Kids Say The Darnest Things

I have told (almost) everyone about this. All that's left is for me to post it on the World Wide Web for posterity!

Scene: In the living room. TV is blaring away. Mommy is slouching on the sofa in front of the TV bouncing Janine. Papa is watching TV and SMSing at the same time. Janine is amusing herself with the print on Mommy's T-shrit.

Janine: (patting and stroking mommy's tummy)sayang...sayang!
Mommy: Ohhh...Janine sayang mommy har? Aww...that's so sweet...Thank you Janine .
Janine: (patting mommy's tummy even harder) sayang...sayang...Baby! BABY! *squeals in laughter*
Mommy : .......

KY was obviously tickled pink by this.

I am left more resolute than ever to lose MORE weight henceforth! This and also because a pair of jeans, which I could squeeze into a couple of months ago, I can NO LONGER ZIP UP! Bleah...

This will teach me to teach Janine to go round "sayang-ing" my pregnant friends' tummy :oP

What did you say? No, no, no...that growing buldge around my waist is most definitely FATS. There is NO baby. I am NOT pregnant. Full stop.

Japanese Affair

It's Friday. Finally.

Shiwei and I were itching to go stretch our legs and shake off the dowdiness of the week. And so we decided to traipse to not-so-nearby Vivocity and rewarded ourselves for surviving the work week by indulging in some very good Japanese food for lunch ;o)

Here's what we ordered at the Shin Kushiya Japanese charcoal grill located on level 2 of Vivocity...

A set meal called the Ladies Set and if you think that the servings look small and won't fill your tummy, think again. Before we even got to the dessert we already started to feel full...not the bloated oh-i-think-i've-gone-and-ate-too-much kind of full...but the just-about-right kind of full. And for the kind of price we were paying (about $23 per person) for that quality of food, we felt it was a worth every cent.

There were slices of FRESH salmon sashimi which just melts in your mouth, a stick of grilled salmon and chicken that oozes with goodness when you bite into them, a double portion of sushi, a small bowl of udon, pickled vegetables and a healthy serving of salad on the side. Best of all there was a small square of cheesecake to round up the scumptious meal :oP

Quite fitting that at the back of the packet of wet tissue that the restaurant provided there was a little message, which we found quite funny: "With the mouth-watering choices available at Shin Kushiya, you'll be needing this."

How apt. Just recalling and writing about the flavours and taste of our yummy lunch this afternoon is already making my mouth water again. lol. Hmmm...Shin Kushiya anyone?

The Object Of Our Envy

Janine had her final booster shot and her 18 month physical examinations yesterday. No, that's not a typo error. She IS already almost 20 months but she went for her 18 month check up only just because her scatterbrain parents went and TOTALLY forgot about her appointment in Aug what with all the packing and moving. I only remembered about it last week and quickly set up ANOTHER appointment before my poor Janine has to take her shots all over again @.@

Anyway, on the records, Janine now stands at 88.5cm (plus minus a few cm cos she was wiggling) and weighs a hefty (to us) 10.6kg ;o)

On the charts, for her age, she is considered to be in the 97 percentile for her height and 50 percentile for her weight @.@ which in layman's term means she is tall and skinny.

The doctor who attended to us reassured us that the little girl is NOT underweight or malnourished. Her height and head circumference are proportionate to each other which means she is getting the correct and adequate amount of nutrients to grow. Just that she burns up all her reserves so fast (to which Janine demonstrated this fact by attempting to climb up the chair, touching the dustbin and even doing a little dance in the middle of the room) that's why she weighs much less than what another baby, given Janine's height and age, would probably weigh. The doctor advised us to feed her more carbo if we want to "fatten" her up a bit.

Fatten her up? Are u kidding?

#1. The girl is so fidgety. Too fidgety. Even when you carry her she will wiggle, squirm and lunge this way and that. At 10 kg it already takes a lot of muscle on my part to prevent her from crashing to the floor when she throws herself about in my arms. Any heavier and I think my arms will be in tractions.

#2. She has the beginnings of being a model...Singapore Girl...Miss Universe! Everything that I wanted to be as a little girl! Why would I want to "rob" her of the chance to fulfill my dreams?

