flocked at Jurong Bird Park!

we went there yesterday and were lucky enough that we got around the whole park before it rained. phew!

walking along the Flamingo Lake

on the little bridge over the water

at the Fuji Hawk Walk

the ugliest bird i’ve seen, Shoebill

more pictures coming up!!!

2 weeks ago, we went to Malaysia, purely for visiting my relatives. it has been so long since i last saw any of them. and the mosquitoes. YES!!! the mozzies were so brutal that…urgh, i don’t wish to say. but the trip was fun, of course. it was Fateha’s first overnight at village experience

not sure of what to do with this hairy fruit!

a very healthy size of pomegranate

the pictures say it all. bad bad mozzies! feasting on poor little city blood

granny brought her out to see the geese and goslings. Fateha didn’t wanna come back inside!

need me to update ya blog, mom??? it’s full of cobwebs and dust!

LOL! i love this picture because she was full of enthusiasm while watching her little uncle playing games. like she understood every single thing. i was also amazed at how she managed to sit on that stool, steadily, and balanced herself well. good job, darling!

Hubby said he’s planning for another village trip next year. probably around the same time – december. by then, i wish to see Fateha walking on her own and running amok,  chasing the chicks and ducklings with all her might!

you will, babe. you will (“,)

i was melting a lot during Fateha’s physiotherapy and occupational therapy. no, it wasn’t hot in that room. my heart melted each time both therapists (at separate timing) acknowledged Fateha’s improvements and progress, without us hinting. i mean, i didn’t want to tell them all the good things Fateha’s done at home but she’s not showing any during the therapy sessions.well…u know what i mean!

she walked with the aide of the gym ball on her own!

she tried working on sticking the tubes together

now moving on to me

i was itching badly to use the Metro vouchers i received from my best friends. so we; hubby, Fateha and myself, went out last friday to have dinner at The Banquet before heading towards my shopping spree. i felt like choosing all the shoes in Metro but too bad, i only had $80 vouchers. hubby was kind enough to help me choose and he chose pretty ones too after i turned down a lotta suggestions of shoes from him. LOL. sorry hubby, some of them were just not for me.

and not to disappoint my friend, Kirsty, here is the picture of my new heels there were two colours; brown and black. hubby said i didn’t look good in black. so the brown, it was!

i dunno. i just LOVE strappy shoes or open shoes with a lotta straps. i got big toes and wide feet so i can’t wear those pumps where my toes can’t breathe without any openings. in fact, i can get breathless too, which i dunno why haha. i’m sure my nostrils are not anywhere near my toes. plus, blisters are inevitable! i hate them. gotta get more hassle-free shoes.

oh yea!

we had an appointment to make Ankle and Foot Orthosis (AFO) for Fateha at the hospital.

no those are not the AFOs. it’s the stain from the moulds. we made the moulds first from plaster and oh boy, did she give a big cry. the orthotist, Uncle Joseph, said 99% of kids who came to make AFO for the first time cried. so, it’s not new to him LOL.

when Uncle Joseph was done, i thought we could collect the AFOs on the same day. but he said it’d be ready in 3 weeks time. dang! i thought we could put them on Fateha and show off LOL! we will be collecting them on Xmas eve.

may Allah bless my little pixie!!!

we went to the hospital this morning for Fateha’s hearing test, for the second time. the first was done about 8 months ago and although the results were normal, the doctor there wasn’t too confident. she said preemie babies may have problems occur later. so we were reviewed today!

the ENT clinic looked cool with all the xmas decorations and murals on the walls. it so reminded me of my classroom. while we were there, a female staff was bending over, cutting and pasting and outlining the murals. i felt like going up to her to help haha.

waiting time was the crappiest. waiting for the doctor to prescribe the medication to sedate Fateha, that is. the nurses and other staff were ok, just the doctor. grr! i shall not nag elaborate on the tardiness of the doctor, attending to us for less than a minute after waiting for him almost an hour. WHY??

she didn’t take the sedation well. we struggled cos she wouldn’t cooperate while we fed her the bitterness. she tried to throw up on us and regurgitate the meds but of course she couldn’t get it done. HAHA. she got slightly groggy and we stocked her up with milk and off she went to the lala land that easy.

we went into the audiology procedure room and the doctor patted the bed that Fateha had to lie on. we were told to wait outside for about 1 hour while she ran the tests from Fateha’s brain stem. hubby and i took the golden opportunity to be together and had our brunch at the cafeteria.

we came back just in time for the doctor to call us in. Fateha was waking up and still looking drowsy. and for the results:

NORMAL

we didn’t have to come back for a review so there won’t be any third round of tests this time, unless we want to. which of course, we didn’t want HAHA. we’re crossing our fingers that her hearing will be normal for the rest of her life. looking at the hearing aid price list was like digging my own grave. never mind!

we felt very blessed for Fateha’s achievement. one problem down!

but many more to go.

yea, i realised that i’m leaning towards that group of lazy bums.

i’ve been plagued with workloads, now that it’s the end of school year, busy packing, cleaning up, meeting the kids’ parents and returning their belongings. and the management will be sending us to seminars and workshops and whatnots. i got no holidays at all! (bluff)

anyway, just a quick update

got myself a new handphone!!! woohooooo. i have been so uber jealous of my hubby eversince he got himself a touch screen handphone. mine was quite old. but people said good things come to those who wait. and i was lucky that i waited for 22 months when i received a card saying that i can get a Samsung touch screen handphone at $0!!!

unbelievable. i called the company to get it delivered to me and they did it very fast. the following day, i received my newest ‘baby’! the smile on my face still visibly plastered all over. it was hubby’s turn to get jealous! *evil laugh*

and congrats to my cousin for getting a promotion, from a senior teacher to principal. kudos to you, babe! you deserve it please don’t ever forget me, your ever loyal and faithful cousin.

a couple of wednesdays ago…i stepped my foot on the Singapore Flyer for the first time!!!! woooooooooo!!!!

the kids really enjoyed themselves, including me, and they thought they could go on a second round. poor kids, they were so happy to be in the flyer. one even asked if we’re going up, up, up to the sky because she wanted to touch the clouds. i wonder what was going through her mind.

