March

Where I grew up, we often said March would arrive like a lion and exit like a lamb.  Things are different in Jakarta.

For us, March arrived like a lamb.  We had a nice family vacation scheduled in Singapore, I was buying the first property for our new Real Estate business, and we had tickets to attend the St. Patrick's Day ball and spend that night in a suite at the JW Marriott, the location of the ball.

Then the lamb bared its teeth and transformed into a lion.  The Friday before the ball, my wife and I joined our friends at an Irish Pub to welcome in the holiday and watch traditional Irish dancers.  We had a great time and were looking forward to taking the kids to a carnival at our daughter's school the next day and then attending the ball with the same group of friends. 

We arrived home from the dancing to find our two-year-old son struggling to breath in his sleep.  We had taken him to the doctor earlier in the day due to a persistent cough.  The doctor said he was fine.  His lungs were clear and he did not have a fever.  They gave him some antibiotics and an antihistamine.  When we arrived home, he still did not have a fever but he was definitely having difficulty breathing.  We woke him up, planning to give him some medicine, and he immediately vomited.  We observed him for about twenty minutes before deciding to take him to the emergency room.

The ER put him on a nebulizer minutes after our arrival.  The nebulizer should rapidly resolve breathing issues.  His blood oxygen wasn't improving and remained below 90%.  The doctor also indicated that his secondary muscles were now controlling his breathing.  Those muscles kick in when the primary muscles become so fatigued from labored breathing that they fail.  There is no back up to the back up.  Jakarta lacks a respected pediatric respiratory care center, so the doctors advised us to do a medical evacuation (MedEvac) to Singapore immediately in case his lungs started failing and he needed assistance breathing.

The next twenty-four hours happened very fast....and without sleep.  My wife and son took the MedEvac flight.  I worked with the airlines and hotel to reschedule all the flights and room reservations we had for our vacation and I followed them with our other two kids about six hours later.  I even had time to take our daughter to her school's carnival for about an hour before we caught our flight.

After checking us in at the hotel, we all met up at the hospital where I spent the night with our son while my wife returned to the hotel with our infant son and our daughter.  For the next four days, I slept at the hospital at night and spent the days at the hotel with our other two kids.  My wife did the opposite.  Thankfully, our hotel - the Rasa Sentosa - had a Kid's Club that entertained our daughter all day, every day.

Our son spent those four days on antibiotics, fever reducer, and getting blood tests and chest x-rays.  Nothing conclusive in any of them.  Eventually he started feeling better and they decided he had a non-specific viral infection in his lungs that caused him respiratory distress.  He never really felt sick, but the doctors were really worried.  We just tried to keep his spirits up and have as much fun as we could.

On Wednesday, our son received a clean bill of health and checked out.  The pediatrician seeing him requested we have a follow up appointment on Friday.  Our "Family Vacation" was also the time for my wife and I to receive our annual physicals, so I had mine on Wednesday while my wife swam with the kids, and she had hers on Thursday while I went to the beach with them.  We had big plans for the weekend to help everyone forget the medical stress we just experienced.

The appointment with the pediatrician was Friday afternoon.  He had been swimming all morning so we expected a clean bill of health.  To our surprise, she said his lungs sounded bad and readmitted him to the hospital.  We ran through the same battery of tests.  This time, they discovered he had Influenza B and started him on those treatments.  He remained in the hospital until Monday.  We finally left Singapore on Wednesday.

What was supposed to be a five-day medical vacation with two days of physicals and three days of fun became a ten-day medical emergency for our two-year-old.  This is the second medical scare he's given us.  I hope there isn't a third before we get to leave.

Hospital Pictures:

 

Having Fun Pictures:

 

 

 

 

Singapore

As the end of the year wound down, I found myself with vacation and travel allowance balances I needed to use before the end of the year. I reserved a few days for when we had visiting family, and we booked a four-day weekend in Singapore with the balance.

When we visit Singapore, we typically stay in the city and walk to nearby attractions or take the subway to Universal Studios or Sentosa Island. This time, we decided to stay on Sentosa Island intending to have a relaxing beach vacation. I booked us a suite at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort, right on the beach. Unfortunately, weather did not accommodate our plans.

In my prior post, I related the travel experience. The key lesson there: they will let you travel with an expired passport, but it will be a trying experience. I elaborate on our stay in this post.

