Looks like the sun hasn’t been shining brightly down on us these couple of weeks.  Rayner fell down last week (thank god nothing serious) and he was down with gastric flu last friday and missed school.  Yesterday, he visited the school’s sick bay again.  The school called me late afternoon and told me he was running a fever.  After fetching Rayner, we went to fetch RayAnne.  Then RayAnne told me she’s got a tummy ache and had a few runs already.  Looks like he successfully passed his gastric flu germs to her.

Quickly bought them both to the doctor last night and the doctor confirmed it.  RayAnne’s gotten the gastric flu bug from her brother….exactly the same symptons as her brother and the brother somehow managed to got himself a new germ, viral fever.  So both kids didn’t go to school today, I dropped them off at my mother in law’s place.  I am so glad that in times like this, my mother in law stood out and lent her helping hand to me.    Seriously, she would be the last person on my mind that would HELP me…..even my parents can’t be here for me.  For those of you who had followed my blog long enough would know that I didn’t have a very good relationship with my mother in law.  Nothing serious but just a conflict of interest.  So as long as we don’t stay under one roof, everything would be A-Okay….

Rayner’s going to have to re-sit for the 2 papers he will be missing today and tomorrow.  Hope the sick spell will be over very soon……

This October has been a more and peaceful month for us.

This was the month that Rayner started riding on his 20 inch mountain bike.

This was the month RayAnne got rid of her trainer wheels.

This was the month Rayner lost both his front teeth at one go.

This was the month we got to spend really quality time with Daddy and sometimes, thinking back, it was kinda sad.  Why did we have to wait for such an opportunity to come by because we learn how to treasure the time we have with our love ones…..

26 October 2009

Rayner’s birthday.  He had requested that I take the day off and send him to school that day.  It was not too much to ask for so I took a day off and spend the day with him and of course RayAnne too.

We woke up late, the kids requested for MacDonald breakfast so we had Mac for breakfast.  Then Rayner wanted to eat roast char siew rice for lunch and that was what we had for lunch before we walked Rayner to school.  He walked into the school gate without much fuzz after our usual kiss kiss and hug hug.  Looking at his back, I suddenly see my son growing up, not physically but mentally.  And with his Daddy always away, he has choosen to step up and be the man or boy of the family.  He has grown pretty matured over the past few months.

I stayed up past the hour of 2331 on the 26 October because that was the hour he was born.  I watched the clock ticked past 11.31pm and it felt like only yesterday when I just gave birth to him.  Happy 7th Birthday my boy!

27 October 2009

Yesterday afternoon, I got a call from Rayner and he was crying over the phone.  It completely freaked me out.  He fell in school and because he was crying, the teacher spoke to me instead.  She wasn’t around to witness the fall but she told me he fell and hit the wall…..?????  I was like….huh?????

I didn’t feel too good.  I didn’t know what actually happened.  Did he hit the back of his head, was he hurt badly…..

Thousand thoughts were rushing in my head.  Wednesday got exams leh…..teacher said he was feeling giddy……did he vomit……which part of the head did he hit…..how did he fall……he did managed to dial my number so he should be ok right???……..it was killing me, I took time off from my boss and drove straight to school.

When I picked him up, he was tired and looking kinda distracted.  Quicukly bought him home and told him to rest.  Now, we monitor him…..if he vomits or faints…..I am going to rush him to the hospital.

Thank goodness, after 2 hours, he was back to his usual lively cheery self.  He was even able to stomach a big bowl of rice and fish.

This morning when I dropped him off at school, he was ok and I told him not to worry too much about the exams, he just had to do his best and it would be good enough for me and told him to be more careful in school.  He had apparently stepped on a puddle of water and slip.  He fell forward and that’s why he hit his forehead and right cheek.  Now what’s left of the fall is a little bump on this forehead and a little blue black bruise on this right cheek.

I am still feeling the aftermath of the incident…..I always get jittery when my phone rings when I am at work……..I think I will get myself a cup of tea to calm my nerves…..

Sunday night, David skyped me and told me he will demob from the platform on Monday and would be catching the monday evening 7pm flight back to Singapore.

