Pics from our spain trip

Destination : Barcelona - Part 1

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

 





Most comfy and artistic seat which I've come across. It literally sinks and take the shape of your butt when sat on.





 

Spainish Village





Barcelona Fiesta









nat at school

Natalie had been super good today! She was participative and interested in the learning delivered by her teachers. She helped lao shi keep the toys as she sang "hei yo hei yo keep your toys!"My little girl has grown and is ready to take on larger responsibilities.

Teacher Eliza brought out a tank of insects and she was not afraid of the crickets at all! Waited in anticipation as the tank of crickets get passed around and she even offered to help Teacher eliza hold the tank! What a brave little girl! Some little ones squealed and squirmed as the teacher handed them the tank. It was fabulous to watch Natalie make the initiation and this was definitely a major milestone as she overcome the fears and cries to start enjoying and participating in the course. Of course pre-preparation of the topics beforehand does play some part in calming the nerves as well.

Attached are pics of her enjoying her snacks (I believe it's her fav part of the day as she savoured her food slowly and insisted on finishing every single piece! )

Trip Pics

Wanted to upload these photos whilst touring but didnt get a chance to as hubby's pc couldnt read the SD card.. Anyway enjoy..

We are back!

We've been away from Natalie for slightly more than 2 weeks. Been travelling around Spain and Paris.. missed our daughter so so so much! However we both know that she is definitely in good hands! My little girl has been well taken care of by her Granny and YiYi who helps ferry her to and from classes over the weekends. She has grown so tall and matured so much over the past weeks! I felt like I've missed a huge chunk of her development. Yiyi who plays with her over the weekend sends pics of her via email and I was so shocked to see the resemblance of myself in her! She is starting to look so much like me.. Ok may be a bit like her daddy too. =) She gave each of us long hugs when we reached home and showed us all the new toys and gadgets which she had received whilst we were away. The flowering plant with planting tools seems to top the list (purchased by popo). She is also now so skilled with legos, she could arrange, stack and return the pieces back to the storage box. It's so amazing how she self taught the skill of packing her legos without assistance from the adults. At this time it's just legos, but I am sure we could somehow cajole her into returning the rest of her toys into the designated places in time to come.

Missed her weekend lesson. Was told by granny that as usual, she hated removing her socks and kicked up a big fuss for having got to do it else she would not be allowed in class. She wanted to keep her toy animals when the teachers asked all to return them.... Anyway, last week she was taught one of her favourite animals - Frog.

FYI She has a medium sized out-door pond setup just outside grandparents' place where she keeps frogs and tiny gold fishes. She visits them every morning and each time she would say/ Hi to the frogs in the her babyish voice pointing to her "frog frog frog!". So saying frog is not an issue for her. She amazed and aced through the class with her proclamations of 'FROG'. Granny mentioned that she said frog for every paper frog she paste on her drawing block! Eliza, the only teacher whom she has allowed to hug her... was amazed with her speech ability given that she is the youngest in class =).

See how much actions I've missed that day !

Conversations with grandma

Sy:" Hi, how are things back home?
Popo:" ok,natalie has been watching some tv, and DVDs but She is ok.
Sy:"can I talk to her?"
Popo:" better not you will only upset her... She looked at your photo today and started to tear. Such a sensitive child, she really misses her mummy. Looking at her makes me feel like crying too.

Popo:" ...stop calling so often. You've left her with me so go enjoy yourself!
-----dial tone------

Sy:" How was school? Did she enjoy her time with her friends? "
popo:" Ya, she did. Seems like it's more for the parents though.... She didn't want to remove her socks. Struggled So hard and cried and cried with her might!looking for mummy. But she got over it... "

Sy:"...what is natalie doing? Can I talk to her?"
popo:"she is fine.having her dinner now better don't talk... She cried for no reason today. We went to the garden with junior this morning, she saw am woman with a baby and started crying. I had to bring her to a neighbour's place before she felt better again. Think it's better if you don't talk to her today else after the call she'll start crying again.

Barcelona- La Toja

We've been anticipating this trip since Sharon's resignation. It gets more and more difficult as we head closer to the departure date. Sharon kept saying how much she'll miss Nat and even wants to to bring some of her belongings along and kept asking if it's possible to bring baby along. I really would like to bring Nat as well but this would mean inconveniencing Liang Hwee and wife. Since we are the only ones who would need to take diaper breaks, feed and cook for Natalie at meal times.. and what's more how is she going to adapt to the time difference at such a young age.

