~It's SummerTime!!~

A new beginning...

2011-10-12T07:49:00.003+08:00

Yes, I am back home safely. Thanks to the kind friends who had read my blog and sent me wishes through fb, sms and all. I do truly appreciate your concern and I promise I will be fine. I always will.

So, I guess after the operation, it means I'm moving on and it's a brand new start in my life. Likewise, I guess my blog should have a new beginning too. So, to all my faithful blog readers, the bad news is I won't be posting on this blog anymore. (Ok, I might, just to say hi when I'm bored or write some jibberish). The good news is I will be moving on to a new one.

My new blog site is: http://ahappymum.blogspot.com/

Yesh, I came up with the name before the miscarriage, of course. But nonetheless, I will always want to stay positive and be the cheerful summer that I used to be. So, a happy mum is the perfect word to describe me albeit the hurdles I had to cross in the past, now, or in the future. Everyone has, at some point in their lives.

Anyway, while I am still in the midst of chronicling and re-writing some of the important past events of my life, I think my new blog is ready to be published at the same time. New features of my blog include:

- Larger, clearer, nicer pictures
- Blog labels that categorize my postings for easy reading
- Comment box after each post (do leave some comment/feedback to motivate me in doing what I do if you like reading it)
- A facebook 'like' button after every post (if you are shy to comment, at least you can 'like' my post)
- Separate pages to devote space for my passion like art and craft, video making and my beloved baby

I promise I will be diligent and update it frequently, ok? I will also be writing up more on my first ever operation and more updates about my life here in Sweden. Cheers and enjoy reading!

Thank you for supporting It's SummerTime, no matter who you are, no matter where you stay!

I've gotta be strong..

2011-10-10T00:23:00.008+08:00

So, I decided to summarize my story here.

Here I am, sitting in front of my laptop as I typed this. I am not allowed to have any food or drinks, I am mentally preparing myself for what's going to happen in a couple of hours, I am still somewhat in denial over what happened.

The truth is as of today, I am 9 weeks pregnant. I still am, because my pregnancy hormones are increasing. The thing is, the doctors told me that my little baby was gone as early, or even earlier than, when I was 6 weeks pregnant. How could it be? I felt more pregnant than my first pregnancy, I had all the symptoms still and even my tummy was starting to show. Jw said that my 2-month old tummy this time looked like my 4-month old tummy previously! We were starting to think of names for our baby, guessing the gender, thinking of where to put the cot, and visualising our last summer hols in Sweden next year as a family of 4!

If not for the few drops of spotting I had at 6w2d, which the midwife actually told me it was nothing to worry and I did not need to go to the hospital, (which I did not heed and insisted on an ultrasound at the A&E), I would still be thinking that I am 9w pregnant now because there were subsequently no signs.

Which was why I told myself to cling on to the hope I have in my heart. The hope I got from reading so many other pregnant mums out there who got misdiagnosed or whose babies showed up only after 8-9 weeks. I waited. One week. Two weeks. Three weeks. I had a total of 4 u/s and all the doctors only verified my worst nightmare.

Sadly, my gestational sac is still empty as of today. Despite it is growing (at a super slow rate) and that my placenta and other pregnancy tissues are forming too. Yes, can you believe it? The only thing missing is a foetus, which alone should measure roughly 2.7cm by now and my sac alone wasn't even 2 cm.

I officially have a blighted ovum. It happens when a fertilized egg implants in the uterus but the resulting embryo stops developing very early or doesn't form at all. Since the gynae said that she believed I did have an embryo, just that it stopped developing, it meant that I did have, but lost, a baby.

There's pretty nothing much anyone can say now that will make me feel better. Yes, I have made peace with this matter and my tears have stopped. Everyone can say things like "At least you are young and can try again", "What matters is you are safe", "Things like that happen around the world", "It probably wasn't meant to be". BUT, the truth is that it still happened to me and nonetheless of how many kids I might have in future, it doesn't alter the sad fact that I just lost my baby. Do you understand? Maybe you will know my grief, if you have been through the same plight. If there was one thing I can remove from this world, it would be miscarriages. All mums deserve to have a safe, happy, healthy kid at the end of every pregnancy.

If you know me, I am such a sentimental, emotional and idealistic person which is why this blow is such a harsh one in my face. And my heart, it is bleeding. For now, I am just hoping that the operation goes smoothly later and tomorrow will be a brand new start. Yes, I'm heeding the doctor's advice, finally, to have a minor operation to let them perform a suction to extract all my pregnancy tissues, placenta and whatever that is. I know I have to get myself out of that denial state sooner or later, no matter how unwilling I am. For the first time, I'm going to be knocked out by general anesthesia and lie on the operating bed.

Well, the only one who can console me best now is probably Angel. She hugged me when I cried, she patted my tummy and still told me to be careful of baby, she smiled at me and seemed to tell me that things will be all right soon. She is also the reason why I want to keep myself strong, keep myself safe, keep myself positive. I still have this lovely little girl to look after and even when my world comes tumbling down, she will always be there with me, giving me faith, hope and strength.

To my hubby, sorry for putting you through this ordeal. I know we are both tormented by this waiting game and devastated by the fact that even our last ray of hope was demolished today. Let's hope that the operation goes smoothly later and this matter will have a closure and enable us to move on, ok? I will be fine, I promise.

To the baby I once had but lost, please know that mummy loves you with all she has and always will.

May a miracle happen..

2011-10-02T17:32:00.002+08:00

Hi, I am currently going through what I would say is the toughest period of my life so far in all my 28 years.

All I can do is to cling on to that possibly 0.01% of hope and wish with all my heart that a miracle does happen.

So, I will likely be taking a break from blogging for a while, but will definitely be back to write my story and more updates about my life.

Till then, please pray for me and wish me luck. Cheers!

It's the time of the apple again!

2011-09-27T07:19:00.001+08:00

It was the Äpplemarknaden in the town of Kivik over the last weekend. Again.

It's actually amazing how year passes after year. This was my 3rd apple festival already! The first was even before I was preggie, the second was last year when Angel was a 10-month old infant who had to be pushed around in a stroller, now this time she is a 22-month old toddler who loves to run about. That mean she could finally pick her own apples too!

Angel just got her haircut. By me. Notice how our hair look similar? Jw keeps saying we look like ah tuk. Nerdy. Fine, next time you cut for her, okie dear? =)

She definitely had more fun this year. Like how she drank near 4 cups of apple juice samples, tasted a apple hamburger even touched the apple portrait made out of 35,000 apples.

One of the highlights was still the apple picking session, where this time she could run about the orchard and choose for herself the apples she liked to pick. Well, she usually chose the lousy ones.

The weather was also great on that Sunday afternoon, a bright warm sun against clear blue skies. This might jolly well be our last apple festival, so I really cherished every bit of it. Oh, we also bought 6 cartons of 3-litre apple juice and 2 x 2kg of fresh apples, plus we picked another 1kg. Guess what fruit comes after lunch and dinner for the next two weeks?

A Disney Party is coming!~

2011-09-18T18:06:00.000+08:00

So I've finally started working on ideas for Angel's 2nd birthday party. Yay yay. It's the time of the year again!

I've decided to theme it a Disney party since she visited Disneyland this year and fell in love with it. (Which kid won't?) I think it will be fun to have lots of Disney pictures and decorations to celebrate this joyous occasion with her.

So, till more updates!

By the way, if you are wondering why I did not post more updates of my summer road trip or why I had been lagging in my posting recently, that's because I am working on a BIG project. Yup. In addition to Angel's party.

The news is: My blog is moving! Yeah. I think this blog is in a need of a makeover after being in use for so long. So, I'm currently working on my new blog which will definitely be more exciting, organized and I promise I will keep it updated! =) It will also incorporate some of my passions in life, like art & craft, video making and chinese writing.

So, if you are a supporter of my blog, do stay tuned and I'll announce the new website as soon as I get it published and running! Wish me luck for the party and for my blog! =)

Go Liverpool!

2011-09-07T22:09:00.002+08:00

Outdoor shoots are always fun to us. We'd like to think of ourselves as a rather sporty family (though I can't remember when was the last time I picked up the racket).

So, our outdoor theme was S-O-C-C-E-R!!

I think Angel looked really cute in the Liverpool jersey outfit though. And yeah, she loved to kick some balls. =) The photo shoot went really well and we had lots of fun coming up with fun poses in the big green field. =) Hooray to a successful second family photo shoot!

Our love story

2011-09-07T21:38:00.001+08:00

The second theme of our photoshoot was a love storyboard where we summarized our love journey in 8 pictures. I thought this theme was really fresh, unique and the props (thanks fangting for doing them!) made it all look very cute and sweet.

So, here goes my 8-year love story.

We had many fun and wacky behind the scene pictures too. The nice thing about this theme is that you can get to be as creative and give as many face expressions or cute actions as you want! =)

The B&W series (with banana, bread and book)

2011-09-07T21:17:00.003+08:00

So, here are the final selection of our family photo shoot. First up is the B&W series. I've never really done a B&W series before especially at such a close up, but it worked pretty well and I was glad that Angel had so many good shots too!

She's a funny baby who insisted on having props like banana, bread, book and ball. Tell me bout it, they all start with 'B'. But well, anything to make her smile for the camera, we will do it. =)

We also had some nice couple shots, just jw and me. I think we did pretty well with the poses, especially jw who seems to have a flair for it. Hehe. Made me feel like I was back to my graduation photo shoot or wedding photo shoot all over again.

I specially loved this pic. Made me feel like a supermama. Hehe. Supermama to the rescue of trapped papa! His expression scored 100% here too. Hee.

Much thanks for fangting for the makeup and hairdo, as well as to shuhong and glenn for being our photographers. Also grateful to my dear for participating 100% in it and that we had so much fun out of it as usual. Lastly, to my baby, you are definitely the best model out there! Thanks for all your smiles and just being the lovely you!

Don't miss it!

2011-09-07T05:28:00.001+08:00

I'm quite a fan of the Top Chef show hosted by Padma which is currently showing on TV3 in Sweden.

Today I was thrilled to hear that this season's finale will be held in SINGAPORE!!!

Oh yeah, these US chefs are going to battle it out in the familiar setting of kopitiams, hawker centres and chinatown. I bet it will bring back a sense of nostalgia.

Can't wait to see it tmr. For those interested, it will be aired at 7:00pm on TV3.

Happy family..

2011-08-31T20:18:00.001+08:00

We had a fun time at the photoshoot last Sat, despite a few hiccups like I had a huge pimple popping out, jw had a 'bak jiam' on his eye, or that Angel didn't wanna use the props we prepared and decided to use her own like a piece of bread and a banana. Made us lol.

Still, I think photoshoots are great fun and we love thinking up creative and fun-to-do poses for the camera. There were a total of over 100 good shots, which is really amazing. I'll post up more updates when they are done processing, but here's a preview of what we did. Like it? I do!

Much thanks to our makeup artist cum hairstylist and the photographers. I'm sure you all will be able to carve out a career in this line in future! Jia you!!

2011-08-27T04:54:00.000+08:00

Angel turns 21 months! Here's another video update for my dearest bb.

She's growing up all too fast, learning to run, to hop, to dance, to say all kinds of cute gibberish and best of all learn to make all kinds of cute poses for the camera.

Mummy loves you! May you stay the happy baby you are always!

Photoshoot coming!~

2011-08-25T20:46:00.000+08:00

Yeah, so you know how much I like to take pictures right. Well, not necessarily of me (I never did think I'm pretty), but more of Angel. And of my happy family. Hee. So regardless of how cumbersome it is to carry a DSLR on holiday trips or how much time it takes to upload all the thousands of pics, I WILL continue to take photos. Not gonna wait till I'm old and wrinkles start appearing before I start to regret.

Thanks to kind friends here in Karlskrona who are aspiring photographers and makeup artist, they have suggested to conduct a photoshoot for my family this weekend. Woohoo!!! We get to play models again. Haha. But I guess it'll be good for memories, won't it? ESPECIALLY when you have a kid. They grow up all too fast and you forget how cute they look like when they were young.

So, till more updates soon. Thanks also to jw who never fails to pose for a shot when I say 1,2,3 and who always will accompany me when I say I want a family shot. =) Tata!

Some serious thinking to do..

2011-08-23T07:17:00.000+08:00

I had a good old chat with my sec friend last week. I must say it was a heartfelt and somewhat inspiring chat. We have so much more in common that we would ever have thought. First, we both used to be high flyers in school. I remember back in AHS, most of the time, either she would top the class or I would. We both graduated with good grades in 'O' Levels and I went on to TJC while she went to VJC. I believe she must have also aced her 'A' Levels and then we moved on to different unis. She majored in chem engin while I chose to study mass comm.

Who would have known that fate would bring us back to tiny Karlskrona after over a decade? Life is indeed unpredictable.

The thing is, well, we are both kinda stuck in the same boat now.

Dunno what to do when we go back sg.

Dunno how to pursue our passion in life.

Scared that we will fail in our ventures.

Scared that we will be stuck back in boring office/teaching jobs which is not our ultimate goal in life.

Worried about where life would take us after next year.

Worried that enthusiasm in our hobbies is not enough to take us to the next level.

Apprehensive whether it's wise or not to go back to boring jobs just so we can have a steady, dependable second income. Doing for the sake of doing never makes anyone truly happy.

I like to write. I like to blog. I like art & craft. Basically I like DIY stuff.

She likes fashion. And has a flair and passion for doing makeup. She is very good in craft too!

We both don't wanna give up our passion in life. If not, it probably will be a deepest regret in our hearts. But sometimes we wonder, does life give you a choice?

The thing is, there are many things that abide the saying, if you don't try, you'll never find out. We can sit and talk for all we want, lamenting about lost chances and pondering about a bleak future. She said something very true, if we had instead spent all this precious time into realising our dreams, even if it means doing background research or goal-setting, we would definitely be a step closer than where we are now.

So coming to Karlskrona sacrificed 4 years of my life. Not that I'm complaining because life is so good here for my family. But, other than obtaining my online MBA (which isn't that hard after all), what else have I achieved? Yeah you would tell me, I have a child and I am a mum. Honestly, I'm proud of it and that is probably my deepest consolation that time is well spent here because come on, I raised my own kid!

Still, the day when we would return to SG will come very soon. And I start to wonder again, where is life gonna take me?

After that day, I realised that instead of just sitting around and daydreaming or playing Bejeweled everyday, I probably should do some serious thinking and set out what I really wanna do. Really.

So yeah, ft, thanks much. I hope I inspired you just like how you have motivated me. Let's both jia you and ganbatte ne! I don't believe we will be jack of all trades but master of none for the rest of our lives, and we definitely have the ability to make our dreams come true. =)

The journey to Genova..

