Madison's 5th birthday

We had a carnival birthday party this year!

Actually it wasn't planned that way, just turned out that way.

My plan initially was to invite her classmates and our neighbours, and have a simple pool party. Maybe cater some food or do a BBQ.

Then turns out L's mum, suggested we do a joint party since the 2 girls were merely 2 weeks apart.

She is really into entertainment for the party, so she suggested a bouncy castle. Then that grew to popcorn and candy floss, face painting and balloon sculpturing.

First we had to plan the logistics.

Bouncy castle:

We needed a large bouncy castle to fit many kids since we were basically inviting the entire K1 level of Pat's Schoolhouse at Buckley and their families.

We got our husbands to go measure out the biggest spot they could find.
Then we chose the castle.
Then we had to wait till there was a committee meeting to make a request to have the bouncy castle for the day.

That succeeded.

Popcorn and candy floss

L's mum is a champ when it comes to sourcing for providers! She did the internet trawl and found vendors to provide popcorn and candy floss for the day.


Face painting and  Balloon sculpturing

L's mum did the footwork again, finding the people to do the work for the day. We were really lucky too, the balloonist brought 2 apprentices along with him for the day so we had 3 people twisting balloons for the kids!


Birthday Cake(s)

I've been making the kids' birthday cakes now for the past few years, so this year wasn't going to be different. Except that I had to make 2 this time. I was really blessed though... we happened to have lunch with Michael Han the week prior to the party, and he actually volunteered to come help me with the cakes! Madison wanted a horse shaped cake and L the candy house cake.

I baked the cakes 2 days prior to the party, and we stayed up till 2 am on the night prior to finish decorating the cake. It was inspiring watching a chef do the work!

Food

Definitely catered. No way were we going to be able to cook or do a full BBQ for so many people.

I trawled the internet for caterers and we settled on a fairly basic one. We also decided to do BBQ satay as well as other finger foods. We went through over 600 sticks of satay! I really have to thank my mum's helper Maria for the hard work of BBQ that day. As well as Joan and her husband Adrian, who chipped in at the start to give us the headstart on BBQ. Once the guests arrived, the first 100 or so sticks of satay were gone in a flash.

Everything went almost as planned. EXCEPT for the torrential tropical downpour at the start. It was so hot the entire week and it really had to rain on the party day! The bouncy castle was already blown up and it collapsed with the rain.

Fortunately the rain slowed to a drizzle when the bulk of the guests arrived. Still, it was quite unpleasant to have everyone crowded at the function room. The popcorn and candy floss machines were also put in the small sheltered space just outside the function room.

I think it was close to 6 pm when the rain finally stopped. Chris and L's dad hurriedly dried the castle out and re-inflated it.

The kids had a real ball! I think most adults were a little overwhelmed because there were just so many people everywhere.

The cakes turned out pretty well, and considering how huge the 2 cakes were, most of it was finished by the end of the party.

Once we did the cake cutting people started leaving... I think many kids were knackered ( or perhaps it was their parents )

It was a fun party, but really alot of work on the day...

Madison's 5th birthday

Madison will be turning 5 next month.

My neighbour's kid turns 5 in the same month, and she also goes to the same school, so we decided to throw a joint celebration this year. ( Bigger budget, so better party!)

She came up with a few good suggestions.. ( she's a bigger party animal than I am!)

1. Hire a bouncy castle
2. Hire a balloon sculpting guy ( who also provides popcorn and candy floss!)

First we had to clear the main hurdle of getting approval for the bouncy castle to be installed in our condominium.

Last night I attended the management council meeting at the condo. And asked politely if we could be allowed to have the bouncy castle. It was approved!

So now we have to find the right sized castle and pray it doesn't rain. Looks like it will cost just over $500 for 4-5hours of rental. Divided by the 2 of us it's not too bad.

Once I had the approval, I sent out invitations via Whatsapp to the mothers in Madison's class. It's a bit nerve wrecking waiting for replies.. silly, I know.. but it's like.. what if no one wants to come??!!

Actually I got stressed because just before I sent out my invites another classmate sent his out for his party at an indoor playground the week after Madison's party. So it's quite fortunate my neighbour E asked me to do a combined one on the 9th of March instead of the 16th.

