Pokemon the journeys

can only watch on Netflix 😭

Turning tables 2015

As we bid goodbye to 2014 and usher in the new year, I am lying on this uncomfortable couch in ward 86 of KK Hospital, thinking about my family and how we are forced to spend the last day of the year in separate locations.

While Chloe is sleeping on her own bed in the same room which makes it easier to check on her well-being. i can't help but wonder if the rest of my family members are fine.

Is Boo asleep? Is Mathieson sleeping on his own cot or enjoying my vacated space of my very own comfy king-sized mattress next to his mommy?

Then my thoughts began to wonder if my dad is fine, sleeping on another hospital bed in another hospital wars after a routine medical checkup today at KTPH ended up with the doctors suggesting that he be admitted as well for further diagnostics and observations. 

My mum, Chloe's grandma, had been so worried about Chloe's operation and my reassurances over the phone offered little relief as she had to ensure that my dad was fully warded and taken care of.

So it is with a cruel twist of fate that the whole family had to spend the new year in 4 separate locations and the reason why I'm here still awake and writing this post. 

I witnessed the frailties of life can pass us by when I carried Chloe into the operating theatre and watched on as the medical staff injected the GA into her body.

I recalled how I was administered with GA years ago and the anesthetist told me that his cocktail will knock me out before  I count to 10. That time, i tried counting to 10 and I don't remember if I managed to count to 10 before I was knocked out.

This morning, as the potent concoction was injected into my daughter, I told Chloe the same thing, "Count to 10, Chloe."

"1, 2, 3, ...10" when U finished at 10, Chloe's eyes were still wide open. Another 5 more seconds must have passed by and not before she reached out her hands and attempted to hug me while I lowered my head and kissed her on her forehead as her eyes rolled and she drifted off to sleep.

I watched helplessly as she loses conscious and that moment felt terrible. I'd been a veteran of operations. My mum went through numerous operations and i had went through 2 myself, one of them under GA. My dad, well, let's just put it that he went through a few as well but none of them more important than the one earlier this year after his stroke.

Despite all my credentials, nothing prepared me for the morning as I watched my very own flesh and blood drifted off to sleep. There are risks with any operations, major or minor. Some have been known to suffer from allergic reaction to the GA. The MacGyver in me knows a little of too much of anything and had never mentioned this risk to my noobie wife. It's like on of those moments when someone entrusted you with their bets to buy 4D and you forgot to buy it. The only thing to do is to pray that the numbers do not strike first prize.

The other significant emotion I felt this morning and throughout the day was how the parents must have worried over us as much as we worry over our child.

As a child growing up, I'd visited my mom on several occasions as she went under the knife. Even for my dad, i had to make the executive decision to put him under the knife to save him earlier this year. Even though I don't need to make a decision for my mum due to my young age back then, it certainly wasn't easy making the decision on behalf of my dad too. For Chloe, the decision was easy, but the guilt trip was higher. Too many "what-ifs" rushed into one's head at the very moment the operating staff thanked me and led me away, i had promised Chloe I'll be there for her during her hospital stay. There's nothing i can do now for her except to place her under the care of the team of doctors i have selected (well we did select the Prof and had to pay either B1 or A-class ward as a result and the Prof is the one who will assemble his team.)

Such is the frailties of life. At any moment, life throws us a curveball or lemons. Whether it is a curveball or lemons, we need to deal with it and hit the ball or make lemonades.

Even though my family is torn apart during this new year, i have no doubt that our bonds will be stronger after this. 

Happy new year to everyone. 

Day 4 without Mommy

Today, both children woke up later than daddy, who had woked up earlier at around 6:45am. Daddy went to take it the laundry that was put out to dry. At around 7:10, little Chloe crept out of bed and looked for her daddy at the backyard.

All 3 of us had milk, changed and was on our way to 阿婆's place. 

After dropping Mathieson, Chloe and daddy went to the nearest place we could find to have kaya toast bread. Chloe repeatedly requested for butter in her bread.

As a result of a hearty breakfast, Chloe was late for school and missed the morning playground.

Daddy also bought Chloe and Esther a treat of the limited edition Morinaga Mickey and Minnie Cheese Cake Flavored Cream Biscuit.

It was raining very heavily when Daddy returned to the open air car park and daddy was determined to return home earlier with the kids.

Over the past few days, Mathieson and Chloe had not bathed at home. Their grandmother loved to bathe them and so they returned home all cleaned and ready to go to bed.

Mathieson will be the first to receive his formula milk and will be sent off to bed. Daddy had sent a message to Mommy by Whatsapp earlier but the status of the message was still unread, further indicating that Mommy is still asleep.

