Day 2 of Bintan..our last day

Woke up early this morning at about 7 am to catch the sun rise. I was a little sad as last night, my room air con was freezing such that when we went out this morning, my camera started to fog up. So, I couldnt really get good pictures of the beautiful sunrise that we saw. Here is what I could take with my foggy camera..

The next picture was actually a nicer one with the slanted coconut tree in the foreground and the sun was much stronger...but sigh, my lens refused to clear up..oh crap. Well, just use a little of your imagination and enjoy ;)

After catching the sunrise and walking in the beach, we went to swim in the pool which overlooks the beach. This is my first time swimming since my pregnancy and I was really looking forward to this so much so that I dreamt the night before I came to Bintan about it. I dreamt I forgot my swimsuit and was so upset with myself. Glad its just a dream.

I was looking forward to it as I love to relax in the pool and moreover so, now that I am pregnant and lack exercise. I was pondering as to whether to get a maternity swimsuit or not but didnt wish to waste such money on it as I have lots of swimming costumes already and didnt want to add another one to this 'collection'. So, instead, I wore my bikini which is of course free size for any pregnant women as size of tummy doesnt matter! haha..

bought this bikini in the states as I wore it to swim and tan there...since my apartment had 3 swimming pools and we stayed so near the beautiful white sandy beach of the gulf shores and 45 mins drive from florida. So, glad this came in handy now as I would NEVER wear it in Singapore...haha..unless there is absolutely nobody around staring at my flabs.

If you are wondering who took that picture for us..well, nope, its not a third party but we just left the camera on the beach chair and set it to timer.

Here are more pictures of the nice big pool overflowing out of the edges as if the water flows to the sea.

The bar area..

I know I havent written down the name of the resort I am staying yet. Well, this is because I thought of letting you guys guess. But anyway, I shall say it now. This is actually the Nirwana Gardens Resort. So far I have been to Bintan, I have always stayed in this same place because the price is most reasonable with good amenities that meets my needs.

I saw Bintan Lagoon but didnt choose to stay there last time and now cos it is a place for family and golfers since there is a golf course there and though I love to play golf and always dream of becoming pro (wishful thinking), I cant now. Maybe next time when my kid grows up...

Other places like Angsana and Banyan Tree doesnt meet my requirement because CT and I do not indulge in spas and I think in my lifetime, I may not do so as well. I just do not feel that I need one...and prob do not like the idea of people touching me and breaking my bones. Haha...dunno.

There are places like Club Med also in Bintan but that is also a place with family and if you are very active. Obviously I am not now.

Anyway, back to Nirwana...I like this place because it is huge and has a nice pool and a beach just in front of the resort. This is what I look for in the hotel plus its nice and wide range of buffet food for breakfast for free. They serve Japanese food, Nasi Lemak, Bee Hoon, Fried Rice, the usual sausages, potatoes, curry chicken, bread pudding, etc..and stalls which will make sunny side up for you or omelettes with your own choice of fillings, as well as pancakes stall...and also the whole array of different bread, muffins, cakes, fruits and cereals.

After such a filling buffet breakfast, we went to walk around in our hotel and take more pictures..

This is a picture taken at the balcony at our room.

This is the view from our room..can see the beach from here..


Picture of the beach..

After walking for a while, the weather was too hot..so we went back to our nice cool room and chill out...or in our terms, NUA... We actually slept for a good hour before we changed and checked out of our hotel.

Though the trip was so short, I enjoyed and appreciated the time we could just getaway for a night as I knew there was no other time we could do so.

Guess the next time I come back here, will be with Caleb.

Bintan Getaway Day 1

This is the start of the holidays and I am required to go back to school everyday over the next week. So, CT and I went to Bintan during the weekends for a very short getaway before baby Caleb is born. I figured I would not have anymore time to do so since when its the June Hols, I will be going through my 3rd trimester.

I chose Bintan, even though its expensive, because I prefer to take ferry and moreover, I only had time for a 2days, 1night stay. So no point going somewhere further. I also like the beach and the surroundings there.

The last time I went was with CT during our 'honeymoon' in August, 3 years ago. So, it was a good time to relive those times before the baby comes.

