It's the Monday blues again!

My colleague Eda came back from her holiday at Hong Kong and bought 2 cute water bottles for the boys. So paiseh that she didn't want to take any money from me. Must remind myself to get her kids xmas presents!

I am still reading the upsetting blog. How can I ask that person to simply grow up? You can play and have fun when you are schooling but when you start to work in the society, you just have to grow more mature and have a more mature attitude? Not just her but I just feel youngsters nowadays have no sense of responsibility and thinks that they are simply so great. Just a few years of education and they think they are so smart and deserve high pay with minimal work? C'mon! Wait till you stumble upon obstacles and start to fall down from your stand...then come and tell me how good you are! Humble is the virtue that you can hardly find in youngsters nowadays. They just look at people who dress branded and expensively and then think they are the world's greatest people! How shallow!

Ok enough of rumbling and complaining. It's been raining heavily since 1 hour ago. This time round there's thunder and lightning! I called home and Hao said it's not raining yet at home but there are dark clouds approaching. My little guy told me to hold while he put his brother on the call. Well, Ee sort of rejected the offer to speak to me. Hope they'll be able to nap later with the rain and thunder..How I wished I was at home now with them. Hao has been asking forever when I'm gonna stop work and stay at home with them. I told him mummy wishes to but it's not the time yet. Patience is what I need now...Patience.

Time with my little man..

Just brought Hao to the Bob musical this afternoon. He had a great time during the show and after that he took a picture at the big lifesize poster of Bob and Wendy just at the entrance of the show. After the picture taking, we went to browse the merchandise stand and got him a 6 books boxed set which he requested and decided we should have some teabreak.

Just along the way, we found out that Popular is having a big sale at one of the halls just around the corner and decided that we should detour and dive into the book fair and grab our teabreak later. As usual, he went in and aimed for Bob The Builder story books and Thomas the Train books. He managed to spot and lugged 6 Thomas Train board books @ $20 and another Bob The Builder activity book for $4. That's quite a good buy. We also grabbed 2 workbooks for his K1 preparation. Grabbed a couple of other books on the way and quickly queued for payment and went out into the warm sun as the crowd starts strolling in. I'm glad that he's more into books and reading now than playing all the time and hoped that by supporting him in getting the books he like, he'll actually pick up faster. Now he can already recognise some words after I tried to teach him some sight words and has potential to progress faster, except that I don't have much time to coach him on weekdays. With Ee around, we can hardly accomplish anything as Ee will be tearing down the house and disturbing Hao's work..Sigh

Anyway we had burger king for early dinner and he managed to gobble down 3/4 of a double turkey bacon burger and half pack of fries! I'm quite happy with his food intake today, so decided to reward him with a swing ride that was set up just beside BK. He really liked taking this swing. I guess he's gonna be hubby's roller coaster buddy when he's older. After all he has done the river rafting ride and roller coaster ride at Gold Coast. I was pretty surprised that he love the thrills of such rides and wasn't afraid at all given his scaredy nature..

When it was time to go home, he was pretty disappointed. He told me that he loves the crowd and loves spending time with me and promised that I'll bring him out again. He also said he'll bring daddy and Ee to the show next time. His words warmed my heart. He's rather mature at a young age and always saying things that surprises me. I feel bad that I have not been spending too much one on one time with him since Ee was born, and it took him some time to adjust to sharing his life with another little guy. In my heart I tell myself that I must appreciate him more than now and I should see him as a boy now and not a toddler. It's really true that time flies and when your child is young, you wished they'll grow up faster but once they start to grow up, you wished they'll be your baby forever. Its hard to love but its harder to let go.

Had a real busy weekend and Monday.

On Saturday, we went to Hao's new school (for next year) and bought him all the necessary books and uniform. He seemed to like the school and said he was real excited about it. However, just last night, he said he prefers his current school afterall as all his friends are there. Well, it was the same the last time we changed school for him. Hopefully he'll be alright come next year. Afterall, K1 is the time when he starts real education. By REAL I mean books and homework and classrooms and stuff. Not playing sort of learning. I am pretty excited and scared how he'll fare in school next year. I think my "Kiasu Mummy Syndrome" is sorta creeping up on me!