By the time Mathieson finished his milk, he was sent to his bed time. Chloe will have finished her fresh milk at the same time too.

With Mathieson no longer free to roam around the house, it was easier for Daddy to take his shower while Chloe gets to play with the toys.

After Daddy was done with his bath, do the dishes and bring out the laundry, Chloe and Daddy set up the Princess board game again to play. Tonight Chloe found 2 more princesses for tokens and she used Princess Belle and insisted that her Daddy used Princess Aurora.

Chloe won the game again but tonight, she was so gracious about winning that she wanted to share it with me. She insisted that I complete the game too and reach the finishing line even though her Belle had won by a mile!

When Daddy completed the last throw of the dice to send Aurora to the finishing line, a message popped out from his phone and Mommy was awake!

Chloe was delighted to see mommy and we told her about our games and how we missed her. Mommy showed us around her hotel room and what she will be having for breakfast.

The video chat was a lovely end to the day for Daddy and Chloe as we turned off the lights and drift off to sleep.

Day 2 Without Mommy

It's Day 2. The usual morning wake-up call from Mathieson started at 6:30am. Daddy had slept throughout the night instead of staying up to wash the clothes!

Breakfast was milk for Mathieson and a cake pop for Chloe.

Mathieson almost seem to learn how to do a "blowing kiss" action when he was at 阿婆's place but he did not do it again when saying goodbye to his daddy. Chloe was dropped off at 啊嘛's place with an additional box of Hello Kitty pretzel sticks, with specific instructions to her 啊嘛's that Chloe must take an afternoon nap before she is entitled to her snacks.

Daddy had a long day at work and returned to pick up Mathieson at 7:30pm. Mathieson had just woken up from his nap too and just finished his cup of milk.Together, both father and son went to pick up Chloe at 啊嘛's place. Chloe was just about to have her dinner.                                                                                    
啊嘛 told daddy that Chloe asked for her snack and was given before she actually napped, although the conditions set by 啊嘛 was that she must take her nap after snacking. Chloe offered to share her snacks with Esther too, 啊嘛 can also confirm that Chloe did sleep during the day.

At 8:30pm, we were about to leave when auntie Bee Lin came back with a small, round cake and we had no choice but to stay on until the cake cutting and singing were over.

Bed time story for both kids were read by her daddy. The books each of them chosen were either a book about cats or a book about dogs.

When Chloe was asked about tomorrow, she wanted to go to school. Therefore, tomorrow, Chloe will have to go to school first and only sent to 啊嘛's place after school.

Day 1 without Mommy/Wife

The Wife is sent to Roseville, CA for work, leaving behind her hubby, me, to take care of the 2 kids.

Here are the "incident" reports for Day 1.

Brought the kids to Ya Kun for breakfast of Kaya Toast, runny eggs and my cuppa of tea. Chloe was on the stroller and I struggled to release her from her seat while Mathieson roamed about. When I finally managed to free Chloe, I found Mathieson near the lift door!

Then it was off to Chloe's ballet lesson. Mathieson slept for about 20 minutes and joined me on my trip to the supermarket. We bought the things we needed but could not find additional mops or kids detergent.

After picking Chloe from her lesson, I asked her what she wanted and she said noodles. So I brought her to Sushi Tei and ordered udon for her, a simple katsu don for myself and a plate of salmon sashimi for Mathieson. Diners in the restaurant were amazed by how I could take care of 2 children on my own!

After lunch, I brought Chloe to the rest room and she insists of going in herself. I told her that as she had chose to enter the " Girl girl toilet", I cannot accompany her. She did took a while and I don't really know why. I stood outside the restroom with Mathieson in arm and shouted periodically into the room to ask her if she is done. Soon enough, some kind folks did offer to help her and she was out.

Next stop, Popular book store where Chloe found a Chloe Cow book. Unknown to Chloe, her father had already checked out the shelves while she was having her lessons. We got the book, made our purchase, but not before we read another book among those that Mathieson had ravaged from the other shelves.

Last but not least, we also bought freshly made barley from the herbal shop.

Once we got out of the shopping centre, we drove to the Lower and Upper Pierce Reservoir service roads to find the wild monkeys and we did see a few.

Finally, we were home. I bathed the kids and changed them, fed Mathieson a dose of milk and sent him off to bed. Read the Chloe Cow book to Chloe and sent her to bed too. As for myself, I dozed off and woke up at around 5:45pm and went to the kitchen to cook Mathieson a meal of broccoli and carrots.

