~ Changi Chalet and T3 ~

6am... Gladys woke up rather early today. I can't even sleep slightly longer.. Only had a more tiring day packing yesterday and today my legs and body is aching.. 太逊了，真没用。:(

We set off to SAF Changi chalet and reached there around 10am. The living room, kitchen and toilet is very big! The 2 bedrooms on the second floor are also very spacious. Brother-in-law bought us breakfast and after that we headed to visit the Terminal 3 Open house in two cars!

The kids were very excited.. Eileen is busy taking photos with her mobile phone. I'm sure she will be blogging this on her blog. There are still some minor construction work around the area and there isn't any shops open yet. Although it is a weekend, there isn't a lot of people. Hubby purchased the $1 tickets and we headed towards the departure hall gate. Next time, we'll have to purchase air-tickets in order to enter.. so this is a good chance to bring everyone for an mini tour. There are a lot of greenery around.. Trees, flowers, indoor pond with fishes... There will also be a Butterfly garden! Everything looks and smells so new.

Gladys is extremely happy today.. She loves aeroplane... and we brought her to have a closer look at them.. Well, she may not remembers it... but at least she enjoys it this very moment.. :D Every Open house tour tickets came with a lucky draw coupon. The lucky 50 winners will win a complimentary T3 Swatch watch. We drove back to the chalet after having some drinks and food at McDonalds. I'm tired.. :p Nap Time!

Woke up at 3pm... Gladys is still sleeping. Must be the air-con... it's so cooling compared to the hot weather outside... we are so cozy on the bed. :p I really hate to pull myself up! No choice... have to wake Gladys up for her meal.... It's work time! I managed to have a short break in between to play a quick mahjong session with my sister-in-law, her sister and Eileen's mum. :p Actually, I don't really know how to play.... only observed my hubby played a couple of games and pick up from there. I have very little practical experience. Since no money is involved.. they are very accomodating.. especially since I am really slow.

We brought the kids home after the BBQ. All of us were very tired.... Felt really unlucky these 2 days.. My Blackberry's buttons are not working well... and worse of all, I wanted to watch some TV program and the TV is damaged after I switched it on for awhile! The screen turns black and into a single bright line... :( Bad Luck! What can be worse?? Hubby later told me he had a car accident on Wednesday which he did not tell me until now....... paid $400 for the damages.

I do feel kinda sad... There are many things happening around the house... I guess hubby is already very troubled and frastrated... No luck for him at the lottery for the past 2 years, and now we have to pay for the damages on the car and TV. But come to think of it, it is a blessing that he is well and there are no injuries. There are always up and down in our lifes... most important of all is we are all healthy, safe and happy. Cheer up Dear... I'm sure somehow, things will work out. We just have to work harder.. :D

I just pray and hope that we have a good, safe trip on our on-coming vacation to Malaysia. Maybe a trip overseas can help to change our luck for the better. Even if it didn't, I hope the family has a happy trip together...

~ Bye Bye - Concourse ~

Finally... after a couple of months of preparation, discussion and packing, today's our final working day at the Concourse building. It is my 3rd year here and I kinda miss the place.... no more waking up late, no more good range of food selection during lunch, no more shopping, no more checking out of party goods and so many more......

Today is a very busy day! Everyone is doing their final packing and there are boxes everywhere. I helped Catherine with the collection of keys. She wanted them to be pasted on the drawers together with the master keys.. Taking the keys out of the rings are tiring.. after releasing over 40 of them, my nails start to break.. although I do not keep long fingernails, it is still painful after a while. sobz... Only manage to complete 3/4 of the area on the 34th floor..

Lunch time!!! We all went to the Japanese restuarant at Concourse for our final lunch. I was very hungry... ordered a saba fish set. Nice.. :D My stomach is fulled and satisfied so now back to work! I have to engage Andrea, Sookiat and David's help to finish the job after lunch. If not, I definitely cannot complete it by the end of the day. We were busy taking the keys out, cutting and pasting. At around 4 plus, we are finally done. Phew.... It's definitely a good exercise for me! I can feel my legs aching now... hopefully I still have energy to look after the kids at the chalet tomorrow. :p

Our office's Auntie will not be continuing her service with us when we relocate to Tuas... so today is also the last day I'll see her... I missed her too.. She has been a loving and caring person. Being a cleaner is not an easy job... I can truly understand because my mother has been a cleaner for all her life. I wish her good health and have a blissful life ahead.

