It's been so long!!

It's been two years since my last post. It hadn't been smooth sailing as so many things happened in the family. Last year, Dear was emotionally drained and stressed due to a serious complaint at work that dragged for more than half a year. This affected his self esteem a lot and business was really tough for him . So thankful that the case had been resolved. Meimei also had to go through a surgery at the end of last year, as the black pigment on her nail was growing quickly so the dermatologist recommended a biopsy on the tissue which required a surgery to be done. I would never forget crying in the operating theatre when the doctors administered anaesthesia on her, but thankfully the biopsy results turned out fine. I also had to go through a small procedure last year to remove vaginal polyps. What was even scarier was when I almost lost bro last year as he was diagnosed with both colon and kidney cancers and suffered rare side effects from the chemotherapy. But again, I'm thankful that he's recovering from multiple ordeals since last year. 

We ended 2023 with an oversea holiday to Japan and the girls totally enjoyed the trip. They did a Vlog that we could watch over and over again (more for meimei). It was unfortunate that Meimei fell ill during the trip and suffered motion sickness regularly which obviously stressed me up so that explained why I didn't really remember much from most overseas holiday, lol. 

This year, both jiejie and meimei studied a lot harder and I'm proud that they did well in their studies. Although jiejie faced alot of challenges and disappointments in the first half of the year, I'm glad that she overcame the challenges and grew more resilient. She even went for OBS at Pulau Ubin in July, so glad she came back in one piece, lol. Oh yes, she also performed on stage twice this year which definitely helped to grow her confidence. For meimei, it was the first time she had to go through WAs and final year exam, so it's been more stressful for her but I could see that she took pride in her work and having Festive Drum as her cca definitely helped to grow her confidence this year. 

Dear and I even went on a short couple trip to Seoul in June this year. It's our first time travelling overseas by ourselves since honeymoon 15 years ago. Although I was recovering from Covid then, the trip was fun and relaxing. I actually didn't have a gazillion things in mind about taking care of the girls in another country, maybe that's why I didn't feel so tired after the holiday, lol. But not having the girls with us during the trip also made me miss them so much and felt like bringing them to Korea next time. Being a mum is so full of contradictions, tsk tsk. 

Now, we'll be going on the next family holiday in 14 days, and I hope it will be an enjoyable and memorable one in Sydney!!! But before that, we need to have an early bday celebration for mum first :)

End of June Holidays!

The girls started a new journey in both primary and secondary school this year.  Thankful that both have adjusted relatively well to the new environment, and I can't believe that half of the year is already over and Term 3 starts today! Well, but I'm thankful that we had a fruitful and enjoyable June school holidays. 

It started with a relaxing evening cycling trip at East Coast Park when the holidays started. We rode a family bike and all was well and fun until dabao dropped and broke her glasses. I guess that made the outing even more unforgettable, lol. But the route that we took that day was really beautiful, and weather was really nice that day too.

It was also the first time I planned a shopping trip with the girls to Uniqlo, and of course the girls managed to buy some clothes there, but meimei was complaining that it would be better if we can shop at Moley Apparels instead. Maybe next time, haha. 

There was an interesting event at the zoo this holidays and I was surprised that the girls had fun especially since Dabao doesn't really like going to the zoo. There were many activities that they took part but what drove up their happiness index was definitely the Little Pony hair extension, lol.  The nerf gun shooting booth was fun too!

On one of the weekends, we visited the Chow Cute cafe. Although we didn't see any pets from visitors, the girls were delighted to play with two cute chows chows in an enclosed area. Since there wasn't much patrons that day, we had lots of time with the chows chows to ourselves. Oh, not forgetting that dabao was traumatized by a little parrot who looked totally harmless there. 

The highlight for the girls, or maybe for meimei, would be the outing to Kiztopia. She hadn't been to an indoor playground for a long long time, and was so excited to go again with Abby and jiejie. Although everyone was wearing a mask, we could see that she's smiling and beaming with happiness in all the photos that were taken at Kiztopia. Watching her going around with the two big sisters, climbing up the structures and sliding down the slides without mama's company and assurance makes me feel that my little baby has grown up so much. And my big baby tried to make the best out of that trip by squeezing into the kiddy train ride as well, hahaha. 

