Lil Shauna 1st Criminal Record

Sadly, Lil Shauna has committed her 1st criminal offence - stealing. -.o" My mum, I, the maid, Fione & Lil Shauna were shopping at the Robinson kids' corner while waiting for my bro to pick us up. Lil Shauna has been really active recently. She refuses to sit in the stroller and will struggle badly when carried, eager to go to the floor to start crawling. I bet she loves her mobility and tot that her new-found mobility = independence. Halow, young lady, you still have 21 more years to go!

To keep her in the stroller, I took a tube of chocolate off the shelf and passed it to her to entertain her and keep her busy. She enjoys exploring new "toys" now. However, that only lasted until she gets bored and she will start playing that notorious I-throw-you-pick-and-I-throw-again game, until whoever is picking the thing up is pissed enuff to stop the game. In this case, I, the maid & Fione were taking turns picking up the thrown chocolate. Finally, she got on my nerves and I asked the maid to stop giving her the chocolate. So, the chocolate "disappeared" from my sight.

Soon, my bro called to say that he was reaching and we quickly paid for the stuff that we wanted, namely a pack of chips, a box of baby biscuit and a tube of chocolate biscuit for Fione. Lil Shauna was screaming when I was paying for the stuff, so I gave her the baby biscuit to play with and Fione wanted her chocolate biscuit and she had that too. As such, there was no need for a bag.

We left the department stall and was waiting for my bro. He soon arrived and we were busy carrying bags, folding stroller, loading the kids into the car, etc. Right after he folded the stroller and threw it into the boot, he handed me the tube of chocolate - the one that Lil Shauna was playing with, that we have no intention to buy and we didnt pay for. Yes, it was found in Lil Shauna's stroller and we pushed her out of the departmental stall in that stroller, with that unpaid tube of chocolate.

Meiji wor, branded chocolate wor.

Maybe the only comforting thing is that everybody else (except for the 2 babies) ate the chocolate. Hohoho.
Digressing. I am really serious about cake baking wor. Look at all these stuff that Daddy Lim bought for me to start my cake baking passion. More to come. Hehe.

I shall introduce them in details when I have the time.
Lastly, reminders to Daddy Lim.
Bb, your to-do list:
1. Bring Jazzie for servicing
2. Change the store room and living room lights
3. Adjust baby's car seat belt.
I cant do all of the above. You are the man. Yeah!
Mummy Lim

My Dad

I saw this picture in my office computer while I was trying to play the MP3. With Ching Ming round the corner, I tot I refreshed my memory about him.It has been 3+ years since Dad passed away. Bone cancer was eating him then and he was constantly in pain. I read that there is no cure for bone cancer. He was too weak for chemotherapy then and radiotherapy was too slow for the disease, which was spreading like wild fire. I remembered that when his blood pressure dropped really low one time and the doctors asked us to standby, I begged God for extra time, enuff for me to bring him a pastor to share Christ. God was gracious and answered my prayer. Amazingly, my parents were opened to my suggestion then. I am not sure if he had accepted Christ, but he was soon influenced by his siblings and turned to Buddhism instead.

Daddy Lim and I had also decided to get married when my dad was very ill, hoping that the good news would help. However, he didnt get a chance to see us tied the knot. But he knew that we were making plans and I bet that pleased him. I used to tell him about my marriage plans when I visoted him at the hospital.


My dad was a hard man and had a hard life. With little education, he started off as a metal worker. I remembered that life was hard on us too. With the miserable money that he brought back, we have little luxury. Then my parents became hawkers and started their chay kway teow and yong tau foo stall. They worked long hours to feed the family. We grew up with little parental guidance. Although they never expected us to be genius, the 3 of us graduated from NUS and my dad was really proud of that.

I used to be really angry with my dad. He was an alcoholic and chain smoker. For as far as remembered, he would drink himself silly every night. I do admit that I am ashamed of him when I was growing up. I was angry that he couldnt hold a decent conversation with us when night falls and that he couldnt provide for us to live comfortably. I was also angry with him for showing favouritism. He doted most on my sis and he openly admitted it. It was only when I was older that I knew that life turned much better when my sis came along, thus his special love for her. They shared a special bond too. She took after him, not so much in appearance but in characteristic. I used to pray that God would helped me to forgive him and it took a long time for me to do so.

Ever since I received Christ, I had been praying that God would made my dad quit smoking and drinking. I once shared with my sis that my dad would only quit smoking when he experienced a near death experience and I was right. God did answer my pray but my dad contracted cancer, probably due to the many years of smoking and drinking.