Before I leave the office, I had a final look at my cubicle.. New cubicle is awaiting me.. but I am not at all excited.. Sighz.. As I took my usual path to and fro from work, I took an extra look at the surroundings. It's going to be a very different look and feel when I go to Tuas... no high rise buildings, lesser cars, fewer crowds... Bye Bye Concourse.

~ Meet & Greet ~

Christmas is around the corner and there are a couple of "Meet & Greet" sessions for the kids in the shopping malls. We have 2 shows to catch this week.

o O o Saturday o O o

Headed for one of Denver's favourite show - Ben 10 Meet & Greet session at Takashimaya. We were there slightly early and took some pictures with the Big Christmas tree. The show was scheduled to start at 1pm and we reached the atrium at 12 noon. There is a toy fair and it is a good opportunity for us to start sourcing for Christmas presents for the kids too. 1225pm - the queue started to form and we joined in so that we are eligible to take photos with the characters as well as the quiz session.



Generally, the questions are not easy if you are not a die-hard Ben 10 fan. Denver is too young and so he happily join in the crowd shouting and raising his hand not even knowing what is expected of him when the host picked him to answer a question. :p For every character, there is a question and answer session where prizes will be given out followed by photo taking. I only managed to persuad Denver to take a picture of him with Ben.. He simply refused to go to the stage to have his pictures taken with Four Arm and Wild Mutt. Sighz... kinda wasted..



After the session, we bought some Christmas presents and headed home to rest. Initially, we planned to go for the Pokemon show @ 7pm.. However, as we had an unexpected long, late dinner, hence the plan is re-scheduled to Sunday.

o O o Sunday o O o

Hubby took Denver for his 3rd swimming lesson while I rested at home. It's so quiet and Gladys definitely had a longer nap. After our lunch, we took Denver to Rivervale Mall for Pokemon Meet & Greet session which is showing at 1pm. Pokemon and Meow are the highlights of the show and this time round parents will need to have a minimum purchase of $20 to be eligible for photo taking with the Pokemon characters. Based on yesterday's experience, we are very certain that Denver is not keen and true enough he did not show any interest at all. Ah well.. that save us $20...



Had a nice, short nap but I was awaken by the sound of thunder! Rain starts to pour.. still we droved out to Bishan Junction 8 for dinner as hubby promised Denver to bring him there to play the arcade games in Virtualand. We played some games and spent quite a some of money and time there.



There goes my weekend... It's Monday!

~ Medical Review ~

Yesterday's night teleconference started and ended rather late... When my phone alarm started to ring, I did not really feel like waking up and had a sudden urge to work from home. However, I got to go for my medical review @ suntec and thus have to force myself to wash up and to go office.

It's a busy morning.... I tried to clear my stuff before I left for my appointment which is scheduled at 11am. It is a long wait at the clinic.... there are always so many people looking for Dr Fung. I sat quietly at a corner, reading my medical report while waiting. As expected, my cholestral readings are on the high side... However, there are also abnormal readings on my urine test with rather high white blood cells count.

Doctor called me in to wait in her room.. that's another 5 mins wait before she came in. With regards to my cholestral level, I was adviced to reduce my weight, do regular exercise and cut down on oily, fatty, fried food. The other abnormalities stated in my report is there are fungus and bacteria in my urine test. I asked what was the caused and she explains that this is due to high sugar and carbo. I would have to cut down on sweet stuff and intake less carbo like rice, flour, noodles. She also puts me on a 3 days medication for this. I headed for lunch at the basement food court after I collected the medicine. Looked around and had no idea what to eat... especially after my medical review... It's going to be noon time and I better order something before the crowd comes in. After making one round, I finally decided to eat Japanese's fish, vege rice set.

Had a little walk around Suntec, bought a set of single fitted bedsheet which cost me $10.35 and I took a bus back to Concourse. 1240pm... Tired.. I filled up my cup with warm water and took the medicine... It was alright before I realised the wordings on the box..毒藥... Hmmmmm..

Was so excited that I show the box to Andrea, SiewHuan, Soo kiat and Kealvyn... Most of them were so amazed except for Kealvyn... I have not show hubby yet... maybe tomorrow... but I seriously don't think he will be amazed too..:p

~ Dry run to Tuas ~

545am - Rinnnngggggg. Woke up to a very cold, windy, rainy morning. Today it's the day we have our dry try to Tuas from our home before the official move on 26th Nov. However, I guess it is going to be a 'wet' run instead..

