Sand

First time on sand...

This one's for Jiayi...

Thanks, dear friend, for blessing Aik Kor's Nathalie and my Isaac with such beautiful dungarees! We purposely coordinated the kids' dressings over this Christmas eve at church, so that we can snap these photos specially for you, as a sign of our appreciation! :)

Christmas Eve Celebration at Church

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve celebration at church. Apart from a beautiful worship session filled with Christmas carols, and the kids putting up a skit on the true meaning of Christmas, we also screened a children animation called "The Gift". Thereafter, Pastor Adrian gave a sermon message whilst the kids were brought to a room where they had a fun and exciting time of games!

We were so tired after that. My hands were aching as i was the photographer for that day. YL was also tired as he was playing the guitar and thereafter he was tasked to take care of Isaac whilst Isaac's mum went around snapping pics! But it was all worth it. We had a couple of friends and family members accepting Christ that day! PRAISE GOD! In addition, all of us, be it the little children or us older adults had a lovely time fellowshipping with one another! There was so much job and laughter as we rejoice over the celebration of God's gift to us - the birth of Christ!

Images of the day's event may be found in the Riverplace Church's Flickr Chirstmas Album. I was really happy with how the photos turned out. Thank God! ; )

Merry Christmas to all!

huckleberry isaac

Don't know why... when i look at Isaac in his denim dungarees today, he reminded me of the fiction character Hucklerberry Finn! : )

Love is...

... spending time with your loved one watching God's beautiful paintings upon the skies...

.............................

[Picture taken with sze's nokia handphone during the September trip to Tokyo, Japan]

Me and my Pop

Isaac is in this 'I-want-to-stick-to-Daddy' phase. Everytime he sees his Daddy, he will follow him around... His daddy would gladly oblige by playing with him. Sze is really happy for that as it means that she gets some time-off, and they get to do the "Father-and-son" bonding thingamy... : )

However, whenever Isaac is sleepy or cranky, he still comes to mummy for his hug and his cuddle. : )

Definitely walking now!

Hallelujah! Thank God for legs!

Yes, it was just a couple of days ago that we commented that the little one needs more confidence in walking on his own.

Can walk already! So "yaya-papaya"!

Today, we spent a whole afternoon at Isaac's paternal grandparents' place, as his grandaunt was celebrating her birthday. The large number of familiar guests/extended family members and cousins got Isaac so excited and happy...He just got up and walk up and down from one person to another, mingling around...

walking? no sweat! :)

walking a little!

Isaac can now take a few baby steps!
But he's still not confident with walking by himself.
He'll hang on to our hand and walk gleefully, but once we let go of his hand, he'll just sit his butt on the floor!

Gotta' build up his confidence a little more...but its a good start! : )

xylos

Remember when we said that we were looking for a xylo-piano for Isaac, and couldn't find one that we wanted?

In the end, Isaac's uncle YH and aunt LS bought him the tiger xylo-piano from little tikes!! And not only that, since then, he has received two more xylos!

One beautiful one that was made in italy that produced the most brilliant sounds that we've ever heard, and another four-note xylo that was made of wood~!

So now, he has one at home, one in his paternal grandparents' home and one in his maternal grandparents' home!!!

PRAISE GOD for his abundant blessings! : )

Don't want...

"Don't want..."

Remember us writing that Isaac had acquired the knack of 'shaking his head' and then smiling in glee, not really understanding what that meant? Now, it seems that he has understood the implication of 'shaking his head', i.e. it means "No" or "Don't want"!

When we want to feed him more food and he already had his fill, he would 'shake his head'.

Ask him to return to us our handphone(s) after letting him have a look at it (them), he would shake his head in defiant.

Just today, when a stranger invited him to come over to her, he looked at her straight in the eyes and then shook his head. : )

Gaining understanding

In the mornings, we usually lay Isaac on his bassinet before giving him his milk bottle. When he finishes drinking it, he would usually just leave the empty bottle on the bed, and stand up and shout for attention (i.e. his way of telling us that "I'm done!").

I was so tired that i was lying on bed next to his bassinet this morning and taking a wink before he popped his head up from the bassinet, and baby-talked to me. I turned around, smiled at him and asked him "Are you already done with your milk? Show mummy the bottle?", not expecting him to react rationally to my question at all...

Lo and behold! The babe squat down, picked up his empty bottle and pass it over to mummy (well, actually its more like threw it over the bassinet to me!).