2011-08-15T22:13:00.001+08:00

Yesh yesh, I'm finally here to write up on the long road trip we had. Firstly, we drove to Hamburg and spent a night there. You know, we are so used to road trips in Europe when you spent hours and hours in the car. It may be exhausting, especially for the driver, but it's really well worth it when you get to tour so many places and save on airfare. I like the fact also that we can just load our barang barang onto the car and not worry about being overweight. When you have a kid, it's really astonishing how much things you would wanna stuff into your luggage. From pampers, toys, books, baby food to baby pillows and bolsters. Fwahhh.

Anyway, it was raining in Hamburg on the night we arrived. So we took shelter in the main train station and had a Jap/Thai dinner there. After the rain stopped, we took a leisure walk to the town square where we took pics, ate KFC as we walked and visited the swans and ducks. It was relaxed and peaceful. We also checked out the Hamburg casino, haha, what's new though.

Angel seems to love KFC, just like me, though she doesn't really like the spicy taste in the skin. Anyway I really love to see her smile in the pics and do all kinds of silly poses. Just makes her so endearing. Kawaii ne!

So very soon, it was time to leave Hamburg and make our way to Austria. Our first stop would be Salzburg.

The first place we visited in Salzburg was Schloss Mirabell with all the pretty flowers and landscape. It's probably one of the prettiest places I find around here.

The most happening place in Salzburg is probably its old town with its array of shops and countless boutiques. Well, I didn't really intend to shop on this trip too. I don't know. I'm not the typical girl girl kind of person. I don't buy bags and I don't dig into branded stuff. They really don't appeal to me much. I'd only buy stuff if I feel they are worth it. So I really don't understand why people would spend thousands on shoes and bags. Neh. I'm weird. I know.

See the castle on the hill? We decided to walk all the way up instead of taking a tram ride up. Haha. Making things difficult for ourselves yeah. That's the point of it all. Anyway jw was tough and he made it up the endless number of steps and steep slopes along with a pram and Angel in it. Woohoo!!

We tried this roasted pork dish in the castle. Supposed some Austrian food. It's really not bad though the skin wasn't crispy like our Asian kind of roasted pork.

View of Salzburg from the viewing deck at the top of the castle.

We took Angel on a horse carriage ride around the old town too. The carriages could share the main roads along with other cars. Kinda cool.

Then we took a 45min walk (or rather, climb), followed by a bus ride when we realised it was too far to walk on foot, to the Hellbrunn palace. It was quite an achievement though. We are the kind who would try to 'pia' and visit as many places as we could (provided we are not too exhausted and Angel is able to zzzz) when we are in a foreign land. Cos' to us, you might only have one chance and if you don't make full use of it, maybe you won't come back to this country anymore. It probably helps that we used to be sports people, because we tend to like to walk/venture/explore more and don't mind about the fatigue that much. Angel will probably follow in our footsteps. Hehe. The next badminton star!

Hellbrunn was a fun place to be in, with all the unexpected water fountains and spouts. Angel loves playing with water nowadays and I think she had fun too!

To me, there is nothing compared to night scenery. The same place could look so much different at day and at night. Somehow, when the lights lit up, it just makes everything so much more beautiful and elegant. That is why we also like to hang around at night. Hehe. Yar yar. We used to have a happening night life and though now we can't go clubbing and all, we can at least take a night stroll and enjoy the night views. =) But we'll still always go back to our hotel at about 10 plus 11 and let Angel have a good night's sleep.

Byebye Salzburg! Time for us to go!

On our way to Vienna, we stopped by Kognisee Lake in Germany for half an hour. It was a pretty lake but alas we didn't have time to take a boat ride out.

Then we visited one of the salt mines. After much discussion and consideration, we decided to take a tour into the mine which would take us another couple of hours and thus we will end up late in Vienna. Well, we do think it was worth it though because well, when would you get to visit a salt mine again next time? It's also a been there, done that thing, to me. And once is probably all you need in a lifetime.

The best part of the tour was the slides which was really steep but fun. Angel loves it too! She's really a daring baby who doesn't seem to be scared of new things. So she was sandwiched in between us for the slides but she thoroughly enjoyed it. =) Weeeeee!

Next is Vienna. I love the night view in Vienna though of cos Paris still ranks the first as the city of light. But on our first night out in Vienna, we also saw a number of pretty sights.

The next day, we visited the Schonbrunn Palace and the Vienna Zoo. Yup yup, zoo again. For Angel's sake, mainly. Animals are one of the best things she enjoys looking at and playing with. The Vienna Zoo is really quite big and is modern enough considering it's the oldest public zoo in the world.

We saw many many animals which I've already put up on my fb if you are interested for more pics. =) I put up nearly 800 pics in 4 albums! I wonder if anyone is vaguely interested in them and in my life though. But still, I know my family will wanna see the pics and that's the main motivation of why I bother to upload.

Next up, we spent a couple of hours visiting the Nasch market though we didn't manage to buy anything. But we did have a superb lunch there at NordSee with a grilled sea bass and spaghetti.

Following lunch, we again took a long walk to Stadtpark, supposedly one of the more famous parks in Vienna but sadly didn't manage to impress us much.

Then we travelled all the way to visit the Belvedere Palace. Well, we did take the metro if not we'll spend hours on the road just walking! Hehe.

And lastly, we spent our evening in Prater Amusement park. It's a paradise for young kids and people who love carnivals and amusement park rides. We are not fanatics but we do like carnivals and all. Feels happening and exciting to be in a big scale one like this. We took Angel on the ferris wheel!

For our 3rd day, we took a train to Budapest and spent one day there. Yeah. Because we've already seen most things that we wanna see in Vienna and since Budapest is nearby, why not make the most out of the time we had. =) Here's jw and Angel sleeping so sweetly on the journey there.

We took the Hop on Hop off package in Budapest since we only had half a day here. To be frank, since our intent is not to shop nor to watch concerts and visit museums, rather we only wanna visit the place and take a look at the famous sights, half a day was probably adequate for us. We visited the Danube Promenade, Gellert Hill, St Stephen's Basilica, Szechenyi aka Chain Bridge and took a boat ride to enjoy the scenery along the river.

The pretty Parliament House

Having ice cream outside St Stephen's Basilica. Yummy!

In the evening, we took away Mac and had dinner on the train ride home. We shared the carriage with a biker family who rode from Vienna to Budapest using 5 days! Omg! It was nice talking to them but alas the train had technical issues and kept stopping, going backwards and aircon kept turning off. Haha. But well, as long as we got home safely, which we did. =)

The next day, we bidded farewell to Austria and made our way to Italy. =)

We stopped by Venice for lunch. Yeah. Venezia!! If you remember, the first time I came to Europe in 2007, Venice was one of our stops. Hee. It just felt nice to be stepping right back to this unique water city again, especially since I've already lost ALL the pics that I took here during that trip. It's like, I'm now given a second chance to capture these pretty sights, with Angel by me somemore. =) Haha. Sometimes I think I'm a easily contented girl. I dunno if it's true. But if that's the way I am, I hope I will be like that always because it makes life so much more simple and definitely happier.

The pigeons at Piazza St Marco. Hehe. One was on my head! Ehhh, my hair so smelly mehhh. Keke. Well, it was quite a moment to remember though.. Haha.

Soon, it's time to move on again, this time round to Genova where we would board our MSC cruise. =) Well, I'll write the cruise updates in my next post then. Angel's calling. Till the next time! Tata!

I'm back!!~

2011-08-08T08:31:00.004+08:00

Oh yeah, in case you are wondering, yesh I'm back from that good long summer road trip of mine.

It's just that Angel's been sick with diarrhoea for over a week so I'm taking it slow in sorting and uploading pics and all. =) But not to worry, I took 30gb of stuff, of which 20gb are vids and 10gb are pics. Which amounts to about 5000 pics. Wahaha. So I'll upload the pretty ones when I get the time and write up on the places we went to, okie?

Overall, it's an enjoyable though at times tiring trip. I love that we went to so many places and I think MSC Fantasia was really awesome. Like any other trip, of cos there were some ups and downs. Downs would be times like Angel had diarrhoea while we were in Disneyland, or that she came up with a serious and worrying diaper rash, or that jw and I had another episode about him lying again. But then again, I don't see the point in going into all these negativity issues anymore. So, I'll only concentrate on the happy and bright side of things, okie? Memories should be happy and precious. =)

So, here's a preview of the pics we took. These are some of the nicer ones and to me, more memorable ones. Especially of Louvre and of Eiffel. =) Hee. Okie. It's 2.30 am. I promise to write more soon! Check out my fb for more pics k k if you are interested! Cheers!

My First Summer Road Trip!~

2011-07-05T05:31:00.004+08:00

Yeah, lucky us managed to get 3 weeks of leave and we'll be going on a road trip in addition to the cruise. It's my first real long road trip here! First summer, I was preggie and we went back sg for 3 weeks. Second summer, we also went back sg for a couple of weeks and then went on a Royal Caribbean cruise. This third summer, oh yeah, we are going to see more of Europe before we head back to sg for good next year.

I'll probably be missing in action for the next few weeks, so don't miss me okie. Keke. =) These few days have been exciting for me, booking hotels, reading up on the cruise tours and looking up on the places of interest. Hee. =) Lalalala. We are going with a big clan this time, with our friends, their parents and their two kids. So total, 9 of us! =p Here are the places we will be visiting, other than the cruise. Woohoo.

Hamburg, Germany (Stopover)

I haven't been to this part of Germany before though I heard it's a pretty nice place. Well, a stopover is better than nothing, at least I can next time say I've been in Hamburg! Wahaha. Basically our trip is more of touch and go, rather than an in-depth exploration.

Salzburg, Austria

And Vienna, Austria

Next up, we are going to explore eastern europe! Hee. Too bad our rented car does not allow us to drive to Prague in Czech, a place that I think I should visit before I go back to sg. But well, at least we are going to see Salzburg and Vienna in Austria this time round. Vienna somehow seems like a pretty place to me.

Genova, Italy

Then, we will move on to our port of embarkation for our cruise. Genova, Italy. I've never heard of it prior to this trip. However, I found out that it has Europe's 2nd largest aqaurium, which I think jw will be very interested to go take a look. Well, you know, we kinda like seeing zoos and aquariums from our past trips. Haha.

Next up, we will be on a 8D7N cruise! Hooray!

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Following that, on our road trip back to Karlskrona, we will first make a stop at Monaco. It's the world's second smallest country following the Vatican City. It only has a tiny area of 2km square. (In case you forgot, Singapore is near 700!) Yet it boasts the highest nominal GDP and the highest life expectancy. Fwah. Highlights include the Monte Carlo Casino (I bet we are going in!) and the F1 racing tracks.

Disneyland, Paris

After that, we will spend two days of fun in Disneyland! Woohoo. Angel's first, I hope she will enjoy it to the max. This will be my 3rd Disneyland, following Tokyo (during my company incentive trip) and LA (during our honeymoon in winter 2008).

And how can we miss staying in downtown in the city of light? A place so so so memorable and special to me, I can't even find words to describe it. 4 years ago on 29 July 2007, it was where we got engaged on the Eiffel Tower. 4 years later on 29 July 2011, I will be standing in that wonderful and romantic city once again, with my beloved hubby and my dearest baby. I love Paris!!~

Frankfurt, Germany (Stopover)

Lastly, our final resting point is in Frankfurt before we head home. (Hmmm, it's too far to drive straight from Paris to Sweden). We chose Frankfurt, although there's probably not much for us to explore in consideration of time and that it's more of a financial hub. But well, it's still a place we've stepped foot in.

So, till more updates on my summer hols, okie? Adieu!

Exploring the Mediterranean..

2011-06-26T15:46:00.000+08:00

So finally, we have lined up some plans for the upcoming summer. Yeap yeap, we're going on a cruise again! Last year, we went on a Royal Caribbean cruise to the Baltic Sea. This year, we'll be visiting the Mediterranean via MSC cruise. Woohoo. Sounds cool huh. =)

We got for ourselves a really lucky last minute deal. For 8D7N for a family of three, it only costs us S$2k. Accommodation, entertainment and all meals included. Not bad, right? Our last cruise was double. The thing is, the embarkation is from Genoa in Italy this time. Hee. So we have to make our way there ourselves.

Check out my itinerary. I'm most looking forward to Rome since we've been to Barcelona already (Oh yeah, the fateful place where we got robbed, haha). But I'm also keen to see more exotic places like Malta. Our cruise also includes a stop at Tunisia (Africa). Well, fingers crossed on that one.

So yeah, till more updates on summer hols yeah. =) It's a beautiful sunday morning and we're bringing Angel to lekland (big indoor playground here) to have breakfast and also let her have a ball of a time there. Ciaoz!!

Happy things, happy thoughts...

2011-06-19T07:45:00.005+08:00

Yeap. I still prefer to blog about happy things. So, to update about my wonderful weekend getaway at Olands Zoo and Amusement Park.

It's considered my first cottage stay, and to be able to stay in a safari camp right with the animals, I think it was a truly memorable and unforgettable experience. Lucky me managed to book the last out of the 55 cottages when I called. Woohoo!

We honestly didn't know that this paradise existed just less than 1.5hrs drive away from where we stayed. It was a cottage, zoo, amusement park, water park and many other parks all combined into one. A heaven for kids and a fantastic summer getaway for everybody.

Check out the zebras and goats right in front of our porch. We saw them every single day, grazing grass and busking under the sun. We had breakfast with them everyday beside us. Hehe. Nice hor. I love it ley. So close to nature.

There was also a peacock which I don't know to love or hate, cos' though beautiful as it may be, it somehow had to made loud noises every half an hour in the middle of the night. As a result, every time Angel was going to fall asleep, the peacock would sound and Angel would open her eyes big big, stand up, walk to the window by our bed, attempt to look out and keep saying "Bird, bird!". Well. This cycle probably took place 50 times? Haha. We stayed for 3 nights, you know. All thanks to the peacock, we had a laugh but we stayed up late. Wahaha.

Oh, how we love carnival games. It somehow makes me feel young and like a kid. I can spend hours just playing every game over and over again. Haha. You know what? We won 11 stuff toys for Angel, big and small. Keke. In the amusement park, we also took roller coasters, simulator ride, ferris wheel, carousel, tuk tuk car, lots of kids' rides etc etc. Oh and there was even a haunted house. Which I was brave enough to go alone. Hehe.

As for the zoo, it was better than I expected. Quite a variety of animals and you get to see many of them closeup, even the lions and tigers. There was also opportunity to feed the animals, especially the goats.

