Our Awesome Adventure at Vivo City

 

The day started off pretty well.  Everyone was happy and the mall was big and beautiful.  

And then it all went wrong. 

Quinners got hungry as we were walking outside the mall trying to get to the food court.  And when I say hungry I mean crying arching wailing I need food kind of hungry.  And even though she was starving, it was too damn hot and she wouldn't feed.  We ended up starting the feeding in the public restroom (that smelled) because it was the nearest air conditioned and semi private place.  Once the feeding started we rushed her through the food court under the hooter hider into the mall.  And when we grabbed the first bench we saw that was the look Marika had on her face.  

 But wait!  Because it just got better and better. 

After Quinners had her nice big lunch Wifey and I thought it was time for us to feed as well.  We ended up at Japan Gourmet Town for Okonomiyaki.  We figured after her feeding she would be good for a bit.  We sat down ordered and when they said "15 minutes" we said "yeah no problem".  Wrong.  It was a problem.  25 minutes later we still haven't seen any food and Quinners is not so happy (understatement).  Marika goes to change her, but there's no changing table in the restroom.  A nice lady points her to the changing and nursing room.  Of course Little Schmoopy isn't dirty she was just fooling us with farts.  5 minutes after getting back to the table Quinners is still unhappy and then drops a Bomb.  And it's Epic.  So the 2 of us tell the restaurant that we're going to change her and will be back in a few minutes (strength in numbers). 

The nice Changing room?  Busy.  We wait a few minutes and there's no sign of anyone leaving. 

So we improvised (photo edited for nudity)

There was an elevator lobby that serviced the offices above the mall 1 door down from the changing room.  So we made that our changing room.  Of course during the change the old janitor comes by with a confused look on his face and kindly tells us there's a changing room.  We just smiled and nodded.  Then the elevator door opened just as we closed Schmoopy's diaper and 7 office workers come out.  They did their best not to stare. So we went back to the Japan Gourmet Town took our food to go and went home.
And don't even ask about the Singaporean lady who was trying to be nice in her naggy way and trying to tell us to buy some special oils to rub on Quinn's belly for the gas she must have because she was crying, or the little Indian boy who decided to play on our bench and nearly trampled Mommy and Daughter before his mother even looked at him.

Some days are better than others. 

Waku Ghin

Granddad and Auntie Lana were kind enough to take the family to Waku Ghin at the Marina Bay Sands for dinner.  It's a pretty stellar Teppanyaki place, though calling it teppanyaki is probably a massive understatement.  

Before dinner our friend Marilyn was also kind enough to get us up to the rooftop Skypark so have a look at the pool and the view. 

It's a pretty outstanding view.  And the pool has an infinity edge overlooking the city from an ungodly height. 

 Our friend Marilyn

 The uni course at Waku Ghin.  Little Schmoopy was looking pretty envious.

 The family.

And Marika posing with the fountain we dubbed the "toilet bowl"

Not sure whose idea the art fountain was but it's just bad. 

User Error?

or diaper fail?

 Either way, it was bad for all of us, though little Quinners thought it was pretty funny.  

Our Funny Girl

makes funny faces

 

 

Quinners First Meal

Since Quinners is approaching her 6 months we decided to try some solid food.  

She took to it but wasn't completely convinced at first. 

But she warmed up pretty fast.  And then decided that it could go faster if she helped. 

Rawr!  More!

Mmmmm...

(She's definitely trying to taste all the flavors of the oatmeal cereal.  A true gourmand.)

 

I think she likes it.  

Success!  A full and happy baby. 

WooHoo!!! part 2

Little Schmoopers is changing. 
Today Lai Ying took and and bounced on the excercise ball and she napped without Mommy or Daddy anywhere in sight.  Our disbelief was epic.  And it got better.  When she woke from the nap she didn't have a single cry, just sat on the bed and played with her toys with Lai Ying. 

 

Shock and Awe I tell you.  Shock and Awe.  

New Friends!

Little Schmoopy and Auntie Min got along very well. 

This is How We Roll

 

Singapore is hot.  And there's mosquitoes.   Lots of mosquitoes.  And when Marika gets bit the bits swell and look really angry.  So if you can't walk outside you just have to improvise. 

 

And when little lady falls asleep on walks you just have to keep going.  And going.  And going.  

 

Daddy got a break though.  

 

Then Mommy needed a snack break too.  