#3. She can't be my "money saving" little girl any more if she doubles her girth now. I will need to go and buy her a new wardrobe of clothes! But not like THAT is such a bad idea...what a PERFECT excuse to do more shopping...Hehe ;)

#4. More importantly (and this supercedes all the silly reasons above) is I like her just the way she is now ;o) I don't want a michelin baby neither do I want an anorexic-looking child. Janine is just right ;o)

Honestly, I am not very worried about her weight or how skinny she looks anymore. It is no longer an issue for me unlike months ago when her eating habits were much to be desired. At this stage, she IS eating and drinking plenty of milk and snacking occassionally. Rather, I am AMUSED that, given her parentage, she remains such a slim and trim little girl. On the flip side, her papa and I are HIGHLY ENVIOUS that she, under doctors orders, is SUPPOSE to snack MORE! Ooooh...What we won't give to have that kind of freedom to eat as much as we want whenever we want and not worry about putting on those extra pounds!?

The Wind Beneath Our Wings

"He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."

~ Isaiah 40 : 29-31

Some Hard knocks In Life...

..can draw blood and leave an unsightly mark on an otherwise pretty face. Like what happened (literally) to my dear daughter :o(

This is what happens when you choose to use one of your toys as some sort platform to sing / dance / climb to a higher spot in the house / everything except what it is meant for, slipping and subsequently striking your forehead on the CORNER of the coffee table @.@

Some people learn from their hard knocks and are careful to avoid situations which may cause them similar pain. In the case of Janine, however, she proves that we should never let our hard knocks scar us emotionally (even if they do physically). How do we know? She gashed her forehead on Friday. A couple days later, she gashed her left cheek by slipping on a step and then smacking her face on the next step while running up and down the stairs even after repeated instructions not to. You would think after Friday's scare the girl would be a bit more careful.

Well, there you have it! That's my fearless daughter for you.

Sigh...

Our Economical Baby

The tag on the romper which my cousin Gloria, who is in the states, bought for her many moons ago says NEWBORN - 3 to 6 months (and WHAT??! Its made in CHINA!!! *faint*)

And here she is, all of 18 MONTHS OLD, and still able to wear the romper (which haven't burst into flames yet!) Hmmmm...

Either she is super petite or the manufacturers slapped on the wrong size tag to this romper. Or maybe newborn babies in America come in giant sizes?

In any case, the turn over rate in Janine's wardrobe is very low. She is REALLY taking her time to fill up and outgrow her little articles of clothing. Oh but we are not complaining (well, definitely not her Papa at least!)...we can save the money we would have used otherwise for her clothes and put it into her school fund (yeah right! more like its channeled to buying toys and snacks...for her parents! hahahaha...KIDDING!)

Dinner & Dance 2007 - "The Mad Hatter's Party"

We had our annual Dinner & Dance last night and the theme for the evening was "The Mad Hatter's Party" ;o) So for a few hours last night, guests and tourists at Orchard Hotel were treated to a spectacle of people trooping up to the 3rd level wearing weird hats and even customes (to go with the hat).

Apart from the cheesy MC and his equally cheesy jokes (he kept spouting one crass joke after another it was embarressing!), the food was not too bad...much better this year (though the way the organisers chose to name the dishes is another thing...i mean how appetising does "tureen of fungus and prune like fruits" or "one side grow big one side grow small mushrooms" sound to you?)and everyone had a blast!

Of course everyone will have a blast...why wouldn't they? Especially when one segment of the dinner saw 3 ladies (guess WHO was one of them???) being dragged up on stage (on the pretext of having the "best hat") and made to dance, shake, do the ramba, etc...just short of doing a lap dance for our CE (the biggest tau in the company!), whom those 3 ladies had rather unwittingly called up on stage to join them in their escapade, and all in front of 500 over people!!!

ARGH! I have never been so embarrassed (intentionally) in my life. Bleah...it was a good thing there was a "pot of gold" (a small jar containing a $50 Tangs voucher and 8 rochers) to relieve some of the "trauma" which lasted for no less than an agonising 10 minutes! I am sure NO ONE will be forgeting that piece of entertainment any time soon. Pffft!

Anyway, the night ended well ;o) Some people stayed back to do some dancing (the proper kind of dancing not the body spasm kind that I had to do earlier) while some adjourned for supper (Good grief! More food!)

By the time I got back home, Janine was fast asleep and I gave her a gentle peck on her cheeks, tucked her into bed and called it a night. I. WISH.

