I missed Daph’s 21st birthday few weeks back coz Soph was sick so we arranged to meet up together with Beks, who also celebrated her birthday in Dec.

These two precious gals – one I’ve known since she was 8! and she still calls me jie jie (elder sis) coz her bro and I used to hang out a lot and the other used to be so scared of me coz I was (still am!) so much older and she’s going to graduate and start work this year.

It was great catching up with them – they help me to remember to dream and have fun and I, being a bit older and wiser (hopefully, hiak hiak) can inspire and encourage them to keep dreaming and living! Sometimes people my age can be too practical and too darn boring.

Oh yes and I got to sit in Beks’ new car, a Peugeot Convertible! I love fast cars and bikes! Ok, but I felt quite self conscious getting out of the car at Ben & Jerry’s at Dempsey coz everyone was looking, esp in my new vintage smurf t-shirt and flip flops (!)…….. the plan was to go downstairs and eat and go home… oh but, who cares! It felt great! Thanks for the lovely ride, Beks!

Argh!!!!! What’s up with lawyers and doctors???

I’ve been having such bad experiences with lawyers and doctors recently! They are so full of themselves! I think they are the ones who need to go for service upgrading rather than the supposedly "lower" level service staff like the nice and polite Mcdonalds staff! I mean, at least the Macs staff say hello! and good morning! with a smile. Seriously, I appreciate that.

I just got off the phone with our lawyers. We needed to engage them to redeem our house loan. I called the nice lawyer whom I got in touch with initially and she directed me to her colleague. Fine. Her colleague picked up the phone, heard what I said and immediately said, I don’t handle this, pls talk to my assistant, she’s on the phone, pls call back later in a very up there kinda tone. Argh. I told her, pls take a message and get her to call me back and put her in her place. Hello! I’m your client rem?? Paid $500 bucks?!? Thank God her assistant got off the phone and HER ASSISTANT WAS SO NICE! I so wished the $500 bucks we paid went to her instead! She prob did most of the paper work anyways! Her boss prob just signed the paper. Double argh!

The doctors. Ok they are a better bunch I must admit. But the younger doctors can be such #@*! James asked one so what does the med do? I mean he’s a medic so he wants to know what the meds actually do right. The doctor in the most grudging "why do you even question me" voice ever said it does cefenyrhwnshbage. Something like that. Hello! We’re patients, not doctors. Speak in English please. The doctor was met at the A&E was the worst! We had to bring Sophie in at about 1am some time back. He came out looking like we just disturbed his nap. His accent was incomprehensible. He’s Indian, which is fine but donno why he kept mumbling. He prob thought it was all a dream. Argh. He didn’t say very much nor answer our questions. He said to come back tomorrow for x-ray of the chest and take paracetamol, nothing we can do. Right, tell that to new parents with a tod running 39 degrees! The nurse explained to us what to do and how to do it.

I know that’s why lawyers need secretaries and doctors need nurses – coz they are too busy to care. Come on! If I knew the answers to all these medical mumbo jumbo and the way round the law, I would not call you. The days where people just took what you said is way gone! People want to know and they’ll ask questions. I hope that doctors and lawyers know that despite the high salaries they get and prestige, they are really still providing a service. Thank God for secretaries and nurses.

P/s Argh… ok lah it’s not so bad but it just erks me that people can be so not nice. Lawyer/doc friends n family, I still love you and please be nice to your clients k?

I really can’t drink. Seriously.

Our guest today brought me some goodies from Japan. The little bottle is some collagen drink from Fancl. So sweet of her. Plus a little love note.

Scrapbooking has become popular these days with the opening of specialised scrapbooking shops. They even conduct classes.

Siew Min, Siew Lin’s sis arranged for us to go for one of those classes at Made With Love, Plaza Singapura, prior to the wedding. A few of us went – close friends and family etc. Even her dad was supposed to come but he had last minute work. BUT his entry turned out to be the main tearjerker.

Anyways, our task? To complete a scrapbook for Siew Lin for her wedding!