Mathieson woke up at around 6:15pm. He had napped for almost 3 hours! Chloe woke up subsequently. I made a decision to bring the kids out for dinner (so I won't messed up the house.). We were off to Bukit Timah Shopping Centre where we ate the famous Hainanese Chicken Rice. I ordered an extra bowl of steamed white rice. Together, Chloe, Mathieson and myself, we finished 1 bowl of chicken rice and 1 bowl of steamed rice. Mathieson loved the combination of carrots and broccoli which I had prepared he was eating them out of his hands!

The feast for the Prince

Starting without us. "These vege-sticks tastes good. No oil/artificial flavorings added"

"Mathieson! Smile for the camera!" --- Huh?!?!

Daddy made these vegetables for me. I must eat more of it!

Daddy, may I have my strawberry ice-cream please?

"No! You will not be getting any today" 

Please, please please!

After dinner, Chloe asked for her regular dose of ice-cream. However, as we did not order the chicken rice in a kid's set meal, there were no ice-cream on the order. Then again, her dad had sighted an advertisement about a new ice-cream parlor in the same shopping centre. So daddy promised Chloe that he will bring her to another ice-cream place for a change.

After dinner, we roamed around the shopping centre and finally found the parlor. The usual food court we patronized for duck noodles had halved its usual size. In its place, the ice-cream parlor business was started.

Chloe knew instantly what she wanted. Strawberry ice-cream. But there was a kicker. The ice-cream parlor had its own version of the Strawberry ice-cream and named it Balsamic Strawberry.

"Chloe, why don't you try out the flavor first? We can test the flavor if we asked." I told Chloe. The store attendant took my hint and offered her a spoonful of the ice-cream. Chloe took it all and gave a "sour" look. Of course its sour! Balsamic! I tried to influence Chloe to choose another flavor but she refused. I ended up paying more for the "premium" Balsamic Strawberry ice-cream and Chloe was happily eating away.

5 minutes into her treat, Chloe started to cough a little. In the best interest of the child, I took another spoon and digged into the yuckiest ice-cream flavor I had tried in my entire life, just so that Chloe will not finish all the ice-cream on her own.

Finally, we went to the supermarket to get the mops, the children's laundry detergent and Mathieson's diapers which were running out.

We returned home at 9:15pm and the kids needed a bath, especially Mathieson since he was eating out of his hands. After our bath, I made Mathieson another cup of milk, made the children brushed their teeth, and sent everyone to bed at around 10pm.

I can sense that Chloe missed her mother but she does not understand the concept of weeks yet. She thought she will see her mommy in the next 1-2 days. Mathieson, on the other hand, would utter "ma.... ma...." if I should stop him from doing things that he usually does (especially when his ma.... ma... is around).

Anyway, its only Day 1 and we all miss you already. Come back home safely!

My Out-of-Office's message during Mathieson and Wife's Confinement

Thank you for your email.

I am away on confinement duties to be with my wife, who had safely delivered my my second child and only son on 16 May 2012.

During my time away from the office, I will be swopping business proposals, design, solutions and deployment documents to perfoming online searches with keywords such as "changing diapers for baby boys" and "preparing and helping my toddler for the arrival of a new baby brother".

A far cry from my OoF in 2009 when the arrival of my first born and daughter. Then, I was trading my online searches for Microsoft Whitepapers and KBs to Operational Manual for Newborn babies. This time round, I feel a need to acquire new and different skills. I may also need to un-learn a very useful skill which I have honed over the past 2 years, i.e. sleeping throughout the night while my daughter's crying. Then again, it depends.

Meanwhle, if you have tips on dealing with the birth of a second child, feel free to send them to me.

I will return to work on 18 June 2012, Monday.

During this time, I may have limited access to my email. Please expect delays in my response.

Thank you and best regards,

Johnson

Chloe's first day in school

Chloe reached another major milestone in her adolescent years. Today, she starts school. Tomorrow, she will go through the separation. I hope she does not exhibit much separation anxiety.

1) Chloe did not make a fuss when we told her to change from her PJ to her school uniform.

2) Her new school mate mistakenly called her "kor kor" (dialect for elder brother). Chloe have the shortest hairstyle in class. That made her looked like a boy and easily misunderstood.

3) Chloe is the tallest child in her class and she is not even the oldest.

4) Daddy: "If you want to go to the toilet, you must wear one of these slippers (some imitation croc shoes in ugly colours lined up along the wall leading into the toilets) so you won't get your socks wet or dirty."

Chloe: No! I have my own pink one. (Refering to her pink Croc shoes)

5) When the teachers told all the kids to line up to go to the playground, Chloe discovered that daddy had overstepped the boundary line and shouted "Daddy! Come back!" (Daddy was hiding behind a bush to take a picture of Chloe)

6) Chloe tried Mee Soto (also known as noodles in chicken soup) for the first time. Tomorrow, she will be having chicken rice.