I think all kids love animals? Angel is no exception. She simply lovvveeees the zoo. Hee. And she's such a daring child and puts her hand near every animal she sees and keeps finding food to feed them. =) I think next time we will become regulars of the Singapore Zoo liaoz. Wahaha. But well, luckily jw and I love to go to the zoo too. Come on, our wedding photoshoot was at the Mandai ZOO!

There were also dinosaur parks and other themed parks for us to take a look. I think it's quite worthwhile for the entrance fee we paid. Plus, the weather was superb that weekend. Strong sun coupled with a nice cooling breeze. What more can you ask for?

We also had BBQ right in front of our porch. That's what everybody does there. Thanks to the ICA and Coop nearby, we got all our supplies, including the most important mosquito coil (yesh, alot of mosquitoes here!). The BBQ was simple but great and somehow the food was sooooo yummy. Bacon, crabsticks, chicken drumsticks, kebab, fish and even a real crab! Yum yum.

We took Angel to the water park too since she loves to swim. My only regret is that we went too early in the morning and the water was really cold. Perhaps it would have been better to go when the sun was at its strongest. But well, my brave baby survived. =) Though it really was me who had the most fun cos' I tried almost ALL of the exciting slides there. Haha.

While Angel was sleeping, we had a nice lunch by the poolside. The sun was up by now and it was really hot. Hee. We all got sunburnt! Cos' stupid me didn't bring body sunblock. HAHA. And still dared to go swimming like that, right? Well. Anyway I haven't felt my skin peel for the longest time liaoz. Probably during Hall 6 days where we played softball for hours in the hot sun. So I kinda of like to see myself getting tanned. Weird, huh?

Yeah this pic also made me realise that I've become so much fairer since I came to Sweden. Thanks to the winters and cold weathers. But seeing my legs so white, that's kinda unlike me last time. But well. I bet I won't be fair anymore when we go back to sg for good. =) Summer needs more sun!!!

The biggest reward of the trip was seeing the happy smiles on my baby. She was excited, curious, happy and thrilled to see so many things going on. We were lucky that there was a Children's Day celebration at the park on that very weekend. =) So there were more game stalls and also dance and song performances. Angel had a nice time listening and dancing away. =) So did I.

On our last day, we even let her take the bumper car ride with us. Haha. She looked quite shocked every time I banged into her. She was probably wondering, "What is Mummy doing and all these people doing, crashing into my car like that????" She attracted lots of attention cos' she probably was the youngest contestant around. Haha. But anyway, she also took the simulator ride which was super jerky and a roller coaster ride which went up and downhill. Haha. Three cheers for Angel!!

I was feeling lucky that day and a few tries at Tombola (like tikam!) let me won one of the biggest prizes. A prize that jw was aiming at. =) I got it! Woho!!

Here's Angel with her prize. A ball pit with 30 balls. Keke. She loves it and it's where she drinks milk in everyday now. =) Oh well. Till the next holiday okie!!

你是我的OK绷

2011-06-10T00:16:00.014+08:00

一个人的时候

在陌生的街头

抬头看着繁星夜垂的天空

I know I know

地球另一端有你陪我

谢谢你鼓励我

勇气是你给我
让我迈开脚步一起往前走

I know I know

你是我的OK绷

在每一个时候

I kinda like the lyrics of this song. Has been ringing in my mind since I saw the snippets of Jay Chou's concert this year. Quite meaningful, hor?

If there's anyone whom I think is my OK绷, aka bandage, at this point in my life, I guess it's my baby. Expected answer? Haha. If you are a mum, you'll probably understand why.

When I'm sad, she wipes away my tears. She doesn't even have to do it literally. Just looking at her makes me wanna be strong for her and for myself, makes me wanna smile and makes me wanna tell myself that it's not the end of the world and I still have much more happiness in front of me.

When I'm lonely, she accompanies me. Though sometimes she drives me nuts and makes me frustrated, life will never be the same without her and I can't do without her. She makes the day so much shorter because I spend all my time with her. And yes, with her around, I'm never alone.

When I'm weary and tired, she's my energy booster and injects new zest into me each time. Well, I've gotta keep up with her energy level some way or another, right? Keke. But well, what I mean is, she somehow manages to brighten up my day every time. Be it a silly action she does, an unexpected word she says, a naughty thing she does, it just somehow makes my life so much more exciting.

Yeap so there you are. My baby, my bandage. Thank you for letting mummy know you'll be beside me no matter what happens. Thank you for crying with me, for giving me a hug, a kiss, a sayang on my face when I most needed them. My future will be bright and blessed because of my happy baby, my happy family.

And to daddy, yeah it doesn't mean you're not my bandage at all. But well, you get the point of the amazing things Angel can do despite her young little age. =) So well, to our happier days ahead, ganbatte ne!

Something to know..

2011-06-09T23:31:00.000+08:00

Well, thanks to my baby, my friends and my mum, I've really made peace with what happened. Life goes on and fortunately, love goes on. =) Thanks to those who were truly concerned for me and my family.

And I wanna make clear what I posted. Though to me, my hubby lost his trust, it's purely between a wifey and hubby thing. It doesn't mean that he's a bad person (if not why will we be together?) and it definitely doesn't mean he can't be trusted by others like parents, friends, co-workers etc. I'm sure if you know me, you know him, you will know our characters. One incident, yesh, may hurt our r/s as a couple, but never harms his character in other areas and especially to others.

Yes, dear, I'm standing up for you. I always will. I don't think it's fair if you are misjudged in any way. And I want you to know that I love you and love my baby and we will together work towards a better future. Cheers.

Fyi: My blog is my best friend sometimes cos' I like to write out my emotions rather than keeping them in. Thank you for being my reader and for sharing my life with me. May there continue to be more happy things coming soon, okie? Let's all be happy happy!

Always look on the bright side of life..

2011-06-08T01:33:00.009+08:00

My mum in law spoke to me today. And well, she said she wanted to apologize for her son. Well, obviously she didn't need to do that and I don't want her to do that. If there's anyone who really wants to apologize, it should be him. I respect her for doing it as a mum, though. Anyway she said how she detests him smoking much more than I do since he started on it, how she was saddened and how she was against it given their family record. Anyway, I guess it's good to listen to older people like her and my mum. While they are not beside me to give me a true shoulder to lean on, at least I know they are there, though far, giving me encouragement and support.

My mum said, 只怪你自己太天真, 什么都相信. Maybe, maybe not. I dunno. But I probably won't be so gullible anymore. She told me to learn to accept things that can't be changed. I know I made her worry cos' I cried like throughout our conversation. Sorry mummy. I'll be stronger, like you. I promise.

And well, like everyone will say, every person on earth has his virtues and his flaws. So when a crisis or bad thing happens, try to think on the bright side and think about his good points. The thing is, I've never thought that jw is a bad bad person. I, of all people, know his good points and the good things he's brought upon me and Angel. I've never and will never deny that. But that doesn't me that when I uncover a near 4-year-old lie (yes, I realise it's more than 3 years, HAHA), I can just in the blink of an eye treat it like nothing has happened and that it didn't mean anything to me, right? Sigh. So now, like I've done in the past, I am trying to list down what made my hubby fall in love with him in the first place.

1. He is kind and generous. This is probably something that will never change. He is extremely generous to his friends and family, and he doesn't mind putting in more sweat/money than others or being at an disadvantage.

2. He is really filial. Yes, no doubts about it. He is probably the most filial person I know around me. Near perfect example to display filial piety. That is something that touches me and makes me proud of, and hopefully my kids will learn how to be filial to their parents too.

3. ~~He is trustworthy, honest and truthful~~. This used to be one of his top virtues. Well, it's being stroked off on my list, at least for the near future. Because a guy that can look at me in the eye, say things like 'I swear' and 'I promise' but was in fact lying for nearly 4 years (probably near 100-200 times), is not one that is considered trustworthy. Sorry dear. Even if you think it's a white lie, it's still a few years old of lies. And if you had the determination to keep your proposal promise, probably year by year from year 1 to year 4, you would have become maybe a social smoker only? Anyway, trust is earned through hardship but is destroyed easily. Hopefully one day, I can find back the trustworthy and honest jw I once knew.

4. He helps to share my burden. We are not the kind who will lie in bed, chit chatting about our day, our troubles and worries, like the best of friends. Some couples are like that, right? I tried to ask jw to do it, but he ends up dozing off everytime and I'm just talking to the wall. So though maybe he doesn't share alot of my emotional burden (my blog does!), he does listen to me talk and help me out in my day to day chores like washing the dishes, taking care of the laundry, looking after bb while I bathe etc. I know sometimes he's weary after work, however he seldom complains and gives me a helping hand especially when it comes to looking after Angel. That, I am thankful for.

5. Perhaps most importantly, a loving hubby and daddy. Yes, being hurt in this episode doesn't blind me and deny him of his love for his family. I am not that silly or unreasonable. I know that he loves me and loves his girl deep deep. I used to think that he can give up anything for us (including smoking, yes). While that is not proven yet, I still think that he will be willing to make extra efforts and sacrifices for us. Without love, a family probably will not be able to survive, right?

That's all I can say for now. "Always look on the bright side of life", right? My only hope for now is that my loving family will stay loving. And I wish and pray for a honest, open, trusting love between us. It will take time to heal, no doubt. I will try my best to patch back and sew back the wound. I definitely can't treat it like nothing has happened. But I will wait and see, if things get better and if jw learns to become a trustworthy hubby again. Please, NO MORE LIES okie?

I want happy posts on my blog, not sad ones. Haha. Overly optimistic. Who doesn't have ups and downs in life? But well. I still prefer to write all about my happy life. So happiness, please come back to me!!

Is it worth it?

2011-06-06T05:14:00.001+08:00

These are my first two hand sewn amigurumi bears. Yeah, from balls of yawn to this. I spent one entire week (while jw was in france) reading up on books, watching tutorials on YouTube, trial and error stitching, staying up till past 2am every night before I finally managed to make my own JS bears. Especially for my hubby. I thought it would be a sweet prezzie worth every effort and he would like it. This was the 1st part of my prezzie.

And 2nd part of it, I invited some friends over for dinner on his bday and cooked and bought a cake. Cos' he mentioned he liked more pple around (though I tot it would be nice to spend a family day together too, and hey my past 3 bdays were all without frenz!) and thus I planned a mini surprise gathering for him. And while he slept that day, I was busy cooking and even had the courage to finally drive and pick up the cake! It means something to me ok! Haha. I'm a lousy driver!

And well, there's a 3rd part of the prezzie now still with Fedex on its way to my house. I wanted his 32nd birthday to be a nice, happy and memorable one.

Now, I just asked myself is it worth it that I put in so much into this r/s that I make myself so tired sometimes. No, I don't wanna rip my bears apart. They are my efforts and my pride. Maybe I should give them to Angel cos' she adores them so much. And then maybe I should keep the last present for myself. HAHA. You get it. I just at this point don't think jw deserves any of all this. BOOOOOO.

As much as I don't wish to say it now, a birthday should always be special and happy. So hope your day was great and I made it right somehow. Happy bday.

Tears in my heart...

2011-06-06T04:19:00.005+08:00

Probably out of 100 blog entries I post, only 1 is about sad things and the rest are happy things.

But today, this one has got to be one of the saddest.

I was supposed to come back from a simple, fun-filled weekend spent at Olands Animal and Amusement Park. I did have so much fun. Till we reached home. Come to think of it, today's been an unlucky day for me. I fell down from the second storey at our cottage and my hand bled in four places and my butt hurt. I then bumped my head on two occasions. Maybe they were a sign that today is going to be a bad day for me.

It's probably my worst day since the day he proposed to me on the Eiffel Tower four years back. The day when he threw away his cigarette butt, saying that once he got married, he will definitely kick the habit. I dunno why. But I believed in his promises. I always did. And this is definitely not the first one that didn't come true.

Just now, while searching high and low for my missing camera, I happened to feel his berms pocket and fell smtg similar in shape to my cam. Alas, not only was it not my digicam, it was a box of Marlboro cigarettes. And so when I questioned about it, the truth came out. He's been lying to me for the past 3 or more years. Yesh, it's a lie that long. I just instantly felt like an idiot, like a fool, like a silly wife who held so much faith in her hubby.

There were many times when other people cast their suspicion on him, while some even hinted that he might be smoking. You know what? I dismissed them totally because I knew that the jw I know will never ever lie to me. I told them they were mistaken or heard wrongly. I told them how much I believed in my hubby and how nice he's been since we got married and that he really really was someone I could trust. I did so, dear, With all my heart. I stood up for you every single time.

But why is it that now, I find out that they were all right to have their doubts about you, and I was the silly one who still trusted you with every beat of my heart. Why? That's the most hurtful part of it all. You were the one I thought was most honest, truthful and would never lie to me.

Every time you came back smelling of smoke, you said it's caused by others.

The last time you went to party, you got dead drunk. While taking off your pants, your lighter and cigarettes fell out. You said they belonged to Gallen. And that you smoked without realising nor remembering it. Sounds ridiculous, but still, I believed you.

Every time when your mouth would stink, I asked you, you said it's coffee.

Every time for the past few years, when I asked you did you smoke, your reply was "Dear, I didn't smoke. I don't smoke already."

How should I react now that I know they were all fake and all lies? How could it be for so long, more than three years and I stuck to my own silly trust? What should I do? I don't know. I cried and cried. And my heart felt so much pain.

The picture I painted of a wonderful, trustworthy hubby is now gone. I don't know how from tomorrow onwards, I can look at you and still feel the same old trust I had in you. Trust is like glass, once broken, no matter how you mend it, there's always a crack. And the picture I always held in my heart of a very happy family of three, the one I always feel proud to blog about, to make videos of, that picture is now scarred. Don't blame me for feeling this way. You have no idea the hole you've dug in my heart. You know jolly well how easily hurt I can be, and to be in the dark for over three years, with you smoking a pack every few days behind me, smoking with all your buddies when you get the chance to, and yet in front of me keeping the lie, it just ain't right.

Why do guys all like to lie and then say that "If I told you the truth, you'll be hurt", and then give them a reason to continue their wrongdoing? And when the showdown happens, just say that "See, I knew this would happen, that's why I lie to you". Come on. It doesn't help. One year, two years, three years, a decade, for how long can you keep up the lie? And when it's discovered, what happens? Breakup? Treat it like nothing happened? What do you want us to do?

I don't usually talk this way, right? So when I do, you know that I'm really very hurt and affected. My tears are still flowing though everyone is fast asleep in the house. I just feel so sorry the whole thing happened like that. And that I cried and flared up, uncontrollably, in front of my baby. She got frightened and she cried with me. I never cried like that in front of her before. I'm sure she's scared and scarred too. Sorry, my dear Angel. Mummy didn't mean to do that to you. I just can't help but feeling so so so sad about everything.

