My Dior

Hubby paid for a Dior Christmas limited edition ring as a present (birthday or Christmas) to me. It has a bow design with a dangled "D" which signifies Dior of course and hubby's name, and a pink Swarovski round crystal.

In the same month, I chanced upon another Dior ring at Isetan Scotts at 50% discount! I bought it as it's too dainty and pretty (not forgetting for its great value) to resist. It has 2 daisies in white mother-of-pearl and "Dior" encrusted with tiny Swarovski crystals.

While diamond is a girl's best friend, crystal will suffice in this global economic crunch.

The Day the Tooth Fairy Came

Kieran's first milk tooth finally came off on Thursday 29 December 2008. He had wanted to place the tooth under his pillow right in the middle like what Lola did in the book "My wobbly tooth must not ever NEVER fall out" so that the tooth fairy may replace it with a coin for him to buy something in return.

Due to hygiene purpose, we discouraged him from doing but discarded the tooth. He was nonchalant about it and said he would then dream of happy things like Lola did so that the tooth fairy would notice the gap between his teeth which meant he really did lose his tooth.

So what happened the next morning?

He ran to his dad with a dollar coin he found under his pillow. When I woke up, he showed me the same with a wide grin.

Holiday in HK & Macau

Went to Hong Kong and Macau from 19 till 24 December, the weather was good (sunny at day and cool at night) but the crowd was not (psst, I even scolded some people who tried to cut our queue in Disneyland). Our photos in Facebook.

Took SQ860 to Hong Kong on the 19th morning and were were greeted with a nice surprise when Raeyen and I were upgraded to business class seats!

It was great fun and a time for bonding with the boys after a year's of hard work. We played hard, slept till late everyday, munched whatever we like and returned home rejuvenated.

Therapeutic Skincare

Been to the Jurlique counter so many times at the Changi Airport duty free shop made me so wanted to try its products. The pricing wasn't attractive enough though I really like its natural ingredients especially the use of aromatherapy and herbal remedies.

Now that Aussie dollar is almost on par with Sing dollar, my dearie SIL Connie helped to buy me its latest star product from the Biodynamic Beauty range. I can't wait to use it for a therapeutic moment to pamper my ageing skin. I am always on a lookout for age-defying elixir to prolong my youth. The fact that I am near 40 is freaking me out!

The Kids' Concert

Last Saturday, 1 November was Kieran's graduation concert and Raeyen's maiden performance. It was a moment we have been looking forward to witness these little milestones at the Victoria Concert Hall.


Their videoclips can be found in my Facebook.

Mom's ill

While preparing to go to work on Thursday morning (23 Oct 08), I received a phone call from my 2nd Sis. She said Mom was found immobilised and sitting by her bed. She called the ambulance and was told Mom probably had a mild stroke. She was sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital immediately. I rushed down to meet her and eldest Sis at TTSH's A&E Dept.

The neurologist said Mom had a severe stroke that caused 75% damage on her right brain resulted in paralysis on the left part of her body. She also had a heart attack that morning but the doctors couldn't deduce which came first or they came in parallel. Her heartbeat was irregular and they also found that she has a 3.6 x 3.7cm meningioma tumor on her left brain and high in cholesterol. All these plus her age at 78 don't present a good picture altogether.

On the second day, the doctor summoned that all my 3 brothers (from Shanghai, Toronto and Perth) should retunr home to see Mom as her condition wasn't positive then as she actually deteriorated from day 1.

However, she progressed steadily on day 5 onwards. I believe that her miraculous progress was due to the return of her sons, family support and her own fighting spirit. Nonetheless, we feel the pain having to see an active person that she was to rely on enteral feeding tube now and for being bed-bound at the moment.

Today, she was transferred to Ang Mo Kio Hospital as her condition stabilises. She will be there for a couple of weeks for rehab and to receive physiotherapy. In fact, today was also her first step into eating porridge with blended side dishes, which made her and us happy.

Mommy, you must continue to be strong and we await the day you can take your first step by foot. We love you!

Conversation with a 3-year old

While trying to make Raeyen sleep one night, I had a little conversation with him.

Me: When gor-gor (Kieran) was 3 years old, I didn't have to make him sleep like I do to you now.
Raeyen: I am 3 years old, gor-gor is 6!
Me: Yes, you are 3 now. I'm talking about when your gor-gor was 3 years old some time ago.
Raeyen: No, I am 3, gor-gor is 6! Tomorrow I am 6!
Me: If you are 6 tomorrow, then gor-gor will be 9.
Raeyen: Huh? Why change number now?

December holiday plan

Planned to bring the kids to HK Disneyland but our air tickets are still on waitlist. It would have been perfect if they are confirmed so that we may book everything well in advance. Including Cirque du Soleil's Zaia at the Venetian Macau.

Photoshoot at the Kindy

The Kindy had a photoshoot for the kids, K2 graduands and their families.

Rachel is 7

We celebrated Rachel's 7th birthday at her place last Sunday, which happened to be the Mid Autumn Festival too. My eldest brother, ie Rachel's dad, who works in Shanghai, brought home a huge box of nicely packaged mooncakes for the double occasion.

