First baby photos

Well, scans anyway.

These are our week 13 scans of the baby. I don't know if you can see or not but it's rubbing its face with its hand in the top right image.



We can't find out what sex the baby is until the 20 week scan - neither of us have a preference but nonetheless we're both really keen to know. I am at the end of week 14 now and am feeling very good. I just don't look as good - I can't do up the top buttons on some of my work trousers. Still at least that means I can justify some more clothes shopping - I've seen some lovely floral smocks down town.

Job blog

Phew what a week. My first day i did 13 hours and then at least 10 hours every other day of the week - talk about ease into things. On Friday I had a meeting that went until nearly 8pm and I had to rush home to make it for Pirates of the Carribean 3.

But... it's great to be working. Feels really good to have my brain back in gear and be adding value in some way. The job is for a marketing company that specialises in the IT and Communications Technology fields. They do the full integrated marketing thing from market research, channel marketing and development, marketing comms, PR and events.

My role (Client Services Manager) comprises three main areas: writing marketing comms, project management and client liaison (working with clients to facilitate whatever job we are doing with them).

It's a small company with 10 employees. We outsource things (like overseas research and event stuff) where needed. Right now I am working on a big event in Bangkok for a client who's in China. This project is behind time and things are really frantic. I've started working on a couple of other things too and apparently we have a whole lot more coming - when it rains it pours.

APC is employing me full time until baby, then graduating into part-time/work from home after maternity leave of maybe 3 months. I am pretty lucky to get this flexibility in Singapore, it's really hard to find part time work here and most working Singaporean women have their parents or maids take care of their kids after the 3 months maternity leave (that's all you legally get and if you don't want to come back full time, you lose the job).

Blake is pleased i am back working because he knows how bored I was, but he's a little disappointed that he's back ironing his own shirts (and supposedly sharing the housework).

Fun with Braden

Last week we were stoked to have Braden visit, enroute to the UK.

First night we took him out to a very cheap and very ethnic local eatery where he got his first taste of Singaporean food. This particular place also sells Tiger beer 'tallies' for the same price as the supermarkets - a real draw card in a country where it's standard to pay $11 for a stubbie.

Next day Blake had a day of important meetings that he couldn't get out of so Braden and I headed out to:

 

1. Get a new camera (Blake's has finally died)

2. Visit Changi Prison - where Singaporean and Western (incl NZers and Aussies) were held captive by the Japanese in WW2, in appalling conditions.

We got the camera and then headed off to Changi. We arrived there, entered the reception area and went up to the desk to ask about tours. The lady looked confused and then asked whether we wanted to be at the modern prison or the historic war memorial prison. Our taxi driver wasn't a very bright man and took us to the modern prison (did we look like we had mates in prison?).

 

When we finally got to the right place, Changi was really interesting - Very sobering to see what people lived through but good to get some knowledge about this part of history.

That night we headed out on the town, starting with dinner at Brewwerkz - yes a huge restaurant that brews its own beers. The boys were drinking from 3.5 litre tanks with taps. We were joined by Matt Plowman and Megan and we ate, drank and made merry.


Around 11pm the boys decided that this was Blake's stag night and moved on to hit all the top bars and clubs in town. I headed home knowing things were about to get very messy.

Blake arrived home at around 5am the next day, very much the worse for wear and minus one Braden. Braden had got separated in the craziness of the club - where the boys had been 'dominating the dancefloor' (apparently).

We were a little worried about Braden the next day - given that he did not have our address or phone number, and we weren't sure he'd remember where we lived. The good news was that he was taken in by a kind lady at the club, who gave him bed and board for the evening. The bad news was that when he was finally able to function again the next day, he couldn't really remember where we lived.

Fortunately he had emailed blake's mobile # to himself, and checked his hotmail at his lady-friend's house before he left. He called blake and got instructions to the closest MRT (train station). He got that far but came out of the wrong exit, got disoriented and so got in another taxi and was taken across to the other side of the town, ending up way out east.

So he took another train ending up in Outram Park (not near us), and when he called Blake again got the address and took a taxi. He was very hungover and had the nightmare trip but arrived home safe and sound in the end.

Next day I had my 3.5 hour interview with writing exercise. I got the job, (Client Services Manager for a marketing company called Asia Pacific Connectionss - www.apconnections.com) and came home in high spirits to find the boys shuffling about feeling pretty green still.

Later on we went to a great local restaurant for 'chicken rice' and Sinaporean national dish that we wanted Braden to try. It was an early night for all after that, and just as well since we were to be married the next day.

On Sunday we got married (as you saw from the post below)!

