Where has the time gone?!

Back by popular demand or maybe just back?  Anybody out there??  I guess I have been on somewhat of a hiatus but I'm going to try and get back at it.  I still have yet to even fill out the girls names in their baby books so this is the best I've got for historical purposes.  Don't judge me.

So much has happened since my last post.  I was reading it and laughing as I said that Rylee was going to crawl first but I guessed that one wrong.  Reghan is a beast and took off crawling at 6.5 months.  Rylee started at 7 months.  They are strong little boogers and Reghan will probably be walking in the next month.  She is already standing for short intervals on her own and she is only 8.5 months.  Scary thought and I'm seriously considering tying her legs together.  Rylee too as she is not far behind. 

Rylee (pink) and Reghan (green)

Reghan peering over her jail cell

Reghan is weighing in at 18.5 lbs and Rylee is still lagging behind at 17 lbs.  Their hair is still not growing so every Singaporean is still asking if they are boys.  I'm starting to get snippy with my answers as it doesn't matter how I dress them.  And my favorite question is, "are they twins?"  Seriously?  I have been tempted to answer no and say they are two weeks apart.  I just want to see the reaction.

Are they twins?

We are now referring to our home as Peltiers Playhouse.  We have gone into major protection mode as we have marble floors and the girls have already nailed their heads two or three times.  Rylee seems to have the worse luck and she will cry like her head has been cut off.   Therefore, foam puzzle squares is the flooring of choice.  Joe was pretty fired up as it has saved him from my constant begging of the $13,000 rug I want.  The good part of being in Singapore is no one cares and everyone elses house pretty much goes for the same look.  I doubt Candice Olsen would approve but maybe this could be what tips her off to do an international show??  Singapore has gone crazy with primary color foam squares!  Hmmmm....

So for now our world consists of playgroups, music class, ELMO and swimming.  I say "for now" as Reghan may get us blacklisted from all the playgroups in Singapore.  She likes to crawl on top of all the babies and steal their toys.  I've been told politely what an active baby she is and how strong she is... code for "get your kid off my kid".  Of course, most of these groups still have non-crawling babies so we'll see how their viewpoints change in the next couple of months.  But I can say without any doubt, they are two of the cutest  babies in the groups, actually the cutest but I may be a little bias (Leni says I'm not and that they really are)  HA!!!!!!!

Reghan Louise

Rylee Jane



Watching Elmo...





This just makes me laugh... he doesn't
understand where are all the boys?!



Perfect example of how Reghan plays with others.
She's just friendly!





I'm still deciding if I should go back and relive some of the moments from the past couple of months so stay tuned... 

5 Months Old and crying it out method SUCKS!

Reghan and Rylee

Hard to believe that Rylee and Reghan are 5 months old already.  I saw a new baby in the elevator earlier and it really does seem like that was them a couple of weeks ago.  I'm turning into one of those mothers that says stuff like that and shows pictures to uncaring individuals.  I can't help it!  They are funnier than ever and it has been such a trip watching them discover new things and each other.  You can't put them on the floor without them plopping over onto their stomach and trying to scoot along.  Rylee will probably be crawling first as Reghan has a little more weight to pull, so she might be second in that race.  I'm not sure I'm ready for all that! 

With all these new discoveries and stimulants, we have still been fighting the sleeping battle.  My girlfriend here convinced me that I have to do the "cry it out" method so that they can learn to transition themselves into deep sleep.  I thought, "no problem" since I went through the reflux screaming fiasco but I had no idea.  The first day I made it about 10 minutes and when I went in to pick up Rylee, she just cried and cried in my arms and I felt like the meanest person in the world.  Plus, I had Leni looking at me with the same feelings.  So I had decided Joe was going to have to take on this task but he just looked at me like I was a crazy person and I knew he would fail the mission. 

