10 Yrs 1 Mth

10 Yrs 1 Mth

The days following Huaihao’s birthday are Lego days. occupied mostly with Lego creations and more Lego creations. Of late, the creations took the form of a 2-in-1 and surprise with detachable minis which could take off on their own. For a while, there were also creations that could be worn on the wrist, pretty much like a bracelet.

And Huaihao made me one, which is yellow and grey, and I m loving how Lego trains his aesthetics as well when it comes to pairing.

On Davina’s birthday, we headed to get her presents, and this is Huaihao’s idea no less. He said Davina or ah shan jiejie did so many things for him. He demanded that we get her a plushie and nothing practical—however i suggested. Because plushies, would made davina go soft at the knees. He even made her a card and chose a bubble tea plushie because davina always bought them bubble teas, even if he did not drink them. So we did according to plan and wrapped the present in the taxi, before gifting it to her personally.

We continued to toss and make good food (and fun) as much as we can during the 15 days of CNY, and Huaihao always massaged ah mei ah yi.

Before long, Qinzhi’s birthday is here and Huaihao bought her a pencil sharpener, which is what she needed and wrote her a card and handed it to Qinzhi on her birthday morning, much to her surprise actually.

We headed for a short walk before the kids had shake shack at jewel and prepared for a long awaited dinner at Summer Pavilion.

And Huaihao is such a foodie!

Of late, Huaihao has been practising chinese spelling fervently and track and field is on track for him every mon and wednesday, i love how tan and tone he looks.

Love you to the moon and back!

Going on to 14 Years

Going on to 14 Years

I love Qinzhi’s smile. I love Qinzhi having good food and smiling. It makes me feel accomplished somewhat.

And so CNY celebrations came and went. The three of us did what we could cleaning the house and had lots of fun with snacking and pigging out during CNY.

And on the first day of CNY, Qinzhi and Huaihao did the customary greeting to all elders in the family and snagged lots of ang pows

There’s the customary yusheng toss too.

One day Qinzhi came home crying. I asked her what it was that made her so sad and she said she has been placed out of competition and put on reserve because she ran behind time during a running practice session due to muscle ache. She cried because she felt it was unfair. I listened to took to explaining to her my perspective-of asking her to, instead think of herself as a victim and being at the passive end, to take initiative to train herself up to the best of her ability to render herself competitive—–if, she really wanted to be in the run so badly.

I asked Qinzhi to think about the things she could do and to do them to place herself in competition again. And this girl, took to it. Why wouldn’t she? She is my girl and has that never give up spirit.

Davina shared this photo of qinzhi when she was about 2ish 3? And so much time has flown by. The 51cm long baby whom I gave birth to, and taught me how to be mommy, how to stand up to be honest towards myself, gave me strength when all was hard. Gave me hugs and made me a better person—is now 14 years old.

On the day of Qinzhi’s chinese birthday, popo reminded me to cook Qinzhi mee sua and have her peel 2 hard boiled eggs and daddy bought Qinzhi a lovely strawberry tart. We sang Qinzhi the birthday song and celebrated her.

I always have these 2 pictures of Qinzhi on my desktop

This is Qinzhi in a COS fitting room looking so super awesome. Her signature smile and full face, this dearie has been reading me so much I feel like she knows me better than I know myself now.

And I had to include this photo of Qinzhi at maybe 3 or 4?

On Qinzhi’s birthday, Huaihao presented his present and card to Qinzhi and daddy too. got Qinzhi a brand new iPhone! much to everyone’s surprise. we got ourselves up to a short walk and headed to Jewel for Shake Shack and ice cream.

Dinner was the highlight and on everyone’s mind. Thankfully we got a table at Summer Pavilion, which is what Qinzhi wanted. Chef pampered us silly with all his off menu treats

Happy birthday Princess. Chef Kong reminded me this a few years back,

養兒一百歲 長憂九十九!儿孙自有儿孙福
我們都應該
“平常心,活在當下”

You have come a long way Princess, and there must be a reason why we have all experienced what we experienced. Even if they do not seem to fall in place now. But know that You are so loved, so blessed. And you are a beautiful powerful being. We celebrate you Princess and all of your wins and falls and everything in between. Continue to shine and smile the way you do.

We all know what we want

We all know what we want

I had a bedtime chat with HuaiHao and it’s so precious and enlightening all at once

He commented that I was tired mentally. I asked him why and he said, “ maybe you over did the job search”

Indeed, I was feeling tired and drowsy and I had a pain in my left shin. Dull aching one nagging at me

Why is my body trying to say to me? I asked.

Earlier on I had home for an interview, and I guess there were parts of me not being truthful with myself. I was trying to suppress some parts and that surfaced.

I didn’t really want some things in that job chat session and I wasn’t speaking my truth. I tried to suppress the feelings of dislike and make myself – no force myself to it in desperation to get myself out of the house

HuaiHao rightfully spotted my tired. I told him I was kind of frustrated because I have t got any headway as I went about sending out job applications

To which he said, “ then that’s because they are not yours.”

He made it sound like I should be happy.

And actually his sense of knowing is so great he put me to shame

He made me know that I got to acknowledge my feelings rather than suppress them in my frenzy to escape and get out

And HuaiHao stopped me and asked me – so what do I want

“I don’t really want to go back to full time”

“Yes I think you will feel very tired”

“I think something which allows me to do something I like, spend some time out of the house , expressing myself and my experiences, and if it can help others and is meaningful that will be very nice. Because I want to be home for you and jiejie, even if I don’t cook very well, I want to give you good food. I want to be the first one to share your joy if you get 100 marks for ting xie and spelling!”

And HuaiHao got me my answer.

He said that even heading to curate programs for wellness isn’t really me.

So I asked him what is me.

And he says, “ like what ah Mei ah yi does. Reviewing something upon receiving. That is what.”

And yes. Being an editor a journalist is what suits me best. And

I knew it.

Thank you HuaiHao!

And precious Qinzhi sent me this