In the meantime

A couple photos to keep the regulars happy...

No time for blogging

Between the kids, naps and the new Harry Potter book, I have little time for much else I'm afraid. Not much to write about anyway. My days are filled with baby, baby, baby and sneaking in sleep and rest and meals when I can. I keep hoping that LC will fall into a routine but his naps are so hit or miss. Getting him to sleep isn't that difficult, it's getting him to stay asleep that's the problem!

One interesting note on Harry Potter, I was surprised how greatly Jakarta bookstores jumped on the Harry hoopla. Some stores were open all night so as to start selling the book at midnight, others opened early, and all seemed to have some activity opening day (Harry Potter dress-up, crafts, etc.). The book they sell here is smaller than the size that is sold in the US. Don't know why...

Anyway, so I may not resurface again until I've finished the book.

Home, Sweet Home

I wasn’t sure coming back to Jakarta would ever feel so good (we came back last Friday). Especially when leaving the clean air, beautiful parks, great restaurants, and amazing efficiency that is Singapore. But it does feel so good to be home. We have our baby things now, we have help again, C has people other than his boring parents to play with, we have friends to hang out with, and we have space to spread out. I’m sure within a matter of a few weeks Jakarta will start to annoy us again, but for right now it feels great. And as we drove back from the airport, back onto our street where there were small children riding their bikes and men pushing carts selling nasi goreng and neighborhood guards chatting to eachother, I knew that this is a better place to be than Singapore. Jakarta is oh so much more colorful and interesting.

Then again, I’ve been thinking a lot about home. I’ve spent enough time living very far away from home to know about homesickness. What has surprised me this time around is that it has snuck up on me sooner than I expected. The reason, I believe, can mostly be found in my 2 wonderful sons. They have a fantastic family back home and they are missing quality time with them. We lived within walking distance of some of our best friends who also had children C’s age, and I so miss walking to the neighborhood park to meet them or sitting on our back patio having a bbq while the kids played in the back yard. And I have good friends back home who have just had their second babies or will soon, and I can’t believe that I probably won’t meet them and vice versa until LC is 1.5 years old. Sometimes I have asked myself if we were crazy to leave all that we had. And sometimes it feels that we were. But not for long, because I know that we are fulfilling a dream to live overseas and we would never be content until we realized that dream. I know that the experience our boys are having here will open up their worlds like nothing else can, and I believe they will be the richer and more wonderful for it. I know that career-wise it was a good move for both of us, especially J. I know that our friends and family still love us and that won’t stop no matter where we are. But, it is still hard at times to be away, to know the things that we are missing and what our boys are missing.

For now though, I’m going to focus on the fact that this feels like home, this place half way across the world in a tropical climate full of exotic food and dengue fever. And that before I know it this experience will be over and I don’t want to regret spending too much time thinking of my American home.

2 weeks and still smiling

LC is 2 weeks old today! He and his brother have been keeping us busy, to say the least. Our lives have become the Grand Juggling Act, as we try to keep up with their varying needs, with my sleep, with J's work... Singapore has some wonderful conveniences and is a great break from Jakarta, but we are looking forward to getting home where we have all of our baby stuff, some help, and where J can focus on work.

So far LC seems like a pretty easy going kid. He rarely cries and when he does it's pretty easy to figure out the problem. He is still sleeping a lot, but is also eating a lot - I am already looking forward to longer stretches of sleep and a little more predictability. He is also a Grunter, and as such I have nicknamed him Sir Grunts A lot. What this is about we're not quite sure, but our best guess is his ploy to get held as this seems to be the best way to quiet the ruckus.

I am definitely tired, but I don't feel as tired as I remember being after I had C. You would think I'd be more tired with trying to keep up with a toddler as well. Perhaps my body and mind are just more conditioned to sleep deprivation thanks to 3 years with C, and this new addition isn't as much a shock to my system.

I have even managed to get out and see some more Singapore sites. This past week we walked around Fort Canning Park, went to Underwater World on Sentosa Island, and to the Jurong Bird Park. This coming week we hope to get to the Botanical Gardens and the zoo before leaving for Jakarta. So we are definitely keeping busy!

Well, Sir Grunts A lot is currently singing his song, so that's all for now.