Winter Wear Shopping at Vivo City

On Saturday morning, I told Adrian that I would like to buy one more set of thermal wear for Anders. He had only one set and I am afraid it may get soiled. Adrian told me actually there is no need to buy another set as it’ll be winter, they won’t perspire much.

I told him the thermal wear can double up as pyjamas, so it would be ok if he wear a set out during the day and wear the other set at night. He was agreeable to my suggestion.

Adrian said he would like to go Vivo City to look for a pair of gloves for his chin-up workout. I remembered Winter Time has an outlet @ Vivo City, so I told him we should make a trip there.

After Anthea’s lesson at Tien Hsia, we fetched her around 11am and headed towards Vivo City. Along the expressway, we saw that the Cairnhill exit was Jammed and I told Adrian – GSS is in town now…: )

When we arrived at Vivo City, we were glad to see the car park still had many empty lots.

We had an early lunch at Harbourfront Macdonald. Yeah, we went all the way there and the children wanted Macdonald for lunch *Faint*.

Anyway, after lunch, we started on our shopping agenda. I went to Winter Time and was checking out the Thermal Wear. There was a promotion on the thermal wear that I wanted to buy for Anders. There was a 1-for-1 promotion!!!

How to resist not buying, right??? But again I don’t need 2 sets, so I choose another set for Max, Anthea’s classmate. He will be going Gold Coast for his school holiday, so I reckon he will need a set of thermal. If he doesn’t need it, then I will just keep the set for future use. Max’s mommy had also kindly loan Anders some of Max’s winter wear.

Brenda has a sister who stayed in Perth and so all the while she has been going to Australia in June, winter time. So they are quite regulars with winter holidays. She had recommended the use of Heat Pad to me. She told me instead of wearing Thermal, which may be hot, I can try to use the heat pad, she said it’s easier to use and more comfortable for the child. So with her recommendation, I bought a pack of 10 for Anthea and Anders. I will standby in case they really feel very cold while walking on the street. Then I can stick a piece onto their clothing.

After getting the winter items, I brought the children to Toy R Us while Adrian went to look for his exercise gear.

Both of them were in their world in the toy store and Anders wanted to buy the toys. I told him NO, can only see… : P

When we had enough fun at the toy shop, we met up with Adrian at Cold storage to do some grocery shopping and then headed to Food Republic for Tea break. We had dim sum and soya milk. I was so fascinated with all the food stalls and told Adrian we must go back for the food again…hee.

We left Vivo City around 2pm and headed home for the children’s nap. In the evening, we had dinner at home and after dinner, I did the packing for the holiday.

When Adrian saw the amount of clothing I packed for the children, he laughed at me: “you moving house or what? Its winter time, they won’t perspire so much can recycle the clothing.”

“Huh, recycle? I told him I am more worried about the children dirtying the cloth rather than the sweating. I know my children eating pattern and especially Anders…hee. Anyway, like what Aunty Soompit mentioned – “better to bring more clothing, then bring not enough.”

We are now 80% packed and 100% mentally ready for the holiday. We are ready for another wonderful family vacation.

“WHAT TIME IS IT???”

For those who are familiar with High School Musical 2 will surely have heard this familiar “what time is it”.

Yes, it’s Summer Time and in local term – IT’S SCHOOL HOLIDAY!!! Today is the last day of term 2 of school and we are all looking forward to a break, or rather it’s ME looking forward to it….hehe.

- No more morning alarms of 5.45am.

- No more mad rush to reach Anthea’s school gate by 12.55pm

- No more washing / ironing of her school uniforms

- No more thinking of what to buy for her daily lunches

- No more Spelling / 听写 lists….

Even though it is only for a MONTH, I am glad to have this “gain-back sanity” time for myself.

Anthea has been looking forward to her 1st month long holiday. Luckily her school has given her some holiday homework and also online project to do during the school holiday. Also her tuition classes will continue to run from 8 June onward, so she is not totally in relaxation mood. In-between, there is still homework to be done.

As for her home care, 1st week- my mom is available to help me look after her. 2nd week we will be on our family vacation. 3rd week – Adrian is on leave to look after her. 4th week – my MIL has kindly took leaves to help look after her. So her one month logistic has been taken care of.

I am also looking forward to “catching up” times with friends, bloggers friends, ex-colleagues and simply having some ME time leisurely.

In the evening, we had dinner with my parents and 大哥 and it was my treat to them because I happened to receive my Contract completion bonus this month… : )

Today is also the Eat With Your Family day, so what other way to celebrate it other than to have dinner with your families and love ones… : )

Anthea 1st Report Book

Today is THE DAY that Anthea brought home her 1st report book. This report book will follow her for her next 6 years in her Primary School.

Her results for her 1st Semestral Assessment are as follows and the marks make up of 30% of the final grade.

Subject 1st Sem Assess’t (30%) Mark (30%) Achiev’t Band Grade

English Language 94.0 94.0 1

Chinese 97.0 97.0 1

Mathematics 93.0 93.0 1

Social Study - A

Art - A

Civics & moral Education - A

Health Education - A

Music - A

Physical Education - B

Total: 284.0 / 300

Percentage: 94.7

Remark: Anthea is a effective leader who displays competence in leadership roles. She is also a good team player who is able to work with most of her classmates. Keep up the good job and continue to strive hard for better results.