He underwent a major operation and recovered well. Since that, he quited smoking and drinking totally. It was that time that I felt that I had a father. Such near death experiences do wonders sometimes. After he recovered, he was very active and even went on tours with my mum. Sadly, two years later, he was hit by stroke, which left his right side paralysis. It was really sad seeing him immobile. He tried hard and was eventually able to walk with a limp and even enjoyed rounds of mahjong at times! Tragedy strike again 2 years later and the cancer relapsed, attacking his brain and bones.

I remembered that he was still very optimistic initially, willing to go for operation, if need be. However, no surgery could be done and the disease eventually took him. He was gone within 3 months from his diagnosis. We were all at his bedside when he was gone. I hoped that brought him some comfort.

Even until today, my mum often lamented that life was hard on my dad. Sometimes, she even commented that we should not have proceeded with the operation in the very beginning since the end result is the same - death. Halowz, everybody dies lor. To me, I really think that my dad had found life once again after he contracted cancer. He loved us and felt our love. He spent wonderful times with my mum and had a good bonding with Fione. All these would not be possible otherwise.

I still miss him and will often wonder where he is now. I wonder too if I will see him in heaven one day. That reminds me, I better treasure my mum. She would be around forever.

Mummy Lim

Pappy miss you guys..

So here I am again on night shift.. Went to visit Shauna today (and also to packet dinner from MIL hehe), she was so happy to see me! She probaly thought I was gonna bring her home.
Only carried her for like 5 mins, then had to take my dinner and go off. She refused to let my MIL carry her lol She's such a sweetie! My heart melted and I brought her outside for a short walk on the 16th floor. She looked at me as though "hmm.. are you Pappy? You look different.." *Sigh* this night shift does wonders for father-daughter relationships.
So time passed really quickly and i had to leave for work. Poor Shauna started crying when she realised she was back in Popo's arms and I was'nt gonna bring her anywhere near home. *Sob* Poor girl! One more week of this night shift and hopefully all will be back to normal.. for another 5 months at least.. Grrr..
Mummy Lim is'nt doing much better. She's up to her nose with work.. almost cannot breathe liao.. Looks like she's gonna spend this Sunday at work, i think, in order to have more time for Shauna.. Gosh.. I'm missing the two of you badly!!

The Little Climber

I have thrown in the white towel. Lil Shauna is staying over at popo's house tonight. Not that I am too tired (I am tired, no doubt), but bcos I worked late. Instead of working until 8pm tonight, then rushed to my mum's place to spend that precious 15 mins with Lil Shauna before she's captured by the Zzz monster, I have decided to work till 9m tonight in hope of leaving office at 6.30pm tomorrow to spend more time with Lil Shauna. :) The weekend is finally here. I have not looked forward to the weekend as much as I do now since long time ago. I missed my baby and I missed Daddy Lim who is still on night shift. Sob!

Oh, back to my topic. I managed to leave office on time yday and caught a simple dinner with Daddy Lim. I was at popo's home really early and had great fun with Lil Shauna. She's really a handful now. She basically crawls everywhere. She's a pretty steady crawler. I dun see her hands giving way and "koking" her head but there is always the danger of her koking her head due to her directionless crawling. Coupled with the just-learnt-to-walk and thus walking-everywhere cousin, they form the unbeatable duo. My mum and the maid are literally hot on their heels, catching them and bringing them back to the play mat every now and then. I pity my mum and the maid. I was tired out after that few hours of "looking" after Lil Shauna, so I can imagine their hard work. Phew, maybe working is still better afterall. Hohoho.

Other than crawling, Lil Shauna has started climbing. She tries to climb the sofa, the table, the bed, the chair... everything that can be climbed. Usually, when I place her on our bed, she will attempt to climb the head board. If one of us happens to lie near the head board, she will attempt to use us as a step to climb "over" the head board. -.o" Yday, I witnessed Lil Shauna climbing up the kid chair unassisted. But of course my mum was holding onto her while she attempted her stunt. When she managed to climb up the chair, she attempted to stand on the chair and started bouncing. I was quite surprised of her success but had to suppress from praising her. I dun think it is right to encourage her in her dangerous feat. She was soon removed from the chair and when she was restricted from doing it again, she actually threw tantrum. -.o" To self-comfort, I think she's altheletic.

