Baby Chubbers

Levi has a lot of nicknames as of late. A few of our favorites are "Chubbers", "Tubbington" and "Piglet" (which is Analyn's favorite). He is just too cute and too fat to be referred to as anything else!

He is growing fast too. He has two little bottom teeth and we can see a top tooth starting to poke through. I am a bit shocked that his top teeth are showing up so quickly. I don't remember it happening this soon with the other boys, but I could be wrong. It's all a big blur at this point. 4 kids has definitely turned my brain to mush. Anyway, his teeth are coming in and he is practicing his walking skills even though that will be a long while yet. He is also enjoying the playground so much. He loves the slide and has mastered climbing up it.

I think the reason its so easy for him is because his skin is so sticky from the heat that he sticks to the plastic slide like velcro! Baby Levi doesn't wear clothes. Really. He is usually only in a diaper unless we are going to church. He just gets so hot that I feel it a crime to make him wear clothes. Especially if we are outside. This has put a bit of stress on Analyn because she has to answer to the other helpers as to why this baby is naked. They wonder if he has clothes and someone even offered to buy him some! She smiled sweetly and said, "Oh, this baby HAS clothes. But if you want to buy some you can, and I will send them to the Philippines!"

There is something slightly annoying about being judged by a bunch of helpers. I am positive they think I am a negligent mother. (I must be if I employ a helper!) But to me it just seems asinine to wear clothes in this weather. If I could, I would walk around in a diaper! Well, maybe skip the diaper bit but just wear less clothes.

So Levi keeps growing in all sorts of ways and we are loving him and his sweet personality. Even if he has the most shrill scream on the island. Even the helper that lives below us says she can hear him screaming during the day. (and my screaming voice too, apparently. Wha? I NEVER scream! I am a blissful, perfect mother!)

Today we spent the entire day at the pool. It was a bit much and by far the most time we have spent outside in one day since we have moved here. I am burned to a crisp. But the kids enjoyed themselves so it was worth it.
So far this week has been a bit of a downer. A gentleman from one of the other towers jumped to his death on Monday. It was a gruesome way to die and we had a reminder of it all day since they covered his body with a tent and left it there for about 12 hours, while investigating the situation, which they deemed a suicide. It was by one of the sections of pool that the kids and I enjoy playing together in and I just can't bring myself to go over there now. I was lucky enough not to see the aftermath but I do have friends here who saw the body and they have lost a lot of sleep over it. I heard that falling from buildings is the biggest cause of death in Singapore. And while I know that is not true, it does seem that there are a lot of people I encounter who have experienced it to some degree. Between carelessness and suicide, it happens a lot. I feel grateful we were able to avoid it on monday. Even with the kids being out and about the complex most of the day.

Patrick has been working an intense amount the last few weeks. All he can talk about is getting a massage to calm his tense muscles (something we are surprising him with for Father's Day!) We don't get to see him much and when he complains about the obstacles he has to overcome at work, I do wonder why we decided to come here. With all the homesickness, having your husband hate his job just doesn't sit well. But this week I have been feeling a lot better. The ache for home has subsided substantially and I feel its important that we stay and make the best of our experiences here. And maybe NY isn't the place where we will end up after this, even though I want to move back 'RIGHT NOW' most of the time. But even admitting it to myself is a big big step!

Patrick was saying that it's hard to commit yourself to a place that you left because you were bored when it was essentially the perfect situation for us. I gasped! I was NOT bored in NY!!! And placing our move and change of life on a whim of boredom just makes me a little upset. But.... and a big BUT at that, one has to agree that the changes and challenges of life are what make it so full. At least for us. When we were in the process of moving Patrick had a spark of interest in making a family motto. All of it was centered around the decision we had made to leave and the hope of a future full of changes and choices like it. Since then, we have used our family motto a lot. Sometimes for a giggle, but mostly to remind ourselves why we chose to be here in the first place. It soothes the wounds that I have been nursing. And I look forward to the day when I miss NY as the wonderful place that it is and not as the place that I'm missing out on. I look forward to having a love for Singapore that rivals even the deepest desires for any other place I have loved in my life. I hope my kids can love it and drink it in while they are here. I hope they can see the world for more of what it offers and love people who are different than them in so many fundamental ways. Go Team Larsen!: Adventure. Experience. Growth.