Learning points

I've learnt that, when writing (or trying to write) a novel ...

1. one should not rush the story. It comes as it wants to.

2. writing in first person narrative is difficult.

3. 50 000 words is a killer. It's actually more than a hundred over pages. Was it two hundred? I forgot.

4. writing from existing characters is difficult. Because one has to keep to character, otherwise why write using existing characters?

5. I'm really bad at my tenses.

Posting here, because no face to go post in the LJ. Haha.

I'm that kind of person who writes a few lines then go and check the word count. Haha. I think I may not continue writing the story after November. No incentive. No motivation. As it is, I dunno why I'm even continuing to write, since there's no way I can magick up 40k words in 3 days, especially I have to work for the next few days.

I'm not even thinking of editing the story yet.

*****
The other thing which I had been thinking about.

It takes a certain kind of person and age to like a gucci bag.

:P

I've been shopping around with my mother, because she wants to get a bag. She said that 20 years ago, she bought a gucci bag for $300. She was shocked at the prices now. I said that a nice leather Tods bag cost over 2k. What does she expect? Duh.

So we went shopping at Gucci. I think I might start to like Gucci bags too. Heh. Wen already got one right? I want one too. :P Someday. Maybe when I'm slightly older. It takes a mature (aka taitai) look to carry a Gucci bag.

*****
The last thing.

I was a bit irritated. No, very much irritated, when my mom told me that somebody said that in times of this economic crisis, people should dig out their savings and spend. Spend. Spend. Spend. To stimulate the economy. Go for spas, fine dining etc etc. Can't quite remember what exactly, mom told me that quite a while back.

I was quite pissed off because.

1. We don't really need you to tell us what to do, do we?

2. More importantly. Of all the things to say. It's true that we should spend money to stimulate the economy, but to tell us to dig into our savings is rather ridiculous right? After all, savings are for like old-age, health-care or for more important stuffs, and not frivolous stuffs. And what with all the increase in basic necessities, GST not even lowered, and the risk of retrenchment, or pay-cuts or people already losing money in shares (not for me, mind you), I think it's rather insensitive and ... well, it just doesn't go down well with me. I mean, after all, you aren't going to take care of us when we're old and enfeebled right? You'd rather agree to euthanasia and for everyone to work until we die. Do not fall sick. Do not pass goal. You are to work for the economy only. And work for our pay.

My NaNo

This is the prologue to my story which I'm writing for my NaNo. But because I'm so much into Skip Beat right now, it's kinda hard to get into the mood of Ghost Hunt again. So I haven't been writing much, and the deadline to the 50k words is this Sunday. I sure am not completing it. Anyway, since the two kids are finally knocked out, and I'm bored enough, I'm posting just the prologue here. Tell me what you think. :)

Actually as I continue into the story, my grammar and my tenses took a huge nosedive and ended up being very confused. Very very confused indeed.

*****

The following story uses the characters from Ghost Hunt by Fuyumi Ono. Otherwise the story is written by me and whatever coincidences there are in real life are just coincidences.

Prologue

1st November, Saturday

It has been almost a month since the Agawa case. I am Taniyama Mai, high school student, 17 years old. I work as a part-time investigator at SPR (Shibuya Psychic Research), the Japanese branch office of the British Society of Psychic Research. Our office is located at Shibuya Street, on a second story of a small building. If you do not know where to look, you may not be able to find it, as we are not popular or famous at all. The office investigates paranormal activities, and as suspicious as that may sound, we actually do have business … sometimes, that is.

What with the attitude of our young boss, Shibuya Kazuya, 18 years old, most would-be customers would be pissed off, if not, intimidated away. Shibuya Kazuya, as he is known in Japan, real name Dr Oliver Davis, is a paranormal researcher with the British Society of Psychic Research. I call him Naru, short for narcissistic. He is extremely good-looking, extremely intelligent, and extremely confident. And he knows it too. His personal assistant is Lin, full name Lin Koujo, a Chinese from Hong Kong, who practices the art of Taoist magic.

With both of them back in Japan after their trip from England, life in the office is back to normal.

***

It had been a gloomy morning today. The sky was overcast and the wind was beginning to be chilly. I pulled my sweater closer to me as I ran from the train station to the office. Yikes, I was already late. In such weather, the best place to be is to be in bed, with the warmest blanket possible. I was late not because I woke up late, but I wanted to lie in bed a little longer. Sigh, I can just hear Naru’s sarcastic response if he were to know my excuse.



“Mai, tea.”

I stepped into the office and those were the first words I heard. Don’t ask me how Naru knew it was me. He was covered by the screen, and I quickly pulled off my scarf and took off my sweater.

“Hai, hai,” I replied as I hanged my outer-clothes up.

I looked over the screen and was surprised to see a visitor. Both the visitor and Naru were sitting on the sofa in the reception area, the visitor’s back was to me. There was a forbidding air around Naru and I can feel animosity emitting out from his black figure. He was also frowning. Yep, definitely in a bad mood.

The visitor heard my step and he stood up and turned towards me. I stopped in surprise, a gasp escaping from my mouth.

“H .. Hirota-san.”

