had gone to buy a paper - took one look at Jordy and said, "Aiyoh so cute! OK, just for you, you get this ticket and proceed to the Candy House ok? If they ask you where your receipt is, just say it's in the lucky draw box!"

When we got to the Candy House, the young man manning the queue asked for our receipt, but I just couldn't tell a white lie and said that all I bought was a paper! But they still let us in. Talk about the joy of Christmas giving eh?

Anyway think Jordy was a bit bemused by the whole Candy House thing. He was much more attracted to the wide open spaces that present themselves wherever you turn at the airport. And he enjoyed his Sky Train rider to Terminal 2 strapped safely to Dad. He certainly enjoys facing out on the Baby Bjorn now! And holding on to Dad's fingers the entire time!

A rare shot of the three of us! D and I are half looking forward, and half dreading all the kiddy things we'll have to take Jordy to soon enough (e.g. Disney on Ice?! Yikes! But think we'll draw the line at overpriced Barney shows! )

We love the airport too in fact. Not just 'cos it brings back memories of all the great places we've been, but all the places yet to explore with Jordy in tow. We can't wait to bring him to his namesake country - and let him discover the wonders of Petra and the crusader castles! And hiking through the valley at Dana where we experienced two days of pure content :)

But think we're going to start off his wanderlust a little more modestly. A family beach holiday next June! Destination to be confirmed, most likely Bintan, but I'm still dreaming little dreams of all of us renting a villa in Phuket! Though looking at the crappy political situation, who knows what Thailand will look like next year!

The Pool at the End of the Rainbow (or, Jordy's First Swim)

Introducing Guest Blogger, Daddy Turnip!



Behind the scenes of The Camel Diaries: JR's stylist makes a last minute adjustment while his mentor gives him a few encouraging words before another grueling shoot.



The air of excitement you can see from this photo was in anticipation of an historic event: today was Jordy's first swim ever. Lucky for Jordy, in his Kong Kong he has his very own professional swimming coach. You can see he is already practicing his stroke with fingers positioned for maxium aerodynamics (hydrodynamics? Hydromatic?)

The anticipation built while we waited for a thunder and lightening storm to pass. Mum, Dad and Grandparents studied the sky intensely as the storm went from little rain drops on the pool, to a thunderous deluge, and back to little drops. Being half-Kiwi, this weather waiting did not phase Jordy, but his swim team were back and fourth like weather vanes in a cross-wind. I am not exaggerating when I say that Jordy and the last drops of rain entered the pool at the same time.


And here he is in his new world of water. You can see his new yellow swim shorts (it was supposed to be his new swim-nappies but they performed one of their dual functions shortly before the swim.) You can also see his natural bouyancy. And his lovely Mum. It was a very happy occasion.



Is it just me or is this bath really, really, big? He seemed a little unsure at first, but it wasn't long before he was smiling and kicking.



He studied the water as intently as we had watched the rain. Was he thinking of all the new possibilities such a large bath opened up?



A rainbow for Jordy's first swim.

Little Cafe Boy is Growing Up!

Jordy the cafe boy. At The Coffee Connosieur with Aunty Su Yin on Thursday. Umm, Jordy the serviette is not a type of food.

Gosh has it been a week since my last post? The days just seem to slip by! Have been recovering from a mild tummy bug which has meant all my spare energy has gone to taking care of the bub. Typing this now as D is off to Botak Jones on a lunch expedition - Giant Italian Pork Sausage meal here I come! Yay!

This week marked more milestones in our new life as a family of three :)

1. I'm starting to teach Jordy how to read! He seems to be enjoying it so far - using the Glenn Doman system. Well at the very least, we're both having fun at it :)

2. Jordy is definitely sleeping through the night now. Woo hoo for the little one! And his relieved parents!

3. He's discovered how to grab on to things with a pincer-like grasp. From rattles, to edge of play mat, to the hanging monkey on his jungle gym, to bra strap (mine!), to his t-shirt, this new revelation is giving him a lot of fun now!

Jumperoo time!

