Need a holiday!

Chris is away this weekend till Monday for a conference on breast surgery.

He flew off on Friday morning, to Taipei, despite the current influenza epidemic that has the entire world gripped. And forgot his N95 masks despite my reminding him repeatedly this week. At least I prepared the Tamiflu for him to take along and put it right on the dining table for him to bring along and he did.

Sigh. Am stuck in muggy hot Singapore, running around like a headless chick to 3 clinic locations. Always worrying about Madison, who has fortunately recovered from her tummy upset a week ago. Who actually is a good girl that I cannot complain too much about.

Maybe I'm just bored. The weather is supremely hot. Feel like I need to get away from the routine a little, have absolutely nothing that I HAVE to do or someplace I have to be.

Actually there were holiday plans in the bag. Joan, Adrian, Su plus the 3 of us were supposed to go for a short jaunt somewhere. Initially we set our hearts on Langkawi in Malaysia. Then Celine informed us that the flu had landed in Malaysia. So we thought, better not fly, might end up with the flu or worse still, in contact with someone with the flu!

So after some thinking, we decided on Bintan, Indonesia. Its a 45 minute ferry ride from here and to make it a nice holiday we set our hearts on the Banyan Tree resort. Joan went and checked with a travel agent and we were set to go. Then her dear boyfriend pulls the plug, which led to Joan having second thoughts and that led to Su thinking of changing dates too!

Well.... so then I started to plan a holiday just for the 3 of us. But now my 2 dear friends changed their minds again and want to go! Then the final cake.. Geok has still to decide on her baby's full month celebration!

So the decision will be made on Monday, hopefully....

Elizabeth

Pictures of the new baby....






Madison is really taken with Elizabeth... she would say "baba" and point at her. And when she hears cries from upstairs she immediately stopped her current activity and indicated for us to bring her upstairs check on Elizabeth.

The proud new parents, Geok and Munhon... Hard work to say the least at the moment... of course the usual neonatal jaundice has set in so they were off to KKH just like we were at that stage.

But.. they are coping remarkably well. Geok is breastfeeding and finding it a little tough going but she's trying her best and staying up all night to do it.

Munhon has given his daughter baths for the past few days and is enjoying the process, although the first time was pretty hair raising... commands being issued from all corners with watchful eyes all round!

But... time marches on.. it's close to 1 week already... Elizabeth has a really loud shrill scream/cry that is unmistakable, and she wants to be carried the entire day. But then don't all babies do that?

It's great seeing a newborn... having been through all that it brings back memories, but at least now I can appreciate the baby without having to look after it! You really forget how tiny they are at the start, how much help they need to survive.

Not forgetting the chronic sleep deprivation.....

Weekends at home

My week is marked by the arrival of the WEEKEND!

I usually have to work in the mornings on Saturdays, so the real weekend starts a little later for me.
If I am lucky and get the entire 2 days off then its a real treat!

This photo on the left was taken at MacRitchie Reservoir, a 5 minute drive
( when traffic is good ) from our place. It was the second time she's been there, the first was when she was a lot smaller.

Madison was thrilled by the view of the reservoir. There were people paddling their kayaks , probably in training for some competition or other.



A little further ahead we met up with a gang of monkeys who had a fight among themselves over something, chasing each other while screeching their heads off. We watched them for awhile, then I decided we'd better leave before they found US intrusive.

We usually have lunch out, since my little girl made it so dramatic about spitting my cooking out time and time again... we used to go to restaurants to eat but now the club is so much more appealing... wide open space, tolerant wait staff, plenty of other kids running around and fairly quick meal service. I think it would be wiser to save the nice stuff for just Chris and me to enjoy at the moment, when Madison is being babysat!

Other weekend activities that usually take a good portion of the day? Zoo visits, Sentosa beach, trips to the mall... by the end of it we are usually quite glad to see a sofa and television set! And reinforcements in the way of grandparents!

Welcome baby Elizabeth

Geok's baby was delivered yesterday at 1338h, weighing a healthy 3.165kg!

My poor sister had been experiencing contractions for close to a week, and had been overdue by 5 days by the time she finally delivered.

From hearing her birth story, I must say she was really tolerant and strong! She checked into hospital at around midnight but for some reason they didn't want to give her the epidural until the obstetrician examined her! Which was at 9 am the next morning! So she survived on nitrous and pure grit through the night.

Anyway... she looked pretty good at 5 PM when we went to visit her. Madison came along too and she was quite taken with the baby. She kept exclaiming "baby!" and of course wanted to push the cot all over the place!( which she wasn't allowed when the baby was in it!)

Munhon was a pretty good dad to start... he was so gentle with his daughter and gamely changed her outfit, practised swaddling her...Chris showed him once and he could pretty much do it afterward.

More to come... we might go visit her again today... or maybe wait till she comes home tomorrow...

Our favourite places

Since starting 3/4 time work these days, I treasure my mornings and late afternoons with Madison a whole lot more.


We have a few favourite places that we visit every day. There are days that I feel like doing nothing but laze at home, but then I tell myself to make a little bit more effort and do something different.





The top 5 places that we go to:

1. Singapore Botanic Gardens: has to take the cake.

Close to us by car, fairly decent parking ( if you get there at the right time ) and cool on hot days.
Also the great Casa Verde cafe that is fairly child friendly and serves decent breakfasts.