The kids were the happiest as they swang sparklers, sans lanterns (coz the old-fashioned me prefers the cellophane lanterns in rooster or gold fish design, but couldn't find any at neighbourhood shops) under the moonlight.

The birthday cake has snow white and the 7 dwarfs (dwarves?) and in strawberry vanilla flavour from Four Leaves.

Unfortunately, the birthday was less noisy like yesteryears as our eldest sis, 2nd and 3rd brothers' families were not there.

Glimpses of Mumbai

Second time to Mumbai recently and with all business trips, every trip is "touch-and-go".

Caught glimpses of this busy sleepless city while in a car.

Had dinner with an old friend, Amit and his wife, Chitra. It was a great evening as we chatted about old times, work and family.

Mumbai is a great place as the people and food are good, but not the airport and bad traffic, . It is also sad to see people (especially kids) living in the slumps. Mumbai is plagued with monsoon and I wonder these people living under tins and plastic must have a terrible time. We should be grateful for what we have, really.

Movie: WALL.E

The whole family watched this cute movie with May & Megan at GV Max, Vivocity on Saturday afternoon.

It was a nice cosy movie about love, very endearing but we are not sure if all our kiddos actually understood the storyline. May was worried that it probably is not so suitable for kids.

Nonetheless, it's cute.

After the movie, we had dinner at the White Dog Cafe... great food and service!

A Day at the Zoo

My company's Family Day was held at the Zoo on Saturday, 30 August. We took the kids there as we had promised to bring them there despite the wake.

It was hot that day. They played some games, had lunch, saw some animals, rode on an elephant and went for a show. The irritating rain (a heavy downpour) came in the midst of the show. The weather nowadays (since June) has been dull and making it hard to plan for an outing.

Teachers' Day

Ya I know.... this should be posted long ago, but I've been busy with work and other personal stuff, hence had no time to update my blog.

The Kindy celebrated Teachers' Day on Thursday, 28 August with the theme of pyjamas party so that the kids would feel at home and the love within.

To save time and being more pragmatic, I bought some yummy organic cookies from Marks & Spencer and packed them into Hello Kitty clear bags bought from Daiso.

Girlie Buys

I went to Taipei for business trip from 2-4 Sep.

Knowing that Taiwan is crazy over Japanese cosmetics, I joined the bandwagon and bought stuff that are not available in Singapore. Here are my stash:

1. Majolica Majorca mascara (2nd generation)
2. Majolica Majorca pencil eye liner (gold)
3. Majolica Majorca liquid eye liner (grey)
4. Majolica Majorca quad eyeshadow (brown trick on powder)
5. Jill Stuart oil blotters
6. Jill Stuart mix blush compact (06 fresh apricot)
7. Eternal nail art stickers
8. Bourjois mini lip gloss
9. Pantene Clinicare hair treatment

I love them, the only thing I have not used (more like couldn't bear to use) is the Mix Blush Compact from Jill Stuart, because it is just too pretty, it even comes with an attached brush (there's a pink crystal encased on the brush holder - how can I resist it???)! Had wanted to buy its latest limited edition "Illuminance" but the compacts were SOLD OUT! The eyeshadows also caught my fancy but it's so pricey I gave up, phew!

During this trip, I got the chance to eat the very delicious dessert from "Xian Yu Xian" (literally means fresh heavenly yam). I had a generous bowl of grass jelly (xian cao) with peanuts, pearls and red beans, drizzled with milk (only NT$50 = S$2.30)... mmmmm so yummy I WANT MORE!

Water Babies

My sis-in-law in Perth bought swimwear for both Kieran and Raeyen from Target. Thanks Connie!!!

A 2-piece Spiderman for Kieran and a 1-piece Cars for Raeyen. The moment they opened the package from mail, they were thrilled and wanted to try them on.

Raeyen was particularly happy, dancing around with his new swimwear.



To-date, Kieran is improving in his weekly swimming lesson. He could swim in breadth without help. He has been quite reluctant to swim that far even with much coaxing from his coach. I had to tell him to believe in himself and, with confidence he could make anything possible.

Letting Go

My best friend's hubby who was suffering from brain tumor is now with God. He ended his ordeal on 29 August 2008 at 12.42am.

I remember one Pastor said, "We are not here to pray for Brother Yin, for he is home and with God." It was very appropriate. I like the verse the family chose for his obituary:

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:7

On the 29th when I returned to his home to collect his suit, I discovered 2 pieces of folded papers in the pocket. As I retrieved and opened them, I realised they were the script to my wedding 9 years ago when Yin was our Master of Ceremony. It brought so much memories... the times we spent Christmas together, exchanging couple gifts, went Paris and London together till when our kiddos were born.

Outing on 22 August

As hubby couldn't apply leave to celebrate Kieran's actual birthday, together with Yani, we took both boys for lunch at The Central by taking MRT to Clarke Quay.

