Spa@Phuket

Gave Mom and Dad a treat to the Spa in the hotel. A floral bath for two in the open, just for two, followed by a foot ritual, a sea salt scrub and massage. An almost three hours of relaxation. My folks, especially my Dad, would never part with their money to pamper themselves in such manner thus I made the booking for them to spend a romantic, quaint evening together.

But of course, Tian How and I went for our pampering session too, ‘dumping’ the kids with the very relaxed grandparents. The spa that we went to  was not in the hotel but they provided free shuttle to and from our resort thus it was convenient. Their pricing was also cheaper than that offered by the hotels. We paid close to S$300 for a 3-hour package for two. Besides, my sis tried their service and recommended them.

 *****

Body scrub with fragrance Jasmine Rice

Aromatherapy Massage

Jasmine rice extract Facial Treatment

Sheer Bliss!

Holiday@Phuket

A holiday we have been looking forward since the marriage proposal.

Our family spent the night at my parents place as we have to leave for the airport at dawn. We were afraid that we could not handle two sleeping bunz, 1 big luggage, I hand carry and a pram. But nope! The boys were wide awake, bursting with excitement at 5am!

My sis and Vernon were already in Phuket for the wedding preparations. They painstakingly took care of every single detail to make our holiday at Phuket a comfortable and memorable one.

Months before, they surfed the web extensively for our accommodations, taking into consideration convenience, shopping and child care facilities. They even made a trip to Phuket for a check out those places.

They arranged for two buses of pick all of us up from the airport to our hotel. We instantly fell in love with the resort. While all guests stayed in the main building, my sis booked a Villa for us. “More space for the kids to roam about”, she says. Indeed! Though the Villa is only about less than 5 minutes walk from the main lobby, the kids loves to take the Tut Tut (Free service by the hotel).

The first thing the boys did was filled the huge stone bathtub with warm water and swam in it! The King size bed was huge but not enough for 4 of us. But adding a single bed for 3 nights work up a considerable sum of money. So the staff suggested the take 2 baby cots – huge enough even for my 5 year old, which were free. So we had the big bed for ourselves.

Followed, an afternoon nap and a late lunch. The rest of the day was spent lazing around while the bunz spent an hour by themselves at Kids Kids Centre. We exploring the resort, chatting with friends and relatives, sipping cold lemongrass tea while admiring the beautiful serene sunset. 

Vernon and Khai Lin who were at Everson, came to join us for dinner at Patong beach. And of course, it was shopping till late at night.

Our resort was just 5 minutes walk to the Karon beach. The first day, we went there before breakfast but our growling stomach had us head back for sumptuous buffet breakfast. The second day, we headed to the beach after breakfast. It was scorching hot but the boys had fun chasing waves and building sand castles.

Then it was swimming at the big pool and chilling out with cool coconut juice.

Overall, we enjoyed the trip tremendously. It was so relaxing and so rejuvenating.  

Wedding@Phuket

 

Hot Scorching Sun.

Deep Blue Sea.

Magnolia Clouds.

Sandy Beaches.

 

A little shrine decorated with blue and white orchids where the couple said “I Do”. Us dipping our toes into the cool pool water in the bridal suite. A lotus with the wedding bands. The ring bearer. The newly weds. 

We were at Phuket to attend my sis’s wedding.

Their luxurious two-storey bridal suite overlooks the sea. The open-style bathroom comes with a huge Jacuzzi bathtub and they even have their own private pool at the balcony.

It was a hot and humid evening as my dad walked the bare-footed bride, dressed in bikini-style bridal gown, down the aisle stairs to the waiting groom and the ring bearer leading the way.  

The night was spent burying our toes into the cool sand, sipping wine, chatting with friends, getting to know our new relatives, enjoying the breeze, admiring the sea and tugging into delicious Thai food.

 

Photo Album : Wedding@Phuket

Stories

yiHang would bug us to read to him every night before bed time. I was really tired last night and told him that we have to skip bed time stories (again!).

“Mommy, why not you just rest, lie down and tell me stories. No need to read from books. Kong Kong always do that!”

OK! So I started, … “Once upon a time, there were 10 siblings. Always quarrel – just like you and your brother, ….”

“So boring! Kong Kong told me already…then one stick can break and when they put all the 3 sticks together, cannot break!”

MMmmm, the old man not very creative leh. The stories he told his grandson were the same ones he told me 30 years ago!!! Grrrrrr … !

“OK! OK! SLEEP!! I don’t have interesting stories!”

“Mummy! Why don’t I tell you a story”

*****

The Frog and The Horse

This story is called “The horse and The Frog”

Once upon a time, there was a horse and a frog.

(Wah! Original)

.

.

The horse was looking for the frog.

(Mmm .. how come my dad never told me this story before!))

.

.

But could not find it.

(Good story telling skills – got me all interested to know what happened next!)

.

. 

The frog DIED!

THE END!

(HUH! The frog DIED! What kind of story is this!!!

It was only at this point that I realize he made the story up on his own. Which had me laughing till I turned beet red!

How creative.

