Marie's 3 Month Pics - A Farewell To Singapore

Hey All! 

We are loving being back in the USA and are very excited to get settled in Chicago. After a very long journey across the Pacific, we spent our first week back visiting family and friends and soaking up all this amazing weather. Marie has already gotten to meet so many wonderful and special people in her life and we can't wait for her to meet the rest of you. 

Okay, so truth be told, I don't have the time, or energy, to do a full write up on all the feelings post expat life, but I wanted to share Marie's 3 month pics / our farewell photo shoot we did the weekend before leaving Singapore. It was important to me to have some family photos taken in front of the iconic city skyline to show Marie one day and to commemorate our special time in the little red dot. 

Shout out to KC Wong of The Family Man for braving the humidity and a squirmy husband little girl and effortlessly capturing this special time in our lives. 

I actually didn't intend to match our clothes this closely, but we went with it ;)

Michael smirk >> 

So sunny

Our sweet girl was such a good sport. We were all SO hot and sweaty. This is her, 'okay I'm cooperating, but you're really pressing your luck here lady,' face.

And in true Singapore fashion the heat wave quickly gave way to a full-on monsoon. It was a classic Singapore morning - very fitting for our farewell tour. 

Some quick thoughts as we continue to repatriate: everything really is bigger in America! Grocery stores (x1000), kitchen counters, washing machines, cars, people. Fast.Food.Chains.Every.Where. Local commercials haven't grown old yet. ESPN! TARGET! CHIPOTLE! BEER & WINE UNDER $18 A GLASS! 

We miss Singapore, but we are loving being home and closer to our family. Marie slept like a champ after a day of soaking up all this good Midwestern fresh air. Ahh feels good to be home...

XO,

CD

[Editors note: I plan to keep up with the blog as we begin to make our life here in Chicago (I need an outlet for my excessive baby photos and photography practice). However, I don't think I'm going to share new posts via my Facebook page anymore. So, if you enjoy 'Keeping Up With The Duvall's', enter your email address in the 'Follow By Email' field on the right hand side of the homepage to receive updates, or check back every so often for new posts. This blog has been great fun for me and I'm so, so, so happy to have done it. Hopefully I will enjoy documenting and sharing our new life in Chicago just as much. Much love to you all.]  

Photo credit: The Family Man 2016

Read More »

Baby Talk: Marie's First Weeks

Warning: this post contains excessive amounts of baby photos  

Hi All! Just wanted to check in with a quick photo montage of our life with Miss Marie.* We have successfully survived our first two weeks as a little family of three and while it is admittedly not an easy endeavor, we have been enjoying every single moment with our sweet, sweet gal.

I brought my nice camera with us to the hospital and have been snapping a generous amount of pics on my phone, so here are just a few of my favorites...  

All snuggled up at the hospital. The hospital where we delivered - Mount Elizabeth Orchard - was nothing short of amazing. The facilities and nurses were top notch and we were in very, very good hands. They even offer a complimentary limo service to take you home with baby(!)

Her hospital-issued blanket may or may not have been from the Hello Kitty family... 

#FirstFamilySelfie  

Brown-eyed girl. 

My hands look like the cover of that Tina Fey book. 

I <3 this pic. 

Heart is bursting. 

So happy to be home sweet home... 

I have tons of cute pics of Michael and the baby - mom is still working on becoming photo ready ;)

Looking extra sweet on dads first day back to work. 

Baby yawns are just the sweetest. Here she is in her pram. We've been trying to take a daily walk in the morning. So far she loves getting out of the house, but the issue is if we miss our window of time it becomes way too hot for her (most everyday is in the low 90's / feels like 100 which is not good for such a teeny human).  

B-day shout out to Uncle Johnny! 

We successfully made the rounds at the doctors last week. Here is our sweet, sweet, ultra amazing Dr. D. who delivered our babe.  

Cheeeeeeese! 

We also tackled newborn photos - which wore us ALL out. 

Michael loves taking her out to explore the balcony and picking her a fresh flower for her hair :)

Things she enjoys at 2 weeks: getting just her left hand out of her swaddle (possibly left-handed like mom?), ripping her mittens off and scratching her face, screaming her head off while on her changing mat, growing the sweetest little rat tail of hair, sleeping a 4hr and 3hr stretch at night, having her hair combed (diva) and being extra cute just for dad. 

That's about all for now. We can't wait for our first round of family visitors to arrive at the end of this week!  So much love from Singapore. 

 XO,

CD, MD & MD

*Many people have asked how we came up with the name Marie. Basically we have a few Mary's in our family (both of Michael's grandmothers, my moms middle name, and a few others) and we knew we wanted a French name since 'Duvall' is of French origin, so Marie was an easy choice for us. We only recently decided on her middle name. Noelle is my given middle name that I had recently given up once we got married and I changed my name so it was nice to bring it back into the family :)

Read More »

Chinese New Year: As seen in Singapore

Hey there! 

In the spirit of spending this Chinese New Year in Singapore due to my lack of mobility, I figured I should dust off the ol' camera and venture down to China Town to take in the sights and sounds of the celebration. I present to you just a few pics from the other weekend. Gong Xi Fa Cai and happy year of the monkey! 

A photo summary below: 

Little monkey faces everywhere. 

Giraffe ears? Omg the cuteness. 

...and a well-earned Tiger beer for Michael after fighting the massive crowds in the name of photography. 

Cheers to a healthy and prosperous new year! 

XO,

CD

Read More »