Am amazed...He could actually understand and respond to us! : )

Note: To us, this is a key development milestone!

Psalm 112

Have not had time to read the bible recently. This morning, whilst in the car to work, I flipped open the Bible and told YL that perhaps we should memorise a Psalm together. Randomly, I flipped to Psalm 112, and having eyed it through, decided that this is a nice Psalm to memorise, as it encourages us in our daily walk with him and is also a reminder of God's promises.

Psalm 112
1 Praise the LORD.
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who finds great delight in his commands.
2 His children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.
5 Good will come to him who is generous and
lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice.
6 Surely he will never be shaken;
a righteous man will be remembered forever.
7 He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
8 His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
in the end he will look in triump on his foes.

9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn will be lifted high in honor.
10 The wicked man will see and be vexed,
he will gnash his teeth and waste away;
the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

Work

Since I've been posted to a new portfolio recently, work has been really busy. And due the the nature of the particular piece of work that i've been intensively involved over the past few weeks, its also been pretty emotionally draining for me. I feel the muscles around my shoulders tightening and aching, i think that is a sign of stress too.

But thank God for this reminder today from Colossians 3:17 in the Bible:

"Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Sze.

p/s: Still, I think i need to go for massage therapy. : )

shaking his head

Issac learnt how to shake his head left and right today spontaneously.

We don't think he realised what it means...he just found it fun to shake his head...

Try asking him a question and nod your head at him, and chances are that he would shake his head gleefully back at you!

BTW, its an easier skill to learn how to shake your head left and right than to nod up and down! He hasn't quite acquired the latter skill yet...

Meanwhile, ask him if he has been a 'good boy' and he will shake his head at you!

Birthday greetings

Hi Yuan Liang and Puay-Sze, and (of course) LeLe!

The weather here is unusually splendid today, sun shining, air crispy, and finally all the leaves are coloured. It is as if the Almighty knows it is a special day, and has arranged all these to allow everyone to share the joy.

Happy Birthday LeLe!!! Maybe you are yet to wonder once again who Uncle Sen and Auntie Emily are, but never mind, we are giving you ample time to do so. All we want from you is: you stay cute and healthy, and enjoy your life!! (I got to tell you, life becomes harder later on, when you have to do homework, exams … don’t want to scare you now. J)

It is also a day to celebrate parenthood, for all the sleepless nights, joyful tears and above all, the love. Salute to you both.

Best Regards,
Emily & Sen

Cheerios, amigos!! You couldn't have put it all better than what you've done with your last sentence! Thanks for celebrating the day with us, even when u're afar in London! : )

Sen & Emily with Isaac whilst they were in Singapore in early Nov 2006

I am Sooooo Happy!!!

... Maybe cos I am finally going to be a toddler!!

Funny faces!

I am ONE!

Happy Birthday our little darling!

Enjoying nature

Taking time to enjoy the plants in the garden of grandparents' home...

Don't come near me and my Harley!!

Where can I get this???

I have a problem trying to find some toys in Singapore. I see loads of FisherPrice items, but hardly any Little Tikes' ones in the departmental stores. I wonder why?

We have been trying to hunt around for this two-in-one piano-xyleophone for Isaac for some time now. The one by FisherPrice is made of plastic, has only seven notes (less than 1 full octave!!) and the sound that it yields doesn't have the quality of brilliance that we are looking for. We don't want stuff that are electronic that would waste battery and might spoil easily. so we are looking for those that are made of good quality metal or hardy wood that would last longer and have good sound quality. To date, it seems that the ones by Little Tikes would fulfill our needs. We've actually seen one at a friend's place, but he told us that he had purchased it in Australia! :(

Does anyone know where we could get them, in particularly the one shown below, i.e. large, easy-to-press keys produce a full octave of tones, in Singapore?? Its called "Little Tikes Rhythm Maker Piano" and is retailing at £14.99 at a UK mailorder website....

:)

UPDATE [21/11/2006] : THANKS TO YH & LS FOR THE WONDERFUL LITTLE TIKES TIGER XYLeOPHONE!!! ISAAC LOVES IT!

Developments

Its been a long time since I updated the blog. Have been swarmed with work and spending more time playing with Isaac, that its difficult to find time to updated the blog.