Rayner happened to be standing near the computer and saw the messages between David and me and he got so excited he asked to chat with Daddy on Skype…

David : i am coming back tomolo. Wohoo!!!
Jan aka Rayner : RAYNER SAM
Jan aka Rayner : HELLO!!!!! PAPA I  LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!
David : yoohoo! I love you too!
David : mei mei leh?
Jan aka Rayner: MEI MEI LOVE YOU TOO!!!!!!!!!MEI MEI DRAWING CARD FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
David : i love u mei mei
Jan aka Rayner: I HAVE TWENTY SIX GERONIMO STILTON BOOKS!!!!!!!!!
David : :O
Jan aka Rayner : TODAY SWIMMING NOT GOOD BECAUSE PLAYING WITH MEI MEI.
Jan aka Rayner : NOW HAVE MORE BAKUGANS ALMOST RAECHING THIRTY SOMETHING!!!!!!
Jan aka Rayner : ALSO HAVE TWO BAKUGAN CD!!!
Jan aka Rayner : NOW HAVE DUEL MASTER CARDS ALREADY HAVE FIVE DECKS!!!!!!!!!
Jan aka Rayner : NOW I HAVE NEW PENCIL CASE ALRAEDY LO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
David : WAAA!!!! So many ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jan aka Rayner : GOOD NIGHT I AM GOING TO SLEEP NEXT TIME THAN SEE YOU IN THE C0MPUTER LAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SEE YOU TOMOLO LA SO GOOD NIGHT PAPA!!!!!
David : OK. Good night Rayner Sam and RayAnne Sam!
Jan aka Rayner : SEE YOU TOMOLO AT THE AIRPORT LAH I LOVE YOU
Jan aka Rayner : SO WHAT TIME ARE YOU SLEEPINGLAH!!!!!!!
David : I LOVE the 2 of YOU TOO !!!!
David :  AH, NOT SO EARLY. GOTTO PACK MY BAG FIRST.
Jan aka Rayner : SO GOOD NIGHT LAH LOVE TO SEE YOU AGAINLAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
David : LOVE THE TWO OF YOU AGAIN!

If I had not shooed Rayner off to bed, he could have gone on and on and on……he really really misses his Daddy….

So…..Monday night, off we went to the airport to fetch Daddy.

We got to spend a good one week with Daddy before he flew off again for the next assignment so in order to make full use of the precious time, we tried to make 24 hours like 48 hours and spend as much family time together as possible.

We bought Rayner to the Dental Clinic to have his 2 already loosen front tooth for extraction because it didn’t looked like it was going to drop off on it’s own and it’s starting to be crooked so we figured new adult teeth could be erupting already.

So here’s presenting my BoGay……heehee (this is number 3rd and 4th teeth)

We celebrated Rayner’s 7th birthday earlier because he will be away on his birthday.

The next few days were spending running errands and preparing for his next assignment.

And since RayAnne has been bugging me to bring her to the park to teach her how to ride her bicycle without her training wheels and Rayner too  has outgrown his BMX kiddie bike.   David bought a mountain bike for Rayner and RayAnne took over her brother’s BMX bike.  We would be getting a mountain bike for her once she masters riding on 2 wheels.

There’s Rayner on his new mountain bike….looks pretty huge right….I was initally kinda worried that he might not be able to handle the bike but he has proven us all wrong….

Her trainers wheels were tilted upwards so she can try to balance on 2 wheels…..And that’s RayAnne getting riding tips from Daddy!

And I must say I am very proud of RayAnne.  After one weekend, my baby girl has more or less got rid of her training wheels for good….now…she just have to perfect her riding and we would be able to get her her very own mountain bike too!   I really have to give credit to Daddy who was really patience with RayAnne and of course, the little girl’s courage and never give up attitude despite falling off her bike several times…..

It’s mummy’s who is KS lar so I made sure she was all protected and geared up……

This so call person or thing calls himself or herself Jingle Bell, quite unsuitable for such a cheery nick….

Below is the comment this person left……

You never fail to surprise me.  Why are you not sick of showcasing your kids?!!  Perhaps after 30 years, and you start blogging about how filial you are, then you can start show casing again.

I find it really strange that he/she bothers to read my blog although it annoys her that I am SHOWCASING my kids.  Hello!!!  This is my blog, a blog I have maintaining since my children were born.  This is where I keep tab of their milestones. You have offended the many many mummies on the blog roll who blog and showcase their kids day in day out day in day out.

I had actually wanted to mark this comment as a SPAM and delete away but I think all the mummy bloggers got a right to know what this Jingle bell person has to say about us blogging and showcasing our kids as something bad, something he/she is not happy or dislikes about…..DA!!!

My Rays, they are truely my lovely rays….Kids will always be kids, they are capable of driving you up the wall with their strange strange antics but on the other hand, they are capable of being such sensible kids.