In the afternoon the boys had a splash about in the pool blake impressed everyone with his ungainly attempts at a somersault.

Ahhh, the pool!

We have lift off

Such grace, such style

Steeling against the shock waves

In the evening we headed out to a great Indonesian restaurant in Clarke Quay and had a delicious meal. Then it was home for Braden to pack and off he went Monday morning.

Was great to see him and we hope to have more visits from friends over the year!

Shotgun

Blakes first attempt at doing the post. Ahemmmmm. Its been a week of news so we thought that we'd just keep on firing the surprises out. Hot on the heels of annoucing that Adrianne is pregnant..........today......................we............................got ..............................................MARRIED!

We still plan to get married at a "proper" ceremony in Nelson late next year so this was just the formality of saying I will and I do. We decided about two months ago to get the legal part sorted so that Adrianne can have better local rights - insurance, bank account, employability etc - none of which she has now (or didn't until this morning). But now as Mrs Mackie (or Mrs Kackie if we combine our names - thanks for the suggestion Mum) she can stop moping around the house like a lost soul and get amongst it (just joking, my lovely wife).

Actually, as it turns out, in another piece of breaking news, Adrianne yesterday had a four hour job interview with an Asia Pacific marketing company and was offered the job. She's their new Client Services Manager - And she starts Monday! Big week. She's stoked, i'm very happy for her but a little angry that i'll now have to do my own ironing, and won't come home to a clean house and nice dinners. However given that we're now married that was probably always going to be the case regardless of whether she got the job or not so its my own fault.

But I digress, back to the wedding, we were going to have a registry job but that was booked out for months ahead so we got a Solemniser (the celebrant) and headed out into the Botanic Gardens with our two witnesses - Leighton and Alyssa Matheson, and Braden, a mate from back home who happened to be cruising through Singapore on his way to London the very weekend that we decided to get married (he was more than a little surprised to hear of the plans).

Waiting pre Ceremony - terrified

Leighton, Braden and myself arrived at 10am to a Gazebo on the top of a hill in the gardens. It was about a million degrees so while we set up flowers to Adrianne's precise written instructions we all developed some of the worst sweat patches Singapore has ever seen - me on my arms, Braden on his chest and Leighton on his knees (?). The ladies then arrvied with Chandra (the solemiser) and we proceeded through the short ceremony, followed by champagne and then lunch at a restaurant the park. All went very well and feels great to be Mr Blake Kelly.

Chandra, Alyssa & Adrianne arrive

Pre Ceremony - Still terrified

Formalities

Signing register

Job's Done

Ladies & Gentlemen, its a pleasure to present, Mr & Mrs Mackie

Braden, Alyssa, Adrianne, Leighton, Chandra

Check out the sweat on the lads

Post Wedding Lunch

My lovely wife looked fantastic of course, managed to suck in her three month pregnancy belly with a great deal of skill, and with a bit of luck the little sprog will never know that it was conceived in sin.

Crossing the threshold

Absolutely, positively...

Hmmm, what's this?

Positive!

Oh my lord, are my drinking days over?

And if that hasn't made it clear enough, I'm three-months pregnant!! (Yes we've been saving those photos from day one!)

We've reached the magic mark where they give you the all clear to trumpet your news from the rooftops, and we're stoked to be able to tell everyone. It's been really hard keeping the news to ourselves, and we probably wouldn't have been able to if we were in NZ still. (The sight of me drinking non-alcoholic drinks would have given the game away in seconds).

I have been really lucky so far, with no sickness or nausea and no loss of appetite - I was getting some queasiness a few weeks ago but that's all stopped. I have had some full on tiredness and headaches from time to time though. Other than that my symptoms have been really mild, though my feet do BURN at night.

I have replaced my flat, toned abs with a rounded stomach that really sticks out after a meal. I don't look so much pregnant as like i've been eating all the pies. I'll post some photos once there's really something to look at.

We planned to have the baby in Singapore as the healthcare system here is world-class and the timing is good for us in the scheme of things - apparently lots of expats have kids here too. We're looking forward to meeting some of those pregnant expats when we start ante-natal classes.

Boy aren't we getting grown up!

Weekend Antics

We managed to do quite a bit last weekend.

Saturday morning was nice and cruisy, we hung out at the pool and read the papers.

Then in the afternoon, we went dragon boating. I didn't get a shot of Blake's boat cause I missed them coming in, but i got some shots of the area, it's a really beautiful spot with little sandy coves. The water doesn't look very clean but the surrounds are great and there's a nice esplanade to walk along.

After dragon boating we went home, we chilled for a few hours, Blake had a few beers and then headed out to town with some crazy English lads he has met. He arrived home some time in the late-early hours and fell into a coma on the mat in the lounge, where he stayed until morning.

