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!

10 Things About Jules

10 things you may want to know about Julianne Foo 

1) Is still not sleeping through the night - God must have known cos I never like sleeping or napping.  But one nice long sleep in two years would be nice.  

2) Remains exclusively breastfed for her three milk feeds a day.

3) If she had her way, she will have dried mangoes, cashew nuts and gummies for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  

4) The only Chinese word she can say is 孔龙 (dinosaur) - thanks to Ni Hao Kai Lan.

5) Is able to walk around steadily in 4" heels - definitely got those genes from me.  

6) Has a deep love for Woody and Buzz from Toy Story which is kinda cool. 

7) Hates peas but loves her green leafy veggies especially 小白菜 and spinach.    

8) Can tolerate spicy food.  She'll stick out her tongue and start panting but will still ask for more. 

9) Is a neat freak.  She bosses us to put our shoes in the correct place when we get home and she'll insist that things be placed in their original position if you re-arrange them.  Am proud of her - her neatness puts us to shame.   

10) Is ambidextrous.  She writes with her right hand but self feeds with her left.  

Jules at 2 years 1 week! 

When Mondays aren't blue

We're on leave today with nothing specifically planned for the day. I have tons of leave to clear and the hubs just decided he'll stay home with me and Baby J. It's nice sleeping in on a Monday knowing we have the entire day just to laze. But those who know me know that 'laze' doesn't exist in my vocabulary. Yes even at 32 weeks pregnant, I find it hard to 'just laze'. So here's what I've been up and about doing since 730am.

• Prepared a breakfast of oatmeal for the recovering-from-pulse surgery father
• Went for a nice brisk walk while the hubs did his 5km run
• Made oatmeal for the hub's breakkie
• Organised Baby J's newly laundered clothes and brought out her socks and hats for the wash
• Went out to get the father a swimming float to sit on. We ended up with a yellow tweety bird float which I think Sophie can use when she's back
• Mixed flour, butter, eggs, mash bananas and choc chip together and made a yummilicious banana choc chip loaf. I think Baby J liked it alot cos when I had it for tea, she was dancing big time!
• Put together the parma ham we bought yesterday, brie cheese, olives and semi dried tomatoes to feed a greedy father, husband and cheese-crazy sister. Of course, I had no share in the said lunch. I was happy with left over lasagna from last night's Peperoni take out
• Indulged the hubs by playing model so that he can perfect his studio photography skills with all the gadgets he bought. He did create some really awesome pregnancy shots though! He's been told he'll be billed in the form of night-feeds

Yap, so it wasn't quite a 'just laze' day. Not that I'm complaining. It was nice just doing mindless things that I enjoy. If the number of kicks she gave me was anything to go by, I think Baby J had a good day too knowing that she didn't have to go to work with Mama but spent the day at home with her Papa, Yiyi and Gong-gong.

Yes, our little girl loves being home and she knows it when she is.

Winding down

Every year we find ourselves lamenting how fast the year has passed. How it seemed liked yesterday that we ushered into the New Year. For me, I'm just glad we'll be in September in a couple of days. The past months has had its share of excitement, moments of anxiety and fear mixed with days of contentment, peace and thankfulness. Its like a whole multitude of different feelings all concocted together. It's hard to explain.

While coping with all that emotions not forgetting all that hormonal changes taking place, I had to make sure I continued giving my best at work. The last thing I wanted my colleagues to say was that I wasn't doing my job well just because of my pregnancy. It was the perfectionist in me at work - not always a good thing. I'm thankful that I pulled through. August and the months leading up to it was just crazy with a $24 million budget to defend for and a mega career fair to handle. At some point, with all that stress, I was so afraid I was going into preterm labour! I had to constantly remind myself of what my sister said - that some stress is OK for baby!

