Withdrawal symptoms..

Argh.. it feels like a post holiday blues.

Miss the cool dry weather of Tokyo already. Being able to walk around all day and NOT SWEAT buckets.

Having interesting things to do everyday.

Trying out new food/drinks/restaurants.

Not having to worry about the clinic. Not having to dress for work. Being able to play all day with Madison.

Ok... so it would have been perfect if I could have that plus domestic help so that someone else can do the laborious stuff. Like tidy up and laundry. It's great also having other people entertain Madison some of the time during the day so that I can eat/read/drink.

So now I am busy thinking of our next time off and holiday. With or without kid? Regional or a wee-bit further? Like 1 hour flight ( Malaysia ), 4 hours ( Bali ) or 6 hours ( skiing Nagano or Melbourne) ? On one hand I would really like a trip with the hubby to somewhere nice (read Bali for golf(him) spa (me)), but I don't want Madison to miss out on experiences too. Kinda means beach resort for her or Melbourne then. Just that Melbourne is a 6 hour flight away.

I think I am quite bored being back, but it's good that Madison is back in her bed too. We all sleep better and feel better.

Just that the weather in Singapore really SUCKS. Sigh.

Tokyo trip

Like a durian.. in essence... prickly on the outside, but a great experience overall....

We left on the 4th Oct via Singapore Airlines, and thank goodness we took the day flight. Although that really wastes a day in travelling... but with a kid...


First thing? I lost my BRAND NEW IPHONE. Could just kill myself already. The flight was eternally long, sucked out my energy trying to entertain an 18 month old toddler, then had to spend another hour and half trying to get to the accomodation in Azabu East. Left it probably in the taxi just when I was trying to pack everything else up to get out of the cab. Realised it minutes later but it was too late. And all we could remember of the taxi was that it was BLACK! Black!!! At bloody 8 pm. No dinner yet. Hungry child. Cold dark evening. No phone. Thank goodness the serviced apartment ( Ascott ) was right next to a heaven sent supermarket, where we bought take out to microwave in the room.

So.... after phone calls to 10 taxi companies later, I was resigned to the loss. Had to move on. No cot organised for the first night so we improvised and Madison slept on a combination of cot mattress/duvet and pillows on the floor. She lasted till 5Am. not bad.

First official day we went to DisneySea. Took us almost an hour to get there by train. Then it started drizzling just as we got to the front gates! But we stayed on and it was otherwise pretty great. M simply loves The Little Mermaid and Aladdin so those were the first 2 stops. Tried the mildest of the rides, the teacups but after 10 seconds she started shrieking and wanted out. Thank goodness the ride lasted an entire ??30s to few minutes?? Not sure. So no more rides. There were shows too, but they were all in Japanese apart from the songs. M didn't mind though. We were just thankful for the seats and shelter from the rain!! ( kidding )

You would think that in DisneySea they would have had proper child seats that could safely seat a toddler, but their idea of child seats were more like elevated smaller adult seats! As in, no safety harnesses or front bars that would hold a kid down! Not much toddler friendly food but she had some of ours and stuff that I prepared earlier to bring along.

At DisneySea they had cool popcorn buckets that you buy for Y1400 and get top ups at Y500. Everyone had them and I think they brought them back for refills at subsequent trips. There were popcorn carts throughout the park and each one had a different flavour. The park itself was huge, and amazingly clean. There were several sections with different themes that centred around water. At midday there was an amazing watershow that had jetskis, large water float with Mickey mouse and Minnie mouse, kites and even fireworks.


Day 2 and 3 were rainy rainy and cold.... failed trips to Ueno Park /zoo, Akihabara to look for replacement Iphone.. but we had fun back at the apartment pool and then Shiba Park, which was 5 minutes walk from the apartment. Dinner we bought back from the department stores to reheat. Restaurants in Tokyo didn't seem to have take out. We asked and it was "no...only eat in".


Tokyo Tower, right next to our apartment...



