Updates!

Honestly don't know where the past three months went to.  Our lives have been busy with a fair bit of activities and development, I couldn't find time to update this blog.

I miss writing my monthly letters to Jules but she's up to so much lately, I'm just savouring the moments as they are being presented to me rather than dismissing her aside and spending time penning them down.

So here's to sum up our past months . . .

• Jules has settled amazingly well into school.  She's spent an entire term plus 2 weeks and if what we saw at our recent parents-teachers meeting was anything to go by, I think our daughter truly loves school.  Work aside, it was seeing how she was so totally at ease in her classroom with her teachers and how she so spontaneously went up to hug her Chinese teacher even though she was in the midst of talking to other parents that gave me all the assurance that she was learning in a very positive environment.  Jules is quite selective with her hugs, so seeing how she related to her teachers that day meant a lot to me.  She also had a bunch of little kids literally running towards her shouting "Julianne" the moment they saw her.  It says a lot about her social skills and I'm glad she's not having any issues with that.  Seeing the other happy kids around school that day also reaffirmed our decision to sending Jules there and I'm sure it'll also help set the foundation to her faith especially since she's still too young for our church's sunday school programme. 

• We are expecting a new addition to the family come October!  We're of course very excited about it but I'll be honest and say that second time round, I've definitely taken a lot of things easier - especially on the food department.  A few sips of coffee here and there, bubble tea runs, sushi (aburi style to lessen the guilt) - I've done it all.  Also holding back on buying stuff since we'll just be using what we have - cot, stroller, play pen etc.  About the only thing we probably need to get is a rocker - which learning from our experience with Jules, we will try not to introduce unless desperate.  

• With the pregnancy, I'm officially off my breast pump.  Having been exclusively breastfeeding Jules for almost 27 months, my supply dipped drastically after our Hong Kong trip, around 8 weeks or so and I just felt it was pointless to continue pumping.  We slowly and with much struggle successfully transited Jules to soy formula - restorting to spoon feeding her even.  Thankfully she's good with it now although I still nurse her about twice a day with whatever milk I possibly have and I foresee for however long my growing belly can accommodate her nursing position.

• My aunt fell really ill but is thankfully by God's grace coping with her illness really well.  She's also responding well to the treatment and I know her faith is keeping her strong.  In the early days of the news, she started giving away her valuables to us - and that single act just made me very sad.  But I'm glad the family came together, rallied around her and gave her all the support she needed.  I'm sure that gave her a lot of hope and strength to fight the race and I know our God will never fail.  I remember it was Mothers' Day.  The hubs was transferring my late grandfather's collection of cassette recordings of holidays he took on his cam-corder to his laptop.  I stumbled upon a video of a Europe trip I took with my late grandfather, late uncle and my aunt some 15 years ago.  It brought back a lot of memories of my grandfather and uncle.  And with my aunt in her current condition, I couldn't help but started to cry.  Jules took a tissue, came up to me, dried my tears and said "Mama, don't cry.  It's OK.  I'm here OK?".  That probably made me cry even harder and it was without a doubt the best Mothers' Day present I could ask for.  Words from a 2.5 year old kid - it was just too much for me.  

• With the arrival of Baby #2 (we're still a little undecided on names but it's likely to be Baby O), we're also preparing for a big change come year end.  (more on that at a opportune time) but for now, let's just say we're all very excited about the change.  I'm hoping it happens before Baby arrives so that we can somewhat settle into a routine of sorts without having to cope with so many changes at one time - but we'll see how the timing all pans out.  

So the past few months have been pretty eventful, a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me but always so filled with God's unfailing love and grace.  I stand amaze. 

We're so glad to be in this journey together with Him who's always so Great.  

Have a wonderful weekend folks!