We arrived on a Friday and awoke to overcast skies on Saturday. We had our large breakfast buffet then took a walk on the beach before heading to Chinatown for some holiday photos of the kids. That required most of the morning, and it was raining by the time we returned to the hotel. We had lunch, hoping it would stop raining, but it didn’t. We decided our best option was to complete the shopping we needed to do while in town, so that’s what we did. We loaded up on supplies for the kids, and I bought my wife her Christmas present from me (a Macbook Air) and from our kids (a new digital camera because our daughter broke the last one).

After a room service dinner, we passed out from exhaustion of travel and wandering the city all day. We awoke Sunday morning to more rain. We hoped it would clear after breakfast, but it never did. Not knowing what else to do with the kids since all of the activities we had come there for were outdoors, we suggested she try the kids club run by the hotel. She was reluctant, but agreed to try it. We didn’t see her again, except at dinner, for the rest of the trip. She absolutely loved the activities they offered. Thank you Rasa Sentosa!

That left us with the two boys. The baby is easy to entertain. Feed him, change him, hold him and let him observe and he’s happy. Our 2 year-old was a little harder. Sunday, we tried the toddler play area, but that only took up an hour. We tried playing in the room, but that didn’t last long either before he became bored. During a few breaks in the rain we did manage to go for a swim or watch the boats in the ocean, but the day just seemed to coast by in boredom for everyone.

When Monday greeted us with more rain, we knew staying at the hotel was not an option. We dropped our daughter at the Kids Club and took our sons across the street to the Aquarium. It’s small, and the weather shortened the one sea lion/dolphin show they have to a mere fifteen minutes, but the kids enjoyed viewing the big fish and watching daddy pet the sharks in the wade pool. The aquarium only ate up a few hours, but the rain had slowed to a mist when we finished, so we walked further up the street to Fort Siloso and took a tour. It is an interesting tour with good history of the Japanese invasion during WWII, but difficult to do pushing a stroller and under slick conditions. I nearly slipped off the wooden bridge as we maneuvered our way down the hill. The signs warning us to watch for poisonous green tree snakes did not contribute to our enjoyment in the least.

It is unfortunate the weather was so poor. The hotel was great and would have been even better had we been able to enjoy the beach, the sea water activities, the pool and the water slides. The resort is built with families in mind….though I would have preferred a hot tub that was actually hot. Even the stray monkeys jumping from balcony to balcony in search of food and mischief were scarcely seen due to the weather, though we did manage to get pretty close to them when they meandered by our room.

I hope we get an opportunity to go back. I don’t think we obtained the full enjoyment we could have from the experience.

 

 

 

Family Is Complete

Before our latest addition joined us in July, my wife and I had already decided he would be our last child.  The only question remaining was how to guarantee he would be our last.  After studying the long- and short-term effects of the various contraception options (pill, IUD, tubular ligation, prophylactics, vasectomy, etc), we determined the vasectomy was the best option.  No issues with hormone changes, reversible, no ongoing expenses, etc.

I was supposed to complete the procedure in July during my paternity leave.  The doctor advised us to wait until after our son was born to confirm no complications and that our minds would not change.  Our son is healthy, we haven't changed our mind, so I'm in Singapore and, after this morning's procedure, I can say our family is now complete.

I didn't record the surgery and I'll spare everyone a "verbal video" and just say:  "OUCH!"  Honestly, it wasn't that bad (other than the initial shot delivering the local anesthesia - which, after the first didn't work I made him do again) and I'm not even on pain medication.  Although, for some reason I'm no longer able to think clearly, as if the procedure disconnected my brain or something......

The more interesting part of my trip is what happened at the hotel.  We so enjoy the Shangri-La Hotel that we joined their Golden Circle Club after our last trip to Singapore.  When I arrived, even though I had booked a Deluxe room in one of their towers, they had upgraded me to a suite!  I think it may be because we've booked a suite each of the last two months - once in Jakarta, once in Singapore.  So, instead of recuperating in a simple room, I'm in a room with two bathrooms, two TV's, a dining room, a living room, a sitting room, and a balcony that overlooks the pool.  Overkill, to say the least, and something I would better enjoy if I was on a romantic getaway with the wife, not surgery.

I have one final post-operative examination tomorrow before I get back on a plane to return to Jakarta.  We have a birthday party to attend tomorrow night and I hope I'm up for it!

Now in Singapore

I just realized it's been ten days since my last post.  With all the activity in the next few weeks, this gap will probably be too common until we return to Jakarta.  So, I'll try to catch everyone up on the activities as much (and as succinctly) as possible.

