The Jennifer Blogs

It's been a really rough couple of weeks for our baby girl as we have separated her from a boy she calls her, "BFF." I was glad to cheer her up today - on her 14th birthday - with a gift she's been wanting hella bad. Her dad and I bought her an iPod Touch. Crazy because Apple just released updates of a bunch of iPods (including the Touch), but they aren't released in Singapore yet, so I don't feel like I've been duped.

The iPod Touch is really a lot like an iPhone, only no phone. Her Touch doesn't have a camera in it either, which is fine since she has a really nice compact Canon anyway.

Now that Apple has allowed for Home Sharing, I've got tons of apps she can already use immediately on her iPod. I think her brother is a little bit jealous, but if anyone deserves this gift, it's our little girl! She is amazing in every way and I wish we could give her even more!

I don't know how my mother did it. I was interested in boys as a teenager, and at 15 had my first "real" boyfriend. (Although as it later turned out, it was his best friend that I was really interested in!) But I was definitely more mature when I was 13, 14 and 15 years old than my daughter is. Still, that doesn't stop the boys from looking at her, which is the current case.

A boy my little girl has been hanging out with as a friend has a mad crush on her. It's all over his Facebook page. He's been trading nonstop emails with her asking her what I consider to be inappropriate personal questions (although not sexual).

We've had to pull the plug on this friendship before it went too far. He has since ran the gamut of emotions. He was obviously very angry judging by posts on his Facebook page. He acted confused. And now he has admitted to our son that he is in love with our daughter.

He's pretty mad that we won't let him have contact with our daughter, but he has already distracted her from her school work enough. Some of the suggestions the two of them have made about how they were going to find time to spend together is also a bit worrisome. So, rather than have to deal with that stress right now with a 14-year-old girl who needs to focus on her school work, we have put an end to the friendship.

Some parents might think we're being a bit overprotective. Maybe. But I honestly think too many parents give their children too much freedom, then wonder why their 16-year-old sweetheart is carrying around a baby bump. It's not going to happen on my watch.

Hard to believe my little girl is turning 14 in a few days! Earlier this evening we had a birthday party for her and invited a group of her friends whose parents we hadn't yet met. It was a bit stressful for me since I hadn't met these people, but I'm glad to have gotten that over with.

D'Ette was really happy to get to hang out with her friends and it was neat to watch her interact with these girls and boys. (Yes, boys, ugh!) I remember a few years ago we had a party for her birthday and she had a difficult time getting along with so many different girls in one room. Kids grow up so fast. Teenagers even more quickly! She's more mature now and she's able to handle all the different personalities of both genders.

She got some really thoughtful gifts from her friends, and we gave her a new bathing suit and some other stuff she wanted. Her official birthday isn't until the 28th, and we have something else for her, but she doesn't know what that is yet and I'm not going to spill the beans here for all the trouble I've gone through to keep it a secret!

Singaporeans don't eat cake like we do in the US, so there was no birthday cake. One of the kids' mothers did bring an apple raisin cake, but there's nothing like a good Publix birthday cake. I don't know who will be celebrating a birthday while I'm back in the US next, but I'll be buying a birthday cake and eating it in celebration. Or just in plain pigginess. Chocolate Publix birthday cake with white icing. Here I come!

It's really cool to see history. I've never been much of a museum-goer, but when one of the museums in Singapore hosted the Dead Sea Scrolls, I was excited to take the kids to see it. My friend Kara and her daughter Cami went with us.

I took over 200 pictures of the Bibles and artifacts contained in this exhibit. I'm seriously in so much awe still that I'm having a hard time putting into words the beauty of this exhibit. I had this same feeling when I visited Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam last year. Something about being around so much history that just makes you realize the incredible awesomeness of all that has been preserved.