Pesta Pulau Pinang

30 Nov 2023

Brayden 

Bevlynn

We were visiting Penang for a week after our Australia holiday. It is a more relaxing trip as we have more time to enjoy the family's company. 

One stop is to Penang Pesta. It is a festival ground that is available within November - December every year. It felt like a smaller localized version of October Fest. I had already forgotten how much fun it was at this place. 

Used to come here as a child and even competed in a "Little Miss / Mister Pesta" long time ago, at 6 years old. I was much more shy and reserved then, walking down the stage in a beautiful white gown. Kong Gene, who was 4 years old, dressed up as a cowboy. He would do his signature jump with the hats off. That is a cute little performance. 

Bev is a little too small for most rides, while Bray is not tall enough for more "exciting" rides. We only went on a roller coaster, a children car ride with colourful lights and funky song. They wanted to play more of the balloon popping but we didn't go for it. 

Perhaps some other time. We will definitely try to visit again some other time. 

We had managed to go to Queensbay Mall kids playground and KhunTai beach restaurant as well. 

Australia Perth Trip of 4

Brayden

Bevlynn

18.11.2023 ~ 25.11.2023

Day 1 - Saturday 18.11.2023, 

Bunbury Town

We went to Perth and picked up the rental car at the airport. Straight away we took a drive from the airport to Bunbury Town. It was nice in the long straight highway, with stars filled the dark pitch black sky. On the way, we received a call from Eva that she had missed her flight to Philippines. We had to quickly rebook her on the next available flight which was the next morning. Good thing we can managed We reached a small house with a backyard. The weather was chilling and windy. The back entrance has a tree filled with sakura-liked flowers. All the flowers spread across the garden. It was a cosy house with 2 rooms. The shower water was super chilling.

We went to the Sunshine Farm. The children loves the animals. They love to carry the chicks and joey baby kangaroo. They have fed the animals which has to be 

Frementle

A slide down the sand dune, the zoo, 

Rottnest Island

Graduation from Kindergarten

17 Nov 2023

Brayden 6Y8M24D

Bevlynn 2Y5M17D

Brayden had his graduation from K2 childcare Bukit Batok Presbyterian Christian Childcare. He did a performance in a large stage catering to almost 600 audiences (consisting of parents of children from 22 other childcares, grandparents). 

He'd dance on stage in pink bow tie.

It was a big performance. And I was very proud and again very emotional - teared up the moment he is on stage. My big baby has now stepped into the next milestone. I can still remember the first day he was at childcare, there is another child named Mikha who was sick and napping. Brayden on the other hand was very clingy and crying like a baby. 

He no longer cried when going to school (ok, not really true! still cry once a long while). But he had grown to like his friends (like Shou Zheng, Ming Shuen, Mikha, Charmaine, Avery, Avelyn, Eason, Ethan, Joshua, Joseph, Petervi, Kim). Mommy will missed those days when I was peeking through the window to secretly see how he is playing in class. He was shy when Mommy and Daddy shouted "I love you" loudly across the classroom. After the classes, we would head to the nearest playground and there he'd find all his friends playing - and Mommy / Daddy catching up with other Mommies and Daddies. 

His last teachers were Ms Azizah and Huang Laoshi.

HAPPY GRADUATION!

Starting tomorrow - Off we go for a holiday in PERTH and PENANG. 

Brayden will stay with grandparents in Penang for a month until end December 2023.

Then we will meet in Genting and KL to bring Brayden home to Singapore. 

This will be the last long holiday before starting Primary.

Values | Magical Moments

Brayden 6Y8M20D

Bevlynn 2Y5M13D

At work, I had attended a leadership training and in it, they have highlighted know our values. My top 5 were : FAMILY, MEANING, GROWTH, KNOWLEDGE/WISDOM, INFLUENCE

Family means the world to me. They are my everything. In good and bad times, I can go home and still pull through with every last ounce of me left to give my best to them. They are my safety net and I wish to be their safety net too. 

Meaning means I look for meaning / purpose in everything. I love meaningful movies, books, stories, songs, having meaningful connections & relationships. Everything comes with meaning. 

Growth means it motivates me to wake up reflecting what I can do better for that day. Small growth, even 1% means it is already a small little success in life. To fall behind on growth or to have no growth at all, there would mean no aim or objective in life. 

Knowledge / Wisdom means to discover more in life. Life is full of knowledge waiting to be discovered or explored. There is just so much we can learn through life. I am like a child (a white cloth) to be painted with beautiful colours. There is limitless knowledge available in this world. 

Influence means to be able to do something and give a ripple effect to someone's life. I would like to be able to give help to others when it means the most to them to be out of their worst circumstances. I would like to motive or to inspire through giving motivational talks to share my knowledge so they can have a better living. To me, these are part of influence and giving back to society. 