Pre-Singapore.  Monday through Wednesday of last week I was still in Jakarta.  Monday I packed because I knew I would not have time on Tuesday or Wednesday.  My wife gave me quite the list and I spent much of the night locating everything on the list.  Tuesday was my regular Futsol night and the last one we'll have for a while because two of us are leaving Jakarta to add to our families and two others are going on vacation for a month.  Wednesday, because we won't be able to play in July, we had a night of poker.  We usually only play once per month, so this was quite a treat...even though I was on tilt most of the night because of how slow we were playing.  Thursday evening I flew to Singapore.

Friday.  When my wife was pregnant with our daughter, we began the tradition of taking pregnancy pictures.  We have continued this tradition with each subsequent pregnancy and this Friday I took the day off of work so we could make the pictures for our final pregnancy a little more special by doing a location shoot on Siloso Beach at Sentosa Island.  After the shoot we spent the day at the beach and finished with a dinner at Mucho's on Clarke Quay.

Saturday.  In the morning, I had a consultation with a "no baby doctor" to clarify a few questions and discuss appropriate timing - before the birth, after the birth, etc.  That went well and I learned more than I ever hoped to.  In the afternoon, my wife and cousin wanted to feed their shopping fix with a visit to Chinatown so I took the kids to an indoor playground.  We finished the evening with dinner at California Pizza Kitchen where I amazed everyone with my ability to consume large quantities of ice cream.

We also witnessed one of the more interesting spectacles I've seen in Singapore.  After leaving the bus we had to cross the street underground via the subway station.  From a side door, two women dressed in showgirl costumes entered the subway with a blindfolded man in pink skirt in tow.  Initially, I thought someone lost a bad bet.  Then I saw the writing on his chest and the eagerness of the women to display him to everyone.  This was a shaming.  I'd heard of these rituals in Asia, but this was the first one I've seen.  Written on his chest was the phrase:  "I don't care for people".

Sunday.  Friday night my daughter and I played the game of memory and she beat me fair and square 12 matches to 8.  She made a bet with me before the game, her first bet, and if she won I had to buy her ice cream and take her skating at Marina Bay.  I took care of the ice cream at CPK.  So Sunday, we went "ice" skating.  We thought it was on ice, so we wore jeans.  Turns out it's some new way of skating on plastic with some type of Teflon coating.  It was actually very similar to skating on ice, only it wasn't cold if you fell (which my cousin did once and my daughter did frequently...I didn't).

After skating we went to the Singapore Science and Arts museum which is in a lotus flower shaped building in front of Marina Bay.  We saw exhibits from Dali, Van Gogh and a showcase of the Sunken Ships of Asia.  The Van Gogh exhibit was really interesting.

Monday.  Monday I turned 36 years old.  Two activities we had considered doing earlier we intentionally delayed because it would be free for me to do on my birthday.  So Monday I left work a little early and we went to Sentosa Island to do the zip line from the top of the island to the beach.  My daughter, strapped to me, and my cousin all flew over the treetops down the zip line.  My daughter was excited up until she looked down at what we were about to slide down.  Then she screamed and said she was too scared.  I made her do it anyway and one second after we pushed off from the platform her scream turned to a laugh.  When we finished she asked if she could go again, just as I anticipated.

After the zip line we spent thirty minutes in a taxi to do the Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo.  My free entry also entitled me to free ice cream at one of the restaurants.  This meant we ate dinner first....I don't pass up ice cream.  We had a scare at dinner when our food orders arrived in reverse order and I took a full bite of chicken thinking it was tofu.  For those of you who don't know, I discovered in my early twenties I am highly allergic to chicken.  This one full bite is more chicken than I've eaten in more than ten years.  Thanks to a few scares in my mid-twenties, we always carry benadryl with us when we go out to eat.  I took a pill and finished my meal then we went on the safari.  The safari was as good as it was the first time we went.  The more amazing part of the evening is that I had absolutely no reaction to the chicken.  Usually my mouth and lips still swell and itch even though the benadryl prevents the more dangerous effects.  Oddly, nothing happened.  This is so odd I'm considering seeing an allergist again to determine if my allergy is now gone.

Tuesday.  The original plans for my birthday was for my wife and I to enjoy a quiet dinner and movie alone while my cousin watched the kids.  We did this on Tuesday instead.  First night out alone we've had in nearly two months.

