Start of the Move

It has been a hectic 4 years since our last post. We are putting this up to tell the world that we will be moving to Australia soon!

It had been difficult for Hubby to get a Job. Not withstanding that the job situation has been getting from bad to worse as China's economy slows down, but trying to communicate through the resume, especially when it references to some person or job with funny sounding positions or names in some faraway land... it just stinks of more work for the poor HR.

The goal today: Provide multiple references and pictures to communicate a sense of truth and frankness, so as to build believability and help HR trust what has been written.

Anyways, we are prepping for the move. Its either Perth, the default choice, or Melbourne, the dream choice. Both are great choices, but one criteria is weather we have good friends nearby, and Perth sounds much better when I use the previous criteria...

The date set for the move is in April and May. Wish us Luck!

Lost sheep

My heart stopped pumping last Sun at the zoo. Andrelle got lost. Or should I say she walked off.
This vision has been going through my mind even now.
We approached the children's zoo or the kids called it the 'water park'. Andrelle now appreciates her surroundings more went into total excited mood as we approached the park. She walked off and immediately I noticed and we quickly got her back. Next I spotted our friends who had arranged to meet up at the zoo, Vanessa. we walked towards her. I was in front followed by the GALS and hub. Van said hi even to the gals I gave her a quick hug and I swore I saw Andrelle walking in my direction next to me. However, the next moment she was gone. We made a frantic search for the toilet cause she walked in that direction. But no she was not there, I was screaming out loud her name. Hub was going in the opposite direction. After 10min, i was going crazy, but I had to stay calm. Crazy thoughts of my gal being abducted and bring turned into a prostitute etc.. surfaced. I was parying out loud to the Lord all this while. Next I saw the zookeeper, I showed him Andrelle's pic and gave him my Hp. Before rushing off to the the resturant to search. People were all staring it was madness.
Hub was also turning pale but I saw him walking towards the entrance of the 'water park'. Next into the male toilets and when I came out. I saw hub carrying an extra load. It was Andrelle. I had tears of relief and fear. Andrelle hugged me so tightly and sobbed, her cries were those that said, I was lost, I was scared and finally found u mummy.
Hub found her in the ticket booth. Someone found her at the ponies and brought her there. God thank u so much for bringing her back to us. All this while we have Van to thank for holding on to Ashlynn and searching as well. There have been stories of kidnapping in HK Disneyland where strangers volunteer to look after the child while the mum goes in search of her other lost sheep. And eventually she loses all her sheep. Scary...
Like Van said, its a lesson learn and it makes us even even more vigilant.
As the saying goes Once bitten twice shine. But really who wants to be bitten right!!!!
So Andrelle please learn ur lesson and stay close.
We all love u.

Frenship...

This subject have been in my mind for the longest time. I cant bring myself to blog it cause it makes me hurt and emotional. Hub knows about it so he does not bring up the subject. I'm taking the time and courage to blog about it. Hopefully it will jinx the thoughts away.
Over the years we build friendships. Some get renewed, some remain dormant but you know those friends will be part of your life. I had a group of friends but due to some disturbing untrue gossip, the actually renewed and even new friendship was destroyed. It hurt me so so much, to actually find out that people whom once had a place in my heart was part of the gossip or even added on to the untrue gossips. News that hurt my family as well.
I hate to say this but after months of counselling from my family, I'm better. But sadly the friendship will now be stored in a tiny tiny box somewhere. It is not easy for someone communal like me to do that but I have to to avoid more hurt done on my family especially my gals.
Goodbye tiny tiny box.

Chinese New Year 2011

To a fabulous year. Heading for Japan for our annual big trip. With the Sis in toll. This time Andrelle is going to be Sg with more bonding time with grandma and grandpa.

19th+39th mth

Before I leave home for a gathering with either 1 or no kids I would take a picture of them. To remind myself of them or to show their latest picture to my frenz. Such a thick-skin mother. Here's the latest and my favourite for the year. When its calm, no war or fights. Their love for each other glows.

Stabbed and stabber

To be stabbed or should I say 'Back stabbed' is a very painful feeling. But its momentary, it will be over and you will be able to come back alive, happy and bouncy. But the stabber, unfortunately bears the weight and will never be able to back to normal. Poor thing, no wonder stabbers age terribly cause they cant look up and smile. Where's all the adrenaline that they need. May god let them see the light soon.