4. We finished watching all seven seasons of The Gilmore Girls. I am in a bit of mourning here - Lorelai and Rory, Emily and Richard, and the inhabitants of Stars Hollow became like family to me! Now what'll I do? The good news is that Jordy is taking shorter and shorter to feed which means I don't have the luxury to watch TV languidly in the day anymore! Now it's more about me becoming the entertainment (who ever thought I could do so many different voices?)! Though I must say I haven't enjoyed anything as much as The Gilmore Girls since The West Wing. D and I are also almost done watching the most excellent Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the Aaron Sorkin series that only lasted a season (Why, oh why?!). Desperately need a new TV series to get sunk into. Recommendations very welcome! D wants to get The Sopranos but I think it makes for too stressful viewing. Need something with no violence - am seriously thinking of getting the Anne of Green Gables series! Definitely Mad Men when it finally comes out on DVD.

5. He is laughing big, hearty laughs. It's hard to capture him in motion, the picture below is the closest I've come to so far. Maybe it's because it's so much more fun being in the moment with him than trying to snap a shot of him! Heh heh.

"I'm all cheeks at the moment!"

6. And I've saved the most significant milestone for last. On Thursday evening, I went out for dinner sans Jordy for the first time since he was born on 10 August 2008 at 7pm! Phew! The occasion? My mum's farewell dinner from her colleagues (she is starting a new role as a superintendent of schools in December) - the family was invited as a surprise and my dad was the surprise element in the "guess who this is" game my mum played blindfolded! It was a lovely night and though it was odd being without both my men, it made me appreciate what I have more when I went home that evening and saw them both having a boys night in! Don't think they missed me as much as I missed them though, haha!

"What smooth hands you have!"

A Page Turner of a Weekend

Jordy and his dad just before they adjourned to the gentlemen's cigar room.

Most of our friends can tell you that when we were considering names for Jordy, should he have turned out to be a she, Paige was always lurking in the background as a contender. Paige Turner, get it?! B-A-D I know...

But true to his almost name sake, this weekend saw Jordy flipping over the page of his cloth book with his own wee hand, not once but twice! Not a fluke!

And another first this week, for the past seven blessed days, Jordy has been sleeping through the night!!! He goes down at 7pm, then we wake him around 10pm for another feed, and he sleeps through till 6ish, 7am! The other seismic shift is that we have now officially moved out of the little man's room - we're back on our Sealy posturepedic (which is heaven), and Jordy now can enjoy his own space! We suffered Jordy-withdrawal symptoms the first night but the allure of uninterrupted sleep proved to be a good antidote.

Proudly showing off his 7.25kg frame. Did I give birth to John Goodman or what?

Jordy in a Bumbo, Part Two

"Sorry Pooh, no two ways about it. My head is definitely bigger than yours!"

The weather in Singapore is perfect today! It drops to a cool 24 deg, which on this tropical isle three-degrees north of the Equator means only one thing: time to get out the winter woollies! Well, in Jordy's case, wearing long sleeves and pants at home in the day! This cute grey suit is a gift from Jordy's Godpa James, as is his new favourite thing: his Pooh fleecy blanket! He can't get enough of it :)

"Mom! Are you done with the photoshoot yet? I need to get back to Pooh! He's disputing the size of my head!"

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

The little Christmas bauble

Singapore is cranking up into Yuletide mode and I couldn't be happier! D was off work for the afternoon so we went to the Vivo City (thunder and lightning outside and we had to run errands. We're not mall rats! Truly!).

Jordy was in an ultra cranky mood as the poor soul was repeatedly woken up during his nap by the bloody drilling going on upstairs! Today they sank to a new low and drilled in all THREE bedrooms at the same time. There was no safe haven. So I scooped him up and went to the not-so-quiet sanctuary of the mall.

Anyway, the not so good news is that he cried quite a bit and as I was a bit frazzled from the stupid renovation noises, I forgot the Baby Bjorn. Which meant I had to carry him and push the stroller at the same time. Which of course meant that I couldn't go far and so sat at Coffee Bean waiting for D until he arrived.

But the good news is that I DID manage to find the perfect Christmas bauble - a ceramic Christmas truck from Lim's Arts & Crafts- for Jordy for his inaugural Christmas tree! Woo hoo! We're going to get a live Scandinavian tree from IKEA - better still is if you return the tree to the store for recycling in January, you get a $10 IKEA voucher and your tree gets turned into compost! Talk about good corporate citizen.