Anyway final decision is not to bring Nat and she will be well looked after by her care givers : Popo, Gong Gong, Sunarti and Rach. We've prepared so many flash cards to keep her little brians occupied and with school starting on Sat, Rach has kindly agreed to help us ferry little Nat to and from school. Heard from my mother in -law that she cried so hard the first day as she didnt wish to remove her socks. Guess she has associated socks removal with injections and that created a huge impact! She squelled and kicked the last we met Veronica ( her PD). Fortunately mummy was there to pacify .. mummy always has a way around Nat. So with Mummy gone I guess she must be feeling really petrified and upset. But she'll learn... it's a phase that she has to overcome with tears and sweat or whatever it takes.. I am sure popo managed to make her happy again after the episode. =) Glad that they are around to keep a good eye on her so we could enjoy and not worry about what's happening back home!

Zoo trip!

Managed to get hold of a free zoo pass for the weekends!! Haven't had time to upload the pics till now.. enjoy..







Bubbles

pics of natalie playing at the void deck and first encounter w bubbles.

daddy has been away

Daddy has been away for more than 2weeks and we miss him so much. Especially when we are constantly reminded of the mishap and incompetence of the philippines police it makes the family worry about his safety as he visits one city after another. The manilla police obviously didn't train their soldierS well. With the ex-police officer holding foreigers hostage seeking foreign media coverage, thinking it's a great platform to voice his grievances? No wonder their highly trained squad team under the instruction of a silly commanding officer couldn't even strategise or let alone use the basic theories of negotiation, which I guess many of the CSI or Criminal minds fans out there would definitely do a much better joB at understanding criminal mentality. Anyway I've digressed..


The initial nights were the most difficult. Nat calls out for her papa before she sleeps. Every slight sound related to door opening, car honking or reversing she would jump out of bed and ru towards the room door inSisting on physically checking if papa is home. When we ask her where is papa she point up as though sayng that he took off on a plane. Pains us really to see how stressed she could be over her papa's trip and amazes me of how much info she could absorb at this stage!

Photos of Ozamis CIty Airport

Flying by the weight

Hey Nat,

Daddy took a special flight today from Ozamis City in Northern Mindanao to Cebu island. The flight is special because Daddy has to stand on the weighting scale to measure his weight before he is allowed to board the small propeller plane! Guess my weight? 94kgs!!?? With baggage; 104kg!!

Yes baby, daddy put on 7kgs in the Philippines... eating and taking multiple flights/ ferries... it does not help that Daddy usually falls asleep during the flight!

The Check-In area is also special... it is non-aircon and looks run-down by Changi airport standard... (see the attached pics above). Luckily, the pre-departure area has air-conditioning while we are waiting at the gate. I remembered that the airport in Zamboanga City does not have air-conditioning at all!!?? The weather was super duper hot and daddy was perspiring like nobody's business!

finally!

My blackberry has been preventing inputs in my new postings and the problem has finally been resolved! Feel so relieved to be able to just pen whatever that comes to mind!! When access comes easy u just don't feel inspired enough to blog! So many things happened this week... And I'll tell u all abt it in my next post!

words

nat has made some linguistic progressions this week! She could say stop and use it at appropriate junctures. For instance this afternoon whilst popo was feeding her she says stop distinctively when she doesn't want to be fed anymore and she would say stop when she wants us to not take something away from her. it amazes me when she could recognise some words such as ears, wave, sleep, pillow, clock and points to the objects/ perform the action without us prompting her.

Words which she has been heard speaking are as follow;-
Mama,papa, popo, up, clock, dog, car, truck,

Daddy's Pic in Philippines

Hey Natalie

Daddy visited Tacloban, Leyte Province of Philippines. He went to the first landing point made by General Douglas MacArthur, Commander-in-Chief Asia-Pacific of the Allied Forces during WWII. General MacArthur’s famous promise: "I Shall Return", was fulfilled when he returned to Philippines on 20 Oct 1944. Interesting huh? Daddy read about this during his school days and now he is here!

Daddy away in Philippines

Hello Natalie! How are you doing? What have you learned today? Daddy miss you very much!

Daddy is doing his training rounds in Philippines. He will be back in a week more. He is very happy to hear your voice over the phone. Po-Po mentioned that you will point up at the passing aeroplane overhead and exclaim,'Pa-Pa!'. So clever!

Daddy has to work hard so that Mummy and daddy can send you to a good school. Daddy went to a neighbour Primary school while Mummy went to CHIJ. It is important to go to a good Primary school. 'Primary' is defined in the dictionary as 'the most important' and it is very true you know.

Something happened to daddy's travel plan today. Our local Rep mis-read the arrival time as the departure time for our morning flight! By the time we reach the airport, the plane has already left! We are now waiting for the next available flight.... with 8 hours to go!