Overall, Anthea did well for her 1st attempt in the SA and both Adrian and myself are very satisfied with her performance. She had met our 90% target when we prepared her for the SA and in return she will be rewarded.

Knowing that she had tried her best for the SA, I also gave her the deserving praises but I always tell her – there are always rooms for improvement. : )

I had done some comparison of her school test papers with some other schools (branded) and I know her school test papers are comparatively easier…hee : P But still her effort is recognized.

For the final year SA, we will aim to get better grades than this as what her form teacher has encourage her (and ME) to do so !!!

Winter READY!

In about 2 more weeks, we will be going to Sydney, Australia. It’s winter season in Australia…yippy. Amid this humid and super hot weather in Singapore, I am looking forward to our 1st winter holiday, except this winter will be “Snowless”.

The average temperature reading for Sydney in the month of June is 9 – 16 degrees. Wow…what a nice and cool temperature and I know I will enjoy it. No need thick clothing but probably a good wind breaker for the nights.

Gaining experienced from our recent Hong Kong trip in March when the temperature was a nice of average 20 Degrees. Anthea and Anders were complaining that Hong Kong was COLD. So knowing their capability to take coldness, I decided to be better prepared for them in Sydney. Yes, I am going to bring thick winter clothing for both of them…hee : )

Since this is our 1st time to a winter holiday, we would need to get all things from scratch. My MIL had kindly bought thermal wear from them. As for the winter clothing, I told Adrian that it’s better if we can borrow rather than buy. Mainly we won’t be going for any winter holiday sooner and if we buy now, they will outgrow it next time. So ideally, we would borrow the winter wears for 2 of them.

Now that Anthea’s SA is over and both of them had recovered from their recent bout of sickness, I am more in the state of mind to start preparing for the trip.

Last Saturday was our WINTER Wear borrowing day. In the morning we met up with my long time good friend cum “sister” – Cindy and her family at J8 for lunch. Cindy’s son’s Angus has some winter wear and she has kindly agreed to lend us one of his think winter jacket. While having lunch at J8, we also chat about both their school work and Cindy’s husband, Dave, even invited us for a road trip to Sunway Lagoon during the June school holiday. Tentatively, we are planning a weekend trip after our Sydney holiday, this will depend on how the children fare after the winter holiday.

After our lunch meet at J8, we headed to Adrian’s Uncle HT’s house in Toa Payoh, Uncle HT’s son – MK had been travelling around with Uncle HT and Aunty Soompit. They had been to countries in the winter season. Matter of fact, they just went Japan in December 2008. So prior to visiting, I already mentioned my intention to Aunty S and she was very kind to agreed to loan us MK’s winter clothing.

She has a whole basket of MK’s winter clothing. She said some of them we can even keep it after the trip as MK have outgrown them. She also mentioned that most of MK’s winter clothing was hand downs by friends/relatives. So we are doing the right thing by not buying and using all these available winter wears. She even had gloves and scarf for the children. : )

With all these winter wears now sitting in the house and waiting to be pack into the luggage bags, I will be in my packing gear on this weekend. : P

Both Anthea and Anders are looking forward to the trip too. Anders will keep telling me today is what day of May and then in June – “we go Australia”…haha.

Anthea reminded me to bring along her bolster and her pet “doggy” for the trip.

Adrian is doing a fair bit of research on the public transport and some local attractions as we had a day or two of free days and want to fully enjoy the city.

As for me, I am looking forward to a good family holiday experience and most important – great bonding time with them.

海底椰

Both Anthea and Anders had some cough built up because their recent sickness. So on Monday evening, my Mother-in-law called us and mentioned to Adrian that we should boil some 海地椰 (sea coconut) for both of them to drink. According to her, its helps to cure cough. She said we can buy the 海底椰 from the traditional medical hall. She mentioned to get the raw ones and not those syrup drinks.

I am a believer of Chinese medicine (中药). Since young, my parents have been brewing lots of Chinese medicine for my brothers and myself. They brewed 麟羊，洋参须，泡参 and also a lot of 凉茶。 I can’t remember visiting the doctors till I am in Primary school…hee. Unlike children nowadays, visiting doctors so often and getting sick so easily.

Probably I have myself to blame for not putting in more effort to brew cooling water for them to drink. I told myself – from now onwards, I must be more diligent in preparing these drinks for them.

On Wednesday, I went to the Medical hall and make a quick query about the 海底椰 and thankfully, the shop has it and I bought some. After lunch, I started boiling the 海底椰 as per the way guided by the Chinese medicine seller.

In the evening, both Anthea and Anders drank the sea coconut water and both commented that it was very nice and they like it. I had another portion and will brew it this weekend for them to drink again.

Hope that they will recover fast and be in pink of health for long, long time…: )

近距离

On Monday morning Anthea’s tonsil relapsed and she had low grade fever. I fed her paracetamol and made the decision to let her rest instead of going to school.

As I need to go to work, so I called my mom and asked her to help me look after Anthea for the few hours that I was at work.

My mom stayed in the same estate and to get to her place, we need to take the feeder bus service and it’s about 3 bus stops away.

During my dating days, I had boyfriends from East, West and South but never a “Northerner” till I met Adrian. So when it came to buying our own matrimonial home, needless to say, we bought one in the same estate since our parents are all in the same 桥.

When we were doing home searching, some of our friends asked : “why you want to stay in such an OLD estate and why not buy those new homes in the NEW TOWN.