With the toughest months at work now behind me, I can finally breathe. I'm determined to take September easy preparing my hand-over to my colleague who'll be taking over my portfolio and generally just not freaking out over work. Our EDD is end October but with quite a fair bit of leave to clear, I'll be pretty much staying home for the entire month waiting for Baby J's appointed hour. By God's perfect timing, the management decided too that it was time for my next internal posting so I won't be coming back to my current division after I return from maternity leave. That helps a deal knowing that at least I don't have to spend my 4 months of maternity fretting over the mountain of work to catch up on when go back to work!

So as Baby J approaches 32 weeks in a couple of days, Mama too is starting to wind down at work. I'm so looking forward to my 4 months of leave and even more excited knowing that I'll be spending it with our precious little pumpkin!

National day 2011 in photos

National day 2011 in photos, a photo by pz.sher on Flickr.

So here's how we spent our National Day ....

• skype with the birthday girl who happily showed the world her purple helmet and telling us she's sophie and that she's 2!
• a lazy breakkie of kaya toast and soft boiled eggs
• seeing grandpa and the dada sweat over fixing up baby J's car seat
• yummy lunch with the grandparents, aunts and godbrothers who're finally back for their break. we also had a cake for all the 4 august babies
• shopping for baby J's cot but didn't find a suitable one.
• picked up dad's birthday present
• staring at my tummy for long moments in amazement as I see baby J's kicks and movements. she almost scared her yiyi sam yesterday with a big wave she created!
• helping sam - who thinks she's giada - prepare roasted tomatoes to go along with our takeaway pizza dinner
• tuning in the the NDP and thanking God for where the nation is today
• turning in soon and feeling relaxed knowing that i'm on leave tomorrow!!

My last weekend of January

Here's how I spent the last weekend of January . . .

1. Gave myself a pre CNY pamper at the eye lash bar
2. Revamped my room. We got a new clothe stand, scented drawer liners and I doubled my wardrobe space with this ingenious conception - a double hang closet rod. The hubs no longer has to share his side of the wardrobe with me!
3. Spring cleaned my room, threw out lots of stuff I've been hoarding all these years and packed aside clothes I haven't worn in the past year. There were some I really couldn't bear to throw so my cousin shall be inheriting them.
4. Made our annual pilgrimage to Chinatown. The rain stayed away for a brief hour or so while we were there. Commercial as things have become, I still do look forward to joining in the festive mood year after year.
5. Snuggled under the blankkie on a rainy Saturday with the hubs and finished all current episodes of Modern Family. The show is addictive and hilarious! I love Gloria!
6. Busked at the thought of a long weekend cos I got to spend my Monday at Universal Studios on a division retreat instead of returning to work!
7. Skyped with Sophie and watched her entertain us with her 'Jingle Bells' and 'Gong Xi Gong Xi' at the same time. (ya, she's a little behind time with her Christmas Carols!)

It was a relaxing weekend and I felt accomplished with my mini revamped room! You should see how I was showing it off to everyone - though dad wasn't impressed cos his wardrobe already came built in with the double hang rod 18 years ago!

Time Out

For the first time in the week, I got to knock off before the sun set yesterday. It was a rough week at work. I don't recall Januarys being this busy. What happen to 'people still on holiday mood' or the 'pre CNY mood aka no mood to work'? Started the week being told by the boss that I now have to take on a new sector - Finance. And as if Early Childhood and Finance aren't different enough sectors, the personality differences among my staff are now even more diverse. Help me God.

So to make up for a lousy week at work (and to make me feel better about having to work the next day, yes a Saturday - for the 3rd time this month), the sweet hubs brought me on some retail therapy. With CNY round the corner, no better reason than to be pampered with a new wardrobe. I'm loving the new line of clothes at Tangs - simple and structured design, no prints just great colours! Simple was the order after the day after splurging on my Shanghai Tang cheongsam last year. So I picked up a simple coral-coloured dress for the New Year and a sapphire-blue dress for work. The little sis gets a cute cheongsam blouse embellished with little buttons - perfect for the more casual 2nd day of the CNY. Of course, no CNY is complete without new shoes! Ditched the 4" this year for a humble 1" blue sandal - a perfect match to my coral dress! With the dresses in order, my CNY is finally on its way to coming together! Cookies collection next week - looking forward to my kueh bangkit!!