Ever since Daddy Lim is on night shift, we haven much chance to have her at home. I think we will be in for big surprises at what she can do. Lil Shauna is no longer a baby. She is a big girl now. :)

Mummy Lim

Contactless

Ok, it is not that bad, I still have the internet, msn and the email. However, I only have that few contacts on the msn and none of them are online. -.o" I left my hp at my mum's place and I am home with Lil Shauna now. My mum walked me home today. I wanted to come home for a few reasons. 1st of all, I managed to knock off early today and Lil Shauna would be awake enuff for me to bring her home. 2ndly, I think my mum deserves a good nite rest. Lil Shauna was flipping everywhere last nite. Her tired mummy was dead asleep and so her popo has to grab her and tried to pat her to deep sleep for several times last night. Lastly, Daddy Lim hasnt seen Lil Shauna for 2 days.

When I stay over at my mum's place, Daddy Lim dun get to see Lil Shauna. I stayed over on both Sun & Mon nite. Daddy Lim tried to visit Lil Shauna before he left for work earlier this evening. However, Lil Shauna was having her nap. My bro's room door knob was spoilt and my SIL & the little niece was trapped inside the room. Lil Shauna slept thru' the knocking and banging + nono barking + elder nice screaming and shouting. She didnt even stir when Daddy Lim touch her. But accordingly to my mum, she woke up almost instantly after Daddy Lim left and closed the door. Lil Shauna seems bent to play hide-and-seek with her Pappy. ;p

I realised that my hp was not with me after my mum left our house. I have never felt so alone. I felt so cut-off from the world. To prevent Daddy Lim from getting worried when he cant contact me, I tried to email him with Lil Shauna happily banging on the keyboard. I kept thinking what should I do if I need help. I think I am paranoid.

Ok, we will be fine and I think I will hug my hp like an old trusted friend in the future.

Oh ya, I took the sbs bus home from the yard for the 1st time in my 5 years with K. Yes, I am pampered. I had been travelling from home to yard (& vice versa) on my trusted bike for a long time. After that, I was ferried by Daddy Lim. Otherwise, there is always the cab or I always managed to find somebody to ferry me. When Daddy Lim was going on night shift, I was worried about getting home. It is after 2+ weeks (Daddy Lim on night shift) that I finally have to resort to public bus. Yeah, yeah, Daddy Lim's night shift is gg to be over soon!

Mummy Lim

Cupcakes!

I had been looking forward to my cupcake making class. I almost turned into a giraffe and was uber excited when the day is finally here. I left Lil Shauna with my mum and went for a worry-free afternoon, meddling with flour, eggs, butter and sugar.

I bet I would still have enjoyed the class if I have gone alone, but was glad that I had LL's company. Her company was even more appreciated when she agreed to share cab with me after much tempting. I was too lazy to take the MRT, but most importantly, I was too eager to bring my pretty cupcakes home to show off. Hehe.

LL looking like an expert. Forgive the plastic apron. Digressing, the plastic apron reminds me of when Lil Shauna was a newborn. We were given the same kind of plastic apron before we were allowed to feed her in the NICU. I shared that with LL and she asked me why, is it bcos we were worried that the baby will soil our clothes. -___________-" We were more worried about passing our germs to the baby lor.

Anyway, the class was great fun. We tried our hands at cupcake making. All the blend the butter, whipped it until light and fluffy, whisked not until stiff peak, etc. Actually, the blended pile all looked about the same to me. Aha, experience... I bet I will be about to differentiate the light and fluffy from the smooth and creamy after 289 tries. Hohoho. The semi done product.

The trainers demo the icing making while we copied notes like school kids. The way they whisked and blend makes the whole thing looks so simple. In just a short while, we have butter cream, whipped cream and some chocolate stuff to ice the cupcakes. Then we tried fondant making, which feels like playing with play doh - edible, sweet play doh. I love the fondant making part. Finally, we get to ice the cupcakes and decorate them. I simply love it. My finished products!

Pretty right? According to Daddy Lim, they taste good too. Hehe. The flowers are made from fondant. Cool right? I love especially to play with the whipped cream. Whipped cream ones are the white ones. The chocolate ones are watery and gets really messy. The chocolate leaks and I have to wipe the leakage with my fingers and lick the chocolate off my fingers. Very fattening. ;p

I think I am really into making this mid-life passion comes true. Maybe it will really be my 2nd career one day. Hoho. Practice makes perfect and I am already coming out with my list of stuff to buy to start my cupcake practising. There is the oven, the electric whisk, the electric weighing machine, the oven thermometer... bah, bah, bah.. Daddy Lim says that he will sponsor me. He hasnt got my excitement yet. Oh, Daddy Lim is joining me for a fondant making class in mid April. I think we will be 2 excited kids after the class and he will definitely catch my excitement then.

I planned to continue my passion. I need equipment, large space and most importantly, time. Cupcake making is really time consuming and the mess created is horrible. I bet the cleaning up takes awfully long too. Anybody wants to exchange baby sitting services for my beautiful cupcakes? Hehe.