Our answer was straight forward – we want to be near our parents.

I still remember initially when Adrian needed to do Guard duty, I would go back to 娘家 to stay for the night. Then when I was expecting Anthea, my mom would come over to my place to help me with household chores. Till now, she still comes over once a week to help me do some simple chores.

Also when Anthea was born, my mom helped me to babysit her while I worked full time. We literally stayed there during weekdays and only come home on weekends. Those were the days that Adrian needed to go over every day to my mom’s place for dinner and to see us. At that time, we don’t have a family car, so it was every day on the bus for him too...: )

All these experienced added up and i know if we were staying in a NEW TOWN, it would not be easy on logistic arrangement.

For the last 2 days morning, I have been bringing Anders to the childcare and then Anthea to my mom’s place. Then I headed for work. After work, the route will be vice versa.

With all the pros of staying in 进距离with my parents, if we even get a chance to upgrade to a new home, I believe it’ll be in same 桥 again…: )

Social Responsibility & MC

Last Thursday as Anthea was still on her medical leaves, I decided to let her rest at home. In the evening, I went to her tuition class to inform her tuition teacher of her absence and also to collect her holiday worksheet from the teacher. Her tuition class will be having a short break from 18 May to 06 June 2009.

I met one of her tuition classmate mother and she asked me where was anthea? I told her “她发烧所以让她休息“I told her. Then she said “哦，我儿子今天也是发烧，高39度。我给他吃退烧药，现在好了。“

I took a look at her son and he does look a little listless. I was thinking because a few days back she told me her son was having fever and he took medication and was well. But it seems to me his fever has been going up & down.

I thought to myself that as a mother, perhaps the boy’s mom should have kept him home to rest rather than to bring him to public places. As he was still recovering, I believe somehow, he may still carry the virus with him. And in an air-conditioned classroom, virus may be passing on to other children.

With the H1N1 virus being spread like wildfire, the ministry has advised individual to be socially responsible and should one be sick, he/she must refrain from going to crowded area. I know Anthea’s classmate is not having H1N1 but still being sick, it’s better to rest home and recover well.

I just hope that the boy’s mother will exercise more responsibility and be considerate for other children.

MC here is not referring to Medical Certificate; it is referring to MILO COOKIES…hehe.
An ex-colleague of mine has been sharing some very interesting recipes with me. Each time she emailed me a recipe, I am sure to try it the next moment. Simple reason being she has 2 boys and when her recipe works out well with her boys, I would think it will work out well with Anthea and Anders too, as her children age gap is about the same as mine.

Last Sunday, I tried the Milo Cookies recipe and it turned out well. Anthea and Anders love them and we had them handy for breakfast and tea break. During this week, I feedback to my colleague about the cookies and my only concern was the cookies turned out too big & flat and I told her it’s like Subway’s cookies.

Then she gave me an important pointer – don’t shape it too flat and her son did the cookies into bite sizes. Notes taken and will remember to do the same for the next bake. Today, I decided to give it a 2nd attempt and followed her guideline accordingly and the cookies turned out PERFECT , just like famous amos (FA cookies) except ours is "AF Cookies" (aces family cookies).

Anthea tried them at lunch and she told me “mommy, next time every week you must bake some cookies for us, ok? “ I look at her and said “I will try but not cookies every week, mommy will try other recipe too…like nutella muffins.”

Yes, I received this from my colleague too and I am keen to try them soon.. : )

"Zom-Mie"

On Monday morning Anders woke up and told me “mommy, I had a headache.” I felt his forehead and it was warm. Immediately I took his temperature and it confirmed my worst fear – He had a Fever and it was 38 degrees. I fed him paracetamol and let him stayed home to rest.

Luckily Monday was an Off-in-lieu day for Adrian and myself. I planned to bring Anthea to the library to revise her Math paper as she was having her Math SA on Tuesday and Mother Tongue paper on Wednesday.

In the morning, we went to the library and Adrian stayed home with Anders. We took about 2 hours for her revision. Then we went home for lunch. Anders was still feverish when I reached home. So I fed him another round of paracetamol and he rested.

In the evening, Adrian brought him to the GP and he was diagnosed to have mild chest infection. He was prescribed as what Adrian said “whole arsenal of medication”. There was anti-biotic, cough syrup, phlegm syrup and fever medicine. He was given 2 days medical leaves.

His fever at night hover between 38 – 39 degrees, so beside medication, I was also sponging him the whole night.

On Tuesday, Adrian decided to claim his child sick leave and stayed home with Anders while I went to work. Anthea had her Math SA the same day.

Anders’s fever was high throughout the day and we kept sponging him and fed him the 2 fever medicine – Paracetamol and Brufen.

At night, around 2 am, Anthea woke up and complaint that her throat was painful and she felt warm. I took her temperature and the reading was 38.3 degrees. Gosh…I thought she could have avoided the virus but somehow, the virus still found her…sigh..人算不如天算。。。

So I gave the paracetamol and hopefully she can recover well on Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday morning, when I took Anthea temperature, she was still having fever. So I went to the school to inform her form teacher of her absence and asked her about the MT Paper. Luckily Mrs. Koh said that she will arrange for Anthea to take her paper when she recovers.

Adrian brought her to the GP while I was at work and she was confirmed to have tonsillitis. Again, she was prescribe with an arsenal of medication – antibiotics, fever medicine, phlegm and cough syrup. She was also given 2 days of medical leaves.