Another rough week awaits me ahead. I just need to get through next week where I have two very important meetings scheduled before I can take a breather at least to enjoy my CNY. I sometimes wish work was more forgiving - life would be alot better that way.

Hello 2011!

I end 2010 with mixed feelings. It wasn't exactly a year that I'll like to re-live though our recent family holiday to Ann Arbor and Chicago added a sweet note to an otherwise forgettable year. Here's a glimpse of my 2010 ...

• Visited 7 cities across 6 States over 4 trips to the US, making 2 trips to LA, Ann Arbor and Chicago. The rest being Pittsburgh, Seattle, San Francisco and New York. Before you think "what fun!", half of them were work trips!
• Took on so much more at work I should demand a raise. There was a period I was hugging my laptop to bed, dozing off while working late into the night - not funny!
• Lost my grand-ma to kidney failure but takes heart that she's in a better Place.
• Had Sophie greet me with the biggest of grins a then 8 months old could give her Yiyi after a 30 hour journey.
• Then heard Sophie call "Yiyi" for the first time at 16 months. The heart melts.
• Lost someone so precious but have came to accept that God has better plans. We can only continue to pray and trust that all things will be beautiful in His time.
• Overcame challenges in leading the CG and give thanks that despite so many of them moving away for studies and the guys being away at NS, we made things happen for Christ. After serving for 8 years, I take a break from leading CG in 2011. I hope I've taught them well, now it's their time to serve.
• Saw my dearest cousin Desiree exchange marriage vows and couldn't be more happy for her!
• Started to take better care of myself - Brands Chicken Essence rocks - and was reunited with my friend "Beef". My blood cells thanks me.
• Saw my younger sis step up for Christ and command Youth Camp 2010. That made me very proud of her.

So you can probably understand better now why 2010 was pretty much a hit and miss. I don't know what my 2011 will be, I just know that each day of my 2011 will be in God's hands and His plans are far greater than what I can imagine. For every hit, there's much to give thanks, every miss is a lesson in His plans.

Blessed 2011 everyone!

World's Coolest Grandpa!

This is how cool our grand-pa can get!!!

An ipad each for every Koh family!!! Woot woot!!!!

Weekend Talks

For posterity .....

A) Over lunch @ P.S Cafe, on taking on your husband's name

Me: Do you know that when you talk your husband's family name, you should take his entire names as well? So technically, I should be Mrs Foo PZ not Mrs S Foo.

Sam: Eee, Foo goes better with a Chinese name

Mum: Who say so, you got Grace-foo, Beauty-foo, Wonder-foo

Me & Sam: :o

B) In the car, on convincing mum to get a dog for Sam

Sam: You know I almost convinced mum to get a dog yesterday

Me: Oh really! How so?

Sam: I told her she can take the dog for walks (our mum is into a walking phase at the moment) and she was like 'oh yeah!' ... then after that she say 'No lah no lah - who's going to look after'

Me: Mei, you sure you can take care?

Hubs: Ya, you have to walk the dog *everyday*, rain or shine

Sam: Just get a threadmill and let it run on it lah!

Me & hubs: :o

C) In the car, on what Sam's going to do with her life

Sam: I really don't know what I want to do with my life

Me: You should go be a journalist

Sam: No way, I'm not going to wake up at 4am and go down to some scene to report a news

Me: Maybe you should be a civil servant too, both your sisters got Civil Service blood. Continue the tradition.

Sam: No way,I can't imagine myself as a teacher or doing some office job

Hubs: I know, I know what you can do - go work in SPCA (see B)

Me & Sam: :o

Things that made my week . . .