I volunteered to make the cake for the girls to share ( not making 2 cakes!!). I'm struggling to think of what cake to make. They wanted a dino cake, but dino cakes don't look that nice... most look like crocodiles!

We'll probably cater food for everyone ( easier than trying to cook ).

We'll also probably get balloons and goody bags for the kids.

I can't believe it's in 2 weeks!

Happy Chinese New Year.. welcoming the snake

I am quite glad the Chinese New Year is almost over.

Mostly because this year we had to travel to Kota Bahru in Kelantan to see the great grandparents.

In the past we had to travel to Kuala Lumpur only, which was quite pleasant.

Going to KB is quite a different ball game.

First : Getting there-- the flights this time of the year are crazy expensive. And we have 2 choices: take a propeller plane ( Firefly ) or 2 flights by jet plane.

I was nervous taking the propeller flight, and in any case we had waited till too late so there weren't any flights left leaving from Singapore. So we booked Air Asia to Kuala Lumpur, transit for 2 hours then a connecting flight to KB.

Leaving Changi Airport was a breeze and quite fun.. the kids had fun running around in the large, spacious and cool airport.

It was arriving at KL that was a bit of a shock. We were expecting to land at KLIA, but were actually arriving at the low cost terminal ( LCCT) part of KLIA. It was worlds apart! First we had to trek across the tarmac. Followed by a further 15minute walk to the actual terminal. All the time looking out for passing vehicles that were transporting baggage. The terminal was crazy! Crowded and seriously lacking of facilities. And hot. Going over to the main terminal wasn't an option; it took 30minutes to travel there each way by shuttle bus.

We survived the 2 hour wait, had a horrible meal and then travelled to KB.

KB is also quite unlike KL.. it's generally quite underdeveloped and run down. Many parts were still kampung with run down homes. And this being the festive period.. not much was open.

Still... the sole purpose of the trip was to see the relatives, have a few meals with them. We fulfilled our duty. Madison did really well during the trip; during the CNY eve dinner celebration she was so sporting! She volunteered to go up on stage to participate in their games, chatted to the relatives and had a lot of fun. Annika was the one to give me grief this trip; she was tired from not sleeping well, the food didn't agree with her so she hardly ate, and she fought with Madison ending up with her in tears and whines.

I was really glad to come home. When we touched down back at Changi Airport I felt such relief.

We had another family dinner with the rest of the family back home on February 12th, which also happened to be Geok's birthday.

Since then, life is almost back to normal, with the kids back at school and the rest of us back at work.
MIL is visiting for the rest of the week, after which she goes back to Melbourne. She's been away for the past 2 months visiting us and her parents in KB.

Happy CNY to one and all! ( And Happy V day as well! )

Stressful January

I've maintained blogger silence over the past month because it's been a stressful time for me.

The top reason being....

I've had some unpleasant news regarding pregnancy number 3.

After Switzerland, I went to see the gynaecologist expecting nothing more than a routine visit.

Had the first trimester Down's Screening as per the first 2 pregnancies.

The results were less than stellar. In 3 days I was recalled about a slightly higher risk of Down's, because the blood test showed that my PappA levels were 1/3 normal. The fetal ultrasound was normal. That made my risk 1:190. The genetic counsellor recommended chorionic villus sampling so I went in the very next day to have it done. After waiting 2.5 hours to see the doctor, I got a surprised look from him, and advice to postpone it for an amniocentesis instead.

All good, except I had 3 nerve wrecking weeks to wait.

In the meantime, my trusted helper, Warni was scheduled to go home for 3 weeks. I hadn't expected anything to crop up when I booked her trip.

I think the stress from having to wait for the amnio made me anxious and impatient, especially with the kids.

I did have some help from my mother-in-law, who just happened to be visiting from Christmas. Timing was perfect, so she was around everyday till today, when she left to go visit her parents in Kota Bahru.

The kids were good, it was just the mornings that were stressful initially. Trying to get them both ready for school in 45 minutes was tiring and demanding on my patience. I think that in retrospect, they also needed time to adjust to school, and realizing that they had to be ready. The past week has been smoother, and today we were actually ready at 8am!

