Back to work tomorrow

I start work tomorrow! Arrgh... after 6 months at home, I really am apprehensive about going back. By right, I should be starting today but an untimely fever forced me to stay home another day. See, even my own body doesnt want me to start work.

I'll need to wake up much earlier to express milk, dress up and take the MRT to work, lugging my pump and handbag. No more late nights for me, no more watching endless VV dramas on SCV, no more playing the piano for Sherryn, no more ferrying Kaelyn to and from school, no more making trips to Compass Point on weekdays, no more facials on weekdays.. and the list goes on..

So I probably will disappear from blogging for some time while I try to settle back at work and get used to the old routine.

Yesterday, when I visited the doctor for my fever and throat infection, the doctor encouraged me to quit my job and work from home via the internet. She even gave me a website to explore and recommended me a book to read. She said my recurring illness (throat infections, fever) is a result of lowered immunity due to lack of sleep. And going to work and being away from my children will add stress and aggravate my condition. And that there will be higher risk of cancer etc. She made it sound so serious! Anyway, I will visit the website to explore alternatives. But for now, its back to work for me.

I am Sherryn

Yeah, I finally have a say in this blog. I have been waiting for a long long time! All thanks to Mama's friend who allowed her babies to speak on her blog also. And Mama got the inspiration to let me talk too. Thanks to Auntie Eliza!

Mama is going back to work next week and I can tell that she is soooo reluctant. She started taking out all her work clothes and shoes just last week and tried them on in front of me and kept asking me whether she looks fat in this and that. Actually I do think she looks kinda plump and flabby but good thing I still cant talk or else I would really hurt her lots. She said its jie jie and I who caused her to look so fat. But I think its a pretty unfair statement cos I noticed she ate lots of ice cream, and cakes and biscuits and was raiding the fridge like 3 - 4 times a day for things to eat!

Anyway, I love mama to be around in the house, although she drives me nuts sometimes.
When I am hot and sweaty, she thinks I have pooed. When I have pooed, she thinks I am hungry. When I am really hungry, she thinks I am tired. How can she still get it so wrong after being on the job for 5 months? And I thought she was a graduate?!


As for my jie jie, auntie says she is a Vuvuzela. Although I dont really know what that is, I guess it must be something very loud cos jie jie loves to scream and shout. Jie jie always says I cant do the things she does and play with her toys cos I am still 'small'. I want to drink more milk to grow bigger so I can do all the things jie jie does. Then sometimes I hear Papa and Mama saying that because I am still small, I am excused for crying loudly, hitting my arms around, spilling milk. So it's actually better to be small then? I am so confused.


I seldom see my Papa as he is out working. But he will try to play with me when he's back from work and when I am not asleep. He loves to take photos of me with his DSLR camera and when I am in the mood to laugh or smile, I hear the camera click like a thousand times.


Ok, I think I have bored you enough with my view of my family. Although I seem to be complaining, I actually do love them all!

Conversations with Kaelyn

Kaelyn came back from school one day and volunteered updates from her school.

Update 1

"Mama, teacher Jay is not around today. Teacher Joanna says Teacher Jay is pregnant. She has a baby. She went home to rest. Her friends look after her."

Update 2 (she spoke in Mandarin for this)

Kaelyn: Mama we have a new lao shi (teacher) today.
Me: Oh is it? What is her name?
Kaelyn: I dont know..
Me: Is it Chen lao shi? Or Li lao shi? (just randomly throwing some names in the air)
Kaelyn: No. It's lao hu (tiger) lao shi. Ha ha ha...
I thought the teacher must be very fierce to earn this title. Half an hour later,
Kaelyn: Ah I know. The teacher is Hu lao shi! I remember!
So Hu lao shi is lao hu lao shi and hu li (fox) lao shi.. Children are so creative.

I love these updates she is giving me. I hope we will continue having such conversations as she grows up.

Sisterly love

I love to see Kaelyn and Sherryn interact.

Mama, Sherryn is very heavy!

Sherryn is my 'hao peng you' (good friend)

Sherryn, let's dance!

Come Sherryn, I read to you

Kaelyn's childcare update July 2010

We seem to be making some headway in Kaelyn's food intake in school. She now finishes the small portion that the teachers giver her and is able to eat on her own. Before, she would refuse to touch the food even when the teachers feed her. She just didnt like to eat.

We havent been making much progress on the napping and toilet training routine though. Guess I really have to take one step at a time. Because she sometimes skips are naps in school, we are now putting her on half days on Tues and Thurs so she can rest properly in between the school week.

I have also restarted intensive toilet training. I think she understands that she has to tell us when she needs to pee and poo but not sure why she doesnt do that. I now accept that she is a slow developer in this area...Think she still cant really tell whether she needs to go until she has let go. Within 3 hours, we can change as many as 5 - 6 training pants and bring her to the toilet 3 times. Really tiring but will try to persevere! Hope she is able to go to toilet on her own in school soon.

However in terms of other developments, her teachers say she is a fast learner like recognising patterns / sequencing, sorting balls / coins based on attributes etc. I guess you cant have it both ways!

Touring Singapore Attractions

I realise that Singapore is not that boring afterall, especially with the opening of the Flyer, RWS in Sentosa, MBS in recent years. Since it is not convenient to go on long overseas tours with the 2 kids, we have embarked on touring attractions around Singapore. Below are the places we have been to recently.

