Blessings from Above

we usually have our reunion dinner with our respective families earlier and take off for a short getaway during CNY as dh hardly has any opportunity to take leave during the year (he goes to work even when he is unwell and on mc). after much deliberation, we decided to travel to hong kong/macau to see how other 'chinese' cities celebrate CNY, which on the hindsight was a great decision (we booked our holiday in sept) since i'm still in the 1st trimester and really shouldn't be doing long distance/3rd world country travellling. we really packed light this trip as compared to previous ones - one luggage for ALL our barangs (it was less than 23kg) and we didn't even bring along the stroller which is a mighty amazing accomplishment considering that we had to bring along li'l one's cooker, food, diapers and multiple change of clothes + winter wear for everyone! i believe it was the cold weather that 'helped' increase li'l one's appetite as she

GONG XI FA CAI everyone! hope that CNY has been great for everyone so far! we are still in stanley ho's land and i'm overloaded with 'wanton mien' - probably something i'm not going to touch/order for the next one month! the weather is fantastic (i *love* cold!) and its great to be enjoying quality time with dh and li'l one - this will probably be our last vacation in a long while unless we can squeeze in one more trip in my 2nd trimester (and i'm thinking 'taipei'! right now) we'll be on our flight back tonight and photos will be coming up soon!

some time last week, this article came out in the local papers - the queensland tourism board is looking for someone to be a care-taker for one of the islands on the great barrier reef ! within hours of news break, the site crashed due to overwhelming response! if this position came about a couple of years back, i would jump at the opportunity! afterall, who in the right mind will reject a pay packet of A$150,000 for 6 months, with paid accommodation, transport and return airfare - mainly to blog about the fantastic island living?!?! i love the gorgeous beaches, relaxing lifestyle and mind-boggling number of activities available down under... go apply for the job, if you don't have a care in the world and dun mind being paid that obscene amount of money to enjoy yourself for 6 months!

we were unable to see baby #2 during the 1st visit scans as there were 'interference' with the signals - even the heartbeat was inaudible - and as a result, i was worried for 2 weeks! fortunately, we had clear scans today - Dr Tan even did the 4D scans and gave us a copy of our li'l caterpillar. he claims that he will be able to tell us the gender at our next appt in 4 weeks' time! :) here's what baby #2 looks like at 9w3d... heartbeat : 167bpm size : 4.09cm

the original intention was to have li'l one go for playgroup twice a week when i need to go office so we enrolled her in the school, got the new uniforms and even paid the fees. this was her on the 1st day of (play) school - so happy and at ease - i felt very relieved that she took to 'school' so well! she actually woke up on time and the 1st thing she said was - 'go school, go school!'... but i believe that having a familiar face around definitely helps! UNFORTUNATELY, the weekend after the 1st 2 days of 'school', her grandma (婆婆〕was shoved at a crowded place, fell and broke her thigh bone as a result. after several days of consideration, i decided to delay school by another term or two so that i can go over to take care of mom until she gets better.

we have 3 months more to our zoo membership so we will have to fully utilize it - since the weather was wonderful, i managed to convince daddy tan to bring us to the zoo today. my intention was to check out the newly opened 'kidzworld'. i like it - the facilities look really fun and i definitely will bring li'l one to come back and play on a weekday (so that its not crowded). we also took the newly opened boat ride - surprisingly, we had the whole boat to ourselves despite being a crowded sunday at the zoo!

since we stay in such close proximity to the airport, it is one of our fav. haunts - there's aircon (for hot days), good selection of food choices and plenty of space for li'l one to run around - what's not to like? we decided to have our breakfast there and also take the opportunity to bring li'l one to check out the mickey mouse display that so many of her friends have already gone to visit. see how happy she was to take photo with the mickey mouse!