So onward we have gone and by the end of the first week, they are now taking three naps a day with at least one good two hour stretch.  Hallelujah!!  And they are much more pleasant in the evenings so I would say I'm a believer but it SUCKS.  It truly is one of the hardest things to witness as they literally sound like they are going to die.  Deep heaving cries with real tears but you can't go in the room and you can't pick them up for the time alloted.  Just turn the sound off the monitor and watch and I think 40 minutes was the longest stretch they cried and then it was off to dreamland and they woke up happy as if nothing had happened.  I had to send Leni away because I couldn't take the evil stares I was getting.  However, she is now a believer too. 

We now have two good little sleepers and all in time for us to travel to the US and screw up all my hard work!  I'm at least hoping it'll help on the plane ride.  Wish us luck and pray for kind passengers! 

ONE WEEK UNTIL WE ARE BACK IN THE USA!!!

Thanksgiving in Singapore

Actually, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Singapore in case you Americans forgot what the holiday is about.  I won't name any names... oldest sister... but was asked what my Filipino maid does to celebrate Thanksgiving.  I think I will make sure Reghan and Rylee aren't taking history lessons from her.  However, due to the many Americans that do live here, we were invited over to a families house to celebrate.  We did not know this family but I made an apple pie and mashed potatoes and had my wine ready to go.  Then we got an email asking if anyone would be bringing wine because she needed to get some wine glasses.  Red flag???  I pretty much knew from that point, that this would not be a Thanksgiving like back home.  They were very gracious in having us join in their festivities and we got to eat all the yummy traditional casseroles and desserts so it was nice to celebrate and made us a little less homesick.  Rylee wasn't feeling it so she started a meltdown shortly after we arrived and forced an early departure.  

Personalities defined... Rylee wide awake and Reghan out.

The next day we headed to Bintan, Indonesia for our first mini vacation with the girls.  Joe thought it would be good for us to get out of the condo for a couple of days plus it would be sort of a test for how the girls travel.  We took a 55 minute ferry over to Indonesia and had to go through immigration.  We had the girls in the Bjorn's and they did great, until Reghan got hot.  She is so hot natured and we managed to be the last ones in line to go through customs.  When we booked the ferry, you had the option of Emerald Class or Economy.  I'm sure you can guess which one Joe said we needed to take.  So as we sat with the peasants, Emerald Class got off the ferry first and were escorted directly to immigration and breezed through.  Lesson learned.  Luckily, Reghan wasn't going to have any of that and she started screaming because she was hot and pretty much done with this deal.  One of the officers saw us with all our stuff and escorted us in front of everyone to the front of the line and cleared us.  She is one smart cookie!!!! 

Bintan is a beach area that we decided was similar to Mexico.  Beautiful, clean beaches and blue water.  It is a great, little getaway and I'm sure we'll do it again.  We had a great suite that we spent a lot of time in but it was nice to be away and relaxed.  The one thing we failed at was taking pictures.  Here are a few of the beach while we were sitting out drinking Long Island Iced Teas and eating shrimp!



View from hotel room



Another view from hotel room

14 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!! 

The Tastes of Singapore

One of the cool things about Singapore is the diversity of the culture which brings with it, my favorite thing, food.  It is has become known for its rich, diverse culinary scene and has yet to disappoint.  Singapore offers Indian, Chinese, French, Thai, Spanish, Indonesian, Italian, and Fusion food which has driven a spurt in tourism here.  So, as you can imagine, I dived right in and have been wanting to learn how to cook some of these delicacies. 

Joe's favorite of the moment - pork rib soup

 

Indian Chicken Curry





Laksa - sooooooo good



Indonesia Chicken or Mutton Satay

  

Thai Tom Yam Soup



Chinese Chili Wontons














As luck should have it, my friend invited me to join a cooking class with her friends that meet once a month.  They meet at one of the girls house and you are to bring a knife, cutting board and apron.  The chef is Singaporean lady who is lots of fun and a great cook.  If you have any interest, you can check her our at:  http://www.kkaruna.com/main.htm .  Anyway, she goes over all the ingredients with you and you can ask questions, etc. and then she splits you off in teams to take on different tasks.  After everything is prepared, you sit down and enjoy your masterpiece with wine of course. 