I enjoyed the ferry ride as I love being in the sea. So, the choppier it is, the more exhilirating it was for me and CT,despite my condition now. There was TV mobile shows in the LCD TV too. So, it was quite a comfortable and entertaining ride.

When we first arrived, we went to the hotel to see if we could check in early. They only had 2 single beds available..which we didnt want. So we told them we would wait. We dropped our luggage with the resort and went for lunch at Pasar Ole Ole. Where else could we go? When we arrived at Pasar Ole Ole, we walked 5 mins away from it and went to the hawker centre for local food amongst local people. So the food there was much cheaper.

We just had vegetable rice to fill our stomachs and the only regret is, we didnt change our money to Rupiah. So we still had to pay in Sing dollars which they would earn more. Anyway, still much cheaper than tourist places food, I figured, and happily gave them $6 sing dollars for both our lunches. I enjoyed the Indonesian vegetable rice dishes, especially this wierd looking green chilly sauce which was very tasty and spicy! We both had fried chicken, fried prawns in skewer, and veggies.

After a nice and cheap lunch, we walked back in the sun to Pasar Ole Ole for shopping. We bought ice cream and prawn crackers. We had to spend our time there while waiting for the bus to take us back to hotel. Once we headed back to hotel, we checked in to our room which CT upgraded for my comfort and treat.

Check this out...the living room

Our bedroom...And our spacious toilet with 2 sinks..

By the time we checked in, it was 4 plus already. We went to our hotel, bathed and rested till dinner time. We were watching TV and doing my Math Olympiad questions. To me, this is relaxing..to be able to stimulate my brain a little but yet in a relaxing environment. It was fun as CT did the questions with me.

At night, we went to the Kelong for dinner...our usual dinner experience in Bintan. We would go there to catch the sunset. We actually just missed the bus to the Kelong but the hotel staff was nice enough to take us on their private jeep to the place before the sun sets.

This is the picture of the kelong restaurant..
We ordered a dinner set for 2 and boy, there were a lot of various dishes. Take a look!

Let me tell u what we ate: vegetable chicken soup, seafood fried rice, seasonal veggies (xiao bai chai), fried lemon chicken, sweet and sour prawns, gong gong, chilli stone crabs. All tasted really nice. It was probably one of my first time eating the gong gong as the whole thing...and when I pulled out the flesh, it looks exactly like the shell just that it is darker in colour and of course, softer.

It sure looked like a dish from fear factor right? But who cares if it taste good?

After a very filling dinner, which we wiped the food all out, we went back to our hotel and walked in the beach from one end to the other end within the hotel. We were so exhausted after that that we fell asleep when we went back to our hotel room, which was only about 10pm then.. zzzz...

lying so straight..in 18 weeks

Went to the gynae today for the usual checkup. My weight gained was suddenly so abrupt that the gynae told me to watch it. Sobsob. That was why that night after the visit, I had brown rice porridge for dinner at bedok central which made me hungry even after eating. sigh. So far, I have put on about 4 kg since pregnancy and for my first trimester, I only gained 1 kg. So that was why the sudden 3 kg jump kind of left me off with a warning by the gynae.





Anyway, I must say I have been rather disciplined in my eating. I do not crave for any food and I just eat as per normal. Maybe snack a little when it comes to 4pm. But other than that, everything is normal.





Gynae confirmed that the baby is a boy..much to my relief because I have heard of stories that the gynae tell them one thing and after it is borned, they realised it is a diff gender. I dont wish for that to happen to me.





Took a scan of baby and boy, it was big and straight! It was amazingly lying so straight...check it out!

The head all along used to be on the left side, but it seemed to have turned and now it is on my right. Can you see the spinal cord? Babies are supposed to be curled up in the womb I thought so was really surprised at this picture.

Pamela told me that after this, I wouldnt be able to catch the baby in the scan as he would grow too big.

Caleb is now about 12 cm for the record.

Visit to Punggol Beach

We have stayed in Punggol for almost 3 years already and we still have not visited the beach yet. Finally, we decided to go since it was CNY holidays and we had no more visitations to do for the rest of the day.

We brought a book there as we checked out the place. Check out the vastness of space here.

Punggol is a place for bird lovers as I heard there are interesting birds that come by here. Spotted one species on the railing in the jetty..
Along the wall, there are a lot of grafitti writings...