And that's how we roll. 

Having fun in Singapore

WooHoo!!!

Quinners made a friend!  And she was having so much fun with Marylou she even fell asleep!

We don't have any pictures of little Schmoopy playing with Marylou and Lai Ying because when she's happy with people who aren't Mommy or Daddy we try to stay far away and let her be happy.  Thus there are only pictures of her sleeping. 

Everybody

loves baby feet 

 And I may be biased but these are pretty cute feet

Yoga

Mommy and Schmoopy are all ready to start Yoga.
 Little Schmoops even got her leg warmers on!

Having a serious Yoga moment.

 

This position is called Robot Dance. 

And back to Yoga.  Little Schmoops just wants to play with the grown ups.  But she needs to pull her leg warmers up a little before she can really enter the big leagues.

Granddad

Little Schmoopy was getting along very well with her Granddad.  The resemblance to her Daddy probably doesn't hurt.  

Off to Singapore

 

So off we went to Singapore.  The above photo came a little bit after Quinn turned some heads with a tight grouping of massive farts in the airport lounge.  Her gas (and subsequent poop) would have been epic even if the lounge hadn't been library silent.

 

After the diaper change she was a little happier, but the lounge just wasn't for her.  

She actually made us evacuate to the public areas of the airport because the lounge has such good acoustics.  

Once we got on the plane it was a little tough since our timing got a little screwy with the runway delays.  The flight was scheduled for 9:15pm but with delays we didn't take off until closer to 10:15.  And with the whole "you gotta feed your baby when the plane is taking off we made sure she was hungry for 9:15-9:30.  So by the time we were finally taking off Schmoopy was hungry and crying with good reason.  But she fed with the take off and ear pressure wasn't a problem. 

 

For enduring a 17 hour flight she actually held up amazingly well, which helped us arrive intact and sane.  There were some moments where Mommy had to work especially hard to soothe the baby but hey, it was only moments and not 17 hours of soothing.  

 It does seem like she's teething and if Sophie the Giraffe wasn't such a durable playmate Schmoopy would have chewed her into pieces. 

 

 And along with the teething goes the massive amounts of drool.  

  

I mean massive. Look at how wet her shirt is. She slept for a pretty good portion of the flight and she still went through 10 bibs.  You can see the how soaked her shirt is.  And it smelled awesome.

 

I never has any aspirations to be a clown but the 3 of us in the airplane bathroom made me think that clowns have it easy fitting 15 people into a car.  Changing a diaper in the airplane with 2 adults and a (thank goodness not crying) baby is way more interesting.  

 

And photographs in that environment get really interesting.  It doesn't matter where you go the walls are always closing in.  I'm surprised there aren't any bruises from maneuvering in the tiny little cell of a bathroom.  

 

And finally we arrived at 5:35 am with a very happy mother and mostly happy baby.  

And now for the gritty details for those of you who want more than just the fun photo commentary.  

The flight is long.  Like super long.  Like super oh my god when are we going to arrive" kind of long.  But it's much much better than if we had to disembark and have an hour layover with our 47 carryon bags and stroller etc etc.  

Take off and landing are a little tricky with the timing of the feedings.  If you try to make sure she's hungry for the take off and landing the odds are good that there will be a delay in one or the other and she's going to cry when she get's really hungry because the delays are too long.  But nothing you can really do.  Baby has to feed with during the change in pressure or it's just going to go bad.  

But overall I think if I was going to do it again I'd fly into Tokyo stop for a as many days as we could afford there, then travel on to Singapore from there.  A ten hour red eye flight with little Schoopy wouldn't be too bad since she would hopefully sleep most of the way.  And on the way back from Singapore we'd do the same (possibly stopping in Seoul or Tokyo again)  A six hour flight with her would be bearable even if it was during the daytime as she'd nap after her meals but it wouldn't be easy.  

So my final opinion is...9-12 hours on a plane with a 5 1/2 month old is fine if you take the red eye.  17 hours takes some serious parenting skills if your baby is as needy as our little Quinners.  Take off and landing you just have to be ready and keep her hungry.  We brought lots of toys, several changes of clothes and 10 bibs (should've brought 20) and it went okay.  

But this isn't to say that we're looking forward to the return trip.  Thank the trade winds that the return flight is 1 hour and 40 minutes shorter. 

She's a carnivore at heart, just like Mommy and Daddy.