Our previous quarrels were always about booze and drinking. How you would not be able to control your liquor, get foolishly drunk, say stupid and sometimes vulgar words to me, act overly intimately with others, or reached home drunk and puked over the floor and made my night a mess. But you would always claim that you forgot. Just when I thought giving birth to Angel helped us rid alot of our vice habits and make our family a harmonious and happy one, now do I realise that you haven't kept your word and while I was pregnant, giving birth and raising Angel all this while, you had something hiding from me. A promise you made to me when you proposed, and you said that if we were going to have a family, even more so you wouldn't want to smoke. You said it all. Was it just a show? Just an act? Or just a promise that you didn't want to keep in the first place but said it so that I would agree to your proposal? (You didn't even had a ring!! But I had so much trust in your words.)

You said it was impossible to tell me the truth. But you know what, I'm sure we could work out a compromise somehow, like you could smoke when you go sailing cos' you feel stressed. We could work out an open, honest and fair solution to all if we had negotiated. Not this, not do it behind walls and let me find out a few years later and realised how naive I was. It's probably a thousand times worse.

If there's anyone who can teach me how to build up trust once more, please do. Because I just feel kinda hopeless now. Time will probably help to lessen the hurt as it always does, but I don't know how to make things go back to the way they used to be before today. For the first time, I'm feeling a low in my usually very happy marriage and family. It sux. And if you're reading this but don't understand why it's such a big deal to me, that's probably because you're not me and you don't understand how I'm feeling. But I promise I'll get better. I always do. Good nitez.

Hello Iceland!~

2011-05-30T22:38:00.003+08:00

It was really a rather last minute plan to visit Iceland during the Easter holiday. But well, ain't we glad we did! Somehow, we loved Iceland and all its natural scenery. Though jw and I agreed that Switzerland is still prettier, Iceland comes a close second. =) I just like the fact that it's scenery is all natural like the geysers, waterfalls, volcanoes, beaches, all the work of Mother Nature, raw, unspoiled and unpolished displayed right in front of our eyes.

Since we only had a 4-day stay here, we decided to make the best use of time and go straight to the infamous Blue Lagoon directly from the Keflavik Airport. Woohoo! Though the winds were howling and it was really cold, the water felt warm to the skin at 37 deg celsius. Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa containing seawater which comes into contact with cooling magmatic intrusions. This captures the earth’s minerals, resulting in this unique natural source known for its healing power. (hmmm, I don't know how true the healing power is, but it just feels nice to have been there and done that. haha)

Even Angel also soaked in the blue waters! Woohoo!

On Day 2, we went on the famous Golden Circle tour in Iceland. First, we stopped by this volcanic crater named Keiro. The lake inside had waters so blue!

Next, the magnificent Gullfoss waterfalls, a popular tourist attraction in Iceland. The river Hvita rushes southward, where at about a kilometer above the falls it turns sharply to the left and flows down into a wide curved three-step "staircase" and then abruptly plunges in two stages.

We took some really awesome pics here (although no rainbow!). Thanks to jw who trekked so close to the falls though it was drizzling. =)

We also tried the traditional Icelandic lamb soup. Quite yummy and to our liking. Hehe.

Then we went to the Haukadalur valleys, which contains the geysers Strokkur and Geysir. The above is Geysir which erupts 4-5 times day, but the other, Strokkur, erupts every 5-10 mins. We saw it! Alas just once, cos it was raining (again!) and I was scared Angel would be cold.

The Icelandic horses along the roads. Ain't they a sight? All looked so handsome and tame. =)

Lastly, we stopped at Thingvellir. Here we witnessed the rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. And you can see behind us, that cliff marks the end of Europe and start of North America continent. How cool. All in all, I loved this tour and would recommend Iceland Horizons to anyone who wishes to visit Iceland. They are a small, family-owned tour company which operates in small groups (no more than 16 pax per tour). Our tour guide speaks perfect English and is funny and nice. =)

We stayed in Luna Apartments situated in the town of Reykjavik and also paid a visit to the Hallgrímskirkja church, which was the largest church in Iceland.

My baby learnt to pose so much on this trip! Wonder who she learnt it from. Wahaha.

The real life looking bear on the streets of central Reykjavik.

On Day 3, we went on our second tour, the South Shore tour, with the same tour operator and coincidentally the same tour guide. Hehe. I loved this tour too. The first stop was Seljalandsfoss waterfall where we could actually walk behind the falls. The falls drop 60m and this place is indeed very picturesque.

Check this out, we're right behind the waters! Woohoo! We got half drenched but it felt shiok. Haha. Angel was wet too. But wasn't it a wonderful experience? =)

Next, we visited the actual site of the Eyjafjallajökul, the volcano which erupted last year and caused massive disruption to the airline industry. We watched a multimedia clip and also saw some of the damage sites caused by the eruption.

Then we went to the southerly point of Iceland and visited its unique black sand beach along with coastal cliffs and rock formations.Our nice guide helped us to keep an eye on our sleeping baby while we took a romantic walk on the black beach. Keke.

Subsequently, we made our way to the Solheimajokull Glacier. The ride was so bumpy that many people were probably disturbed by it. All except cute little Angel, who laughed heartily everytime the car went over a big bump. It was so funny that she made all the people on the bus laugh too. Keke.

There we were, stepping foot on the vast glacier. My first! And here's our charming tour guide. Keke.

Angel got to step foot and walked about on the glacier too. I'm going to tell her all about it when she grows up. Hehe.

Lastly, we stopped by the thundering waterfalls of Skogafoss, where Angel took so many nice pictures there. Hehe.

On our last day, we brought Angel to the Reykjavik Zoo! Yeah, our fav destination of all times in every country. HAHA. It's cos she loves animals larrrrr. So instead of taking tours for our own sightseeing benefit, we wanted to devote a day for her enjoyment too.

Although it was kinda rainy today (plus a mini hail or so I would say, cos it rained ICE!), I think overall we still had a great time. I dunno. One has to be contented and happy to appreciate life more, right? Oh yar, also most of the shops were closed in Iceland over Easter, nonetheless I enjoyed myself tremendously on this trip. Not forgetting to mention, Angel went on her first carousel at the Zoo in Iceland. Hee. And we took a mini train ride too. If she was older, we would have let her ride the horses too!

And after visiting to zoo, we decided to stay in our cosy apartment for the rest of the day. We bought some groceries from the supermarket and cooked our own dinner. Hehe. Oh yar, but I did try out some Icelandic food specialties like the whale meat. Waha. Which we didn't really know how to appreciate, not even a seafood fan like jw. We'd much prefer the lamb soup anytime. =)

All in all, Easter 2011 was a happy time spent in Iceland for us. Thanks dear! I'm so lucky I got to go Iceland and Switzerland this year! Hugzz..

I'm back!!~

2011-05-24T01:42:00.000+08:00

Oh yesh, after a long while, I'm finally back! Back from Iceland, back from Singapore. And boy did I accomplish alot of things in these few weeks. Best news is we managed to sell off our Hougang flat already! Within a week! Hehe. We also got our keys to our new flat in Sengkang. Phew wee!

Angel and I are still suffering from jetlag, waking up at 5am everyday. Hehe. I spent a whole day tidying the house and unpacking our luggages today. *yawnz* So I'll probably take awhile more to upload my Iceland write-up and Singapore updates. Stay tuned yeah.

Till then, ciaoz ne!! Summer is back in Karlskrona! Woohoo!!!!!~

It's done!~

2011-05-05T04:15:00.000+08:00

Yeah! Finally, after a month of hard work, I've finished my first knit!!!

A white, simple, angelic beanie for my darling baby!! Yoohoo!!

I dunno if she likes it but at least she's willing to wear it. (if not, I'll cry!) Haha. It does give me a sense of accomplishment huh. Nonetheless, with kind mormor's help, I could never ever have finished it. Thank you mormor! I will definitely appreciate hand knitted stuff much more in future!

Well. I'm not giving up on knitting yet, don't worry. It's such a good hobby to kill time around here. Wahaha. Time always flies at knitting lessons. So now, I'm gonna knit a matching small little white dress for Angel. Woohoo. I kind of think that it will take me veryyyy long considering the more intricate and complicated design of the dress.

But well. I think I will complete it eventually. =p Just a matter of time. I think Angel looks cute in it, doesn't she? Hee. I love you baby!!!

Happy 3rd Anni, deardear...

2011-04-27T06:37:00.002+08:00

It's a lonely 3rd wedding anniversary tonight, nonetheless there's still joy in my heart to share.. =)

This simple video recaps some happy moments from our ROM, wedding day and photoshoot.. Though 3 years have past, watching it and feeling it makes me feel like everything was just yesterday. Yeah, I can say that I was really a very happy and joyful bride that day. Everything I had planned for my big day went nearly perfect and it was indeed a dream come true for me.

But nothing could have been achieved if there was no deardear in my life, right? So, thank you lao gong, for having me as your lao po. For loving me just the way I am and for accepting who I'm not. Plain jane, small eyes, not rich, stubborn at times, no devilish figure, no 6-pack (like what you always hoped for!). Sometimes I wonder why you love me. HAHAHA. But it's probably the same as why I love you too. Cos' true love has no reason and no why, it just happens.

Even though we may still bicker at times, like every other couple would, I know that no matter what obstacles we face, somehow we will find a way to conquer and get through them. I know that 10 or 20 years down the road, you will still be the one by my side, holding my hand and supporting me. I know that we may not lead an affluent life and live in a big house but we will lead a fulfilling, simple and happy life. I know that you will be the one whom I love and care for the most for the rest of my life. I just know it.

Because you are my hubby, I'm your wifey, and I love you more than words can say.. Happy Anniversary, Dear.. Hugz..

My dear angel...

2011-04-15T17:34:00.000+08:00

Yeah, finally churned out my latest vid for Angel. It's a collection of some precious moments from her 14th-17th months, including her first steps. Yes, my baby can finally walk! Woohoo! They say late walkers will have hao ming, let's hope so then. Keke. =p

My fav part is where she mimics the animal noises. Hee. Esp tiger. Just sooooo kawaii. =) Glad I have it recorded. Yippie.

And now, I gotta start planning for the Iceland trip next week! Initially we thought it would be cancelled cos' our visa has expired and we haven't gotten the extension approval yet. Worse, we never seem to be able to get hold of the people at the migration office, either always put us on machine answering (all in swedish!!) or point us to other personnel. But viola! Just when hope was losing, we received the letters from migration office at our doorstep! Saying that we've been granted PERMANENT RESIDENCE in sweden cos' jw has been here for over 4 years already. Woohoo. I'm a Swedish PR! And best of all it means my Iceland dream can be fulfilled afterall.

Soooo, till more updates. Meanwhile enjoy my video okieeee!!

My DIY...

2011-04-05T20:41:00.003+08:00

Ok. So I've not yet completed my next video. Haha.

But that does not mean I've not been doing anything, right? (Although I must admit I do idle around sometimes, can't help it!) Anyway it's really not easy to find time to myself when I can do the things I wanna do. I can only do it when Angel is asleep, like now.

But well, I did my first ever cheesecake! Strawberry flavoured cos it's jw's favourite. Keke. Got a really easy recipe but yet the end result is quite satisfying. Yay yay. I love cheesecakes nowadays!

Yesterday was Tingting's 2nd bday. I also spent the past couple of weeks working on her pearl portrait. It has my fav pic of her and is made up of near 5000 coloured beads. I kinda like it and hope she does too. So glad kersin said she loves it and finds it meaningful. Yay! Not all people appreciate art and craft stuff, you know.

I also made my first ever bracelet. Two, in fact, Wanted to make it for a friend on her bday but ended up had some flaw and I decided to keep it and do another one for her. Well, I dunno if I'll end up reading up and getting hooked on jewellery making, but right now there are so many people out there who can DIY all this kinda stuff. Other than satisfying my own interest, there's probably not a future in this home based biz for me. (Yeah, I am still dreaming of setting up a small home based biz for myself next time. No more office hours! I don't think I can go back to that kind of life anymore!)

Lastly, like I mentioned previously, I am also learning to knit. Started bout 3 weeks ago and this is what I've accomplished. HAHA. Looks pathetic hor, now then I realised the amount of work put into knitted products. The amount of concentration, amount of eye power, amount of energy and efforts. Phew. Anyway this is supposedly gonna be a beanie for Angel. We'll see how it turns out. I kinda enjoy the knitting classes though. In the company of friends on a lazy afternoon (3-6pm) on weekdays, just knitting and knitting in mormor's (my lovely 74 year old knitting teacher) pantry in her shop, it really helps to kill time in Karlskrona.

Okie doz, I need to go upload pics into my comp so that I can go about doing Angel's next video! Till my next update yeah! Tata!

Easter is coming!~

2011-03-28T20:07:00.000+08:00

Yay! Easter is here again!

Last year, we took Angel to Oslo in Norway. This year, we are planning to visit Iceland! Sounds exotic huh. I never did think that one day in my life would I be visiting Iceland. It just sounds so faraway and so dreamy. But yeah, now I'm reading up all about this country and planning which tours we should take! Though it might be a short 3-4 day stay, definitely not enough to explore this vast and beautiful country, but at least we've stepped foot in it.

So, I really can't wait for our holiday to come! Lucky me. Get to visit Switzerland in Jan and now get to go Iceland. Lucky Angel too. Hee. Hope she'll get to see lotsa Icelandic animals there!! =) We love animals!

That said, my mil reminded that it's my lunar bday today. Wahaha. Which means in lunar years, I am 29 liaoz!! But rightfully I am still 27, turning 28 next week. Haha. Time flies!! But no matter what, I am happy with my life and happy with my baby. Time to celebrate mummy's bday for her again, this year you'll get to blow candles and eat yummy cake okie!! =)

Till more updates!

My to-do list...

2011-03-17T07:32:00.002+08:00

I don't usually write to-do lists. Haha. And it's not as if I have a lot of things to do now here in Sweden. But well, there are some things on my mind for the past few weeks and I think I need to go about executing them out one by one and stop procrastinating!

1) Video video video

There are two videos I need to do. One is halfway through, which is on our Baltic Sea cruise on Royal Carribbean, and guess what, it happened during August LAST YEAR. Haha. I promise and told myself that I I will make a video for each of our overseas holiday for Angel so that I can make her a DVD and keep all these precious memories which can be easily looked back on next time.

Another vid is on Angel's growth! My last was on her 13th month. Although my plan after her first year was to do one every quarterly, I think I'm past my own deadline too. Haha. And I've been taking less pics and less vids of my cute darling. Aiyoh. Muz ganbatte ne!