Since the last time the blog was updated, some developments in Isaac:

a) He has developed FOUR full teeth (two upper ones and two lower ones)....and he enjoys utilising them to munch on his food, bite his apples and pears and bananas, as well as attacking his great-grandma with his sharp sharp teeth (naughty naughty!!)

b) He can call "papapapapa" and "mamamamama"

c) He can stand up steadily by himself for quite a while, and walk with our hands holding his hands or with some help from his toddler's push cart/trolley.

d) He can tap at his chest twice, as an indication of "please, may I... (e.g. have more biscuits)"?

e) He can clasp his hands and move up and down when we say "gongxi gongxi"

f) He can wave "bye bye" automatically, when we say "bye bye"

g) He can do the action to this cantonese phrase/poem called "Dim2 Chong3 Chong2"

And today, he successfully sucked on a straw to get at the Yakult yoghurt drink (yummy)!

Virgin Swim

Brought Isaac to Chinese Swimming Club this morning for his virgin swim. Wanted to bring him there for sometime now, but we have to keep postponing it due to the earlier bad patch of haze. Now that the air has cleared substantially, we were finally able to bring him over.

This is the tentative set of photos from my handphone, shot at the beginning of the swim. As u can see, he had a slight apprehensive look on his face.

This is the other set of photos once i have got it (shot with Dad's camera), which definitely shows him to be enjoying the water!

p/s: Check out his milk belly that is portruding out beneath that cute little swim suit! : )

Dinosaurs

Drawn by YL ... for our nephew Joel...who misses his mummy 'cos she had just delivered his sister #2, Josie! : )

Dooooooooon't Waaaaaaaant!!!

"I hate having my hair cut!"

pub nite

Went to Scruffy Murphy's Irish Pub tonight with Sze's bro and sister-in-law. The pub's located facing the East Coast beach seafront at Marina Cove. We've passed by it a couple of times on our previous trips to the Mac Cafe or during our strolls along the beach path. When we passed it this morning and saw its advert for its Octoberfest promotion(portknuckles, Erdinger beer, German sausages, etc.), we could not help but decided that this shall be our dinner venue tonight!

Too bad they didn't have the promised portknuckles, but its serving of german beer and sausages satisfied us. We also ordered its shepherd's pie which was yummy as well as its fiery chicken drumlets (which we all found to be a little too fiery for our tongues!). We ended off the meal with a Mediterranean platter of homous and pita bread.

We had a happy dinner there. We dined in their aircon lounge, and found the place to be most childfriendly! Non-smoking plus the availability of baby chairs! Whats more, they've got some toys around to entertain bigger kids! As for Isaac, well, it turned out that a Heineken beer coaster was sufficient to keep him entertained the whole night! What a star! :)

satisfied pubbers ; )

saturday breakkie

daddy didn't let me eat the big breakfast... but i got a lick of the balloon!

3 teeth now...

yay! 3rd tooth coming up! :)

p/s: two at the top and one at the bottom

Boxed up!

A good alternative to spending money$$ to buy a playpen... ; )

Midautumn Festival

Happy Mid-autumn Festival!

"Happy Birthday Uncle YH!!"

Isaac = He laughs!

Isaac's Toothy Grin

His first tooth!

Lots of his peers began to have their first tooth beginning from their 7th month. However, whilst Isaac's gum became rather hard early on, perhaps due to his constant exploration of objects with his mouth, it didn't show any sign of popping out any teeth. So, I used to have 'nightmares' of him growing up without any tooth...but i no longer need to worry now! ;)

cute hah?? ;) 

Away in Japan

YL and myself had a getaway to Tokyo between 13 Sep night - 19 Sep evening:

Here are some of our impressions of Japan:

1. Japan is not as expensive as London...!
2. Japanese are super polite...!
3. Parts of Japan are even cleaner than Singapore...!
4. Japan has many quirky high-tech architecture
5. Food is yum - Sushi, Yakitori, Ramen, etc!
6. Chicken sashimi is nice and affordable...Horse sashimi taste quite good, but is very expensive!
7. Japanese young and old are all preoccupied with their 3G handphones...just look at them texting away whilst on the subway trains!
8. Fuji San (our affectionate address of Mt Fuji) is really shy...he's often hidden behind large masses of clouds, but we managed to catch a glimpse of the his top!
9. Doraemon is really cute. ;)
   

We enjoyed ourselves but missed Isaac tremendously whilst we were in Japan...We brought our handphone with us even though it cannot work in Tokyo, so that we can look at the photos of Isaac that are stored in the phone.