Half the time Chris was attending the conference in Shinjuku, so that meant I was by myself with Madison. OMG. The stuff I had to lug around plus her. Wouldn't be quite that bad if she didn't have to constantly squirm and take her shoes and socks off! But in all fairness, it was pretty fun to hang out with her SOME of the time. Best part was probably just lounging around the apartment, splashing in the pool ( which she fell ASLEEP in ! That was how tired she was !) having picnic breakfast/lunch/snacks on the carpet floor. ( no child seat either in the apartment!) We also went to the nearby park so she could run around, go down the slides.


We did have a great dinner out at Roppongi Hills one of the nights. It was a grill/ bar type of place that seemed pretty chic, but were surprisingly accomodating of M. Despite dropping the small jar of soy sauce on the table and couch within seconds of being seated!!! Thank goodness we eat early. They had some amazing grilled chicken, bacon wrapped asparagus, noodles and a veg dish that had the thinnest sliced cuts of various root vegetables that were fried. We also had a piece of codfish that was grilled to perfection.



Had to lug her cutlery around Tokyo too, most places didn't have child friendly cutlery either. Japanese kids must be able to use chopsticks really early!


The best shopping mall in town in my opinion ( with a kid) was Takashimaya at Shinjuku. They have a pretty decent child section, with a gorgeous GAP store. Great diaper changing facilities too. I burnt some cash at the Gap store. There were the cutest kids gloves, scarves and beanies too, but a pity we live in a tropical climate.

I did muster the courage to go to the Ueno Zoo again. It was that or the Tokyo Sea life park at Kansai Rinkai. ( which was another wasted trip on typhoon day--wednesday, when the train to the park was stopped due to the weather. That was after we'd spent over half an hour getting to that stop!! And the taxi queue stretched like a snake. No buses. Sigh)


Ueno park is a gorgeous park. I didn't have time or energy to wander through the park, but I did go to the zoo. The animals were all behind bars, but the enclosures seemed pretty decent. Some pretty interesting animals there, like a wolf, poisonous snakes and orange pink flamingoes. Again, no child seats at lunch. Plenty of park benches to have your meal, but if you are like Madison and simply cannot sit still then most likely you would end up falling OFF the bench like she did. I think the tears were probably more of embarrassment???!!



There was a section where kids could touch the animals, like lamb, sheep and whatever sane birds would allow the kids to touch them. If you asked me they looked a little sedated but that's my opinion! They're probably just really used to the kids??!!


The grand finale was the 7 hour flight back. OMG. First there was a delay in taking off. NO problem for adults. Just go to sleep. Try keeping a toddler fastened down safely while waiting for the plane to take off! The rest of the flight was a tag between Chris and me to keep her from wailing too MUCH. I was really exhausted and at one point just simply fell asleep. I don't know how people can travel alone with a toddler!

Narita Airport, Tokyo


The best part was at the luggage carousel. When M saw her grandfather at the arrival hall she just TOOK OFF and headed straight out the glass doors without even turning back! Guess she was sick and tired of her parents too! When we got back last night we had the LUXURY of depositing her at my parents' place while we went home, had a great shower and DINNER out. And replaced my Iphone. At M's expense( ie her college fund!!)!

Getting ready to go...

Ok... packing for children is like preparing for war. Every item I kind of go: "ok.. .take it or leave it? Might need it though... but it makes the bag so heavy..."argh.

Fortunately we decided to start packing EARLY .. like last Sunday... 1 week ahead.. rewind back to DINK days... I would be packing like the night before!

How much clothing does a kid need for a 1 week trip? Is it cold enough in early October in Tokyo to require much warm stuff? Do we need to buy more stuff? Or should we try and buy it there as we need it? Of course, thanks to the grandparents we already got some new warm stuff...

How about luggage for the kid? There was this really cute tow along check in bag we saw at Tangs on Saturday night when we were out for dinner. Price tag? $95... but there was a 20% discount. No.. we were not immediately suckered into buying the REALLY cute ladybug suitcase. Took us another day to decide, by which the sale ENDED! oh well. Fate decided.

What about onboard entertainment? I tasked Chris to upload videos onto my iphone, which for some really strange reason was incredibly difficult since we don't get iTune shop in our part of the world. So he had to convert the DVDs into some format that would be usable on the iphone. That took like a few days. My job? Go shopping : new books. Crayons. Snacks. Stuff she normally wouldn't get.

