February to April...chinese new year, roller coasters and more!

As usual, cramming what should have been 5-6 posts into one big late one. This year's CNY finally see both kids able to walk, talk and entertain themselves. Phew...the fear of CNY is finally over! Well ok not exactly...but at least its much better than last year n can only get better! Love the occasion to deck the kids with all the cutesy outfits but hey, they will only be able to pull it off only these few years anyway before they get too old.

CNY falls smack in budget season at work so getting some days off could be relaxing but this year's CNY was a four day long drama. We ran out of cheongsams by day 3 and it almost felt like a relief by the time i got back to office. But still, i think the kids had fun collecting their angpao but neither one asked to keep their own angpaos yet so we have not gone to start their personal savings account.

CNY was followed up shortly by a trip to HK. I had to go for work and i convinced hubby, mom to bring the 2 kiddies along. It was not such a good idea as the daddy complained of having to deal with two sticky and cranky kids. Alyssa also just started her latest hate relationship with automatic toilet flushes when she got splashed on recently and so...the toilet visits during the trip were nothing short of melodramatic.

But we did enjoy disneyland, yes again. But the queues this time were worse than ever. One hour wait per ride...and that's even for the boring kiddie ones. At the end of the day, both kids fell asleep and since we were pramless this trip, we had to lug two deadweights all the way home.

Apart from disneyland, the kids also got to meet their hk aunties and uncles, and most importantly also their tai-po, my grandma. Grandma is 93 (i think at least...) but still in the pink of health although mobility is an issue. Alyssa also got to play with cousin Charmaine. One year younger but almost a whole head taller. Good genes from the parents (same good genes in all lui family though which somehow skipped me haha).

This year, alyssa also watched her very first movie with porpor...Cinderella! When asked how was the movie, her response was "it was excellent!" Haha. After the movie, she promptly switched her favorite princess from aurora, sleeping beauty to cinderella. Haha...little gals..

We also visited the zoo for the 3rd time with Aly and this was Asher's first visit. Little Asher boy definitely expressed much more interest in the animals than his nonchalant elder sister. But around noon, it started to pour. The good thing was it still did clear up in the afternoon so the kids still played at the outdoor water playground and managed to still feed the goats. Since my company has the free zoo passes, i guess we will make it a point to go again sometime soon!

After the zoo came the long awaited legoland weekend in early April! The kids were looking forward to it of course, how not to with me reminding them to be a good girl and good boy all the way leading up till the trip. I must say the trip was well worth it, we checked in at legoland hotel for 2 nights and spent a day at legoland, one day at hello kitty/ little big club and the last day chilling out at the pool / jb premium outlets. It was our first drive into jb with Mr Ng innocently asking the customs drive thru, "eh must we show our passports?" Haha.

The kids loved both little big club and legoland. Hello kitty town was quite boring. Little big club was like a very expensive indoor playground but then again they had those kiddie rides which asher and aly loved. Especially when most of the rides were thomas the train themed and asher got to ride on thomas himself, bertie the bus and harold the helicopter. Neither of the kids were super interested in any of the live shows featured at the park.

Legoland was the climax...lego driving school where aly earned her first "driving license", boat rides, lego trains, fire engines and planes...can't ask for more. Aly also gamely volunteered to go up on stage (without being asked) for the lego friends dance show much to our amusement and we could tell she really enjoyed performing. Of course there were all the roller coasters too which aly sadly had to miss because she didn't meet the height requirements. Kudos to brave heidi who went on the dragon, somehow got conned by her mummy haha.

I would definitely want to head back again next time because the kids really had fun and best part was, no queues for rides! Superb. The legoland hotel is a big boon too, lego everywhere and a fun big room where kids also have their own bunk beds and sleeping space. But next trip, we will give the premium outlets a miss though, not cheap and not much variety too!

Stay tuned to the next posts on the april babies birthdays!

Thida

Thida is alyssa's penpal. She is 14 years old and lives in cambodia and alyssa and i write to her as part of the riverkids mentorship project.

Below is alyssa's first letter to thida. We hope that the letter will encourage thida and alyssa can also learn to understand the differences in culture and environment and also be able to share similarities with another child too in the process since she loves writing and reading so much.

We have posted the letter and now looking much forward to thida's reply!

Living in the east - LOVE

2014 in perspect

This has been a tough year for me no doubt...the emba program, new job and young babies. I swore off work completely on weekends except the occassional email (still bad i know) to be completely with the kids, trying to compensate for every lost hour on the weekday that i dedicate to work.

School is almost done, i graduate in almost exactly a month. While insead had sparked desires of job changes and new ventures, i am keeping those thoughts on the side for now as the current job demands overwhelms. "What for?" Is almost becoming a recurring question and i almost find myself not being able to answer.

