A new beginning

For those of you who have been following my blog, I appreciate your support, well wishes, and comments.

I have migrated my blog and would notify you accordingly. Please look out for my email, and if you don't, let me know.

Thank you for your support!

Birthday Celebration for Grandma

The kids celebrated grandma's birthday recently. They enjoyed the dinner, and blowing the candles out.

Thaddeus Baptism

Found a few pictures of Thaddeus's baptism in Xmas 2008.

Thad and Ruby

Thaddeus recognises Ruby from the calendar that we have at my place and Grandma's place. If you ask him, "Where is Ruby?", he would point to the calendar.

I hope they recognise each other when they meet.

What happens when you feed grapes to a baby?

Grape juice. Freshly squeezed, straight from the mouth, onto my shirt (and his) !!!


Don't blame me for it, he says......

The New Mega-Shopping Mall - ION Orchard

This is what it looks like. Haven't roamed in it yet. It's right opposite Tangs Orchard/Marriott Hotel, and above Orchard MRT Station.

Thaddeus 1st Birthday Party

Celebrated on 15 Aug 2009 with family and some colleagues.

What Have We Been Up To?

Not in chronological order or frequency.

1. Going on aquarium escapades - our favourite!

- we have visited (repeatedly) for past 2 months - Qianhu Aquarium, Nanyang Sea View Aquarium, 328 (located at Clementi Ave 2)

2. Toured around Kranji area

- Bollywood Veggies - ate at Poison Ivy Bistro with Mum & Dad.

- Hausmann Marketing Aquarium - fed koi, saw the biggest Pacu fish, exotic fish like Arapaima I cannot remember which one was longer - the Pacu or the Arapaima, because it was certainly longer than me! Couldn't take photo cos the pond was too dark!

3. Visited nurseries

I have visited nurseries in the Thomson Road area, Far East Flora at Queenstown and Hort Park.

4. Hung around furniture places

- bought an Ikea 4-drawer cabinet at the "As-Is" bargain section for S$203!

- bought 3 full-back leather dining chairs (Effezeta) for S$69 each at a carpark sale at Castilla!

So many things going on, you can understand why I haven't blogged for a while.

Update on my Fish Inventory

I now have 15 tanks (or sort of "tanks").

2 betta tanks - 4 male betta

1 temp tank - 1 female betta

1 breeder tank - 1 pregnant guppy and 10 fry (not related)

1 hospital tank - 1 sucker fish and 1 guppy

1 tank - 8 guppies

2 temporary tanks - 2 blue lobsters, 2 red lobsters

1 temporary container - 1 shrimp that just moulted

1 small tank - 1 honey gourami, 3 sucker fishes (plecos)

1 small tank - 7 common goldfishes

1 small tank - 6 red-eye tetras

1 mature tank - 1 honey gourami, 1 dwarf red gourami, 2 blue colbalt gourami, 2 pearl gourami, about 18 developing guppies in a breeder unit

1 square tank - 5 glowlight tetras, 6 buenos aires tetra, 6 harlequin rasbora, 2 sucker fish (leaf type), 3 rock shrimps, countless glass shrimps

1 Dymax tank - 2 angelfish, 1 dwarf cichlid, 3 algae-eaters

I feel like I own a fish shop. My kids think it's never enough.

Sophie and her 2 favourite men!

Daddy and Grandpa!

Lunching at Bollywood Veggies' Poison Ivy Bistro on 2 August 2009

Garden is Done!

The garden has been DONE! On the back near the wall, you have a mix of Gardenia and Jasmin sambac plants. Both are flowering plants with white petals that are fragrant if you can get a whiff of it. In the pots you have another plant, which also gives off a lovely fragrance, but I've forgotten the name! They were re-potted and have been in our garden for some time!

Against the other side of my wall, we put red Ixora plants, and Tibouchina which has purple flowers.

Thad and his Favourite Gadget

Yup, Thaddeus has a favourite gadget and it is a TV remote control.

He finds it fascinating that by pointing the control at the TV, the screen can change. So, whenever he gets a hold of it, besides attempting to nimble it around to pacify his teething gums (which I react by freaking out everytime), he would point and aim it at the TV. Sometimes he succeeds in changing the channels. Sometimes, he just wants to hold it.

My Fish Inventory

This is what we now have in our fish tanks. Today's latest editions we had to put in the acrylic round tank (it's not really a fish tank, it was meant to be kitchenware!).

Big Tank = 22 fishes.

- 2 Silver Sharks, 1 Tin Foil, 2 Angel fish, 4 Sucker fish, 4 Longkang fish, 7 orange platy fish, 2 goldfish-like fish

Medium Tank = 27 fishes, 2 snails.

