manila, philippines

we spent last weekend in the capitol city of the philippines visiting k&j and their cute little girls. we'd always wanted to check out manila, and k&j were kind enough to host us in their home. it turned out to be great timing with the terrible haze in singapore--we left on a plane right when the haze was the worst (and luckily, it's much better now).

we woke up saturday morning and went out to breakfast in "the fort." fort bonifacio was a dream come true for my pregnancy cravings...jamba juice! texas roadhouse! california pizza kitchen! lots of american choices that we don't have in singapore. i also picked out fabric while we were out and k's helper, who is also a talented seamstress, made sage a dress in just a few hours. amazing. 

the ultimate bargaining happened at green hills, where we picked out pearls and longchamp bags.

the girls were patient as we waited in the heat for the car.
manila's traffic is epic! i think it ties with bangkok.

sage was in heaven the whole weekend.
strollers, play mates, coloring, baby dolls...all of her favorite things at once.

on sunday, we went to church then drove to the manila temple to walk around. i'm not quite out of the "looking chubby" stage, but i definitely have a belly.

the grounds were completely empty. very peaceful.

we stopped at the american cemetary right by k&j's home too. it's a circle of calm overlooking the busy city.

on monday morning, we trekked out to tagaytay sans husbands. we saw a lot on the hour long drive...nice malls, sketchy areas, markets, shops. as we slowly rose up the mountains and out of manila, this was the view.

we had lunch on the patio overlooking the lake and volcano in the distance. smoothies are always a must in hot, humid asia.

the girls were pretty happy with their fancy drinks and plenty of space to run

we happened to get a glimpse of some traditional filipino dancing too.

sage didn't want to leave and kept insisting, "song! song!"

we made a pit stop for buko pie at collette's and for fruit at the street market. fresh mangos, pineapples, mangosteens, dragon fruit, bananas, papaya. i will really miss all the tropical fruit.

we had to fit in our traditional photo of sage on nate's shoulders, but unfortunately it was at the end of a sweaty, busy day when sage wasn't in the greatest mood. 

our favorite part of manila was hanging out with k&j.
 a fun, relaxing weekend in a new city was just what we needed.
thanks hill family!

ultrasounds every time

 since i had a really complicated c-section with sage, i remember one of the last things my mom said to me as we caught our flight to move to singapore was, "don't have a baby in asia!" of course she just wants the best for me, but i have been so impressed with my prenatal care so far.

the ultrasounds happen in my doctor's personal office. i sit down across from his desk as we discuss how i'm feeling, then i slide right onto the exam table on the other side of the room for an ultrasound each time. there's a flat screen on the ceiling so i can see everything perfectly as my doctor himself talks me through exactly what we're looking at. this open communication and highly personalized care is such a difference from my experience in chicago!

but of course not everything is wonderful, right? when you check in for your appointment, an auntie (elderly woman) instructs you to go weigh yourself on the scale in the middle of the jam-packed waiting room, then has you YELL it back to her at the reception desk. 

luckily, it's all in kilograms and those still mean nothing to me. whatever.

i love getting to see this every four weeks.

pollution up in here

we live in the tropics...and look out onto a gorgeous pool...

so you'd think we'd be spending our days poolside. 

but between a nasty haze migrating over from indonesian field fires, a severe air pollution warning, a high alert for dengue fever in singapore, and being pregnant...we've spent our days inside with the air con turned up high.
seriously, there is an island-wide shortage of those medical face masks, and the pollution is the most hazardous singapore has ever seen.
we've play doughed, we've stickered, we've read, we've colored, we've watched, we've cooked, and we've gone a little stir crazy too. hoping this sumatran haze passes quickly...

a girls' weekend

after our last visitors left, i snuck away for 48 hours to bangkok with some girlfriends (both named lindsay in fact). while it sounds exotic to book it to thailand for the weekend, bangkok is a short, inexpensive flight from singapore. plus it's a cheap shopping mecca, and you can eat mango sticky rice at every meal. what's not to love?

our agenda was simple, really.

eat good food. shop for treasures. get massages. and bonus! we went to an authentic floating market just outside the city too. 

we cruised around the floating market in a wooden speed boat, stopping for things like the coconut sugar shop, an art gallery, and $2 mango sticky rice sold from a passing boat.

i lucked out! these girls are the BEST negotiators. i turned all my bargaining over to them.

we treated ourselves to dinner at NAHM, on the list of the world's fifty best restaurants. the stir-fried kurobuta pork with ginger was my favorite.