On Wednesday, we had 2 “fever” children at home and Adrian was busy feeding them medication. He even wrote a time-table of who eat what medication and the time/temperature.

At night, I had to sleep between the 2 of them on the floor mattress as I need to sponge both of them. What a night … : P

I hardly had a good night sleep for the last 3 nights and I have been going to work. Luckily I only worked ½ a day; otherwise, I really will be “sleeping” on the job..hehe.

Today Adrian went back to work and in the morning, my mom came over to help me look after the 2 of them. I had some important issues to clear at work, so I could not be home, as much as I wish to be.

Now, Anders temperature is getting back to near normal and Anthea temperature is still a little high, I will continue to monitor their situation. Hopefully they can be fully recovered by tomorrow.

Now I know – “when the child/children are down, the MOMMY is out.”…and beware when you see a “zom-mie”.

卫塞节的收获

Our home laptop had been down for these few months with some systems – 1st were the graphic card issue and we sent it for repair and solved the problem. Now it is the screen total black out. So Adrian said we had to get a new laptop before he leaves for his next working trip in mid July.

So yesterday we went to Fun Digital mall to check out a Computer road show organized by this company called MC2. Before going for the road show, we already saw the advertisement on Straits Times and knew what we wanted to get.

After making all the enquiries about the prices and specification of the laptop, we decided to have a quick lunch before making the purchase.

Then after lunch, we went back to the fair and bought a Compaq Presario laptop. It was bundled with some free upgrades and the price was at $1499. And we also did the extended warranty for 2 years for additional of $260.

After making payment for the laptop, we were entitled to a Free Spin at their Wheel of Fortune. The highest cash price is $888, and then followed by $188 and there are also $38 and $18. I went on the platform to do the spin. The DJ allowed me 1 free trial and for that trial round, the spin stop at $18. Then it was the REAL THING and I started to spin the wheel and it went on…and on and finally stops at $188.00.

Immediately I went to the counter and was given $188 in CASH. Adrian told me the sale person told him that our extended warranty was almost free when he saw the spin…haha. Must be one of my lucky days.

We went home feeling happy and satisfied with the new laptop and our little 安慰奖。

In the evening, we had home cooked meal at my In-laws house. In celebration of Mothers Day, the men of the Tan Family decided that they wanted to cook for the ladies. The menu for dinner was – Pineapple rice (cooked by my hubby), beef striploin and bacon wrapped asparagus (cooked by my 2nd brother-in law) and 一色蛋波菜/ special sauce pompret (cooked by my youngest brother in-law). For dessert, my father in law bought fruits and ice-cream from Island Creamery. My 2nd sister in-law also baked an apple pie to go with the ice-cream.

We had a “5 course meal” with red wine and at the end of the dinner, I was so, so FULL.
So I reckoned for Father Day, the women of the family will cooked up a storm for the men…hee.

Sunday Times “Specials”

“Mommy, aunty Eve said my hair is very dry and need conditioner. Anthea told me this when she came home on last Saturday evening after dinner at my youngest BIL’s house.

The other time when I brought her to trim her hair, my hairdresser said the same to me.

Okie, comments noted and action MUST be taken, cannot be lazy anymore….hehe. I had tried to find suitable shampoo for Anthea hair wash but till date, seem like most of them are not so effective. I don’t really like the idea of using conditioner for children hair, so I prefer those conditioning shampoo.

Last Sunday, Anthea went for her usual swimming lesson. In her group, there is a twin and they are girls. Usually while the girls are having the lesson, I would chit chat with their mommy. So I took the opportunity to ask her what shampoo her girls are using. She told me they use the brand – Pureen Shampoo which has conditioner in it. She also mentioned that she chose the Strawberry Yogurt one for her girls. I asked if the shampoo can be easily bought from Supermarkets and she said “yes’.

On Sunday afternoon, I went to Fairprice XTRA to look for the shampoo but I can’t find it. As I had an appointment, so I didn’t go around the central area to look for it.

Then on Monday evening, after sending Anthea to her tuition class, I went to the Central shop and found the shampoo in Venus. I was very happy and quickly bought a bottle. Anthea had started using the shampoo for the last few days and it seem her hair condition is improving a little. Hopefully, it will get better as the days passes.

On the same morning, while waiting for Anthea at the swimming pool, there was a granny waiting for her grandson who is also with the same swimming coach as Anthea.

As she was leaving the pool for home, she suddenly tapped me on my shoulder and asked me in mandarin – “你的颈项 是不是有问题？我看你好像有点歪。“

At first I was a bit shocked by her sudden comment and at second thought, I told her – “是的，是有点酸的感觉，可能是运动的关系。“

“那么你要去医它，不然会影响到脚部。“ She said.

"好的，谢谢！"I replied.

Okie, comment NOTED again and ACTION immediately as Chinese always say “不听老人言，吃亏在眼前。。“

Previously my eldest brother had mentioned to me that there is a good Chinese physician centre near my house. So I SMS-ed to my brother and asked him for the contact number. He replied and I called the centre and booked a 1 hour massage for that afternoon. : P

The 1 hour massage was really therapeutic, it was a bit painful but the feeling was really relaxed after the massage. My neck felt better and I can move it much more easily compared to before the massage.