630am - All ready and set to go... We send Denver and Gladys to my bro-in-laws place first.

640am - Hubby drove me to Yio Chu Kang MRT.

655am - Arrived at the station and got on the train. I believe I am rather early and there are many empty seats. It's been many years since I last took the North South bound train. I used to take it often to go to Kranji during my University attachment at the Singapore Turf Club. Got the chance to see the horses, trainers, chiller rooms, computer rooms, control station, ticketing area and even the VIP rooms where you can get a bird's eye view at the whole race course! Those were the days.. how times flies..

735am - Arrived at Jurong East station. Hmmm.. hungry.. I did not have my breakfast in the morning. Since I am still early, I bought myself a Big bun to eat.. :) Manage to meet up with Nicole, Cat and the others as we make our way to the bus pickup point.

820am - There are so many buses gathering along the road busy picking up the people to their respective work place. Like Creative, Hitachi etc. Our company bus was suppose to arrive at 810am. It was late by 10 mins..probably due to the heavy rain and morning peak hours.

850am - Finally, we reached the Tuas plant. Some of us were hungry.. and quickly headed towards the canteen. There are free coffee, tea, milo and toast! I had a second serving of my breakfast with a cup of milo and toast with kaya... :) I guess my bun has already digested along with the bus ride to the plant..

910am - Meeting starts....

1205pm - Break for lunch. We headed to the canteen for our free lunch.. There are rice, western food and noodles to choose from. I wanted to try the western food.. but was told that we have to wait for another 20mins... :( I queued for the chinese food instead.. had rice with fish and vege, salad, 1 drink and watermelon. Supposed to cost me only $2! I guess I can save up on my future meals... since it is subsidized.

110pm - Safety tour around Tuas to see where are the muster (assembly) points in case of emergency.

130pm - Headed back to Concourse. Woke up early in the morning and after a heavy lunch, most of us were very tired and slept on our journey back.

230pm - Back in Concourse office and starts to work!

505pm - Going home! YEAH!!!

~ 累 ~

It has been an exhausting weekend... Gladys had a high fever on Saturday night... It's a good thing I discover it early when I felt that her hands are extremely cold. I knew something was wrong and true enough she is running a temperature. I quickly ask hubby to feed her medicine and for the whole night and morning, I have been carrying her in my arms. She felt like a fire ball! So Hot! I am feeling the heat too.... I did not have a good night rest as I have to monitor her temperature just to make sure her fever does not go too high..As she has been coughing and vomitting, I carried her to the living room to rest instead.

Whenever I try to lie her down on the mattress, she will cry. When I try to sponge her with a wet cloth, she will also cries.. Both of us could not sleep well.. 1am...2am...3am...tick tick tick... I think for some moments I knock out for a couple of minutes... 4am...5am...6am... She finally goes to sleep for awhile... It's morning.. and I am totally exhausted.. Hubby took Denver for swimming lesson at 8 plus... I am left home alone with Gladys to continue sleeping....but not for long. She woke up at 930am.. where I start to feed her porridge... The rest of the day continues with most of the time carrying and playing with her... By noon, I could no longer take it.. especially after my lunch. I have to ask hubby to look after them instead while I try to catch a couple of minutes rest...

Gladys is better today... still coughing though. Personally I have not recover from my cough too. This week is going to be hectic.. There are meetings, dry run in Tuas on Wednesday, work issues to settle and night teleconferences. Sighz..

Going to catch my beauty sleep now...

~ Dinner & Dance ~

Tonight is my company's annual Dinner & Dance... sad to say Gladys and Denver are sick. Gladys' cough got worse and Denver is also having a running nose. We took them to see the doctor in the morning and he advice us it is nothing serious and prescribe them medicine.

Gladys being at a younger age is harder to manage.. she will starts to cough and eventually vomit her phelgm together with the milk or porridge.. We had to clean up the mess... but that's alright as long as she get wells soon. She vomitted a couple of times and it is indeed worrying. Still, I have to leave the kids with my inlaws while my hubby and I attend the Dinner and Dance event.

This is my 3rd year with MSD and first time attending the D&D. Last year I was on maternity leave and hence I missed the event. Who knows if this will be my last chance too? I will just have to set my mind and heart at peace and enjoy as much as I can.