I’ve been a scrapbooker (is there even such a word?) and wrote journals for years. I even compiled an entire scrapbook prior to my wedding that detailed the 29 – 32 years of our lives, prior to marriage. So precious! But I didn’t really believe that real, hardcore journalling and scrapbooking involved expensive, nice paper! It’s supposed to be scrap – gluing bits of articles, photos, handwritten notes etc. Hello, scrap???

Anyways… I’m hooked. How can anyone resist all the pretty paper, hooks and buttons!?!? I think I walked round the shop almost 5 times just looking at all the gorgeous stuff. Check out my first time creation.

The best part of it was the experience of sitting together with the family, recounting our growing up years and laughing at all the photos we’ve chosen. So much fun! Plus the food was really good. They had this yummy cookies and cream shake. I even brought home the leftovers – mash potatoes and sausage.

I really think that being in my 30s is great! 20s was fun, money, freedom and just lotsa fun but still fumbling around trying to figure out myself. 30s is great coz i’m becoming more secure about who I am and where I am heading, got a beautiful family, still have some money and even more fun, making less crazy mistakes (i hope).

I had a great birthday time the past few days.

Wed night we had dinner with my in laws – soaked in seafood. Lobsters and the works.

On Thurs, James swept up the whole family and brought us to Batam for 3 days and 2 nights. We booked tickets, packed and left the next day. See? Fun! Poor Sophie survived on jar food and lotsa junk. She was great and slept through night. I was afraid she’ll wake up in the night coz it’s a new environment.

We got back on Sat afternoon and then off to another BBQ party with the SOL team that night. Nyet made a fabulous sinful choc cake for me.

Today we had dinner with my parents.

Ok now time to rest and episode 5 of Gossip Girl. More pictures and stories of the trip in the next few days… Thank you everyone for the love and wishes.

Oooo… eversince we’ve been selling iTunes (US) store credits on iTS, we’ve been shopping on the iTunes store a lot more. The US store has SO MUCH STUFF!

Did you know that you can buy Little Einsteins episodes for US$1.99? And download Sesame Street episodes for FREE? I just watched the pilot episode for Gossip Girl last nite, for free! It’s by the same pp who made OC. It’s not bad… a bit like OC but it’s got this REALLY cute guy (:)), that is actually a nice guy who loves his sister and protects her from bullies. He’s the underdog nice guy.

Hee… James is now known as Mr Pilot. He’s been downloading first episodes of different TV series for free. See ah, we don’t really watch TV nor have cable at home so this is great.

Hahah… If you have an ipod/Mac etc, all you need is to first buy an iTunes gift certificate from iTS (min US$20), it’ll give you the code and off you go! Hee… Songs are all for $0.99. I found some old favs of mine – Jewel CDs from way back and even found my friend, Eunice Sim’s album Stronger Than Some!

It’s been a year since I left the workforce. I wasn’t really part of the workforce that drives the Singapore economy BUT I was part of the Kingdom workforce. I stepped down from serving full time in church with the youth ministry when Sophie was born to become a stay at home mum (SAHM).

At that point, all I knew was that I felt that was what the Lord wanted me to do coz at different times he confirmed it through different people. But I had no clue what I was getting myself into.

The first few weeks was SO TOUGH! Confinement can drive people like me mad! I couldn’t even sit still for 3 days when my gynae confined me to bed rest during the first trimester coz I was bleeding.

I’m really grateful that James is around most of the time. Even if he’s in the office, which is only a few doors away, he comes back for lunch. I’m also grateful that my friends live nearby and we can go over to each others houses to chat and hang out with our babies.

After one year, I’m really getting the hang of it and enjoying it. This is what a normal day for me is like (this is today):

745am – Sophie wakes up, I feed her (still breastfeeding), we read a bible verse and poem together, start the day with a little prayer, talk to each other a bit

8.15am – I put Sophie in the feeding chair in the kitchen while I wash up. Then it’s breakfast in the kitchen, today she had oat cereal + plum (chopped up) and a bit of banana. I find out today that she knows the word banana and she calls it bana or na. She eats the banana on her own while i wash up the dishes. I ate up the rest of the banana. Yep that was my breakfast.