Sunday we had the usual Lego plus swimming lesson routine again. Today is Sheng's birthday. We had his birthday lunch on Sunday at the Club 10 House of Lobster at College East. Food was so so only, however I quite like the space and sofa seats available for the kids to wander around. Can't expect the kids to sit through the 1.5 hours makan session right? After that we had dinner with my in laws at this teochew restaurant called Fa Ji at Telok Ayer street. It's my father-in-law's favourite teochew restaurant. After the dinner, it was quite early so I told hubby to head down to orchard and let them see some x'mas lightings before going home. It was pretty awesome, although we only saw it from inside the car as hubby drove down orchard road. Maybe I'll bring the kids again and take some nice pics of them with the lightings.

Had to deal with some news from boss. Things are not too smooth at work and we'll be expecting some changes. Maybe this piece of news came at the right time as I align it with my plans for next year. There is a lot to do and prepare now as things become clearer to me. Hopefully next year will be a better one for me!

Nic got her new car!! Her first car ever since she passed her test and it had to be in States...Red Honda Civic Coupe! Am already quite worried about her driving in Singapore and now I think it's gonna be worse in US! Hope she gets it through with no accidents. Practise makes perfect Nic!

Was checking on the Primary One registration details just now with a few friends. Whew it's not easy at all! Finally had a clearer idea of what to expect and how to analyze the various DATA to decide on which schools to narrow down. Thanks so much to Eng for helping out this blur blur mummy here! Gotta discuss with hubby soon and make a decision. Very KS about losing out in this as it concerns the future of our little man! Gotta go back and crunch the numbers tonight *yawn*..

Hao is recovering well from the pimple at the eye. The redness and swelling has gone down a bit and the pus can no longer be seen. Seems like it's drying up already.

Just received Nic's pics of her new apartment in San Diego. She's really enjoying life there. Look at the size of her apartment and the view from her patio! Hopefully we can go visit her sometime next year or the year after when the kids are older. Will definitely look forward to going there again after so long.

Sis came back from Europe on sunday. We had a long wait at the airport on sunday night as her flight was delayed. In the end she arrived and we all headed home at about 10pm instead of her schedule of 7.40pm. At last I saw what she had gotten me from Europe! It was a nice Gucci bag at a good steal from the Gucci warehouse sale in Florence. She had a good time there shopping and eating. Both her and Kevin put on some weight just 2 weeks there. Was hinting to hubby that I've never been to Europe! Maybe we can do that when the kids are older. I long to have a 2nd honeymoon when we are ready to leave the kids at home. Now I just can't bear to leave them with anyone and go for holiday. I wished I could spend 24 hours with them and see them grow and learn new things. For once I realise Hao is growing up too fast. Much too fast to my liking. He's gonna be 5 next year and going to K1! Sigh time flies..

Hao got a "pimple" at his left eyelid. It started on Friday night with what seemed like sore eyes. His eyelid was a little puffy and red. This morning, when I looked closer, there was some pus developing and now it's bigger. He's not showing any signs of pain or discomfort, which is good. When asked if the "pimple" is making him uncomfortable or painful, he said no. He's still playing and running about as per normal and not rubbing his eyes or whatsoever. Hope it will go away quickly.

We had lunch at Suntec in the afternoon and left the laundry out to sun when we left the house. Unfortunately, the rain came quick and heavy and the laundry was completely soaked with the rainwater and dirt. I had to re-do the laundry again. The weather these days are unreally unpredictable. Will never trust to leave the laundry out again.

Tomorrow is yet another busy day with classes for Hao and going to the airport to fetch sis back. She just smsed me her flight details and we'll be seeing her tomorrow! She'll be ecstatic to see the kids at the airport. We'll probably bring the kids for dinner at the airport.

TGIF!!! It's finally Friday! Today is another raining day. It's raining rather heavily outside and I am thinking how I can get home without getting drenched..

Sister will be back from Europe this weekend. How fast time flies! They've been there for almost 2 weeks! I rather miss her. We are so used to having her at home and coming back after work to play with the kids. Hao misses her too and asked when she's coming back. I think he's looking forward to the presents she'll be bringing back for him!

It will be another busy weekend again. Wonder how the weather will be for the next 2 days. It has been raining almost every late afternoon for the past few days. Hopefully it won't rain much so we can enjoy our weekend. Rain keeps us indoors most of the time during weekend as we won't want the kids to fall sick from the cold weather. Also there's only the shopping malls to go if it rains. It'll definitely be jam packed. I think I'll ask the kids to sing tonight "Rain Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day..."

