Another Creation of [ermmm....] too much Liberty

With Uncle David completing his last call for the year and perhaps his career and Auntie CC done with teaching, there was much time for them to do the above. I must say Sarah looks super duper cute in both [mommy beaming with pride]. Keep your votes coming in:)

Disclaimer: Dear Youths, lest you all think we in Youth Com are very free....haha. We are not:) Always time for some fun and laughter.

Cast Your Vote: Little White Lamb or Oatmeal Bear

Sarah's mommy would like to buy one of the following baby costumes for Sarah. Some say Sarah's momma is crazy to stuff Sarah in a costume, but momma is crazily excited about it. So cast your votes and Dada will buy it from US. Feel free to join us for an outdoor location shoot in the chosen outfit.

Vote 1: Little White Lamb

Vote 2: Oatmeal Bear

Lock in your votes today. In any case, Momma might totally ignore majority vote and go with her preference. Hahaha.

Momma, where is Dada going?

[looking dejected -pity this shot wasnt clear]

Sarah: Momma, where is Dada going? Why is he leaving us?

Momma: Dada is going to a far away place for a big meeting.

Sarah: I wanna go! Momma, can't we go?

Momma: [sigh] We would love to...but Momma is starting work on Monday and you would probably wail your lungs out for 13 hours. Next time...ok?

WE LOVE U DADDY! COME BACK SOON!

I am Six Months Old

Dear Uncles and Aunties, I am a big girl now. I now have 2 teeth, can sit up all by myself, wave my hand to say goodbye and laugh at funny things. Of course, what is exciting is being able to eat food like Daddy and Mommy. Rice cereal sure is tasteless but I like it because that is all the solid food mommy allows me to have. Mommy loves to open her mouth at me nowadays because she is trying real hard to teach me to call her. It is funny watching her do that - I shall let her do that more before I blurt out my first word. Anyway, it won't be long before I start walking and running - all the way to my 1st birthday. Daddy, if you are reading this, mommy misses you very much and me too.

A Creation of Liberty

A special thank you to Auntie Chiao Chyi for doing up something special for Sarah and her Daddy. It is really nice to see Auntie CC 'regain' the freedom to pursue her hobbies yet again. So to Auntie Chiao Chyi - Welcome to parenting and goodbye to marking:) Hmm...both seems as stressful if not the former more - but then again, it is definitely more fulfilling.

Another 1st - The Sprouting of Teeth

True to Sarah's 'Fast Bloomer' title - Sarah is teething and her lower 2 teeth has sprouted out of her gums. This was discovered by Daddy. Mommy was oblivious to her growing teeth. At least by Christmas, Sarah would have her 2 teeth:)

Sarah's 1st Trip to FTPSS

Mommy finally brought Sarah to school - to return exam papers as well as to say hi to her mommy's colleagues.

1st stop is Uncle Loganathan. Sarah was all smiles as Uncle Logan acted silly and amused her. We will miss Uncle Logan and his family as they move to Brisbane in search of a less hectic life.

That's Sarah with Auntie Audrey [HOD Humanities] & Mdm Aini [Principal]. Still smiling:)

Sarah and the lovely jie jies from the PCCG Department- Jie Jie Haymini, Jie Jie Sylvia, Jie Jie Yaling

After 1.5 hours of fun and meeting new faces, Sarah started to grow tired. Check out her sleepy eyes. That's Sarah with Mrs Liu [Full time School Counselor - former HOD PCCG]

Finally, Sarah with mommy's friends of yore - Uncle Muthu and Uncle Azlan from the now defunct USSS. I must say, Sarah was really well behaved and did not make things difficult for mommy as she shuttled to and from school. Mommy is really proud of her. Well, it won't be long now before mommy's no paid leave expires and mommy returns to work.

Hmm....where's mommy's pal and crystal jade eating partner?

There she is! Just after her C-Section at TMC. [haha...she is going to scold me for posting this pic]

And baby Timothy. He is a strong boy though premature. Thank God for keeping mommy and baby well.

Sarah and the Bumbo Seat

Auntie Lena [Kai wah's mommy] was so kind to lend Sarah the Bumbo Seat, an Award Winning Seat for infants. But in less than a week, the Bumbo is placed back into the box cos Sarah is officially potty trained. What's the connection between Bumbo and Potty training, you may ask? You see - for 3 times in a row, whenever Sarah is placed on the bumbo, after about 10 mins, she makes some grunting noise - the same noise she makes when mommy tries to make her poo in her potty. Mommy refused to believe it but for 3 consecutive times in a row, Sarah dirtied her diapers. She thought that the Bumbo was a potty. So the good news is Sarah is potty trained. The bad news was that mommy had to clean her up 3 times to learn her lesson. Convinced, the Bumbo went back into the box, Perhaps, her unborn cousin Naomi would find better use of it.

Relaxing with Sarah & family

On 2 different occasions, we spent some nice quiet morning relaxing at a spot south of Singapore with family.

