Half of the Lims are travelling!!

Shirley and Nat are now in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia on a short holiday with Katherine and her two boys. They left this past Thursday night. Nat was quite excited about this trip for some time now. His mother was talking about the trip on and off. Kat's boys too were looking forward to this trip. I must say that up till the last minute, they were still deciding on whether to go ahead with the trip because of the H1N1 pandemic. Anyway, they went ahead, with a few bottles of hand sanitiser, masks and Tamiflu!

I hear they went to Dreamworld today. Not sure how it went. All I know is that the weather is cold, but not as cold as yesterday. I believe they will be going to Movie World soon and whale watching!

Well, Nic and I are left in Singapore. I felt I should not go because I had just started a new job and its not good taking a week's leave. I will "sacrifice" this time. There will be other opportunities!

My mom-in-law has come over to help me. So its really great! I managed to find time to have breakfast on Sat morning with a good friend, Prof. Cheah and Peter! Went to the market before that to get some groceries. Then I spent quite a bit of time filing and clearing some things. I managed to get things done around the house too which I don't think I could have done if Nat was around.

I started Sunday with a jog. Then it was breakfast at home. I went to the office to download some stuff and checked out the screening points. Then came home for a short swim before lunch. I headed off to visit my granny and parents with Nic in tow. It was Nic's first maiden voyage in the child seat. I think he kind of enjoyed it. I brought along some toys for him to play on the way. Somehow, he felt so comfortable that he seemed drowsy sitting on it!!!

Lazy Sunday Breakfast @ Cafe Cartel

7 June 2009

We had breakfast at Cafe Cartel last Sunday. It has become one of Ben's favourite breakfast haunt. He likes the bacon & sausages. And me??? The free flow of french loaves and coffee!!!!

Nat & Por Por

Daddy (and Nat making monkey face in the background!)

We usually have to bring lots of story books for Nat to keep him occupied as he could not sit through the breakfast quietly. He is into doing Mathematics recently, identifying numbers and simple addition.

s

Happy Birthday Uncle Barnaby (Ah Chek)!!

6 June 2009

Ah Chek showing Nat his mobile phone.

We celebrated Barnaby's birthday at Raffles Town Club last Saturday. Those who were invited included not just our immediate family members, but Dua Ee Poh and Uncle Johnny as well as Sa Ee Poh. Nat kept asking to go to the game arcade downstairs. So we ventured there and also to the 10 lane bowling alley. We let Nat play one of the arcade games, but he still does not know how to yet. Unfortunately, Nic could not attend this dinner because he had a fever and was resting at home.

Happy Birthday Sam!

2 June 2009.

A 'devious' plan developed by my wife to celebrate Sam's birthday was born probably about a week before today. She contacted Tina to try and do something for her hubby. Between the two of them, Tina decided to take the day off to cook for her hubby. But she had to 'lie' that she was going to work/ seminar that day so that he would not suspect. Things did go wrong on the actual day and it was quite funny. But all ended well of course! We were supposed to appear for dinner (the first part of the plan).

Shirley had also contacted Eunice via messenger to develop the second part. A video msn with the Teohs in Denmark to virtually celebrate his birthday. Things went a little wrong again at the last minute as we could not start the web camera properly, but again all ended well again!

Hope you enjoyed the night Sam.


Tina's spread!!! By the way did you see the "candles" on the spring roll. Tina said she did not know what to do with the yam so she made them??? Wa leow??????!! :P


The couple.


Video messenger with Eunice in Denmark.


Singing.


Keegan and Nat having a go.

Quick picture and video updates

20 February 2009. Nic already on his front. Able to turn.



22 March 2009. Nathaniel was invited to his classmate's birthday party downstairs. Charlene happens to also be a neighbour!



28 March 2009. Daddy tries to tell a quick story at the Whitesands library to his 2 boys.



15 April 2009. Nicodemus starts to eat a little semi solids

25 April 2009. The 2 boys!!! So handsome!



13 May 2009. A gathering before Eunice and kids fly off to Denmark and Britain. And an early celebration for Sam's birthday. Oh! And the boy there in the picture? That's Sam and Tina's adopted son!!! :)



16 May 2009. Nicodemus has already started to semi-crawl quite a bit and for quite sometime. This is just a video to show what I mean by semi-crawl!



29 May 2009. Nic lapping in the life of luxury!



30 May 2009. Family trip on the Singapore flyer (please see earlier blog posting by Shirley)

Updates

Hello everyone!! It has been a very long time since I wrote anything. It was a very busy period for me. I resigned from Roche after almost 10 years of my life there. It was a very painful decision leaving a company which gave me opportunities to grow. But I had reached a crossroad and I guess I had to make a very painful decision. The good friends I had made there and the bonds I had with these people will always be ones that I would treasure for a life time!!

