mission completion!

i am finally done with marking the test papers! all 117 scipts.

YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

now i can have a little bit of my life back.

thank you, my little red pen. you've worked really hard and truly deserve a good rest.

till the next semester...

my iris surprise

this afternoon i received an sms from my colleague moo while in the middle of class. i didn't have any new material to teach as the students were having trial oral presentations, so i took a glance at my phone.

the message read: "hehe. directed flower delivery guy to your room! wah! from the hub? wait, did he make you angry?"

for a moment i was taken aback - it's not the hub's practice to send me flowers to the office because he hardly ever buys them. in fact, he'd recently presented me with a bouquet of roses for my birthday, so the quota for 5 years has already been fulfilled.

anyway, i couldn't think of anyone else who'd spring a surprise on me like that so i figured it was definitely him.

after i ended my lesson and reached my cubicle, i found my make-shift curtain (inherited from my previous boss) drawn. i don't do that unless i'm rushing for time and need to carry out my "mumsy's express milk service" in the privacy and comfort of my work station instead of using the meeting room.

i cautiously pulled back the cloth and saw this:

a lovely bouquet of irises and chocolates from chocolat factory! (my new roomie pat had signed for the flowers and chocolates on my behalf. but the delivery man wasn't convinced that i would safely receive the goods so she'd drew the curtains across my cubicle and that appeased him.)

instantly, i knew it was from the hub even before i read the card.

8 august 1996 was the "official" date of our engagement. we'd bought matching rings and engraved the date on the rings which we wore till our official wedding in 1999. but we'd stopped celebrating the day after we got married, so i wasn't expecting anything from the hub. i was very overwhelmed and my heart skipped a beat as i felt a lump of emotion stuck in my throat.

it really was a wonderful, sweet moment to savour. and it was great to feel appreciated.

however, it WAS a huge bouquet and taking the public transport with the flowers, chocolates and my bulky milk-storage coleman wasn't exactly a very convenient option. i called the hub to thank him for the lovely gifts and asked if he could swing by the office to pick me up. being the practical man that he is, the hub agreed but mentioned that he'd leave his office later when the traffic's less heavy.

i didn't mind staying back to finish up some of my marking and proceeded to wield my red pen furiously, attacking the scripts with ticks and crosses.

when the hub finally arrived, i was treated to another surprise: he'd bought me 15 pieces of salmon belly sashimi to celebrate the 12 years we'd pledged ourselves to each other. (12 supposedly for me and 3 for himself!)

12 years ago, i would never have expected all this from a geeky guy who didn't own a romantic bone in his body. in the earlier years, i was the one planning most of the surprises. but i'll readily admit defeat now because he's outdone me in this aspect.

the hub's now afraid that he's raised the bar too high: each surprise becomes a tougher act to follow.

not that he's got anything to worry about since i'm not the demanding sort and am easily contented. chocolates always work! besides, it's the thought that counts.

and i do realise i'm extremely fortunate to have a husband who appreciates and loves me, and treasures our marriage. ultimately, i think that's what most women want.

do you dig digby?

it's the marking session.

*GROAN*

for two consecutive nights, i stayed back in office till about 8pm to mark the test papers. so far, i'm only 2/5 done, with 3 more classes to go.

but i'm now taking a break from grading the scripts for a while...

and now on to some rambling bits.

i've been listening to marié digby, the singer-songwriter who cleverly harnessed the popularity of youtube to catapult herself to fame by doing cover versions of popular songs and uploading them.

she was in singapore in april on a promotional tour and i saw her interview on channel newsasia's prime time morning show. (that was during my maternity leave when i had the luxury of watching many tv programmes.)

i bought her debut album Unfold and i must say it's pretty darn good in a folksy, easy-listening way. here's the 1st single Say It Again off her album Unfold.



ok, commercial break's over.

and now back to my regular marking schedule...

