Short Hair

Jayna's teacher in school told me that she perspires a lot during meal times and asked me to have her hair cut. I kinda thought to myself that a little sweat won't hurt an active toddler but I wanted to honor the teacher's request despite the fact that I couldn't bear to put the scissors to my daughter's lovely flowing hair. So with great reluctance, I gave Jayna a short hairstyle. I tried to copy the layered and wispy look I've seen in the magazines but it was tough doing so since she kept moving and turning her head. So here's the result. I hope she doesn't look too boyish...

Look number 1: Hair tucked behind the ears
(Top view)

(Front view)

(Side view)

Look number 2: Combed straight
(Side view)

(Front view)

(Back view)

Couple Getaway

We finally get the chance to explore Sentosa and it's thrills without needing to lug the kids along with us. Yeah! Joshua took the rare day off before he would be swarmed with exam marking while I decided not to cook for the day and woke up early to finish my chores before we left. After we sent the children along to school, Joshua and I first went for a nice leisurely breakfast at West Mall's Kopi-Toast (new name for an old stall).

Enjoying our soft-boiled eggs.

After which, we took the MRT to Vivocity and for our first time, took the Sentosa Express to our destination. Joash loves to watch these colorful trains go by whenever we visit Vivocity. We'll definitely find an occasion to bring him and Jayna on a ride to the Universal Studios... :)

On the Sentosa Express

Pictures taken from the Express train

The inside of the train

We arrived at our destination!

The first thing we did was to try out the Segway which we saw the drinks sellers use at 313's Food Republic. It was kinda scary at first cos it felt like we might just lose our balance at any moment and the route was rather rocky and bumpy. But once we got used to it, it became really fun. The best thing about going on a weekday was that there was no queue at all!

Taking our turns at the novel machine

Here's a fast-forwarded clip of how it was like. :)

Then, we went on the nearby Skyline and Luge. We went up the slope in the Skyline and felt that it was even better than a cable car since the seat was completely exposed to the elements, not unlike the ones you find at ski resorts. It was followed by going downhill via go-cart which gave me a small abrasion near my tailbone due to the lack of suspension in the small vehicle. It was fun on the first ride but it became tiresome by the third.

We're going up!

Lovely scenery and pleasant breeze along the way...
The Skyline
Looking down was pretty exhilarating.
The stamp we got on our way down.
(We were not allowed to take pictures while in the go-carts.)

It was lunchtime and we grabbed a bite

at a Jap snack bar Kuroya at the Beach Station.
(The food was surprisingly nice, I must say.)

Pork Sausage

Tofu Fish Cake

We made our way after lunch by the blue-line bus to our next attraction. We stopped by to enjoy some ice-cream before we eventually reached our targeted place.

Mango Sorbet and Forest Berry Yogurt

Rum and Raisins

And here we are, the interactive shooting game, Desperado. It was hilarious at first but because they repeated the exact same thing a second time round to lengthen the duration (once was probably too short to charge 12 bucks for it), the game lost it's attractiveness during the second half due to the predictability. Plus, the revolver was heavy enough to tire me out at the end. I was the top scorer at first but my aim started going haywire towards the end. It were the young ones who got the better of me as a result of their stamina.


The final thrill that we wanted to conquer was the MegaZip. It was something of a flying fox thingy. We really could feel our age when we were exhausted by the short hike up to the entrance. Also, we had to go through quite a lot to experience that 1 minute of excitement; the accounting for our belongings, the suiting up with the harness, the long flights of stairs to climb to reach the tower and the trek across the bridge to retreive our stuff. Yet, we decided that it was still worth it. We're glad we tried this before we got too "old" to bother with all the hassle for just that little bit of fun.

Zipping down together. Weeeeeee!!!

At the end of the happening afternoon, we took the beach tram to return to the beach station instead of walking. We had the top deck to ourselves for a while. *grin* This trip reminded me of our honeymoon in Melbourne and it was truly wonderful to re-capture those memories. I wonder when we'll have a chance like this again...

Bak Chor Mee

Bak Chor Mee is one of Joshua's favorite food. However, due to his low-carb diet, he has been refraining from eating such a carbo-loaded dish for the past half a year. Since both my kids are in school, I have more time to experiment with recipes and I decided to satisfy my husband's craving. I used bean vermicelli which has low in carbohydrates, something you won't find outside. Furthermore, I increased the serving and variety of the ingredients: green leafy veg, meat balls, fishcake, pig's liver, stewed mushrooms and fried minced pork. It turned out really well and we enjoyed eating it.

Unfortunately, the bean vermicelli has to be served fresh or it'll clump together and does not taste as nice anymore. It was quite stressful with two hungry kids waiting impatiently while I cooked the noodles and mix in the sauces. I guess I'll cook more of this dish when the kids are older and more willing to wait.

Chopsticks are lots of fun!