I'm not even sure how we're going to sleep when we're there. We didn't end up getting the 2 bedroom apartment ( I know, overkill... but sleep is priceless) so we have a studio instead. I hope she doesn't wake in the middle of the night and see us there and then not want to sleep anymore after that.

Chris is also going to be busy a few days when we are there so it'll be the 2 of us in Tokyo those days. First and foremost I hope I don't LOSE her. Then I hope we'll be able to do some stuff and not just hang around the apartment. hm... travelling the subway with Madison? What about her naps? Stroller plus carrier plus bag and Madison for the day? How about lunch? Hm.. how do people manage ?

Still..it'll be a change, and change is always good for the soul. Maybe Melbourne/Sydney trip next? Chris has a registrar conference that he wants to go to in March. Then it'll be Madison and me for a week while he is at the conference in Sydney! KIV....

Going to Japan!

Yes, we are finally headed off for a long awaited holiday..

I'm not quite sure if travelling with a kid is the same as having a holiday but I am determined to be flexible and enjoy this trip. Barring any illnesses though!

Packing is a nightmare. I have started to make lists of things to bring, from clothes to food to medication. Today I have started to assemble the E -kit. After surfing the net about information on travelling with toddlers it seems that I really should start packing and not leave it to the last minute. Seems like a good suggestion to bring lots of entertainment on board too. How on earth to do all that without needing an entourage to carry the gear!!

It's going to be autumn in Tokyo... wonder how cold it's going to be? We haven't bought any cold weather stuff for Madison yet; Chris wants to go there and buy stuff but I have a feeling that it may be a bad idea to not buy any here at all?

Getting there is going to be tricky. I said to fly in the day; online info seems to say that travelling at night with kids is a BAD idea and I concur. So the flight leaves at 0940, which makes it 0740 that we have to check in, which makes it what? 0700 that we leave the house? How about her breakfast? Not to even think about taking off and landing! Ice? biscuits? She's a little too small for sweets just yet...

Then we land at dinner time. Oh goodness. And it takes 90 minutes to town from the airport. With baggage! Options: Taxi (90 min ) , train (60 min) then taxi to hotel (?10-15min) or bus (?90min).... So far the train then cab seems like a better idea. At least she can walk around the train? By the time we get in it would be at bedtime for her and we still have to check in ! OMG.
I can't even imagine how we're going to cope with the bags and her. Hopefully not screaming.

So I guess the trick is to be open, calm and flexible, and let all schedules and expectations fly out of the window! It should be fun though... I have been prepping her about flying already!

Hari raya weekend

Having a domestic helper really spoils you!

Last Sunday was the Hari Raya holiday weekend so I gave Warni the day off. This meant I was alone with Madison for the day since Chris was on call the entire weekend.

We did ok. Quite well, in fact. I love weekends and public holidays. And school holidays. The mornings are so much quieter, without the din of the schoolbuses and other traffic. Madison slept in till 73o (hooray!) After breakfast I wanted to go to the Botanic Gardens with her but after driving all the way there the silly carpark was closed for a wedding marketing event.

So, instead we went to the Jacob Ballas gardens next to the main Botanic Gardens and spent some time there. Pity though, it got hot really quickly and I didn't bring her wet stuff so she could splash around in the fountain. Wish I had the motivation to run with our jogger. Just that it has a silly front wheel that wobbles crazy even walking sometimes. And of course we can't get it fixed because we bought the jogger online from NZ.

Anyway. I even managed to make lunch at home for the 2 of us, read to her for awhile then tried really hard to put her down for a nap. Initially the plan was to do it without rocking or nursing, but after waiting and watching her run around her bedroom for close to an hour I had enough and rocked her down to sleep. That lasted 30 minutes and she was up crying! But after sobbing for 10 minutes she went back to sleep. Thank goodness.

The rest of the day was pretty boring. Went over to the my parents place, had a mini saga drama with the maids coming back super late and getting a royal shelling because my parents were entertaining guests that night.