I moved to IMH and started work there at the beginning of April 2009. Now this is something which is so different from what I was doing, that I must say. Its in operations. I must say I never thought I would dare do something like that. But I did. And my ex-boss and ex-colleague told me, "what's important is not to look back." Good advice indeed.

Now when I joined IMH, it was a culture shock. They work so differently from the private sector. I am still getting used to it. I have made some friends already and I do now understand why the recent climate survey mentioned that people don't leave IMH because of the colleagues. This much I can say that it can be true.

Shirley had updated about Mike's passing, so I will not elaborate anymore. All I can say is that I am very impressed with Mike, especially when the priest told the congregation that Mike also prayed for him. For someone who is so sick and is able to pray for the priest who was adminstering to him, now that is admirable.

Many more things have happened that had distracted me and one of the 'things' was the H1N1 flu. That impacted me in a very big way. I was part of the team that got the screening centre and point up at IMH. There were changes everyday!! I had to adapt quickly. And I was told that "this is healthcare" many times during this period. That's dynamic for you I guess!! Looking back, it was a very good experience though going through it was a different thing altogether. This episode had also made me cherish my family a little bit more. Going home after a long day at the screening centre, it was great seeing the 2 sons smiling at you!! Now that's something, isn't it??

Well, Shirley has started to blog a little because I have been out of action.... hope that continues!!! Hint hint.

Visit to the Singapore Flyer

Chris suggested to bring mum and the boys to the Singapore Flyer for a ride last Saturday and we decided to join them. I always felt that it was not worth paying that much to go on the Flyer for the 30mins ride to see what the Singapore skyline had to offer. And I still feel the same now after the ride but I did enjoy the experience and the companionship.

Fortunately, Peter had 4 free corporate passes and there was a promotion for every 2 adult tickets purchased, 4 children ride for free. So together with 6 adults and 7 children (3 of the children were below 3 yrs old and they also ride for free), we only paid for 2 adults in total.

Nic was supposed to have his dinner up in the capsule but he could not wait as he was hungry, so we had to feed him while waiting to be "checked in".

Waiting to board the capsule

Managed to catch the day view while ascending and the night view while descending

Close up view of Marina Barrage

Marina Bay Area

Esplanade and Fullerton area

The capsule we were in at the highest point

Marina Bay Sands Resorts & Casino (under construction)

The Lims

The Kids

The Group

Thank You Ma!

Eary this month Nat was down with stomach flu and missed school for a week. Then both Ben and Nic were running fevers with no other symptoms. It has been tiring for me caring after the boys but was thankful that my mum dropped by and I managed to catch a nap. When I woke up, Ben asked me to quickly go to the living room and see what my mum was doing.

Nic had been restless and not been able to sleep well. My mum was carrying him and sponging him with water throughout his one hour nap!!! My greatest selfless mum, always putting others before herself. She single handedly brought my sisters and I up, and after we got married and had our own families, she now shuttles between our houses (fortunately we stay near each other) to help look after her grandchildren when needed. In addition, she cared for Mike when he was ill and besides caring for the family, she also makes it a point to shower concern on her own siblings and friends.

We do not usually celebrate Mother's day except maybe for a gathering with a home cooked meal as we find it too commercialized to be going to restaurants to eat. But with or without Mother's Day to remind us about how great Mothers are, I always count my blessings and am thankful that I have such a great and devoted Mother. "Thank You Ma, for everything that you have done for me and the family".

s

He ain't heavy, he is my brother

It has been more than a month since Ben joined his new company. He has been coming home late due to his new work and also the emergence of the H1N1 Flu. He has been roped in to help with setting up of the screening centre. Things however are more settled now.

The boys were playing one of the nights and thought I'll take a photo to show the Daddy what he had missed.

Nic has grown so much/fast. And we are guilty of not posting more of his photos. Well, now that I'v been retrenched and am a stay at home mom for the time being, I shall make it point to post more of his photos.

s

In Loving Memory

So much has happened since the last time we blogged.

My brother-in-law, Michael walked his last journey on earth on 17 April 2009. He left behind his wife, Katherine, his two sons, Luke and Matthias, and daughter, Mikayla. He fought the battle hard and strong for 8 months but was too weak in the end. Having suffering both physical and emotional pain, Michael surrendered himself to God and asked that He do what is best for him and his family. Although we are all very sad and miss him much, we are glad that he no longer has to suffer the pain and that he had found a more peaceful place in Heaven with the Lord.

There is no permanent home on earth but an eternal home in Heaven.

The main thing now is to help my sister in whatever we can for her and her children. It will not be easy for her but we hope that she will be strong for her children.

