beloved bel

I think it's time to deviate from blogging about life with Isabelle, you know, to have some form of diversification on my blog.  The other day it suddenly occurred to me the various house admin duties/ upkeep stuff which we (or shall I say, mainly me) have to do.  Things that are seemingly so unimportant and for some, you barely notice them, but they are actually important.  See, living in a house certainly has its perks in terms of space, especially with a garden too.  This is certainly something which I don't take for granted, and don't expect the same back in land scarce Singapore.  Some friends have expressed interest in getting a house in the outskirts here like us, and when they hear of the various things we have to do, people we have to engage, well it sort of deters them a bit. Gutters/ Windows Before moving into this house, I would have no idea what gutters actually are.  Until I learnt something from this daytime TV show called Homes Under the Hammer.  People

Dear Isabelle, You are now 17 months old, sweet pea!  We rejoice with you for every milestone you achieve and there are so many to list!  You are one amazing bubba you know that? You are definitely a very vocal baby.  You talk so much in your baby language, but now peppered with a few words that make sense.  You also fill your conversations with facial expressions such as frowning and pointing at something to express the seriousness of what you are telling us, or giggling into laughter because you are trying to tell us a baby joke. Thanks to our weekly sing and sign class, you can now sign and say simple words, some very useful, like "hot" when the food we serve you is too hot, and you have also learnt to blow to cool it down.  You love cats and will always sign cat and say "meow" to me when we see the resident cats on our way to aunt Vanessa's.  You love eating and so will sign and tell me "more" when I give you snacks, and sign &qu