*GROAN*

Pink'd!

it's the 8th month of 2008.

since 8 is an auspicious number for the chinese, it's no wonder that the Beijing Olympic Games official opening ceremony is on 08-08-2008.

what else can i look forward to this month?

well, my second leonglet wen will be celebrating her 3rd birthday on 18-08-2008. and she's already requested for a pink strawberry cake. not that she's a great fan of strawberries. wen's just crazy about the colour pink, so everything she owns has got to be pink - any shade of it.

xian went through that "all-pink" girly stage too. but now that she's older, she isn't so fascinated by the super sugary sweet colour though she doesn't detest it. just outgrown it.

pink's recognised as the universal, stereotyped feminine hue. walk into any store for kids and it's obvious which is the girls' section. 60% of children clothes for girls are in shades and combinations of pink/red/peach/white.

admittedly, little girls do look pretty in pink. i should know, since i've got 3 daughters and they've got tonnes of pink outfits - mostly presents from relatives/friends since i try to balance out their wardrobe with other colours.

and i know of grown women who go weak in the knees with anything pink. :)

but pink's not my thing.

as far as i can remember, i NEVER liked pink. in fact, i really hated it when i was younger, possibly because i was a tomboy and refused to be associated with anything remotely feminine. it's just NOT me. (but now that i'm older, i do own a few pieces of pink clothing.)

blue, on the other hand, is my all-time favourite colour. when my folks renovated my bathroom years back, mum chose blue tiles for the wall and flooring. even the curtains and window blinds in my old room were blue too.

anyway, i've got about 2 weeks to scout for a pink birthday cake for wen. and while at it, i should buy some pink-based wrapping paper as well. for her, it's gotta be pink or nothing.

flip and fall

early this morning, i heard a THUD followed by an ear-piercing wail.

i jumped up and whipped around instantly...

the baby was GONE.

she had rolled off the bed.

with my heart in my mouth, i shot out and found her lying next to the hub (who was sleeping on the floor). thankfully she had landed on the mattress. i cradled her in my arms immediately and checked to see if she'd broken any bones or bumps her head.

wei was screaming her lungs out and taking in gulps of air. she was obviously in shock.

despite being badly shaken and nearly in tears, i tried my best to hush her cries by rocking her back and forth. it took me a good 5-10 minutes to soothe her. when she was a little calmer, i let her latch on and that helped to comfort her.

i'm a bad, bad BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD mummy. :(

needless to say, the hub was upset (with me). i usually sleep at the edge of the bed but i'd woken up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet and slept on the other side (because i needed to feed from the fuller breast). i'd placed the bolster next to wei in hope that it would block her. but apparently she's now strong enough to kick it and roll herself off the bed!

wei's only 3 months old but she's now able to flip from her back to her tummy. and she does this continuously throughout the night. her little flip-o-ramas have left me panda-eyed as i've to be up constantly to check that she's not suffocating.

if my memory serves me well, my older 2 only started rolling over on the side when they were about 4 months. so i didn't expect wei to fall off the bed, especially when she's sleeping in the middle of the bed!

here is wei on the mattress that broke her fall. this picture was taken last week though - obviously not this morning when the accident took place :(

i guess this means only one thing: i'll be spending the next few years sleeping on the floor with her.

but i'd rather suffer a little discomfort to ensure that she's safe.

i'm a bad mummy.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD mummy.

*sob sob sob*

oldish mumsy

you know you're old when...

1) you get invited to your former students' wedding.
2) your former students become parents.

this weekend, it hit me squarely in the face when i bumped into kleiser at serangoon gardens on saturday. i taught this dude in 2003-2004 and he was an "overly-sunbaked" athlete: national junior tennis player, semi-pro (i think) footballer and he probably dabbled in a dozen other sports too.

now he's 26, has less time to exercise (which accounts for the extra weight on his face and roundish middle), works at astons as a group area manager (or something like that) and is going to be a FATHER in a few weeks' time!

ah...it gets better. his 21-year-old wife and i visit the same obstetrician, dr lim yuin wen.