The 1 hour massage only cost me $40 – it was a very good and affordable discovery.

A simple Sunday swimming lesson and yet it allowed me to discover so many SPECIALS, just like reading the Sunday Times... : )

蔡常熙 - 弥月之喜

So fast, it has been almost one month since Baby Luvik was borned on 08 April 2009. Bruce and May are very proud parents and soon they will be graduated from the One month confinement period and then it'll be independence days ahead.

May has been in touch via MSN and she is busy, like any new mommies – “milking like cows”...haha. Also she mentioned that baby Luvik has BIG Appetite and needed to be fed every 2 – 3 hours. And so far, looking at May's facebook photos of baby Luvik, I can tell that he's a very happy baby. Always smiling and looking satisfied.

Last week, May was on MSN and asked me for my address so that Bruce can deliver Baby Luvik full month cake to our house.

Knowing that she is still in her confinement period, I took the liberty of being “亲家“to make a small request with her. I asked her if her confinement lady is cooking 猪脚醋 and if there is any leftover, can we have some...hee.

Well, Adrian and I are BIG Fan of this dish and we know that we won't have any chance of eating this dish since I would not be in confinement anymore..hehe. So, our opportunity to eat this authentic dish only happened when there is a confinement mommy. More ever, I heard from May that her CL cooks well and also she brought in her own 醋. So how can we miss this one and only opportunity for the moment?

May was very kind and said OK to my request. On Saturday, she called me in the afternoon to mention that the 猪脚醋 was ready for collection and Adrian went to her place to pick them up. He came home with a WHOLE POT of 猪脚醋 and when I said the whole pot, it was really filled to the ream.



I know it's Swine Flu but the Healthy Authority had changed the name to Influenza A (H1N1-2009) because the authority said the eating PIG does not mean you will get the virus, so it's safe to eat 猪肉!!!

So my dinner was a very sumptuous and super delicious - 猪脚醋 with rice. Adrian brought the children to my youngest BIL's house for dinner and pick up the Choz 满月蛋糕 from Bruce and May.

Wishing May & Bruce a very happy journey on parenting and hopefully they will plan for No.2 soon, so we can enjoy this dish again...嘻嘻！

祝常熙- 常常快乐，把快乐和光明带给他身边的人 （就如他的名字）。尤其是爸爸和妈妈！

May Day Specials..

Ever since Anthea lost her “sovereignty” at my In Laws house, she hardly had chance to spend time with her 爷爷和奶奶。This week, my mother in law emailed me and told me that she will be attending a church wedding on May Day and asks if Anthea would be interested to go along with her.

I told Anthea of my MIL email and asked if she likes to go for the church wedding. She said “YES” and also told me that she wanted to wear the wedding dress (this dress was worn at my BIL's wedding on 10 May 2008 as she was the flower girl).

I know this would be a good chance for her to spend quality time with her grandparents, as now she only get to see them on weekends for those rush rush dinners.

This morning, my In Laws came and picked her up around 9.30 am and off they went for the church wedding.

Xian is currently undergoing chemo and hair lost is inevitable. So last Sunday, Adrian went with my MIL to Geylang Serai market to buy some scarf for her to cover her head. My aunty has a garment stall in the market and she managed to recommend them to a Malay stall that specialized in all different kind of head scarf. My MIL bought 1 of each variety and finally aunty SK mentioned Xian like one of the design over the others.

So after Anthea left for the wedding this morning, we went to Geylang Serai market to stock up more of the head scarf for Xian. After buying the scarf, we delivered them to aunty SK house.

They were doing major spring cleaning to the house as they wanted to buy an extra bed for the room. There were so many toy stuff and Wen Yi asked Anders if he would like to bring home some. Yes, he did – he chose the Lego and a Robot. Aunty SK also gave me a sandwich maker.

Then we left their home and went to the HUB for lunch. Then it was shopping time at Kiddy Palace – bought some children plates for Anthea and Anders.

After getting all the stuff, we went over to my In Laws house to pick Anthea back home. We had a good afternoon nap and after the nap, they had a fun time playing with the recycle toys.

In the evening, we had a simple dinner at the HUB and then it's back home for Anthea revision lesson for her SA next week.

We had a simple May Day and its special in its own way.. : )

“My Mommy doesn't teach me”

Recently at Lydia's birthday party, I met one of Anthea's classmate mommy. She is a Full Time working mother. She had 3 children and Anthea's classmate (S) is the youngest of her 3 children.
We were chatting about our children result in school and she lamented that S was not doing very well in her studies. I had also heard from Anthea that S had not learnt this and not learnt that in class.

S's mother was very stressed and tensed. Previously for her 2 older children, she had left them in an after school care centre and so far, they are pretty independent in their studies and she had no worries.

As of this year, she engaged a maid and kept all the 3 children at home after school. The reason is cost efficiency. For the after school care service, she needs to pay $300 per child, so if she was to put 3 of them there, it would be a hefty sum of $900 per month. She said it's almost ¾ of her salary. So she decided to engage a maid which can look after the children and help her parents in housework too.

To her dismayed, S is not as independent as her siblings in her studies. So she is lagging behind in class. She told me that the form teacher has feedback to her when the teacher asked S why she does not know her work. S would say: “my MOMMY didn't teach me.”

