Halloween 2010

This year was not our typical crazy Singapore Halloween...it was crazy times two! Since Halloween was going to be on a Sunday this year we tried to celebrate it on Saturday instead of Sunday but because Halloween is such an extravaganza in our neighborhood here you really can't avoid it...so it became 2 days of Halloween instead of 1. Also, if you count the kids dressing up for school on Friday and having all of their Halloween parties at school it really was 3 days of Halloween!!! 3x the costume wearing, 3x the junk food and 3x the candy!!!

So Saturday night 18 families from our church, who also live in our neighborhood, had trick-or-treating. We had our friends, The Dimonds and Blake & Jane Moore, over for dinner, then we headed out with a list of addresses and trick-or-treated to the 18 houses participating. As we walked around many families came out of their houses with confused looks on their faces asking if trick-or-treating had been changed from Sunday to Saturday. We replied that it was still on for Sunday it's just that we were getting a head start!



So here we are Saturday getting ready to head out...Mike is a horse-head, Becky is a Wal-Mart greeter, Sammy is Anabeth (from her fave book series, Percy Jackson), Bailey is a hippie, Carson is a football player and Jack is a soccer player.

These pics are of Mike and Blake Moore heading out with the boys...








This is 3 of the cute Dimond girls with baby Skylar and their friend Maddie Mitchell. Tiffany was dressed as a mutilated doll...



At the end of the trick-or-treating we all met up at our friends the Southwicks house for homemade root beer and donuts. There is a Dunkin Donuts here in Singapore now so my friend Jocelyn went downtown earlier that day and picked up 20 dozen for our group! There was also an outdoor movie projected up on the Southwicks house for the little kids and a Capture the Flag game on our street for the 'tween crowd. The teens all snuck over to a friend's house to watch a movie on their own.
It was a great night.
Then on Sunday...it was a mad dash to get home from church, get our cars moved out of the way for the trick-or-treaters, scarf down some leftover pumpkin soup and chili from the night before and get the 2,000 plus pieces of candy out for the approaching trick-or-treaters.


The great thing about celebrating Halloween 3 days in a row is that you can choose to be something different every day. The first day Jack was Dash from The Incredibles, the second day he was a soccer player for FC Barcelona, and the third day he was Jack Daynes who didn't feel like wearing a costume at all!

This is Carson, passing out candy to the trick-or-treaters on Sunday. He is ready to play the game of football!





These 2 have a special bond. Not just as a football player and leopard...Carson has been the most excited about Skylar being born and still gives her the most attention of any of her siblings. They are good buddies already!



I think Sky was getting a bit hot in her costume at this point and tired of thousands of people staring at her!



(Jack loves Skylar too!)



(Sammy & Carson's pumpkins)



(Close-up of Sammy's pumpkin...it was very cool until the Singapore weather took over! By the time I took this photo mold had already overcome her castle and it was starting to crumble.)



(Bailey & Jack's pumpkins)

Happy Halloween everyone! We had a great time and with all the candy donations we received (from friends) plus what we passed out we figured that we gave out about 3,000 pieces of candy this year in 2 hours! This was our 6th Halloween in Singapore and every year the number of trick-or-treaters has increased!!!

Can somebody please push the pause button?

Skylar is 3 months old now! She can now roll over from her front to her back...I saw her do it with my own eyes twice yesterday. My response to that was...No! Don't roll over! No! No! NOOOOOOOOO!
Why this weird reaction you might be wondering...it's just that it's all moving way too fast! I want to savor every minute of this little baby and she's already growing up on me and hitting her benchmarks way before I want her to. Her arms and legs are flailing around constantly now and I miss the snuggly little baby that just curled her body up into a little ball.
It's so funny how you really do change as a mom from your first baby to your last. I know with Sammy I was celebrating when she first rolled over and couldn't wait to see her get to her next important milestone. However, with this baby I just want to push a pause button and keep her as a little newborn forever...

Monkey On The Loose!!!

There is a monkey on the loose in our neighborhood! He showed up here a month ago and has decided that he's going to call the Woodlands his home. (Our neighborhood is almost all foreigners and families with children who attend the Singapore American School.)