Work really has been quite quite insane. We're clocking in 12-13 hours everyday and on top of that, we continue working after we get home. While work may be crappy, some things made my day the past week that reminded me that sometimes, we just need to slow down, put work behind and enjoy life and the people around us .... So here's what made my week (in no particular order)

• being reminded at service today that I worship an awesome God who's far far bigger than all my work stress put together!
• relaxing with the hubs over episodes of Glee - all that dancing and singing takes away all that thought of work in my mind
• getting myself a nice big order on Etsy for a bride who liked my daisy button place-cards enough for me to create them for her wedding!
• pampering myself at the eye lash bar and treating the little sister to a relaxing mani pedi session before her church camp
• receiving news that my darling cousin is finally getting married!!! finally all four of us are settled down!
• making space in the store room for a new pair of 4 inch heels - this time, its a nude pair for Zara! Its the only thing I told myself I'll get during this GSS.
• being appreciated by one of my kids for the support that I've given her as she goes through a rough patch
• seeing dad and mum share a stick of magnum ice-cream after our pizza dinner @ Pepperoni's and how that lead to dad cracking us up with his usual 'embarrassing' mischiefs and to top it all,
• being entertained by the cutest 10 month old kiddo not just once but twice in a day! that's precious man!! seeing that 'happy face' of hers is enough to take all that stress away!!

What made your week?

My Saturday . . .

• chomped on a prata kosong for breakfast. yummy!
• read all about our former DPM Goh Keng Swee's contribution in the ST
• packed up my room in anticipation of mummy's return tomorrow
• registered for an ebay account cos I'm contemplating selling off some of my clothes (to make room for new ones naturally)
• brought the younger sister out for some wantan mee fix @ Roxy where she and the hubs discussed her GP essay - "Should freedom of speech be constricted?"
• rented some videos from Video Easy
• napped
• worked out at the gym alone cos the hubs was too lazy to come along
• came home to freshly squeezed orange juice
• went to Made with Love to replenish our scrapbook stash and got 25% off our entire purchase!
• chomped on really good pizza, squid ink pasta and fried mozzarella cheese wrapped with parma ham @ Pepperoni's at Greenwood!
• had fun seeing the hubs and the younger sister battle it out over Angry Birds on the iphone - they are obsessed!
• watched the younger sister finish her first Pina Colada only to see her knock out in the car from all that rum!
• came home and made her some Trader Joe's Bedtime tea - hopefully that will cure that mild hang-over
• set the alarm for 4.30am tomorrow morning to welcome my parents home! we've been told lots of Hokkaido chocolate awaits us!

Air Time

I calculated. I spent 87 hours and 30 mins of my past 1 month flying.

So here's how I survived . . .

• a good book
  
• my ipod with
  
• the hub's Bowers & Wilkins noise canceling headphones
• emergency exit row seats!
• my Muji neck pillow
• absence of crying babies
• aromatherapy scented eye mask
  
• Professor Layton on my Ninetendo DS
• loads of orange juice
• my very own Trader Joe's peanut butter sandwich - by the 36th hour of flying, I was going to puke just seeing another box with an aluminum foil cover!

To the cuz out there, if you're reading this, I hope you survived yours!

Home

After 18 hours of flying, a 4 hours transit and a plate of tuna sushi set and negitoro maki at Narita, we are finally home. The very first thing I consumed - a bottle of yakult from our ever stocked-up fridge. Came home to a chilled room, new linens and heated bathe - our helper Jess is the best!

Breakfast this morning was a packet of good old nasi lemak with otah. This is our default next day's breakfast after arriving home from a long trip! We are surprisingly doing very well coping with our jet-lag - Melatonin rocks! Managed to unpack, repack, slot in a quick touch up at the eye-lash bar, pick the younger neglected sister up from school, chomped on popiah for lunch and am now pampering my badly dried out skin with SKII moisturising mask. My skin is definitely not happy with the US and airplane air!

Come tomorrow, I brave myself for another 23 hours of flying and bad airplane food. Thank God for mothers with good connections at SQ - I managed to secure a emergency exit seat! I think I'm going to be terribly home-sick by the end of my 2 week work trip! New York City, here I come!