Rainy day blues

There was a heavy downpour just now. It's the wet season again. Season of heavy rain, strong wind and wet shoes. I like year end. The weather is cooling and everyone is in a relax and happy kinda mood. Maybe because Christmas is coming. I like Christmas and the spirit of giving. Everyone will be choosing gifts for their loved ones and exchanging presents with one another. It's a very warm kinda feeling.

I haven't been sleeping well for the past week. So much things are going through my thoughts right now and I need to think a lot recently. Sometimes I get dreams relating to my thoughts and at times I find myself waking up in the middle of the night and then have a hard time falling back asleep again. I hate this phase where I have to make think through my alternatives and make decisions. Somehow decisions made before had made a different turnout and I need to evaluate them again. It was not intended to be this way but all the same I need to be clear what I wanna do this time round. This is another chance for me to make changes in the way I want. Maybe it's a good thing afterall.

I saw a staff's blog and am very upset on what she has wrote in her blog. Things usually don't turn out as per what we expect but shifting blame to others doesn't seem to make one right. Anyway I've decided not to say anything about this and let the issue slowly fade away. Managing people are so hard. Social relationships are most complex and difficult to handle. Others will take advantage of you if you are too nice and if you are too harsh, everyone talks behind your back and backstab you. Sigh. HUMAN!!

I've also just read Jo's blog on Shiyr's update. Seems like she's going to be quite alright altho the road to recovery might be a long one. Her elder son seemed to be most affected seeing how the little sister cried and screamed in pain during the ordeal. Poor little guy. Hope the counsellor can help him to walk through this phase.

Annie's uncle passed away last night. She cried hard and is terribly upset. Her uncle was only 49 with 2 bright sons. It was such a pity. He was so young and his kids are so young. Now the wife has to bear the responsibility of bringing up the 2 kids single-handedly. There was no symptoms before hand and her uncle was healthy just seconds before he fell and hit his head. He was gone just like that. Condolences to her and hope she can overcome her grief soon. Everytime I hear of cases like that, I remind myself to appreciate and love the people around me when I can. You'll never know when tragedy strike. Better to tell them you love them now, than to do it when they are gone. Treasure your loved ones now.

My partner at work will be on leave from tomorrow onwards till next Thursday. I feel a little down when I think about it. Atmosphere in the office is somehow different. Although she's only going away for 5 days, I think I'll miss her a lot. Gotta make sure I don't get sick for the next 5 working days as I'll be covering her duties!!

There is a very cute advertisement in the TV selling the idea of Christmas in Hong Kong DisneyLand and showing various cartoon characters. Hao is completely mesmerized by the ad. The Donald Duck at the end of the ad makes him and Ee laugh a lot. It's the funny sound of Donald's "UH-OH" that makes it funny. Wonder if we will get the chance to go there next year. By then Ee will be older and Hao will still think Disney characters are cute.

Was doing some research on Primary school registration and various information on the schools and options for Hao in 2009. Seems like a long time to go but it's happening pretty fast. I just realise I need to register for Parents Volunteer work for higher chances of enrolling into our preferred school even if we are staying within 1km. Hubby will surely brush aside the topic and say it's too early. Maybe I'm a bit anxious but all for the sake of a good foundation. Maybe I'll register for PV in dec and start early. It's never too early to plan right? Maybe I'll be a librarian or traffic warden or something...will need to call the schools for more information. Urgh so much to do, so little time to think about it!

Watch Your Steps..

Was reading on the incident happened last weekend (and last night) where the children had their foot stuck in the escalator. I didn't really paid much attention when it was on the news Sunday night, and only came to know that the little girl was a forum mummy's child. As I read more on the forum, I became more upset as I know more details and comments only how vulnerable our kids are on the escalator. Another case happened just last night at Tampines Mall. Luckily the girl was not badly hurt as Shiyr who got her toes amputed and skin of her sole came off. She had to had skin grafted from the thigh to the sole and then another surgery on Thurs to ensure things are not worse. How frightening it is to a 2 year old little girl..

In fact on Sunday when we sent Hao to his Lego school in the morning, he was playing with his toy helmet on the handrails of the escalator and got an earful from hubby. He was reprimanded on the spot for misbehaving on the escalator and got time out from hubby. He cried a little but later apologised for his behaviour and assured us (for the umpteenth time) that he will not do it again. Later in the evening when we heard the news, hubby got Hao to watch little Shiyr with her bandaged leg and Hao was quite loss for words for a little while. When asked if he understood what happened, he replied that the girl didn't behave on the escalator and got herself hurt just like what happened in the morning when he misbehaved and got a scolding from hubby. Just then do we realise how thankful we are that nothing has happen to our two boys so far. Anyone could have been hurt.

