Thursday, March 18, 2010

for Heidi

SOME people have made it clear to me that I have been neglectful of the blog. Truth. I admit it, I have been and I have a renewed commitment to keep up from now on. As for now a little back-up posting is in order.



Last October, we had an amazing trip to Singapore and Bali. From Manila there is no direct flight to Bali, so Singapore started as a means to an end but was slightly thrilling in itself. Always fun to get two birds with one stone!

As always we were in a frenzy to catch our early morning flight. Nate offering to do whatever needs to be done is assigned the grab the baby bottles and fill them with hot water. At the airport as we make it through our 2nd round of security scans (with one more to go) I notice that the diaper bag is soaked and there is no water in the bottles. Come to find out he has forgotten to put the silicone insert in which make the bottles airtight and leak proof. Oh joy, three hours on a plane with a baby and NO bottles and what better, not too much breast milk left either! (The reason I tell this part of the story is to prove how amazing my husband is and what a fool I am.) I am SO angry with him. SO VERY ANGRY and I am mean and he feels bad enough as it is. But we survive surely as we always do and arrive in Singapore unscathed.

Singapore is clean and orderly and HOT and sterile and I love it. The taxi drivers are kind and smart and well-spoken and really act as tourguides for their city. We stayed at a great hotel off Orchard Road, ate fabulous food in Chinatown and spent time at a Hindu ritual in Little India. Took in the city at night while on the Singapore Flyer (the worlds largest observation wheel) which is a giant ferris wheel with enclosed capsules. We saw the iconic Merlion and did some shopping on Orchard Road and had a Singapore Sling at the Longbar at the Raffles Hotel its originating home.






All in, it was what I had planned for the day and a half before our flight to Bali or was it supposed to be our day and a half after our trip to Bali...

We arrived at the airport in Singapore with plenty of time to spare to get our flight to Indonesia. Looking at the boards for where we check in we notice that our flight is not listed. Strange because I am sure they would have emailed or called us if the flight had been changed, right? Nate pulls out the itinerary and (here I need to mention that I do all of our travel planning and booking) low and behold our flight was YESTERDAY. Seriously. I wanted to die. Well first I wanted to throw-up and then die. I went to the customer service desk. Yep, sure enough we had missed the flight and of course we are at fault so there is NOTHING they can do about it. Luckily (I use that term lightly) there is a flight leaving in an hour to Bali and it just happens to have 4 seats and I can buy them right there for a whopping last minute rate. Frantically I am looking online and calling the airline to see if we can get a better deal but no...the sales have already been closed as the flight is happening in 30 minutes. What better, because I had messed up on the flight booking on one end I had messed it up on the other end as well and my flight dates and hotel dates didn't match up and I got to spend the money for all new flights one way and extending the flights back to Singapore on the return flight. Now this whole time my lovely husband whom I have been so angry at just a few short days ago for something as stupid as a bottle is calm and cool and kind and not angry and if he is, he isn't showing me that. He is being nice and loving and soothing and telling me it could happen to anyone. (Hang head in shame here) Note to self: try to be more like Nate.


The whole flight I am just praying that Bali will be so amazing that we won't feel the sting of a twice paid for trip and guess what...it was SO WORTH IT! Rather than stay at a big nice hotel, we booked in a gorgeous resort that had individual villas each with their own pool. We had the bonus of being at a resort with a large pool and the benefits of the spa and room service and restaurant in addition to the feel of being at our own private villa without other tourists. We could have spent all our time lounging around at our pool, but we did a few touristy things as well. Holden enjoyed body surfing at sunset, we did a little shopping around Seminyak and made a trip up to Ubud for some amazing scenery and monkey encounters.

















BIG little Deuce


Finn, our chub-a-bub started out as such a little guy and has really grown into our big boy. He is much bigger than Holden was at this age and continues to surprise us with his sheer size! At the ER the other day(another story for another day) he weighed in at a whopping 33 lbs. He eats vegetables and fruit. No one believes me, but he is our little vegetarian feasting on spinach and squash and carrots and peas.


We had a special day the other day, just the three of us while Holden was at school when we went to the pool. It's been quite some time since Finnley joined us poolside. He wasn't exactly thrilled with the water but boy did he look yummy in his speedo.

He has such a fun personality. Full of mischief and spice. He is so shy at first with people and takes quite some time to warm up which is so unlike him when in the confines of our home with our family. It's not a day in our home if Deuce hasn't had a tantrum by 9am and several more throughout the day. We have to laugh as they are quite cute and brought on by the simplest things like not opening the door quickly enough for him, or closing the fridge or taking the broom away or taking more than 10 seconds to change his diaper. He really is a bright light in our family. He adores his brother, truly madly loves him and thinks he is a big kid too. He understand almost everything we say and lights up when we understand what he is gesturing to or babbling about. He is the spitting image of his father but with the fire of his mama. Finnley, our lives were not complete before you graced us with your presence.

I wish someone would have told me that you will love your children differently. There were times I doubted that I had the capacity to love another child the way I love my Holden but everyone said it was possible and true enough, the love expands. But the love I have for Holden and the love I have for Finnley are so different, one is not better or worse it's just a different. I love Hold as my first, as the boy who made me a mother, as the child who stole my heart and made me realize just how deep love can go. Finnley I love as my baby, the boy who made me confident in my ability to be a mother which is the most amazing thing I have ever been called. He has shown me how big love can be. I can barely remember the days and years before these two boys. Having them is a newness of responsibility, a reminder that I am no longer the most important person and that so few things matter outside of them.

A relaxing beach vacation

Those were Nate's exact words for what he wanted after his chaotic 2 weeks at work.

This is what he is getting instead:

A weekend swim with the whale sharks in Donsol. The whale sharks are the largest fish in the sea and range from 18 feet to 40 feet long and lucky for us they feed on plankton. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm a little nervous, but more excited. As for Nate, I doubt this will be too relaxing but he did say beach so I got it half right!

Monday, March 08, 2010

Watch out HOLLYWOOD





"When do I get my own movie?"
are the words that came out of this kids mouth on the way to his photo shoot the other day. WOW. Mr. Ambitious. He shot for this brand a year ago for their store displays and its fun to see how far he has come in a year. Last time the shoot was smiles and fun and this time, they wanted brooding and serious. He complied and when they pulled out the fan and the skate board for action shots, he thought he had hit the big time. They even let him have the board after he asked about a million times for it. Last time he wanted the surf board prop they brought and his leaving comment was, "next time, bring a Ferrari." SERIOUS. Every day I wonder how I can love him more and every day I do.