The first class I learned how to make hummus (from scratch-using fresh garbanzos), falafel, chicken tagine, moussaka, spanikopita and these incredible coconut balls.  The thing I learned was that I have never been an eggplant fan but she won me over with the moussaka.  I have made it twice since the class.  Additionally, coconut has never been at the top of my list but these little balls were balls of heaven!  Basically, coconut and sweetened condensed milk... yowza.  You have to use fresh, grated coconut that you get from the wet markets so unless you know someone willing to grate fresh coconut, you probably won't get to tastes these unless you come visit!  After that class, my friend and I decided to cook for our guys and invite a new couple over that just moved from Austin.  It was a success and we have decided to make it a regular date once we all get back from the holidays.

Vietnamese Pho

Last night we learned how to make Vietnamese Pho (pronounced "fa").  Joe and I love pho so I now know how to make it and it was delish.  Along with it was Chicken Cabbage Salad and Sticky Rice with coconut cream and mangos.  Yummmmmmmm... coconut is a big thing in Eastern dishes.  I am now the new host of these cooking classes since our current host is moving back to the states (that's one of the sad things around here, you get to know great people and then they move away).  We will have one more class before we leave and it is an Indonesian menu and it sounds awesome.  Hopefully, I'll be able to find the ingredients when I'm home so I can show off my new culinary talents. 

Lastly, the chef also conducts wet market tours to teach you about all the local fruits, vegetables and spices and where to buy them.  The smells come with the tour at  no extra charge.  They call them wet markets because ice is constantly melting on the floors and they are constantly being washed down so sandals are not recommended.  I've decided it is best to go early as the seafood is fresh off the boat and hasn't been sitting there all afternoon.  Anyway, it was fun to learn and it will be a stopping point of my tours when people visit.

Tick, tock... time is getting shorter!!  22 DAYS!




This picture has nothing to do with the topic but I figured it wouldn't be complete without one picture of the girls.  First day at the pool.  They weren't too sure but they'll get it eventually!



4 Months Old!



Watching football with Daddy



I know I have been slacking in my blog posts, but my life has become a "schedule" and we have been in sleep training mode so nothing too exciting has been happening.  The girls are now 4 months old and are just the happiest little things and always smiling.  Well, that is until the bewitching hour of 5:00pm when the overtiredness sets in and the crankiness starts.  We are still in sleep training mode and trying to teach these girls how to sleep more than 30 minutes during nap time!!!!!!!  I've read all the books that tell you to let them cry it out and "ferberize" them but these little zombies will have none of that.  I let them cry it out for what seems like hours, and then finally go in to pop in the  pacifier, and they just start smiling and laughing at me.  I'm actually better at leaving them in their cribs to work it out but their daddy is a total sucker.  He can't take it and they know it.  So by the end of the day, they are exhausted with red eyes and lately have been in bed by 6:30.  The good news is they are great night sleepers so I'm not complaining too much.  They have been in their big girl cribs for the past month and the transition was smooth but they still like listening to the frantic hairdryer sound which sounds awful and continues to make me wonder what this means about their personalities.  I am wondering if the passengers on the airplane will mind this sound as we are traveling 24 hours to the US? 

Always holding each other

Reghan is still beating out Rylee in the weight game as she is 13.3 lbs and Rylee is 12.7 lbs.  Not too much but it seems they have a ways to go since their cousin, Millie, who is two months younger is the same weight as Rylee!  As they get older, they are really starting to take more notice of each other.  They love to be touching each other when they are close and don't seem to care one bit if they kick each other in the face or suck on each others hands.  I wonder if that will be true when they are 12?  Reghan is really starting to reach for things and they both are rolling all over the floor.  When we are gone on holiday, our helper is going to child proof this house.  We figure they will be crawling or near crawling when we get back and this place is definitely not child friendly.  And Leni is hard core about safety and sterilization so I feel confident it will be deemed "safe".