- 2 Pearl Gourami, 2 Thai Gourami, 5 Tetra (black and white), 18 Baby fry (16 guppies, 2 longkang), 2 Orange snails

Dymax Tank = 11 fishes.

- 6 Cherry Barbs, 5 Golden Algae-eaters

Acrylic Round Tank = 6 fishes, 8 snails.

- 4 Baby Angel Fish, 2 Sucker fish, 8 Bumble bee snails

Overhauling the Garden

We recently went to the Plant Nursery in Thomson Rd area and bought a selection of Ixora (S$4 per pot), Gardenia, Tibouchina, and Jasmin Sambac plants so that our front garden does not look so disorganised. Hopefully, they all survive. Apparently, the Jasmin plant needs pesticide every week and within a day of coming back, its leaves were already being chewed by some insect.

Let's see how it goes......

Thaddeus is Scribbling

A first attempt to hold a 'pen' and scribble with the Magna Doodle board.

Thaddeus can now walk around the house with hand support, and even managed to climb up our sofa and our bed all by himself! It's getting dangerous to leave him alone to wander.

He also learnt to shake his head (when we say 'No'), and nod his head (when we say 'Yes'), though it takes a lot of coaxing and the right mood for him to do these on your command!

What is 19-1-2+2?

I think I now have 18 baby fishes.

It was 19, then -1 (because I miscounted), and minus 2 (because I found that 2 had died when I cleaned the tank), and plus 2 (when I suddenly realised that our longkang fish gave birth).

It happened yesterday, when I was staring at the longkang fishes (they are in a separate container from the rest), and then I saw 2 small baby fishes! It was so sad that I found only 2, as I was certain that they should have given birth to quite a number. I thought my baby guppy fishes did a wonderful jump from their 'tank' to the longkang fish 'tank', but realised that these 2 baby fishes are really bigger in size than the baby guppy fishes, and they are a little orange in colour!

Still cannot believe it!

I have 19 babies......

Baby guppies, I mean.

I recently adopted a fishtank of 7 guppies (3 females, 4 males) from my colleague. He already 'delivered' and gave away 1 batch of baby guppies from the 1st pregnant female guppy, and seeing that there was probably another one coming, I segregated the 2nd pregnant guppy on Saturday, and praise God I chose the correct one! Because I came back to work on Monday, not knowing that the guppy had already given birth, and promptly fed the tank as usual...and went about doing my work, as usual.

Then my same colleague walked in to my room, and said that the guppy had already delivered! I was flabbergasted as I didn't see them and suppose it happened during the weekend.

Stay tuned for the guppies' development. I brought them home today. They are so small you can't probably see them if I take a picture.

And Zack said...

"I love you Mummy".

It happened when I tucked him in to sleep and whispered an "I love you" to his ears on Friday. He then replied the above spontaneously to me. I was so happy!

Motherhood is made of such moments!

Trip to Pasir Ris Kids' Kampong

Recently, Ethan had a chance to go to Pasir Ris Kids' Kampong again with his friends, Faith, Li-Yer and En-Yer and her friend. It was hard work for them to try and catch the fishes, and everyone was sweating it out, but Ethan enjoyed the company and the activity very much.

He especially enjoyed touching the carps and letting them 'kiss' his hand.

What's around The Old School

Last month, I had some time to kill, and I had the chance to walk around "The Old School", where MGS used to be.

It is now home to a number of design houses. They also had 2 restaurants/bar, one called 'Timbre' and another called 'Chalk'. I also visited the 2902 Gallery where they were hosting a "The Dimension of the Plane - Communication Design in Germany". There were lots of information on the boards, but I learnt a few new things - there is such a thing as a font book, and the cover design of design books are really fantabulous.

I liked the fact that I was wandering around in a tranquil environment, at leisure and feeling refreshed along the way. This should be the way and I know why the companies decided to put up at this new location. It's very a calming and lovely place to be in. I felt inspired to do creative things.

My Art Pod - Day 4

The 4th lesson for Ethan's holiday Art program at "My Art Pod" features a study about Andy Goldsworthy, and his Land Art.

This is Ethan's version and intepretation of it. Quite cool right?

I especially enjoyed the choice of colour and the art work produced. Ethan said he had a lot of help from Teacher Noc.

The school also has an Art Gallery of Ethan's work. It's something which I haven't seen in other Art schools. They also do Art appreciation as part of the program, so besides completing the art work, Ethan has learnt about the artists as well.

My Art Pod - Day 3

When you are painting on canvas with acrylic paint, and it want it to dry really fast, and Mummy is trying to get out of the carpark within the 10mins grace period, a hairdryer comes in handy.