“Good morning, Taniyama-san. It’s been a while,” Hirota said, bowing politely.

“What brings you here?”

“I have something to discuss with Shibuya-san.”

“Mai, tea,” a rather irritated voice interrupted before I could question any further.

That certainly accounted for his bad mood. No tea and an unwelcome visitor so early in the morning. I hurried into the kitchen to prepare tea.

Hirota Seigi (aged twenty-four) is a detective with the Zero Investigation Squad of the Japan Police Force. The squad specialises in the investigation of paranormal stuffs or any unexplained stuffs which the normal police force cannot deal with. For someone working with supernatural stuffs, Hirota-san’s disbelieving attitude towards paranormal things sure is a paradox. I wonder how he survived so far in his department.

We met Hirota on the Agawa case. He was disguised as a client’s brother but was actually secretly investigating Naru over the death of his brother, Eugene. I’m not sure how convinced Hirota was, by the end of that case, of Naru’s innocence, or whether he is still in disbelief of the existence of ghosts, spirits and the likes.

Anyway …

“So what brings you here, Hirota-san,” Naru said as he sipped his tea slowly.

“As I said earlier, I had a case which seemed unusual and I would like to ask for your advice.”

Naru remained silent, as Hirota placed a piece of paper on the table.

“This is a photocopy of the original letter. Please take a look.”

I craned my neck forward to peer from behind Naru’s shoulder as he picked up the paper and read it:

“I have finally mastered the strength to write a letter. My body no longer exists in this world. I had died and was given a funeral. My death was neither suicide nor accident. I was murdered. Unfortunately I could not see who the killer was. Someone pushed me from behind. Desire to know and to have revenge is keeping me from passing on. Please help me.”

A chill ran down my spine. The last time the spirits have asked for help was in the Urado case, and that case was not pleasant at all.

I glanced down towards Naru as he placed the paper back on the table. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at Hirota.

“And you expect me to believe that this is not just a prank?”

“Here is a photocopy of the front and back of the envelope in which the letter arrived.”

The address on the envelope gave only the words: Police. Central Ward, Tokyo. Of course, it would be delivered. The envelope had the proper postage which was stamped with the date: 1st October, last month. The return address was Nishikawa Maiko, Itabashi Ward, Tokyo.

“This was the first of the letters which arrived. This letter was recovered from the corner of the room of the police officer who had thrown it away upon opening it. It was fortunate that this letter missed his wastepaper basket and ended up in a small corner. By the time the fifth letter arrived, the police officer started collecting all the subsequent letters and passed them to his superior. He also managed to find the first letter with the envelope, but unfortunately the rest were thrown away.

My department was given the case last week and I was assigned to be in charge. A letter with the same contents arrived everyday with the morning post. However, yesterday we received a different letter.”

Opening his briefcase, Hirota took out two more sheets of paper and placed them next to the first two papers.

The words on the letter were large, erratic.

“I am very tired. I will have my revenge. Someone must pay for this.”

The envelope was dated 30th October. The address and return address were the same.

“After I had received the case, I had done some enquires. This was what I have found of Nishikawa Maiko. She was seventeen at the time of her death. Her death was recorded as a suicide two years ago. Her body was found washed up along a river. She was an orphan who stayed and studied at a local boarding school which doubled up as an orphanage. According to the reports, her death was ruled as a suicide. There were evidences that she was depressed at that time, and a note was left behind, which indicated that suicide was the most likely cause, but now with these letters … ”

Hirota massaged his temples as he frowned towards the letters.

Naru cocked his head towards Hirota. “This appears to be more of a police case. I’m sure your department will be more than capable of re-opening the case and investigate the claims the letter has written.”

Hirota looked unhappy at what Naru said.

“I had gone down to the local boarding school to find out more from the staff. There had been some strange and unexplained occurrences in the school for a while. What I need to know is whether such a letter … is it really possible to be written by a spirit?”

“Does it matter? Whether the letter is written by a spirit or by a living person? You can still investigate the claims.”

Naru looked at the pained expression on Hirota’s face, and took pity on him.

“So what are these strange occurrences?”

Hirota opened his notepad.

“The teacher counsellor I spoke to mentioned that the school building has a history of being haunted. There have always been rumours and stories of students seeing ghosts, or hearing unexplained noises, and things moving by themselves when no one is around. However lately, such unexplained occurrences seem to be happening more frequently. She wasn’t sure when they start, but a student was hurt by broken glasses, another was pushed down the stairs, writings on walls appear mysteriously. Those were some things she heard but it seems that there were more.

Also, she had given me a sample of Nishikawa-san’s handwriting and I’m sending the documents for analysis. If the letter is written by a spirit as claimed, then not only do we have to re-open the case to investigate, we also have an angry spirit to contend with.

My department would like to humbly request your help as you are an authority in this area.”

Hearing that, I can’t help but burst out, “Does it mean that you now believe all these paranormal stuffs and ghosts and spirits and that Naru is not guilty of his brother’s death?”

“Mai,” Naru said sternly as Hirota winced from my outburst.

“But …” I looked at Naru as he shook his head almost unnoticeably.

I could see that Naru was curious about this case.

