My Baby's A Big Girl Now...

I made these banner myself...

Ashleigh turned 4 yesterday, October 17 2004.

We had a small birthday do at home and invited her aunt, uncle, a cousin and her grandparents (my parents). She was so excited since morning because I was putting together her birthday banner. Then had her father blow the balloons to decorate the house.

When evening came, my family came and she was more excited, running around and being busy setting the table. She almost fainted when she saw the birthday cake her aunt made her.

Everyone had a good feast on the food which included curry crabs, buttered prawns, mixed vegetables and BBQ chicken wings.

Even Emma was excited and couldn't go to sleep because of all the people there, although she was sleepy and was rubbing her eyes red.


Ash's cake made by her aunt

I Shopped Like Never Before....

I shopped during lunch today. Although many of us would officially recognise this as being the 'middle' of the month, the time when our finances are dwindling, when we start to tighten our purse-strings etc etc. However, I shopped and spent nearly RM250/-. Not much of a figure but! considering that it is the middle of the month and that I hardly spend any money on myself, that is a first....

So, what did I buy?

Two cute little dresses for Emma and a pair of hair clips for Ashleigh. Of course I bougt stuff for the girls; I always do!. It sort of make me not feel guilty about spending the money... But really! I always make sure I buy stuff for the girls... even if I do not have stuff for myself. For myself, I bought a white long sleeve blouse for work and a black pant-suit - clothes I have always wanted. AND... I bought a Crocodile-brand wrist watch to replace my (sob! sob!) Swatch Irony wrist watch which died out on me ages ago.

BTW...anyone for a none-working Swatch Irony watch? It will cost you just RM150/-. And if you live in/around KL, better still. You can bring it to Low Yat Plaza and get it fixed at the Swatch shop there. It will just cost you RM50/- to get it fixed. And I can guarantee that it is fixable... I can do it but I do not have the time to spare for the fixture (it will take at least 2-weeks....).

So yeah... I finally bought myself a watch. It is cool... rather dressy but conservative enough for work and play.

So there... that's my equivalent of a shopping spree. My next spree? Probably in early December...for Christmas.

Guardian Angels are a Child's Best Friend

Emma is hospitalised again. Please pray with us for her speedy recovery.

Thank you.

Elizabeth Ashleigh

Ash loves to be photographed...


One of her many poses...


She writes...!.. at least when she feels like it.


She adores her baby sister...

Emma - Noelle Caitlin

Emma's Favorite Toy is Little Bert of Sesame Street


Big sisters are meant to be bullied....


Rather than suck at her thumb, she sucks her right lower arm...


My Baby loves to blow bubbles with her saliva...


Every Child Should Have a Picture Taken Like This...

With Kids Comes Responsibilities...

Chicken Pox

My children are ill... the eldest have the chickenpox and the baby have the flu.

About chickenpox and my child... for other kids, they would be lying around, sickly and groaning in pain with blisters all over. but for Ash, she has the blisters all right, but fever? Nooooo......! In fact, she is actually jumping around and showing off her spots to everyone who cares to have a look. She does not have the fever and her spots are small blisters. However, today is the fourth day she is having it and they are still appearing. Hopefully, they will subside by next Monday.

Emma have the fever. We do not know if this is her reaction towards the 'pox or because it has been a while since she was last ill. But her fever is bad...I spent most nights awake trying to comfort her and helping her loosen her mucus. Yesterday, a colleague commented that I look tired.... hmmmm... well, with kids comes responsibilities. And it is even more obvious when you are the mother. Ask any woman who is a mother and she will tell you that not only is she a worker, she is also the mother, the wife and the caregiver.

I can feel an illness coming from lack of sleep and fatigue. In terms of work, it has been hectic the last few days 'cos was finalising the retreat for my officers. Now, at least I can take a deep breath. The office is finally quiet and I can slow down.

My shoulder aches....

There are dark circles under my eyes...

My eyes hurts from lack of sleep....

Help! I need a retreat myself....!

My Little Sleepyhead

Did I mentioned that Ashleigh attends a kindy near my office? This is her in her school uniform. She is such a sleepyhead that she only opens her eyes to take her bath and puts on her uniform. Then she is off to dream land until it is time for us to leave the house.

Next year she is 5 - another year of kindy-land then we have to decide where to send her for her first grade classes.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

A Rare Moment

Emma hardly smiles or laugh so it was a rare moment when she actually laughed at the camera. Even then it was from much teasing from her sister.

Methinks this child of mine is the serious, thoughtful kind.

A Creative Eye....

Do You See The Lion's Head?

My colleague took this picture on the first night we were at Uma Lahanan. It was amazing!

At first glance, it is just a bunch of clouds. Under close scrutiny, can you see the lion's head?

I Survived Sg Asap

Sg Asap, Uma Lahanan and the whole Lahanan community was something to experience.