Annika also started drop-off school for the first time on the day that Warni left, so logistically it was stressful getting everything sorted out.

Then I had to plan the amnio day out too, because I was required to rest a few days after the amnio.

So Chris took leave on the Friday that it was done and ferried the kids about to their activities.

The anticipation of the amnio itself was more nerve -wrecking than the actual procedure. Dr John Tee is an excellent surgeon, and his procedure was flawless. He did it under ultrasound guidance, and was very reassuring throughout the procedure. It took all of 5 minutes to get done, and was certainly less painful than the venepuncture I did just prior.

In the blink of the eye the month is suddenly almost over.

My mother-in-law left today to visit her parents.
Warni returns tomorrow afternoon.
The rapid result ( PCR ) from the amnio came back reassuring.

I just hope the last week of January and the rest of the year is going to be better!

New Year

Happy New Year 2013!


It's crazy that one-third of the month has already gone.

It's been a bit crazy with things happening here.

1. Warni left for her home leave on the 4th of January. We've missed her heaps and are coping ok. The mornings are particularly full on because the kids have started school. Getting 2 ready in time is stressful for me everyday.

2. Annika started pre-school. Her first day coincided with the day Warni left. She was allowed to be accompanied the first 2 days. Chris did the first and Grandma Suzy did the 2nd. Funny thing was on the 3rd day she asked to go by herself. I was quite surprised. She went without fuss!

Unfortunately that didn't last long.

The first day she went by herself she insisted on wearing undies instead of diapers. Was ok, but it ended with her pooping in her pants. She was very distressed with that... and on the 2nd drop - off day I think she remembered and started crying when I left her. Same thing yesterday and today... tears at drop off.

Hopefully this phase will pass quickly...

3. Madison also started school.. but in comparison it was a breeze. She was actually quite happy to see her friends, and so I had no problems dropping her off. I think she's quite vocal this year.. I could hear her voice when I arrived to pick them up.

The only real issue I have with Madison now is how to guide and discipline her. She is starting to be overtly disobedient and testing limits.

The mornings are difficult when she refuses to be independent and eat/dress/brush teeth quickly... it usually winds up being a toss up between nagging/ scolding or threats. I know those choices aren't ideal.. but trying to get 2 ready is a serious test of patience.

I know about positive discipline rather than being negative.. but come on! How much patience is a mother expected to have?? How many times can you tolerate trying to keep her safe eg fingers off lift doors, fingers off doors, stop watching iPad, stop annoying younger sister, and not having her listen?

4. Building matters

This shouldn't even be mentioned.. but it has been a bug bear. Last night we had our condominium management meeting, of which I am now a council member.

We had to make some decisions yesterday, such as electing office bearers. It was a 2 sided contest, and the members were equally split.

I lost it at some of the members, mostly because I felt they were condescending in their attitude. Of course now I feel bad, because it should have been a more amicable event, but I cannot be diplomatic in the face of blatant ego polishing and assumptions.

There are other issues on my mind.. but for now I have to be patient and bide my time.. more to come...

Holiday in Switzerland

We spent the first half of December holidaying in Switzerland.

It was quite a crazy trip. 9 adults and 4 kids aged 1 to 4.

We left on a Singapore Airlines flight at 0125h, so that was a crazy start already. There was so much luggage, including 4 strollers.

But I cannot complain. My 2 kids were relatively well behaved and settled during the flight. My 2 nieces were however a different story. Especially the littlest one... but it was a long flight. 12 hours direct to Zurich.

When we arrived, Zurich was covered in snow. We were quite unprepared for the severity of the weather. And then there was the transfers that we had to take with the kids and luggage to the hotel. Which was technically close ( less than 10 minutes by foot ) but with our bags and kids we had to take a taxi to the hotel.

Once we arrived at the hotel, we repacked, changed our gear to the warmer clothing then made our way to the main street just outside the train station. We had lunch at the Sprungli cafe ( which was supposed to be world famous ). And that was the start to our numerous hot chocolates we had throughout the trip.