Hirota looked down at his shoes. “That is neither here nor there. However if …”

Just then, the doorbell chimed and a lady came in.

“Miyoshi-sensei …” Hirota was surprised.

*****
If you have read up to here, please compliment me. Haha. I'm fishing for compliments. :P

Why I hate Lego x 100

At the end of the day, I had enough. All the stuff went back into the box and the box had been confiscated. He'll see it when he is six years old.

That was after I counted to make sure all the pieces were there, went hunting under bed and under the sofa for the missing pieces, and broke my back fixing up a 6 to 8 years old helicopter for him.

Which he then proceed to crash the 'copter and smashed it on the floor.

I don't care if there are any missing pieces.

They'll go into the vaccum cleaner tomorrow if the lousy maid is careless.

She can't even iron the curtains properly. I had to do them. And hang them up. Because she also can't hang them up properly.

The son is an expert blackmiller. He loves to ask if you are happy. And there can only be one right answer. Otherwise he'll cry. And he'll ask it when he knows you're angry with him.

Well, right now I'm angry with him. And he knows I'm angry with him.

So he's playing quite quietly by himself. I guess he's okay as long as I am not playing with his sister.

Thank god for my mother who came down after she heard both of them crying loudly over the phone today. Although she's glued to the TV most of the time.

Why I hate Lego

Buying a set of lego for 6 to 8 years old is a no-no.

On one side, the little one is screaming her head away just because.

On the other side, the big one is screaming his head away just because.

The little one wants to be carried? Wants to sleep? Is hungry? Is dirty?

The big one's 6-years-old Lego helicopter has its propeller dropped off again x 100 times.

Or the tail dropped off.

Or the propeller dropped off again x 100 times.

*sigh* x 100 times.

Maybe I should just indulge myself with retail therapy and buy that Tods bag.

Luckily I told the son that I dunno how to fix lego. Wait for the daddy to come home and fix for him. Otherwise, the 6-years-old lego helicopter set can change into a fighter jet plane or a propeller plane. And woe be me, if I have to change it for him x 100 times a day.

As it is, I'm fixing the propeller on the helicoper x 100 times already.

Maybe I should go and see what's nice at Tiffany too.

Tempers a bit short

When one is with the kids all day long at home, one can eventually be driven up the wall.

Especially when the older is hyper-active and digs out toys after toys after toys, and the younger somehow just cries all day. And you want to do the spring cleaning.

*sigh*

My back hurts. I can't go for my massage cos' who is going to take care of both kids? Mom complains a lot when I leave both of them with her. My back hurts from carrying the younger one. Trust me. She's heavy. The difference between her and her brother is that she's so much softer (not so firm, muscles that is) at that age.

I need a haircut and a proper hair treatment. So I ended up cutting my fringe myself, and making a mess out of it, because the younger was crying at the same time. Did my aloe vera hair treatment though. Gosh, when was the last time I did that? I remember last time Wen and I were crazy enough to even buy candlenuts, fry them and put on hair. Heh. I missed a papaya wrap though. That was really good.

I missed a nice massage and a nice wrap and a nice hair treatment and a nice pedicure.

So two more medicated plasters for my poor back. I'm afraid to put more than two each time because the last time I did, my son developed some rashes after breastfeeding.

Am so not writing for my NaNo anymore, because by the time I'm free at night, I'm just brain dead and zombified, and all I want to do is to vegetate, read and watch animes.

Favourite anime is Skip Beat. I went to buy the manga. One volume only. In Japanese no less. Because I figured that since the mandarin version is in traditional Chinese characters, it's a bit hard to read anyway, so might as well get the original. I'm against getting the English version anymore, because it's simply too fake. I'll wait for the sale and get the whole series. Yeah, I'm that crazy about it.

But it's really funny.

I like Nodame too. It makes me want to play my piano. Started learning Schubert Sonata in A because the piece was played in the anime. Played really sweetly. Am still learning to play Sibelius Romance Op 24 No 9. It isn't really difficult, more like a Chopin rather than a Liszt. I was afraid it was going to be like a Liszt when I saw Anton Nel's Youtube recording. But the score didn't seem so difficult. I went down to the library to get the score and met Xel for tea. I wish I could get a new piano. Hubby told me to get it tuned, but it's not just the tuning part. *sigh*

It's going to be hard to stop work next year. I don't really want to, but then there's no one to take care of the kids. It's also scary not to be working. The money part, the freedom and expectations.

We got a new car. I'd love to have an audi. I'll miss this old Renault. It's so damn solid. People bang into us also no need to repair. Ha. I remember I banged someone's boot and her boot totally crumbled. My front hardly had a scratch. Hubby had the left back door banged up twice, and never got it repaired. Gosh, four years fly so fast. The car is now making funny noises, that's why hubby wants to get a new car. If it were me, I'll drive till the car is on its last legs.

I'm lucky both my kids sleep through the night.

I need to start losing weight.

A dismal world

You know your brain isn't functioning very well when you start keying in wrong userid and password. Hmmf.

NaNo has been quite dismal, since I haven't written anything since Sunday. Check out my synopsis here. I really ought to start to write even a bit, but have been busy with other things.

