Life is unpredictable. Cherish every moment.....

Just returned from a funeral wake. This is really saddening and heart-wrenching as one of my close pal's hubby has just passed away due to stomach cancer. He's only in his early 30s, a young and promising kind-hearted doctor who has saved so many lives, yet God still decided to take him away in his prime years. Her hubby was diagnosed with stomach cancer in Jun and it was the advanced stage where no treatments work.

I received the sms on Sun early morning. I really couldn't believe this is true as I have only come across such cases in newspapers and articles. Never have I ever experienced and really share the sentiments with my dearest pal. I remembered dear and I attended their wedding in Mar 06. They look so compatible and loving. They are a blissful couple and soon after, the family was even more complete with the addition of their baby boy who's now turning 2. My friend is real strong and she's taking it well all for the sake of her son. Her son is the pillar and only source of strength which gives her the will to stay on. She did not shed a single tear in front of us cos all tears had dried up when the shattering news was broken to them in Jun. She told us her hubby passed away peacefully which was her greatest consolation.

Looking at my dear pal, I'm really full of respect for her. She told me she will continue to take part in the marathon in Aug which she and hubby has signed up for early this year. Her hubby will be spiritually with her as she runs. This really touched me. I really feel for her but I know, she will be the greatest mum and dad to her son.

It's really important to cherish every single moment with your loved ones. Do not be stingy with loving words and shower all your love and attention on all your loved ones. Every minute, every second counts. You never know what's gonna happen next moment. Daddy and Mummy, Dear, Jovin and Jovan, I really love u and thks for being there with me whenever I need you. You are my greatest :)

Jovan learns to ride!

As Jovan has bypassed the stage of walking unsteadily, we have converted the Pooh walker into a rider. He enjoys sitting on it and refuses help when we offer to push him from behind. He rather tries hard in getting his hands on it till he achieves his mission. Hmmm, really a stubborn yet determined boy. That's characteristic of Jovan, our prince :)

Jovan's Private Moments

At times, our dear Jovan could spend at least half an hour all by himself in the toys room meddling and fondling with the toys. This is the time he goes exploring and digging out all the toys from the toy boxes. He loves to play with Jovin's piano set and sings to himself while holding onto the microphone. Would like to share these cute memorable moments with u :)

Happy Birthday, Great-Grandmother!

Today marks the 82nd birthday of James's grandmother i.e Little 'J's great-grandmother. My mother-in law has a total of 13 siblings which I never knew till our customary wedding haha. In view of the large no. of kids, James's grandmother has so many grandchildren and great-grandchildren that we really lost count. I always remember the scene when all of us crowd at her apartment during Chinese New Year. We term it as human congestion.

Today, the celebration was held at James's third uncle's place at Khatib instead, Hehe, in view of the proximity from Sembawang, for once, we arrived earlier than my parents-in law, hehe. There was a sumptous buffet spread and Jovin soon familarised herself with the little playmates. Jovan, on the other hand, surprised us when he did not cry and shun away when our relatives wanted to carry him. The kids had fun with a gigantic gym ball and that's when we could catch a quick breather and helped ourselves to the food.

Jovan soon reverted to his usual self when he was desperately looking for me. Luckily, I was done with the food and he was actually very tired and kept rubbing his eyes and scratching his head. All these are pre-signs of sleeping. However, it took quite a while before he finally surrendered while having his milk. What an inappropriate timing cos that was cake-cutting session. No matter how we kept him awake, he was really sound asleep.

Jovin, on the other hand, was so enthsiastic about cake-cutting and stood beside great-grandmother. She helped in putting the candles and asked me why there were so many haha. James's grandmother is really blessed to have so many descendants and could see that she was really so happy with all her beloved ones surrounding her, singing birthday song and clapping for her.

Soon after cake-cutting, we made a move and Jovin gave great-grandmother a real big hug and kiss on the cheeks. So sweet. We went to Yishun library and wanted to borrow more books for our little 'J's for bedtime reading. However, the library was so packed and Jovin didn't seem to fancy any though she was busy bringing the books to and from the shelves. So we decided to leave and make another trip during weekdays instead. After a simple but satisfying dinner at Japanese food court where we had sushi, teriyaki chicken and beef patty, we left for home and now, all my 3 'J's are sleeping except for poor mummy doing washing, ironing etc.. Sobbbb. But no matter how much work is piling, I will never fail to blog :)

Kaden's Full Month Party!

Yesterday afternoon, we went to attend our best pals, Junwei and Tingting's prince Kaden's full month celebration. The venue was at Orchard Grand Court where it served Teochew porridge buffet. There was a big crowd but glad to meet up with our JC mates. Nowadays, apart from the normal festive get-togethers, our gatherings are basically through one another's kids' birthday or full month celebrations. Baby Kaden was happily enjoying his nap in the pram and he looked chubbier than we last saw him 2 weeks ago. Our best pals were gleaming with blissfulness. Well, that's what first-time parents exude....

