We loved living with housemates but with a growing family we needed more space for the baby and the subsequent nanny which we planned to hire. So we decided to split up. My sister stayed with me and moved with us to our next apartment which was a 2-bedroom unit in an old condominium building. How old was this condominium building, you say? Well in the two years we were there, we had witnessed construction on three (!) new condominiums on each side of the building, one after the other. Needless to say, the unit was rented out cheaper than the going rate at that time, but to be fair, the noise was quite tolerable. Now this apartment was smaller than any of the other places we had previously rented given the fact that it was a 2-bedroom but we rented it out of necessity more than anything. It was cheap, it was central and it was just the right size. Also, it was now all ours (and my sister's, of course), or rather it was now the baby's. The apartment was taken over by baby stuff. There was a playpen, high chair, stroller, toys, milk tins and feeding bottles in the living room; sterilizer and bottle warmer in the kitchen; baby bath tub in the bathroom and tons of cabinets to store baby's clothes and paraphernalia all over the apartment. My husband also went on a babyproofing binge and tried to stick safety bumpers all over our furniture, which was an epic fail, since our baby pulled them all out anyway the moment she learned how to. Still, we had a lot of memories in that place because that was where we learned how to parent.
Eventually, I got pregnant again, decided to take a break and packed up my family to move back to Manila. When the second baby came though, and with me having no regular work (I was working freelance), we realized Singapore presented more opportunities for us to provide for our growing family and moved back.
Global Ville
We are currently in a lovely 3-bedroom unit in a condominium building which has lots of other families with young children. There is a sense of community we've found here which we haven't experienced elsewhere. We're friends with the guards, we're familiar with the other residents (although our kids are probably more popular than us) and people are generally friendly to each other. Also, everything is just next door. There's a wet market, a 24 hour supermarket, bakeries, hawker centres, clinics, preschools and even a cinema (though that last one is a slightly longer walk). I would love to stay here even though me and my husband both work an hour away from our home. But it seems we can't catch a break. Our new landlord has again decided to sell the place. We're almost 5 months into our 1 year contract so we're guaranteed a stay until the end of the year, but after that, who knows. I guess we just have to keep moving.
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