Thank goodness Monday was a holiday too. I had enough of time with the extended family so we did our own thing. Went swimming at the club in the morning, then hung out at home for a little while. After Madison's nap we took her to United square with the intention of buying her a sun hat, but while we were there the little girl insisted on donning her swim goggles the entire time! They fogged and she was stumbling all over the mall, and eventually walked into a mirror while admiring herself at the shop! Was pretty hard to keep a straight face on...

Life with Madison..

Inspired... by a kid

No... not my own... although she does inspire me to greater good ( ie her needs over mine... )

It was a teenager that I'd seen previously in the clinic.

I've been pretty down about the clinics, being so quiet that they are that I really wonder how much of it is due to me... ok, ok... negative self talk..

Still, things being equal, I look at envy when I see how other people are so busy with their successful practices and then I think, maybe I'm not cut out for this. Better to be employed then it's not really my problem. When I was employed I didn't seem to have trouble with getting patients to see me. Location problem? Pricing problem?

Anyway... it was the teenager's mum who volunteered that her son refused to see all other doctors apart from me. I was really flattered. Of course it's extra stress that I have to be responsible and extra careful with him but I try to be like that anyway. Terrified of missing some thing.

So, I guess, it means that I should plow on....? I am hoping in the near future I will look back at these times and think that I had more time with Madison, and that it was all worth it!

On another note, I was snooping around the net and checking out other people's blogs. Amazing place, this blogopshere. It's like a window into other people's lives, people that I probably would never meet. ( they live in the USA ) These women are mostly mothers, who enjoy running, some of which work (run less) and others stay at home to look after their kids ( run ALOT more ) Anyway, they sound really fit. And fast. They run distances over 10 miles easily and regularly. I don't think many people here do that. That's like 16K! I think most people here manage around 10K. Maybe the really serious marathoners do much more than that. I guess that's why we're not that fast!

Madison also seems to be running a temperature this morning. After her shot yesterday. As usual, the KK style proved right, with the manhandling and multiple nursing staff helping me keep her absolutely still so the paediatrician could stab her with the needle... all I can say is that "thank goodness for videos on the iphone (Little Mermaid) , Youtube and Malteasers !"

We were supposed to go to the zoo with Celine and Aaron this morning, but we shall see about that... maybe the Botanic Gardens instead?

Celine is visiting!

I get really excited when Celine comes to visit...

It would be really nice if she were living here instead of Sungei Petani, but well.. she does visit every few months.

Aaron is also 18months and growing really well. He is talkative, like his mommy and pretty tall. He is just starting to walk but is really active, throwing himself fully into whatever piques his interest.

Celine, my old friend of over 20 years is still the same..it's amazing how we seem to stay still in time when we see our contemporaries.. she's amazing, coping so well with motherhood and looking after her family without her base of support here in Singapore.

Yesterday they came over for a mini play date. Madison didn't seem to mind sharing her toys with him too much once she'd warmed up. A stark contrast to when we were at the park earlier and she refused ( to my chagrin ) to share her toys with another kid there. I think he likes coming over to the Novena house because it is now play central ( thanks to Pa ) . He'd just bought Madison a new 2 man tent that we set up in the middle of the hall. Of course it was way larger than what he'd expected, but then, the kids loved it, so what ?!!!

Elizabeth is still screaming her head off whenever other people try and carry or handle her. Not too good there. Not sure why. Maybe colic? I think it's quite puzzling for the most of us because we compare her to Madison, but also because it's quite stressful. Hopefully she'll grow out of it soon. Geok is still on part time, working 3 days a week and having long weekends. Their new maid arrived 2 days ago.

So.. we're supposed to go to the zoo tomorrow afternoon if everything works out well... Madison is due for her final shot today ( for the next 5 years !! HOORAY!!!)... I usually whip out the paracetamol suppository, EMLA patch to prep her for the shot. Even better when I give her the shot. Distract and stab. At KKH they kinda make it pretty obvious they are going to give the shot, but making her straddle me, holding her down and then going 1,2,3... before she's even anywhere near the needle she's already stressed and crying! But Chris is covered by Singhealth, so... too bad... subsidised healthcare means cost savings for us!