38 +18mth update

Our gals' timeless smiles and cheekiness. We truly cant get enough of it. If only time could stop so we could really savour the moment even more.

Happy 3rd Birthday

Ashlynn , our dear 'bong bong'. Hope you enjoyed your 3rd bdae with your buddies from the park. You have been an amazing companion to us. Filling the house with all your cries, laughter and now your voice. We will always be here to watch you grow and blossom. Love.

Harris Resort Batam

I usually go through a long time to decide on my vacation accomodation. Rule 1: Research research research. This time under the recommendation of my mil's fren we booked Harris within 10min.
Mistake!!! My fil was so disappointed on arrival, he wanted to take the next boat back. There are 2 wings in the resort. The old wing was not well maintained. My room smelled of the damp toilet smell. It was so bad I had to apply Andrelle's tummy ointment on my nose and all around the room. Breakfast was prepared by a lazy chef. Gosh too many to go on and on. Only consolation their flushing system was splendid. Really good with collecting s***.
One ugly sight I witnessed was a mid twenties pretty lady openly holding a container to pack food during breakfast. She acted blurred when being approached by the waiter. I was standing behind her, I was embarrassed by her behaviour. Told her she was not allowed to pack food before I walked away.
The weekend was really a tiring one, even though we all had a 3h spa each. It did not seem to be able to wash away memories of the 'wonderful' resort.

Andrelle's 1st trip to the zoo

1st June 2010(Tue)

Andrelle's 1st trip to the zoo. It poured after we had all our fun.

No more dog...

Fluffy is gone...Our house dog. On 25th June 2010 (Fri). We are the cause of him going to heaven. At 8 yrs old, he can do anything you tell him to. Though he does things to annoy us like going onto our beds, smells our butts all the time, pee and poo everywhere.
Will miss his scratching noise, itchy groaning and the crazy moments he has when he sees us after a long day.
To our smelly dog, the kids do miss you. Rest in peace.

Impromtu....Sch

"When Ashlynn grows BIG, papa will bring me to sch and I will say bye bye to mummy"
This was one of the random statements that Ashlynn can say in a day. Does it mean she is ready?
7th June 2010 (Mon), a visit to the school to explain why the girl Ashlynn Wong who's name has been on the registar has not turned up yet. It became, her 1st 1h+ away from familiar faces and in school. Totally happy, with her bear Sally. It was unplanned, the teacher asked if she wanted to stay. I tempted her for a swimbut she said she was staying on.
Gosh, I went away with mixed feelings. I'm so proud Ashlynn did not fuss but she is all grown up. I miss my big bom bom.
Consolation, sch will only begin for her in Sep. Till then..;P

Long awaited family portrait

After weeks of anticipation.....we got to do our family portrait with Gabriel. Thanx to him we all had great fun. A few teasers....

http://www.gabrielmendes.net/?p=2653

Happiness...

What is happiness to you? To me, its when I bring a smile to my love ones and to new found love ones.
Got 2 calls made to me in the last 2 weeks which sent a shriver down my spine. How can a person make unfair remarks and still go to bed smiling? Why do people purposely want to doubt another person's truth? What do they gain when they tear a person up?
Mum says the world is made exciting when such people exist. I have my family and true friends who know the truth. It may have made me sad to hear such remarks, but God gives me strength and he knows the truth. He helps me overcome the sudden sadness and tells me not to worry and still be on my mission. To bring smiles to all I care.

Andrelle route to 1

A yr of a baby's life is eating sleeping and playing. For Andrelle, she's either at home, at granny's, at the park, at the pool. We have seldom taken her on shopping trips, eat outs etc. Coz we do not want to mess up her eating and sleeping timings.

So far she has been on porridge and milk diet. Giant bowl of porridge for lunch and dinner, in it is lots of veg, varying between the different meats each day. She's been eating well. But the little gal knows how delicious salt can be so during our dinner she walks ard the table waiting for 'adult food'. She gets a nimble and makes a 'ummmm' soundas she walks away smiling. Really cute.

She can say lots of words now, from calling her sis, papa, dog, mum mum(food) etc.. she responds to music by dancing in circles, clapping hands.