Please tell Mummy that papa miss her too. Remember not to watch too much TV k. Sometimes you will be 'glued' to the TV, just like your mummy!

i Surrrendered

The decision to leave was a tough one, but went ahead anyway... With determination, I finally thrown in the towel. Didn't want to continue w thiS kind of lifestyle anymore. Reach home late, no time for nat, and have a million and one work requiring my equal amt of attention! It was ridiculous, and as a new mum with an energetic and cute toddler whom I really just want to spend time w, am no longer bothered about where I want to be in my career. After all I just want to be the best mummy and the thought itself is already so satisfying!

The resignation - when I thought the most difficult stage was over, explaining decisions.. Think and rethink option .. Overcoming fear of the unknown and moving out feom a firm that I grew up in. Come to think about it . I went through liFe's greatest milestones in that firm. . Marriage and child bearing. Will miSs my demanding clients and colleagus who have treated me with kindnesS and challenges to keep me gainfully employed. I muSt say it was a relieve to finally call it quits and move on to something better.

Anyway back to post resignation, here comes the handover. As both work on different wavelength, communication in itself seems difficult. On one hand I wanted to provide her with all the info, nuances etc. But it frustrates me when she can't remember a single thing that I say! Eg walked org chart and she can't rememBer what the abbreviation meant the next day! Irritates the hell out of me when we spent so much time running through an issue and she still could forget or didn't pay attention .. However I must say process wise she does have her strengths.

Saying goodbye - this was the hardest! And most emotionally intense! Went round saying bye and getting hugs from people u know so well and saw them grow! The sadness was unbearable odf not For the final handoverS that took the distractions away I may have cried a thousand rivers.. Ok a bit of exaggeration "). Left the building at 8iSh -my last and final overtime for the firm of 6 yrs!

Post departure- My Phone kept ranging on the first week as she didn't remove the diversion after multiple reminders. So I Felt like an operator for a bit and totally ignored all calls from office after a while. . ( I thought those were genuinely mine! People who missed me or needed urgent help... But it turned out to be all divertd calls!)

Definitely missed the friendly staff and lovely colleagues . . But based on how things are looking at home .. It was not a wrong decision. Chris may say it's totally right! As he no longer need to wait long hours along the tiny difficult to park lane as he fears the ever so frequent traffic patrols. Instead he gets picked up by me and still manage to reach home efore 7 pm each day!

First Road Trip - Malacca

Was contemplating a road trip since 1 month ago and finally decided to take on the challenge over the last weekend.

The pre-trip preparation took at least 3 hours and majority of the packing was for Natalie. You can't imagine the amount of items we had to pack just for her.. from clothes, shoes, hat, diapers, moisturisers, anti mosquito repellents, medicine, towel ... to milk, canned baby food, water bottles, milk bottles, kettle, snacks, toys etc. It was insane trying to pack everything in 1 bag. Most importantly I did not forget her potty! Grandma teased us for bringing it along, but this definitely is a must take since Natalie is slowly able to tell us when she needs to take a leak/poo, and the potty certainly came in handy! Not forgetting her stroller! Fortunately Daddy's car has a huge boot space, we miraculously squeezed all 6 bags & 11 kg stroller into the boot! Obviously little was packed for daddy, mummy , Grandmama and grand papa so we could maximise space for her essentials!

Anyway, last I was in Malacca was probably primary 3/4. Malacca gave me such a strong impression.. Portuguese architect, peranakan food and hainanese chicken rice.. I was so looking forward to the good food! But it seems that the reports have created more hype than reality.. I had forgotten how tiny the hainanese rice balls were and perhaps it was past the usual dinner time.. rice served weren't piping hot like I remembered and the chicken didn't taste as good though we were all super hungry. Fortunately we ordered beansprouts with the mains so veges made up for the shortfall.

Shopping wise.. we ended up at tescos shopping for dry stores and fruits. I must say the fruits are super cheap.. dates ( Chris' fav) selling at discounted rate for shoppers stocking up for Ramadan was such a steal! Would recommend as must buy if you visit Malaysia in Aug. Petrol was super cheap! To the extent that kiosk attendants were seen wasting petrol, they would pump beyond the brim in order to round up the cost to the nearest dollar. This would never happen in Singapore which only see cost spikes most times. Drivers gets excited over insignificant discount of 5 cents which comes after a minimum 30 minute queue to stretch the dollar on motoring costs!!

Overall, we definitely enjoyed the first road trip.. cause Natalie has been super cooperative ! She didn't complain nor struggle to get out of her car seat for hours and without falling asleep! Never knew this side of her if we were to stay at home.. such a wonderful and easy to manage child.. all the trouble of packing is worth it !

Growth series: pianist, dog bully

The pianist in the making..

The dog bully...

Growth Series: Talk, read, music

Baby gibberish =)

The reader...( or rather Daddy's recital...)

The musician in the making..The drummer/ rock and roll dancer

The reader

Growing up series ..

Earlier series of her doing various activities. This was videoed when Nat was about 11 months old.