2. Singapore Swimming club:

I would take her there everyday if we lived closer but it has everything... swimming pool, playground, shower facilities, reading place and deli for lunch. Only trouble is the drive there and back which takes 15 to 20 minutes each way, depending on traffic.

3. Playground opposite us at the HDB block.

Friendly group of elderly folks dancing there every morning, rain or shine! Live, repeated Chinese dancing music piped from their portable player, Little Tikes playground with the works.. what more could a kid ask for? Occasional little kids that drop by to play as well. Main problem ? The ferocious morning sun that beats down unrelentlessly by 0830h!

4. Novena Square:

Ok... not really a child friendly place but there's a supermarket that we can browse through, shopping cart that she can push around or stand in, airconditioning to keep us from sweating buckets outdoors!

5. Jacob Ballas Children's gardens: Singapore Botanic Gardens

Its kind of connected to the main Gardens but a little off the main area, closer to the Bukit Timah side of things. If only it weren't so hot on a usual day.. large sandpit area, water fountains for kids to splash around in, plenty of child friendly trails and a little waterfall too. Oh, and a tree house that doubles as a playground too. Just a pity the cafe isn't very nice... considering the number of people that pass through its doors I would have thought someone would have capitalized on it and made a great alfresco child friendly dining area!

Of course there are other places we go, like Sentosa's Palawan beach, Giant supermarket at Turf city, Orchard road, Vivocity and the other shopping malls. Singapore is kind of small, but with a little imagination we usually have some fun ( for an hour or 2 -- if we're lucky! ).

And I realized... it's not just me alone anymore! I have a companion now! Pretty cool... just the 2 of us sitting at the cafe having drinks! ( The diet coke/coffee for me and ice for Madison ! Or hot choc for the 2 of us ! ) Hmm... what next? Hair dressing appointments? Spa treats? Shopping with daddy's credit card? I'm getting excited!

My princess

Motherhood is certainly something that grows on you....

Why so nostalgic?

Last night, I logged onto Facebook to nose through my friends' pictures and I caught sight of Sophie's animal party. She is the 3 year old daughter of an ex-classmate from SCGS and her hubby, a French guy, and they are living in Beijing at the moment. Sophie is beautiful and her mum posted that she could not believe how time passed and her beautiful daughter was now 3.

Then it really hit me. Time really has passed. I have yet to meet Sophie in person but through her pictures that her mum posts regularly, I have seen her grow over the past 2 years and SHE IS NOW 3!

And Madison is already 14 months ( and counting !)



So then I felt a little sad that my princess wouldn't be small for long. That she was growing up way too quickly for me. ( even though it's really only been a year ) From the helpless infant that she was to the toddling, blabbling little cheeky monkey that climbs all over the place that she is now.

It's amazing how time really erases all the bad memories of early infanthood. All it took was a year! No wonder people do go on to 2nd and 3rd children. I didn't feel this way 6 months ago, but now I think I am almost ready for number 2. Incredible.

Geok is also finally in labour, although hers is completely different from mine. I was lucky. My pain started at 3 am, checked into KKH at 6am and Madison was out by 12 noon. Geok is overdue by 3 days, she started labour pains 1 or 2 days ago and finally it's progressed to 1 in 20minutes. Of course she didn't get much sleep last night. Good luck to her!

I know we should try not to have too much regret or guilt over how we parent... but I can't help it. Am I doing enough? Should I spend more time with her? Should I be with her all the time? Am I being selfish for wanting to spend some time alone everyday? When every moment is a growing , learning opportunity for her? It's a daily battle.

My greatest wish for her, (besides the usual success in life, acheive her potentials, become a doctor-lawyer-professional golfer/tennis player- entrepreneur- successful person blah blah ) is to always stay her happy self, have the never-say -die attitute and confidence. But that's universal, isn't it?

Timeout from motherhood

Ahh... the serenity of having time to myself!

Over the past month or so, Madison seems to have been able to drop her morning nap, staying awake till her afternoon one, which has since been brought earlier to around noon or so. Initially that posed a problem for me because up till then I'd still been putting her down for her naps. With an earlier naptime I would not be able to do so everyday because of work. Fortunately by necessity, my second in commands, Maria and Warni have been able to get her to sleep somehow or other!

Which brings me to my topic. Me time. Something that I've missed for the past year. And now that it is possible I savour every minute of it! It's not that I'm doing anything special; rather the converse is true... I get to DO NOTHING. Surf the net. Go to the gym without feeling guilty. Have a nice sit down lunch with friends. With myself. Go shopping. And I think it's healthier for Madison to spend time away from me a few hours a day. Let someone else do the parenting for a little while.

So now I am sitting at the Singapore Swimming Club, surfing the net and writing in this blog, after being at work earlier on. It's raining and the weather is cool, a nice change from the mugginess of the previous day.

I hope this will last, but with Geok's baby on the way, I'm not sure the serenity will be for much longer. The Novena house will get noisy and busy, so I'm not too confident her napping will not be affected. We'll see. But maybe I should let her get used to sleeping in a noisy household?

Something I never realized pre-baby: things are always in a flux. Change is always close by and the most important thing is to be flexible. Not to plan too far ahead. Something a little hard for me to get used to but I am learning. I suppose it makes life interesting.