And we were touched that YL's dad drove to fetch us from the airport with Isaac stripped on the childseat behind, so that we can hug Issac the moment we touch down in Singapore! :)

P/S: Issac's 1st tooth has finally sprouted out (whilst we were away)!!

1st subtle sign of....

...a tooth!

I think after nine months, two weeks and 1 day old, we finally saw the sign of a first tooth on the left side of Isaac's top gum!

errr...no photo, cos its just too tough for a nine month old babe to open his mouth wide and long enough for us to take a macro photo of the emerging 'gem'!!

Little Drummer Boy

I love playing the drum that Gong Gong had bought for me!

Give me the DuRiAn!!!

I love the smell...and i love the taste even more!!!

Give it to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

40 degrees

Isaac was suddenly hit with fever on thursday night all the way through to saturday. When his fever shot up to 40 degrees celcius on Saturday despite regularly given suppository every 4-6 hours to bring the fever down, and when he started lookin lethargic (if you know Isaac, he very seldom look lethargic!!), YL panicked and insisted that we bring him to the 24 hour Children's Clinic at KK Hospital.

We were quite impressed by the service in the Hospital. Although it was Saturday night (At about 9.30pm) and there were quite a few patients, there was hardly a wait. Isaac was given a pre-check by a nurse (bloodpressure, fever temperature, verbal check on medical history). When she found that he had a raging fever, she quickly gave us cold water and sponge to sponge him down. Thereafter, we went to the registration counter to pay the lump sum $65 consultation fee (which includes any test and medication...quite a good deal!).

He was then swiftly seen by a really nice pediatrician, who was very gentle and tried to set us at ease. Isaac saw a big tub of sweets on her table and was very 'buah pai seh' and grabbed it and looked at her gleefully. The Ped gave him a check through and concluded that it was probably a viral fever. To be on the safe side, she ordered for a urine test just to make sure that it wasn't a urinary tract infection.

[From top left clockwise]: Isaac having his bloodpressure taken; Feverish Isaac looking a bit 'blur blur'; Isaac momentarily going back to his old cheerful self and trying to jump up and down (!) ; Isaac looking around curiously at the other ill children...

It was quite amusing for us to see how the nurse tried to attach a small children's urine bag on Isaac to collect urine for the test. Though she was swift in her action and the process painless, Isaac was nevertheless quite alarmed when we put him on a hospital bed for the nurse to attach the urine bag. It didn't help that the bed next to him was another boy that was screaming and crying at the top of his voice. Poor Isaac was visibly shaken and tried to hug tightly on his mummy like a koala bear.

Isaac was quick to urine in the bag. We were wondering how much urine was required, but the nurse said that whatever he had provided was sufficient. Then we waited around for about an hour for the urine test result, as a fretful Isaac laid tired and frightened on his mummy, whimpering and trying to sleep... It didn't help that his daddy was still trying to sponge him to bring the fever down, and he obviously didn't like his forehead wet whilst trying to get some rest!

Praise God that at 11pm, the urine test came out negative, and the Ped reassured us that things should look better soon. She advised us to keep sponging him with water to bring the temperature down. Thanks to yl's earlier sponging, Isaac's fever had already come down significantly to 38-ish degree...The Ped was ready to let us go, but yl was very kam chiong and continued to ask her lots of questions. He even took every pamphlet available on children's illness! The Ped joked that he is a 'new age daddy'....super involved with his child! ;)

We finally got back home at 12pm after collecting Isaac's medication, etc. By then, all 3 of us were super Zzzzzzzzzzzonked out!

That night, Isaac continued to be fretful in his sleep and we think that it was because he got rather traumatised by the crying kids in the children clinic. Poor chap! Thankfully, his fever has subsided since Sunday and his temperature is now back to normal! :)

Thirty Something

Yummy blueberry yogurt birthday cake from 'The Patissier' at Ann Siang Street (courtesy of AK! Cheers!). Can u guess the age?

Apart from our immediate family members' birthdays, at this age, we're sometimes just so caught up with our own stuffs that it is really not easy to remember our friends' birthdays...I am super guilty of this myself! So, I was really touched to have received sms birthday greetings from 18 different friends/couples today...and some from overseas! Thanks loads! ;)

Fruitful restday!