Met up with fellow blogger yesterday. Been a looong time since I've last saw her, except for her pics in MSN. Gosh. The last time I met her face to face was before I had my son! Waah. Talk about super long ago. Was talking about why I don't feel like blogging anymore. Mainly because no one reads my blog. Haha. Then again, another reason was the gag I enforce myself. Can't write about work, can't write about hubby's work, can't write too much about kids, can't post pics of kids, can't write about politics ... so basically there's nothing to write about. My interest blog is on my LJ. I hardly write anything there either. But if you're interested and you know me, drop me an email or MSN. :)

Caught up with the gossip of what other bloggers are doing. Stuffs I used to read last time. Which I don't now, only those links I have on my sidebar. Some of those links also needed to be updated. Well, perhaps when I have more time, I might change a few links over there.

Damn, I get more comments on my posts on my LJ than here. *mutter*

Heh heh.

Anyway ... just a thought ... perhaps what we really want is just an apology for losing the money, instead of a shove-in-your-mouth that you ought to be thankful that there is a profit. WTF.

Long time no post

Yep, long time no post. Been busy with work, the kids, work at the clinic, and finally a new project. Was influenced by some people in LJ and started on NaNo. That is actually a competition, sort-of .. I mean, to write a novel of 50 000 words in one month. In the month of November. That is. Now half the month has gone by, but I don't have 25 000 words yet. Arrgh. I'm way way behind, and I doubt I'll have the time to complete anything.

I'm posting stuffs over at my LJ. So if you wanna read my story, which is basically a fan-fiction, which means I'm using characters based on a published source. Of course credits are given duely to the author. People who know me might know which characters I'm using. Hahah.

I've got a new craze now. I love Skip Beat. :)

Ranting mode - ON

I have been using my steraliser for two years with my boy. When my girl came along, I took it out of storage and happily used the expensive equipment again. Until I assigned the maid to do the steralising. Now, the steraliser is broken. What am I supposed to think?

The floor, even after mopping still feels dusty.

My clothes have holes. And the thread has been worn thin after a few washes. Hubby's pants edges frayed. Threads came out of the cloth.

Baby's clothes still smelt of milk and vomit even after washing.

I'm starting to get real fed-up.

Chronicles of the Empress Dowager and the Dinosaur

The Empress Dowager doesn't like to sleep in her three-inch thick mattress in her cot. Nothing but the best, and the best is the one-thousand dollars thick mattress. Right smack in the middle too, all wrapped up warmly in her blanket. Otherwise she'll sleep fitfully and cries loudly. But when the Empress Dowager is sleeping happily, the Dinosaur will appear and start stomping around the palace. Stomp stomp stomp Grrrraaaaoooow. Of course the Earthquake wakes the sleeping Empress, and we're back to square one.

Empress Dowager sleeps a lot. She sleeps through the night, from 9pm to 9am. She sleeps through the day too. If she wakes up before 9am in the morning, she'll need to have her morning siesta by 10am. Lately, she needs to be carried to sleep though. Let's hope that phenomenon is only temporary.

The Dinosaur is watching lots of cartoons. Mainly 'The Land Before Time' and 'Toy Story 2'. It's amazing how dinosaurs can watch the same cartoon over and over again and ask for the same cartoon again and again. Everytime when the Dinosaur is stuck on the computer (he watches the cartoons on the computer), there is peace in the world.

Man ... I'm tired.

Orange flavoured pocky is delicious! Yum yum. Very delicious. Must buy more. Goes very well with fresh milk. There are 5 sticks in one packet. Four packets in one box. Mummy and Dinosuar have them in the ratio of 3:2. And one small cup of milk. Food always taste nicer when one is snatching with someone else, in this case, the Dinosaur was protesting a bit when Mummy drank the milk from his cup.

Otherwise, I'm still hooked on Ghost Hunt and wish there are more of the stories.

Alone again

I sent my boy to his grandparents to stay for the night, and the maid went with them too. Mom was a bit grumpy about him staying tonight, because she wanted to go marketing on Saturday. I'm going out for lunch with Min tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to it. Damn, I'm hungry thinking of that. After that, I'd want to go shopping. It's the neighbour's girl's birthday tomorrow and PM's birthday at the end of the month. Perhaps I might be able to bring my boy back early to attend the party. But I'm not so sure how it would go.

My back aches. From all the carrying of my heavy boy. I'm carrying about 30% of my body weight. Now my lower back hurts really really much. On wednesday after school, I brought my boy to the botanic gardens. Wanted to let him feed the fishes with the bread but we didn't bring any since it was a spur of a moment visit. So I tried to find the much talked about children's garden. We walked for quite a while, so of course the little one gets tired and needs to be carried. No way were we going any further. Sheesh, I carried him up a slope, and all the way back to the car.

We went for ice-cream after that. I wanted to go Hagen Daz, and thought of visiting Xel at the same time. Drove round in circles to get to the esplanade. Drove round in circles to get back to the clinic. Haha. Damn hard to drive, read a map and handle son in back seat of the car all at the same time. The roads have changed so much I'm just not familiar with them. Good thing traffic was clear. Ice-cream was simply lovely, but I felt that I didn't have enough. My dearest son loves what I like. And he eats a lot. I mean a lot. If I want to eat anything, I must eat my share FAST.