I sincerely pray to the Lord that He will watch over Katherine and her children and that she will be able to move on and be strong to cope with the obstacles ahead of her and may the children be more sensible and help her in whatever ways they can. We have been assuring her and the children that they are not alone, we will always be there for them. They are also blessed with much support from the many relatives, friends and families.

s

"Squad" or "Squat"??!!

You guys have to know the sequence of squad, attention, at ease (in Malay of course) to find this funny!

Merryn Road Open House

1 February 2009.

It was time for Nat and Nic's great grandma and grandparent's annual open house. This open house is mainly for our relatives on great grandma's side, for grand-dad's friends and in some years, my friends. Also as great grandma is one of the last aunts, this open house was good for our relatives to come by to pay their respects.

This year however, I decided not to have my friends over as I wanted it to be more laid back with a baby in tow. It was still crowded though with many kids. And I must say, the kids are multiplying as the years go by. Nat was having a good time in the garden with some of the kids, kicking and digging the sand.

Food wise, there was the usual satay man barbecuing behind. This time, there was no sole caterer. We had briyani from turf city. And I must say it was good!!! Especially the fish curry! We also had a prata man cooking the prata on the premises. did not get to eat any though!!! It was a slow process as he could only cook one prata at a time. There was also Mum's duck and hee peo soup! All in all, a good spread.

Prata man!


Some of our guests.


Nat in the garden.

Second Day of Chinese New Year

27 January 2009.

This morning we went to Changi Airport T3 for breakfast. Nathaniel wanted to have something from Macs. So we thought we'd go there. The decision was made in the car with my sister-in-law's family. So off we went to T3. We also walked around to have a look at the deserted shops.

We also came across disney characters at the departure hall.

First day of Chinese New Year

The first day of CNY saw the family going for mass. It is not obligatory to do so, but this is "tradition." I wanted this as we need to thank the Lord for our family and for a good year ahead. We then rushed to Merryn Road to pay our respects to our elders (yet another tradition!!). We then went to Dua Ee Poh and Uncle Johnny's house to visit as well.

Family picture.


Ang Pow giving ceremony.


Spiderman.

Reunion Dinners

The first reunion dinner we had was on Saturday 24th January 2008. It was held at Peter and Chris's place at Tampines. This was for Shirley's side of the family. Michael joined us today and I felt that it was good for him to be there then to be at home alone. Nat is slowly beginning to comprehend things. I had tried to tell him what "Ang Pows" and "Kum" is all about. I do not know if he really understands, but he is able to greet people "Gong Xi Fa Cai", to say thank you when given a red packet and passing it to me to keep after that. He's a smart boy that one.

Here is a photo of Nat giving a red packet to Wai Por on behalf of his parents and receiving one from her too.



The second reunion dinner was for my side and was held on the following night. It was held at my parent's house at Merryn Road. My parents also extended the invitation to my 2 aunts and uncle to join us. As usual, my side is the more subdued family, but the presence of the 2 boys made the atmosphere a little more lively.

The spread at Merryn Road.


"Lo Hei"


Being part of 2 families has exposed me to different type of family dynamics. I had watched other people's families and how each family member relates to others in their families as I was growing up. I watched families in church, friend's families, ex girlfriends etc. Every family is different. I had desires of what my own family should become as it all boils down to how the parents want their family dynamics to be. I guess being brought up in my family, I bring to the table a sense of responsibility, discipline, formality and tradition. Shirley's side is more informal and I like that too. So what should my own family dynamics be like?? Well, a blend of things. I would like my own family traditions, sense of responsibility, discipline, informality, good social skills etc. Sounds a tad challenging doesn't it??

Happy "Niu" Year to our readers!!

Happy "Moo-Moo" year to one and all !!!! May the year of the ox be a much better year than last year !!!

The start of Chinese New Year celebrations

23rd January 2009.

Today Nathaniel was asked to wear traditional clothes to school. I had bought 2 sets of clothes when I was last in China. This particular set was actually made for the Beijing Olympics. When asked which one he wanted to wear? He chose the red one. I think he looks good!!!



Nathaniel has begun to talk a lot more. Good and bad. Good that he can communicate his feelings of anger, happiness etc. Bad because he can now talk back!! I now sense that things are just going to get a whole lot more difficult. We had been experiencing a little rebelliousness from Nathaniel now and then. And I believe with the new addition to the family, we have to be rather sensitive to Nathaniel's feelings. I had gone ballistic on a few occasions already, and I really need to check myself. After hearing my grouses, my granny warned me about Nat wanting attention. And he would get that by rebelling and not listening to us, the parents. She had shared that she also experienced that with her own kids. I told her that I am aware. But am I really? Being a parent now, is different from when you are on the outside. So I have to keep telling myself to control my temper and try and look at each situation rationally.