So as of today, we have started the great Turnip tradition of the annual special Christmas bauble for our special little boy. I love Christmas! Must be about time to bring out my Dean Martin and Nat King Cole Christmas CD. I'm the happiest Christmas tree, ho ho ho, hee hee hee.

Happy Three-Month Birthday Jordy!

Gong xi, gong xi! (Mandarin for Congratulations!)

Jordy is now officially 3 months old! I waited until 7pm to type this post (which is exactly his bed time!) for posterity's sake! Many, many happy returns my little man! I wonder what the origin of the saying is. D thinks it's because when it's your birthday and you get presents, you can return those that you don't like! Any The Phrase Finder explains, "Since the 18th century this has been used as a salutation to offer the hope that a happy day being marked would recur many more times."

So Jordy, in the spirit of the 18th century, I pray that this very joyous day will recur many more times. Even as I think back three months ago to this exact time... you popped out on to the world stage to the sonorous sounds of Ella and Louis playing on our ipod in the delivery room - though for the life of us we can't remember exactly which song. I'm sure it wasn't A Foggy Day or Let's Call the Whole Thing Off. In my mind, the song that plays is the same one that I sang to your dad at our wedding, Our Love is Here to Stay.

Mum... since it's my birthday, can I stay up late and watch Amazing Race with you and dad? Please? (FYI: my answer was, "sorry dude". Wait about ten more years and you'll get to stay up till 9pm!)

To commemmorate the passing of this fourth trimester, D and I present Jordy with his new Rainforest Jumperoo, courtesy of the Robinson's Sale! As of today, it's the number 1 ranked baby toy on Amazon.com. And since everything else we have is from this Fisher Price Rainforest range, it kinda bodes well!

Jordy's still a bit young for it, his toes don't touch the floor in it, but we solve that with some Kiwi ingenuity and place a board game underneath him for bouncing pleasure! He spent the first few goes just stamping his feet up and down and looking at the flashing lights on the toy bar. He hasn't even realised the seat can swivel and open up a world of other toys! I can just tell this will be a winner though, as he looks very pleased with himself everytime he gets in!

We gotta work it work it.

Dancing in the rainforest!

And Jordy's birthday weekend was just wonderful! We had lunch at the NUSS (that's the National University of Singapore Society) club which we've just joined, then went to MacRitchie reservoir for a walk around the boardwalks. And on Sunday, had the most enormous burgers at Seah St Deli followed by a very sunny walk at East Coast park!

Boardwalk at MacRitchie Reservoir

Things We Can't Do Without in the Turnip Household

Tummy time with monkey!

It's funny how we've gone from being a minimalist household to not being able to do without certain key items of furniture and accessories. And also consider our great paradigm shift: when did we start classifying baby accessories under items of furniture? Goodness!

Anyway, it's been fun assembling these various items, and even more fun seeing Jordy enjoy them so much.

First up is his rainforest playmat, which has all kinds of funky toys dangling from the criss-cross bars above. There's a monkey, hornbill, giraffe, parrot, butterflies and a big red mirror. Jordy had a long conversation with monkey and giraffe while I hung up the laundry yesterday!

Mummy can you turn up the BBC please? I can't hear the programme over the squeaky toy!

Item number two is his infant car seat and stroller combi. And additional toy bar with more dangly toys! He's happy most days in the car seat, though there are occasions when he still acts up. But nothing like in the early days!

Itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout... and went to dreamland

Number three is his itsy bitsy spider bouncy chair. He loves it and can sit for more than half an hour staring at the spiders slowly moving up and down (the toy bar isn't pictured here). Also notice the weight of the child bearing down on the chair. He's GROWING exponentially!

"Shh, no talking in the theatre mummy."

Number four is a very recent addition to the menagerie and is the wonderfully-named bumbo seat (which Aunty Sheri so kindly has lent us). Jordy loves sitting in it to play with Melville the Mouse (he can now grab Melville and bring him up to his mouth for a belly kiss) and his little teddy rattle. It's also where he sits for story time and finger puppet theatre, all courtesy of the vaudeville act that is mummy. Oh and of course his precious Baby Einstien time!