That is why tomorrow's dim sum lunch must not have son coming along. He'll eat all my share as well! *bleah* So of course my girl will come with me. I hope she sleeps through the lunch! It's a bit hard to breastfeed and eat at the same time. *sigh*

I got a bit addicted with online shopping and bought a lot of stuffs for my two kids. All thanks to my dear neighbour. Heh. Not her fault entirely, but she knows I so love to shop. Damn, it's so fun to put things into the shopping cart. And it's a bit different from shopping irl. It seems a bit surreal. And the cash amount just adds up. The stuffs are so cute, you just don't want to put them away. So I got a bit carried away and went to look up other sites to shop. Like some cute Hello Kitty stuffs. So I added lots of stuffs into my shopping cart. Fortunately, there's no way for me to ship them back here, so that one's just for fun! :)

Meimei's sleeping so soundly. She sleeps through the night, thank goodnes for that. I'm a bit worried though, because she doesn't drink as much as I felt she should be drinking. Like she can got for 7 hours without milk, then I get real worried. But hey, she looks like she's still all right. Think 97 percentile and all that. Must go weigh her again to ease my worries!

Being All Alone

The little one is sleeping peacefully. She can sleep for long stretches, unlike her brother when he was at her age. The bigger one is out with his grandparents. This is peace. Peace I hardly ever have now.

So I cooked my very simple lunch of udon and steamed shumai. It makes a whole world of difference buying the udon twice as expensive as those I usually get. This udon is those found in the frozen section. Very chewy texture. Yum!

Here's a picture of my lovely lunch.



I made some jelly too, last Friday. And added kiwi fruits in it. The jelly was a little big hard as I used agar agar powder. I think I need to add more water? Or maybe use jelly powder instead of agar agar powder? My boy loves it. That makes me happy. :)



I poured orange juice over it. Honestly speaking, I'm not really partial to jelly. It's just so much fun to make.

Hubby has said that it's not so nice to post pictures of our kids on the blog. I tend to agree with him. So as much as I want to show the whole world how cute my kids are, I must desist. Ah well.

My dsyfunctional family

I wanted to go out for dinner to celebrate with my colleagues today, but my mom told me last minute that she wanted to go out and could only take one kid. The bigger one who is easier to bring out. After I've asked if she could take care of them both, and she promised to, and I had told my colleagues that I'll be attending. *sigh*

Now why did she have to go? Today she rushed home so as to pack lunch for her son. Her 28 years old son. Who is going overseas to work. Who wrote out a list of essential things to bring then dump the list with the mother and expected her to get for him. Whose mother had to worry about him getting a flu jab and bringing the appropiate medicines. Who expected the mother to pack his luggage for him.

I do not begrudge my parents going overseas after he settles down, but all these preparations should be done by him himself. So today after my mom rushed home, she called me to say that he would be going for dinner with his friends after all. They were supposed to go shopping for stuffs for him. I mean, can't he even get his own stuffs himself?

And my mother told me that because she was not around, her sons were not able to have breakfast in the morning. Like it's my fault for keeping her away from her sons. Geez. Hey, we aren't talking about school-going children here okay.

Next time, my kids will make breakfast for me and for themselves.

It's not that difficult to take care of both kids actually, just tiring. And hubby doesn't come home till so late. Although I really appreciate my mother helping me with the kids, the way she goes on and on about it sometimes drives one crazy. It's more stressful listening to her.

The government wants its citizens to have more kids, but what's the point of having kids if one does not have time or energy to spend with them? If you don't have time to spend with the kids, don't expect to come home from work and have your children running to hug you because they miss you. Bah, they won't because they don't even recgonise you. And when you're working so hard, by the time you're home and have free time, all you want to do is to rest and have your own personal time. The government wants mothers to have more kids, and continue working after that. Is that going to work?

Phut phut ... the poo index

It's a lovely day today. Let's talk about poo. They come in many different shapes, colours and smell.

My dearest boy is now potty-trained. After a few canings and 'accidents'. I won't really call them accidents you know, after all, poo announces itself quite loudly, it's just that he didn't want to sit on the potty and pooed all over the floor. That's one gross factor 10 plus plus. Nowadays, he'll sit on the potty after announcing that he has a tummyache. And his poo is a LOT. Well formed, nice solid durian-like poo. Feels like durian too. That's what dear hubby said, after he had to pick up his son's poo off the floor. Euuugh.

And while he sits on the potty doing his poo poo, us poor mummies have to sit by him to keep him company and smell his really smelly poo poo. Reason being to make sure he completes his poo poo business, and not get up suddenly and drop the poo poo on the floor. That defeats using the potty right? (Trust me, it happened) So sometimes I'll read him a book (yeah, it's really a big long business), and sometimes I'll tell him a story. Actually I've only sat with him twice. Most times, he's at my parent's place. Timing, you know. Heh.