We were at a magic show on Sunday. It comes with stories, life has to have meaning, hope and happiness. It started with a dance into Alice in wonderland. It then stops to reflect on the life. You have to look from within to be able to live a meaningful and purposeful life. I realised through this magic show, I looked at my children and watched how they were in awe believing the magic. As we grow old and rationalized, we stop believing and looking for magic. 

My life with my family is magic. We can continue to bring magic into life and believe in its existence. We will need to be more child-like and have more hope and in turn create more magical happy moments.

First piano recital by Brayden

Brayden 6Y8M12D

Bevlynn 2Y5M5D

He had his first public piano performance yesterday. He was nervous and asked for "squishy" - means for hugs. He played his song well 'Twelve day of chrismas'. He could play it without looking at the book. That is amazing for a 6 year old. 

Bev is also speaking lots of words now. She was setting up the bed the other day and said "this pillow Daddy, okay?" "This pillow gor gor, okay?". "Let's go playground, mommy. No more hot, no rain." "This is library". "Thank you Mommy, I love you." With her sweetest voice. 

It was Brayden's P1 orientation. I was all teared up at the end of the orientation speech by the headmaster and teacher. It just suddenly hit me, my boy is already 7 years old. He is going to start another milestone of his life. How many more milestones do I have with him before he leaves home, he leaves me? I am on one hand very proud of him, another had really fighting this emotional step forward. He still hugs me like a bear at night and the conversations we have at night. 

Even writing this made me teared up. I am not sad; this is just a tough moment - tougher than working with high expectations at work. 

I find it hard to talk to my hubs about these emotions. Sometimes I felt he's absent emotionally and sometimes does not have the same level of understanding on the children's upbringing. However, he's been giving me more authority in the decision making for the children; which I appreciate. But it will be nice to have him on board as a team.  

Waking up in different cities every 1-2 weeks

Brayden 6Y8M6D

Bevlynn 2Y4M30D

It had been a crazy hectic travelling months for me. 

Between End August - December 2023; I had to travel the following: 
Thailand(5), JB(1), KL(3), Germany(10), KL(2), Thailand(3), Australia(9), Penang(9), Genting(3)
It was for work, for purchase of a 3rd home, and for personal trips. 

I am waking up in different cities every 1-2 weeks.

It isn't fun at all, especially for someone who hates taking flights. I was in a plane and thinking; even after taking more than 100 flights in my life, I still have motion sickness - break into cold sweat - goosebumps - feeling like vomiting each time. They just do not get any better but I could manage it. 

Everyone who had not traveled for work; had mentioned to me how fun my work is to be able to travel so much. I believed I love the opportunity to travel for work, but the preparation, expectations, and also countless meetings makes the travels less of a joy. 

Bevlynn now knows I am on a plane for work. She misses me and cried, same with Brayden. This boy is still very much emotional and attached to me. 

Brayden is going to P1 soon, so there is graduation in his kindergarten and and also orientation for his school. 

With all that is going on, I had to live day-by-day. With a checklist in hand so that I won't forget any details. 
Brayden and his swimming classes, piano, speech classes. 
Brayden and Bevlynn have more bring home tasks from school too. 

Thank goodness, Hubs helped me through it all. 

There is really a point, when I had pent up stress that I could not sleep at all, lost my voice, coughing none stop and had backache from strained veins due to carrying heavy loads.

Now, I am half-way through. I am glad, the end of the year is almost here and we'll get to celebrate a good year! 

4 years are short

Brayden 6Y7M15D

Bevlynn 2Y4M9D

I was watching Brayden's and Bevlynn's videos when they were about 2 years old. I cannot believe it was less than 4 years ago, Brayden was the size of Bevlynn. It was such several short years and I have a big strong boy with me. He had asked me about other nice stories to tell him before bedtime. I told him about the stories I wrote in this blog. It is a story about my children... 

I hope when he's grown and he has a family of his own, he'd tell his children the story about Grandma and Grandpa who were amazing and who were so proud of him. He is so special and no matter how hard the situation is for him, he'd cry a little and move on stronger. Eg. This week, he needs to have 1.5 hr long continuous swimming training because as a replacement for upcoming holiday in December. He'd complain about how tough it is, muscle-aching and still persevere - at 6-yr he did not GIVE UP. 

I am flying off to Germany tonight, away for 2 weeks. Toughest moment is missing them.

Mid Autum Festival | We will

Brayden 6Y7M11D

Bevlynn 2Y4M5D

Live life like you are in a movie. Every moments are a clip off the screen. 

It was a busy 2 weeks, we had celebrated mid autumn festival, travelled to KL to look for a home around central. Celebrated mid-autumn at Seh Hui Peng's home, met Ming Hoong and family at Pavilion 2. 