Knowing that Kieran loves Japanese food and having read a good review in Urban, I decided to scout for Ramen Santouka for its succulent pork cheek at $8 a serving. We were there during the office lunch hours and had to wait for about 15 minutes to be seated. We ordered 2 set meals and pork cheek. Boy, they were so good that we ordered another serving of pork cheek.

Then we took the MRT to Vivocity (the kids and my fav haunt). As usual, we went to the pet shop to see some cute puppies and hamsters. Kieran was pestering me to get him a pair of hamsters but I relented, I told him that he is too young to mind them. We saw a gleaming red Ferrari race car on display and the boys were very excited.

Then we went to Marks & Spencer for some cookies and Gloria Jeans for a cuppa (hot chocolate for my boys) before heading home early to beat the after-office hours office crowd.

It was a fun day with the kids.

I am looking forward to our day out (this time with hubby) on 1 September.

Kieran's celebration part 2

Celebrated at my mom's place on Saturday with his favourite tiramisu cake from Bakerzin. He was a happy boy because he received presents that he has also wanted ...

1. Lego Ferrari truck & car (8153)
2. Lego 3-in-1 Racers
3. Read & Write LeapPad
4. LeapPad Books
5. 3-in-1 Binoculars
6. Red packets
7. Spiderman swimsuit from his Sar-Gu, Sar-Kim & Jamus gor-gor

It was also a special day for Kieran as we managed to catch glimpses of fireworks near my mom's place. Every year, we get to celebrate his birthday accompanied by some fireworks!

Nowadays, Kieran is very much into Lego and I am happy for that. We would pester me to open the box and guide him fix the items. I must say he is pretty good at it now. Whenever there is a promotion for Lego, I would buy him an item or two. But whatever he is playing with, Raeyen will want to get his hands onto it. Yesterday, Raeyen lost Kieran's Lego police car (Kieran was very upset) and we were searching for it high and low. This morning, Yani managed to help us find it, phew!

Kieran is 6!

We celebrated in his Kindy this morning with his classmates.

The vanilla Transformer Bumble Bee was baked by Aunty Dora and the kids (even the teachers) were amazed with the creation. It was a quick and easy celebration with song, cake cutting and the ceremonial goodie bags for all the children.

P1 registration frenzy

We have no affiliation to any schools or clans or churches, we did no volunteer work, we have no "connections", as such we can only register Kieran under Phase 2C (whatever this means).

Maybe we did not do enough... Nevertheless, it's an emotionally tiring exercise as all parents only want the best for their kids within their means. I don't know if our current registration system is the right one but it's %&$#*&!

So now we are unsuccessful at Phase 2C balloting for kids who stay within 1km from school, what is our next "best" alternative? We have to register him at any school that still has vacancies.

I hate to say this... but I DON'T LIKE THE SYSTEM! Period.

To add to my dismay, I wasn't even in town during registration and had to rely on hubby to update me of yesterday's disappointing result. Perhaps GOD has better plans for Kieran. At least I'll be home on National Day morning.

I'm now 17 hours away from the opening of the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing.

My Germany trip

Sunday 27 July

Before my taxi arrived to send me to the airport for my trip to Germany at 9pm, I accompanied hubby to buy his Samsung Omnia from the M1 Shop, which took forever to process his purchase and blah blah... in the end, I had to zoom home to finish packing my luggage at 8pm!

My Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt departed before midnight. It was my first on LH flight and yeah, it's service pales in comparison with SQ.

Headsets, welcome drinks, papers/magazines were not offered (who cares even if it's business class). When I asked for English reads, only TIME or Forbes were available, EVERYTHING else is in German. So, sprechen Sie Deutsch? Nein! So I chose to sleep with ear plugs after washing up.

Monday 28 July

The 45-minute connecting flight from Frankfurt to Nuremberg was worse than Tiger Airways. The seats were small and narrow, service is near non-existent.

Our taxi arrived to pick us to our 13-century old Colmberg castle in Rothenberg, which is another 1 hour ride. The castle is old, nice... because it was a castle, I had to climb the stairs to my tiny room on the 3rd floor. There were old stuff around, animals, treasure chests, even some baby cots with life-like dolls in them, if you asked me, they were freaking me out. Yes, there were also 2 sets of armoured soldiers!!!






We had a medieval dinner in the castle one night and it was very interesting as in the olden days, they only used knife to eat, which we used just that... imagine having only knife for soup?



After a few days' meeting, we went to Rothenburg for a tour. It was a nice place with old architecture (13-15th centuries) and streets.












Friday 1 August

I bought some gummy bears and chocolates from Rothenburg during the tour and on 1 August, we had to take the ICE train (2.5 hours journey) from Nuremburg to Frankfurt as our domestic flight (45 minutes journey) was cancelled due to the strike at Lufthansa. Then onboard my flight from Frankfurt to Singapore, we were told that our meals would be restricted due to the strike, look how "yummy" my breakfast was. The only thing I could finish was the corn bar, the rest (except water) was revolting.


Saturday 2 August

Reached Singapore past 4pm. The moment I got home, I was greeted with warm hugs by my 2 angels. They were curious of what's inside my luggage and were happy they found gummy bears and chocolates.

More photos can be found here.