Fateha had her therapies today. she was doing good but on the whole, still needs a lot of support to close the gaps of her delays. we saw Dr Tammi Quek, a doctor in Children Development Unit, who encouraged us to enrol Fateha into Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children (EIPIC).

as soon as we were told of the activities available in this programme, i thought i wanted to register her asap! but the waiting list was super duper long, so we might have to wait for at least 6 months to get in. it’s ok then, the social workers will be helping us in the application.

all these pictures are taken from Rainbow Centre, one of the schools that offers EIPIC. and it’s VERY near to our house! so i’ve asked Dr Tammi Quek to help me get Fateha in that school. hopefully we’ll get a place for her asap and start the programmes.

the thing is, i’m getting sick and tired of people keep telling me what to do. their intentions may be good but i don’t think they understand my feelings as a preemie mother. as soon as Fateha get into this, i’ll tell them she’s already in a school that offers ALL kinds of help and let’s leave it at that!

*grumbles*

we followed hubby’s family to Pontian, Johor Bahru, Malaysia last saturday. it was great!! i love the ‘kampung’ feeling, escaping away from the hustle and bustle of a city life. we visited hubby’s grand uncle’s home.

she just loved to watch the chickens run around

i brought her inside the chicken house to see more ‘chicks’, shashaying in front of the males LOL

i love wax apples, esp when dipped in black soy sauce and sugar

daddy brought Fateha out into the yard where grandpa has dug out some tapiocas, fresh from the ground

we love Tok Hamzah’s backyard!!!

hubby caught a grasshopper!!! he’s back at being a little boy again

we absolutely loved the trip to Pontian and i wished that we could stay longer, at least for another day. i missed waking up in the early morning dew in a laid back kampung like these. the last time i had stayed longer than a day in a kampung was waaaay back in 1999.

anyway, we already have plans to go back to experience another kampung life in december. we’d be visiting my mom’s foster sibling who lives in Sabak Bernam, Selangor, Malaysia. it has been a very long time since i saw her last in her very laid back, wooden humble abode.

can hardly wait!

last week, on the eve of Diwali, the big boss bought many cones of henna. days before, i heard that she wanted the kids to have henna drawn on their hands. i thought that wouldn’t be a problem to me, since i LOVE henna and i do it all the time.

then, all teachers got 3 cones each. the cones were huge, i tell ya, but i didn’t manage to get a photo of them. i thought it would be good if i brought home one of the cones to test the henna paste. and guess what? i was lucky that i brought one home. after i snipped the tip, i found myself straining to get the paste out of the cone. not even a single dot out. and i checked, the cone was very very thick, that’s why. i rolled my own cones and transferred the henna paste.

and the next day, i drew the henna on the kids. even the boys wanted to have ‘em. LOL.

but of course, they chose different designs. flowers would make them look sissy haha. i didn’t like the after effect of the henna paste. they dried out very quickly and they didn’t stick well on the skin. the kids kept running back to me for another fill up for the ‘dropped out’ henna. i got so freaking mad! i hated the henna.

then i thought it could be the air-conditioner, since our classrooms were fixed with those. yea, i was confident that the air-conditioner was the one behind all these drying ups. since there were plenty of henna left, i brought them home for my own usage LOL. hey, i got permission for that!

design was very much my own but the flower was inspired by Magical Mehendi

the paste didn’t turn out good on me either, considering that i have no air-conditioner at home and i thought the temperature would be warmer, good for the henna to release a darker dye. but no ho way! the same thing happened to the kids, happened to me too. the paste dried out ever too quickly and they didn’t really stick well. when i bent my hand, it would crack and drop off my skin.

anyway, i love the swirls that i made. hehe. i thought it looked nice. and now, let’s wait for the stain. i hope it won’t disappoint me

we had another road trip yesterday with our friends. we wanted to set foot on another beach in Malaysia that we’ve not been to and hubby decided it to be Air Papan Beach in Mersing.

it’s much nicer and there were more food stalls than the one we went to in March. but anyways, beaches are always the best places to relax. we also dipped Fateha in the salty water. she cried at first but eventually decided that it was useless because we didn’t seem to care. LOL!

hubby had a very fun time too, swimming and dipping himself in the waters, without removing his contact lenses. he claimed that if he didn’t feel any pain in his eyes, it meant that the sea water was clean. this was also another reason why he wouldn’t swim in Singapore beaches.

“we’re VERY tired after the swim……zzzzzzz”

Hubby and friends before we’re heading back home.

Wives and Girlfriend

our Car mascots, Leo and Moo

goodbye Mersing, you sure do have a beautiful beach. we’ll be back, for sure. when we got the time, of course. Ta Ta!

the journey back to Johor Bahru(JB) was not good at all. i had a throbbing migraine and i was nauseous. Fairozi thought i was pregnant. hah hah. not at all. anyway, once we reached JB, we went to Pandan City to have our dinner. we had Naan with Keema which only cost us RM 3 a piece. how affordable! and Wan’s BBQ Stingray at only RM17. we couldn’t get this in Singapore. they were so affordable that we would want to come back to Pandan City!