I simply cannot imagine how I can run so many places and meet so many demands at work at the same time. I am sick now.. 

Bev is so funny, she's able to show her angry face, understands more simple words now, complain about Bray.

Bray is also more considerate of others' emotions now. "Mommy, it's ok, don't work too late" Such a nice young boy. Although he's still very emotional when I am not around. 

I'll be in Germany in several more days.. another heavy and hectic 2 weeks there. 

A very nice poem from a movie. 

"We will"

We finally meet, you are in for a treat

The path that led us here I confessed can hardly be described as perfect or fun

We brave so many grueling test and today we know it is worth it and done

We'll celebrate the fancy and the cheesy

Laughing and dancing at a world of our own

and care for one another in times less easy

Returning always to our space we call home

We will travel while we're nimble and spry

Or sit hand in hand and watch paint dry

Just content in knowing that our love is growing

The rise and the fall together through it all

We have each other today and hopefully always I can say

I've found my one and only, no longer lonely. 

My King | Bird Paradise Singapore | BB Mooncake Festival

Brayden 6Y6M18D

Bevlynn 2Y3M11D

To wonder, why did he not treat me like his Queen? How can I be a Queen if he's not my KING. It is not just about receiving but also about giving him first. 

We were at Bird Paradise in Mandai for the first time after it moved from Jurong. Heavy rain in the park and the paths were slippery. Once the rain stopped, it was very pleasant to walk around. It has a nicer and easier to walk path with the children in the red cart. The park felt smaller than the previous one though. Although we have more open interaction with the animals. 

There are also many more restaurants to choose from too. 

The children liked the water play at Egg Splash. Good thing we remembered to bring an extra clothes. Brayden loved the SPLASH! Bev kept running away from it... "Hold my hands mommy" 

Bev and Bray was pretending to tweet like a bird to catch their attention. But one landed on Bey's shoulder and was very friendly with him, pecking him on his neck. Ouch! 

Found many photos on Hub's phone. Photography by Bevlynn. All the same photos repeated over and over. 

Bukit Batok Community Mooncake festival was a small event but it was a fun one for the two children. We had Pamelo competition, Coin Toss (booth managed by Hubs), lucky draw, lantern walk, balloon... etc..

Westmall has the Ball Challenge with Snoopy theme. 

Travel after Travel | Count our blessings

Brayden 6Y6M8D

Bevlynn 2Y3M1D

It has been a busy 3 weeks at work and at home. 

I was on a work trip to Bangkok Thailand. We had a Forum at our Thailand partner and I had to present a topic which was new to me. In order to prepare for it, I had sleepless nights. 

There were many happenings at office lately which made me very upset. One reason being my manager not being as supportive as he should be, many of the things are being "delegate" out to me and my colleague, another reason was there was a change in management and their way of work. It gets frustrating when we had to put in many more hours a day at work just to prepare numbers and reports. 

But I am glad I made the trip to Thailand with Joe and June. They are really very supportive team members. And we had very nice night massages (even being called noisy for giggling our way and also running in the heavy rain) Joe was all wet when we were there. We had really good food. 

Bevlynn and Brayden missed me alot in the 5 days trip. After the trip, Bev will asked me to bring her go "beach" and "gai-gai" (means to go outside). She makes really funny animal sounds especially the chicken, cow, elephant, snake, pig.... She's learning fast and lots. 

My mom and Max travelled to Singapore one day after I returned from my trip. They were here to join in the Pokemon Go event to catch exclusive Pokemons with Brayden. So we went around different shopping malls just to catch legendary Pokemons - Jems, Westmall, Westgate, IMM, Changi Airport, Jurong Lake Gardens. 

Brayden did a speech presentation and he did really well. Very proud of this little boy. He was amazing for someone his age. He did not stutter and spoke very clearly. 

Hubs has to travel to Phuket after that for work and I continued with my heavy workload at office. It is getting crazy, we shall see. I do hope things will get better in a few months...

There was one video which I saw recently during my trip to Thailand. A blind woman being lead by her young child, maybe around 8 years old or younger, he suddenly feel down the train track and he called out to the mother for help. But the mother was frantic searching and reaching out her hand to him, she couldn't help at all because she could not see what is going on. The only thing she could hear was that her child needed her at that moment. In a few more seconds a train would pass and luckily there was a fast passer-by on the other side of the track who came to the rescue. 

I cried and though to myself. There are many others who are unlucky being born or faced difficult circumstances in life. I am fortunate enough and I count my blessings for all the things I have in life. In life, we should not always chase and greed for what is above us but to look for and help those who are not as fortunate as us. Be contented, although not complacent!