Being always caught in the hustle and bustle of life, it was nice to visit here with lots of tall trees and water (though I wish it can be cleaner and clearer). It was a great visit such that even seeing lots of lalangs made me happy and excited. Haha..

A kelong was spotted nearby...

After walking for quite a while, we rested and I started sharing about insights from a parenting book which I have been reading and we discussed about some issues. I do enjoy moments when I can talk to CT about such stuff and just reflect.

Had an enjoyable time indeed. Not a place if you expect great sand and great place to relax.

CNY visit

During one of the CNY holidays, my family as usual would go to our 'carrot cake' auntie's place. I call her 'carrot cake' auntie because she will always make really good fried carrot cake for us with sambal blachan. Yum yum..

I brought my camera along to take pictures of my relatives as requested by my dad. He came along to visit as well. Yippee..

Let me introduce to you my family and relatives...

Here are the Wongs...

My cousin, whom I always call as "ting ting" is now in Year 1 University. He is studying computer. Definitely not surprise as from young, he has always been spending his time on computers and games. Beside him is my aunt. (My dad's sister) She has been a teacher for a very very long time and I really admire her for that. My family thinks my brother and I got her genes since both of us became teachers. My aunt now is involved in CCA band in HQ, always taking SSO students overseas for competitions.My uncle is retired. Used to be an accountant, but now, he spends his time wisely by doing what he loves- orchid and fishes! This family has 2 more children but both of them are now in Australia.


Now, introducing to you...the Lings.

My aunt on the left of picture is working as an accountant in Hyatt. She has been there for a very long time as well. She is very hardworking and meek. She works even on Sats and Suns at times, especially when closing accounts. I find her very gentle and a very thoughtful and thorough person. My uncle on the right is my dad's brother. He is a very filial person. That is my observation of him. In between them are my carrot cake uncle and auntie. That uncle used to be a chef in Majestic Hotel...but is hard of hearing now and he sleeps a lot. My carrot cake aunt is the one who cooks great carrot/yam cake. She accepted Christ a number of years back already and enjoys being with her friends in church. I also heard recently, that my carrot cake uncle,having a simple faith, also just accepted Christ in hospital. Praise God!

Now, here are my parents-the Lings too!

This is my dad's first time to their place ever since his accident in 2005. He must have enjoyed himself. My dad never fails to amaze me even now as he still works and brings in customers for his real estate business. He has passed down a lot of wisdom to me which has helped me since young and both my parents have been a great role models. My mum is a housewife ever since she gave birth to me...but she always seem really busy, living her life to the fullest by dancing in church, leading bible studies, taking care of dad by bringing him for physio etc etc. She used to be more busy doing much more but I guess now, her focus is to take good care of my dad and support him.

Now, let me introduce to you my brother's family..hmm,the Lings again!

There is Janine, my niece who is 1 year, 1 month old. She can run real fast now. Very cute little one who smiles a lot. Pamela, my sister-in-law who works in Mindef and my brother, who is a teacher in Meridian JC-General Paper tutor, who is going to quit soon to study theology so that he can be a missionary in future to SEA countries. Dont they look alike? Last time, people always thought they are brother-sister and I was the girlfriend. Hmm..Anyway, now that they are married and have a kid, people will know. On the right is my carrot cake aunty's son. He is a part time actor who has starred in many chinese dramas, including I not stupid 2. Hard for anyone to recognise him as he plays all small roles. Haha..

Last but not least, here is CT and I..the Gohs.

Both of us wearing bright red shirts. I have given all families my thoughts. Here are my thoughts for my husband. Chee Tiong (CT) is a very smart guy, always aceing in his subjects which makes it quite sickening because as I student, I hated such people. Haha. He is still trying to understand how I can get Cs and Bs for my subjects. Sickening, right? He is also a very blur person who just went to Anglican High for his secondary life because his friends put that as a top choice and he just simply follows, not knowing where the school was.