The next day we caught a train to Zermatt, home of the mighty Matterhorn. We had to change trains at a town called Visp. Initially we planned to take it easy, allow ourselves 45 minutes between train transfers. But. When we arrived at Visp, it was snowing heavily, and the train station was open to the elements! We made the 8 minute dash between platforms with bags, 4 strollers and kids. The train ride was 3 hours in total, with the last leg climbing up the mountain towards Zermatt.

Zermatt was beautiful. It was covered in snow, and there are only horse driven carriages and electric taxis allowed on the streets. The main street outside the train station had many shops, especially luxury watch and clothing shops. We were fortunate to have come outside of the school holidays; I can't imagine the crowds when the holidays actually started.

We signed Madison and Elizabeth up for private ski lessons for the first 2 days. In retrospect we should have let them acclimatize first, because they were grouchy and tired during the lessons. By the 3rd day in Zermatt they had adjusted, but were then tired from skiing. The temperatures in Zermatt ranged from -5 to -23 degrees Celcius, which was the coldest I have ever experienced.

We were lucky my parents came along, because they refused to ski and were agreeable to babysit. So while the older 2 were having lessons, the rest of us went skiing. That was truly the best part of the entire trip. Those few hours of complete bliss, up on the mountains, with the powder and next to the majestic mountains. The runs were so long! It took easily over half an hour getting down to the next chairlift or gondola. We managed to cover the entire Zermatt ski trails the 4 days that we skiied.

Food was a big challenge. Initially we were all excited about the meat, sausage and cheese that they offered, but after half a week of the same food we started to baulk at another meal of sausages. In Zermatt we rented 2 apartments so we could make some meals. Trouble was that we didn't have much choice of asian foods at the supermarket.

We were quite sad when Zermatt came to an end.

The next leg went by really quickly. We caught the Glacier Express from Zermatt to Chur. It's a panoramic train experience, where you get wined and dined for several hours while enjoying the views of the mountains. Unfortunately when you have to also entertain the children for those hours, it was much less civilised. We also had a mix up in our ticketing and didn't get to sit in the first class cabins as initially planned.

We were at Chur for 1 day as a stopover after the Glacier Express. It was also freezingly cold. Chur is supposedly Switzerland's oldest town and also quite pretty. We walked around the old town for a bit the next morning. It was generally quite quaint but still too cold. Cobblestone streets and lots of buildings with pointy peaks and roofs.

The final destination was Lucerne. Surprisingly the weather was milder at Lucerne. It was definitely busier and more touristy than the other places we had been. Again we spent time looking at the touristy things such as the Lion Monument, a rock wall with a lion carved into it to commemorate the mercenaries who died during a war. There was also the Chapel bridge. We also walked around the lake to get to the Swiss transport museum, where we spent an afternoon. That was quite interactive and fun for us all.

We did quite a bit of shopping while in Lucerne, buying mostly cheese and chocolate. With globalisation quite a few of the shops that we saw in Switzerland are available here too. In Lucerne, we finally caved in and had dinner at 2 Chinese restaurants for the last 2 nights. It was unbelievably good. ( it's all relative )

We were meant to fly off from Switzerland at 10am, but our flight got retimed to 330pm. That really made our day easier. We had breakfast at the hotel, then made our way to the airport.  Because of the delay the airline gave us CHF30 per person in meal vouchers, which we then took our time to spend it all!

Again, on the flight back, my poor sister was stuck with the 1 year old for the entire 12 hours! Madison and Annika were relatively ok... slept through most of the flight and watched TV the rest of the time.

Now.. its the post trip blues and recovery from jet lag! Both kids were sleeping in past 10 am this morning!

Karuna International: Medical mission to Nepal

I think I've just recovered from my recent trip to Kathmandu, Nepal!

My dad organised a medical mission for the second time to Namo Buddha in Nepal this year.

It's a general medical mission, done at a remote medical clinic up at a site called Namo Buddha. It's at 1700m above sea level, so nowhere near the difficulty of Base Camp.