Last night when I was relating to mum on the incident, Hao overheard and then asked if we are talking about the little girl with the toe amputed. I replied yes and he again told us that he won't misbehave again on the escalator as he won't want to be like the little girl. I think it sort of affected him and put him on guard seeing how easily one can get hurt playing on the escalator. Of course that wasn't the case for Shiyr but it's just an alert for parents with kids that caution has to be exercised at all times. You can't take everything for granted and assumed nothing bad will happen. We always have to be extra careful wherever we go.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectionfiltered=consumer&id=4630308

Mum's Cuisine

I've always enjoyed cooking. I'm not too good a cook myself but I get a lot of satisfaction from seeing the joy on others' faces when they like the taste of my cooking. I've made it a point to myself that I'll make an effort to cook on sunday evenings. Usually the kids and myself will have dinner at my parents' place when I drop by to pick them up, while hubby will detour to his parents' place for dinner and have a little chat with them every night. Saturday evenings we'll all pop over to In-Law's place for dinner as a once a week gathering. That leaves only Sundays for me to cook dinner.

Cooking is a big event. From planning the menu, getting the resources (grocery shopping etc) and then preparing the ingredients and the actual cooking plus presentation and lastly the washing up. It is especially challenging for me as hubby and Hao is very picky on what they eat. They never eat anything repetitive for the weekend and has a lot of comments about the food they eat. Getting good comments on my cooking is like scoring an A* for my assignments.

Dinner on sunday was good, surprisingly. There's this coke ribs recipe that I had forever but never actually made it. It was from the M4M forums many months ago which was easy yet delicious as commented by many others. We were out shopping for grocery when I told hubby I had the intention to try out the recipe for dinner. His first question was "What is your probability of success and the backup in case it failed?". I almost strangled him alive. I can't be that bad right? Anyway finally he said OK and we got the ingredients. So that was our dinner for that night and other few dishes:
1. Corn and Carrot Soup (Plus Tofu)
2. Coke Ribs
3. Spinach
4. Pan Fried Terriyaki Salmon
5. Fried Rice (Fried by hubby)

I was pretty excited about the coke ribs. Preparing and marinating was simple enough. Cooking was pretty ok. Verdict hubby and Hao gave was DELICIOUS. I had worried that it might be a bit too sweet but it wasn't. Hao had a big serving (the ribs was pretty big) and Hubby eat 3 of them. I've never seen Hao enjoying meat so much other than chicken wings. I was pretty proud of myself for the dinner!

I'm so tired..

It's already midnight and I am still awake. Physically I am tired but mentally I am wide awake. There are so much to think about and so many things undone but I'm simply too lazy to pull myself up from my bed to do anything.

It's been 2 weeks since Nic left for US. I miss her terribly as she was my friend and confidante too. Though I still see her online, but our lives are heading in different direction now. She's been lucky to have a fresh start, pursuing her dreams and an exciting life ahead of her. How I wished I was as lucky as her. This is the first pic Nic sent back since she settled down. Nice view in Mt Soledad...It would be so nice if I can wake up every morning to such a wonderful view..

Ok It's not that bad! I have my own haven here with a loving husband and two cheeky sons. Life's pretty typical and routine but we're all loved being a family.

This photo was taken recently when we celebrated my youngest son - Ee's 1st birthday. Time really flies. I can still vaguely remember how he came to this world and how we survived through our first year with him, making adjustments to our lives and getting used to him being around. Even his doting big brother Hao had to make a few changes to the new addition to the family then. It just warm my heart whenever Hao mention that we are a family of four instead of three.

The only down side is that the house has never been quiet since then. In fact, it's warming up a lot these days since Ee has started to explore into Hao's grounds of toys and books. There's been fights and quarrels between them, although we can never make out what Ee is saying exactly. At one, his vocabulary is very limited. His only outburst of speech are the sharp pitches of ahs, ehs and eeekk! Hao has gladly taken up his big brotherly responsibilities and dictating what's his and what's not his. Well, Ee has a lot to say about that actually!!