At 11.30pm, the girl was still a live wire!!! Apparently, she refused to sleep because her mommy wasn't around so any hope that KY harboured of putting her to sleep and then zipping off to pick me was all dashed! In the end, he brought her along for the car ride. By the time she FINALLY closed her eyes and went off to dreamland it was well pass 12.30am. only THEN could I START to scrap the make-up off my face and peel my contacts from my eyes.

It has been a looong day...but definitely one to remember!

The Convenience Of A Camera Phone

I just couldn't resist. I mean...how could anyone pass up a chance to capture evidence like THIS digitally and post it up for the WHOLE WORLD to see?

Talk about really really BAD estimation on the part of the driver of the silver Toyota. Parking at Giant Tampines may be FREE but to take up TWO lots for ONE car??? Its absurd! Another classic example of how INCONSIDERATE Singapore drivers can be.

This driver's apparent disregard for his fellow citizens has caused other drivers who park in neighbouring lots (my Dad in this case) to APPEAR to be as selfish as he was. My Dad obviously couldn't squeeze the car into one lot so he had to infringe into another lot...a lot reserved for HANDICAP drivers @.@

Obviously our Courtesy Campaigns have yet to reach certain people on this island. They must live in a bubble. Bah!

Back In Business!

Ahhhh....

I AM BACK!!! after more than a month long hiatus!!!

What happened?

Well, as I mentioned in my one and only (pathetic) blog entry for the month of August, we have been busy. No, not busy in following our good govenment's family policies (there is no "fruit" forthcoming) as some would be inclined to think, but we have been busy moving house.

Moving house?

Yup! We have moved our family pad! Not very far from where we were though...just a little down the road to ACS Oldham Hall ;o)

Huh? Why there? What gives?

Well, you see, a few months back, our little family had once again come to another cross roads in our lives. As our family and close friends will know, Kin Yew will quit the teaching profession at the end of this year. Much as he loves teaching and interacting with the students, its time to move on. So with the deadline fast approaching, we have been considering our options post-teaching.

One option that was presented to us was to set up a school in Chiangmai, Thailand! Effectively, we would have to quit our jobs (yes, BOTH of us), go on a 6 months long intensive training and equipping course, uproot our little family, say sayonara to EVERYONE we hold dear on this little island, fly off to Chiangmai by June 2008 and stay there for the next 4 years!

Exciting huh? Too exciting for me actually ;oP

Much as I believe that God will provide and see to our EVERY needs, He will give us the strength and passion to see us through this project, and honestly I DO see us doing mission work in Thailand in the future. But I felt to make this decision to go NOW is too sudden. There are so many questions and so many uncertainties. Now just didn't feel like right time. You know, that kairos moment people talk about? Well, this wasn't one of them for me. I didn't feel the peace.

But then, of course, there is that argument that if you don't just take that FIRST step into the unknown, how would you know that this isn't what God has planned for you? OOooh...the emotional and mental struggle!

BUT God is goooood ;o) Within the week, we received another VERY interesting proposal. It came in the form of an SMS from Pastor Leslie informing us of the need for AHMs (Assistant House Masters/Mistresses) at Oldham Hall. Talk about God's divine timing! ;o)

The funny thing is that a year ago when Pastor Leslie brought up this AHM issue, we were none too interested. Then, it didn't seem to fit into our plans and we shelved it. Now, it seems like a possibility we could and should explore. It seems to FIT into where we feel God is leading us. But of course, this new role isn't exactly a bed of roses either.

But we trust God will show us the way. So keeping the Chiang Mai school option in mind, we sent in our resumes to Oldham Hall. A couple of interviews and much prayer later, we find ourselves moving cardboard boxes after cardboard boxes filled to bursting with books, clothes, toys, other personal artefacts into a family apartment at Barker Road ;o)

We believe this is the place that God has called us to be at this point of our lives ;o) What else could explain how smoothly everything went? I mean, there were many MANY other applicants, and trust me there was even a couple that had a better standing than us. But instead the responsiblity to care for 500 borders fell on our shoulders.

So for the last month of so, we have been busy settling down to living (again) in a hall, familiarising ourselves with our new (after office) duties and connecting with the international student body and our other fellow "labourers" in OH ;o)

It has been tiring physically (packing, moving, unpacking) and mentally (you got to be one step ahead of the kids!) but we are having the time of our life ;o)

OK...that's enough rambling today ;oP

More updates soonest...promise! lol!