Wednesday (today).  Today is a holiday in Jakarta (Ascension of Mohammad), so I had the day off.  Unfortunately, it was a day of medical appointments.  My daughter has complained of stomach aches for the last six months, including yesterday.  The pediatrician we saw said she probably has Giardia, which means we have to take stool samples to a lab within an hour of them occurring.  Guess what I did after lunch?  We also scheduled dentist appointments.  After my first visit to a dentist in Jakarta, I won't do a second.  Once I arrived in Singapore for an extended period I made our semi-annual appointments.

I'm back to work tomorrow (Thursday) while we await the arrival of our son.  The only day he's not allowed to come is 1 July.  My cousin leaves at 11 AM and my mom doesn't arrive until midnight, so we have no kiddie care if he decides to make his appearance on Friday.  Wish us luck!

Weekend in Singapore

So I just realized I never posted about my short trip to Singapore last weekend, so I'll do so now, much later than intended.

I left work around 2 PM Friday for my 5 PM flight to Singapore.  That should have had me arriving in Singapore around 7:30 and at the apartment by 8 PM.  Unfortunately, my flight left 45 minutes late, and then the only "bag" I checked - a stroller my wife wanted to swap with the one we initially brought - didn't show up on the baggage carousel because it was considered "bulky".  I didn't arrive at the apartment (getting my first look at our recent upgrade to a 3 bedroom) until 9:30.  I was happy to see that the kids fought through fatigue and were awake to greet me when I arrived.  After reading stories and spending a few brief moments with my wife before she returned to her Casey Anthony Trial addiction, I went to bed.

The next morning, Saturday, was my daughter's birthday.  We had the party with her friends prior to moving to Singapore but still wanted to make her actual day a special one.  It started rather inauspiciously.  I, along with my cousin, took the kids on a 15 minute walk to a nearby park.  Storm clouds approached as we walked there and, after ten minutes of playing, the storm unleashed its fury with torrents of rain and abundant lightning.  We too shelter under a pavilion at the park hoping to wait out the rain and then walk home.  Nearly an hour later, it was still raining, but not as hard, so I decided to try our luck at hailing a cab and going home.  Thankfully, I snagged one as soon as we reached the street and we clambered our wet selves (myself being the worst because four could not fit under the umbrella) and took the two minute ride home.

The birthday cake was still baking when we arrived so I went and bought a Subway lunch.  After lunch, we watched "Hook", the Robin Williams Peter-Pan movie.  My daughter loved it and even my son was able to watch it for long stretches, though he was much more interested in crashing his toy cars.

After the movie it was time to get ready for the evening's big event:  The Lion King musical at Marina Bay Sands.  Through our apartment, we arranged a baby sitter for our son so the rest of us could enjoy the show sans screaming baby.  Our daughter donned her princess crown and a lovely dress and we went to the hotel for dinner prior to the show.

Marina Bay Sands is heralded as one of the new man-made marvels in the world.  It has received mention in all of the international press and even been featured in a Discovery Channel special.  It doesn't disappoint (see pictures below).  It even has an indoor ice skating rink.

We ate at an Italian restaurant.  Our daughter obviously recognized we were at a very fancy restaurant as she was on her best behavior and made sure to sit properly and quietly with her napkin in her lap.  After dinner we attended the main event.  Even though our daughter had seen it once before in Phoenix prior to our departure, it had the desired effect:  She loved it.  They must change it slightly for each of the markets in which it plays, too, because it was a little different from how I remembered it, with some local reference (ie, Merlion) thrown in.

It was nearly 11 PM when the show finished and I carried our daughter to the taxi stand.  The excitement of the night finally over, she fell asleep on the short walk there.  The line was extremely long.  Luckily, Singapore has a policy that pregnant women and the elderly get priority, and I'm not too proud to use this benefit, so we cut to the front of the line and were home shortly after 11.

Sunday I had to leave for the airport by 4 PM, so we made a return trip to the park - this time with mom and without rain - and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming.  It was a good trip, but far too short.  I'm glad my next trip there I won't leave until we all return as a family of five.

 

 

Bachelor life sucks when you're married

I normally try to post to my blog on the weekends.  My weeknights are typically busy with activities, and weekdays with work, so weekends are the only time to post.  With the family in Singapore, I have a lot more time for posting....but a lot less worth talking about.  It's pretty bleak living in a large house when the family is somewhere else.