Morning stroll with Ah Gong and Ah Ma.

More poses with Sarah. Ahma use to call mommy crazy for snapping everywhere and anywhere. But once she started seeing the beautiful photos, she 'changed her mind'. Now Ahma happily poses for the camera cos she likes to take pictures with her grand daughter. The following are pictures of family in their real element:

Ah Gong reading his morning papers.

Ah ma feeding Sarah.

Duayi taking pictures of her cute cute

Uncle Henry and Duayi squashing up Sarah for the 101th time.
Grandma feeding Sarah.

Grandma & Grandpa posing with their granddaugther

Guess who we met? Dr Chua - Sarah's most intellectual friend. Haha

That's Sarah in a high chair.

Crossroad in Life

This past week and weekend has been a quite intense and it will continue to be as I sort out my priorities. I am definitely not even halfway done. What is God's purpose for me at this point in my life? Has it changed? If so, what does it mean? Priorities as a child of God, a wife, a mother, a daughter are top on my list. Sorting out some resolutions, committing to the Lord and asking Him to bring them to pass based on the above priorities takes up about 3/4 of my time. - In addition, the aspects of work and ministry that needs to be committed by means of reading and praying [during those in between times when Sarah is asleep or away with her grandparents. Where is the Lord leading me in my ministry at work? - To continue in school or to move out. Where is the Lord leading me in my ministry in church? - I enjoy to serve in many areas, from publicity, to singing, to youth, to children to ladies but priorities means that some of these have to be put aside. Many thoughts and much discipline.

I am very thankful to have a husband who loves and seeks God to lead and direct my thoughts in this area - like a shepherd leading a blind sheep. Do pray for me as I seek the Lord and desire to enjoy peace and confidence, knowing that I am in the centre God's will.

A little nice getaway at a nice part of Singapore

Teaching Refresh?!?

Much thoughts...much thoughts. As I was trying to sort out my priorities, an email came from MOE asking me if I would be available to speak to Humanities and Arts NTU students to inspire them towards teaching and in particular, to take up MOE Teaching Award. I usually decline such engagements cos it would mean preparation and more preparation. But this time, I decided to take it up.

Prying myself away from home, husband, baby and driving 30 km to the West End of Singapore at 6:30 pm really made me want to bang my head for agreeing to speak. What made it worse was that I lost my way, I think I circled around the huge campus for close to 15 mins to find the carpark nearest to Lecture Theatre 1. Double sigh...

Facing the students in Lecture Theatre 1, I had the impression that NTU students were very obedient and law abiding. I actually felt sorry for them that they had to stay around after lecture to hear us talk. My turn to speak soon came after the MOE personnel had briefed the students on the details of the scholarship. As I shared, much memories of teaching returned - the idealism and the reality, the disappointments and the joys, the passion and the drive. That sharing returned me back to those 1st few years of teaching when teaching was really no holds barred. It was just 'God and I'. There were so many incidents that I had to rely on God's wisdom and Daniel's timely advice - when 'R' brought a kitchen knife to school, when 'L' laid on the table after a panadol overdose, when I realized 'M's' absence from remedials and enrichment courses after class were due to daily threats from a gang member. After all these years, I am positive that I am called to teach. That I have not forgotten. But perhaps what I needed to be reminded of is why I am called to teach.

I left the lecture theatre that night, with renewed perspectives and new friends. There were sparkles in the NTU students' eyes as we spoke to one another. It was wonderful to see fresh, unadulterated passion and drive. I was glad that they appreciated the talk as much as I appreciated interacting with them. I think I can see some great teachers in the making.

Of course, some things never change - I circled around for another 15 minutes finding my way to the correct exit before heading home towards the East. More thoughts...more thoughts.

Updates

Quite a lot of events went by over the 2 weeks of my blog absence. In the midst of all these things, there were a lot of thoughts, reflections and questions going through my mind - perhaps as the day arrives for me to return back to work, the greater the need for me to sort out my priorities in life and what God intends for me. Well...till the next entry. In the meantime, photo updates.

Lunch with Van. A nice time of catching up and talking and eating and talking and eating...

Wedding Rehearsal of Pui Shung and Angelyn. In truth, one word to summarize this wedding - FINALLY. Just thinking back of friendships between Angelyn and Pui Shung...it really dates long time back, especially with Pui Shung. I am just really happy for them and I pray that they would strive to put God in the centre of everything they do.

Farewell to Gail who left for Cambridge to study Medicine. Brilliant young lady...sigh, only started to get to know her a little better just before she left.

The Wedding

My dearest husband and dearest cute cute:)

Ah-Yis posing elegantly

Ah-Yis not posing elegantly [kinda like these alternative shots]

5 months old

In almost a blink of the eye, Sarah is 5 months old. It still amazes me all the time - God takes good care of His children - especially the little ones. I always tell Daniel that I still find it amazing that we have a beautiful and healthy daughter and she is growing fast everyday. Indeed, she has been a blessing.