I was so shocked to hear S feedback too. I had never thought that a child of this age would put the “BLAME” on her parents. S's mommy was asking me about Anthea's after school care arrangement and I told her I take care of Anthea personally. Then she commented: “seem like all those children with mommy at home have no problems in their studies. Children with working mommy seem to be facing issues.”

I thought about her comments and I was thinking to myself. Yes, I made the decision to become a PTSAHM because I know the initial transition part to Primary school is difficult and the child will need a lot of attention. I believe S is not a slow learner but I think she just wants her mother attention.

I had the chance to chat with another working mommy and she felt the same, as a FT working mother, she does not have enough time to guide her daughter in her studies and she is now seriously considering to go Part Time next year. Also she mentioned that her daughter's school teacher recommended Parents to sign their children up for tuition or enrichment classes if they have problem teaching their own child. (she said this was recommend during a Chinese workshop in school)

Nowadays, Primary ONE children are not just learning A-B-C, they are really learning much more at a faster speed than we used to. Imagine spelling each week, topical tests every after every 2 chapters taught and Oral test with listening comprehension. There are just so much information for the parents to digest, less talk about the children…sigh.

Till today, I am glad that I had the opportunity to be with Anthea and to see that the transition from Kindergarten to Primary school goes smoothly and she is adapting well.

It is not an easy decision but I believe it's the Best I can give to my children.

I hope that as Anthea grows up she will remember that Mommy is always there for her, as and when she needs me.

Happy Birthday Lydia!

Lydia was Anthea best friend during their kindergarten days. Since they had left kindergarten and started on their primary school life, we hardly had time to catch up with one another. Lydia had gone to a different primary school.

2 weeks back, I received an SMS from Lydia's mommy inviting us to Lydia's 7th year old birthday celebration on 25 April 2009 at her home. I was delighted to receive the invitation and told Anthea about it. She was very happy and started looking forward to the day.

Saturday arrived soon and Anthea was so happy in the morning and said it was a Lovely Day because its Lydia birthday party... : P

At first, I was still thinking to myself – how would the girls react to one another, since they had not seen each other for almost 4 months? Will they turn strangers? Again I think my worries were unfound, when we reached Lydia’s home, both of them greeted each other and hit off straight away. Just like those good old days.

Both girls had a great time chatting and I also had a chanced to catch up with Lydia’s mommy. She is a FT SAHM and as Lydia is in the afternoon session, she will fetch her to and back from school. She had recently obtained her driving license. Meanwhile Anders was busy playing with Lydia DS game..haha.

Buffet dinner was served around 7.15pm and the food was delicious. There were many children, mostly were friend's children. A few others of the kindergarten friends also came.

Then at 8pm, there was a Magic show and it was entertaining to the children and adults. Both Anthea and Anders enjoyed themselves with the performance.

As usual, there were balloons sculpture and all the children got so excited with the balloons.

The cake cutting ceremony followed closely and Lydia had a High School Musical cake.

The children had so much fun with all the different games that Lydia had in her home. We played till almost 10.30pm before calling it a day and both of them were still reluctant to go home.

Overall, it was a wonderful celebration and I know Anthea had a great time seeing and catching up with her BEST Friend again.

"天使"的行动

Some days Anthea & Anders will ask me “mommy, when is Siti jie jie coming back? Why she so long hasn’t come back? “

Yes, why so LONG she is not back yet…hee. Some day I also hope that she will come back and join the family.
In honest true, I told the children “Siti jie jie will not be coming back. She has to look after her own family – her husband, her mother, her sister and of course, her new born baby boy.

Exactly 2 years back, Siti left for home .She got married and she is now a proud mother of a baby boy. I would not be surprise if she sms me and say “madam, I am having my no.2 baby…hee.”

Siti joined us in early March 2004, the same year I delivered Anders. She was shortlisted by my maid agency when we were looking for domestic helper. The agency was spot on and shortlisted the perfect match for our family.

I still remembered the 1st day when I met her at the agency – she was so small and skinny. Then we brought her to my mom’s place and we had dinner there. Anthea and she hit off on their 1st meet and I was really happy that Anthea took it very well with the new jie jie of the home.

At that time, as I was still pregnant and waiting to deliver Anders, so I had the chance to be home to monitor her progress. During my confinement month, siti was trained by my wonderful confinement lady who taught her all about Chinese cooking.

When she was confident to be home alone with Anders, I started on my Part Time job and she became his main caregiver.

In 2005, Siti’s father passed away suddenly and her family asked for her return to tend to the funeral. That’s was a heart breaking moment because she planned to return home for good. We went along with her decision.

A few weeks later, she called and said she wanted to come back to work; we rushed to the agency and reapply her work permit to the family. Then she was welcomed back with open arms.

She served us well for the next 2 years till April 2007. She had to return home to get married and looked after her elderly mother and younger sister. We were sad to see her leave but I was happy for her. She had found happiness in her marriage life and is now a proud mother of her own son.

Seeing how she had taken care of Anders, I know she will be a very good wife and mother to her family.

Yes, I really missed her at times, especially now I have to single handedly do all the house chores, tend to the children and keep up to date with my working life. Luckily my mom would come in once a week to help me with a bit of chores. : P

Siti really took good care of our family during her 3 years with us. I know I would not be 2nd time lucky to get such a wonderful helper like her. Especially after seeing friends who had so much issues with employing new helpers.