I took some photos of the monkey one day as I was walking back from dropping Jack off at preschool. He was just hanging out by the back gate of the school acting like he owned the place. I think he's going to stay for a long time. We have really good garbage in our neighborhood so why leave? He doesn't even have any other monkeys to compete with for food. There are many homes in our neighborhood that have banana trees, pineapple trees, mango trees and papaya trees in their gardens so I think he's here to stay!

Monkey and I are on a first name basis and I've proudly nick-named him "Monk!"

As you can imagine from a bunch of tai-tai's, that don't have much to do with their time here in Singapore, the American mom community is up in arms about the monkey! The principals at the school have sent the parents e-mails asking them to talk to their children about what to do if they see the monkey at school. The school has also called "Animal Control" here but they've been told that they won't come out to get the monkey unless they catch it first. That's hilarious...you should see the cage the security guards at the school have set up a trap to try to catch the monkey. It's just a small cage with a few grapes and a piece of melon sitting inside it...Monk is way too smart for that!






Everyone was worried about what Monk would do on Halloween night with 10,000 trick-or-treaters walking around the Woodlands with bags of candy. He was spotted over at my friend's house that day so she just got out her hose and sprayed him...I think he got the message not to mess with her!

I don't really mind the monkey in the neighborhood. He's never done anything to me and it's kind of a fun reminder that we do live in a tropical place. Now if this was a snake hanging around...that would be entirely different...

Skylar's Baby Blessing

Skylar had her baby blessing last Sunday, August 29. We had it that day since Mike would be traveling the next few Sundays. There were actually 3 babies blessed that day in our ward. All of them were very nice blessings.

Mike blessed her and talked a little about the traits of her grandma Cecil, whom she gets her middle name from. Mike and I wanted to name her after my mom but had disagreeing opinions on the actual name. So, we ended up compromising on a name that is a variation of Cecil...Cecily. Mike really liked Cece but I thought that it sounded like too much of a nickname rather than a "real" name.

Skylar wore the same dress that Bailey was blessed in...10 years later. I got this dress as a gift from my good friend Ali Thomander, who got it while on her mission in Belgium 17 years ago! What a cute friend to give such a thoughtful gift way back then! Thank you Ali!!! It is still beautiful.

As you can see, Skylar was the perfect angel on her blessing day and slept like a perfect angel though the entire blessing.



This is my good friend Catherine Barlow's baby boy Matthew. We decided to take a photo with the 2 babies together so we can show it to everyone on their wedding day...at their arranged marriage! :)



This was my good friend Catherine's last Sunday at church before moving back to the U.S. so we took a couple of photos out in front of the church on Sunday. She is one of my favorite peeps in Singapore so I wanted a photo with her and, of course, my other favorite girlies in Singapore!!! She's the kind of friend that makes living far from home not so bad. She's super fun and I look forward to seeing her every summer on our home leaves.

Sky High

Sky High, Sky's the Limit, Excuse me while I kiss the sky, Pie in the Sky, Sky Miles. These are some of the endearing terms I've found myself saying to Skylar. I don't know if she appreciates it but she hasn't gotten too mad about it yet.

Here she is surrounded by the flowers, balloons and gifts that were sent to her when she arrived home from the hospital. They were almost all from Mike's colleagues, Mike's boss in the U.S. and others who Feld Entertainment does business with in Singapore.







Of all our kids Carson has definitely showed the most interest in Skylar. He kissed and hugged my tummy everyday when I was pregnant. Now he kisses and hugs and picks up Skylar more than anyone. He loves her and is always breaking the rules about carrying her when he's just supposed to hold her while sitting on the couch.






Sometimes I'll walk into a room and find Skylar and Carson all snuggled up together just like this:




Here's Sky at 1 month old!



She is a happy baby so far. Everything seems to be working properly. The most memorable day with her so far is probably the day when I was changing her diaper on my bed and poo shot out everywhere...all over my white pants, all over the bed and all over the surrounding vicinity. It also seems that she pees whenever I am in the middle of a diaper change, causing me to throw out 2 diapers and having to wash the couch or sheets or wherever we are changing her diaper. I'm extra alert now in her diaper changes to avoid disasters...especially during the middle of the night changes.