In short, the trip was successful, I am tired, the food was good and plentiful, the activities was hectic and the people friendly.

What more can I say?

I Have To Go...Again

I am going travelling again. This time, not to a metropolitan setting such as KL but rather, to the interiors of Sarawak. I am going to Uma Lahanan in the sub-District of Sg Asap, Belaga.

I wish I didn't have to go because I hate the idea of leaving the kids. But I have to. Why? Because I want to make this the one time so that I can get it done and over with; so that my Boss will not pick me to go for the other trips till maybe... in 6 months time. Because I have just too many stuff to do in the office!!!

I will be flying into Bintulu on 22 Sept. From there, we will take a four-wheel drive to Uma Lahanan, which by the way, is nearly 2-hours drive away. We could take the boat, which takes about an hour but with this rainy season, we do not want to be part of Sarawak's river mishap statistics.

To top it all off, Uma Lahanan does not have a Hilton. Rather, we will be spending the 4 nights there in Uma Lahanan itself, which is the name of the longhouse.

That area, mind you, is the Orang Ulu area so thank goodness. Why? Because if it was an Iban area...hmmmm....

So wish me luck and an enjoyable stay. No electricity, no proper cooking place, no piping....(horrorsss...) at least that is what I was told.

Scare tactics?

Thank Your Lucky Stars...

If it was this guy, Hubby would be RM300 poorer...

On the way to work today, Simon (the Hubby) was stopped by a police sgt. bcos he was talking on his mobile phone while driving. I was so PISSED! (with Simon) bcos a million times i have told him to use the ear-piece (that little piece of gadget is hanging from the rear-view mirror in the car!) He got a good lecture from the guy - and nearly caused a traffic jam along the road where we were, since he had to stop at the road side and it was a narrow road. Thank his lucky stars, the Sgt let him off with a stern warning. The only thing I said to him when we drove away was "There is a reason why this thing is here," as I pointed to the ear-piece.

One annoying thing about my husband is that he is the 'curing' person, not the 'preventing' person - from the saying ' prevention is better than cure'. sometimes he would drive like shit and when i remark about it, he would say ' he knock us, he pay lah'. And i never failt o tell him, "I have no time and energy to spend on stopping the car, arguing with the next driver, reaching a settlement and getting the car fix." I even told him that if that should happen, I would just grab the kids and myself and be on our way, leaving him to settle the problem. I will not waste my time and energy on solving things that can be prevented.

Do You Remember When...

The Tower then

Today is September 13. Two days ago was the third anniversary of 9/11. Do you remember what you were doing when you first heard the news?

I do.

It was in the morning (of course). I had just dropped my husband off at his office and was making my way towards Jalan Sultan Ismail from Jalan Raja Chulan. The whole way from home, I had remarked to my husband that The Monring Crew (who then comprised of Lil' Kev and Fly Guy) of Hitz.Fm were not very funky today -- their selection of songs were not too 'happy' and neither one of them were very 'chatty' (for reasons that was still unknown to me).

As I stopped at the traffic light in front of the Wisma Genting, the voice of Lil' kev came on air and he announced the attacks on the Twin Towers.

At that moment, my heart stopped. I could see from the corner of my eyes that somehow, everything seems to go on slow-mo.

The cars were movving more slowly, the lady crossing in front of my car wa walking more slowly, more lethargically. Even I felt tired suddenly.

And all the way to my (former) office in Sentul, I thought and prayed to all involved -- rescuers, 'doers', families and loved ones.

I have a postcard of NY City with similar view of the towers as the picture above. How ironic. Maybe someday, this postcard will be worth a million bucks?

Changes to Come...

My office is going through a corporate change. We have hired some consultants to help us identify our weaknesses and strength as well as what needs to be done. We are all gung-ho for it.

However...

My Big Boss does not seem to want that change. At least, not the ones that the consultants are expecting to recommend. My GM is but not the Bog Boss.

Hmmm... so how do we expect to change when we can't change?

What Is In A Name...

My Daughters, Elizabeth Ashleigh and Emma-Noelle Caitlin

And what their names means….

ELIZABETH: ELIZABETH (f) "oath of God" (Hebrew). In the Old Testament this was the name of the wife of Aaron. In the New Testament this was the mother of John the Baptist. ELISABETH (f) Variant of ELIZABETH. ELISE (f) Short form of ELIZABETH. ELISSA (f) Russian short form of ELIZABETH. BETH Short form of Elizabeth. LIZZY-Nickname for Elizabeth.
ASHLEIGH: (f) “ash tree cleaning” (Old English). A Surname which was originally derived from a place which means ‘ash tree cleaning’.

Elizabeth Ashleigh; My First Born

We call her Ashleigh though at times, I would call her 'Achee' or 'Ashalee' depending on whether I want to make it sound Chinese and Indian. My sister thinks the name sounds too independant and overbearing so she tends to call her Elizabeth. However, Ash does not remember herself being named Elizabeth so at times, she will not reply when called that name.