2) My first knit

I started learning knitting this week and I cross my fingers that I can finish making a beanie for Angel by end of the month. I doubt it will be pretty or very wearable but I wanna complete it! Knitting is tough and time-consuming! Haha. But yeah I'm sure I can do it right.

3) Singing time!

Next, I just got our mics in working order today. Jw and I haven sang songs for maybe half a year? Haha. I'm determined to learn some new songs so that I won't feel so outdated when I go back sg to K with the girls. Keke. I love singing! Good way to relieve stress and another emotional burden too.

4) Our very own home

Also, I think it's time to start thinking of how we wanna renovate and decor our new house. We are going back sg in may to collect our keys! Although I honestly think nothing much can be accomplished in the short over 10 days that we are there, but it's a start and I have to think bout it since we decided I'm going to be the 'interior designer' for our new house. Hehe. I am so excited that we will finally have our own house. Though jw's parents will be coming in to stay, at least it's my home, my place with my loved ones and somewhere I hope I will live comfortably in.

So, these are the things I need to do. Haha. Abit boliao right. But well, being a housewife and full time mummy, you just gotta find some ways to keep yourself entertained and think that you are making full use of yourself. Well.

Good night. Time to go zzzz with my little Angel..

Why Karlskrona is a nicer place to live in...

2011-03-07T06:37:00.002+08:00

No, it's not that I don't love sg, however, staying in Karlskrona for nearly three years has exposed me to more of the world out there and honestly, I began to understand why people would decide to migrate to live overseas.

There are plenty of factors that play a part, from culture to weather to living conditions to the people around you. And from the bottom of my heart, I must say that I think Karlskrona will make a better place for retirement. =)

1) The weather and the four seasons

Yeah yeah, it's true that winters may be harsh, terribly cold and long, especially this year. And the thick layers of snow makes travelling difficult, not to mention you gotta shovel and dig every morning just to drive your car out. But, it's also cos' of the snow that we get to indulge in winter activities like skiing, snow sledging and even dog sleighing. Apart from winter, the weather is really nice in spring, autumn and abit hot in summer, but never ever as hot and humid as it gets in sg. Never!

2) Less people, less cars, less pollution

Somehow, all these makes the air nicer to breathe in and you don't get so overwhelmed when you hit the streets. No pushing and shoving amongst crowds like you do in sg (remember the MRT in peak hours? or during GSS? *gasp*), no more endless traffic jams, horning, ERPs and selfish cutting of lanes (I don't even think we have gotten horned at once in the past 2.5 years! and the people here are generally nicer and more patient on the roads). Having a sparsely populated environment with better air also makes it harder for you to fall sick. We feel so much healthier and less prone to illnesses here, just think about the hand foot mouth and SARS in sg.

3) Friendlier people, kinder souls

It's not that all singaporeans are ugly, I know that many of us are still kind at heart. RIGHT? But somehow, it's just that we are not as helpful and we are too engrossed in our own minds own activities sometimes. I remember last year in sg, I was travelling via the MRT with Angel on my own. She started getting cranky in her stroller and I had to carry her out, which at the same time my stroller fell over and so did my stuff. Amazingly, at the crowded MRT station, no one, yes I do mean NO ONE, came to my aid. Some turned over to look at me and my crying baby, but no one came forward. I was so shocked. In Karlskrona, even old aunties would offer to help jw shovel the snow and to push his car when he needs help. People would hold the door and elevator for you, let you cut queue in supermarkets if you're only buying two items, and help you lift your stroller up the steps. Yar. It's that extreme sometimes. You really see the difference in attitudes. Another thing, Angel loves to wave to people when we go on holiday and it's usually the ang mohs who wave back, smile at her and come forward to talk to her. When she waves to Asians, they generally think we have a problem, or they give a very forced smile and continue doing their own stuff. I dunno why. But it's really evident. Maybe we are just more introvert, more skeptical and suspicious of people generally.

4) A simple, relaxed pace of life

Yeah, definitely sporeans work much harder and live at such a fast pace of life that we sometimes don't know how to slow down and appreciate the simplicity of life. Maybe it's just me, I like simple and I am simple. I don't know why we rush to and fro so much (like going to be reincarnated!), why we work so late and pack our lunches to office so often, why we are so kiasu and kiasee, why we have to be up to date with newest technology, why we are so overstressed and end up overstressing our kids by loading them with tonnes of tuition and extra curricular activities. It's just peer pressure and the result of the environment, sometimes. You don't wanna lose out. And in the process, we forget how kids should have a happy and more carefree childhood, and when kids grow to adults, they become like us too, living the life of a headless fly, bumping here and there endlessly. It's a vicious cycle we will never break free from. Oh well. It's not that bad. But you know what I mean. We need to SLOW down, but we can't, and all we do is keep stepping on the accelerator so that we are not the last in the race. So somehow, I appreciate the relaxed pace of life here. People get off work early to enjoy family quality time in the evenings, shops close on sundays and work half days on saturdays to give shop workers a well-deserved weekend break, and very seldom do you see people working OT (even in audit firms like Deloitte which is right across my house!). I would say there is more of a work life and family balance here.

5) Road trips and holidays

Another good thing about staying in Europe is that you can get to go on road trips often without spending a big bomb. You can drive to nearby countries, go on long summer road trips, or just take the budget airline to nearby countries for a short getaway. You get to see so much more of the world that you don't see when you stay in sg. I'm so glad I had the chance. I was sort of the mountain turtle back in sg, less travelled and not well informed of the world. I did not see much of the world nor get in touch with other cultures and civilisations other than in Asia. But now, even if it's a short 3 day weekend, we can still drive to germany or even norway and spend a weekend there. Cool huh? Like when popo was here, we brought her on a road trip and like what she said, she ate breakfast in sweden, lunch in denmark and then dinner in germany. Wahaha. I hope I can continue to travel, go climb mountains, go explore unseen parts of the world when I turn past 50 (like my adventurous and fit ah yi who just conquered himalayas!).

Ok. That sort of sums it up. I can list out more, but you get the idea. Despite saying all, we will be heading back to sg soon and join in the rat race again. It's my home and no matter what, I love singapore. I just wish I could still lead as simple a life as I have been living for the past 2.5 years. With my hubby, my baby, and me, in a small, cosy and happy house, leading a simple but blissful life. =)

The girls won, again!~

2011-02-28T19:17:00.000+08:00

Yoohoo. Here's what happened during CNY when the guys lost to the girls in games. Which happens to be the outcome of most, if not ALL, of the many many sessions we had. Wahaha. I wonder why.

That night, it was me, Cindy & Priyah vs my hubby, Ekmond, Naga and Bob. Yeah. Means we the girls were handicapped 3 to 4. But you know what, we totally thrashed them at Pictionary (charade style!) cos' when we reached the finishing line they had only moved ONE step. And when Taboo came, I had to go make Angel sleep in the middle of the game so it was Cindy & Priyah vs the guys. BUT in the end, we still won. Haha. Which reminds me, the guys still owe us a forfeit for that. Maybe girls are generally just better than guys at these games. Or maybe the three of us just make a formidable team. Wahaha.

Anyway still kudos to the guys for their willingness to perform our requested forfeit. Guess who chose the song? ME! Wahaha. I love it. I think the guys did well, don't you think so? Now I must go and think of a next song for our next game session liaoz.. wahaha.. Tata!! I love games!!

My dream...

2011-02-18T06:15:00.000+08:00

Happy Day..

2011-02-15T08:04:00.004+08:00

A simple evening, simple dinner, simple family time. But that’s all it takes to make my vday a happy one.

So despite jw couldn’t come back for lunch, despite Angel got cranky at our desired dinnertime and we had to take turns to eat, despite this year I had no prezzie nor roses, despite jw had to return to work after dinner, I somehow still think that I am happy.

Maybe it’s because my life is generally complete and happy now, so there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be happy right? Wahaha.

Hope you like the prezzie dear! Kinda not a surprise, huh? I'm running out of ideas too. But least I made a nice card just for you! Hee. Muakz!

Our dinner at Michelangelo, which may be simple but not cheap! Hehe. It's my second time eating there, after my bday dinner two years back. Time flies! Now we have to handle a baby at the same time as we eat, not easy! =) But well, mummy and daddy managed!

So, Happy Valentine’s to my dearest deardear and Happy Friendship Day to my friends out there. May you be happy always too!

新年快乐 , 万事如意!

2011-02-07T20:27:00.002+08:00

Yeah yeah, time flies, it's Chinese New Year again!

I still remember when we had our family photoshoot last year, Angel was only 3 months old. And look at her now! She's turning 15 months. Wow. Really amazing how time can zoom past sometimes without you realising it till you look back.

We had a simple but enjoyable CNY celebration this year. First, we had a crew gathering where all the families and kids came together for a night of food, games and festive song singing. Since we don't have chinatown here, all we can do is to try to create the CNY atmosphere ourselves. =)

Secondly, we went to stay for 3D2N at Malmo together with some of our friends. It was a weekend spent shopping, eating and trying our luck at the casino. Keke. Well, I quite enjoyed it though jw and I can no longer go gamble together. Still, it was nice to spend time just relaxing in the hotel, shopping and eating with Claudine and her kids, indulging in buffet dinners and enjoying some private time at the casino tables. Yeap yeap. This is just us, and our way of living. Angel got to go gai gai and had some new clothes too. Woohoo.

Thirdly, we also have several steamboat sessions at home and with our friends. It's always so nice to have steamboats on CNY though sometimes it may be steamboat for consecutive days. Keke. We also played mahjong, poker and fun games like Taboo and Pictionary and basically just laughed our heads off because it was really hilarious especially when it came to doing forfeits. =)

So, to all friends and family out there, just wanna wish you a happy and prosperous year of the rabbit. May joy and bliss be with you and your loved ones all year round.

祝你笑口常开, 天天开心! Stay happy always!!! =)

My most beautiful holiday..

2011-01-24T20:02:00.006+08:00

Switzerland is definitely the prettiest place I've been so far. There were many times when the amazing sights just left me feeling speechless in a happy way. I honestly loved every day and every hour of the trip! Hee.

ZURICH 1-3 JAN 2011

Our first destination was Zurich since we arrived at the Zurich airport. The Swiss flight was rather a pleasant one and thankfully a short one, just slightly over 1.5hours. =) Our only bummer on this trip was at the start when we realised we forgot to load the Maclaren stroller onto the car and as a result were pram-less for the rest of the trip. OMG!

At first I was very much affected by it and was frustrated that despite my reminder jw forgot to take it! But I honestly didn't want the trip to start on a bad note and this was a trip I've been pinning for and very much looking forward to. What's done cannot be undone anyway. I knew I had the baby bjorn carrier in my luggage but angel being 9kg now, it's going to be tough for us to carry her all the way for 8 days. Well. I was half right and half wrong. It was indeed tough and our shoulders were aching each day, but it was not that difficult and the good thing was that Angel did kinda like it cos' she got to see a clear view when we went gai gai (she was always so ecstatic and full of woos and ahs!) and we didn't have to carry her in and out of pram to take photos. Only thing was I wondered if she slept comfortably like that instead of lying down. But well, by the 2nd day we already got used to the carrying and took turns regularly and hey, we survived well! Yoohoo!! *pat on shoulder for me and jw* Keke.

I wonder if anyone likes to visit the zoo when overseas. Keke. I dunno but I'm really cool with the idea and now that we have Angel, I think the zoo is pretty much a good choice. =) It's quite fascinating to see the animals in a snow covered environment, unlike the hot sunny zoo we have in sg.

Though it was drizzling, we still had an enjoyable and fun time at the Zurich Zoo. We spent nearly half a day there, saw dozens of different animals and even witnessed a penguin parade! Cool. Heard that they only come out for a parade when the temperature is below 10 deg celsius. Anyway they were amazingly obedient and didn't really go out of line or break free (though one seemed abit interested in one of the onlookers). =) Really cute. Now that Angel is older, I think she also kind of enjoyed looking at the different animals. She even touched a slithery huge long python! Haha.

Zurich is pretty much what we expected. Commercial, developed, lots of shopping and all. Though our aim on this trip was not to shop but to go sightseeing, we still walked around the town in Zurich and bought bits and pieces of stuff. Oh Angel had new Zara boots, I loved them and they helped to keep her little feet warm on this trip!

INTERLAKEN 3-5 JAN 2011

I was very much looking forward to Interlaken because many people were saying that it's beautiful and it's a must go if you visit Switzerland. Well, it's a pretty small and self sufficient town but still plenty of shops to see and to shop. Unlike Zurich, it's not so commercial and there was more scenery to admire there. I kinda like it and our excursion up to Jungfrau, top of europe, was really great.

Well, actually Jungfrau is not exactly the highest point in Europe since there were other taller peaks in the Alps, but it's the one with the highest railway station at 3454 ft therefore they call it the Top of Europe. Sounds inviting. Hehe.We also visited the Ice Palace and saw several ice sculptures on Jungfrau.

The first time I went outdoor at Jungfrau to admire the scenery, I was like 'wow'. I never thought that one day in my life, I would be standing here admiring the beauty of the snow-covered Alps on a sunny day in Switzerland. It was like, perhaps a dream when I was in Singapore. Something I never expect I would accomplish at 27-year-old. So I really treasured those moments. You can tell, I took tonnes of pictures! Haha. The weather was really kind to us too, thankfully.

Angel is even more blessed, she has been there and done that at 1-year-old! Haha. I am going to take pics and make vids and show her all the places she's been to when she's so little. Unbelievable. =) Anyway yup, I love the snow mountains though jw commented that after awhile, they all pretty much looked the same (which is true but I still think they are magnificent =p).

On our last day in Interlaken, I insisted that we had to go see a lake. There were two, the one we went to see was Lake Thun. It wasn't as near as I thought from where we stayed. We could have taken a bus that would take less than 10min, but alas this bus only runs every hourly and we missed it so instead of waiting an hour, we thought we would walk instead. And guess what, we ended up walking an HOUR. Haha. With me carrying Angel. Well well, luckily it was a really sunny and hot day. I guess walking will do me some good and give me the much needed exercise. Keke.

Anyway when we finally reached, I did not regret the walk one bit cos' the view was stunning. This above pic that I took already made everything worthwhile. I was so in love with the view. Though it was a rush affair taking pics initially cos' we wanted to catch the bus back (which we eventually missed, ironically), the pics were already enough to last me for a lifetime. Hehe. I was so glad I decided to come and see the lake instead of going shopping.

BERN 5-6 JAN 2011

Bern is the capital of Switzerland and in the beginning I didn't really plan to come here but in the end decided we could spare one night stay here. I was glad we did too. Bern appealed to both of us more than I thought it would.