(1) The Singapore Zoo
We've been to the Zoo many times with Kaelyn, though we have not brought Sherryn there yet. Personally, the highlight for me is to bring her to the Rainforest Kidz World right at the other end of the zoo. I am not a huge fan of animals so I was always looking for the shortest route to the kids woeld. But at least we did point out to her the tigers, monkeys, otters, zebras, kangaroos, giraffes etc etc along the way.

Pictures from the Dec 09 trip





(2) Sentosa

I like going to Sentosa. There are various things to see and do there. We stayed a few nights at the Shangri la Rasa Sentosa when Kaelyn was a baby, and went to some of the attractions (see http://our-angel.blogspot.com/2007/12/our-first-holiday-after-kaelyns-arrival.html). We also went to the beaches several times with the 2 kids.





Recently, we brought Kaelyn to the Universal studio (see http://our-angel.blogspot.com/2010/05/universal-studios-singapore.html).

I would like to go back to Sentosa again for the Luge ride and go up the Merlion.

(3) Duck tours and Singapore Flyer

I had always wanted to go on the duck tours whenever I see one of those plying the streets. We finally got to do that sometime in May. I got free tickets to the Flyer too, so we did that on the same day. It was a great outing, although the kids were grouchy on the Flyer.















(4) Helix bridge

This newly opened bridge connects the Marina floating platform to the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort. There is a nice little garden next to the floating platform.







(5) Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort

David and I had some time to ourselves last week and we sneaked to the newly opened IR for a peek. I wasnt too impressed with the look of the interior. It looks like another shopping centre to me but selling more high end stuff. There is a 'river' in the centre and they had boats on it. If this was to replicate Venice, then they would have failed terribly. But I later saw a sign that says those were some king of Samsui boat. Ok, then that makes sense.. but really it wasnt a pretty sight.

There were also staff in red uniforms stationed at each escalator and also walking around. We had no idea what they were doing. There wasnt a lot of people in the mall and they were just standing around, which was quite strange. But we made use of them to ask for directions to the hotel side.

We had a peek at the casino, and I was surprised that it looked quite packed inside. There really are many gamblers around.

At the hotel side, we managed to get tickets to go up to the sky park for 360 degrees view of Singapore. At S$20 per pax, it was really worth the money. View was superb. Again, at the sky park, there were also a number of staff walking around and one even voluntarily offered to help us take a picture. Talk about job creation by the IRs! There is also a beautiful infinity pool on top.











There are lots of other places to go like the Jurong Bird Park, Botanical Gardens, Merion Park, Hort Park, Alexandra / Henderson Wave, Science Centre, East Coast Park etc all of which we have brought Kaelyn to when she was small. We will be bringing the kids back to these places again in the near future.

Random conversation

I brought Sherryn for her 5 month old jab when I had this conversation with one of the patients at the clinic (an 'auntie').

Auntie: So cute, is it a boy or girl?
Me: She's a girl.
Auntie: Looks like a boy. How old?
Me: 5 months. Ya, many people say she has the boy look.
Auntie: First one or second?
Me: Second. My first one is coming to 3 years.
Auntie: Oh, boy or girl?
Me: I have 2 girls. (I know full well where this conversation is heading..)
Auntie: Oh, never mind, try for a boy the next time.

My helper was chuckling beside me cos she knows that I have one too many of such conversations.

What's wrong with having 2 girls? I dont see the need for any consolation for not having a boy... Also, even if I do try for a 3rd child, there is no guarantee that it will be a boy. And what would people say then if I have 3 girls? Try for a 4th?

The next time people ask, I am planning to say I have a boy and a girl and see what people's reactions are.. ha ha..

Sherryn is 5 months old!

Our dear Sherryn turned 5 months old a week back and weighs ard 7 plus kgs. She's growing fast, now drinking 180ml per feed 4 times a day. Whatever her jie jie could do at 5 months, she is able to too. Refer to Kaelyn's blog at 5 months.

At the PD's advice, we have started giving Sherryn apple and pear juice at 4 months, as she only as she only poos once a week, or even once in 10 days. Sometimes, we even have to resort to using suppository to help her out. I've started giving her pear puree as well but so far still dont see much improvements.. Have also let her try a little organic brown rice cereal twice just to 'test waters'.

Sherryn is still the happy, cheerful baby. My sis commented that she has never heard her cry (well thats partly because she seldom sees her. ha ha). But it's rather true that she laughs (really loudly) much more than she cries. So lucky to have such a baby! = ) I think shes getting smarter too. She knows when to call out to you and ask to be carried. She'll give you the wide-eyed 'oh I am such a poor thing' look, like the puss in boots in Shrek. Really, that always does it.

I have put her on some sort of 'programme' myself. After her milk and bath in the mornings, she will have music lessons where I play the piano and she sings along. In the afternoon after her 'lunch' and rest, we will have gym lessons where she will practise her rolling, play in her playgym and strengthen her leg muscles where I prop her up in the standing position for her to push with both legs. Then in the evening, I will read a book, or some flash cards to her. If I dont think of something deliverate like that to do, I guess I will be just chucking her into the rocker while I surf the net and do my own things. What else can you do with a baby so young?