Even when he went NUS, he just applied for Chemical Engineering because that was a hot choice during his times then. Sigh.. I always tell him, aiyoh, how can u always follow people and not knowing what you really want. Now, he regrets a little as he told me he wants to be a medical doctor now but its too late because he do not want to waste his time studying now and neglecting me. However, in my eyes, he would always be my Dr Goh. :)

Another thing I liked about him is his drums skills. He had been in the band since primary school and playing the drums. To me, he is the best natural drummer. He is another talented guy when it comes to computers. He can spend the whole day just on internet and I can never figure out how he can spend those hours on it as much as I like computers. Ok, enough about him.

As for me, I am just a simple girl trying to live my life to the fullest-trying to do my best in what I do and just keep looking forward and not the past. Just cant wait to be a great parent now that I am pregnant and at the same time, to be the best wife, best teacher, best daughter as I can be.

Early Reunion Dinner

Today is my family reunion dinner with our relatives including my god sister, Chloe and her husband, Chung. They are both close to us as they do not have family members here in Singapore. Chloe is from HK while Chung is from Malaysia. So, my parents became their god parents. Chloe is the same age as me and was my dad's physiotherapist is SGH, who also happens to be attending the same church as me. Chung is a doctor, both husband and wife from the medical field. My mum invited them over to her place for dinner...potluck session. We had lots of great food as usual.

My mum prepared roast duck, fishballs, ngor hiang, mixed vegetable bean curd dish with fa cai and mushrooms(one of my favourites). My relatives brought kweh pai tee (one of the regular dish brought), fresh huge prawn fruit salad, yu sheng, fried crab claws (with real crab meat inside), and prawn crackers. My mum thought it might not be enough and as usual, she prepares more than what we can eat by ordering 2 "curry in the bun" delivery- one curry chicken and one curry mutton. Sigh...too much.

Anyway, we all tucked in and enjoyed. However, CT couldnt join us because of his shift work. So, I had to take away his dinner for him. After a sumptuous dinner, we celebrated my uncle's birthday.

My uncle is already 70 years old and is retired, spending time with his fishes and orchids at home. He has a huge collection of orchids which I was totally amazed when I went his house.

In the background of the picture are Baby Janine (my niece), my mum and pamela (my sis in law).

This is how tall Janine is at 1 year old. She loves to walk up the stairs on her own and stand here overlooking the dining area where the people are to 'scare' them.

Updates on pregnancy

So far so good. Though I feel more queasy at 13-14 weeks,I really thank God that it has been smooth. Many people came up to me and told me that they still can't see my tummy. Haha..I take that as a compliment cos I am really afraid of becoming too "fat".

Yesterday, went to visit the gynae and I was the first customer in the evening so, I didnt have to wait at all for my turn. So cool. I heard from friends who told me that sometimes, they wait very long for their turn.

I did my usual routine when I first entered the clinic- take my weight and my blood pressure. My weight has increased so far about 2 kg since my pregnancy. So not so bad.

Got to know the gender too! And the gynae told us that it is going to be a boy! Yay! Actually as expected...Many friends and family members all told us that it would be a boy from their "feeling", including my students! No one has ever mentioned that it might be a girl.

Anyway, the strangest thing for some who do not know, I have already chosen the name of my son even before I was married and even before I ever knew CT existed.

I used to play "Neopets"-this online virtual world game in the internet. I set up many accounts to earn more points so that I can get trophies and get better things for my pet. So each account, I needed to choose another name and surname to set up. I have always liked the name Caleb and usually use that for my character name in whatever games I play because I find that name rather heroic sounding. Anyway, the game needed the surname too, so I thought Ling doesnt sound nice with Caleb and so I chose a surname that sounded good with it, which was Goh. I thought Caleb Goh sounds good.

So many years after that, I finally met CT and who know's? I got married to a Goh! Haha..and definitely, you should know now what name I would give my baby boy. :)

So prophetic and amazing I must say!

Here is Caleb Goh-about 14 weeks old (according to gynae), but according to my own calendar, I think I am about 15-16 weeks old. So, am quite confused now...

This is quite a clear picture of the baby. Its slightly more than 7cm long.

Birthday week

On friday, it was CT's birthday. We did not celebrate alone but on the actual day, we just went over to his mum's place for a home cooked meal and his sister bought a cake for him. I guess for us, everyday is a celebration to be together and so, during birthdays like these, we just leave it to our families to celebrate with us.