we spent hours at the t.r. giftshop, examining every single item in that store. this is my third time in bangkok, and i've regretted not buying more of this unique silver each time. i was bound and determined to leave with no regrets! good thing i brought an almost empty suitcase because i filled that baby right up.

we spent saturday afternoon wandering the stalls of the famous chatuchak weekend market. it's overwhelmingly huge, and filled to the brim with treasures. i'm already feeling this pregnancy big time...i could barely last in the heat and on my feet for hours. but the beauty of thailand is that foot massages (which also include neck/head/shoulder/arm massaging too!) are $10 for sixty minutes.

nate took sage to the zoo, swimming in the pool, and out to dinner. i don't think she even knew i was gone. it felt great to get away and not have to worry about sage for a second. i feel so lucky to have fun, adventurous friends too. 

until next time, bangkok.

sisters, sisters / there were never such devoted sisters

our birthday present to sage this year is...

a baby sister!

on the cab ride home from the doc. not the best photo of any of us, but we're excited.

we found out a few days ago that we're having a baby girl in november.

nate's always said he's bound to have all girls :)

i see many, many matching outfits in our future. for practical reasons, this is fantastic. we've got a great wardrobe start sitting in boxes.

being pregnant in asia so far has been...nauseating.
the smells and lack of familiar food have been especially hard for me. all those wonderful trips we recently went on? i was incredibly nauseous and surviving on mini boxes of cereal. yet, i am still less sick this time around. and all these things are trivial. we are super grateful to add another girl!

a pink lemonade party

sage is two. she knows every word of the happy birthday song and sings it to herself, but has no clue what it means to have a birthday. even still, i was so excited as we blew up balloons and set out pretty wrapped presents (all sent from grandma herself) for s to wake up to. i love birthdays! we took her to baja fresh for dinner, where we let her chug all the salsa she wanted, then on to ikea to pick out her own little table and chairs.

and how could we not have a little party to celebrate with all of our fun singapore friends? i know...i'm the queen of weird birthday themes, like last year's retro circus party. singapore is so blasted hot right now, and a pink lemonade theme sounded perfect to me.

we don't have an oven, so i ordered raspberry and lemon macarons and strawberry cupcakes from the bakery downstairs

but i did manage to make these little tarts with lemon curd and fresh raspberries with mona's help

we didn't teach sage how to blow out candles, but jake helped her out when she got shy.

we had such a fun time swimming, chatting, indulging in macarons and cupcakes and sweet treats, and sipping pink lemonade. the kids went on a little candy treasure hunt too. i used to be that mom--the one whose child had never tasted sugar or french fries or processed foods. i've relaxed. candy on your birthday is a given, right?

sage is really into her friends' names. she wakes up in the morning and sometimes recites her buddies..."ollie, zara, jon, annie, ella..."

i adore all these big kids who treat sage like their little sister...sneaking her a mento, holding her hand down the slide, plopping her on their laps, and always looking out for her. we have the best singapore family.

a group shot from sarah's iphone. sage is loved! this group was so fun to celebrate with.

two

sage elizabeth is two years old. two!
we took some hot and sweaty photos on arab street so i can remember this age.

at two, sage has flown on 55 airplane flights.

she loves to ride escalators and get the mail and hold hands.

she is sassy, but usually obedient.


she is polite.
she quickly says, "sawee!" if she bumps you or "sawee!" if you get hurt.

she loves to whisper "secrets" in your ear, then laugh hysterically.

she still looks exactly like her dad.

she gives hugs and kisses freely.

every night when i lay her down to sleep, i whisper "i love you so much."
sage whispers back, "so much."


we love you so much little girl!

chandler in singapore

my little brother lived in toronto, canada for two years as a missionary. he mainly spoke mandarin and served chinese communities. when he planned a whirlwind trip to china to experience the real thing, i was hoping he'd put singapore on his itinerary too (even though it's NOT that close to china, despite what people think. a 5 hour plane ride away in fact). he did!

it was the best. 

we loved having chan and ty (his travel buddy) here. sage was instantly requesting chan and ty over me. all the touristy things we take our visitors to do in singapore were more fun because these boys were so stoked to be speaking chinese. turns out lots of singaporeans have pretty bad chinese! "singlish" is a real thing by the way...kind of like a singaporean english-based creole.

all of these photos are from chan's camera...

sage is really into her panda "brella"

we put sage's nikes on to give her a little height so we could take her on the luge at sentosa. but that girl is drawn to water...she couldn't help but run through the fountains after we luged.

i vowed to get rid of her pacifier...but we travel so much...and she goes to sleep immediately with it. so here's a snapshot of real life. this is how we roll.

marina bay at night is still gorgeous. 

we already miss you, chan.