Medicine*Music*Chocolate*Life

Suki's Fullmoon Party

The Bro and Diana threw a fullmoon lunch for Baby Suki today.

It's amazing how time flies. She's nearly 4 weeks old, and has grown, visibly, from when we saw her in the hospital. Diana dressed her in a lovely white dress with a chiffon waistband, and the sweetest tiny little rosebud-embellished socks ever. And Suki was an absolute darling, sleeping gently for most of the party, and only waking to peep at the crowd of wellwishers cooing at her in her pram.

Diana's mum had come all the way from Kobe, and Dad was here from KL. Some of the Bro's friends had journeyed down from KL this very morning, and were going to drive back tonight. These are good friends indeed, and I remember them from when they were all pimply and chubby, in school uniforms that smelt of sunshine and dirt.

Everyone had a lot of fun and we ate until our seams burst, at The Line, Shangrila.

All in all, it lasted 3 hours and filled us up with enough to last til tomorrow.

The best thing? Seeing little Suki growing so well, and BEING SO DARN CUTE~~~~~~

Quick trip up to KL

Went up to KL last weekend with Bean and Annie.

My cousin got hitched to a nice unassuming Belgian dude. She was protecting him from the onslaught of multitudes of relatives (hah, what did I tell you, Ze Clan Is Large) and to his credit, he did well.

Little Bean was being her charming cute self. She walked around and introduced herself to various members of the clan with her dimpled "hi" and even an occasional handshake. Supervised by Annie, of course.

I tell ya, my lil' daughter's gonna give me hell as a teenager.

We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with the folks. Dad was super-busy juggling work, time with me, and predominantly, time with little Bean. She got a swim, a snack, an outing to a supermarket, and even a longed-for trip to Toys R Us, where Dad indulged in his grandfatherly whims and bought her a baby doll.

Mom managed to find my old toy teaset, which we used to drink Milo out of. She also found our old lanterns! Amazing. They are still in perfect condition. Bean chose a new goldfish lantern. Coincidentally, I had an old fish lantern too :) The cockerel was the Bro's favourite.

It was a good trip. It's so good to be in KL sometimes. One of the things that I will always miss is my huge rowdy family, and the sense of warmth, space, and cosiness that can only come with a clan of this size.

Tiny little niece - fresh in this world last Saturday morning

Not yet a week old, but the Bro's little bundle of joy is causing a commotion.

She is named for gentle femininity, with a personal name that means "heroine". In its entirety, her name has status, wealth, power, force, compassion, and courage. Well-chosen indeed. Diana is very tired, of course, but no doubt the Bro will chip in mightily. He's an eager father, and more intuitively so than Hubby was. It helps to have had little cousins by the load to practice on :)

I'm just happy all's well.

Mom and Dad have been down to see both their grand-daughters. For her part, Bean took my Dad swimming. I say this because right after that, and a trip to Tampines 1, he conked out on the couch, pooped out from running after her.

The little one is so sweet. She has such a peaceful and immeasurably soft set of features. For the purposes of this blog, I shall nickname her Suki.

Tomorrow, I'll get my toes pedicured, pick up a gift for a cousin's who has become engaged, and on Friday after a hectic half-day of work, I'll be rushing home to scoop up Bean and Annie. We'll rush off to the airport and get on a plane KL-bound, for yet another cousin's wedding that same night.

My weekend wardrobe therefore consists of:

1) Newly-acquired heart-shaped diamond ear-studs, a flower-shaped ring, my favourite bling (a feather design necklace in 3 shades of gold n' rock), a cerulean-blue long slip-dress, really fancy sandals, a tiger-print (brown on green though!) pashmina, my huge Marni bag (for all Bean's stuff!).

2) One-shouldered Karen Millen knit top, denim shorts. Or denim shorts with a comfy tee.

3) A royal-blue tunic dress.

Bonus? This year, my little Bean will celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival the only way I've ever known - traditionally, respectful, and colourfully!

Haul-Ass: My end-of-year chill just vanished in the breeze

The Boss yanked me into his office midday on Friday. It was very short notice, for which I had to reschedule a meeting.

I knocked and went in with some trepidation.

"Come in," he said. "Sit down."

So I sat. And for forty-five minutes we talked. He advised, I listened. I shared thoughts, he tempered them. It was good. At the end of it all, he said "OK, 1st of November. Make sure you close the loop by telling ______ and then informing _______. When you have done so, let me know."

And with that, I got up, thanked him, backed out, and closed the door behind me.

So yes, come 1st November, I am supposed to be doing a totally different thing from what I have done before. I was so excited when I walked out of the office that I could barely suppress a little scream of joy. The other overriding emotion that I could not suppress was terror. The learning curve will either kill me or make me.

In the spirit of MTV, "I wanna be MADE!".

Life after pregnancy

Oh yeah. And.....it's true what Mom said.

I did shrink back to my original clothing size. With the exception of the boobs. They're still a tad bigger than they were before, and in a different position somehow, although not really droopy or anything like that. And no stretch marks, thank goodness.

Might actually have to do some undie-shopping ;p

Excuse me while I pupate

New laptop (Fujitsu), new hair. Still fairly new job is changing me into something else. Don't quite know what yet. Meantime, still working on getting my darling Bean's archive of photos across to this new toy.