On Saturday, it was my family's turn to celebrate for CT. Went to Changi Airport for lunch with my whole family including my bro's family. I had lots of fun- yummy food and good company from sittinbg beside my niece, Janine.

We ordered lots of food which we seldom order in Crystal Jade. Usually in Crystal Jade, we would order porridge and tim sum. But today, we ordered lots of ala-carte dishes like Peking Duck, Spinach with fresh big prawns, clay pot seafood dou fu, baked pork ribs with sweet and sour sauce which was the best pork ribs I have eaten..so juicy and crispy on outside, and ee fu duck noodles. We also ordered tim sum- char siew bao and chicken feet! Yumm...

After lunch, we let Janine walk around and she kept wandering off. She could walk quite fast already and it was so fun seeing her catching up with us because of her baby steps. Ct and I even held her tiny hands, each on one side and swung her to and fro. She was smiling and laughing so happily...

Today, it was Janine's one year old birthday. Went to my bro's condo at Bukit Timah for the celebration. He invited over 100 guests and I was quite overwhelmed by the crowd with my preg condition as well as the persisting headache I have been having for the past 2 days, which kept me up all night.

I went to his place early right after my church service which was near his house and CT helped by blowing the balloons while I assisted by tying them.

Janine was asleep then and when she woke up, she looked so groggy and dazed. How cute..

Janine do enjoy at times walking around. Check out her lovely red dress and cute white shoes..

The food was nice as I ate mainly popiah and kueh pai tee-which we had to make ourselves. My brother ordered the rest of the food from our trustee catherer which we have worked with it for many years.

The birthday cake was huge, ordered from my Aunt whom we can all trust to buy cakes as she works in Hyatt and the cakes she always get for our birthday celebrations is just so yummy and unique. Definitely expensive too...

After the birthday party, I da bao left overs for my dinner as there was quite a lot of leftovers. Esther even had to take the whole tray of mee goreng and donate to the moral home for the aged in Bedok cos there was one tray left untouched.

I didnt have a great time as I thought I would have because of my nagging headache. Couldnt even entertain the guests much...I just wanted to rest. Anyway, glad to be home after the party to rest.

how long can I last?

Since the start of school, it has been quite hellish for me as I was down with flu a day before school started... starting with a super pain sore throat which I couldnt swallow anything and thus, keeping me awake all night. The next morning when I woke up, I started trying to 'cure' myself with natural stuff since I didnt want to affect the baby by anyhow taking the medicine.

I took Florida's Natural grapejuice, I started making myself fresh lime juice, cutting and squeezing it into the cup, added salt and honey and water...I loved it as it soothed my queasyness at the same time. During the rest of the day, i kept drinking lots of juice to cure my sore throat. It was a public holiday that day and the doctor was close. SO, I just had to make do with my own 'medicine'.

That night, didnt sleep well as I was thinking of school and my flu just kept me awake. Next few days, recovered slightly from the sore throat but the runny and block nose came and when that went off a bit after almost a week, my cough came. Sigh..all taking turns to come. I finally went to see doctor on Saturday since I didnt have to sacrifice my student's lessons on that day..So the first week of school seemed rather long for me.

On monday, last week, I went to see the gynae for my second visit and as usual, waited for about 15-20 mins and then the consultation only lasted for 10 mins max. The gynae did the scan again and she even let us hear the heartbeat of the baby. Very fast and strong. She added on to tell us that the baby is very active. It was 3.22 cm long- grew quite a bit from our last check up a month ago which was only 0.65cm long.

You can compare this picture with my last visit's one. The baby is much clearer now..

Dunno why this time round, both CT and I were not as excited as our first visit.Hhaa..but of course deep down inside, we are still amazed and happy.

The second week was long again..Had a tough time as I struggled to climb 4 flight of stairs to my form class every morning since there was no morning assembly because of the rain and wet floor..so had to go up to take attendance and say the pledge with them. I contemplated a lot to go up as I felt it was not worth my trouble to go up and just take attendance which can be done at a later time when I see my class later for Math lesson. But what to do? Sometimes, the pressure is greater than whatever rational thinking or practicality.

At the later part of the week, I was also faced with a class which was quite challenging especially when I took them during the last period of the day. So I ended up scolding them. I was very angry but at least I resisted throwing or slamming things which I would normally do. I just talked and scolded them...which left my tummy pain the rest of the day. Sigh..