Mummy Lim

Maid Woes

The last time that I screamed for a maid was when we went to the cruise, when Lil Shauna was 6 months old. However, all aspects proved that it was not time. There was no solution, other than wait & see. We survive well so far until Daddy Lim went on night shift. Coincidentally, my boss was preparing to go and ML (and has gone on ML on last Friday).

With piling work load and having to care for Lil Shauna on my own during the nights is really too taxing. Whilst in the office, I am practically racing with time. On many occasions, I can feel stress mounting, creating tension headache. I tot my blood pressure probably shoot thru' my head and maybe I will get stroke or something. Haha.

So, one day, while I was feeling super stressed at work, I pressed the button again. I told Daddy Lim and my Mum that I probably would need to get a maid.

So, my mum, my bro & I spoke at length, deciding wat is the best solution. They are not comfortable with having 2 maids under the same roof cos there are not enuff to occupy 2 maids in the day. We tot of engaging a maid and putting her at our place with Lil Shauna but are concerned about safety issues. My mum offered to help to supervise at times, but that would put unnecessary burden on her and there is no way that she can help supervise 24/7.

We also explored taking over the existing maid and put her at our place, under my mum's supervision. That will require the older niece to go into full-time child care and the younger niece into half-day childcare. Childcare services, especially good ones are not readily available. Long queues are common. Without the kids in the childcare, my SIL would not be able to handle and we cant take over the maid. Even with the kids into childcare services, my SIL might not be able to handle the younger niece, who can get quite difficult at times. Then there are times that the elder niece is on holiday, etc. If you ask me, I dun think that is a feasible option too. We might have found help, but it is probably a matter of time that my SIL scream murder.

After thinking and discussing and deliberating, we are still at square 1. There is no perfect solution. Status quo seems best for now. So, we will have to tahan more, until such a time that the nieces are old enuff for them to let go of the maid, or I get preggy the 2nd time. With history of pre-eclampsia, pregnancy is likely to be difficult. The risk of getting pre-eclampsia or at least pregnancy-induced hypertension is high. I dun think we can handle Lil Shauna ourselves then. As for now, I foresee myself staying over at my mum's place very often until Daddy Lim is back on day shift. Haiz..

Mummy Lim

Full Time Working Mum (FTWM)

I know that I could not and will not become a full-time home maker when I was about 8 weeks into my maternity leave. Staying home with a baby 24/7 is too big a challenge for me. I prefer to talk to sensible adults, even though they can be insensible, nonsensical, irritable, illogical.. (you get my drift) at times.

Even on weekends, I rely on my Mum alot. It is simply too taxing on me to try to take care of Lil Shauna alone. Of course I could. If there is no choice, I just have to make things work and get by. However, I am plain lazy at times. Hohoho. When taking care of Lil Shauna gets too tough, I even look forward to go back to work. I simply have no Monday blues but suffer from occasional Friday blues. ;p

However, I think life is getting a little too much for me recently. I guessed I had been too greedy and tried to scoop too much onto that tiny plate that I have. It is a tough balancing act. It is simply impossible to be a good wife, mum, employee, mini boss, colleague, daughter, sister, friend... Unless of course if my one day has more than 24 hours and I am forever bursting with energy lah. With my boss going on Maternity Leave, work load is piling and Daddy Lim on night shift, parental responsibility grew. I do feel the stress. In fact, I am pretty worried about teh escalating work load when my boss goes MIA. Oh gosh... this post is making me depress and I think I am slipping into self-pity.

God has been good. Knowing that He will not give me more than what I can bear helps. But of course, I must learn to say no and scream for help lah. Do pray for energy and strength. Pray too that work will not kill me and we will survive the remaining 2.5 weeks that Daddy Lim is on night shift. :)

Mummy Lim

Escape

I am at my mum's place again. I have decided to stay over after talking to Daddy Lim on the phone and he was lamenting about night shift.

We have forgotten to bring the stroller to my mum's place this morning and he had to bring it there before heading to work. He was telling me about how excited Lil Shauna was when she saw him and wanted him to carry her. I could picture Lil Shauna waving her arms wildly and grinning like how she usually does when she's excited. Daddy Lim couldnt stay for long and had to go. Lil Shauna refused to let my mum carried her. She can now not only turn her back to you but even sweep your extended arms away if she doesnt want you to carry her and that was what she did to my mum. My mum had to "snatch" her from Daddy Lim's arms.

Daddy Lim was waving "bye, bye" to her, which she waved back but probably thinking "how come Pappy never bring me with him". She was still looking for him when Daddy Lim closed the door and left. Sob!