My days are as routine as I can make them.  I go to work at the same time, I come home at the same time.  I even have tried to make my evenings resemble my normal routine...but the wife nixed the at-home massage while she's gone, so my Monday nights leave me wanting for an activity.  Last week, my yoga teacher confirmed our session and then cancelled five minutes later.  It was her birthday and her friends surprised her.  That axed my Wednesday night.  Thursday was a holiday, so no rugby.  My week wasn't very routine.

Even the help is off schedule.  Not wanting to pay our nannies for two months of not working, I set a schedule where the two nannies and our maid split the weeks.  So they come at 5 PM and leave at 7 PM.  Just long enough to clean, do a load of laundry, and make my three meals.  Not sure the laundry is working out so well.  All my clothes smell like mildew.

The family, at least, is enjoying Singapore....at least the apartment in Singapore.  My cousin doesn't know where to go and my wife is too pregnant to have the energy to really go anywhere, so they seldom leave the apartment.  On the plus side, Great World City upgraded us from a two bedroom to a three bedroom!  They said it was because we were repeat customers.  I think it had more to do with the fact that we kept asking them to remove furniture to make room for kids beds (cribs, etc) and they didn't have anywhere else to put it.  Whatever the reason, they are awesome and we really appreciate it!  This is how to run a company.  I wish I could say we will use them again, but I think the opportunity is unlikely.  If the opportunity presents itself, however, we would definitely return.

On Friday I'll rejoin my family in Singapore.  Saturday is my daughter's birthday and nothing is stopping me from being around for that.  I bought us tickets to the Lion King musical (which, oddly enough, my daughter already saw in Arizona when she was three) as her birthday present.  We will all go on Saturday night...minus the little guy.  They would let him, but I don't think we'd get to enjoy the show if he was there.  It's past his bedtime.

International Trade

Spending three days in Singapore reminded me how much there is to like about the city.  Some, like cleanliness, are quite basic.  Others demonstrate thought processes advanced enough that we should view Singapore as an example to the world of how a nation can be run.

Below are three things I would import from Singapore:

Grocery carts.  It is difficult to imagine, indeed, that something as mundane and uninteresting as a grocery cart would be worthy of global emulation, yet it is so.  All my life I have heard comedians mock the one wheel of the grocery cart that wobbles when in use.  In Singapore, and in Jakarta as well, the wheels rotate 360 degrees.  In a society that heralds community, that grocery carts possess the ability to quickly move out of the way of someone navigating down the aisle should come as no surprise.  But Singapore takes it one step further.  In several of the books I have read, most notably those by Gladwell, there is mention that supermarkets are always looking for ways to cover the cost of corralling grocery carts after customers bring the groceries to their cars.  Paying lot attendants to gather them periodically throughout the day costs grocery stores millions of dollars per year.  How does Singapore address this expense?  Much the same way as airports do luggage carriers.  To use a grocery cart, a patron must place a $1 coin into a slot do dislodge it from the other carts.  Upon return to the cart corral, you can then retrieve your dollar by reconnecting your cart to the others gathered there.  I would love to see the US grocery stores implement this using a quarter.  Give the homeless something to do other than ask me for change as I exit the store.

Assigned seats in movie theaters.  If you've ever attempted to see a blockbuster movie on opening weekend, you know the importance of not just buying your ticket early, but also standing in line long before other customers to have your choice of seats.  If you are a late arrival, be prepared to sit separate from your date (God forbid anyone slide to the center) or sit in the second row and leave the show with a sore neck.  Singapore theaters have solved this problem by requiring you to select your seat at the time of purchase.  This is such a simple difference that I am surprised that no theaters (of which I am aware) have begun to do this in the US.  As we push more and more people to buy their tickets in advance online, having them select their seat at time of purchase is an idea whose time has arrived.

Medical system.  Last, but certainly not least, as I've mentioned several times before on this blog, the US should implement Singapore's medical system.  So much health care debate in the US centers around what it would cost to insure everyone.  People assume that, if everyone is covered, the country would go broke.  A 2004 Kaiser commission study concluded it would increase existing government expense by $48 billion.  The study neglects to recognize what a CBS investigation found in the same year:  hospitals charge 2.5x more to uninsured than what they charge insurance companies. 