My weekend in bullets

• Did work at 7am on a Saturday morning! - I'm officially crazy
• Got my 1st Hep A + B shot
• Treated my folks & sister to the best chirashizushi @ Yoshida! (although according to the younger Koh, the uni still can't compare to Japan's sushi-zanmai)
• Got myself 3 pairs of leggings at Uniqlo's weekend 'Leggings Special'
• Heard from the hubs the life story of our hairdresser! Apparently he's celebrating the 20th anniversary of his very special life this year in style - a holiday to New York & Vegas.
  
• Was told that I have features that scream 'She's a Teochew ah niah'
• Packed suitcase A for holiday to Ann Arbor & Chicago!!Yippeeee!!!
  
• Packed suitcase B for work trip to NY, Pittsburgh, LA, San Fran & Seattle. Not so yippeee.
• Curl up under my blankkie watching DVD on a rainy Saturday afternoon
• Woke up at 6am on Sunday, this time for a nice 6km run
  
• Celebrated YeYe's 87th Birthday! 7 children, 5 children in-laws, 17 grandchildren, 5 grandchildren in-laws and 7 great grandchildren. Definitely what they call 'hang fuk' in Cantonese! (translation: blessed and fortunate)
• Vacuumed the car cos the hubs was too lazy to do it
• Had home-cooked Teochew muay (read porridge with tua guay, fried fish and fried egg with chye poh) for dinner, the kind of comfort food after a weekend of feasting and before the next 1 month of what I imagine to be greasy American food!
  

Mission Kueh Bangkit

Our Sunday saw me go into a frenzy over finding Mr Harry's Nonya Kueh shop. If I could only have one Chinese New Year cookie, then it has to be kueh bangkit. Not any kueh bangkit, only Harry's! Kueh bangkit is a light coconut cookie made from tapioca flour. Its hard to the bite but the good ones should melt in your mouth. I remember how when we were kids, my sister and I use to help my mum make rooster-shaped kueh bangkit and we'll dot each cookie with a little red dot to represent the rooster's eyes!

So back to my story. We headed to Joo Chiat on Saturday evening intending to get our yearly supply of kueh bangkit from Uncle Harry's Nonya shop only to find that an Everything With Fries cafe had taken over! Sigh, another victim of the cafe culture! Disappointment was an understatement. I considered making do with the ones from a competitor - Glory - but theirs were hard and bland, I couldn't bring myself to waste $10 on a bottle.

I spent a good part of Sunday searching for leads on where Mr Harry may have moved to only to find a cyber geek's post on Hardware Zone asking if anyone knew where Harry had gone. Convinced by mid afternoon that Mr Harry has called it a day altogether, I reluctantly picked up a bottle of kueh bangkit while visiting Chinatown only because (a) the lady boss promised me it was melt-in-your-mouth material and (b) it was a reputable shop in Chinatown so how bad could it be! We put it to the test immediately on the car ride home - everyone agreed it was OK, it did melt in our mouths but something was just not the same.

Still undeterred by the fact I already had a bottle of kueh bangkit at home, I continued on my cyber search. God must have known how much I wanted my bottle of Harry's kueh bangkit cos I eventually stumbled onto a post in Juicy & Delicious reminiscing about the closure of Mr Harry's shop. While reading, it appeared clear that Uncle Harry had decided to call it a day . To my absolute delight, she provided a contact at the end of her post! The rest, they say is history. By 8pm, after more than 24 hours of searching, I was reunited with my kueh bangkit - now there's meaning to my Chinese New Year again!

Getting my Priorities straight

From time to time, the hubs and I like to think about how we want to do up our apartment after we shift in. Not that we'll be moving in anytime soon, but its just one of those silly things we talk about. And so being me, I've also been telling him how I visualise the master-bed room in every possible configuration to see if we can indulge myself in a walk-in wardrobe.

Today, while reading the Sunday papers, he laughed to himself and proudly exclaimed that he found a solution and that I just might have my walk-in afterall . . .

Not amused! :p