7) The teachers asked all the children to line up behind one another and put their hands on the shoulders of the children in front. When a class mate tried to put both her hands on Chloe's shoulders from behind, Chloe shrugged them off with a couple of strong shoulder shrugs.

8) Chloe's teachers are Noa, who teaches in English, and Wang Jing, who teaches in Madarin.

9) At the end of class, Daddy asked Chloe if she enjoyed school. Chloe replied, "Yes! I like school!"

Chloe is potty trained!

After 3 days going without diapers, Chloe can now tell us whenever she needs to pee and poo as long as she is not in Toys R' Us.  I am so proud of my little girl!  She is now officially ready for nursery next year :)

Happy 3rd Anniversary to Mr and Mrs Tan

How quickly time flies. It has been 3 years since our wedding. Chloe has turned into a bubbly 2 year old. We celebrated our lunar wedding anniversary on Monday at Ristorante Bologna at Marina Mandarin and brought along our little pride and joy, our little Chloe.

3 More Days to Go!

The Tan Family will be spending 3 more nights in Singapore. On Thursday morning, they will be accompanied by Chloe's maternal grandparents on an early flight out of Singapore to Hong Kong!

The following awaits:
2 days of Hong Kong Disneyland and 1 day of Ocean Park
Loads and Loads of Wanton Noodles
Tsui Wah breakfasts and their Milky Creamy Buns
Polo Buns
North Point Gai Dan Jai
Tantalizing Japanese at Senryo
and many more!

Countdown: 30 days to go!

Today, the Tan family starts the 30-day countdown to a well-earned party for Chloe and Mommy in Hong Kong. Mommy and Daddy are hoping that Chloe will enjoy her stay at Hong Kong Disneyland.

A "Chicken Soup for the Soul" - Song for Thoughts 2

Here is another moment for a song for thought. Coincidentally, just like the previous "chicken soup", this song is performed by Eason Chan again.


The first time I heard the song was when I was watching the finals of One Million Star Season 7 when

If the first song, 床頭燈 was difficult to comprehend due to my poor chinese comprehension, then this other song is more difficult because it was sung in Cantonese.

陳奕迅 - 陀飛輪
作曲：Vincent Chow
填詞：黃偉文
編曲：Gary Tong
監製：Alvin Leong

過去十八歲 沒戴錶 不過有時間
夠我 沒有後顧 野性貪玩

霎眼廿七歲 時日無多 方不敢偷懶
宏願縱未了 奮鬥總不太晚

然後突然今秋 望望身邊 應該有已盡有
我的美酒 跑車 相機 金錶 也講究
直到世間 個個也妒忌 仍不怎麼富有
用我尚有 換我沒有 其實已用盡所擁有

曾付出 幾多心跳 來換取一堆堆的發票
人值得 命中減少幾秒 多買一隻錶
秒速 捉得緊了 而皮膚竟偷偷鬆了
為何用到盡了 至知哪樣緊要

勞力是無止境 活著多好 不需要靠物證
也不以高薪 高職 高級品 搏尊敬 no~
就算搏到 伯爵那地位 和蕭邦的雋永
賣了任性 日拼夜拼 忘掉了為什麼高興

曾付出 幾多心跳 來換取 一堆堆的發票
人值得 命中減少幾秒 多買一隻錶
秒速 捉得緊了 而皮膚竟偷偷鬆了
為何用到盡了 至知哪樣緊要

記住那 關於光陰的教訓 回頭走 天已暗
你獻出了十吋 時和分 可有換到十吋金

還剩低 幾多心跳 人面跟水晶錶面對照
連自己 亦都分析不了 得到多與少
也許 真的瘋了 那個倒影多麼可笑
靈魂若變賣了 上鏈也沒心跳

銀或金 都不緊要 誰造機芯 一樣了
計劃了 照做了 得到了 時間卻太少 no~

還剩低 幾多心跳 還在數 趕不及了
昂貴是這刻 我覺悟了
在時計裡 看破一生 渺渺

Houston Space Center

Mama Boo has been back in Singapore after 1 week in Houston but had been busy with work and Chloe ever since then so the blog has not been updated as often as we'd like.  Other than shopping, I only visited the Houston space center in my first trip to US.  Interestingly, Houston is only the command centre and not where the space rocket is actually located although we have heard about Houston from the movie, Apollo 13.