Now my dear daughter, she poos just about every minute. She sneezes, and phuts. She coughs, and phuts. She hiccs, and phuts. So there I was lifting her little butt, when she phut. The poo shot out with a force of a speeding bullet, fortunately, I had quick reflexes, and could feel the poo shot past the hairs of my arm. Splat, and it landed on the floor mat. Yellow runny eggy stuffs. Gross.

Life after two

I know I haven't been posting much nowadays. There're always other things to do when one is on the computer. Like reading other people's blogs, reading reviews an watching animes. Well, that is when the two kids are sleeping. Otherwise, my dearest boy will always be clamoring for dinosaur cartoons, which one has to look for them in youtube. The power of the internet! The power of YouTube!

The grandfather and the father have been showing him youtube vidoes of tanks and aeroplanes and lots of war stuffs. My darling boy has quite a violent vocab at two years and eight months. Also, the darling boy can switch on the laptop himself and I'm trying to get him to recognise alphabets by teaching him on the computer keyboard.

Fortunately, he still likes listening to stories and enjoys cuddling with me to read books together. *whew* It's quite scary what computer takes away from us!

The second one has been a bit neglected. Today she just had her first jab. Which should actually be done when she was one and a half months old. With our boy, I was very concerned about dates and stuffs, and he gets a proper assessment every month, plus we did all the weighing and measuring height and head circumfence diligently. We weighed our girl at one month, and she was about 5.2kg! Very big! Mom was already complaining that she doesn't fit into the bathtub! Didn't take her height and head circumfence though, and now she's two months already! Time sure flies.

My dearest daughter has quite a different disposition from her brother. She's not amused to be awaken at night for her feed even though it's been like more than four hours already. She's not amused when she's crying loudly to have a breast stuffed into her mouth. She's not amused when her diapers is soiled. She's not amused when she's not hungry but it's more than four hours and she needs to be fed and so stuff breast into her mouth. Gosh, her voice is loud and fierce. And she's not easily soothed. Unlike her brother. Cry, give milk = happy. This one, cry, cannot give milk. Must soothe first, generally by carrying (must be upright) and walking around and patting. *whew*

It's really not easy taking care of two. Mom still comes and help, and some nights, we send our boy over. Wednesdays and Fridays are school days for our boy. He is in the morning session, and we have been late for the past few weeks. *bleah* It's not really our son's fault, it's just that there's so many things to take care of, and the boy is not the easiest person to feed breakfast to. Fortunately, he looks forward to going to school, so there's no problem in that at all.

I'm glad that my boy adapts so quickly to school. It really saves a lot of headache. The first day in school, I sat in with him for the two and a half hours. The second time, he cried for an hour when I left. The third time, he cried for half and hour. The fourth time, he pulled my hand a bit but didn't look back when I disengaged and left. Nowadays, he hops into class, sits down besides his best friend, says things like 'I brought my police car today!' and never a look or bye to his poor mom. Heh. Not that I'm sad or anything ... I'm really proud of my darling boy. Of course the heart aches a bit since he didn't even say goodbye.

I'm so lucky that my mom is so caring and helpful. When we send our boy over, I could really spend quality time with my baby daughter. When she's here, she'll look after baby and cooks for us. And I could spend quality time with my boy. Or to get a proper rest = sleep. Nights isn't really restful. And when my mom is around, I could bring my boy swimming. We did that a few times already, and my boy has become a bit braver. He'll hold onto his floats, those long stringly ones, and I'll be a few feet in front of him. I also bought him a watergun to encourage him to swim, and he was so happy. The last time we went swimming, he toppled over into the water, somehow the stringly floats rolled under him and he slowly toppled - from upright position to lying back on the water and slowly starting to sink, after he lost his grip on his floats. I rushed to him, but you know how things are ... when in a hurry it became even slower! Heh heh. All is okay, he just got a bit of a shock, and the darling boy never even let go of his watergun throughout!

Will bring him swimming again when all of us recovers from runny noses!

Motherhood

It's really nice not having to wake up so early and rush to work. Life with the kids is so meaningful, yet sometimes it can be rather stressful, especially when the two of them cries at the same time. The big one should know better, and fortunately he's not like that all the time. Except that one night, just me and the two of them, and that wasn't very fun.

Anyway, the dearest son is a really good kid most of the time. Sometimes he does get jealous and scratches his little sister. But when I look at it, I see that he just wants the attention, especially that of his grandmother. He doesn't do that when I'm around. Except that one night when she cried non-stop, and he was trying to be helpful by beating her cos' she's naughty. *sigh* Of course that only makes her cry even louder!

He's an intelligent boy and knows what is right and what is wrong. It's rather amazing what kids know nowadays. I'm glad to be able to spend time with him.

Been watching the olympics. Didn't know that starhub had six channels dedicated to the olympics until 3 days before the end. Caught the rhythmic gymnast performance and am so impressed with the gold medalist individual, Evgenia Kanaeva. Her performance is so beautiful, so graceful, really a class above the rest. She seems to be dancing and floating, definitely deserves the gold medal. Catch her ribbon performance here. She performed the same dance in the olympics. The music is as beautiful as her dance. Photos of her here. I love her performance with the ribbon and the hoop best.