This will soon pass | Happy 58th Birthday Singapore

Brayden 6Y5M16D

Bevlynn 2Y2M9D

I was talking to my helper and come to know about her life experiences. Her husband having an affair at one point, jealousy between sisters, family disputes, being away far from her family for so many years due to overseas work. She was in tears, I was too. Now she has to deal with debt from loan sharks. 

She mentioned she can't feel happiness at all, sometimes even depressed. 

I was at one point in life like that. Drained of my happiness due to circumstances, people around me, sometimes it's situations which are beyond my control. But I kept telling myself; "This will soon pass, nothing stays the same", "I will not let others' mistakes define me", "I am at the present where the steps I take now will move me towards the future path I want - Present Timeline". This makes me positive even when the dark clouds loom over me; always building a better version of myself because my identity to my children is important to me.

Today is Singapore 58th National Day. Bevlynn is down with diarrhea so we did not go far. At the playground, Brayden and Bevlynn saw many big jets flying very closely above us. It was exciting for the children, never had they seen the flying jets so close.

Beach Day | Goodbye Jcube

Brayden 6Y5M13D

Bevlynn 2Y2M6D

We were at the east coast beach with Yeh Yeh and Pek Pek. Bev loves the beach but she is very OCD and did not even want to touch her feet on the sand. She played by only shoveling the sand around without getting herself too dirty. Brayden built sand castles and smashed them afterwards. He wanted to have water around the sand castle but the water quickly got absorbed by the sand. It was very close to National Day, there were planes flying above us and one that held the big national flag was seen from far away close to MBS. 

The seafood at Long Beach is very delicious. Bev saw the live seafood and was amazed by them. 

We submitted the P1 registration for Brayden. We came close with 12 total registered names on the first day, it was very stressful. But all-in-all, it went well. We have gotten into the school of our choice, which is the closest one to our home. 

The whole week, Bev was just coming to me and say "Beach" and pulling my hands to go.... "Come on....." and prepared her shoes and sat in her stroller. The children really loves playing in the sand. So today we went to Jurong Lake Garden this round. Played at the sand water cove play area for children. Brayden dig on the sand to make a small river. The last time we came and play was before Covid and it was closed for so long. Brayden has already grown so much since... It is so funny, Bev was walking with a diaper heavy full of water at the end of the water play.... :) 

Today is the last day the classes are at the Jcube. It will be redeveloped into a residential condo. This place gives nice memories:

- Ice skating place (Hub and me more than 5 years ago)

- Cinema 

- Sazeriya, Japanese food place at B1, Colins, nice Mala Steamboat (with Max, gf and once with Yeh Yeh), Korean BBQ buffet

- Karaoke with Shawn and ZR colleagues

- Brayden Speech Class and he presented on stage 

- Pokemon Gao-le place for Brayden at B1

While waiting for Brayden in the class, we would go to the Pullman's Bakery Cafe for coffee at the Jurong East library next door. It is a very big library. Sometimes it is sad to see the things we are so comfortable with go, but we do have to give way to better things... Bye bye Jcube. 

This week very hectic at work. I need to do many presentations and I do feel overwhelmed by the load. Just when I felt the least appreciated with my work. There was one German colleague that said to another colleague "I like her, she's very SMART". *Shy* This is such a nice compliment. Fighting! Luck is the dividend of sweat! I'll get luckier and luckier... 

Brotherly and Sisterly Love

Brayden 6Y4M28D

Bevlynn 2Y1M22D

Both of the children are down with HFMD. They could not go to school and so they had stayed home together and played. It was nice to be able to have them have fun together. Bev always love to follow what Bray wants to do; a train sound, the loud voice, the climbing up and down the bed. being punished on the mat, running around, hide and seek.  

Hubs was not in Singapore this week. He was assigned to Phuket for work. I had to make it a point to come home earlier to be able to spend more time with the children; but work gets piled up like a mountain now. It is a bit tough to work and focus on my children. 

I would really hope one day I can spend even more time with the children. I realised how tall Bev & Bray are now... They will be out of my arms someday... Now that both the children still asked to sleep with me on the same bed, I let them. I let them be kids, they played with the rain, picked up mud and insects. Reminds me of the good times when we were once children. 

Sometimes I get too nervous about the children. Although I'd say it is alright, all we have done is good, sometimes I will push myself to do more for them... I can't help it. Just like the other day, I prayed to the temples, scout around the neighbourhood primary school, make donations; in the hope for Brayden to get into the good school near to us. And that very night after done all these, Hubs told me he received some good news on the primary school appeal letter. 

Next week will be Brayden's P1 Registration. It was very stressful and nerve-wreaking. His Daddy and me did what we could. Hope everything will fall into place for Brayden nicely.