Though it is very much commercialised and had endless shopping streets, it still preserved the look and feel of an old town and thus had an unique taste of its own, in my opinion. The buildings, the statues, the layout of the shopping promenades, all added up and gave us somewhat a cosy and nice feel of this capital city.

By the way, I love the idea of ice skating on the Parliament Square! Well, if it's in sg, not only is it impossible to have an ice skating rink outdoors, but I can't imagine ice skating in front of the parliament building too. Haha. Anyway the view here was really great and it made me feel happy just watching the people ice skate. =)

LUCERNE 6-8 JAN 2011

Our fourth and final stop was Lucerne, which was personally my favourite of all. I felt that it was really really pretty the moment I stepped out of the main train station. Alps, river, ducks and swans, bridges, everything added together and made an almost perfect picture.

Whenever I looked at the scenery, I felt peaceful, serene and at ease. Perhaps it's a feeling I don't get when I'm in sg, so I particularly cherished those moments. Esp when I have my dear beside me and my darling baby in my arms. The two people I love so much in my life.

Anyway we had a second excursion up the Alps in Lucerne, this time round we visited Mt Titlis. On Jungfrau, there was an Ice Palace and on Titlis, there was a Glacier Cave. Not bad as attractions. I specially loved the lighting effects in the glacier cave (of cos, without the lights the ice might be quite dull-looking).

Once again, we had an awesome view of the Alps. Wow. Again, we were lucky to have good weather, though initially there was strong winds and splattering snow in our faces (which made Angel cry!). But it was fine thereafter and we absolutely had a terrific afternoon on Titlis.

A highlight was the Snow Toys Park where they had various toys for adults and kids to play. We tried snow tubing, which basically you sit in this float and slide down the slope in a zig zag manner. It was like a mini roller coaster ride cos' it was quite fast and whenever you got to bends, the float will slide up and fall down again and it was quite exciting! Woohoo! I screamed! Haha. In delight, mostly. Guess what, I took Angel with me too since there was no age restriction. Haha. I think she's a brave baby! We sat on it not once but TWICE and she was ok.

Other than snow board toys, jw and I also tried this balancer thingy to slide our way down the snow slopes. It's super fun and exhilarating because it goes down super fast! Haha. I fell once but went on my way again down. You gotta keep your balance too and when you do keep, it just keeps accelerating and that's the fun part of it. Hee.

We also took a ride on the 'IceFlyer' which we decided it was pretty much a 10-min ride on a chair ski lift. But the good thing is you get an awesome view below and it's definitely more spectacular than being in a cable car. We took three cable cars to arrive on the highest point on Titlis and one of it was a revolving one (first in the world!).

All in all, this trip was really great and I was sad when it ended. Good things don't last forever, do they? But that's also precisely why they are so beautiful and so memorable. I'm sure these memories will be with me for as long as I can remember. One dream fulfilled, one happy girl. Hip hip hooray!! =)

A true winter experience..

2011-01-19T20:58:00.001+08:00

Yeah yeah I'm back! Time to jot down more thoughts about my winter hols before the memories start to fade. First up, Sälen!!

Initially, I was hesitant to try out skiing when jw suggested, thinking that I won't be much interested in it and of coz it's risky and also since Angel is unable to ski means that jw and I can't ski together. But gosh, I am soooo glad I tried! It's really really fun, thrilling and rewarding!

Though I fell several times on my first day, I think that I did good on the second and third day. Hee. No more falls at all, and amazingly I managed to learn to do the S, learnt to brake and learnt to be in control of my skis. I didn't even use the sticks after I could control except to push me off at the beginning. Wahaha. So proud of myself *pat pat*. Keke. Maybe the sportsman in me hasn't died after all though I haven't been exercising for ages. Anyway, the thing is, I actually wanna go skiing again next time and try out harder slopes cos' I didn't had the chance to this time round! Ambitious harrr. But yeah, that's the way it should be, shouldn't it?

Besides skiing, we also indulged in various indoor activities like swimming, which Angel really enjoyed. We played on slides, in wave pools, and there was even this very cool 'outdoor' pool where you could go out and feel your hair ice up since the temperature was like minus 20 deg celsius. Wahaha. But not to worry, the water was at 37 deg!! Hee. Really shiok ahh!! Even Angel went out there with us! An unique experience.

Besides swimming, we also played bowling and virtually all the arcade games there. Haha. We were the only family who really went to play arcade every night and Angel was the only kid who went to the bowling alley. The rest were probably in their rooms preparing for bed. Dunno ley, but we kinda like to bring Angel around with us everywhere we go. I don't think we should change our way of living and our habits/interests in order to accommodate her, rather, she should fit into our lifestyles as our baby. Right? Of cos, we dun stay out till 3-4am and go clubbing every weekend like last time. But still, going arcade, playing games, trying out new things and staying awake till midnight is okie for her, in our opinion. It's not like we do it everyday too. We're on holiday!! So, chill and relaxxx! =)

It was also my first time going to a McSki. How cool. Instead of drive through, there is instead a SKI through. Keke. I love McDonalds! So does Angel!!

A most important highlight of the trip is of cos the dog sleigh experience. Probably a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity. I'm really glad we did it though despite the freezing cold, strong winds and splattering snow. The view was spectacular. And the dogs were amazingly obedient. Jw had a tough time being the 'driver' of our sleigh but I believe it was a golden and memorable opportunity and experience for him too, right? The other day I re-watched 'Eight and Below' which was showing on tv, you know, the show about the huskies who were trapped and had to survive on their own for months. It was then I felt more and was more touched than the first time I watched. You know, how weird that all these feelings change after you've really been through the experience and understand more about the characters in the show.

So, that's about it for our basically 3 full day stay in Sälen. A fun-filled and true winter experience. Great great great memories. =) Till the next x'mas hols! Happy holidays!

Amazing hols..

2011-01-12T16:20:00.001+08:00

Oh yeshhh!! We are back from a wonderful winter hols from Sälen and Switzerland!!

I can't even start to describe what a happy and amazing trip we had. We did and tried so many new things, from skiing to dog sleighing to visiting the alps and snowtubing. I'm so glad we did all these things cos' I kinda think that it will be hard for me to find a second chance in future next time.

Switzerland is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been and I simply love everything about it (well, maybe except the high prices). I was so blown away by all the pretty sights we saw and went 'wowwwww' so many times! Haha. *suagu* I felt like a little girl once again!! And my baby was sooooo happy too cos' she got to gai gai everyday in her baby carrier cos' mummy and daddy forgot to bring her pram!! *shoulder ache*

She was a brave baby and survived all the cold and the mountains. I heard alot of laughter and exclamation from her whenever we visited shops or went sightseeing or saw ducks and swans in the river. I guess she was happy too!! =)

Anyway I'm sorting all the pics now (I have near 2000!!) and will post more updates on the trips once I can. =)

All in all, I just wanna say thanks dear for bringing us to these places and I really had a good time. Hope you did too!!! It's such an amazing hols that it totally makes up for me being in confinement last year and didn't go overseas. Wahahaha. =) Switzerland felt like our second honeymoon though we had Angel with us!! Really awesome!!

Till more updates on our trips!! I'll be back soon!! Angel's calling for Mama now!! Tata!!

Merry Christmas!!~

2010-12-27T02:53:00.000+08:00

Angel and I wish all our friends and family a Merry Merry Christmas 2010!!~

Time flies, Santa is here again! Like last year, we had a white xmas this year. Really really white. Lotsa snow everywhere!! We also had fun skiing, snow sledging and dog sleighing. Will upload more pics and updates soon. =)

For now, let's wish Angel a happy happy 13th month and may there be many many more merry christmas to come our way!! Love ya baby! Hugz and muakz!!

May the year 2011 be a great and blessed one for all of you out there reading this. =) Take care and have fun this festive season!!

Don't lose the simplicity of life..

2010-12-15T06:57:00.006+08:00

I've been wanting to blog about this for a long time but didn't get to put it down till now.

Let's see, how should I begin?

Okie. I can imagine that if I'm still staying in Singapore, I would no doubt own an iphone. Well, I might not be the most tech-savvy person around, but hey, almost everyone has an iphone and since it's the fashion and it's affordable, I bet I would go for it too. Isn't it already a fact and a trend that even kids love to play on iphone? So, I'm 99% sure I will have one by now, IF I was in sg.

But guess what? I am still using my Nokia slider phone which probably is about two-thirds of a decade old liaoz. Amazing, it's still surviving though sometimes abit siao and will shut off. But so, since it can function and meet my basic needs living here in Sweden, I'm contented with it.

The point is, I'm quite saddened by the fact that we are doing away with all the simple things in life, having been replaced by endless gadgets that technology has brought. Whatever happened to simple, fun games like five stones, hopscotch, zero point and lao ying zhuo xiao ji? Is it just me, or do people realise that kids nowadays are now longer playing them? Instead, it's Ninetendo DS, Wii, Iphone etc. I mean it, I feel sad.

To me, childhood is a very simple, carefree and happy thing. You definitely do not need all these techy stuff to make a kid happy. Or rather, I should even say I think that LIFE itself is very simple. You also do not need all these stuff to make yourself happy. I kinda think that jw and I are rather simple-minded, carefree and happy-go-lucky people, and I somehow hope that Angel will grow up like that too, and not keep bugging me to buy her new techy toys after seeing all her friends playing with them.

I dunno. I guess I'm just afraid that the simplicity of life is getting lost as we advance with time. I will always feel that life is simple and should be simple. No need for fanciful stuff, no need for expensive items, no need for complicated things. Those might enhance our life and standard of living, but honestly I somehow don't think we really need them. All we need is family, friends and love to keep us happy. Simple. right?

So back to my analogy on iphone, I am kind of happy that staying in Sweden made me keep to my Nokia phone (it's so old that I dun even remember its model, haha) for soooooo long. Haha. It also gave me that perspective that I actually don't really need those things in my life. They may just be a fad, a trend, a gadget, and these things are never ending, aren't they? Being here in Karlskrona, such a simple, laid back and happy town has made me realise just how happy I can be spending simple, happy, quality time with my baby and my dear hubby. I can have nothing but two of them, doing nothing with the two of them by my side, but still feel that I am so blessed.

Perhaps this was a lesson that I would not have learnt if I have not left sg. Well, so no iphone for now. Just let me indulge in the simplicity of my life now. =) Angel, mummy will teach you 5 stones and we'll play lao ying zhuo xiao ji with daddy okie?

Jingle bells are ringing!!

2010-12-03T20:49:00.002+08:00

Yes yes, it's the time of the year ago!! I can somehow hear Christmas carols already. =) Time flies and it's SNOWING again! Not just any snow, but BIG and HEAVY snow. Hehe. We're gonna bring Angel slow sledging soon!!

And in two weeks time, we'll be heading for Sälen in Sweden to spend 5 days with friends and with snow. Cool huh? I'm gonna take up skiing lessons too! Woohoo!! Just hope none of us get injured as I honestly think it's a risky sport. But well, better to have been there & done that than not to have tried at all, right? I might not have a second chance ever again when I return to sunny singapore.

And guess what? We are bringing Angel to go dog sleighing too. Keke. Yoohoo!! I've always only seen those magnificent huskies in movies pulling along the sleds, now I get a chance to truly experience it. With Angel too! We heard it's gonna be freakingly cold, oh well, we are still keen to try it out. =p

And on 1st Jan, we'll be visiting the country that I've always pictured to be beautiful and have always been hoping to go. SWITZERLAND!! I never did think that someday I'll be able to really step on foot there. Well, staying here in Sweden is really a good thing as it has opened up my horizons alot. I'm really glad and happy for it. And to be able to spend each day with my hubby and my baby, just the 3 of us, be it staying at home, going on road trips, going on holidays or just going supermarketing and shopping, nothing beats this family feeling. Just the three of us.

So, to beautiful Switzerland, pls let me see how truly pretty you are!! I am all excited to fly over!! This is gonna be a great winter hols since last winter was spent in my confinement. Keke. Till more snowy updates!

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh, hey!!

Angel's 12th month..

2010-11-27T07:46:00.000+08:00

Yoohoo, here's my newest video of Angel specially made for her turning 1 year old. I love the song, you like it? I love seeing her laugh and singing blabber too. =)

Actually, it's not that being a mum is always smooth-sailing, though my videos are always happy. Like these few days, my baby who used to eat 3 bowls of porridge every day has started rejecting food. She refused to open her mouth when I wanna feed her despite I tried and tried. Played games, used fruits/yoghurt/biscuits, watched Barney, sang cuckoo songs, somehow she just didn't want to eat her porridge or macaroni. All she wanted was her biscuits or yoghurt or just fruits. It was really a drastic change because she had such a good appetite all along and was always always so easy to feed.

So, despite me telling myself to keep my cool, there were times when I felt frustrated and even shouted at her and hit her hand when she spat out the food. I of cos regretted it because I always tot I'm a patient person and I dunno why I lost my cool. Anyway, I realised I just need to be even more patient with her. It's a learning process not just for her, but for me as a mum too.

So, you see, I have my downs too, just that I don't usually say it or write it down. I just think that they are not as worth remembering as the ups, though I tell myself I need to learn from every lesson. So, I only included happy things, happy moments, happy times in my videos and my pics. Life should be simple and happy, shouldn't it? Sometimes people are the ones who make themselves miserable, not life.

To my baby, hope you'll regain your big big big appetite soon because mummy is scared you won't get enough nutrients! I love you and I hope you had great fun on your 1st birthday! Huggzzz and Happy 12th Months!! =)

Happy Birthday Angel!~

2010-11-27T07:26:00.004+08:00

Angel's 1st bday party was a huge success!~

It was definitely worth every bit of my effort. After months of doing up the decor plus long hours spent in the kitchen preparing and cooking the food, we had a really good time in the end. =) Three cheers! Really really thanks to all the friends who came, without whom the event could not have taken place. Also much thanks to jw, for being a wonderful helper in the kitchen and without whom I couldn't possibly have survived. Last but not least, to my little Angel for being a good girl when mummy was busy doing the scrapbooking, decorations and cooking. She could watch Barney for hours before she started crying and getting bored. =)

Look! Here's all the food we made! Not bad huh. =) I don't think it was fantastic or perfect but it was certainly up to my expectations. Dear, we made it! *hi five*

Our nice cake baked by Seline. She could read my mind! I love customised stuff and so I really loved and appreciated this cake with our blissful family photo on it. =) Xie xie ni!

Angel has so many presents! Toys, clothes, hair clips, cards, everything! We would never have bought her so much stuff. Wahaha. Our toy desert is now slowly becoming a toy paradise. Keke.