I really felt quite lonely and depressed after the call and decided that I will stay over. Lil Shauna is one tired baby today. She was really cranky when I arrived at my mum's place close to 9pm. Luckily, I still got the chance to cuddle her, feed her and rock her to sleep. Oh, I kissed her extra too - Daddy Lim and my share.

I hope the remaining 3 weeks will pass in a flash.

Mummy Lim

JB

Eventually, we didnt go JB. Err... we did go, or at least we passed the custom, but we didnt set foot on JB. -.o" We were not well-prepared and a whole lot of stuff screwed up.

I packed the bags and I assumed that Daddy Lim would check the map, which he did. We assumed that we would find the hotel with no trouble since Daddy Lim had checked the map and we could find the hotel when we went on foot many years back. We didnt have the white cards too as the last time that we went JB, the custom have loads of it. The custom has changed, remembered? The Causeway was revamped, making it much more complicated than it used to be. We duno where to get the white cards and were told at the Malaysian Immigration that the white cards should be obtained somewhere earlier before the Immigration. The officer only gave the white cards to us after we pleaded with him. Then there is this lady who spoke in Malay to us to ask us to purchase the "Touch & Go" card to pay the toll. She knew we couldnt speak Malay but refused to speak English to us. Daddy Lim had to second-guess her while she spoke in displeasure and frustration, as if it is our fault that we couldnt speak Malay. There were many loops and turns and we finally excited the custom after getting stuck in the jam for at least an hour. Surprisingly, Lil Shauna was pretty cooperative while clearing the custom.

The real problem started after we exited the custom. It started raining and we were totally lost bcos we only had the old map, the one before the custom was revamped. We found our location on the map and realised that we had to turn back, but kept driving in loop bcos the map was either inaccurate/ outdated, we duno how to read the map or there were roads that were not shown on the map. Things were made worse when LiL Shauna started fussing. There was no way that I could entertain Lil Shauna (to stop her from fussing) and read the map at the same time and Daddy Lim couldnt read the map and drive at the same time. So, we were very, very lost. Daddy Lim was very frustrated with getting lost and Lil Shauna's fusses made it worse.

I finally surrendered and told Daddy Lim that I will concentrate on entertaining Lil Shauna and he find his way. Just when Daddy Lim tot that he was getting it, he probably made a wrong turn again and we were once again lost. He muttered that he really couldnt do it and headed back to Woodlands (Singapore custom). At that point, I felt helpless. I was frustrated too, I was tired after trying to entertain Lil Shauna and I knew suggesting that we tried again wun do any good. So we headed back to Singapore. But I tot we could have at least stop somewhere to get a breather 1st before heading back - Lil Shauna needs to "stretch" her legs a little. She was cooped up in the car for too long. As predicted, the traffic back to Singapore wasnt that friendly either. So we were again stuck in the jam for at least 30 mins. This time, with a fussing baby, which totally dun help with the situation.

We stopped at the old Woodlands central right after we cleared Singapore custom. Lil Shauna was glad to be out. We were having KFC for dinner and Daddy Lim dropped another bomb - what if we still have to pay for the hotel that we asked our colleague (the groom) to book despite not turning up? Win... We wanted to ask people to help us check the hotel's no. online so that we could call to cancel the hotel. We didnt want to bother the colleague. Then we realised that we couldnt call out bcos we were still on Malaysia network.

When we finally reached home, we realised that the hotel has no contact no. on its website. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. We have no choice but to call the colleague to ask for help. Of course he didnt pick up his mobile and we had to sms him. -.o" Until now, we have no idea if we need to pay for the hotel.

Daddy Lim thinks that we shouldnt have brought Lil Shauna. I think that it is bcos we were unprepared. With the map that we have, even if Lil Shauna didnt come along, we would still be lost and the ending would still be the same. In fact, I felt bad towards Lil Shauna - she didnt get to sleep on big hotel bed, she didnt get to eat hotel breakfast, she didnt get to swim in the hotel pool and she didnt do shopping in the big JB shopping mall. However, we tried to make it up to her. She slept on the big bed with us last night, we brought her to IMM for breakfast, we brought her to the swimming pool this afternoon and we brought her to Causeway Point for lunch and shopping. Oh, her passport got "inked" too when we crossed the custom. :)

Surprisingly, she enjoyed swimming today. During her last encountered with the pool (2 weeks back at the zoo), I barely got her to wet her feet. Today, she actually enjoyed her "swim". She sat in the water and played with water. We spent at least 30 mins in the pool. So, all are not lost. But we do feel stupid. Haiz...

Mummy Lim