I really dunno how I can last...With my pregnancy, I get less patient and am def more sensitive to noise..So, it doesnt help when I am teaching esp the Normal Tech students.

I just hope I will feel less queasy and more patient as this carries on cos sometimes I get impatient because I already dont feel too well, and yet have to face nonsense in class-questions asked by students that is silly and something which I cannot accept.

pictures of Janine during party

Very captivated by the big blue ball on the Christmas tree..

What colourful lights...

Curious Janine (not George)

Curious Janine at work again..

Janine walking quite comfortable already..and she's only 11 months old

Christmas gathering at my mum place

Today, CT had to go work though it is a Saturday. He is now on 12-hour day shift, so he has only certain rest days once in a while. For lunch, Marianne invited me over. I dropped by the fish farm before going her place to buy fish for my dad and for Marianne.

When I arrived, Marianne was bathing Phoebe and I noticed that a lot of patience is needed because the child would be playing in the tub for quite a while. After that, we had lunch. Joshua cooked steak for lunch. Here is our widespread of food...

I enjoyed the lunch a lot because of the thick juicy ribeye steak! It was quite bloody at first and I knew I couldnt eat raw food. So Marianne cooked it a while longer and it tasted so nice...though some red parts at certain areas. To me, if I am not pregnant, I would love it medium rare. Haha..So, I didnt mind the blood. It was so delicious because of the fats and veins. Yum!

After lunch, I did art and craft with my god-daughter,Phoebe...

She just simply took pictures from magazines and pasted it on the construction paper. It was Christmas-themed pictures..

As you can see, Phoebe is left-handed. She will grow up to be a creative girl I can tell as she has been doing wonderful art stuff...

After that, Phoebe and I drank orange juice and each time she drank one sip, she would want to do "cheers" with our glasses..

After having so much fun, Joshua cooked tang yuan for us. Yummy...

I left their place about 3pm..to my mum's place.

Had Christmas party at my mum's place. There was so much food, so, my mum invited Marianne and Phoebe over. Joshua could not join us as he had to attend another party. There was turkey, roast beef, ham, huge sausages (all donated by Uncle Edwin-President of Chinese Swimming Club), I cooked mash potatoes with bacon and cheese, mum made salad and pumpkin soup and Esther brought 2 huge chicken pies from "Don shop"

I enjoyed the party as I could see Janine, my niece. I miss her so much. She is so so cute..Her curly hair is growing more wild.

Pictures of Janine will be shown next blog...

Sam: A Mother's Journey of Faith

About a week back, I was watching CNA in the morning again and it was showing a segment where they introduced a book. This time, it was a book entitled, "Sam: A Mother's Journey of Faith". They even went on to show an interview with the author, a local mother of 2 sons whose one of the sons, a teenager was fighting with cancer.

I was very touched by the interview and I wished I had taped it that time. But I was just so amazed by the interview that I forgot all about taping. I was reflecting on the interview and would like to share with all of you...

This mother of 2 boys, is a believer in Christ and she was sharing her reaction when she found out her sec sch son was diagnosed with cancer and the process she went through with all the treatments and stuff. She said that despite all that has happened, she mentioned that she actually thanked God for allowing this to happen because of the peace and joy that she experienced not only from God but by even looking at her cancer-stricken son. Her son was even assuring her and having so much peace inside.

Check this site-a blogger who penned down about this book as well...
http://qqlibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/12/sam-mothers-journey-of-faith.html

Read and listen to her interview
http://dl.nlb.gov.sg/highbrowseonline/2006/10/about_a_boy_his_mother_and_the_1.html

I was touched because it is just so similar with my dad's case. The reassuring peace and joy that the Lord gives us is just so amazing and something to shout about!

I believe very strongly in one thing- that is, everyone will def meet up with adversities in life be it you do good or do million charitable things..no matter how much "good" you do, there will always be obstacles in life- it can be an accident like my dad, it can be a close one suffering from an illness or it can also simply be your family member who passed away... These things are unescapable...

But one very fact remains for Christians that is no matter what happens, there is peace and joy and love from Him..I think this is the most assuring news I can find my security in..Just look at Chinese religion funerals, or other religion funerals as compared to Christian funerals, you will then know what I mean...