We reached Pan Pacific rather early (around 630pm) and it is already difficult to find a parking lot nearer to the escalator. We managed to park somewhere not too far off. It was however not so lucky for my other colleagues who arrived late as they had a harder time even to find a lot.

Hubby and I had 車載面 at the Marina food court because we were hungry already. Our stomachs will go on strike if we were to wait to eat at 8pm.. We arrived at the ballroom at 7pm and collected our door gift. Zen Stone and earphone.. Wooooo

This year's DnD theme is Survival.. A lot of people dressed themselves up with either survival or tribal look. There are free airbrush tatoos and photo shoots. My hubby and I also took picture with a snake.

The dinner started on time at 745pm sharp and the show were entertaining. We had a table game and the goal is to build the tallest tower with straws. We managed to have a standing tower but too bad not tall enough to win a prize... but that's okay. :D

First round of lucky draw started at around 9 plus... Hubby and I decided to leave after this as we have to send our kids home.. I was telling him I would not get so lucky to strike a prize. I was hoping that they draw my number first (in any case I can't stay on for the final draw) and lucky me.. my number was picked! 1025! Yiiipeee!!!! I got a $50 Takashimaya voucher... can save this up to buy Christmas presents.

10pm - we decided to leave.. Had a good time and now I am eager to see how the kids are doing. I hope they did not cause too much trouble...Denver is still awake when we reached my bro-in-law's place at 1035pm. Gladys was asleep... but I heard from my father in law that she has again vomitted out some of her phelgm and just managed to sleep at 10pm... :( Poor Gladys. I can only hope she has a good night rest and gets well soon.


It has been an eventful night with prize, gifts and photos taken with hubby.. Tired... Time to sleep.

~ Gladys @ 13th months ~

It's Deepavali... Holiday... No work... it should be a relaxing, happy day... However I don't feel the holiday mood at all. Awaken by Gladys at around 7 plus.. It is just like another day to me.. Feed, bath, do housework... The good thing is I finished my weekly mop and chores and can have more rest on Saturday. :)

Gladys is acting like a "fireball"... Her temper is getting really bad (worse than her brother).. whenever we say "No" to her.. she'll cries very loudly and her tears will starts to fall like rain. She does not gives in easily too.. Even though she is still a 13 months baby, she has great strength and may not lose out in a snatching game with a 2 years old boy. Yup! My mil is helping to look after a 2 years old boy and many times I got feedback that Gladys can really 'protect' her stuff well and does not lose out in grabbing stuff. Amazing huh!

It is also a challenge to put her to bed lately because of her fussy temper.. Things that she does not like or wish to do, she will shake her head. (getting clever huh).. It is time to start teaching her some manners before she goes out of bounds! I wonder if it is really true when people say the cleverer the children, the naughtier they will be... ???

~ Flor Lee's Birthday + Farewell Tea Party ~

Yesterday was Florence's 30th birthday.. :) so we had a belated birthday lunch with her at Coral today. The theme is to wear Pink.. and most of us did. (urmm.. except that there are some tiny arguments over the judgement of colour as some looks purple and some looks orange :p).. Anyway, we had a wonderful lunch! I couldn't really enjoy the event as I lost my voice and really sound very bad when I start to talk.. (So I was quiet and kept myself busy eating). Andrea managed to get a box of salad (Florence's favourite) as her Birthday 'cake'... hahaha.. Of course, we can't miss out the Birthday card which everyone has signed on.

Later in the afternoon, we had another mini Farewell Fruit party at one of our meeting rooms. Half of the helpdesk analysts will start working in Tuas next Monday and Florence's team will also be moving down to the 13th floor... it will be very difficult for us to gather like this again.. :(

Even though it's a mini event, there are quite a range of stuff like grapes, papaya, pear, jelly, biscuits etc... As this coming Saturday is the company's dinner & dance, we also took this opportunity to gather and share the accessories to wear for this year's DnD theme.. (Survivor & Tribal). I have not decided what to wear and match yet.. But I did grab some braclets and a necklace.. :)

Looking forward to this weekend.. Hope I'll be lucky and win a prize :D

~ Denver's First Swimming Lesson ~

We always wanted to let Denver learn swimming. It is a healthy sport and life saving skill. Plus, Denver had slight asthma when he was very young and we hope swimming will improves his health. A month ago, we saw a leaflet on swimming classes for children age between 3 to 5 years in a small group (max 5). After some discussion, we finally enrolled Denver to swimming lesson for $70 per month (Free goggles and swimming cap).