A crab, K Drama, Headaches

Just a few weeks with my little girl, and now I'm wondering if I should change her name. Emily sounds too sweet a name, and she's so grouchy in the morning, grunting like a dinosaur whenever she's left alone, or when she's dirty or hungry. Gee, she really loves to be carried at ALL times. My boy wasn't like that when he was little - he just drank his milk and went to sleep immediately. Not so this little girl. When she's dirty, she refuses to open her mouth for milk, and you have to clean her up before she'll drink. And after changing her diapers, she'll want her milk immediately and she starts yelling for it. So of course, after her milk, she'll poo again. *wipes forehead* ... Does that reminds you of Lucy in Peanuts? I bet she's going to bully her brother when she's bigger. Leonard is very easy-going after all.

Now I understand why all my galfriends are so hooked on Korean dramas. And my mom too. I watched a couple of episodes of The Legend with her, a couple of the daily 6pm to 8pm Korean dramas on TV with her, and I'm also hooked on them. I guess it's because the actors/actresses are really good-looking, and although the dramas can be quite long-winded, the stories are actually quite interesting. And it's all the romance stuff. And when you have nothing better to do, like lack of good animes to watch, you'll end up watching TV. So now, I'm going around either asking pple to borrow the K-dramas, or asking hubby to rent some nice K-dramas for me to watch. Heh.

My Whinings

If you click on the link to my very dear girlfriend's blog, you'll see a link to my blog under YP's whinings. Yep, I'm going to whine a lot. That's why one blogs right? To whine, because there's no one else to whine to. I bet Holly likes to whine a lot, and poor Biscuit has to be all ears for her.

Anyway, Whine no. 1. Mom disappeared off home with the big baby aka my son, and will not be back tonight. The difference between now and two and a half years ago when she does the confinement thingy for me is that she left me the maid. And dinner. I guess I'd better pop in more of those efficient painkillers tonight again. I think these painkillers are really good. They make you feel good, despite the pain all over. Today is only Day 4. Less than a week. Neighbour says she stays in bed for ONE whole week. Mom says I should stay in bed for one whole week too, but half-heartedly. Well, we can see how impossible it is when I'm all alone.

Whine no. 2. My nipples hurt like hell. But I'm still breastfeeding directly. Because pumping out requires: Step 1. Going down and storing milk in fridge. 2. Getting ready bottles = walking up and down stairs again. 3. Warming up milk = walking up and down stairs, and time needed while baby cries. 4. Feeding baby. 5. Washing and sterlising bottles = walking up and down stairs. I guess I can get the maid to do it, but I'd rather do baby things myself, and besides, it's rather tiring to yell for her all the time too. I still need to go down and oversee what she does. *sigh*

Whine no. 3. Hey, where are my birthday presents and birthday treat? *sob sob*

Whine no. 4. I want to go shopping. Didn't get to go at all!

Whine no. 5. I am working too hard and I am don't feel appreciated.

Whine no. 6. I want to go shopping. Got sale. :(

Whine no. 7. ...

One can never be prepared enough

So you thought you're all ready? The bag is packed, the nesting is done, work is completed, and you don't want to go back to work. And the waiting is just mind-numbing. And I'm putting on too much weight! And the cramps are just annoying. So in we went, and out she came. Finally.

25th June, a nice day to remember. The first thought was that, Whoops, she's dark! And she has lots of hair! Hubby is the kind who would count toes and fingers and check the ears are there. He was pretty worried because of all the bleeding in between, but I thought things were pretty cool right up to the end. My girl cried almost immediately and opened her eyes almost afterwards. And she's into the milk business two hours later. I always felt that my boy didn't take on to breastfeeding so easily because he was fed milk when he was brought into ICUC despite my insistance that he gets only breastmilk. Humf.

Anyway, so even if you're ready, my mom was not. Huh, so fast? That's her first reaction. *sigh* Anyway we don't really subscribe to the confinement foody thingy. All my mom cooks for me everyday is simply normal fare, except that she'll add more ginger and sesame seed oil. Pork and vege or fish, maybe chicken. Pork rib soup or herbal chicken soup. No prawns, no other seafood. And I don't feel so tired or in pain as the last time. Most likely because this time round, I'm popping the painkillers like water. It makes a whole world of difference when there is less pain. I was up and jumping like anything, and only when the painkiller wears off do I realise that I wouldn't have that much energy if I'm in pain.

Proper pain management is a very important thing.

Am trying to post a picture but there seemed to be some problems ...

I miss my dear boy

I realised that I haven't been writing about my dear boy for a long time now. I miss him very much, although life is like back to when I have no kids without him around. He's spending all his time at his grandparents' place and he watches lots of cartoons. I'm feeling quite unhappy about this, but there really isn't much choice is there? I remember last time when hubby and I discussed about it, we agreed that our kid should not be watching too much TV, as studies have shown that watching TV at an early age do cause ADHD when they're older. When my boy is with me at home, we hardly ever watch TV. The only programme I allowed him to watch, and it's watching with me is Animal Planet where I find it's soothing and there are lots of animals. Otherwise, sometimes he might watch some animes with me, but I don't really watch with him around, only when he's asleep.