Skylar Cecily Daynes

Beautiful Skylar Cecily Daynes joined our family on July 31, 2010 at 7:31p.m. We are completely feeling the love and are eating up this yummy baby.



Getting ready to go home...cousin Jessica Daynes and sister Bailey are standing by to help with whatever baby Sky needs for the trip home.



Here's a look at Baby Skylar's visitors while still in the hospital:

Marnelie and her boyfriend Nasir:



Jane (Nonnie/Grandma/Mike's mom):



Big Bro. Carson:



Big Sis. Bailey:




Sammy's friend Holly Lesser:



Big Bro. Jack:



Cousin Jessica:



Big Sis. Sammy:



Dad Mike:



Here's Baby Skylar getting her measurements shortly after being born:



Here's the first photo of Baby Skylar just seconds after her birth: The dr. handed her to me right away for the skin to skin contact. She was crying a bit but nothing too dramatic. This is when we counted her fingers and toes and marveled at her beauty. I instantly noticed that she had Carson's nose and the same amount of dark hair that all of our other babies have had at birth, plus the line on her chin that many of her siblings have, and, of course, the Daynes head shape.

Skylar: We instantly loved you that second that you were handed to us. Even though this is the fifth time that we've experienced a birth...it was like it was the first. You are a miracle and we are so in love with you. Welcome to our family...we hope you love us as much as we are loving you!!!

Why I'll Never Be Pregnant Again...

Need I say more????

Some awful person took these photos (without my permission) and e-mailed them to me. I'm just wondering where my boobs are? I thought I still had a trace of them but according to this photo they just don't exist anymore...huh.

I think I'll just write down a few reasons why I'll never be prego again...just in case I have some type of memory lapse in the future. I'll try to limit it to 10 but I think I could probably write a lot more! This is why journaling is so important, right? So history doesn't repeat itself.

Here goes:

1. I can't sleep. I mean really. I have a hard time falling asleep, I wake up a bunch of times every night and can't get back to sleep, sleep is not my friend right now at all. I am actually up writing this at 6:00am while my kids are still asleep when I could just be sawing some logs right this very second!!!

2. Gestational Diabetes. While I've never experienced this in any of my other pregnancies and feel grateful for that...I've had to deal with it this pregnancy. Although it's actually been a blessing in disguise for keeping me ultra healthy this pregnancy it's also been a huge pain! I miss chocolate cake and chocolate-chip cookies and have decided that I am just not complete without them in my life.

3. Ears clogged. How weird is that? Most of this pregnancy my ears have been clogged like when you have a bad cold. When I talk it sounds all echoey to me and I feel like I'm asking everyone around me to repeat everything that they say.

4. Summer Vacation Cut Short. I love my 2 1/2 months in the U.S. every year and that was cut way short this year. We went to Seattle on June 4 and it was cold, then to San Fran on June 18 and it was cold and then I came back to Singapore alone without my family. Although it all turned out fine it was not my favorite summer and I never want to have a baby in the summer again! (5 babies born in 5 summers is enough!!!)

5. Spider Veins. Just when I thought I couldn't get any more of these unsightly beasts here they are just cropping up all over my otherwise cute legs...one of my best features. Wonder how much it's going to cost me to get those removed after this pregnancy, not too mention dealing with the procedure, etc. Ho hum. This post is really getting depressing!

6. "Creatures" in my throat. I've had weird, white creatures living in my throat this whole pregnancy also. I'm definitely fighting off something but very slowly. As soon as the creatures disappear, new ones take their place. I've had this problem for years with my throat but it is magnified big time this pregnancy.

7. Swollen ankles. This could be worse and actually has only been back a handful of days during this pregnancy but the days that I have them I cannot stand the feeling. Ick!

8. Acne. Irritability. Don't think either of these need any explanations.

9. The actual delivery of the baby and the recovery afterwards. And the work of trying to get back into shape. Oh man...this could entail a list of 10 more reasons not to ever do this again!

10. 5 is a great number!

Although I have to admit now that this pregnancy has actually not been too terrible...for a 38 year-old even, and I'm sure it will all be worth it when that darling little girl joins our family but it hasn't been a hayride that's for sure!!!