Also our present logistic arrangement does not require a domestic helper as I am the “maid” myself. : P Sometime I even told myself “in my previous life, I must have been a 太太，because now I am slogging like a slave and I may slave myself to death…做到死为止“哈哈!!
Yes, Siti had been our 天使for the years and I thank my Guiding Angel for bringing her into our family and our life.

On our 2nd year without maid review – I am glad to say that “I am still surviving!!”

“丰收日“

Learning Journey @Ecogarden

On Tuesday, Anthea School organized the 2nd Learning journey to Ecogarden@Science centre. This learning journey is in line with the English lesson on “My River” and Mathematics “Numbers to 20”.

The school letter mentioned that “it is compulsory for the child to go for this learning journey as experiential learning is a key focus of the Primary 1 SEED programme.”

Also on the letter, parents were advice to pack some Snack for the child to bring along for the outing.

On Monday afternoon, Anthea told me that Aunty Brenda will be going as PSG. So I thought that I should prepare the snack box for Max and Brenda too. So I smsed to Brenda and told her that I will prepare Baked rice for them for the outing. (She was very kind to pay for Anthea’s Macdonald lunch on last Friday, so I thought I should do something in return.)

On Monday afternoon, I went to NTUC Extra and bought the ingredients to prepare the ham & egg baked rice. This is a recipe shared by aunty SK. Both Anthea and Adrian love this bake rice.

I prepared the ingredients and set them ready in a casserole so I can bake it the next morning.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up at 5.30am and started baking the rice. After 30 minutes, the baked rice was ready and I packed them into 3 snack boxes. I told Anthea to pass the 2 snack boxes to Aunty Brenda when she sees her in school.

At the end of the day, I asked Anthea how was Ecogarden, she said it was fun but very hot..haha.

She told me she enjoyed the baked rice and finished all the stuff I packed in her box. : P

She had another round of baked rice for her lunch. Anthea simple adore cheese, gave her any dishes with PLENTY of cheese and it will sure to win her vote. What a ‘Cheesy girl’…hee.

ROI (Return of Interest)

Both Anthea and Anders had POSB kids account and I will always bank in their Ang Pow monies or sometime Birthdays ang pows. In 2003, when I went to the bank to deposit money for Anthea, the bank tell prompted me a Trust Fund account and mentioned about the potential interest that I can earned from this fund instead of keeping in the Kids saving account.

After careful discussion with Adrian, I deposited a sum of monies into the fund. I was prepared to put the monies there for 10 year tenure or if the Bank hit the target %, then it will redeem the fund.

Yesterday I received a letter from the bank to advise the fund had been redeemed. My capital investment + interest had been banked to my account. After some calculation, I was surprised that the fund did pretty well against the economy crisis. The interest earned was about 4% PA over the 6 years. If I had kept the monies in the Kids account, I don't think I will get ½ of the amount...hee. No bad...even though the amount is small but still adds up.

Now I am going bank shopping for the next available fun(d)!!

Sports – Membership - BBQ

On Friday, as arranged with Brenda, she came in the morning around 7.15 am to fetch Anthea to the sport complex for the Sport Day event.

The day before I baked some muffins for them to bring along as snack, just in case the food Q may be too long for Brenda to handle with 2 children in tow.

After work, I meet up with Brenda and the children at Junction 8. She brought them to Macdonald for lunch. When I asked Anthea how was the event, she said it's was boring...haha. Yeah, I reckoned that she may feel this way because she is not in any race and sitting at the stand and doing nothing can be quite bored. Hopefully next year she may get a chance to race in one of the event.

Then both Anthea and Max wanted to go to Popular bookshop, so we went along. At the bookshop, Brenda told me that the children had received their Primary School Student pass, so I thought I should apply for the Popular Members card since she has the pass now. For the Popular Student Membership card, I only need to pay $5 per annual. This card was highly recommended by Mommy Nel, as she said I can buy assessment books at a good discount. : )

After buying some books from Popular, we left for home. Both Anthea and Max had enjoyed each other companionship for the day. I also had a chance to know Brenda better and I was really grateful for her help.

In the evening, Adrian's company had a BBQ session at the SAF Chalet at Changi. Family members were invited for the dinner.

When I arrived at the chalet, I had a real surprised at how the place looks now. The place had a major renovation and now it looks so resort like and much cleaner and modern.

We had a lot of delicious BBQ food. His colleague also brought along PS3 game to the chalet and the children had a good time playing the games.

There were other children who came along, Anthea and Anders had fun playing with them too.
We left for home almost near to 11pm..: P

This weekend will be a rest and relax weekends. Anthea will be having her Oral test next Thursday/Friday and I will need to give her more practices.

Also her Semestral Assessment 1 will be taking place in the 1st week of May; we will need to do more revisions with her. Hopefully, she will do well in the SA.

On Thursday, Anthea received her 1st Trophy on Stage and she was so proud of it. She came home and told me i must set aside more space, she is looking forward to winning more trophies..haha.

跑吧，孩子

Anthea's Primary school 7th Annual Athletics Meet 2009 will take place this Friday, 17 April, from 8 am to 12 noon.

According to the Principal letter – “All Primary 1 to Primary 3 pupils (non-competitors) are strongly encouraged to attend the Athletics meet.

As I am working the morning hours, so I told Anthea that I may not be able to bring her for the event and she may go over to my mom's place while I am at work.