it kinda freaked me out a little there. but i'm happy he's doing well. plus, the next time i visit astons at SG, i may not have to wait too long for my food...;)

that very same evening, i was invited to attend feroz and huiqin's wedding dinner at aranda country club at pasir ris. their sweet love story began at the previous school i taught in, and they even visited me in the hospital when my second daughter was born!

i'd initially wanted to bring my 3 girls for occasion, but the hub's family decided last minute (on saturday afternoon itself) to have a gathering at our home. i was torn between attending the wedding and staying home as the hub had volunteered to cook. in the end, i decided to bring baby wei along but told the hub to keep some food for me.

the hub drove us to the country club - wen came for the ride as well. the initial plan was that i'd stay for a bit, hand them the present and red packet, and go home. but it was difficult to pull away because i really wanted to stay and catch up with my former students who were there. so the hub left with wen while i remained with wei.

and yes, it was a reunion of sorts with the-once-kids-turned-adults. many were fresh from secondary school when i first met them. a few continued with their studies after the diploma and the rest joined the working world. now in their early to mid 20s, most of these ladies and gentlemen are faring well in their chosen professions. their amazing transformations moved me and i was really proud to see them all "grown up" and successful.

it was a lovely buffet-style dinner but it was unfortunate that i couldn't stay too long as i'd to rush home to the kids, so i left close to 9pm. and i have no pictures to post either although my former students were trigger-happily snapping away...i'll just ask them to email me the digital shots.

ah.

i'm getting old indeed.

the (old) birthday boy

we celebrated dad's 66th birthday 2 weeks ago.

usually it's a eat-out affair and this time round we dined at a neighbourhood chinese restaurant serving hokkien dishes. my youngest aunt and her family joined us for the dinner and it was a relatively pleasant meal on a saturday night.

unfortunately, going out with 3 young kids can be a real hassle. it's a logistical nightmare packing a diaper bag with extra sets of clothes, disposable diapers, face-towels and baby-wipes. that's just for the baby. and she gave us the least trouble. the hub and i took turns to carry her while we ate.

wen was ill with an on-again, off-again fever, sensitive gums and mouth ulcers. i was worried that she'd contracted the dreaded hand, foot and mouth disease but the doctor said it wasn't the case. still, it’s horrible being sick and i couldn't’ really fault her for being super grumpy and moody throughout the night. she hardly ate and all my wheedling and coaxing came to naught.

as for xian, she was flat-out exhausted from her weekly saturday swimming lessons. what’s more, she had risen early to attend her piano class in the morning and so she was a subdued shadow of her usual perky self. the sleepy girl was dozing off midway through dinner.

actually, everyone had a tiring day. my parents and i had spent the afternoon clearing out our old home at nim park. midway through the packing, i had to rush home as my in-laws had to attend a friend's baby shower and there was no-one to mind the baby.

the hub accompanied his folks to the function and by the time he got home, it was already 7.30pm and we arrived at the restaurant at 8.00pm. thankfully the girls had already eaten a bowl of macaroni each and weren't starving.

with such a tight schedule, there wasn't time to buy dad a birthday cake! and birthday celebrations are never complete without the cake!

so the hub suggested that we invite my parents over for dinner the next day and we decided on a "mini-gourmet", cook-it-yourself meal. this was first introduced to us by my second aunt who's now residing in holland and she'd bought us these cute cooking sets. each set consists of a mini frying pan, a mini spatula, stove etc.

we set up the 3rd floor balcony for the fun cook-out session. xian even tried her hand at stir-frying some food. my little chef was so thrilled with the experience and she went around "taking orders" and serving her dishes!

the best part was that we could eat in the luxury of our own home and i could keep an eye on the kids, especially baby wei, while eating!

here are some "aftermeal" shots - dad had his fill and helped entertain wen and wei while i (finally) ate.

and, of course, the usual cake-cutting routine...

personally, i prefer a simple celebration at home like this. dining out at restaurants is a treat, but handling the 3 girls can be a real headache when we're outside.

but i think grandpa's happy being surrounded by his 3 granddaughters. and that's infinitely more precious than feasting at a fancy eatery.

happy birthday dad!