Random thoughts

Here are a few photos of our apartment for those of you who haven't been here yet. Tempted to visit...?

Isn't it funny that sometimes something daft can make you feel like an adult...there I was walking along in my favourite shopping centre (Plaza Singapura) and I found the off-white queen-size bed vallance that I've been looking for for months, and suddenly I felt very grown-up. This does seem a little strange as one would have thought that either leaving home, buying a house, getting married, being pregnant or any number of other things might have made me feel this way over the past few years - but no- the bed vallance is what did it for me. Strange, but true. We finally have a cleaner, and it's bliss! What a great feeling to come home to a totally clean house, I love it... I notice that my blogs are sounding more and more domesticated, I guess it must be the hormones kicking in. I went for my 18 week scan today and the baby was kicking, writhing and waving with great enthusiasm - once again the doctor said "wow, you've got an active one there!". Good, go

I'm not a big fan of zoos, but Singapore zoo is pretty cool. Its layout is very natural with lots of rainforest and lakes. We finally went yesterday on a 'wildlife' photography quest for Paul, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable day. The orangutans were particularly visible, because they are an 'open display' which means they live in the trees in a certain area and are climbing above visitor's heads until they are brought down for feeding. The most amusing exhibit was the two polar bears (they looked a little warm!), their favourite food was watermelon - figure that one out!

Barra Brith They say you start 'nesting' when you are pregnant, well, it's true - I've been into baking these last couple of weeks. Today I decided to make Barra Brith (Welsh tea loaf) for my colleagues, since it is my birthday. What a disaster! First it overflowed, surgically welding itself to the intereior of our oven, then it burnt on top whilst remaining raw on the inside, then it rufused to be extracted from the loaf tin. I wouldn't be surprised about any of this with my track-record in baking, but I made exactly the same thing using exactly the same recipe last week and it was 100% successful. It still tasted great though - once I managed to extract it from its tin. I'm not, however, looking forward to dealing with the oven! That can wait until the weekend. Hard times I've had a number of emails from friends recently telling me of the death of close friends and accidents that people have had; it has made me realise just how fortunate and blessed we are

Life is good. I'm having a really good morning. So far I've done all the housework that needs doing, made some sunflower seed cookies, practiced the flute (learnt a new note...) and now I'm going for a swim (even though it's bucketing down with rain!). Then I'm meeting a friend for lunch, working for two hours, then meeting Paul to go and watch 'My Fair Lady' at the Esplanade theatre. Lovely. We went for our 15 week check-up on Wednesday, we heard the baby's heartbeat (150 bpm) what an awesome experience! Next check-up is in 3 weeks and we'll have another scan done then. We are really pleased with the Doctor we have found, she is very laid back and down to earth. Last night we had a really successful home group, I made cottage pie and we all had a time of sharing what's going on in our lives. We are so happy that this group has come together, it's so good getting to know everyone in it.

How is it that my stomach, once almost a taboo subject, has become public property overnight? Often people's first reaction when they find out I'm pregnant is to stroke or pat my (already expanding) tummy! I guess I'll get used to that over the next few months. Here are the scans we have so far. Photos- Top: Scan at 6 weeks Middle: Scan at 8 weeks Bottom: Scan at 12 weeks Weather It's started to warm up and dry up here again after the monsoon. It's lovely to be able to eat breakfast on the balcony in the sun again. The hoards of ants are back, any morsel left untended is soon found and turns black with the tiny creatures. Wedding We went to a wonderful wedding at the Conrad Centennial hotel on Thursday evening. Two of our freinds from church got hitched after 13 years of on-off dating. It was a touching ceremony (during which, to our surprise, the champagne flowed freely). The meal was great - traditional Chinese wedding fayre - jellyfish, prawns, shark's fin so

Sea Gypsy was, as always, relaxing and refreshing. We don't know anywhere else quite like it. It is on Sibu which is a tranquil island in the South China sea, just off the East coast of Malaysia. We stay in wooden huts on a beautiful golden beach. We sleep a lot, eat a lot and chill out for the rest of the time. Their New Year's bash in mid monsoon (they open just for five days in their off season) was no exception. Sea Gypsy attracts a certain kind of person, and we like that kind of person. We chatted, ate, drank, swam, sunbathed and played scrabble. The only thing missing for the perfect new year was all our close friends and family... oh well, maybe another New Year... I'm now in the process of looking for a flute teacher as well as doing some self-study on British history (finally I seem to have an interest in this area, perhaps it's something to do with being away from home for so long!). I've just read a great 'Teach yourself the British monarchy since