This is my art piece on the 3rd day at My Art Pod based on what I learnt about Georgia O'Keeffe. She was an American artist who specialises in flowers.

Nobody sees a flower, really, it is so small. We haven't time - and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time. If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small. So I said to myself - I'll paint what I see - what the flower is to me but I'll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it - I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers. ...Well, I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower - and I don't.

- Georgia O'Keeffe

My Art Pod - Day 2

Today, Ethan learnt about Alberto Giacometti, who is a 20th Century Artist, who is remembered for his sculptures.

Here is what Ethan did as part of his Day 2 at The Art Pod. It is small, and about the height of a 30cm ruler.

My Art Pod - Day 1

It's the June holidays for Ethan, and for his 1st long vacation, I took a week off work, to spend time with him.

I enrolled him for an Art holiday program called "I am a Great Artist" at My Art Pod where children will be introduced to 4 artists: Frida Kahlo, Alberto Giacometti, Georgia O Keefee and Robert Laduke. This is a diverse program as children will experience using wires to make sculptures and paint their portraits on canvases using acrylic paints. They will also learn the techniques of perspective drawing as they work together on a group masterpiece replicating Robert Laduke’s ‘Big City’.

On his first day, he learnt about Frida Kahlo, and what I like about this program is that they incorporate art appreciation into the session before actually working on their art piece. You can see that he really enjoyed himself, even though he is the ONLY student enrolled in this program. Well, as long as he enjoys himself!

We spent the second part of Monday afternoon going for a Creative Thinking program which I enrolled him at Cairnhill Community Centre for 3 hours at S$20. He learnt the concepts related to "I M BAD" - I for Imgination, M - Mindmapping, B - Brainstorming, A - Asking questions, D - Dooling. All these are techniques for creative thinking, and the teachers said that he was participative in class and came up with good ideas. Good value for money, I must say.

Aquarama 2009 and a new tank

Aquarama was in Singapore, and we brought the 3 kids to the 11th International Ornamental Fish and Accessories exhibition at Suntec Singapore. Adults need only to pay $8 each, and children below 12 years are FOC.

Ethan, Zack and Sophie were thrilled with the many types of fishes that they had never seen before in the usual neighbourhood aquarium shops. There were shrimps that cost from S$30 each, and pokka-dotted octopus which looked like they were taken straight out of a cartoon strip. You cannot imagine the variety of fishes that we saw all in one place. There were also rows and rows of fishes which had been submitted for competition the day before (trading days only), and who were the winners for each category of fish.

We came out from the exhibition with a new classy looking tank (5litres) from the brand called Mydymax, that had an LED lamp attached to it (really cool looking), which cost us S$65!! We also bought other stuff like fish food, and fish-safe liquid and filter. Didn't buy any fish - it is not exactly the place for you to buy fish....

A few new things I learnt today: I saw what Arowanas look like in their 1st 1-2 weeks from hatching, and 5-6 weeks later. Can you see that they are still attached to the egg pouch?

I realise that tanks can cost S$550+ or more like the one that the boys are looking at here!!! This one has LED lighting, so it apparently costs more due to this reason.

There were fishes large and small, there were tanks light and heavy...

But at the end of the day...it is not the size that matter.

Sophie's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Sophie's 3rd Birthday in school recently, and her cake was a Winx Club one, with fairies on it. She insisted on eating a cake that is with the 'fairy face', so we had to cut out many portions for other kids and teachers first, before we could get to hers.

Well, she gets the privilege since she is the birthday girl.

DuckTours

We went on a DuckTour last Saturday, and the 3 kids had a good time blowing the 'duck whistle' supplied as part of the tour. We went as close as we could near the Merlion and had a duck eyes's view of the Singapore waterfront and financial district, as well as the upcoming Marina Bay Sands resort. It was an experience to be on land and on sea in the same vehicle.

The kids kept themselves pretty glued to the surroundings and waved at every other form of object floating on the water (with people that could waved back), be it a dragonboat, another Ducktour group or people on other crafts or on land.

And now we have many...

Not chicken pox. Fishes.

This is our new aquarium. Soon Guan bought the fish tank on 1 May afternoon, and surprised us with the purchase of 3 sucker fishes on the same day. He had previously bought a batch of fishes which were just orange and white ones (apparently, they are meant to be fish food for the larger fishes like arowanas) a few days ago, and left them in our 'round' tank. Now, they all have a new home.

We are now left with 1 sucker fish. Why? Well, it is a tricky feat to balance the water composition whenever we are changing water for the tank. The 2 sucker fishes died possibly due to insufficient de-chlorination when we changed the tank water.