8.45am – Clean her up and change her. Played for a bit and we went out for a walk. I wanted to buy newspapers from the mama shop at my block. We went to the playground and watched a pair of twins play. Came home.

10am – Sophie went down for a nap. I had some quiet time to pray and reflect. After that, I put the clothes to wash, prepared Sophie’s lunch, went through SOL final draft and gave my feedback to Nyet, went online for a while. She actually slept for 2 hrs this morning! Woo hoo! Rare, norm 1 hr but she’s been stretching this.

12pm – Lunchtime, she had white n brown rice porridge + scrambled egg with tomato n french bean. She finished it all, self fed. Bathe her. Left her in the bath while I washed the dishes. Disaster! She pooed in the bath! Argh! Had to bathe her again while James threw out the water. Ewwee…

1pm – Playtime. She played on her own for a bit with the new toys and most of the time I was playing with her. Climbing on the sofa, coffee table, etc… Her, not me. We read a bit. I hung out the clothes at the corridor and put Sophie in the bumbo on the corridor floor. She really enjoys that.

2pm – She got a bit tired and I put her down for a nap at 2.15pm, earlier than normal. Normally she naps at 2.30/3pm. James went to get lunch and we ate, chatted a bit. He went back to work while I chilled a bit.

3.15pm – Sophie awakes. I feed her (breastfeed) and then it’s time for tea! She has her normal dose of yogurt. Today is mango yogurt. 125ml! She wasn’t very happy when it was finished so I gave her some Gerber puffs and a drink of water.

3.30pm – We go for a walk again coz it’s super hot and I need the aircon!!! We made our way to HV Shopping Center. Free aircon! Walked both floors completely while Sophie eats her Baby Bites. I even managed to go into a shop to try on some stuff while the cashier entertained her. Went back to our block, watched birds and then went to a playground with rides. Went through all the six rides and then came home.

5pm – Put her in her bumbo to watch Your Baby Can Read, yes she still fits but doesn’t mean she’ll stay. Halfway through she was on the table watching the VCD. Meanwhile I cook her dinner and take a breather.

5.30pm – Dinner time, she had cod fish, mashed potatoes and peas. Self fed. She didn’t have enough so I gave a slice of bread with cheese spread. Finished all that. Bath time again. This time I played with her. Changed her into pjs.

6pm – We spent 1/2 hr playing rubber duckies – take them out of the box and put them in a line and put them back into the box. A few times.

6.45pm – Feed her (Breastfeed)

7pm – Prayed with her and put her to sleep, James came back shortly to kiss her goodnite.

7.30pm – Dinner for James and I

8.15pm – Wash up dishes, mop floor, bathe

9pm – Blog and rest… prob watching a DVD tonite with James. REST.

It doesn’t seem like very much but I really enjoy watching her go through new experiences everyday. For example today we put hung out the clothes together outside. Hearing her "talk" to the cashier while i try on clothes. It does get tiring at the end of the day but our days are normally quite full.

I don’t think I wanna exchange this for anything else at this point of my life. I’m quite happy and contented.

The busy period is finally over! Sorry that I haven’t been updating much.

SOL is off to print tomorrow and will probably be distributed week after next. James and I crafted and designed this issue’s cover page so look out for it! The special focus is on Youths. I can’t wait for it to be out! Very excited. I just saw the 1st layout draft. I spent a lot of time on this one, working with the youths, interviewing them etc. The articles written by some of them are really good. Thank God for them.

Sophie’s party is over. I never knew that planning a baby party can be so tiring. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep properly for a few days. Hahaha… kan cheong spider me. I mean how hard can it be right? 60 guests, 6 babies and a few kids and teenagers. If we could do 600 guests at our wedding, we can do 60 right?!?! But it was so hard to make decisions! Ducks or smiley balls? Yummy cake or pretty cake? Donuts, cupcakes? Balloons or streamers? Hahahaha.. and the list went on and on. But seeing the smile on Sophie’s face when she arrived at the party made it all worth it.