And he was all charged up and told me a few other stories!)

 *****

The Flea and the Mice

There was once a flea and a mice.

The mice was looking for the flea

But could not find it.

Because the flea died of sun burnt!

(My comments to him : Not original! Sounds like the first one! Not funny already! Then he heard his lil’ brother said “Push! Push! And instantly came up with the next story)

 *****

The Mummy Frog and the Baby Frog

There was a Mummy Frog and a Baby Frog.

The Mummy Frog pushed the baby Frog into the pond.

The Baby Frog died.

Because the Baby Frog can’t swim!

The End.

(LOL! This one is funny! But I asked why all his stories has a tragic ending. So he came up with yet another story to humour me! )

  *****

 The Mummy Clown and the Two Children

There are two children.

They are about our age.

They went out to the playground to play.

The Mummy Clown could not find them.

So the Mummy clown went to the playground to look for the children.

But the Children went home.

When the Mummy Clown go home, the Children went out to play again.

And when the Mummy Clown, went to look for the children,

The children went home again

.

.

.

(At this rate, we might just be able to publish, “The shortest, Funniest Stories by a Five Year Old!)

 

TV Show!

Wanted to share this really funny clip of yiHang (who obviously watched far too much TV) presenting his art work the “TV”-way!

Catch the phrase where he said something like, “If you want to spell my name … its on the screen now …blah blah” Really cute!

Cant embed the clip.

So here is the link

Heart Beats

  – 8 weeks -

Visited my gynae last Saturday.  yiHang tagged along and was beaming excitedly when he heard the baby’s heart beat.

Yes!

Our baby’s heart is beating.

yiHang was conceived three weeks into our marriage. We were completely not prepared when the home-test pregnancy stick showed a positive. But when we heard our baby’s heart beating for the first time, we simply could not fight back our tears of joy.

Likewise, this pregnancy was not a planned one. And when I heard the familiar sound of a little life’s heart beating inside me, I praise God for yet another gift, another miracle.  

And bliss enguled us.

Up close and personal

Found this site which has many video clips on birth.

I found them interesting.

But not the man.

He has seen it live – Twice.

I’ve went through it - Twice.

But never seen before.

How ironic.

 

Weight and Volume

We made agar-agar. It was a good opportunity to introduced yiHang to the concept of Volume and Weight.

He used a measuring jug to measure water and a weighing scale to measure sugar. He had fun pouring the jelly into moulds while his little brother who was too young to participate, helped to carry the semi-hardened jelly to the fridge.

 

A simple activity to keep us occupied.

A fun method to learn.

A meaningful way to bond.

On a simple afternoon.

Spotted Baby

Insect bites!

Bed bugs!?

 

Or that was what we thought.

But one or two red spots kept popping out on YiXiang.

Yesterday night, our helper alerted us that the bunz might be down with chicken pox. I recalled yiHang’s school sent out an email alerting parents that some kids were down with the viral infection. Which brought us on a frantic search over the net for information and pictures to try and determine the cause of the spots.

I applied for leave and with my sis’s help, brought the boys to see a doctor.

Yes!

Chicken Pox!

yiXiang’s spots started appearing on Monday, so he will most likely experience a mild one – with less than 10 spots and no fever.

yiHang has only 2 spots on his back and one big one which ruptured near his groin. The doctor could not confirm if he has chicken pox so she suggested we bring him to the hospital for a blood test to confirm. And if the result comes back negative, then we should jab him. Otherwise, its too late. We are all anxious because we will be traveling soon and if any of the bunz is unwell, there goes all four tickets!

Fortunately, a check from her records showed that yiHang has been jabbed when Tian How had shingles two years back! Which explained why yiHang has been spared of Chiken Pox. And probably why, yiXiang has just a mild outbreak.

What a relieve.

I got my jab a couple of years back. Otherwise, it would be dangerous as I am pregnant.

The maid requested for her jab since she will be going back for holidays and the last thing she wanted is to spend the festive season with red itchy spots.

So the moral of the story, Go take the Chicken Pox jab! if you have not done so.

CONDOM?

yiHang read:

“Just load the software in your CONDOM and start saving money!” 

*jaw dropped*

CONDOM?

I scrutinise the text.

Nope.

It reads …

Homemade Play Dough

For the past two days, I’ve been lying in bed from the moment I got home from work till my bedtime. With every movement, I could feel my stomach churns and threaten to throw out my breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Days when I am feeling less pukey, I try to make up for the lost time with the bunz. Today, after coming home from work at about 4pm, I was feeling alright, so I made them play dough. My first attempt at homemade dough.

Here’s the recipe:
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Food colouring

Method (Or at least, how I did it):
1. Mix the flour and the salt.
2. Add in the vegetable oil.
3. Add water and blend using electric blender. Too soft? Add more flour. Too hard? Add more water. Blend until the dough forms into a ball.
4. Knead using hand. Add more flour and water to achieve the desired non-sticky consistency. Add in food colouring. Knead. Knead. Knead.

That kept the bunz occupied for a good hour while I catch up with a little rest leaving our helper to clean up and prepare dinner.

