After a busy work week (5 jul 2010)

It was a busy week with the Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) from 28 Jun to 2 Jul. I was caught up with preparation for the SIWW in June and late nights during the week. There was not much time to bring the kids out. With the school holidays, it was tough to occupy the kids. Finally the SIWW was completed last week and we can finally have some family time. Sadly, school has started. Sigh. Juggling work and family is a delicate balance.

It's not much of a weekend with the family though, as I finally got to vacuum the car. We tried to go to Macritchie Reservoir on Saturday morning. Sadly, it was raining, so we went to have prata instead. We did spend Sunday afternoon after mass at christina's place, visiting the new baby Leanne.

Johor Desaru Trip (19 Jun 2010)

It was an amazing trip driving in together with Uncle Steven, Auntie Li, Cousin James and family. We had breakfast at Old Town Cafe near Sentosa. After whiich, we had a wonderful time visiting the fruit farm, although it was really too hot to go for the farm tour. maybe next time. After that, it was to having a fabulous seafood lunch, with plenty of good fresh seafood.

Having enjoyed a good meal, we drove over to Desaru, where the kids had a fabulous time playing on the beach.

On the way back, we parted way, and made our way to Tebrau city for some shopping at Jusco.

Thanks to Uncle Steven, Auntie Li, Cousin James and family for being such good guides and fantastic company! Let's do this again soon!

Stockholm in August 2006 (Part 5)

I didn't realised that I missed posting the last weekend I spent in Stockholm in 2006. So here it is. This was my extended stay in Stockholm all alone, and where I got the irish cream coffee powder, which is dearly loved by all back home. So if anyone is going to Stockholm, do help me get 2 packets.... pretty please... :)

Back to the trip, I was alone and went for a day trip to Birka, one of Sweden's oldest island, where the Swede's stayed long ago. It's preserved and it's well worth the visit. The boat ride to Birka also let me see many of the dream homes on islands by the sea, which we can see in all those dream pictures. Here's some of them for you all to enjoy! If you ask me, Stockholm is well worth the visit, and it's one of our dreams for Georgia & I to go there for a visit...:)

Chicken Pox (24 Apr - 26 May 2010)

Most of us in the family was down with chicken pox, except super strong & healthy Georgia!

It probably started with Rebecca down with chicken pox end of April, whom we don't who she contracted it from. There was alot more mosquito bites on her body and face, but she was still very active, eating well, and had no other symptoms. We just put it down to perhaps the hot weather and lots of mosquitoes in the house. Sprayed down the house and all....sigh!

On 11 May, Natalie came down with high fever, and a few spots started appearing on her body. We didn't think it was usual, so we decided to bring her to see the doctor the next morning as it was quite late. I decided to stay at home, as someone has to be around to look after the other 2, especially the baby. The doctor confirmed that Natalie has chicken pox and gave her 2 weeks MC. After some discussion, the doctor diagnosed that Rebecca probably got chicken pox already!

I was sleepy the whole day though, and it was extremely frustrating for Georgia, to take care of 4 kids....(1 chicken pox, 1 tantrum 3, 1 baby and a sleeping adult, who couldn't do much). Took my temperature in the evening and seems that I had fever! Never had fever since NS days in 1993 (Don't know why, but could never have fever at all since...probably too many visits to the medical centre during NS, where your fever is cured just by the long wait there...that's another story though). It was indeed unusual, but there wasn't any spots on me that day. Later at night, we did find like 2 spots. Anyway, guess it's better to let the doctor checked it out.

So on 13 May, I went to see the doctor in the morning. The doctor looked at the few vesicular spots I had, and with the girls down with chicken pox, decided to treat me as chicken pox. Got my anti viral medicine and some anti Itch medicine. and mc until 21 May, where I was supposed to go for follow-up.

By now, Natalie,s full of pox! everywhere on her body and some on her face. As for me, most of my "pox" is on my face, with some pathetic ones on my arms and body.But I had high fever everynight for 5 nights, and all I could do during the period was just sleep. Natalie was fine, apart from the "pox". She is up and about, eating as normal, and is bored from having nothing to do at home, except watch TV and play computer games. She was so bored, she finished all her homework assignments georgia got from the teachers.

Rebecca just continued to go to school every day.

As for Cayla, she finally got chicken pox a week after we did. Probably cause I was carrying her all the time, when I didn't know I had chicken pox. She got so used to the carrying, and probably cause of the virus, she is quite cranky and wants to be carried all the time. Georgia is now trying to help her sleep without being carried.

One thing about chicken pox, the principal of DMC was informed of Natalie having chicken pox, and she told Georgia that Natalie would require a discharge note from the doctor, before she is allowed to go back to school. It seems to be a MOE requirement! However, when Georgia went to the doctor, the GP just said that it's common knowledge that chicken pox is no longer infectious after 1 week of the onset of the fever. The rest of the MC is for the patient to rest! If it's common knowledge, can MOE & MOH please sort it out, as the principal insisted. So we had to pester the doctor to finally let us see him to get a discharge note without paying for the consultation! However, we still have to wait an hour for our turn!

As for me, I went back to my GP on 21 May, which is Friday. The doctor just discharged me and said that I could go back to work on Monday after the rest on the weekend, as I am no longer infectious. That meant that I only got like 8 days MC! But of course, having a new post, I am actually dying to go back to work.... :)

What we found out is that the younger you get chicken pox, the easier time you have it. Unfortunately, if you guys are thinking of getting chicken pox, you got to look somewhere else, as our whole family is now free from chicken pox.... ;) Georgia will be getting her jab as soon as is possible.

While all of us having chicken pox, the one who has the worst deal is Georgia, who is not sick, but tired from looking after all of us. Not enough sleep, and no one to look after her. And worse, she can't fall sick! So please do pray for Georgia! We all loved and thank her for taking such great care of us.

 

Various Photos in Singapore - March - May 2010 (26 May 2010)

We have been quite busy with our daily routine, and this is just another compilation of photos taken in the last 3 months in Singapore. The bulk of it is really the recent photos of mother's day celebration.

Malacca Trip (13 - 14 Mar 2010)

We took a short 2 day 1 night driving trip to Malacca, Malaysia. We stayed at this nice homestay condo in town, which is a short drive away from the main area.It was raining during the trip, so we didn't go to Jonker Street. Instead, we went to Jusco and Tesco. We loved Tesco, cause that's where we spent most of our marketing time in the UK.

Outings - Flyer & Bird Park (5-6 Mar 2010)

We managed to get the ASA card, which allows us free ticket to various attractions. The girls have been asking to go on the Singapore flyer, everytime we bypass it. So we took the opportunity to take a ride on the flyer on Friday night. All the photos taken are handheld with my Nikon D50 and 18-200mm VR lenses.

We also visited the Jurong Bird Park on Saturday morning, and enjoyed the show. At the end of the visit, we had to visit the play area. Unfortunately, the area doesn't have much shade, so it isn't ideal in our Singapore climate to play in the day time.