She's very different from Ashlynn, very responsive, more strong headed and extremely smiley. That's the personality for now till we discover more gradually.

She's turning 1, and having her in our life has been a joy. Ashlynn has a fight mate, cry mate and most of all a sister. Thank u god for that.

At 11mths, me after facial with her if she goes for facial.

Sad...bondless

I'm back from our 16 day long road trip with Ashlynn. It was great fun but we missed Andrelle. Leaving her in Sg was a tough choice and most importantly hving to risk the fact that she might not wan to suckle when I get back.
Fri at midnite, I could not wait to get her on my boobs. The closeness, I yield for it from my baby. She took a few minutes but she remembered me. I was so so relieved.
Sat she had boobie as well as bottle.
Sun she had boobie as well as bottle.
Mon the same.
Tue she snapped........no more boobie,only bottle.
The next few days running up to now I've been trying, but she has refused.
The last time she went on strike was when she was 8+mths, I brought her to boobie watch at Parent Craft at Thomson Med. It worked. So I thought it this time round I bring her to a neighbour's place to boobie watch. Low and behold, my fren Vanessa tried to breastfeed her. Andrelle was close to suckling when she looked into Vanessa's face. Ooops...wrong mum and she wailed. However, Athena who is Van's 13mth gal was happy to suckle on my boobs.
I brought Andrelle again to Parentcraft in the afternoon. But she's happy being a busybody to the other babies. Poking at their small feet, smiling at the nurses instead of tasting ME.
I'm sad, I miss the closeness.
I ask myself truthfully why do I still want to breastfeed her. Reasons: 1) Convenience 2)Ashlynn will start school and suckling tells the body to make more milk so that will be ample supply for both my gals.
Am I ready to let go, I'm not. I'm going to Parentcraft again tmr. If not successful, I'm still going to keep up my 'pumping' regiment of 5 times a day. Pray and wish me luck.

Andrelle at 10mths, Ashlynn at 30mths

Andrelle grew 2 lower incisors at 9mths, so now at 10mths she has using it to bite on stuff. She is able to stand and walk at least 3 steps unassisted. Can wave and clap.

Ashlynn can get on your nerves at times with all the "wat are u doing qns?" etc....but she such fun when u hv a conversation with her.

Today we leave for Melbourne for 16days. Without bb, so sad but at least she gets to bond with her grandparents without hving to be tortured by Ashlynn. To a great trip!!! A pic of Andrelle and my new helper. She's been of great help so far.

Steps....

Quick update!!! Andrelle by 9mths can stand without support and been holding our hands to walk. at 9 1/2mths she took her 1st 3 steps without help. Yippee.....she's going to walk ard on her own soon. So there's more running ard!!! Photos after CNY. Too busy now.

Stories..

Every woman has a different birth story that we so openly share, same too for how we got hitched etc. Stories make us or do we make the stories? Its a chicken and egg question, why bother asking. Its great memories anyway.

Centre...

Thanx to my sis my blog is finally centralised.... Well done!!! Time to fine tune the pic to make it clearer.

Cough cough

The trip to Penang was ultimate...3 adults and 2 kiddos....soon 2 adults were consumed by the flu followed by the kids. 1 adult standing. Total madness. An experience. Penang is foodie paradise, will return someday again.
Sickness zaps a person's energy and temper away. Hub and me have been extremely short tempered with each other. I can explode at him for anything and everything. And he can be Mr Charcoal Face. I break down easily especially when I cant seem to find the energy to care for the 2 kids. I hate myself so much. I MUST get well.

Stitches...

Happy New 2010. We started off the yr with half a day in KK hospital. Ashlynn attained 4 stitches under her chin. All thanx to hub's stupidity. She was climbing this umbrella shaped pole at the pool. Hub tickled her feet and pop the chin hit the base.
I was in the shower when I heard the cries. I was gone only for 2mins. My heart ached so badly while she was held down in the op theatre. Doc apparently could see how I was affected, instructed me politely to wait outside. Hub was helping to talk through her during the 5-10min op. I was crying with her wails outside.
Man!!!! What can say....I am still fuming.

7 1/2mth update

A quick shot before I rush off to work.

At 71/2mths she can stand with support. And at times without support for 30sec at least.

Cries for help or when her stuff gets taken away from her by Ashlynn.