Just over the weekend, the Rays volunteered to sweep and mop the floor for me.  They wanted me to sit and rest on the sofa while they went about with the housekeeping that evening.  They packed the living room, coffee table and even their own rooms.

Now, that’s Rayner sweeping  the floor…

and that’s RayAnne mopping the floor….

and she could still have the time to stop and pose for the camera……kekeke….that’s my little ball of sunshine…..

They may not do a very good job cleaning up but it’s the thought that counts……

And when we went grocery shopping downstairs early on….RayAnne wanted to push the empty trolley downstairs and when the cart was full and loaded, the task was given to Rayner.  He surprised me, he was able to handle and maneuver the trolley really well.  Especially around corners and steps, he knew how and when to lift the front wheels to get onto steps and with much ease push the trolley back home….

Grocery shopping these days with the Rays are loads of fun.  We enjoying picking out drinks, milk and fruits together and enjoying the small talk pushing the cart home….:)

After a day’s rest, I went back to work on Friday.

It was almost lunch time and as I walking back from the office pantry to my desk, my office receptionist was calling out to me and as I walking towards the reception area, there was a delivery person holding a bouquet of flowers.  My heart was beating so fast, flowers for me???? It been ages since I last received flowers and I have almost forgotten how it feels to receive flowers again.

Yes, the flowers are non other from the man of my life.  David arranged for the flowers to be delivered to my office to surprise me.  He succeeded….I was totally throw off by his spur of the moment but I LIKED it, I LOVED it.  My favourite purple turnips too!

And the card that came along with it…..I have been reading it over and over again and everytime I read it…..it brings on smiles…..

When RayAnne saw the flowers

RayAnne: Mummy, why got flowers???

Me: Papa gave them to me…

RayAnne: *eyes open wide* Our papa???

Me: *heehee* yes, your papa.

When Rayner saw the flowers

Rayner: Mummy, today you get married ah???

Me: ??? ***

And when we skyped later that night, David told me that he is aware of what I am doing for him and this family and he will try his best to perk and surprise me and he hopes these little actions will make up for the times he is away from me.

I told him, this distance has not only strengthen our love and bond, it has bought us closer.  His gesture and thoughts alone has touched me so much that I am feeling so hyped and emotionally charged that I feel nothing can put me down and it has given me new power to go on.

I am not working today, no because I am still a children but because my doctor has given me a day of medical leave to sleep my headache off.  I have not been updating but I have been getting pretty regular bouts of headache attacks that seems to last forever.  Doctor says tension headache, whatever that means……

Bought the kids to MacDonald for Hotcakes happy meal and bought the car to the petrol kiosk for a long long overdue top of air to the tyres.  David religiously does it every weekend when he’s in town but I am a slacker.  Too lazy to do it every week.  Did I mention MacDonald’s has launch their Justice league set of toys and the kids want this this this and that.  Don’t have to tell you also I think you would know we would be having at least one meal of Macdonld’s every week until they have collected all the heros they want.

Haiz…..sometimes I think I am a sucker mum.  They want this, I get them this, they want that, I get them that.  There isn’t anything that my kids lack.   Take Rayner for an example, he wanted pokemon cards so I went round hunting them down for him.  People probably collect cards (countable) but he collects decks (uncontable).  He wanted bakugan, he got bakugan.  People probably get to buy a couple of bakugan but he has a container to store them all, name it, he has it, colour or types.  Now he’s into Duel Masters cards but it seems like these cards ain’t as easily available on the market compared to other forms of cards.  But I managed to hunt them down at an Econ Minimart in CCK.  As usual, he could a couple of decks at a go. RayAnne has 3 baby dolls.  1 boy and 2 girls…..and 2 strollers!!!  Daddy just bought another baby BOY and stroller for RayAnne when he came back for a short brief break.  It’s still sitting in the store room.

I guess it’s me, I didn’t have the heart to tell the children no to things they want.  We are a duo working couple who spends most of our time working while the kids spend a whole lot of time at child care and student care centres.  Now with Daddy travelling so frequently, I am the only parent to them.  So weekend are the only parent and child time with them and when you do bring them out and they see things they fancy or like, how to you say NO.  I can’t lor, perhaps I am weak.

Today RayAnne’s school is having a children’s Day costume party.  All children can come in their favourite characters or costume.  Most girl would think princess but mine….spidergirl lor……

So her get up was Spidergirl.  She went as spidergirl.  Although I wasn’t working, I decided to still send her in so she would miss out the school party gift and mini celebrations which I knew she was so looking forward to.