It is like a loved one saying to you, hey, no matter what I will be with you and not only that,I will be pouring forth my ever flowing love, joy and peace unto you. What more can we expect?

So for those of you reading this and have doubts about the God I am talking about, please look around and reflect...search and I know you will one day experience Him and know Him in your own personal way.

in God whom I will always trust..

Have a blessed and meaningful Christmas this year, reflecting upon God's wonders, His creation and His greatest gift of all-His Son..

Jesus died that we might live.

Merry Christmas to one and all!

2 pm weather update

Just when I thought the rain would stop in the morning, it started to pour again. Now the rain map shows all parts of Singapore wet and some areas, with heavy rain.

Though the weather is still 25 degrees and its afternoon now, I feel stuffy cos I have to close my windows since the wind is so strong and the rain keeps coming in. I have already mopped a few times already so decided to shut it...

Am just glad I am staying indoors today. Going to jump in my bed soon and enjoy this weather...

Singapore's winter season is here!

Whole of yesterday, last night and this morning, it has been raining cats and dogs. I love this kind of weather since I am indoors and just relaxing at home. Its nice especially with the cool weather too.

This morning, woke up and saw on my computer that the weather outside was 25 degrees Celsius. Cool! I love air con temp weather.

I have a rain map on my desktop as well and this is how it looks...

Yup, most parts of Singapore drenched! The whole night it was raining and I didnt turn on the air-con. But in the middle of the night, I told CT to turn it on because I was bitten my mosquitoes..sigh. I was wondering how mosquitoes can make it all the way up to my house..Guess they were desperate to seek shelter somewhere..ha.

Anyway, hope this sunday would be a great cool day with no rain as I would be having a Christmas Eve Party at my place!

Charlotte's Web Movie Preview

Every morning whenever I turned on my TV to have my breakfast, it would be CNA as it is the default channel. There was one friday when I switched on, and it was featuring the upcoming show, Charlotte's Web and the contest for the viewers to participate and answer a question posed in the CNA website over the internet.

So since I was bored, after my breakfast, I went to answer the question-"Who was the author of Charlotte's Web?" Well, I am not much a reader and I know Charlotte's Web has been many student's literature book and I know it is a very popular book. However, since I am not much a reader, I made a guess in my head and thought it was George Orwell. Haha..how stupid and ignorant right? I know that guy is probably the author to Animal Farm or something like that. But I always thought or imagined Animal Farm and Charlotte's Web is about the same book.

Anyway, due to the advance of technology and being more internet savvy than picking up a book to read, I went into my trusted yahoo search, went to wikipedia and found the answer to confirm it and of course, I was wrong. So, I gave the full name of the author Elwyn Brooks White just to impress the judges, gave my personal details and click Submit.Results will be announced one week later.

Exactly one week later on Friday, I happened to wake up the same time and as usual, turned on my TV and they happed to show the same segment where they introduced a book or movie, and they were introducing a new one. So, I thought to myself that I had missed the results and went on to tell myself that I wouldnt win anyway.

But who knows as I was about to change channels, they talked about Charlotte's Web and reminded the viewers about the contest last week. I quickly stayed on the channel and waited for the results. They said there were close to 600 contestants and when I heard that, my heart dropped cos I thought no one would catch CNA at such a time like 8 plus am..since most would be working..Housewives would usually watch other shows than CNA, so, how is it possible to have so many contestants? Sigh..

So, they said they have picked up 3 winners. In my mind, I was like,"Oh boy..only 3 out of 600? Gone lah..sure cannot get." So, they went on to announce the first winner..and obviously, I wasnt expecting much already..then they announced the second winner, my heart sank and just thought thats it. Why am I still staying on this channel? And when they announced the last winner, they said, "Dawn Ling!" I was like" What??! Are you serious?? This cannot be?" So I quickly recorded that few mins of glory into my DVD recordable and quickly called CT excitedly and happily! Haha..

I won 4 movie preview tickets, a movie poster and "Wilbur" soft toy. I said I would like to give the soft toy to my baby when he/she is borned. CT told me how apt since next year is year of the pig! haha!