I haven't written much about our helper, Leni, but we were definitely blessed with a good one.  She loves our babies and takes the ultimate care with them.  She just finished taking a first aid/cpr class and came home full of even more knowledge and is even more rigid about their care.  I know we drive her crazy because we are not that rigid.  It's a good balance.  And the best part of having a Leni is no housework for me!  She is up in the morning with the bottles cleaned, my coffee made and the housework started.  She even irons our t-shirts.  I had a day of jealousy wondering if the girls were going to love her more and think she is their mom and was ready to let her go to do it all by myself when Joe looked at me and said, "but I really like my t-shirts ironed."  So, I got over that real quick and living back in reality... well, Singapore reality.  That will be the one thing that will be hard to get used to when we are back home! 

Having someone live in your home that is not family is hard to get used to at first but once you see how easy it makes your life, you get use to it real fast.  Of course, there are things that drive me crazy but they are really small on the scale.  In fact, for those of you that know me well, will laugh at what makes me nuts. She makes this "shhhhhhing" sound when the babies are upset that literally puts me over the edge of insanity.  And when she is giving one of them their bottle, she constantly smells their head.  Anytime I tell someone that, they say but babies smell good and I know that but I still think it is weird.  It all then plays into my conspiracy theory that she secretly thinks they are hers and she is plotting the day she is going to steal them.  Joe thinks I'm a nut job.  :-)

Well, that's enough for today!  I think this might have been a little lengthy but that should make up for my slacking.  It has been about 30 minutes, so I'm sure my free time is dwindling!  I'm taking some cooking classes so I'll write about that in my next post...

36 DAYS!!!!!

Halloween in Singapore

Thing 1 & Thing 2 won the costume contest!  Of course there were only two participants and their parents were the judges but they won nonetheless.  Halloween is not a celebrated holiday in Singapore except that there are a ton of expats living here so many condos and some neighborhoods throw their own celebration.  Due to this, costumes are not abundant so luckily I had ordered these prior to us leaving the US.  In fact, I tried ordering peapod costumes to be shipped here and the costumes cost $50.00 and the shipping was $100.00 so that didn't happen.  Our condos did throw a party so Joe and I went to the "Hobby Lobby" of Singapore and found the stuff to make the hair which definitely made the costume.  Unfortunately, we were in such a rush to get it done and the girls were sleeping that we didn't fit their heads before we glued it together.  They were a little tight but it made the photo op.  Since they don't sit up yet, no one could see the scissor cut up the back of their caps when they were in their stroller.  :-)  We did go trick or treating but only to take some friends little girls that were visiting for the party.  It's not quite the same walking thru parking garages and hitting call buttons to get the elevators to ring the condos that were participating but the kiddos were young enough that it was still fun to them.  The plus side of a Singapore Halloween is that you never have to worry about your mom making you put a coat on top of your costume because it is cold outside.  That was the worse, wasn't it??

I also have to show a picture of the cutest little bunny.  I'm sure it would have been a little tougher competition if she would have been here!!!  This is my new, little niece that was born about a month after Rylee and Reghan.  Love you Millie Grace!

Things have been going good here but I am ready for my trip home!!  I'm so excited to see everyone and let you get to know our babies.  They are funny!  Just like their mother!  HA! 

42 DAYS!!!!!!!

CONGRATS TO MR. & MRS. HOGG!

It has been a bittersweet time as I can't believe that I had to miss my BCF's (as my nieces Jordan & Mackenzie say) wedding.  Cristl and I probably know more about each other than anyone else does in this world.  We always said we would win BIG on the Newlywed Game if they would let us play.  PLUS, I'm the one that introduced them!  I just want to make sure everyone knows that.  =]  Of course, she was the one that introduced me to Joe.  BUT this is not about me and all I can say is that I am so happy that Chad is part of our family.  Great guy, lucky guy and fantastic couple!! 

I wish you guys the ultimate life and I know that you will continue to laugh with your whole body, love with your whole heart and live the most extraordinary life together.  I love you both and look forward to celebrating when I get there in a couple of months!! 

Oh, and Rylee & Reghan can't wait for their slumber party at Aunt Cristl's & Uncle Chad's!  So glad you guys have a king size bed!!