There was a cultured trip for the girls this holiday too. We went to the Children's Biennale at National Gallery! Honestly, we couldn't really appreciate everything over there but I'm glad that they still enjoyed themselves. Some of the more unforgettable booths were probably the paper weaving activity, a big room display made of cardboards and also another colorful room with lots of tents. The girls claimed that they are more cultured now, coupled with the fact that they drink Yakult everyday, which is cultured milk, lol. 

The next outing was to dabao's favourite Sentosa!!! We went for the luge, skyride and cable car. It was quite scary when we were on the skyride as dear and I saw a bee hovering around the girls when we were hanging so high in the sky. Thankfully the girls were not alarmed and all was well and safe, because the bee flew to us instead, lol.  As we were taking the cable car, we decided to spend some time at the Siloso beach but meimei was totally sian about it as she did not like having sand in her shoes. Dabao insisted on taking some cool shots at the Siloso sign structure but ended up looking very pathetic and unglam instead, hahahaha. 

That weekend, we celebrated Father's Day at City hotpot! We were busy eating and taking insta stories that we forgot to take a proper photo that day, argghhh. The girls gave Papa their handmade card, and both drew the same picture of Hina, a character from this japanese anime that Papa recommended them - Weathering with You. Hahaha the girls have grown to be so crazy over japanese animes ever since Papa recommended them Your Name and Weathering with You! 

On the last week of the holidays, dear and I brought the girls together with dabao's friends for ice skating! This was something new for meimei, but she didn't really skate since she was sitting on this seal skating aid and Papa was pushing her around the rink all the time, hahaha, no wonder Papa was sweating profusely even though the place was so cold. Glad that dabao enjoyed the session with her close friends too, they were all struggling to keep their balance at first but dabao got better and more confident subsequently, although she came back home with lots of blisters and blue blacks after that. Other than this ice skating trip, dabao actually went out with other friends this holiday too, I must say she's no longer the anti social girl anymore! 

The last outing we had was an evening drive to town for the iLight display. In the end, what's most memorable was probably us looking for toilet and also meimei wearing her pyjamas walking around MBS, lol. But I did like the beautiful water and light show outside MBS. Nice conclusion to our June holidays!! 

Last day of 2021!!!!

Okay, I'm having shoulder ache and acid reflux, and tired from our recee to SNGS via public transport, but I'm also feeling bad for not writing any post this year and it's already the last day of 2021!!!!! 

This year has really been very eventful. The world is still plagued with the covid pandemic with delta variant at the beginning of the year and now Omicron variant which is deemed more transmissible but less serious.  All of us have gone for vaccinations except for meimei who will probably be getting hers in Jan next year when she starts P1. But I'm really concerned that there will be never ending booster shots that may be harmful to our body. 

A big milestone for our family this year was house moving. We moved from our tiny house at One Canberra to a much more comfortable place at Yishun Emerald. It was stressful overseeing the renovation that was full of hiccups during covid, made worse by the fact that we had to move during the June holidays before Le Xuan had her prelim exams. 

It hasn't been easy for Le Xuan this year as she had her PSLE and was the first batch under the new PSLE system. Overwhelmed with stress, she often had emotional outburst and what worried us was when she started seeing spots every day.  During the PSLE period, it was really stressful when the government implemented strict safe management measures that caused many students to take exams while being quarantined. We were also shocked when darling cried buckets after the math and science papers.  Thankfully she was satisfied with her results eventually and would be going to St Nicks next year.  What amazed me was that she became very sociable after PSLE, getting along very well with more classmates, have zoom chat sessions and also play dates with her friends. Hope darling will continue to step out of her comfort zone, get to know more friends in St Nicks and is able to reach her fullest potential.