The pink banner and swirling foils I specially bought for Angel. I love them! Makes the house so colourful and happy. =)

My two charts of Angel, colours and alphabets. I guess it'll be fun to teach her this way. And yeah, what's new, I simply love to print out our photos and hang them around the house. Hee.

Welcome to our RAINBOW party! I love this poster. Hee. Actually, it's the background that makes it so nice. Rainbow and stars, nice combi!!

My scrapbook pages of Angel's growth, from her being in my tummy till birth till now. Inspired by my da sao, and I think it's a pretty good idea so we can keep the pages in a scrapbook and keep for remembrance after the event and not waste the hard work. =) It was a pretty easy scrapbook though cos' I used simple decorations and concepts for each page.

Remember my bead portrait? Here's my second one, specially for Angel. Hee. 3600 beads. It may look hard, but honest it's very easy. =) Just need eye power and concentration and probably can be done in a couple of days (provided you have all the right beads, which I didn't, so I had to order and wait and it took weeks to complete =p).

I dunno why, but I tot of learning balloon modelling for the party. Just something special in addition to normal round balloons. Frankly, it's quite easy too. Just need the balloons, a pump and YouTube. Haha.

All in all, I think Angel's 1st bday will be a very memorable day (2 days, actually) for me. I do hope she had fun too! And everyone had fun! Still can't believe my baby is 1 year old already. But well, she will always be my baby in my heart! Hugs and muakz, my little one!

3 more days!!

2010-11-17T07:00:00.004+08:00

Yeah yeah, just 3 more days to Angel's BIG day! We're gonna have a party! Hee.

Keke. Actually, it's not a very big deal right. But somehow I just like to make a big deal out of it. Haha. I mean, come on, it's my baby turning one year old!! =) And since I don't work and don't study, what else can I do except take up all these projects and work hard on them.. Keke.

See my little creation there? Hmmmm. Got reflection so can't really see hor?

How about now? Wahaha. Boliao hor? I wonder if anyone will even notice. Keke. But this was all thanks to my hubby's idea to stick stuff on the window, so I did. And let Hello Kitty wave to the passer-bys. Wahahaha. =)

Alrite. I think I am on a natural high now.

Oh btw today I had lunch with my sec friend who just arrived in Karlskrona couple of weeks ago! I think I should go buy 4D liaoz. Talk about the odds of having a sec friend to join my life in Sweden. =) Nice to chit chat and just catch up on the good old times. The not so long ago good old times. *winks* When we were in AHS sports class, she as a table tennis player and me as a badminton player. How we fought hard in East Zone and national tournaments, how we cheered and screamed, how we laughed and cried, how we always got called 四肢发达, 头脑简单, but yet showed the world how we could play sports and also excel in our O' Levels. Those were the times! =p I may never be a teen again but my teen years will always be very deeply etched in my mind. Sports Class rox!!

Wow. Come to think of it, it's over 13 years already. Haha. We are both married now and I'm a proud mum of a little angel. We've really moved on in our lives huh? But well, some memories are really for eternity, don't you think so? There are some things in life that you never want to forget. =)

K k. Time to put an end to the natural high. It's past 12 midnite!! Time to zzzzzz. Nite nite peeps!!

It's coming!!~

2010-11-10T06:58:00.003+08:00

Yeap yeap, Angel's birthday invites are out!! Woohoo!! We can start counting down to her big day!! My darling is turning 1 year old!! Fwahhhh!!

Doing all these invites kinda reminds me of our ROM. Keke. Basically I used the same concept and idea, having the mosaic pic (not many pple realise, but the big pic is actually made up of hundreds of smaller pics of Angel!!) and some simple decor and wordings. Well, if I could do nearly 100 invites for our beach ROM, doing less than 30 for Angel's rainbow party wouldn't be such a big deal, right? Keke. Just that I didn't have a baby on my hands then, now I can only work hard when she's sleeping, which doesn't really leave me with alot of time.

But, art & craft is my interest, so I could go without sleep but I would definitely finish what I set out to do. =) Now, I'm just hoping that the next weekend will turn out to be a success and the guests and my baby will have lotsa fun at the celebration!

To those who might be reading this but did not receive the invite, I am sincerely so sorry about it. I do wish I could have the entire crew and all our friends, big and small, over to our humble little house to share the special day with us. But, in consideration of the really humble house and our limited capability to cook up so much stuff, we had to draw a line somewhere despite already branching out into 2 days. My apologies.

That said, I know that friends will be understanding and so, we are still excited and looking forward to just having a simple but fun time next weekend. It's really really gonna be a special day for me and for my baby. I love you, dear Angel!! It's your lunar birthday tomorrow, we're gonna eat mee sua and egg and chicken!! Woohoo!!

We saw such a pretty rainbow last weekend, alas before I could capture it on film, the beautiful arch had faded away, leaving what was left as above. But well, at least we saw it with our eyes and felt it with our hearts. May the rainbow continue to come after every rain!! =)

Angel's 11th month

2010-11-02T04:49:00.001+08:00

Yeap yeap, another vid update on Angel's growth. =)

She's growing up really fast, talking more, playing more, crawling faster and getting more and more active!! She can now open up drawers, stand up by herself with the help of any furniture she finds, understand simple commands like clapping, pointing, switching on and off of lights etc.

One thing is, she's really become very attached to me and jw. Of cos, that's smtg to be happy about, right? But well, when she wakes up in the midst of the night (which she still does, like 3 times on average) and can't see me by her side, she gets frantic and starts crying and crawls out of bed looking for me. =) Haha. You know what, of cos I would like a good nite's sleep, but somehow I've already grown used to her temper and her habits already.

And I kind of love the fact that I have her all by myself here in Sweden. I can decide how I wanna bring her up, set my own rules and sometimes if I let her cry abit (I think it's okie and you don't need to rush to her aid everytime you hear her cry), there won't be anyone to scold me or nag at me. Waha. Sounds like bad mummy har. But well, good or bad, it's just a matter of what you believe in and what you think is good for your child. So, there's really no right or wrong in child upbringing.

Anyway, I definitely will cherish the remaining time I have here, to bond with her and to teach her new stuff and treasure each of her laughter and chuckles. =) I especially love weekends where it's just me, daddy and baby at home, we may be doing nothing, but it's just the three of us, a happy family.

In 3 weeks time will be Angel's 1st bday party!! Exciting!! Till more updates on our life in Sweden! Tata!

An Angelic Halloween..

2010-11-02T00:59:00.002+08:00

This year, we had a simple but nonetheless joyful Halloween celebration with Angel and the friends here in Karlskrona. All the kids were dressed up nicely (hmmm, I mean scarily), thanks to the efforts of the mums and dads. =) A handful of the older people like us who still think we are up to the game to dress up, did so. Hee. Those very onz ones even went to buy their costumes online! *Clap clap*

Not us though. Haha. Like I said, we only reused our costumes from last year. Wahaha. Oh, we did wear couple costumes that night, keke, both jw and I donned black shirts with ties. Hee. And of cos, our little Angel was dressed up as what else but an Angel! =) A little white fairy angel, with wings, wand and butterfly hairband.

We had a nice potluck with a huge variety of food!! We made baked seabass and red snappers along with sambal sotong for this occasion. My hubby did a great job cleaning and cutting the fishies. Hee. Anyway, yar, Angel also seemed hungry that night, eating not only her full 3 bowls of fish porridge, but also biscuits, agar agar, blueberries and some other titbits given by the generous yiyis who carried her.

See, in probably 8 out of 10 shots, she had food in her hand or in her mouth. Haha. My greedy little baby. =)

Here's Aizhen, the super onz mummy who had on a striking red costume, and Anders, who on the contrary didn't wanna put on his costume that mummy bought. Hehe.

Here's Kersin yiyi, looking super slim and sleek in her red dress. Alamak, how come Angel still eating!!!

Jackie in her cute and chic outfit and her super super high heels!

Chloe jiejie who was also a pink angel for the night

The sweet Lixia jiejie who managed to make me sleep in her arms before!

Seline and me, both dressed in black

Angel's 1st medal!! Much thanks to the nice yiyis and uncles who voted her as one of the three favourite characters for the evening. Woho!

Well, we didn't really take much pics, but guess these are enough for memories. Really appreciate the orgranizers' hard work and efforts behind this event. Kudos! Come next Halloween, Angel will be able to walk and join in the door to door rounds and collect treats! Hee. Till the next update then!

It's Halloween again!

2010-10-19T04:58:00.001+08:00

Remember my blog about Halloween last year? How we spent our first ever Halloween and how I was so onz to go and sew both our hats from scratch and search for DIY costume ideas? Hee. Well. That was before I had a baby. Hmmm. I mean, then I had a baby in my tummy, now I have a baby in my arms. Hee. Anyway, that means I was more free and had more spare time to do such stuff.

So, this year, I probably think we are going to re-use our costumes. Wahaha. Might as well right. Don't waste the efforts or waste $$ buying. Keke. Maybe I should be the wizard and jw be the witch. Keke. Which reminds me, now where did I store all the stuff... Hmmmm..

Anyway, yesh, HALLOWEEN IS HERE again! I just bought a mini pumpkin today for 10kr. So cheap. Waha. It will be Angel's first halloween too. Hee. I probably will dress her into a fairy angel. Haha. Easy easy. =) She already has wings from her photo shoot. Keke. Well. Hope we will have another smashing and terrific Halloween!! Till more updates!

R-A-I-N-B-O-W

2010-10-19T04:51:00.001+08:00

Yay! The theme of Angel's 1st birthday party has been decided! You got it, it's RAINBOW! Waha.

I figured it was a nice and colourful theme, easy to decorate the house, easy to dress up, easy to spread the word. Keke. And don't all kids love rainbow? Well, at least I've always loved it. Rainbow brings about happiness and joy, especially when it comes after the rain.

We've decided to hold a two-day celebration for her, since our humble house probably can't contain all the friends and kids that we wanna invite. So it's gonna be a packed weekend on 20th and 21st Nov! Woho! I'm so excited bout it! My little girl is turning one! Oh my. How time flies. I can still vividly recall when my contractions started and picture me in the delivery ward. It's been nearly a year already! Amazing.

Yeah yeah. Till more updates on the upcoming party then! Hope everything will turn out to be a success and that every guest will come and be able to feel the happiness around! I'm not pinning high hopes on my cooking (don't worry, there'll be FOOD!), but am expecting myself to do a good job decorating the house. Hee. Rainbow rulez!!

Makeup or no makeup?

2010-10-07T05:14:00.001+08:00

Well, this link http://www.camqueenoftheyear.com/ just got my attention and I was scrolling the gallery of girls who posted their before and after makeup pics.

The contest prize is pretty tempting, $SGD5000!!

But well, you know what, I can't remember when's the last time I seriously sat down to apply makeup. Not in a long time. I can attribute the laziness to various reasons: No clubbing activity, No formal prom night or wedding dinners, No need to impress anyone out there (Sorry dear, gotta let you see my huang lian po face 24hr!), No energy to devote myself to the long makeup process, and most importantly, I guess I would rather spend time with my baby, being naturally who I am. Can you imagine me having thick foundation, glossy lips, fake lashes on and carrying baby in my arms? It would be so hard to put my face on her face or ask her to kiss me! Wahaha. PS: I do that ALL THE TIME. =)

Don't get me wrong. I don't dislike makeup. In fact, I think it's good to doll up once in awhile (like I said in a previous blog entry) and go party and make yourself feel good about yourself. =) Hee. It's just that I don't spend money buying those expensive cosmetics and go check up makeup tips and keep up with all the Japan/ Taiwanese fashion makeup trends etc etc. It's just not my thing, be it being a mummy or not.

So yeah, good luck to the participants while I decide to stay away, stay home, and be the happy plain Jane mum that I am. Who cares, my hubby and my baby love me for who I am. =)

I'm sorry...

2010-10-07T04:35:00.002+08:00

Have you ever had one of those days when everything just seems to go wrong no matter what you do?

I did. I think just last month I had one. Where I somehow cut myself thrice in a row and was also accident prone regardless of how hard I tried to avoid them.

And well, today was a sad and bad day for me too. Because I stupidly caused Angel to suffer a big fall. (Again! Her first time was an accident in a friend's house when she fell from the masterbed, head down to the floor. Today was her second BIG fall). Well, she toppled over her high chair and fell head down to the floor today. It's quite a distance, you know. Goodness knows why I left her there for awhile like that and it happened. My heart sank when I heard the loud "Pong".

Although they always say kids must fall down so as to grow up, but I can't help but feel angry at myself and regretful of my carelessness. It wouldn't have mattered if I was the one injured, but not my baby.

Sigh. I know I shouldn't blame myself too much, and that things like this happen all the time, right? Let's just say I feel heartache when I saw her lidat, knowing that it was my fault. She still called Mama, still kissed me, still hugged me after that when she recovered. Phew. That just made me relieved but yet wanna cry inside me.

Alrite. That's all for the day. Just never ever think "That will not happen", because it usually does when you least expect it. I'm sorry, baby! Mummy will try to do a better job next time!

My sweet princess..

2010-10-01T19:03:00.000+08:00

Dear Angel turns 10 months! Here's a simple vid I did for her, which I found quite heartwarming, especially when we sang for her in the end. Hee. Such precious memories, don't you think?

Well, now gotta go think of how to celebrate her 1st bday, which will be here in no time! We love you, baby, so much so that I can't describe. Even though you get cranky for no reason, despite you take power naps only and wake up in half an hour in the day, regardless that you somehow can wake up and cry many times in the night, no matter how tired and how badly you wear me out, I swear it's still worth it and I will never stop loving you. Cos' you're my baby and I'm your mummy, and that's all it takes.

Huggzzzzz..

Äpplemarknaden i Kivik

2010-09-29T04:29:00.003+08:00

Remember the apple market that we went two years ago? Well, this year we revisited it! The biggest difference is that we had Angel with us this time round. Hee. Luckily she didn't have to pay the 80kr entrance fee. Waha.

Anyway, the eye-catcher at the Apple Market is the "apple art": pieces of art that look like paintings, but are actually pieced together by tons and tons of colorful apples, like a mosaic. This year, the painting was made up of 3 tonnes of apples, approximately 35,000 of them! Woohoo. APPLES UNITE!!!

We had lunch and then took a leisure walk along the many many stalls selling a wide range of stuff, from ornaments to magnets to hats and gloves to apple juice and all kinds of apples. There was even a stall selling apple hamburgers. Keke. Not that there were alot of things we needed or liked, but I still think it was nice and relaxing to take a walk in the market on a Saturday afternoon.