By noon, we were all back in our comfy home and by 1pm, we were deep in slumberland.  Woke up only close to 5pm to perpare dinner and at the same time update the blog.

Another well spent day with the Rays……

25 September 2009

It feels like a long time ago that David’s been back on his 2nd trip but in actual fact, it’s been only a week plus that he’s been gone.

9 September 2009

It feels like a long time ago that Rayner saw Dr Tan for his leg injury.  He’s supposed to rest and reccuperate for 8 weeks.  Today he started asking if the 8 weeks were up and I dug up the doctor’s consultation receipt to check the date we saw Dr Tan.  9 September 2009…..gosh, it’s been barely 3 weeks and the boy has to take it easy and abstain for another 5 more weeks to go…..

David’s been busy on the offshore platform rushing to complete the job so he can return home to us and we have not been skyping as often as before but because of the recent car accident I was involved in, he made it a point to call me every night and talked to me.  He wanted to make  sure I was too affected by the accident and that I should not worry too much about paying $1700 to that guy and that he would take care of all the household expenses and don’t ever worry about money…..don’t be too worried about scratching the car, this is supposed to be a practise car for me to master and perfect my driving skills and I wouldn’t have problem handling the GTI when he eventually buys it.

For those of you who knew David would know his passion and love for cars.  The effort he puts into his cars is not something I can comprehend with.  And to hear him telling me not to worry about scratching his car and that my safety is far more important to him than anything else means so much more to me than anything else.

Thank you all the lovely encouragements all my cyber friends have given me over the past week.  I am feeling much more settled now.

Some updates about the kids….

Rayner

These couple of days, he’s been on his best behaviour……

These days, he spends his time doing assessment books whenever he is done with his school work and his daily reads these day is The Number Devil that his favourite Dr Tan recommended us.

RayAnne

And the little girl gave poor me a tall tall order.  Last week was her school’s photo taking sessions and for one of the photos, children can come in their favourite dresses or clothings for the photo shoot.  And my girl who has always been the long pants and jeans girl (most due to mummy’s influence because Mummy’s a pants and jeans girl too) wanted to wear a pink princess dress for her photo shoot.

Went round Toa Payoh during my lunch break hunting down the dress and shoes.

Am glad she loved the dress after I showed it to her….phew….heng ah…..

The day after the photo shoot, I asked her, so what pose did the photographer uncle asked you to pose leh?

Very girl hor…..this tom boyish girl is growing up to be more and more girly……heehee

The kids have grown quite alot over the past few months especially the girl.  She has outgrown most of her jeans and I took measurements of the kids to make it easier to me to clothes for them when I do my lunch time shopping.

And to my shock, the actual measurement of the kids don’t differ much….

Rayner – Waist (21.5 inch/55cm), Hips (25 inch/64cm), length from waist down (25 inch/65cm) Height: 120cm

RayAnne – Waist (22 inch/56cm), Hips (24 inch/62cm). length from waist down (25 inch/65cm) Height: 114cm

17 months apart and their height is only 6 cm apart and the 6 cm is just a longer torso Rayner has.  Rayner has a smaller waist than RayAnne and a bigger hip size…..length of pants is actually the same…..RayAnne weighs around 18kg while Rayner weigh around 20kg……

Boys really grow very very slowly lor……

26 September 2009

The kids requested to go to the zoo so since we still have the zoo’s membership, we spend our day at the zoo.

I didn’t know what and why but they were looking for An Meng’s bronze statue when we were at the zoo and wanted me to take photo of them with Ah Meng when we found her statue.  At least they knew who Ah Meng was.  They were pretty sad when the news broadcasted Ah Meng had DIED and perhaps that was the reason why when they visited the zoo, knowing that Ah Meng is not longer around, they insisted on taking photo with the bronze Ah Meng….it’s still Ah Meng what….that’s what they say!  Ah Meng was Singapore Zoo’s icon…..thought she’s no longer around anymore, her spirit definitely stays with the Zoo…..see, even the T generations of children all knew who Ah Meng was!

I am loving my life……

Yesterday evening, on my way back home from work, I got into a little accident along Balestier Road.  I went and KISSED another car’s backside……haiz…….

I was simply careless, didn’t depressed the brake peddle hard enough and I bumped into the car infront of me at the snail speed of 10km/h.  In fact, I was hardly moved but this move made a fist big dent in the guy’s bumper.