As for meimei, she has grown to be more independent especially after we moved to Yishun Emerald (but still sleeping with papa mama). She can now go to the toilet and also put on her clothes by herself. There is also less anxiety when she goes for CMA classes. Other than CMA, Meimei also took up both Kpop and flute lessons this year. Hope she'll continue to enjoy both enrichment next year when she starts her primary school journey. Mama is definitely feeling the jitters given that meimei has always been homeschooled, hopefully she won't take too long to adjust to the new environment. We are exploring the idea of transferring her to St Nicks to join jiejie, but will see how it turns out eventually.

 As for dear, I'm happy and proud that he had done very well in his career, obtaining his first COT in 7 years. It's a great achievement especially when there were a lot of restrictions this year due to covid, but he was able to adapt quickly to changes and thrive in this new environment. Also thankful that dear is an IT expert, providing me with strong IT support especially when I had to transit to online tuition due to covid. Dear even bought me an I-Mac for my birthday this year!!! Makes me feel so techy now that I use I-pad, I-phone and I-Mac everyday for work, lol. 

On this last day of 2021, I wish that the world can overcome the pandemic very very soon, our family will remain closely knitted and healthy, dear will continue to reach new heights in his career, the girls will adjust and enjoy school life, and grow to be motivated, strong and confident. Love our little family and can't wait to visit Le Le the baby panda at River Wonders tomorrow, which is the first day of 2022!!!! :)

Meimei turns 5!!

Can't believe my littlest princess has turned 5 this year! Omg, always thought she's still a little baby, but she's growing up so fast! 

Doubt she'll ever remember that her 5th birthday is during a worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, and all of us are still supposed to put on a mask wherever we go, except children 6 years and below. So she considers herself lucky, lol. 

It was a simple celebration as usual this year. Got some pretty birthday decoration at home for our yearly birthday phototaking backdrop. Dear and I brought the girls to Changi Airport Swensens for a meal although our initial plan was to bring them for a birthday picnic cum kite flying.  Too bad the weather didn't allow the original plan to work out, but will surely bring them for a picnic some other day. 

Meimei was also delighted to have Abby with us for our birthday meal. It was an evening full of smiles and laughter to have great company and of course her favourite food like fries and ice cream. 

Meimei wanted her birthday to be Frozen themed this year, so of course her birthday dress had to be a Frozen Elsa dress. We also bought her a Frozen cake for our cake cutting celebration at home together with jiujiu, jiu ma, Abby, popo and gong gong as well. And since she had become a pokemon fanatic or poken master this year, her presents included Frozen cap, Frozen water bottle, Frozen necklace and hair brush, Frozen lego set, pokemon monopoly and of course her most favourite gift from jiejie -- Snowy Vulpix soft toy!!! She loved it so much that she had to bring it for her Kuno and K-pop classes every week, lol.

I'm glad that our little princess had a blast on her birthday, and I wish that she'll continue to stay healthy and happy, and become a real pokemon master!!! Love you!!!

Circuit Breaker 2020

Until now, I still can't believe that the world is experiencing a pandemic now, with the Covid-19 virus attacking every country in the world, infecting and killing lots of people.

Singapore isn't spared too, with around 13000 people infected, mostly the migrant workers. So we're all now stuck at home with what the government calls the Circuit breaker, hoping that the situation will be improved when everyone stays home. School going children are having home based learning, with live Zoom sessions with teachers some times. Even all my tuition classes are conducted online now. We have withdrawn meimei from her preschool just before the circuit breaker kicked in, so it will be home based learning for her all the way till Primary One then.

During the circuit breaker period when everyone is stuck at home, it's really draining for me to constantly think of activities to entertain/ educate the kids while working at the same time. Being a woman is just too tough, I pray that the societal norms will change by the time my precious girls grow up. 

2019 coming to an end

In a blink of an eye, 2019 is coming to an end.  Perhaps one will feel that time passes more quickly as one gets older, scary, hehe. Before we welcome a new year, I should probably record down some happenings before I forget them all.