It has been a pretty intense recently but it was so so good to just kick back and relax at the beach today. Shiok. Esp on a weekday when everyone is at work and we have the luxury to stop work and just be at the beach. This arrangment that we have working from home is great. James has been so busy lately coz business has been really good and we’ve been doing some pro bono work too. We’ve not been resting very much but thank God that we had some time to do so today.

It’s been a while since i blogged about just me. I don’t even have a category called just me. I had to add that in. Since i have some time tonight to just reflect, I thought it’ll be good to pen some thoughts.

I’ve been quite busy the past few weeks working on the next issue on Seasons of Life, which explains my infrequent entries. It’s a lot of hard work – brainstorming and coordinating, writing, planning – the works. But I really enjoy it. It’s stressful at times but I quite enjoy learning about publishing. It’s also great that we work as a team and we share the responsibilties and ideas. In my old job, I used to be a lone marketing person most of the time. The burden was too much to bear. I had 2 assistants but I would rather have had one superior and one assistant. I think I would have learnt much more starting out. It’s also great coz I get to read more magazines for research. Hiak hiak. How nice it is when you do something that you like as a job. This is not a real job but it’s starting to feel like it coz of the intensity! (p/s nyet, am not complaining here ah, i love it k? )

I’ve also started to have some "me" time with my new pilates class. Ya! Ali finally kicked my butt into the pilates class. She’s been a great friend to have. She kicks my butt into brisk walking, shopping and bargain hunting. I’m terrible at anything that requires too much effort. Pilates – I’ve been wanting to do this for the longest time. Need to get the tummy in shape before No2 lah. We have the same Janice instructor from the last time. She’s SUPER FUNNY. Auntie funny. Super Auntie funny. We’re in a class of aunties. I think most are homemakers from the neighbourhood. But………. boy, can they stretch n roll! I am so out of shape. My class was on Friday and I’m still aching today.

Our Monday Mums group is moving to church. That also requires a bit of planning and coordination. We’re opening it up to stay home mums from church and possibly the neighbourhood. That’s a lot to pray about too. We’re all already so full with other ministries and our babes, not sure where we’re going to find space in our hearts for others. But……………………………………. here’s where the faith part needs to come in.

Which leads me back to this point. I really, of all things, need to spend a lot more time in my prayer closet. Since I’ve had Sophie, I’ve been so lacking in this area. We’re planning to go back to Steve’s cell and that too requires prayer and commitment.

Funny thing, having done all these things, still all my heart longs for is to be alone with the Father. I think Jesus must have felt the same way. He served with all his heart, busy and all but He longed to be with the Father. I think one must long for something so much that one wakes up early in the morning (It can’t be a routine, who routinely wakes up early in the morning by choice! hardly!) I think it’s a desire that everyone feels once all the activity dies down and we sit down to hear our hearts. It’s so easy to mistake the feeling as loneliness or emptiness but I really think that it’s a feeling that my Father puts in me to remind me that I miss Him. A longing.

It’s really so easy to fall into a routine of going to church every Sunday. Since we (or I) have stepped down from full time ministry, we’re quite out of touch with everything’s that’s happening in church. No more leaders meetings, retreats, meetings and more meetings. I’ve been asking myself the question a lot the past year – why did I do the things I do? Would I have done them if given the choice. Given the choice, what actitivies/ministries would I serve in?

BUT…. choice? Why am I even talking about choice? A willing servant serves, he/she doesn’t ask for a choice! Maybe I’m not quite a servant yet. Maybe that’s where I am. Back to the drawing board. Servant training level 2 – "Motherhood", the best servanthood training ever. Talk about dying to self. What self? Even my body is not my own anymore! Hahaha… But ya, it’s been a year and there are times when I still complain but am learning and growing, I think. Bit by bit. Maybe that’s why God made babies so cute, makes it a lot easier!