We left for Kathmandu on Saturday morning, on the 27th October. After a stopover at KL, we arrived at Tribhuvan Airport at Kathmandu. There were 10 of us in the group, and we were to be joined by a further 3 volunteers ( 1 doctor, a nurse and a clinic manager ) at Kathmandu ( they flew in a day earlier from Melbourne )

We were met at the airport and then taken by bus to Hyatt Regency 20 minutes away. Kathmandu is hot, dusty and basically a mess... the hotel was like an oasis of peace and cleanliness in comparison. But things are relative. It's not like a 5 star Hyatt that you'd expect.

We went for lunch at a restaurant just outside the Hyatt that had fantastic Nepali food. Momo, Naan, various curries and their famous Marsala tea. We were warned.. the last meat we'd eat for the next few days!

Some of the group left for early shopping, while SY and I went back to the hotel for a spa session!

The next day we took a (larger) bus up the mountain to Namo Buddha. In Nepal, there is no boot space in their buses. Luggage is manually hauled up to the roof and strapped. These transport guys are pretty strong!

The ride to Namo Buddha was pretty spectacular. The first part took us past crowded towns, which gradually stretched out to quieter towns, then finally up windy roads up the mountain. We were also warned about the final stretch of non-road. Understatement. It was a soil trail! How buses and cars drive up there astounds me. We were bouncing around in the bus. Thank goodness for Ondansetron. The views, however, did do justice to the ride. It was spectacular. As beautiful as the Canadian Alps or any other alps in the world.

We were settled into the accomodation, which was basic. Beds, toilet and occasional electricity for hot water and lights. No heating. Food was provided by a central kitchen, which was completely vegetarian.

The first day, we started clinic in the afternoon for the monks living at Namo Buddha. It was a good test of our mission clinic.

The next 2 days were spent seeing villagers that walked to see us. They are cardiovascularly fitter than most of us seeing them! Our main difficulty was language. We were fortunate to have interpreter monks helping us. The casemix was varied too.. we had the typical osteoathritis, vague joint pains, a few gynaecological issues, 3 cysts for excision, a few warts, paediatric impetigo, eczema and malnutrition. Some of the kids were quite small... 4 year olds weighing only 12kg.

I think we saw close to 500 people in the 2.5 days we ran clinic. The last day was probably the best. Everyone was familiar with the workflow, and we managed to do 3 excisions of huge sebaceous cysts too. The volunteers who came with us were amazing. They worked really hard, probably harder than the doctors. These are well- to- do people from home, and it was heartwarming to see them knuckle down to work. They helped us with triage, taking blood pressures, blood sugars, height and weight. And corralled the patients to see the doctors.

Food was literally vegetarian. Rice/ noodles with 2 vegetable dishes. Nicely flavoured, but when you're working hard mentally and physically it doesn't feel like enough. We had our own supplies of cup noodles and snacks, so that helped us through the night. Nights were cold. We had our sleeping bags with us and disposable heat packs that helped. There was no entertainment, so we went to sleep really early! That didn't mean we slept well.. quite horrible to be up several times only to find 2 hours had passed since we went to bed!!

I think most of us were quite glad to return to Kathmandu on the 4th day. By then the Hyatt felt like a paradise. An oasis of luxury. It's funny how things are subjective. It was so fantastic to have choice in our meals. Meat!

We spent the last day on tour to a place called Bhaktipur. It's an UNESCO protected heritage site. I think the best part must have been this wood carving thing that had 24 scenes of the karma sutra engraved on it. It was quite vivid.

After that we went to Thamel, a huge street shopping area. That was amazing. We had dinner at Fire and Ice, most notable because it had free wifi, a large number of Caucasians, and decent Italian food. It was a good way to end the trip. Most people bought tea, cashmere scarves/shawls, hiking goods and leather goods.

The next day we had a leisurely breakfast at the Hyatt, then wandered over to the outdoor street market near us. Did more shopping, and then finally off to the airport.

The trip was really surreal.. time flew by so quickly ( although when it was the night it felt like an eternity ). The return trip via KL was too long. We had a 5 hour layover at KLIA so by the time we arrived home it was closer to 1 am.

I was so tired the next few days. I think I've just recovered and started feeling normal only today. I don't think I've ever felt so tired after a mission trip before. Age? Difficulty of trip?

Would I go again ? I think so! Experience definitely helps.