There were many kids at the function and our 2 little 'J's had a wild time too. Jovin was familiar with our best pals' family members and Jovin constantly looked for Tingting's sister who was such a dear and heped us to attend to her, briging her around, feeding her etc. Jovan, on the other hand, didn't really want others to carry him but he happily ate bee hoon, eggs etc that we fed him. Jovin had a great time with Yuling's kids especially her elder boy Justin. It was such a heart-warming scene to see the couple holding hands walking to and fro throughout the function. We even teased each other we may become in-laws haha!

Soon, the crowd dispersed and Jovan was still as energetic as ever. The star, Kaden happily had his milk feed and slept again. Jovan loved to walk and run around, thus James and I had a hard time being his 24/7 bodyguard. We were among the last who left and had a great chat with Baoling and Guowei. Our dear friend Baoling is now officially termed as Auntie Bao!All thks to Yuling's Justin hehe. Kaden didn't open his eyes only till the very last when we were leaving and Jovin managed to take a shot with the handsome prince.



We continued to do some window shopping at Orchard area after the event. Intially thought Orchard ION was opened. Only then we realised it will only be ready by 19 Jul. Thus, we went to Taka instead and the kids had fun in the toys section with sketching, phone-calling etc. We bought a LEGO set for our nephew Chrus who's going to celebrate his birthday soon on 25th Jul. After that, we went round the food fair and bought some snacks which the kids loved it. To further satisfy our hunger, we had a proper meal at HK restaurant where Jovin was too concussed and fell asleep then.

It was a simple and eventful day spent. Really love meeting up with our JC pals cos we always have endless to chat about. That's friendship and we truly cherish it. Our next gathering will be on 2 Aug to celebrate Yuling's younger boy 1 year old birthday. Loooking forward to another round of chit chat :)

Feeling of happiness

It was a day of happiness for our little 'J's yesterday. We brought Jovin to watch Ice Age 3 in 3D theatre yesterday as promised. This was Jovin's first time to cinema. Thus, she was so excited when she knew that we were bringing her to watch the movie. We reached AMK hub earlier than our scheduled movie timing at 1.10p.m. We went to buy the snacks and tidbits she loved and went into the cinema. As I bought the tix beforehand, thus we got very good seats. As it was a school holiday, the theatre was packed with kids. What's more, this is a kids movie! Jovin had a good view as she sat on the booster. All of us put on the 3D goggles, similar to those we wore in Disneyland. Jovin was so excited that all the images were sooooo close to her. All kids were shouting and could feel their sense of excitement. Jovin was such a good audience as she sat through quietly, holding tightly to my hands at times when the 'evil' characters appear on screen. Jovin expressed her 'disgust' when she saw the evil dinosaurs coming to attack the dinosaurland and the baby dinosaurs were in great danger. She kept ranting she didn't want the bad dinosaurs, she doesn't want bad people. Guess our dear girl is living in a perfect fairytale land with all the nicest and prettiest things. It took us sometime to explain to her there are good and bad characters in this world. However, think she didn't really buy us and choose hard to believe. Our little princess was really so immersed in the scenes which James and I found it hard to believe. She was a very good audience but towards the second half, she decided to remove the goggles as it was too big for her and she found it uncomfortable. So for the last 30 mins, Jovin watched a 2D movie instead hehe.



We could see Jovin loved the movie especially the scenes when the couple squirrels snatched and quarrelled over the nut. She found it amusing too and laughed out loud too at those hilarious scenes. We grabbed a quick bite at Crystal Jade Bakery and went to Toa Payoh Kiddy Palace. The guilty daddy wanted to buy toys for our dear Jovan to compensate him for the bruise. When we reached Kiddy Palace, our girl was sleeping. Thus, had to place her in the pram as we walked around. Soon, we decided to get Jovan a drum band set and a toy phone as he loves grabbing a phone and talk non-stop hehe. After buying the toys, we headed for Popular bookstore and Jovin was awake then. She saw the Ice Age 3 story books on display and sat down to browse through the pages. She pointed out to us excitedly the characters we saw in the movie and related to us the scenes which happened earlier. Ice Age 3 is really embedded within her thoughts.





When Jovan saw us with the toys, he was so elated and ran towards us excitedly. We set up the band and Jovan immediately grabbed the drum sticks, trying to strike a pose as though he was a drum player. He had much fun hitting the cymbals, drums and screamed so excitedly. Of course, the noise wasn't that bearable but we could see he was having much fun like a band player.



Jovin soon joined in the picture and that's when snatching and quarelling began. We had to split the drum sticks and each held a single stick hitting the drums and jumping around. Jovin sat on the little stool and sang songs. Jovan followed suit and both of them really acted as though they were like little superband stars performing on stage!