Jordy and his dad at the Esplanade

And number five is daddy's arms! Now that mine are super achey from the constant picking up, putting down, carrying around, it's wonderful when you have spare daddy arms!

Jordy in a bumbo

These are from this morning. I just couldn't resist taking more pics. Here's Jordy in his bumbo seat which Aunty Sheri has so kindly lent us (she of Hooter Hider fame). He absolutely loves it. He was cooing, and laughing, and trying out all kinds of noises this morning. We had a great old conversation! And I introduced Jordy to Melville the Mouse and he had fun rubbing Melville's belly (today's Glenn Doman flashcard word is "belly" by the way, what a coincidence!).

I think I'm going to have to guard against the couch potato syndrome though (if he's anything like his parents!). He happily watched 25 mins of Baby Einstein (Baby Beethoven) next to me this morning. Had to stop it as he would have been very happy to continue! But looking ahead, think this will be a saving grace if we have to take a long flight. Plop him in front of a mini DVD player with Baby Einstein and we'd be good to go I reckon!

The Nuptials of Seto and Zai, Day Two

Trying to look respectable - check out the gorgeous bride with red roses in her hair and the groom in his Hugo Boss suit!

Day two of the great wedding weekend, and it's more mayhem and good times!

In a tribute to the US Presidential Elections, some of us try out our Sarah Palin hockey mum winks

I'm on wedding coordinator duty so our whole family goes early to the Asian Civilisations Museum, where the festivities take place. When we used to be able to travel light to an event, now it takes some military precision to pack everything we need for all three of us to change our outfits (including extra apparel for the growing bundle that is Jordy). When we leave the house, we are a hilarious sight. Between the three of us, we tote:

*One stroller, with removable infant car seat
*One baby bag in the form of a canvas rucksack
*One Bodyshop canvas bag containing makeup, my clothes and evening shoes, as well as Jordy's spiffy outfit
*D's shirt and pants on two hangers
*D's messenger bag containing a book, and in which he will store his day clothes after he's changed
*A woven bag containing D's evening shoes
*My handbag containing the itenary for the wedding, as well as camera and wallet

And of course, when we get there, it's starting to rain! Thank goodness there was so much help on hand to help me cart everything to the dressing room. Goodness!

But what a wonderful evening it was. The highlight (besides catching up with the whole gang again) was Zai playing keyboard intro to November Rain, then running like a rockstar to fetch his waiting bride, a very gorgeous Seto, and they walked into the rocking sounds of Guns n Roses. According to my mum, Jordy rose from his slumber to check out what was going on with all the hooting and clapping, but then promptly went back to sleep.

And I guess the highlight for Jordy was the many willing arms to carry him - he had a ball! And slept through the whole evening - have I said how much we love him already?

Jordy provides the only testosterone in a sea of estrogen.

Uncle Dean and Aunty Lichelle mime the alternative nuclear family

A Jordy sandwich - mama and gong gong are the bread!

The Nuptials of Seto and Zai (or, Jordy's First Wedding)

Trust Dean to try to out-bling the happy couple!

It's Day One of the great wedding weekend. We dress Jordy in his "Will Work for Milk" onesie and head out with Lichelle to Yew Tee Community Club, where Seto and Zai's wedding is being held.

The food is overwhelmingly good - especially the dessert spread! The kueh lopez makes me almost happy as seeing two wonderful people (paraphrasing their quirky wedding invite) making room for each other in their lives.

Ah!

Jordy hangs out with the rest of the guests, loving his cuddles with Aunty Felicia and Aunty Yvonne. Is it me or does he look a little excited when he sees me attacking the satay? Something tells me this guy is going to enjoy his solids!

Funky silat demonstration - D wants Jordy to learn martial arts now!

This wedding has everything! Good food, company, and lots of excitement in the form of a silat demo on stage. And to see Seto resplendent in all her bling! Oh and Zai with his kris. Don't mess with those two man! Part Two of the wedding continues tomorrow! Fingers crossed that Jordy will be a good wee bub for that :)

Channelling Little Britain, "G-o-r-g-e-o-u-s!"