Today, he bought 5 tiger barbs (Zack's request) and 5 angel fishes (Ethan's request), plus 2 plants. Now, our tank is so full, I had to put aside the 2nd plant that we bought, cos there is not enough space in the tank! Now, they are doing OK, and even though the water looks murky, we don't dare to change it just yet!

P/S. We saw the doc today, and he has certified that Ethan can go back to school tomorrow! Hooray! He didn't have any new chicken pox 'sprouting out' since Wednesday, so they are all dried up by now. All in all, his pox started since Tuesday, and Monday would be his 7th day. The teacher would be surprised to see him back.

2 more cases of Chicken Pox

Ethan and Thaddeus got the chicken pox - exactly 2 weeks after Sophie got hers. The doc says it's about 2 weeks incubation and it was just about right.

Interesting thing is, Ethan actually had his vaccination, so we were surprised he got it. He has no fever, and has fewer spots (though not little, but fewer compared to Sophie). I was told that those who had the vac are not guaranteed 100% immunity, so if they did get it, it is not so bad.

Sigh.

And then there were none...

All the fishes died on Tuesday. None remained.

What I Did on My Birthday

For those of you who don't know, yes, I look like I am 3o years' old, and I feel younger than that actually. This is the cake that SG bought to celebrate my birthday - a Strawberry ice-cream cake from Swensen's.

After breakfast at Chinatown, we headed straight for Pasir Ris Kid's Kampong, which Ethan & Sophie had gone before as a field trip when they were both in Eager Beaver. We found our way there, and here are some pics to go. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and we brought back at least 30 fishes (Ethan had 16, Sophie had 10, and Zack had >10).

The good thing about this place is that after you catch the fish in a 'longkang'-type stream and it is designed in such a way that young kids can simply move around the stream. It is a tedious task catching the smart fish! Once you are done, you can bag them and bring your catch home! So, we had 3 bags - 1 for each child! Next, you get to feed the fishes with the fish food provided (in a separate feeding area), and if daring enough, you can let the fishes kiss you. Zack even touched a number of them.....they were so excitable fish! There were also some geese and rabbits in some enclosures in the area for kids to see. It was like a mini-farm.

The fishes are now temporarily housed in a transparent plastic container we found at home. Daddy bought a pump so that they can survive at least a few more days. It hasn't been 2 hours, and I can already smell the water! Eeeks...have to think of a solution - the kids love it so much. We couldn't change the water, because we didn't buy the de-cholrinating drops, so we can't possibly put them in freshwater!

Anyway, I must say for $10 each kid, and $4 for the pail and net set, it was a worthwhile investment to see the kids enjoy themselves so much. Check out the pictures.

Sophie has the Chicken Pox!

I can't bear to take a picture of Sophie. She went to school on Monday with a pimple just above her lips, and teacher Margaret saw it (in her routine check), and asked me about it. I told her it was a pimple and that it was healing, and nothing to it. There was only 1.

On Tuesday, I was about to send Sophie to school, and when I got out of the car outside her school and removed her seat-belt, I saw that she had a few more spots on her neck, and on a hunch, I checked her body and found out that she had more spots! It was chicken pox!

I brought her to the doctor, and by the time we saw the doctor (no. 16 on the queue), she had more spots popping out which I had not seen earlier the same morning. It was terrible. Today is day 5, and she seems to be at maximum 'pop'. It was only today that I realised that she didn't have any chickenpox vaccination taken (I thought all along that I had given her the vaccine!!!). Well, I checked her health booklet and she hadn't. I felt so bad for her. The doc said that if she had taken the vaccine, it wouldn't be that bad, and that she would only get some spots. She has it everywhere - literally.....even her tongue and lips! The anti-itch medicine doesn't seem to be working much......

My only consolation is that she is getting it now than later. I hear that kids have less chance of scaring if they get it very young...not sure how true that is......

Crossing my fingers now, and wondering if the boys will get the pox - doc says it takes 1 week to incubate. Infectious period is 5 days before pox appears and 5 days from onset (until pox dries up). Thaddeus is most susceptible since he has no vaccine...the big boys had theirs.

Zachary's 5th Birthday

I bought him a cake to celebrate Zack's birthday in his school. It was a 2kg "Lightning McQueen" vanilla sponge with fresh cream cake. Yummy!

Ethan is Assistant Monitor

It is Term 2 in ACS (P), and Ethan has been appointed to be the Asst Monitor in his Pri 1B class. Last term, he was Locker Monitor - so cute. He is the person that ensures that all the kids get help when they are at the lockers - either opening the lock, or putting things in or taking things out, etc etc.

His form teacher mentioned to the parents during our orientation, that all the children in class will have a turn to be a leader in some way.

So, it is a privilege to be an Asst Monitor, because only 4 students will get this chance (1 per term).