So there he is, watching cartoons in the morning, my mom assured me they're educational cartoons, but still .....

*sigh*

Not that I spend a lot of time teaching him really, but most of the time, we'll be doing things together, like reading some books together, or playing some of his toys or painting, or just talking. He does not spend anytime with the maid at all when he's with me. But unfortunately, I can't care for him right now in my state, else I'll end up in hospital again, and this time my doc will definitely roll her eyes at me. It was so hard to get her to agree to let me get out!

My boy doesn't attend school. It was a bit regrettable that I had to withdraw him from his weekly enrichment class, but as I was expecting my second kid, and no one else wanted to bring him to class, I had no choice but to stop the lessons. My boy misses attending the school sometimes, but he has forgotten about it. Although sometimes he would carry his bag, put on his shoes and enthusiastically look forward to going to school. *sigh* Sometimes I feel so bad depriving him of such stuffs. One more month, and I promise to make up to him.

Nevertheless, he speaks extremely well and has a most logical mind ever. Cute things he would do:

In the car, he'll ask for the road directory, open the pages and proceed to direct his father which way to go. Go straight, turn right, turn left. Red light must stop you know. Papa, don't drive so fast. Drive slowly. Stop here. Etc.

We rented the rat chef cartoon on DVD. What's it called? Some Rat......(sp?) or something? It was a pretty funny cartoon, but it was a horror show for my poor boy. He watched with his eyes wide open, when the rats got attacked by the old lady in the kitchen, he clung to me so tightly like a koala bear and cried, and when I told him to cover his eyes and stop watching, he refused to close his eyes, instead he'll keep watching with tears running down his eyes, and kept saying nonono!

He cried and was sad when the papa rat and the hero rat was separated.

He screamed in terror and cried (but refused to look away or close his eyes) when the hero rat was chased in the kitchen in the restaurant.

After that I had enough, and switched it off and read a soothing book to him. Heh.

We also rented the cartoon CARS on DVD, and he enjoyed that very much. After which he took out all his toy cars and proceed to race around the house. Plus he pulled out the wheels on his model beetles and proceed to do change of wheels like that shown in the cartoon.

There was a three year old girl who came to visit her mother in the other bed, and she sang ABC to her mom. It was then I realised how impressive my boy is, for he can sing the whole song without a single mistake, with very clear and correct articulation at less than 2 and a half years old. Heh heh. The only thing my boy can't quite get it right is to speak proper mandarin, although nowadays he does know quite a few words, and the dialect as well. We're still trying to correct him on using too much singlish, but that's mainly our fault, because we use singlish ourselves. My boy may be very impressive in his vocab, but when it comes to numbers, he can't count for his life. He refused to count, he refuses to learn to count, and wild horses and chocolate bribes do not work on him. I guess when he's ready, he'll be ready for it.

I'm not sure if it's a bad thing not to send him to school yet. We haven't even looked at nurseries or kindergartens for him. I'm feeling a bit stressed about all this, but hubby seemed not too keen to send him to expensive schools (he doesn't want the boy to be atas), and I don't want to send him to playschools which are more child-care in nature - they're pretty expensive and they don't cover much if only in the morning. We tried looking at some church kindergartens but it's a bit difficult too. I'm not too keen on the Montessori, because they too are more child-care in nature, and there are so many different types, and there's no one to send our boy to school too. *sigh* I'm thinking that perhaps we'll skip the nursery all together, and just throw him a couple of enrichment classes, plus music class plus whatever he's interested in. How old do kids learn to read and write?

*stressed mother*

Now that I cannot spend much time with my boy, I feel that I'm losing him to lots of external forces. It's really so depressing, and I was looking so much forward to this time to bring him out to places with him and do lots of things together. *sigh* And why did this have to happen? I shall still blame the pple I work with for what happened to me. It's definitely their fault. So there. Humf. Not that they cared a single iota what happened to me. That's how it will be.

Hungry Hungry

Staying in bed all day makes one think of food. Now I have a craving for the Goodwood Park Hotel Durian Roll. Hmmm .... too bad, there isn't anyone who can get out there and buy for me. *sniff*

Home is definitely more comfy. There's music, when one's bored, there's work, and the bed is definitely most cozy. Of course, the downside is that I have to supervise my own meals, otherwise it'll turn out awful, like I went down yesterday and found that the maid did not turn up the heat on the oven when she roasted my chicken. Gah, she almost spoiled my lunch! I'm an extremely fussy eater. And of course, nobody will come and visit me at home, and the last of Min's chocolate was in my tummy a long way back. Heh heh. Still, one can't really complain since home is still the best.

The son has been banished to his grandparents, who take such delight in having him, that he has completely forgotten about his poor mummy who still misses him. It can't be helped, he's too energetic and everytime after spending time with him, things aren't too good for me. Don't wanna end up in the hospital again. My doc says I'm like a timebomb and I've got a feeling she's going to want me to induce again next week, but I'm so enjoying my holidays! It's rather bad to get baby out when she's still preterm ya?

So just lying in bed and listening to music, doing a bit of work here and there, and hoping for two more weeks of bliss.