My car didn’t suffer any dents except for some small scratches in the front but it was a different story with the other car.  Can you imagine how soft and fragile the Mitsubishi’s car body is?  Can’t imagine if any vehicle were to ram into it at 70km/80km per hour, the whole back would confirm be gone.

The driver of the other vehicle is a young chap and it turns out the car belongs to his father.  Pardon me but old man are not easy to deal with especially when I am at the losing end of the deal.  There was little or nothing I could do because I didn’t want to claim insurance to affect the preminum come next year when we finally place our order for GOLF GTI.  Anyway, back to the old man, it was clear he wanted money so he send his damm car back to Cycle & Carriage for a quotation and the figure came up to $1700.

I suggested to him that I will pick up his car and send his car to my workshop and have it fixed up nicely for him but he told me that if he couldn’t go back to C&C, he would not get a replacement car whilst his was being fixed.  I was tired of talking to the old man and wanted to get the whole damm thing over with, I told him, $1700 take it or leave it.  Paying the money was my way of ending everything.  It was eating me away so I couldn’t stand having it open ended and at their mercy any longer.

He knew he couldn’t push me any further so he accepted the money.  We signed a private settlement letter to secure both our interests.  So I parted with $1700 today.  Actually, it wasn’t paying the money that pained me, it was the sucky feeling of knowing you were being exploited but unable to do or say anything because IT WAS ME WHO BUMPED INTO THEM.

I haven’t been sleeping and eating well since the accident, it affected me pretty badly.  But the children were great consolation.  They probably sensed my anger and frustration, they helped out with the laundry and packing.  I was touched…….very touched.  And thankfully, I had a lovely bunch of co-workers who made sure I wasn’t left alone during lunch today.  We went out lunch together and everyone’s telling me to look at things at a different angle.  At least I was safe and if paying $1700 can solve everything, it was WORTH every cent……

Talk about bad luck……

My close colleague who’s mum recently passed away was with me in the car when the accident happened and this morning, her car was hit by a fallen branch along BKE.  Her car was wrecked….the windscreen entirely smashed.  I droved passed her but wasn’t sure if it was her car and I didn’t think could be so heng lor so I didn’t stop.  When I reached my office and found out she hasn’t come into the office yet, I began to get worried that the car pinned down by the tree branch was her car afterall.  And an sms to her confirmed it, IT WAS HER……

It could have happened to anyone of us…….hundreds of cars take to our expressways everyday and there were plentiful tree branches to fall and drop.  One gusty windy morning was all it took to send the branches breaking off.  The damage done, 50% NCD all totally wiped out because under these circumstances, it was impossible not to claim insurance.   There is no way we can go to NEA and tell you, your trees, so you pay right???

Life sucks………

David came back for a 2 day short break on Tuesday and left on Friday again to complete the job.  The company wanted to make sure he had time to rest and spend time with his family after all he’s been away for almost 28 days.

The kids were anxious to see Daddy.  His flight touched down Singapore Tuesday night at 9.00pm.  They were so hyped that they refused to sleep despite next day was a school day.  I didn’t have the heart to ask them to go to bed without seeing Daddy so I allowed them to wait up for him and when Daddy came home, they kept talking to him.

Wednesday, David sent both kids to school (I took a break from kids fetching).  He sent me to work and we had breakfast before I went to work and he too went back to the office to submit his claims and reports .  I took Thursday off to keep him company.  We spent Thursday leisurely dining and walking around town.  David needed to get some stuff for his trip and we went hunting them down.  We also went round the island hunting down the JetFire transformer for Rayner’s coming birthday.  How can we get something for Rayner and nothing for his precious princess.  He saw a baby boy doll at ELC and immediately bought it for her.  If I was the one who bought it, I would have bought the baby girl doll but Daddy remembers that her princess already has 3 baby girl dolls and she ever told him she wanted a boy baby.  He remembered…..awwww…it was so sweet of him…..lousy mummy couldn’t remember and come to think of it, she did ever said that she wanted a boy baby before.

It will be October before we get to see Daddy again and the very day he left, the kids were sad but it was a good 2 days we spent together.

I have to say that althought it was only a short short 2 day break, it was great.  Our family bond actually got stronger because absense makes the heart fonder.  Now I truely agree with that phase.

And the kids, they truely miss Daddy.  And he really misses them too.

It was kinda sad to see him leave again and knowing that we will only get to see him in another 28 days or so later but it just takes getting used too.