"Though while you sleep, we are apart, your mommy loves you with all her heart"

It has been days since mommy flew out of Singapore to Houston for work. Soon enough, Chloe will be able to see her mommy again instead of talking to her video image on the laptop and kissing mommy on her face instead of kissing the screen. Daddy has gotten to the point of sterilizing the screen every day with Kirei Kirei Antibacterial and Antiseptic soap.

Before mommy left for work, Daddy spent some time at the bookstores and bought a couple of books which would hopefully "ease" Chloe's separation anxiety. Amongst the purchases, the Sleepy Kittens by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (both screenwriters for the cartoon, Despicable Me), was a lifesaver and Chloe's favourite book at the moment. She would bring the book to me to read them several times each day. The book is about 3 little kittens and their mommy. Mommy wants the 3 little kittens to go to bed and she finally sang them a lullaby. Although the story is fairly simple, it does makes a good read for Chloe.

I would love to reproduce all the words from the book but that would not be very kind to the authors. However, I like to quote the last 2 lines from the book as it struck a chord with myself and possibly Chloe when we read the book together.

Good night kittens, close your eyes. Sleep in peace until you rise.

Though while you sleep, we are apart, your mommy loves you with all her heart.

I know that when I read those lines, I am reminding Chloe that her mommy loves her a lot even though both mommy and Chloe are far apart. Every time I read the book to the end, I will, for those last 2 lines, read them as if it was mommy who was telling those lines to Chloe. Perhaps, this is also the reason why Chloe loves to bring the book to me again and again just to hear those comforting words.

In and Around Houston

I woke up very early this morning and had a great chat with Chloe and the rest of my family.  Then I did some work.  By the time my conference call ended, it was already 11am.  There was no more breakfast served at the hotel so I decided to head out to the Willowbrook mall for brunch.

Exterior view of Willowbrook Hampton Inn

Willowbrook mall is so near yet separated by a huge carpark.

There are mini cars for the kids to sit in and drive around the mall.

Cute outfit from old navy. Too bad it is not useful in Singapore's weather.

Willowbrook Park within the mall

Seems like Hello Kitty is popular here too. The tutus are so cheap, only USD 6.95!

Hubby says I should get something for myself from VS.

And so I did!

Bought a wristlet from Coach too.

This particular Abercrombie store sells clothes for kids but there is nothing for 1 yr olds. The outfits are mostly for teens.

Lunch was Apple Pecan Chicken salad and lemonade at Wendy's.

This is the Abercrombie store for adults.

Bought a T-shirt each for myself and hubby. No, daddy, this is not your bod.

Cute Minnie outfits @ Disney store.

Cute bookends of Toy Story 2.

I adore these markers. They'd make lovely party favors if Chloe were to have another Minnie theme party.

Does Chloe need panties?

Mickey Doctor set USD 24.50. For age 3 and above.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Ambulance USD 29.50. For age 2 and above.

Board books on opposites, shapes, colors etc. USD 16.50.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Marker and Stamp set. USD 10+.

Mickey mouse plane. Forgot the price.

Rauph Lauren dress for 18month on sale at Macy's. USD 22+.  Which one should I get?

Texus bullshit.

Cute bathropes.

After lunch, I shopped a little and went back to the hotel. I was so tired as it was past midnight in Singapore so I dozed off again. When I woke up, it was 7am Singapore time and Chloe was awake! So we had a video chat again before I headed out for dinner at Chili's located right next to the hotel.

Chili's interior

Pork ribs and loaded marsh potatoes. The ribs were tender but I did not find it very yummy.

Mouton chocolate cake. Qutie disappointing as the chocolate inside did not melt.

Chili's exterior

As I made my way back to the hotel, I noticed there was a sign that says "Toys R us" and " Babies R us".  So I decided to check it out.

It turned out that Toys R Us is opened till 9.30pm CST so I walked around the store to see if there is anything worthy to put my dollars in. There were many!

160 pcs of pampers going for USD 41.99.  Uncle Tan, is it worth it to buy?

I'm glad there is Purified water for babies.

I did not see this in Singapore and I think this is useful when we go out. Considering to buy.

This is so much cheaper than in Singapore.

Cute Pooh bear bath rope. Should I get this for Chloe?

Wendy, this should be useful for Amanda, don't you think so?

The tiger food jar we have is too huge. Considering to get foogo to store homecooked baby food for trips out.

Should I get this Minnie flask for Chloe?

Or should I get these instead?

Minnie plates anyone?

I'm going to get these table toppers! We saw a caucasian used this in Singapore and were wondering where to get it.
This is going to be very useful to keep the eating area in restaurants clean for our little girl.

Cute elmo teethers.

Daddy, please help me check if these are much cheaper than Singapore?

There are so much to see here and I've only finished one lane. I'm coming back tomorrow night!