Last time, we ate apples coated with sugar and chocolate. Hee. This year, we simply took free samples of scented apples (we don't understand the names anyway) and apple juice. Haha. Typical Singaporeans hor. But oh well, we did buy juice and some apples larrr. =)

Angel had lotsa fun tasting the apples too. Hehe. I love this pic above of her, like doing 超级明星脸 (Did you watch Super Sunday last time?)

Now that she has six teeth, she looks really different when she smiles. Hee. No matter how, she will always look cute to me. Cos' she's my baby! Waha.

Happy Angel wants to snatch the juice from daddy too! Love to see her smile when we take pictures. =) Not always easy to capture though.

Then we also went to the art gallery to appreciate more apples. Hehe. On display were some of the apple paintings from the past years and there was also an exhibit of the different kinds of apples with their names.

This was the horse painting that we missed last year. Kinda cool.

So behind the simple A-P-P-L-E lies so much knowledge too!

After that, we did something we've never done before. We went Apple Plucking at an apple farm! Woho. It's a first time experience for all three of us. =)

There were not many people at the farm, so we could take it easy and slow, choosing the tree and the apple we want and taking photos in the process. There were different kinds of apples and they came in all kinds of sizes. Jw said the bigger one taste better, so we kept a lookout for them and indeed not many were left.

We still managed to pluck 3kg of apples though eventually. Hee. Angel was really curious about everything and she touched apple after apple. =)

And when she held her own apple, she held it like a gem, tightly and closely, smiling happily at us. =) Kawaii ne.

So all in all, we had a simple but happy family day in the Apple Market this year. You don't get to do this kind of activity in Singapore, so I really cherished and appreciated the opportunity. Thanks dear for everything you did for us! Tata!

This winter...

2010-09-14T05:52:00.003+08:00

So, it will only be less than a couple more years here in Sweden before we head back to sg. We won't be able to see snow, wear winter jackets, play on frozen lakes, have snowball fights or build any snowman. Boo hoo.

That is why we decided to bring Angel for a SKIING TRIP this winter! Wahaha. Not that I think she can ski, she's so tiny and small. Keke. But well, it'll probably still be fun spending a nice white X'mas in the lodges nearby to ski slopes and watch the snow coming down on us. Well, she can really be a snow angel this year. Wahaha.

Yeah yeah, skiing is risky, I know that. But it's probably those kind of thing you gotta try at least once in your lifetime when you get the chance. I mean, even if I only manage to waddle through the snow and walk just a few steps, waha, at least I've been there and done that. Keke. Easy said huh? My knees will probably be knocking each other and my teeth chattering when I get to the slopes. Keke. But, I will be brave enough to try! Hee.

I wanna make a Snowy for Angel too. Two years ago, jw and I built our first ever snowman. Can't remember if we did so last year but I don't think we did. But this year, wahaha, we'll have Angel to help us build a bigger one! (Yar right, just hope she doesn't destroy the snowman like she always likes to do =p)

So, while I am enjoying the remaining of the summer season, or rather the autumn, I am also looking forward to the first sign of snow this year. =) Hee. And, also another white christmas. =p Tata!

Brave or Afraid?

2010-09-11T05:03:00.003+08:00

There is a saying that having a baby makes you as a mum braver than you ever were. But, there is also another saying that on the contrary, you become more fearful than before. Which do you think you believe in?

For me, it goes both ways. I am definitely braver than I used to be in some ways, but yet, I also become more afraid sometimes. Contradicting huh?

Well, let's see. Why I think I am braver?

1) I am less afraid of the dark
2) I do not fear or even mind loneliness (well, cos' I'm never lonely with baby around!)

3) I no longer fear the cold (becos' all I care about is if my baby is warm and snug)

4) I do not mind getting dirty (like getting puked on by baby or peed and even shit on! keke)

I think I am braver becaue I wanna make sure my baby is safe and sound! Things that made me scared no longer do so as much. (Of cos, pls don't come and scare me with a flying cockroach!)

But well, I am more scared too.

1) My heart skipped a beat when Angel fell off the masterbed for the first time. I walked in and couldn't find her on the bed and there she was, crying badly on the floor with a big bump on her head. No words could describe that feeling.

2) I get frightened when I hear her choking sounds. I'm scared that anything will happen to her and what's going to happen to my world?

3) I'm worried when she falls ill. I hear her cough her lungs out in such pain that my heart aches. I see her strengthless and pale, but I'm afraid I can't do anything more for her.

Well, so basically, I think both ways go for me. I don't know how to describe it, but anyway it's like she really means so much to me. I wanna be strong so that I can shelter her from the rain, I wanna be healthy so that I can continue to take good care of her, I wanna be loving so that she can receive the best kind of love there ever could be, I wanna do so much so much because of her. It's nice to be a mum, isn't it? =)

May my happy baby be happy always!~

P/S: Angel has started crawling and is now growing all 4 front teeth at a time! =p woohoo!!~

Sour sweet..

2010-09-02T05:05:00.001+08:00

Yeap yeap, I finally finished another of Angel's vids. Woohoo. You like it? I do! Wahaha.

And after I completed this, I started watching all of her past videos, from when she was born, her 1st month till now. Wow. I can hardly remember what I included in each video and so they really brought back alot of precious memories. Each didn't fail to make me laugh or make me touched or just make me appreciate what I have even more.

My baby is growing up bit by bit! I wonder what she will say when she watches her own videos next time. Hehe. Nowadays I let her watch the vids with me, and she will just keep jumping up and down in ecstasy when she sees herself in the comp, and when the vid shows her laughing, she really starts to laugh at herself too! Cute. =p

Anyway, yeah, she'll be turning 1 year old in no time. Fwahhh. I must go and think of how I wanna celebrate the big day for her already. Hee. Alritey. Time to go watch shows cos' bb is sleeping! This is our only er ren shi jie chance. Hee. Not for long though, cos' she still wakes up rather often at nite. But well, WE LOVE YOU BABY!! Muakzzzz...

A Fun-filled Family Cruise..

2010-08-24T06:21:00.001+08:00

Yeah yeah. I finally found time to organise and upload our cruise photos. We took hundreds of pics! First time we brought our dslr on a holiday, so we happily snapped away. Keke. Well, I'm just going to post a few photos here but will share more about the experience.

The cruise turned out to be better than what we expected, not that I can clearly say what I was expecting. It's just that we felt very happy, relaxed and satisfied about the whole experience.

1) Food - The food was overall delicious and value for $$. There were two nice dining rooms, Windjammer and Aquarius to choose from. We had continental buffet breakfast everyday which had quite a good variety of food. You can also order ala carte items to your liking. I especially love all the desserts onboard! I wanted to try everything! Waha. For dinner, we usually had a 3-course dinner with an appetizer, a main course followed by dessert.

2) Facilities - There was a wide range of facilities on board. Gym, swimming pool, jacuzzis, suana, steam bath, kids adventure park, arcade, many many lounges and bars, art gallery, shopping gallery, theatre, casino and even a rock wall! We signed up for the rock climbing but alas it was closed afterwards due to strong winds. Made me lose my chance of climbing a 200ft wall when you are amidst the wide oceans. Keke. You could also pay to enjoy services like spas, pedi/medi, hair services and even facials or teeth whitening. Waha. For jw and me, we spent most time in the casino, taking turns to go at night. Keke. But can you imagine, we won over US$800 altogether. Yay. Both of us on lucky streaks. Helps to cover abit of the expenses. Keke.

3) Programs - There were plenty of tours to choose from for each port that we visit. And even when we were at sea, there were always activities on board and you seldom will feel bored or have nothing to do. We went for swing dance and salsa classes, aizhen and I went for scrapbooking, we took part in team trivia, I did a sudoku challenge, we played bingo (jw won 100 bucks at bingo, the lucky boy!!!), there were many dance parties and there was even a Mr Sexy Legs competition. Keke. There were also two formal nights out of the seven nights, and people would take efforts to dress up and it really built up the atmosphere on board. You can even see some in tuxedos and evening gowns! Even the very very old ah mas would also dress nice nice though they were on walking sticks. Really motivating. =) I also loved the shows we got to watch every night in the theatre, from juggling shows to magic shows to broadway. I especially love broadway and all the dancing!

Oh, and we loved this program called the Love and Marriage game show whereby they get couples up stage and they ask you questions about your partner (partner in backstage) and then your partner comes back in to reveal the answers and sometimes things get really hilarious. Believe it or not, jw and I actually tried to audition to go up and we almost almost got chosen! Waha. Good thing we didn't though, cos' Angel got cranky halfway and it was a live recorded gameshow. Goodness knows how I will handle the situation if she acts up in the middle of the recording.

Anyway, there were many interesting questions such as "If there's one thing about your wife you can make bigger, and one thing smaller, what will it be?", "On your wife's side of the family, who will you least like to bring on a cruise?", "What is your wife's bra size?", "Where was the strangest place you had sex?", "What's the first thing your hubby touches when he wakes up in the morn?", "What's your hubby's most annoying habit?" etc and sometimes the answers the pple give are really tickling. =) We loved the oldest couple who were married for 57 years already!

4) Staff - As for the staff on board, really, they were marvellous. Jw and choo were especially blown away by the stateroom attendants who tidied up our room seemingly few times a day. Not only promptly, but they also did a good job and were detailed for example they would fold our new towels into a different animal everyday. Hee. The cruise director was also very friendly, funny and spoke perfect English. We had 777 crew members who came from 62 countries, so it was as if you can see a united nations gathering on board. =) Not only were the crew friendly, many of the guests were very spontaneous, helpful and friendly too. Angel was the 2nd youngest amongst the near 2300 guests on board, and boy she was a hit with the other guests! Alot of them remember her (I mean, there were not that many Asians on board in the first place) and they would hold her hand, tickle her, take photos with her, or a few even kissed her! Haha. She was a super happy baby on board and she greeted almost everyone with big smiles which was why they liked her so much.

Alritey. I seem to be writing an essay. Wahaha. Anyway, now for the pics taken at the different ports of call.

Day 2, 2nd Aug, Helsinki, Finland

In a sense, Helsinki reminded me abit of Oslo in Norway, just that we preferred Helsinki over Oslo somehow. Sometimes, it really depends on if you visit the correct places. For example, we chose to go to the market square which was a happening place (kinda like the Midsommer leaf market in Sweden), the Uspenski cathedral on the hill, had our lunch at a Finnish restaurant and took a 1.5hr breezy boat ride. It was overall quite a nice experience. We even bumped into a Singaporean lady who was a vendor at the market square and started chatting all about Singapore. Nice to find tong2 xiang1 in foreign land.

At the Market Square

The Uspenski cathedral and its interior

Angel's new knitted strawberry hat. I love it!

Enjoying the breeze on the boat ride

Day 3, 3rd Aug, St Petersburg, Russia

St Petersburg was the highlight of the trip. It was the only port where we would stop for an entire day from 7am to 11pm whereas at the rest, we usually had only half a day. Well, we could easily see why it was the highlight. It was really a beautiful place with lotsa of magnificent buildings and architecture. We chose to go on a 3hr walking tour in the morning and watch a Russian folkloric song and dance in the evening. The good thing about going on a cruise is that you could return to your stateroom in btw and take a nice good nap and meal before setting off again. You also don't need to bring much barang barang, all you need is your Sea Pass card, your passport, and the baby pram and baby stuff, plus your all important Camera. Keke.

At the Winter Palace in Palace Square. Hermitage Musuem (third largest museum in the world) is also located here! Note: There's no aircon inside though. Apparently there's no aircon anywhere here becos' it's not supposed to be as hot so people do not install aircons.

The tall Alexander Column in Palace Square

The famous statue of Peter the Great

The magnificent and colourful domed Church of Spilled Blood

View along the pretty canal. Did you know that St Petersburg is known as the "Venice of the North"?

Enjoying the night in the theatre watching folkloric song and dance which turned out to be better than expected

Day 5, 5th Aug, Riga, Latvia

If we have to pick a 'black horse' from this trip, it would definitely be Riga. This was a place we were unsure of because we haven heard of it much and we didn't know anything about it beforehand. However, we visited this place which was like its old town and spent an enjoyable half a day there. We got a map from the tourist information and realised that there were over 10 buildings which were points of interest and so we made our way one by one, taking nice photos along the way. It seemed to be a relaxed, laid back kind of town and we quite liked the ambience and experience.

The wooden horse

The interesting statue consisting of 4 animals

What an ad!

The famous Monument of Freedom

Which is real and which is not? Waha

An enjoyable lunch. Jw had a huge pork shank while I had steak and chicken wings.

Nice buildings around the town

The cathouse

Hello baby! You're awake!

Nice bridge and sea

The famous House of the Blackheads

Day 6, 6th Aug, Gdansk, Poland

It was our first trip to Poland and instead of exploring Gydnia which seemed to have a nice shopping street, we took a cab to Gdansk which was like another pretty old town with nice architecture. Gdansk was more crowded and happening than Riga though and there were roadside stalls everywhere. This was our 4th port of call already! Wow. As how things go when you have a baby, we took our leisure time walking around instead of rushing around to cover more spots. Well, we did walk a distance to find the all loved KFC which was super yummy, crispy and not that ex (as compared to cphg, not sg!). =)

The pretty but crowded street in Gdansk

The famous statue of Neptune

Seems like Popeye and Olive

Ooooo.. Little Anders is so muscular!

The pretty riverside and the viking ship

We saw people bungee jumping. And one was so 'hum ji' that he/she withdrew when reached the top. Made everyone wait in vain. =)

We love coffee breaks!

I like the stained glass look. Nothing beats Notre Dame though.

At the Golden Gate

This gate counts the number of passersby

The much desired KFC

Enjoying our swirl ice cream before we depart

Day 7, 7th Aug, Visby, Sweden

Our last port of call was in Visby which jw had already been before. It was probably the most leisure and slow afternoon we took throughout the cruise. Instead of sightseeing, we mainly did some shopping in Cubus, Dressman, Kappahl, the roadside stalls in the square and had lunch in McDonalds. Keke. Quite a good way to end off the last day of the cruise actually. I'm so going to miss the cruise!

It was raining so our dear angel had to be behind the rain cover

We bought couple wristband watches and couple necklaces from the 'pasar malam'. Keke. Some things never change yeah.

Byebye Visby! We are going home!

So that you go. My summary of our one week cruise along Baltic Sea. This is maybe just a summary of my thoughts and experience, but it's jolly well one of my longest blog entries ever. =)

Dear, thanks for bringing us on the wonderful cruise. Though we had silly disputes (like how to dance salsa steps!!!) as usual, this was one of my most fun, relaxed and happy holidays. Of cos, it being our first cruise with Angel makes it all the more special. Hope you had tonnes of fun too, I know you did! Hee.

Well, till the next post! This took me hours! Need to go zzz with Angel liaoz. Tata!!