But then i digress, this blog is not about me, its about the kids and i managed to not post anything for the last 8 months while there would have had been at least 100 different things to post. I feel terrible of course but no point wasting more time crying over spilt milk so hopefully i get back into a posting routine even if it means doing it on my daily commute to work.

So what happened in 2014 for the kids?
Alyssa has completed her first year at pre-nursery class. Awesome! Not without some ups and downs and run ins with the teacher but still better than we expected. She was definitely a little lady who was smart and knew exactly what she wanted and we had our share from the suffering teachers when she gets upset about not getting her way. But all is well as somehow the little curly haired charmer still manages to always get into the hearts of all the teachers, helpers, and even other parents and kids at the kindergarden. Thank god for that!

Feeding her is still a struggle but she now manages to feed herself simple finger food and get the spoon from bowl to mouth with minimal mess. But since she starts to get picky when left to her own devices, we tend to still feed her mostly to make sure she has all the nutrients she needs.

Her mental ability is leaps and bounds beyond our imagination. She is already grapsing concepts of fractions, percentages,  estimation. Multiplication tables are already excellent with her wonderful memory and she is now able to add and subtract beyond her 10 fingers. Reading and spelling is no issue at all and this year she has started picking up chinese at school.

Her physical development is also coming along well albeit slightly slower. But thanks to ballet class, her basic skills like jumping, coordination and balance are definitely improving. We ended the year also starting her on art classes as we saw her love for aesthetics and drawing. So far, she loves it. I am keen to stick her only in classes she enjoys and no further enrichment at all to hopefully give her the balanced childhood.

Asher is growing up faster than a blink. He is sturdy and strong, soon to be able to fight back his sister now and not just stand and be bullied. He is an active ball of energy, loves sitting on our laps listening to stories and all play. He is all about trains and cars, thomas and frienda and chuggington count as his favorite characters. He recognizes color, numbers 1-10 and shapes. He recently progressed from single words to double words and i look forward to short sentences from him soon. He knows the last words from each sentence of all the nursery rhymes. 

What i love most about our asher boy is that he is always so happy, sweet and lovely. He is definitely one bubbly character although of course he is starting to graduate into the terrible twos phase, so things might change soon before i know it.

I want so much to be able to spend more time with these dear kiddies but work is really draining. Hopefully 2015 will be a year of change. Let's see. In the meantime i thank God for beautiful Alyssa and Asher, and beloved hubby Kwang, who are truly my greatest blessings.

Middle aged crisis ramblings to start 2015

There is one precious thing that long haul business flights can give me...time to think, above all. 2015...the year of the sheep...the third chinese zodiac cycle for me... No longer the same 23 year old travelling the world and collecting mileage and hotel points as accolades. I miss that jet-setting girl sometimes; this has got to be mid-life crisis finally, how do i stop this damned aging?

Still want to do something different, still want to change the world. But the spunk is somewhat muted now. New year resolutions this year, nothing new to shout about. Be a better mom, take care of myself, get a balanced life and give my best at work. Yea and just about do well in everything..."overachiever" someone whispers. Sad yet true...how much more of me is there left to give? Don't know.

So adding one new year wish for 2015...i wish for the blessing to be able to let it go, don't give a fuck...wadever u call it. It comes natural to some but i admit sadly, i am that sucker who just cares too much. I am aware some day my kids may read this and highly likely misinterpret but if that one day comes, i also wish for them, the ability to discern and not sweat the small stuff.

2014 could be seen by the outside world as a highly successful year for me. MBA dean's list, mommy of two smart, cute and active kids growing up super fast and a new fast paced job in a cool industry. But i think i aged more in this year alone than probably the last 5 yrs put together. Not sure if i can ever recover from the mental and physical assault but i am sure looking forward to 2015. There is nothing i have understood more this year than the phrase "there is only one pie regardless of how many ways you cut it"; multi-tasking is a fraud.

But then, that said...no regrets. I paid 150k for that donkey mba damn it, yes i have finally done it. Yes people have worse things on their bucket list okayyyyy...But hey, a few more good friends made along the way, lots of life takeaways and i still have a lot of future years to go and put all that to good use. 2015 will be different i swear, i don't want to miss my kids growing up to begin with.

Also, i want to continue writing and post more about my kids like i promised in the beginning of last year.

How is that for the first post of the year :)

Side tracking a little...i wonder if i have chalked up 500 flights yet by now. I suddenly wished i had counted...ok small voice in head, get out NOW, it does NOT matter! Hahaha.

Helping little star

Aly's favorite library book for the past few months...helping little star. a lovely narration by my little reader. http://vimeo.com/87151007

little star

i found this post saved in my phone today...with this pic alyssa shot by herself and attached here...had to complete what she had started and post this for her :) introducing little star in the pic, which she declares is her best friend. this star has been with alyssa for 2 years now, and lights up with changing colors...the small precious things in her life :)