Bear with me.

If only it returns to normal....

Thank You. You heard me, and You haven't even sent me any dreams to indicate what the payback will be. Do I go back into my old work? Do I embark on a different course of mind?

I know it's not over yet; there is still so far to go. But things are better by just that much. Just enough to make a really big difference.

I remain hopeful. And apprehensive. Waiting for Your message.

Plenty on ze plate

Back from abroad a week ago. Have brought the problem closer to home, in order to manage it better. I'm worried, and rather heartsick. You know that feeling you get when you know you're about to lose someone, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it? It's like that, and agonisingly anguishing.

It's the tail end of the Good Friday/Easter long weekend, I enjoyed this one immensely, despite familial woes (one has to learn to separate feelings for each person, or be consumed by overriding emotion). Took Bean swimming. She absolutely loves the water.

She went into the baby pool with Hubby on Friday. I cheered from the side, camera in hand. Captured some really good shots and videos. Then a bath, warm milk, and nap.

This morning, I went in with her. Hubby took off to yoga class (he's getting a bad back from hunching over surgery). We played a new game. I swam her from side to side of the baby pool, just the same way that we do laps, but upon reaching each side I lifted her up to sit on the edge, counted "One!....Two!...." and on "...Threeeee!...." swooped her into the water in a pseudo-dive. She laughed her squeally baby laugh, exposing both little front teeth as well as her sharp little dimples.

Right now, she's nestled up against my bosom, sipping milk and dozing off - after a warm shower together, and a little baby massage.

On Friday morning after Hubby swam with Bean, I took Mom to the huge Giant hypermart in Tampines. Amazing selection of really fresh food. It was so comprehensive that there is an entire fishmarket in there, with live tiger prawns and sushi chefs! We bought loads. It was really good bonding because I hardly ever get time alone with my mum. It is SO totally true as well, the saying "Before I was a mother, I loved my mum but never understood her".

In the afternoon, took Ella (with Bean and Annie in tow) to Taka. Poor gal was trying to find pairs of shoes for her wedding gowns, but couldn't walk far as she had injured her foot. We did manage to slowly cover plenty of ground though. From Vuitton, Chanel, to Dior and Fendi. A tad Celine, Gucci.....and On Pedder. After absorbing ideas galore, she found a much more affordable but no less bedazzling option in Taka's departmental store. Annie was handling Bean but also stole glances at some items....only to whisper to me later that she was horrified that a pair of shoes cost as much as a house back in her village!

We dropped off Bean and Annie after that, and had dinner with Shay and Sukie at relative newcomer Spruce, followed by desserts at Laurent Bernard @ Portsdown Road. The meat at Spruce is FAB although desserts were a disappointment.

Yesterday, Hubby and I went with his folks to pay our annual respects to his departed paternal grandparents. It is known as Ching Ming and you can Wiki it for a lot more information and links. Suffice to say that it is the day that we visit the graves of our dear departed and tend to them. We clear weeds, generally clean up, and then set out a meal of offerings to them, burn incense, and then burn paper replicas of the things we want to buy for them e.g. clothes, credit card, mahjong table etc.

After that we went to dinner at a popular mixed-dialect restaurant - cold crab, chicken in red vinegar, prawn in pastry sheets, smoked duck etc.

Last night, Hubby and I went to new watering hole Orgo, with 3 cute japanese mixologists (they rotate quarterly from Japan) making stuff so fresh that I actually felt healthy drinking them. VERY highly-recommended!

In a half hour, we'll be lunching with Hubby's folks at the newest Malaysian import: 7Ate9 @ the Esplanade.....and tonight, we'll eat with my folks @ Tanamera Country Club. Wee!

A family emergency

I didn't see this one coming. Not in this partular incarnation anyway.

I'll be out of the country for at least a week.

Luckily for me, my bosses are reasonable. They can't be otherwise, being healthcare bosses, but I know my limits too. This one however is absolutely justified for emergency leave.

Bean will have to stay here with Hubby and Annie. I'm still debating whether or not to lug the Medela with me. It is the difference between 9 months and one year of breastfeeding. At the end of the day, I think I WILL wind up taking it.

Time for the Bro and I to step up and take charge.

Jane; La Jane Birkin-Barry-Gainsbourg-Doillon

Been looking up Jane Birkin, more because suddenly she has become of great interest to me as an alternative way to be a mother (not her rampant sexuality, but her responsibility towards her girls, no matter who their fathers were).

Went to a fullmoon party today for one of Hubby's closest friends' first child - a little boy whose mum and dad were obviously very tired from their new roles as parents. She looked amazing though. Huge perky boobs aside (a lovely side-effect!), she was much slimmed down and her complexion glowed with the warmth and love of motherhood. She had just cut a wave of even bangs across her forehead, with feathered ends at the back. Very fetching.

It reminded me a little of this:

There are many more photographs of this legendary woman on the internet, but I especially love the ones of her and her children - laughing, artless, and completely loving. The reality is immaterial to me, simply because it is the very image of this sort of motherhood - easygoing, free-spirited, and confident - that made her girls the icons that they in turn have become today.

To me, it sure beats Grace Kelly. Any day.