EMMA: Old German name meaning "entire; universal." Variant, Emmeline, exists. Diminutives include Em, Emmie, and Emmy
NOEL / NOELLE: French name meaning "Christmas." Variants include Noël, Noele, Noële, Noelle, and Noëlle.
CAITLIN: (f) Irish form of Cateline, the old French form of Katherine. Means “pure’, a derivation made by the Romans, changing their spelling from Katerina to Katharina.

Emma-Noelle Caitlin; My Christmas Gift

Emma, I consider her as my Christmas gift because she was born on Christmas morning. Unlike her loud and domineering sister, Emma is gentle and quiet. Although she is just 8-months old at this time, but I can see that she is calm, collected and rather thoughtful.

Candle of Hope

Lighted candles symbolises hope, faith and strength.

We held a prayer session for Emma last saturday. Since she was born, she has been falling sick on and off, she finds it difficult to clear her nose of mucus and she was losing weight.

Hubby and I decided to have the session to seek the Creator's intervention in terms of her health.

I Am Getting Another Assistant...HAR HAR HAR!!!

I got news today that I will be getting an assistant to help me with the administrative duties that I have been doing.

So that means...

someone who can do the faxing for me...

someone who can answer my calls when I am away...

someone who can do the filing for me...

and most importantly...

someone I can share my grievances with when I feel over-loaded with stuffs.

Yahooo...!!!

p/s
I said 'another' assistant because I now have an assistant who specifically do the layout and design of this unit's publication. :-)

Like Chicken Without Head

I am exhausted because it is a friday and I am finally letting myself relax.

Since coming back from KL, I have had to organised 03(!!!) press conference just days within each other.

On Sunday, 15 August, I organised an MoU and Press Conference (PC) between my office and RTM for our radio show. For goodness sake! it's a sunday! Lemme sleep!!!!!

Tuesday, I coordinated a Sponsorship/grant Presentation from the US Embassy to my office. It was so last minute and with the sudden anthrax scare at the Embassy on Monday, 16 Aug, we thought this event won't materialised.

This mornng, I had to oversee a sponsorship cheque presentation from PETRONAS to mu office. It was ok... not many media rep though since they were all heading to the other function room where a BIGGER FISH (the Deputy Chief Minister) were to witness an MoU. However, the food was good so I made sure I had my time and energy worth it.

So now, I am slowly letting go. No, not of my brain but letting go of the fact that I can finally relax and not have to run around like a chicken without head.

Speeches anyone?....

The Ten Commandments for Parents of Handicapped Children

1. Take one day at a time, and take that day positively. You don't have control over the future, but you do have control over today.

2. Never underestimate your child's potential. Allow him, encourage him, expect him to develop to the best of his abilities.

3. Find and allow positive mentors: parents and professionals who can share with you their experience, advice and support.

4. Provide and be involved with the most appropriate educational and learning environments for your child from infancy on.

5. Keep in mind the feelings and needs of your spouse and your other children. Remind them that this child does not get more of your love just because he gets more of your time.

6. Answer only to your conscience: then you'll be able to answer to your child. You need not justify your actions to your friends or the public.

7. Be honest with your feelings. You can't be a super-parent 24 hours a day.Allow yourself jealousy, anger, pity, frustration, and depression in small amounts whenever necessary.

8. Be kind to yourself. Don't focus continually on what needs to be done. Remember to look at what you have accomplished.

9. Stop and smell the roses. Take advantage of the fact that you have gained a special appreciation for the little miracles in life that others take for granted.

10. Keep and use a sense of humor. Cracking up with laughter can keep you from cracking up from stress.

-Author Unknown-

God Chooses a Mom for a Disabled Child by Erma Bombeck

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures, and a couple by habit. This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped children are chosen ? Somehow, I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.

"Armstrong, Beth; son; patron saint, Matthew."

"Forrester, Marjorie; daughter; patron saint, Cecelia."

"Rudledge, Carrie; twins; patron saint... give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."

Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child."

The angel is curious. "Why this one, God ? She's so happy."

"Exactly," smiles God.

"Could I give a handicapped child a mother who does not know laughter ? That would be cruel."

"But has she patience ?" asks the angel.

"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wears off, she'll handle it. I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independance. She'll have to teach the child to live in her world and that's not going to be easy."

"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."

God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."

The angel gasps, "Selfishness ? Is that a virtue ?"

God nods. "If she can't seperate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, there is a woman I will bless with a child less then perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a 'spoken word.' She will never consider a 'step' ordinary. When her child says 'Momma' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it ! When she describes a tree or a sunset to her blind child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations.

"I will permit her to see clearly the things I see --- ignorance, cruelty, prejudice --- and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."

"And what about her patron saint ?" asks the angel, his pen poised in midair.

God smiles. " A mirror will suffice."