The kids both experienced much happiness yesterday. Jovin enjoyed a day out with us and got her first taste of movie at the cinema whereas Jovan got new toys collection. It's really a blissful feeling to see our kids so cheerful and high spirited. We hope our little 'J's will remain happy forever, just as the meanings behind their Chinese names i.e Leling & Lewen :)

Lost Steam......

Really lost steam on Sun. Was so pissed with James. As I need to prepare dinner, I specifically 'instructed' James to keep a close watch over the kids as they can run really wild when playing together. I told James must be very careful especially with Jovan as he loves to imitate and follow whatever Jovin does like jumping up and down and all dangerous acts u could ever think of. Finally, my fears were not unfounded. As I was bringing the dishes out, saw my dear Jovan standing on the sofa, all ready to follow jiejie to do a superman stint of jumping down onto the ground. Before I could do anything and let out a big scream, we heard 'thump' and Jovan fell onto the ground!

I immediately rushed to my dear boy who kept wailing non-stop. As I turned him over, saw the huge swollen blue-greenish bruise on his forehead. Really soooo heartache and instantly reprimanded James over it for his carelessness. It was really difficult to hold back my temper then but seeing my poor boy in pain and it took sometime before I managed to calm him down. James angered me even more by asking me how did the fall happen and he told me Jovin should actually take the blame too. My goodness, u expect a 3.5 year old to lead by example? It's definitely adults' responsibility to oversee and look after the kids. I immediately asked James to get ready hard-boiled egg to soothe and reduce the swelling. My anger was further ignited when he asked me how to prepare hard-boiled egg. Grrrrrr........

The episode finally subsided as we helped our poor boy in soothing the pain using hard-boiled egg. He wasn't very cooperative so we took sometime in doing it. Maybe shouldn't take it all out on James, but as a mother, my first instinct is to protect our kids at all costs. Thus, seeing the agony and bruise on Jovan, really felt so heartache and felt that all these could be avoided if James was more careful instead. My anger gradually subsided as I see James attentively rubbing the egg on Jovan's bruise. Anyway, he got reprimanded from his mum too for causing the swell on her dear grandson's forehead. Well, guess he's got his fair share of punishment.
Now, we are still rubbing the hard-boiled egg on Jovan daily. Pain and swell have subsided much. Hope James learns his lesson and be more vigilant in future.

Weekend Highlights

We planned for a late dinner on Sat. As we were about to walk to the car park, we heard fireworks and realised there were fireworks display within our vicinity! There was a residential activity, and we heard the fireworks were sponsored by a U.S company to mark the celebration of their Independence Day. We hurriedly carried the kids to catch the fireworks. Joivn and Jovan were very excited as this was the first time they saw the colourful fireworks. Jovan's attention span was shorter though. He started fidgeting after sometime while we noticed Jovin stared at the display throughout, paying full attention to the colours and patterns. The fireworks was an eye-opener for us indeed. Haha, this is a prelude to National Day. Our eyes were really in for a treat.

After the 15-20 min fireworks, we headed for our late dinner around 9p.m. James brought us to Cavern at Aroozoo which he highly recommended, telling me the pizzas are very good. It was a sports pub, open-concept and it was of very windy and cosy ambience. We ordered caesar salad, garlic prawn pasta and Hawaiian Pizza. The dishes looked appetizing ( Too bad, forgot to take photo. Too hungry)Intially, Jovan was happily on the baby chair, munching his bread and raisins but he soon threw tantrums and kept crying. Jovin, on the other hand was happily enjoying her food. James had to bring him for a stroll before he quietened down and munched his cheese sticks. Jovin loved the pumpkin soup and tried the pizza. She loved the dinner. Haha, look at her oily mouth. U know how much she's enjoying....

The service and food quality was within our expectations. We love the ambience and intend to make another trip here again. Good food, great ambience but hoping our little prince can cooperate next time :)

Secrets behind my happiness this week.....

1) Took a day of leave to do rebonding, hair treatment, touched up hair colour, replenished hair products
2) Bought first row tix for Sep's HI-5 concert
3) Finally bought my long awaited Ralph Lauren Romance Frangrance
4) Long weekend - Mon bringing Jovin for Ice Age 3
5) Sorted out personal thoughts
6) Weight loss by 1 kg to 51 kg, getting soooo near to my desired weight of 50kg! (Although all my friends and colleagues commented they hardly see any fats on me. Haha because all are hidden! Only hubby would know....)

Items 2 and 3 are sponsored by daddy. This adds on to my happiness. Item 1 is costly at $4xx, but worthwhile in my eyes. I prefer to engage the same stylist's services as she knows my hair condition best. No wonder my hairstylist always grins when she sees me....$$$$$$

Times are bad, but some purchases are still unavoidable. Most importantly, I feel happy and spirits feel lifted. Worth it :)