On Sunday I went to the gym and woke Blake 20 mins before we had to leave for lunch. We had been invited to have lunch as guests at the British Club - by a guy from the Chamber of Commerce (who Blake met at their pub/footy watching event).

We were just about there in the taxi when I checked my mobile phone and saw that it had been called off, as the guy had forgotton it was mothers day and his wife/family would obviously be expecting family time.

Since we were pretty much there, we decided to blag our way in. In these clubs you can get in as a member's guest, so we thought we'd say that we were Michael's guests (which we were really) and were meeting him in the restaurant (which we weren't obviously). As it happened, there were so many people coming and going in the lobby that we walked straight in and then spent the afternoon exploring the facilities, eating at the restaurant and having a jolly good time. Why pay $9000 to join when you can do it all free?

Then we went home and flopped into the pool again, to recover from our day of hard graft.

(Oh and we also managed to see a movie - 28 Days Later - it wasn't bad actually, lots of vomiting blood and guts and gore and screaming horror scenes.)

The new pad

Well we're loving our new place, even though we don't have much in the way of furniture yet. In fact we have no sofa, dining table, coffee table, TV or spare bed yet, but we're working on it.

We have ordered our new sofa, but it's being made so a couple more weeks to wait. The other stuff we are hoping to have nailed by the end of this weekend. We'll need something for Braden to sleep on when he gets here too, can't have him slumming it in a cardboard box like Blake suggested.

The lounge is looking pretty spartan.

The great thing about this place is that it's really light and airy, gets a good breeze going through it which is very important here. The serviced apartment was dark and hot and airless. We also have a nice kitchen which makes cooking much more pleasant, though we eat out probably five nights out of seven. You can get a great meal here for $5 or less so it doesn't end up being an expensive way to live, as long as you keep to the cheaper local places.

We also have a great view and have lots of privacy as there are no other apartments looking in our windows. That's quite hard to find here. And we have a balcony which is great. We look down on a park-like area which is the nearby hospital's property. Actually it houses the Centre for Communicable Diseases, but that's not something we like to think about.

Oh the balcony!

I'm enjoying the lack of TV, so nice to get away from the mind-numbing tedium of cricket commentary for a while. It forces us to hark back to ye olde tradition of evening conversation, which has been fun. I'm sure Blake feels the same way. The TV is being delivered within the next couple of weeks though, so I'll need to enjoy it while i can.

I'm now thoroughly sick of being unemployed. I am heading off to my first meeting with PrimeTime, an expat women's marketing assn, this week. Hopefully that will be good for networking. Also we are going to join the NZ Singapore Chamber of Commerce which may also offer some good contacts. I am also looking into starting my own company, as this would make it easier for companies to employ me (freelance, contract, full time) because then they don't have to get me an employment pass - which is a hassle for them, and takes a while to process.

I am doing a correspondence course through the NZ Institute of Business, but it's not keeping me busy enough. I've been so bored I've even resorted to baking banana-walnut loaves.

In other news...

Blake has taken up dragon boating, which is organised through ANZA (aussie and NZ society). There is a big group of multi-national people (mostly aussies though) that meet every Sat and spend 3 hours (with short breaks) rowing the hell down the river in large dragon boats - competing against eachother. They have three boats. They are a social crowd and a good way to meet people. I'm heading down there next week too.

He had a great time but the next day his whole body was in agony, especially his butt, which was ground into the hard wooden seat each time he used his body to push back with the oar. He had to soak it in the pool and is taking some padding next time.

Mumbai

It's been a while since our last post, but that's because we've moved house, had to get the new internet account set up, and then my laptop cord broke and I had to get another one sent to me.

But we're back in business now, so here's the latest on Blake's travels.

A week or so ago he was in Mumbai for a lightning fast trip (one night). I don't think he'll do that again as it's an eight hour flight and the return trip flew overnight, arriving back here at 8am on a weekday. And if that wasn't bad enough, he also got bumped out of business class as the flight was overbooked - damn!

Here's Blake looking thrilled to be in Mumbai.

The conference

He managed to get a photo of his room, the taxi and the conference room - seeing as that's pretty much all he saw himself. Here he is with a colleague, on the way to dinner after the conference. Look how much he's cheered up at the thought of a few beers and a nice meal.

Homeward bound taxi

This taxi-man did some fancy moves the wrong way down a one-way street, and had his licence taken off him by cop who happened to witness the event. All this with Blakos in the back. the driver subsequently tried to get extra fare to offset his bad luck, but Blake was having none of it.