So last Saturday, I went with CT and my parents to the Singapore Zoo for the movie preview by the lake. I invited my parents cos my dad prob had not seen a movie for ages and I thought he would like to visit the zoo. Slightly disappointed as it was actually like a picnic event where people laid their mats and catch the movie. I didnt want to sit on the ground as I was certain I would feel very uncomfortable. So, we sat inside the pavilion with seats provided but it was so far from the screen.

We went earlier to have dinner there..

On our way to the lake, we passed by some animals and managed to take some pictures of it.

(Having problems posting up the pictures as it refused to appear after uploading. Will do so once this works again..)

1st visit to gynae

Yesterday night was my first visit to the gynae. The clinic is in Bedok Bus interchange there. It is a satellite clinic for East Shore Hospital. I chose East Shore Hospital because it is in the East- easier for people to visit and easier for me to go there as well. It was my colleague who introduced me to this gynae and I have to trust her since she already had 3 kids under this gynae-Dr Heng.

The gynae is quite bubbly and friendly but I guess the only downside is that she has many many patients.Heard she has about 67 patients per month. So, my first visit with her only took 10 mins! She just asked me a series of questions about my family's history medical condition, any drug allergies, my last menstration date and then told me my expected due date. She told me it will be around 4/5 Aug 2007. We asked her a series of questions and she just told me to abstain from liver, sting ray and shark meat. She said I could eat anything...how nice cos I love to eat.hehe

Then she told me to lie down as she put a gel on my tummy to do an ultrasound scan. Thank God the baby can be seen through the scan if not it would be more troublesome and painful to detect the baby which I wont want.

From the scan, the gynae told me that the baby is healthy and even showed me and CT the baby's heart pumping. He/She is only 0.65cm long. Haha..I cannot imagine how small that is! Amazing. Here is the picture of our scan. Heard from my colleague that every month when I go visit the gynae, she would scan for me and give me a picture of the baby. Yay!

Ok, so this is the picture of my baby now during 7 weeks...coming to 8 weeks. Cute? haha...

When we got home, CT was mentioning how amazing a sperm and an egg is enough to create a baby. How simple and yet,complex! So, the whole night, we were just so amazed at seeing God's creation unfolding right before our eyes...

We spent the whole night praying for our baby and thanking God for all that is happening..God is good.

what have I been doing?

Everyday I would "sayang" or soothe my tummy and wonder to myself-is this fats or is my tummy bigger because of the baby inside? Sometimes, my tummy would seem so big that I just think its fats because of the constant snacking..sigh..haha..so depressing.

Today, CT and I went to new Ikea Tampines to do some Christmas shopping for our house party during Christmas Eve where we invite the whole cell group over for dinner. So, got some nice cutlery and Christmas decorations for the tree. I love the new Ikea as its spacious and big. After shopping from 10 to 11am, we had lunch there. I had the poached salmon while CT had the today's special: Chicken Rendang, which was amazingly yummy. And of course, lunch at Ikea is not complete without ordering their Chicken Wings. Yum..

I called my dad while waiting for the food to arrive, to let my dad know that it is wheelchair friendly and there are handicapped lots available for him. So, it is wonderful. Passed by Courts Megastore beside it too. Still lots of touching up to do before the grand opening on the 16 Dec.

Pretty exciting as I love seeing new things sprouting. That is one reason why I chose to stay in Punggol. There are always new developments and construstion around the area. Ikea Tampines is just 10 mins from my house. So, very convenient. Cant wait for Giant to open there, though I could still see it building.

After going to Ikea, we went to the fish farm and met one of our ex-cell group members there-Tay and Debbie with their 2 kids. Tay was teaching CT how to get rid of "faeces" in our aquarium by buying shrimps. The minimum price we could buy was $2 and the shop gave us like 80-100 shrimps! And guess what, Ct was so excited about this new discovery that he just threw the whole bag in with abour 100 shrimps infesting our aquarium. I told CT I was quite disgusted just looking at it. CT just glued his eyes on it for a while. He was intrigued.

Here are some shots of the shrimps...

From the tank picture, if you stare hard, you can see lots of shrimps swimming around. I do find it disgusting but CT say leave it for a few days to clear the "faeces" before we place them in another tank. Oh well...