Tuesday, September 29, 2009 ;
12:09 AM
We're going to have a lil princess!
Thank God! We're so so so thankful to be blessed with some added feminine elements to the family.
Our whole family is overjoyed. Since eons ago, the boys have expressed desire to have a little sister. They've enough fighting among themselves so, I guess they want a sister to dote upon.
For me, it goes without saying. I would love to have a daughter to do the girly crafts and stuff. My boys do like baking with me, but they absolutely do not like making little necklaces, bracelets, scrapbooking the lovely bits... Their idea of decorating a cake is so different from mine, as we shall soon see.
As they continue growing, I realise how much more they are turning to their daddy when they discuss their interests, just for the mere fact that I am less knowledgeable in those aspects.
Some daily examples:
1. "Is the F-16 better than the Apache XXX, model 1234?" Ok I am just using the terms I hear on a daily basis at random here. I don't even know whether these are weapons or modes of transport... Don't laugh please.
2. Questions on which transformers has what kind of rating for Intelligence, Strength, Stamina etc etc. Huh???? Why must there be so many figures and numbers to go with each transformers... And all the Decepticon, XXcon, YYcon... I can never make sense of all that.
3. Now there are countless questions on Ben 10 aliens, with the new Alien Force episodes they just watched on Cartoon Network while we were at Bintan.
The boys don't own any Ben 10 DVDs, any story books nor do we have cable TV at home, but just those few days on Bintan Island were good enough to set them off on this latest obsession.
They constantly wanted to know which aliens had what kind of powers, and who was more powerful and who would win etc etc.
Just this morning, ds1 suddenly asked me if Heatblast (some alien) was hotter than the sun. He insisted this was a general science Q and I should know the answer, and I should not push it to his dad. I usually go, "I don't know, wait for daddy to come home from work."
He was so disgusted that I didn't know how hot the sun is. And then he wanted to know if Big Chill would be able to freeze Heatblast since Big Chill can turn anything into absolute zero temp (assuming this was 0 Kelvin temp). How would I know??!?! He was utterly totally incredulous at my seeming "lack of general knowledge".
4. Both boys draw more and more heroes, aliens, spiders, weird insects and expect me to admire all the drawings when I secretly feel all those are very ugly.
5. Both boys also rush to read and want to borrow books that have to do with superheroes, deadly animals, explosive and powerful weapons or scary things. Every time we go to the bookstore or library, I would try to introduce nice farm animal stories, Little House on the Prairie, Judy Blume, Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton... They are not interested.
But they'll keep borrowing very wordy and lengthy books on the afore-mentioned subjects that I have less interest in. ds2 even insisted on borrowing a thick novel full of words he couldn't read, and without pictures, just because it has the words "Big Black Bear" in the title. Argh.
......
So now, I am full of hope that I will finally have some company when we go out shopping, eating, to the library or bookstore, and to the restrooms. It won't always be me having to give in to the 3 males in the family. They always want to eat the same old food at the same old places, watch the same kind of cartoons and movies, and read the same kind of books. I am done being left out at family outings! yay!!
Ok, for the facts...
We suspected I was expecting in Tianjin. We did home pregnancy tests, but never could be sure. I didn't visit any doctors there. So I didn't tell most people.
After enduring 5 months of not knowing if I really had a baby inside of me, we finally had a check up in Singapore the week after we got back.
And yup, I am 5 months preggy, and due in Feb next year! And the kind doc was able to tell that it would be a girl right away, the moment he turned on the ultrasound scan machine. He asked, "Do you want to know?"
And then, he said, "There's the hamburger. It's a girl!"
The sweetest sentence we ever heard (amidst all the rest of what he said), for both Dh and I.
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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Sunday, September 27, 2009 ;
9:41 PM
We're back home!
Since our arrival at Changi Airport till now, it's not even been a month yet, even though it seems like a long time to me.
We left Tianjin in a hurry indeed, having to leave behind a lot of belongings. We gave so much stuff away, to church friends and the ayi and our friends.
On the day of departure itself, 2nd Sep, lots of people were great help to us. H, my ayi, a church friend B, were all around, thankfully. H helped to look after my kids in the morning, my ayi helped with cleaning and B helped with moving things to the rented MPV that we're taking to the Beijing Airport.
Then we had a meeting with the landlord and housing agent to hand over everything and get back some of our rental money and deposit.
The actual departure was really a whole lot of mixed emotions. We were so relieved to finally settle the packing and the house rental handover. We were happy to be setting off for home. Yet, we are sad to leave our dear friends.
H sent us off, and I'll miss all the grocery shopping and countless other adventures with her.
The flight home was so enjoyable. The SIA plane was only half full, because it was a weekday and it wasn't a peak travel period. The kids had lots of attention from the stewardesses and stewards and we got away with ultimately overloaded excess baggage as well.
When we reached Changi Airport, we had several surprises too. We didn't expect anyone except Vijay and my in laws to be there. Because they are the ones picking us and our luggage up.
But we had church friends, a whole bunch, and other friends too. Thank you, we are very touched! It was a great welcome!
Over the next few days, reunions and gatherings were of course scheduled.
With family... Dh's side. This shows the kids and their cousins. They were taught how to set up a FB account by their older cousins and how to play something called "pet shop" on FB.
My niece saw me peering at the game and asked if I had a FB account. I said yes, and she asked me if I played "Pet Shop". I said no. She asked if I played other games on FB. I said, "err, no".
She then eyed me incredulously and asked, "Then why did you set up a FB account for??!!??"
It was so funny...
Then my sis and bil treated us to a super delicious seafood dinner at Long Beach. This dish you see here is the Alaskan King Crab, chilli crab style. It is absolutely heavenly, and till now, DH is still dreaming and drooling over it. We loved eating the fried mantous with it. Yummy. My parents didn't go, my dad had gout. Their loss.
Oh yes, I need to mention and emphasise that Singapore is such a food paradise that we have not eaten any particular dish repeatedly but still haven't exhausted or tried all the stalls or restaurants within 1km of our apartment!!! And it's almost one month.
Yeah, we haven't needed to eat fast food! Can you believe it?
There are McDonalds', Long John Silver, Subway, KFC, Burger King, Coffee Bean, Starbucks etc etc at Jurong Point, but we haven't had the chance to patronise these yet!
I used to love dining at Haagen Daz specialty restaurants and enjoying the icecream fondue at Andersens last time. I had to travel to Holland Village last time to eat at Haagen-Daz, but now it's at JP and I haven't gotten round to dining there!
Why? Cos there are still so many other yummy eateries that we haven't had the time to reach these yet.
Ahhhh, I love having all these choices. Never having to worry, "What should I eat for my next meal?" anymore.
We've had lots of fish and chips and grilled fish meals though. From Manhattan Fish Market to Fish and Co to Jack's Place.
We've had steaks (good and average ones), and lamb chops and great Italian food.
We've had laksa, fish ball noodles (all kinds, bee tai mak, bee hoon, yellow noodles, kway teow type), fish porridge, char kway teow, fried carrot cake, BBQ stingray, satay etc etc.
We're looking forward to a lot more!
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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Then my sis and bil treated us to a super delicious seafood dinner at Long Beach. This dish you see here is the Alaskan King Crab, chilli crab style. It is absolutely heavenly, and till now, DH is still dreaming and drooling over it. We loved eating the fried mantous with it. Yummy. My parents didn't go, my dad had gout. Their loss.