Felt immensely proud of myself today. Took leave from work, but still woke up at 6.30am in the morning. Saw Isaac off to my parents-in-law's place, and then had light breakfast. Thereafter, we drove 'across the street' to East Coast Parkway and jogged for a good half hour! This is the first time that I have properly jogged since 4 years ago!! Ok, didn't really jogged all the way, but brisked walk mid-way. YL said that for someone who hasn't jogged for so long, I actually did quite well and ran at a decent speed. I was humble and gave partial credit to my spanking Nike Air running shoes that is not only lightweight but looks great!! ;)

Took some photos on my phone's cam whilst we were there...

Photos were shot after the run...The 2nd image came out like some chalk drawing art....cool! And check out the sandcastle on the beach...I think some pro built them!

Thereafter, we proceeded to Bedok Interchange hawker centre for a plate of yummy fried carrot cake (with prawns and sotong!!) washed down with yummy teh terik! Went back home to bathe, change and then proceeded to the library to pick up a few books on Tokyo. Yes, we've decided to make a trip there to chill out, come mid Sep!! Yippy!

Then picked up Isaac and went to Man Fu Yuan Restaurant at Hotel Intercontinental to have dim sum and celebrate birthday with Parents, and Bro... Yumelicious!

Mum babysat Isaac in the afternoon, and both YL and me went to Tampines Century Square to shop and catch the movie 'Click' by Adam Sandler. Movie started slow and has the usual American corny jokes in there, but as it goes on, improved immensely. Its got good morals and remind us not to rush through life... it even got both of us tearing at the end... Overall a good movie and would recommend it ...! clap clap!

Ate Sake Sushi for dinner and then went to parents' place to 'cut cake' and sing birthday song. Thereafter rushed home to be in time for cellgroup meeting...where I got to cut another cake and have another birthday song sung to me!

What a day...What a fruitful birthday!! ;)

Lazy Saturday afternoon@Starbucks

You've got your coffee and I've got my H2O!

Choice

I watched a TCS 8 show tonight, where one of the protagonist was lamenting to a friend that because she is already married and has a young son, she has found herself compromising her ambitions. Deep in her heart, she wished that she was still single and free to pursue her career goals.

I share a different view. I think I am innately someone with very traditional values. My family will always come first. It doesn't mean that I do not harbour any dreams of doing well at work and developing myself further in terms of my career. But when the two compete for my priorities, I know which one I'll eventually choose.

In fact, I had already made such a choice in the past.

Just before YL and I got married, he was offered a scholarship to do his postgrad studies overseas. The options that were laid before us were:
(a) I would stay back in Singapore to work whilst he would take up the scholarship and go overseas; or
(b) We would both go overseas together, i.e. I would have to resign from work or take No Pay Leave; or
(c) We both had to stay in Singapore and he either had to give up his PhD dreams or pursue a local research course.

I chose option (b). I was prepared to resign if necessary and follow him overseas to pursue his dreams for at least 3 years. Thankfully, things worked out well for us. God blessed me with great bosses that okayed my 3 years No Pay Leave to follow YL to London. This means that I would have a chance to go back to the organisation that I had worked for and more or less be assured of a job when I return. However, it still means that I would be behind / 'lose out' to my fellow colleagues that were in my cohort by 3 years. By the time I come back, I could be serving one of my ex-peer at work who could then be my boss.

These didn't matter. All it matters to me was that we would continue to be together, building up our relationship and home as a married couple. Thankfully, God honoured our decision. In my 2nd year in London, God blessed me with an all expenses paid, and full pay postgrad scholarship from my bosses, to allow me to pursue a Masters Course at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)! Never had I imagined that I would do a postgrad course, nor one in an eminent university in London!


Fastforward till today.

Today, I made another choice regarding my career. I am unsure how it'll all pan out at the end of the day. All I ask is that God will watch over me and direct my paths according to His will. Whatever I do, I want to have a good testimony at work as an officer, a colleague, or a supervisor. But above all, I desire to be a good mother and a good wife at home.

(sorry for the lack of clarity in my last para...all will be clearer in time to come...)

My Family

Huge Elmo

Wow! So big! Thanks Uncle Hong Yi and Aunty Kia Hui for giving big Elmo to me!

Happiest in the morning!

National Day at Labrador Park

Our church had a fellowship outing on National Day morning at Labrador Park. The sky was still pouring at 8.30am (our meeting time), but soon cleared up within half an hour! Apart from eating yummy breakfast (some lovingly prepared by fellow church friends and others conveniently purchased from the nearby hawker centre) , we also had a fun time playing games and chatting with one another!! Both kids and adults had a wonderful time! :)