Paul, Cass, Tala(2.5), and Wyatt(1+) headed back to LA a week or so ago after a 2 week visit in Singapore. Everyone stayed at our place so the house felt like a nickelodeon playhouse most of the time. Something was always going on especially the first week when the kids were jet lagged. In the end we did all the fun stuff around town with the kids in tow. Zoo, Orangutan Breakfast, Sentosa, Dim Sum, Chinatown, Botanical Gardens and of course Jumbo. A really good time had by all during the visit.

I went a bit scanner crazy this week. I have been looking for the non-existent quality all in one (printer, scanner) so that I wouldn’t need to take up so much office space. I wanted a document scanner, creating searchable files, to get the house closer to paper free and a photo scanner so I can properly save some cool things like old photos, kids artwork, or travel souvenirs digitally. Turns out there isn’t even a scanner that is good at both much less one with a printer. So I bought a far too expensive snapScan 510M and a not so expensive Canon 90 LIDE. I could save some bucks on the photo scanner as I don’t need to scan negatives. I am loving the Canon and just getting ready to get the snapScan running and start scanning important docs like tax records and all the other things you need to keep but can never find when needed. I am considering trying to scan some genealogy records my grandfather used to keep.
Of course I started with the fun stuff.
Some great old photos my grandma sent me.

Travel Souvenirs I’ve collected:

Kids Artwork will so be a big one as Jacob gets older. I started with a piece that Conor Mullane mailed me last week.

Once and for all the Hand Story. So I cut my hand pretty bad about a month ago. Bad enough that it was a bit like an E.R. episode and was easily the worst injury so far I’ve had.
It was late and I was getting a glass of water before bed. I was reaching over the baby gate, very dangerous item, and slipped forward. The glass broke under my hand and like a Ginsu knife cut the ligaments, nerves and artery between my pointer finger and thumb. It didn’t hurt as it was a clean cut but blood started shooting everywhere which is not something you’re use to seeing. You immediately react and try to stop that from happening. When it’s an artery stopping the flow is difficult and a bit worrying as it continues to leak out pretty quickly.
I woke Christina up and you can imagine her reaction as I hold a dripping hand wrapped in a red towel and attempt to calmly explain that “I need to go to the emergency room now please”. She jumped in the car and rushed me to the hospital. There was a short discussion on what to do if I passed out which Christina resolved by saying she would kill me if I did so don’t pass out.
We arrived at the emergency room 5 minutes later and it didn’t take much to get attention. A doctor started to sort me out and in fact thought I had been in a car accident at first given how I looked. This is where being in Singapore is awasome. 25 minutes from when I arrived at the emergency room a Hand Surgeon was there attending to me. I was prepped for surgery and 3.5 hours later it was all stitched up. From at home with my hand cut to in surgery with a hand surgery specialist trained at the Mayo Clinic was about 2 hours, amazing. Dr. Looi Kok Poh, the hand surgeon, was awesome. He even called Christina personally when the surgery was over to tell her that my thumb was going to be fine.
The damage is really only to my right thumb. It’s been just over a month since it happened and my thumb is doing fine. There is lots of scar tissue so the ability to use it is still tough and the nerves need sometime to heal but with some therapy it should be working fine in 3-4 months.
One photo is after the surgery with my big claw and the other is after the stitches came out. It looks normal now except that the thumb doesn’t move so great.

It took a while but I finally went through the Thailand photos and put them up.

Jacob officially turned one today. Celebrations were held this weekend in Thailand with his buddies Conor, Zara, Maya, and Dino (Ariana had to leave early and Maxwell sent regrets). Tons of photos from the weekend will be added later but here are a few of the party by the pool with a big chocolate cake. We’re back in Singapore today for a Malay style picnic with the grandparents to celebrate some more this afternoon.