Today is Denver's first swimming lesson at the Hougang Swimming complex. We reached the poolside early (around 9am before the agreed meeting time @ 920am). Denver was really impatient and can't wait to get into the pool. We waited for awhile before his teacher, Jason came.

There were altogether 4 children in his class. He seems to be the tallest and heaviest among them. The instructor told us to watch at a distance so that the children will not be distracted during lessons. Initially, I was worried for awhile wondering if Denver will be scared or panic. He is timid by nature. My worries seems to be uncalled for when I saw how much he enjoyed himself in the water. This is a good sign and I really looking forward to seeing him swimming soon.

They started with some basic mouth and nose breathing techniques in the shallow pool. Holding their breath in the water, kicking their legs and hanging on to the floating board. One of the child was crying as he was shivering and scared. It is important that the parents do not rush towards the child at this moment and let the instructor manages the situation. Everything seems to be under control and the lesson continues.

Denver did quite a good job at holding his breath in the water (more than 5 seconds).. I can see from afar that his teacher praises him.. He could not kick very well with his legs but he floats pretty good on the board. After practising for awhile, they headed towards the medium pool.

The instructor took turns to hold on to each of them on the floating board while they kick their legs. Well done everyone! The hour lesson ended very soon.. Time flies so fast even just looking at them learning... Denver was very happy and hungry! Daddy and Mummy are hungry too because we did not have our breakfast..

To reward Denver for his good behaviour and performance at the pool, we took him for a nice 'lunch' at KFC! Hubby also signed up as the KFC Chicky Club member at $10.20... We got a free bag, water bottle, electronic pet game and a magazine. There is also a 10% off future purchases. It's quite a good deal consider the fact that we are frequent 'eaters' of KFC.

It's a tiring morning, even though hubby and I were not in the water.. All of us took an afternoon nap when we reached home... Zzzz. Denver is really looking forward for his swimming lesson next week. :D

~ Denver's Art Works at Nativity ~

It has been a tiring week! A lot of work... I have been busy with the project plan, a couple of late nights for the presentation slides and managing other issues at work. Yesterday had a late teleconference till midnight where I gave a half an hour presentation to the Infosec team in the US. Unfortunately, Gladys had fever that night.. :( I requested to leave the team meeting earlier to attend to Gladys... if not, I would have stay on longer (probably till 1am). Did not have a good night sleep cos I have to constantly check Gladys' temperature in the middle of the night... Her fever rise to over 38 degrees at 230am... :( Had to ask Hubby to wake up and help me feed her medicine as I was too tired to get out of bed.

Woke up at 6am as usual... but my head is spinning. Gladys is still running a temperature and the medicine she is taking now is expiring... Hubby and I decided to bring her to the clinic later. Hence, I self proclaim to work from home today.. After the morning teleconference with my manager, we brought Gladys and Denver to the clinic.

The doctor says Gladys just caught a cold and it is nothing serious. After collecting the medicine, we dropped by Denver's Nursery school.. There is an art exhibit this morning displaying the art works the children did in school.. Initially, we did not have the intention to go because we did not plan to take leave for this... Since, we are along the way to head home, we might as well drop by and have a look. It will make Denver very happy too..

When we reached, there are not many kids and parents in the school.. Not too sure if it's because the parents did not take leave due to a working day or if it's because we arrived later than usual. When we enter Denver's classroom (Purity A), we were greeted by Mrs Wee and 萧老师。They are Denver's English and Chinese teachers and he likes them. :) Mrs Wee told Denver he just missed Russell. Russell is Denver's good friend and he had waited for Denver to come but did not manage to see him. :p

We tour around the classroom, looked at the art works and took some pictures. Mrs Wee explains that all the art works were done by the children themselves. Inculding colouring, cutting, sticking etc.. So proud of them! We can't really stay too long to see all the other works as Gladys need to go home and rest..and I got to work. Shortly after we left, Hubby says we should have took a picture of Denver with his teachers.. Oh yar.. we forgotten. Will try to do so next time if we got the chance...

Tired.. eyes are closing.. need to sleep.. that's all for today.