Makes funny roaring noises or sounds. Dun remember Ashlynn making any noises.

Crawls to us if given any opportunity and not a big fan of the maid. And we know why coz the maid has been so rough on her.

Super smiley and laughs with her sister when not being tortured.

But they have really different personalities. Gosh...I cant imagine what personalities do they have.

** She knows how to wave when we are leaving hm for work. Will upload video soon.

Love notes...digital

Hub drops me notes....honestly I'm always pleasantly surprised when I read them.

Bath Times

Bath times get more fun when you have a partner...Hmm...the same applies to adults.....Cheeky Smile ;P

Lights turned down...

When they lights are turned down and the babies including the GIANT(Hub) one is asleep...I would try and sneak in alittle time on the virtual world. Lately I've been trying to find a nice bag online to pamper myself for my upcoming hatch day. No luck as yet. Any suggestions?
Asia Pacific Blog Awards recently took place and I tagged a few blogs that are actually pretty fun to read. These are on top of my daily fun reads in my favourites. I'm inspired and I need to find time to revamp my blog space. Fatty if u are reading.....pls help soon!!!

These are the blogs:
www.planningwithkids.com

www.fashionation.wordpress.com

www.ladymelbourne.blogspot.com

www.eatshowandtell.com

16th Oct 2009

Amazing how fast a child develops. Each day I wake up to something different. Andrelle has been trying to crawl this entire 5mth. 1st gliding on her tummy reaching out for things. Today she can crawl on her knees, stand when we hold her fingers and sit and look at you. Life is so unbelieveable. Thanx God

Summary of happenings...

Its been awhile...I've been really bz.....or perhaps lazy.....no I should say occupied. These are all excuse. Actually I broke a my left little toe at midnite on the 1st of Aug. How timely! I've repeated the story as to why I broke it like a chicken bone, all cause I put my babies' zz before the dog. So go guess why.... I was sad, I was in a clutch and I did not want to short change my kids...apart from bathing them, I still breastfed, carried them with a clutch on one side. That's the stuborn me.

Andrelle is 5 1/2 mths and she has started to crawl, can sit up, giggles and smile to all the 'amusing' things we do in front of her. I was feeding her today and I realised she's grown so long her legs are happily tangling off my thighs. I need to have a pic of her toes and her fingers soon.

Ashlynn has been talking more and more, she's developing the jealous feelings and is more aware of people giving love to her little sister. She'll start to whine and act like her sis to get attention.

We took her on a vacation to Phuket and it was bonding time for just the 3 of us. Ashlynn loved the water as usually. She wouldnt want to leave the pool....ok I'm thinking of our next vacation destination already. Any suggestions??

Mine fav shot fm our little water fun at Botanics. Hub's women!!!

Sick...

Ashlynn caught the virus fm me. Diahorrea I had...vomitting I did not. But she DID! 7 times in 2h, and she has definately lost her weight, energy. Totally restless after all the puking. Poor little thing. But I is slowly recovering after 2 days of rest. There was an epidemic in Singapore actually, and we were part of the statistics, including hub.

I got a picture of Ashlynn, she could get up jus lay on the floor. And that was after her usual nap. Gosh...she hardly ever kept still only when ill.

Am I lonesome tonite..........

I've been juggling work and family since Andrelle turned 2 1/2mths. I went back to teach twice a week and I must say sometimes it can be a challenge.
I stocked up on milk and praise the lord, I have more milk this time. I was going to the hosp to collect or at times beg for empty glass bottles to store the breast milk. I got I think close to 500 bottles of frozen milk store in the fridge. Hub calls me a cow. I'm glad in a sense that I am one. Ashlynn has been taking expressed breast milk as well. And I was blessed to be able to provide for Allison's adoptive daughter. Haha...I'm a 'milk mum' to baby Dawn. Gave her 150 bottles and I can see she's growing fast which is a good sign.
My friends ask what do I do to get so much milk. Gosh...its hard work at times. Basically feed the baby properly, and express your breasts fully. Hub has been very supportive as well. He helps with bringing the milk to the fridge for storage and washing the funnels. Tonite YY's not around. He's down with alittle flu so he decided we should continue to stay over at my mum's place while he goes home alone.
I'm lonesome tonite, miss hub alot but the MILKing must go onnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.......