At a chinese restaurant, Joash saw that I was using a pair of chopsticks to eat the fish slices. He tried to use them to pick up the pieces in his bowl too but he soon discovered that it required much more skill than he anticipated. After watching him struggle and get frustrated, I asked him if he wanted to use chopsticks meant for children. He enthusiastically nodded yes. I popped by Kiddy Palace opposite the eating place and bought him the Thomas and Friends training chopsticks. He was delighted with the new eating utensil and successfully finished up a bowl of fish slices using it. May he one day truly master the art of using chopsticks. *grin*

A close-up of the pair of chopsticks

Joash: "Mummy, how do I use this?"

Joash: "Oh, I see..."

Joash: "This is so much easier!"

Random Green-ness

Joash: "Yes, I need a haircut..."

Playing at the church playground

Doesn't she look so lady-like in this pose?

(Jayna has graduated from the
infant room to the toddler room!)
Jayna: "Look! They have crayons here."

After the haircut...

A gorgeous sibling shot

We bumped into a university friend and she took this for us. :)

Parent Abuse???

Watch the video and you'll know what I mean. LOL

Like Father Like Son (Part 1)

Caught them striking the same resting pose naturally
*hee hee*

My Valentine's Bouquet

Joshua saw me eyeing on the bouquets of bears displayed in the plaza during the Valentine's week and asked if I would like one. I checked out the price tag and nearly choked. I told him that I would love one but we should get it after the season is over. True enough, the price dropped considerably when we bought it a week late. Thank you, bear bear for giving me the lovely bouquet of bears!!!

2 more coming right up...

难言之隐

Now that Jayna is in school, I have passers-by tell me that Jayna is such a poor thing to be made to go school at such a tender age. It doesn't help matters that her uniform is oversized and she looks younger than her peers due to her small build. I can only smile faintly at these people who knows not what they're saying.

They were not there when I struggled to care for Joash while being pregnant for 9 long and difficult months. They did not see how dangerous it was when I fainted while having my son in my embrace so many times. Neither did they see him run wild without supervision while I blacked out on the floor. They did not suffer the pre-natal depression which all but consumed me till I had to resist the temptation of jumping down 7 storeys with my own child in my arms. They were not the one paying the exorbitant price to employ a baby-sitter to come help me watch over my boy while I was bedridden. They did not have to deal with constant nausea and frequent fainting spells and the gaping lack of appetite and sleep throughout the whole pregnancy journey. They did not witness me collapsing at a coffee shop while buying food for my family and had to rely on the kindness of the stall-holders to bring me home safely to rest. They were also not the one who used up the entire year's worth of annual leave to stay home to deal with emergencies regarding an ailing wife and a neglected son and then still had to fight valiantly to clear the mountain of backlog at work. We can't afford a maid and do not have grandparents who are both willing and capable of taking over the care of the children for the time being, unlike most other parents in Singapore.

If I had a choice, I would love to have easy pregnancies and homeschool my children as I've always dreamed of doing. I did not ask for debilitating pregnancy symptoms that render me an invalid. This is the lot that has been given to me and I'll accept it from God and depend on my Lord's grace. Given my past 2 track records, it'll be highly naive and irresponsible of me to bank on the possibility that my next pregnancy will be any better. It's either I send them to school or give up on having any more kids. It was after much thought and prayer that we made this decision.

Even then, I wrestle with an enormous sense of self-inflicted guilt that my kids are in school while I stay home just to cook, do housework, buy groceries and run errands. I fear failing to conceive and then, where would that leave me?

Do I give up on trying for more children? Do I withdraw the kids from school? Do I go back to work? What if I get pregnant soon after I start work and I'll have to serve the advance notice while dealing with the symptoms? Nobody but God sees the amount of conflicting thoughts and emotions raging within me. I can only find comfort in my God who is my chief defender.

In the meantime, I'll have to silently endure the condemning stares and snide remarks from total strangers who most likely would not even give me the time of the day, let alone have the patience to listen to my long grandmother story.

Psalm 135:14
"For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants. "

Jayna's First Day at School

The day has finally come. Jayna goes to school for the first time! I wonder why her 'S' sized uniform is soooo huge. I saw some other older girls wearing smaller dresses than hers. The manufacturer must have made some mistake in the sizing for the most recent batch of uniforms.

Thank God that Jayna did much better than expected even though she cried when I left and also during the bath-time. She didn't seem very attentive during the lessons, but she was fine at meal times and could nap with the other children. However, I think it'll be unrealistic to hope for tearless goodbyes since she still cries whenever we leave her at my parent-in-laws' place for a few hours on Sundays despite having done that regularly since an infant. Now, the only thing is to wait upon God to graciously grant us a successful pregnancy. *beam*

Jayna: "Am I really going school with Gor Gor?"

Holding hands
(So cute!!!)

A video of the children walking to school together