In reality, as Singapore demonstrates, insuring everyone will drive costs DOWN, not up, especially if we use the Singapore system, for two reasons.  First, medical facilities, specifically those who, by law, cannot turn anyone away, set prices according to their ability to recover.  Most hospitals, in addition to providing care, need to make a profit.  They are bound by the same laws of economics as a traditional business - marginal revenue must equal marginal cost.  This means those that CAN pay, will pay a price high enough to cover for those who CANNOT pay.  Otherwise, hospitals go out of business.  When everyone CAN pay, marginal cost (the cost of servicing one more patient) will drop, which will cause the price to drop. 

The second reason is the result of a more fundamental law of economics:  supply and demand.  Today, because copays hide the actual cost of service from anyone with insurance, we live in an environment with what is known as a "moral hazard".  Meaning, we will consume as much as health care services as our ability to pay the copay amount:  we're price insensitive.  Think of it this way, if you had insurance for purchasing diamonds, and you only ever had to pay $25 to buy a diamond, would you stop after you had purchased the two you needed for your earrings, or would you load up?  Singapore's universal coverage also has a copay, but in a different way.  Each person, according to their income, has a medical expense cap.  Once you've reached that cap, the government picks up the remaining cost of services.  This approach removes the moral hazard and forces patients to be price-sensitive.  If you know that you have to spend $2,000 out of your own pocket before the government picks up the tab, are you having your procedure at a facility that charges $100 or $50, assuming equal quality?  Obviously, you'll go to the $50 facility - it's your money.  When medical providers compete on price and quality, instead of paying marketing expenses to get on the "preferred vendor list" of an insurance company cost of service goes down and quality goes up.  It's really quite simple.


Unfortunately, I don't think any of the above will occur in the near future.  The medical changes, especially, are unlikely.  Medical insurance is a multi-billion dollar industry, with a very strong lobbying presence, and politicians who want to gain re-election don't walk away from that kind of funding.  Doesn't stop me from hoping.  Who knows, if enough of us write letters to our representatives, maybe we can make it happen.

Moved the Family to Singapore

Saturday, a few hours after the conclusion of our daughter's school program, we flew to Singapore.  As always, the flight was uneventful and we arrived in Singapore on schedule.  Upon our arrival, I challenged my cousin.  She hasn't traveled internationally before, and her flight home includes exchanges in some fairly complicated airports, so I said we would follow her.  She did fine once she realized we needed to go to "arrivals" not "departures".

A $50 van ride later we arrived at our home away from our home away from home - Great World City Apartments in Singapore.  The gentleman checking us in remembered us - from nearly two years ago!  He said it was because I have a unique last name.  I guess in SE Asia, full of Ho's and Wang's and Minh's, my last name would be fairly unique.  Something tells me that in Western England or the southern US no one would bat an eye.

The first thing we had to do after dropping our bags in the room was eat dinner.  And, when we're in Singapore, tradition dictates that our first meal - or one of our first meals - must be at Subway.  So I stayed with the kids in our new apartment (which is half the size of our house in Jakarta) and my wife and cousin went to the mall and bought us Subway dinner and water from the grocery store.  I had hoped they would also buy cereal for the next morning's breakfast, but my wife had other plans (she's sneaky that way).  After eating, I tried to go buy breakfast, only to find everything had closed at 10 PM.  That meant, according to my wife's plan, we ate breakfast the next morning at Starbucks....where she was able to get her beloved bagel and cream cheese.

Sunday we took my cousin, a professional shopper, to Orchard Road - the world's largest mall.  It's really about twenty different malls, lining both sides of the street each with 5-10 floors of shops, but because they are all connected by subterranean tunnels - which also have their own shops - I consider them all one big mall.  Needless to say, she fell in love and now wants to move to Singapore on a permanent basis.  I'm sure her folks will be sending me thank you letters for that one.

Monday we had another visit with our obstetrician who assured us that, contrary to our Indonesian doctor's belief, our baby was not on the large side.  In Singapore, they actually take into consideration the parent's nationality and measure your baby's growth according to the averages of your home country.  In Jakarta, they compare your baby to other Indonesians.  Compared to Indonesians, our son is big; compared to Americans, he's just another average baby.

An hour or so after the doctor's appointment I kissed everyone good bye and left for the airport.  I'll be in Jakarta the rest of June, making a trip back to Singapore for the weekend of my daughter's actual birthday, and then returning on a more permanent basis at the end of June.  Then we'll all come back together, new addition in tow.

Pictures from Singapore

Our time in Singapore this last trip was very short, but we still took some great pictures!

Most of these are from in and around the hotel.  Check out the size of the snails!  It's the picture with my foot in it.