However, Anthea expressed her keen interest to go to the stadium to give her classmates her support. She is not shortlisted for any race but a few classmates of hers are participating in some races..

Honestly, I would love to bring her for the event but I know this week my work loads are quite packed as there are a few upcoming projects and my GM will be travelling soon.

Since I can't bring her there personally, I would not want her to feel disappointed and miss out the fun. So again, I approached Brenda and asked if she can help. She was very helpful and immediately arranged with me the time that she would pick Anthea and also the time I would pick her after the event. I really owe her a BIG one...and I am really glad to have known her through the PSG.

I told Anthea of the Friday plan and she was very happy and excited. She said that she likes Max's mommy (that's Brenda's son, he is in the same class as Anthea).

Today in school, they also have some kind of House race and Anthea was shortlisted to run for her house – Pluto.

Yesterday in the evening, she went with me to the jogging track and we did a quick race to practice her run. She was all geared up and looking forward to the run this morning.

After school when I fetched her, she told me “mommy, Pluto won the race and we will be getting our trophy tomorrow.”

I am really happy that she enjoys sports so much. She even told me she wants to sign up for basketball. I will find out more from her form teacher... : )

Now she is looking forward to the Friday event and I hope that she will have a great, fun time at her 1st sport day.

A Melting TREAT ..

Last weekend, Adrian announced to the families that this Good Friday weekend they may be in for a treat because recently he obtained his official engineer license. For this certification, he received slight increment in his monthly salary.

Amid all these economies crisis, to get this little reward add a little “sparkle” to our family, especially towards my “semi-retirement” goal...hee.

As his pay day falls on 10th of the month, we could not confirm if the monetary reward will come in this April or May 2009.

So on Wednesday, he did a quick check in his salary via the company's intranet and confirmed that the addition dollars was in the pay. Immediately, the PA (that's me!!) sent out an official invitation to the extended families for the weekend treat.

The PA immediately went into action in sourcing the venue for the treat. Recently I received my UOB Privileges booklet and was looking at the special of the month.

*BINGO* I saw this 1- for-1 BUFFET Lunch/Dinner at Melting Pot Café (Holiday Inn Atrium).

Immediately I called the café and did a quick check and BOOKED the seats for 10 people + 1 infant ...hee. According to the person who answered the call, the café is having an Italian Cuisine for the Saturday diners.

On Saturday, we arrived at the café around 6.30pm, Adrian said since we were the host, must go early to make sure things were OK.

The buffet started around 6.30pm and we started getting food for Anthea and Anders. They were both so excited to see so many of their favorite dishes. They had a good time with all the fruits, desserts and ice-cream.

We started eating while waiting for the rest of the families to arrive. The extended families started arriving at different timing and everyone help themselves to the buffet.

During the dinner, we had different topics of discussion. Then Adrian started to go in-depth discussion of a 4x400m relay with my 3rd sister in law. She was from St.Nicholas Track & Field team. Adrian had been shortlisted by his company to take part in some kind of race and they were combining with the Commandos.

So he is now practicing very hard for the race that will be happening on this Friday, 17 April. Guess what...???....HE is in the RESERVED LIST...haha.

After a sumptuous dinner, we had dessert / ice cream and coffee. My MIL shared a bit more information about Xian with us.

Then around 10.15pm, we left for home and before heading home, my youngest BIL who went to the hotel lobby came back with good news. LIVERPOOL won 4 - 0 .

Adrian was very happy after the dinner and he said what he enjoyed most is not the food but the CONVERSATIONS with the families... : 0

I know he is a FAMILY MAN by default, so any family/families time spend is all worthwhile for him.

It was a good Melting experience for us and we will be back for more....whose TREAT will it be next??

生命的感言

2 hospitals visit within the week and it gave me some impact on LIFE!

1st visit – 08 April – Mount Alvernia Hospital

May delivered her 1st baby boy on 08 April, 09. Baby Luvik is a very cute and chubby baby boy. May is indirectly related to our extended family. She is the younger sister in law of my 3rd sister in law- Cherry.

On Wednesday evening after sending Anthea for her tuition revision class, I met up with Cherry at Bishan MRT and then together with Cherry's parents, we went to visit May.

It's always a happy occasion to visit newborn. Seeing them sleeping peacefully in the baby cot and seeing the pride on the new parents faces. I shared their joy and happiness.

As baby Luvik is the 1st grandson of the Chai's family, I can also sense the proudness in the grandparent's words and feelings.

Yes, a baby brings so much JOY to the family and it's complete a family too.

Wishing Bruce and May a smooth journey to the road of parenthood.

2nd visit – 10 April 2009 – Singapore General hospital

Xian (aunty SK's daughter), Adrian youngest cousin has been hospitalized a week ago because of some virus infection in her brain. So the doctor did a brain biopsy and the result was not too positive– it was lymphoma cancer.

It was a very big blow to Xian and aunty SK mentioned the she cried whole day when she heard of the diagnosis. The doctor has started chemotherapy treatment on her. As in any chemotherapy, she will get weaker and weaker. Aunty SK is very worried on Xian condition.

Xian has strong determination in her studies. When she was bed-ridden, she even took her exam by the hospital bed.

I know with her fighting spirit, Xian will overcome the cancer and comes out victory. She will celebrate her 21st year old birthday in May 2009 with her family and her friends.

娴，我相信奇迹会出现和祖宗会保佑你平安无事！！要加油!别放弃！！