This year, in terms of studies, Dabao did well for her year end exams. It was unbelievable that she scored full marks for her composition given that she failed it during mid year exams. It was also very surprising that she got selected by her teacher for the Aspiring student award. In terms of CCA, she continued to represent Chongfu for scrabble competition after her exams, and was awarded Best Junior Player from her school. I guess she'll probably not want to change her CCA now that she has more interest and confidence in this game and her goal is to beat the strong competitors from St Hildas next year, lol. 

For her piano, Dabao has just completed her Grade 5 syllabus this year and will be starting Grade 6 with effect from Jan 2020. I guess it helps that Teacher Tang is also teaching her songs that she likes, and we are so proud that she has mastered 2 songs by Yiruma. They are River flows in you, and Kiss the Rain.  Dear and I have already bought tickets for the Yiruma concert that will take place in Feb 2020, it's expensive but we thought Dabao deserves it.

Dabao just turned 10 years old recently (she's actually grown 12cm this year and is 147cm tall now!) and she opened a time capsule that she wrote to her 10 year old self when she was 6 years old.  We celebrated her birthday by having a staycation at Village hotel Sentosa. No overseas holiday this year but we thought the staycation was a fun and enjoyable one. We went Trick Eye museum, Kidzania and also Universal Studios during the staycation, but poor mum suffered a bad sprain to her foot and stayed in the hotel room most of the time. Next year, I guess we'll be going overseas holiday but not sure if we're really going Japan as I'm really worried about the super cold weather there.

For meimei, she has turned 4 years old this year.  No party for her, but we had a yummy lunch celebration at Northpoint Swensens. With her unicorn dress and princess birthday tiara, this girl was definitely very happy with a day full of fries, ice cream, birthday cake and presents.  In terms of development, meimei is beginning to read some chapter books and it started with the rainbow magic fairy books. She's still very interested in coloring and drawing, so we've decided to sign her up for an art class at MuzArt Northpoint starting Jan 2020. Hope she'll like it and develop her interest from there. Other than reading, coloring and drawing, meimei obviously likes to sing too. Especially after the recent Frozen II movie (her first movie in theatre), she has been singing and singing the songs, to the extent that she requested the lyrics to be printed out for her.  I must say I can't do without my Spotify subscription now, lol.  I have one concern about meimei though, she seems to be losing interest in chinese and she's more adverse in speaking mandarin now. She even speaks english to her chinese teacher in school.  Must see what I can do as I really hope the girls can be effectively bilingual as they grow up.

Dear and I have signed up the annual membership for Gardens by the Bay (Friends of Gardens) as well as the Zoo (Friends of Wildlife). I guess we'll frequent this two places more next year as part of our family outings! Looking forward to a healthier, happier and wealthier new year!!! Goodbye and thank you 2019!  :)

Half of 2019 is over!

Can't believe that half of 2019 has passed just like that. Time for some recollection.

It's Xiaobao's first year in preschool and we had initially enrolled her in the Purple Train at Woodlands Civic centre. It's really tough having to travel to and fro woodlands plus the fact that meimei couldn't overcome her separation anxiety. And it was totally unexpected when the school informed in less than 2 months that they were going to close down. Guess every cloud has a silver lining as it was then that I realised that the Caterpillar clubhouse over at Eight Courtyard condo is a kindergarten. Meimei has since settled down in the school and we're all thankful that she's happy there.

As for Dabao, it's been a super busy year for her. At first, it was four long days in school and now with the recent e2k science program, that makes it long days for whole week! But dear and I are quite heartened to see that dabao seems more confident this year and is better at socializing with her friends.  There were down moments for dabao this year, like scoring a merit for her piano exam and also failing her SA1 english composition where she cried buckets, but there were also uplifting moments like getting a gold award at the Ars Nova Festimal competition and being selected for the e2k science program.  Well, guess that's how life should be, embracing the up and down moments so that she can grow to be confident and resilient person.

Dear and I have recently decided to put on hold our plan to rent a bigger unit. Instead, we did some decluttering by moving all the books to two huge bookcase that dear assembled, creating a home library instead. Will be dismantling dabao's double deck bed soon, hope the house will look and feel even more comfortable before we make further plans to our house next year!

To an even better 2nd half of 2019!!!!!