Read : Homemade Playdough 3 for improved recipe.

Today’s Chart

It’s been some time since I did any home schooling activities with yiHang. I’ve been teaching him using assessments books, which really robs the fun off learning. However, I do not have much choices since I am still feeling really sick most of the evenings. 

 

Sometime ago, we did a ‘Today’s Chart’ after getting the idea from here. Finally found the time to share.

*****

Theme: The Calender

Learning Outcomes :

Grammar:

• Names of Days/Months/Special Festivals begin with Capital Letters

Vocabulary:

• Days : Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
• Months : January, Febraury, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
• Festivals : Hari Raya Puasa, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Christmas
• Time : morning, afternoon, evening, night
• Weather : cloudy, rainy, stormy, sunny, windy

IT Skills :

• Word Processor and Search Engine

YiHang used the computer to type out the Days, Months, Weather, Time and Festivals. I helped him along with the spelling and reminded him to use Capital Letters.

Since this is not the first time he uses a word processor, I taught him simple formatting like font size and alignment of text.  

I also taught him to use Google to search for images and ‘import’ them into his document via copy and paste, blatantly flouting copyrights! He picked the skill up quite fast. I left him at the computer and when I was out from the shower, he was almost done.

However, we have to reach a compromise when selecting the images for the chart because his choices of pictures are not very suitable for some.

Bought the board from Popular Bookstore. The Velcro stripes from Popular are cheaper than Spotlight, so got them there too.

Hint: You have to cut out the pieces individually before laminating them, otherwise, they tears easily from the sides. The edges can be really sharp, so remember to trim them to protect the kid from getting cut.     

He updates his Today’s Chart regularly. Involving him in the process of creating the chart sustained his interest. He even suggested we should add “Hazy” for the weather category. However, he has this habit of updating it one day in advance. 

Funny Fella!

To make your own Today’s Chart, here’s the file.

 Today’s Chart.ppt

My sis’ ROM

 

Fresh flowers

Champagne

Lots of laughter

Some Tears

A wedding

in the Garden

A Bride

A Groom

And a vow that seals two.

 

yiHang’s advice

 

 

Papa don’t eat Papadam.

Because if Papa eats Papadam,

Papa will be Dumb.

 

Mmm.. why thet don’t have Mamadam?

 

Little Red Riding Hood

yiXiang loves dressing up. He will clad on anything he can find and rush to peek at himslef in the mirror.

Our little vain pot amusing himself with a red rain coat.

Morning Sickness

The discomfort from nausea and feeling bloated paralyze me. Lying in bed does not help. Walking does not help. Sitting does not help. Even the K-Dramas do not help. I do not remember feeling so sick my previous pregnancies.

I am really sick of feeling sick!

Having said that, I remembered how envious I was of a colleague who experienced no morning sickness until she had a miscarriage. Indeed. Recent studies have suggested that mothers who have morning sickness have fewer miscarriages. So there is a bright spot for my sufferings.

I am trying these.

Seabands.

When I was in JC, I had a teacher who wore Seabands on her wrist. Queried about her latest fashion, she explained that the wristbands were use to combat nausea caused by morning sickness. The bands have plastic studs which apply pressure on acupuncture points.

I bought a pair when I went on cruise many years ago. I used them for my previous pregnancies. But I was not this sick so it’s difficult to determine its effectiveness. Maybe, this time round, I could give a verdict to these wristbands.

Ginger Tea

Thank you for all the recommendations and I am going to give this a try. But the smell of ginger kind of puts me off.

Keeping my fingers cross. And toes cross.

Flying Plane

 

Lying in bed. Feeling weak. Battling with morning sickness that lasts the whole day long. It helps to know that the boys are enjoying themselves.

Without me.

Thanks dear. For taking over.

 

Gynae First Visit

My previous experiences had left me feeling helpless and somewhat ‘violated’.  Dr Paul Tseng is a man with charisma. Not to mention, attractive. And after speaking to him, I have complete confidence that he will help me to achieve the birth that I wanted – All Natural.

He was pretty detailed. He asked about my past pregnancies and labours.

This is our first ultrasound scan. The sac can be seen though not the embryo. Which got me really worried.  

Aren’t we supposed to be able to hear the heartbeat at 6 weeks? What did the doctor meant by, “It’s confirm that you are pregnant but we need to see how it develops”.  Is he trying to hint at something when he said, “Folic acid is enough. No need to take multi-vits yet because we don’t know how the pregnancy is developing.”

I came home and rummaged though Wendy’s blog and was assured that at such early stage, indeed we could only see the sac. I also recalled that only at 7 weeks, we heard yiHang’s heartbeat for the first time.

I hate this feeling. This feeling of uncertainty. Of insecurities. Of fear. Which reap me off my sanity. But I know too well that these are going to be the emotions I have have dealt with and have to deal with the moment the stick shows a positive to the moment when my child achieves all his (or her) major milestones.

At the turn of every corner, I saw a child who is less than perfect. And I was brought to my knees begging for strength and faith.