My aquarium broke in the middle of the night. In the morning, I woke up, I saw my hubby sweeping the broken glass. The cupboard that supported the aquarium gave up and the whole aquarium smashed onto my floor. Fortunately it happened while we are sleeping. Imagine if the children were there, they could have been hurt. :pray:

Poor hubby who is on MC had to clean up the place. We could save 3 fish out of 5. I was frustrated, my babysitter who was suppose to take care of Emily today, MIA. 😡

Enjoy the mess….

How many of you who have left school or college or university but still get haunted by exams? I thought I could escape from it but it seems not.

I have lots of nightmares about exams. The dreams were always about the exam time is running out and I have completed all the questions or maybe got stuck in the first few questions. A few times, I dreamt I had missed one box of those objective sheet and all the following answers were out of sync. I even dreamt that I totally forgot to study for the subject and went into the exam hall point blank. These dreams really give me sweaty palms. Anyone can explain or interpret why I am having these dreams?

Come to think of it, I never fail any subject in my University time. However I still do not understand why I have this exam phobia. There is one time when my monthly test was a total disaster. The test was simple, it was mathematics, I had to build up the answers with the formula given. I got nervous and started with the wrong figure, all the figures after that was wrong. Got an egg for that test. Fortunately they took the best 5 out of those monthly tests to add to the finals.

Enough about the nightmares because it will become a reality soon, let’s hope not. I will be getting myself certified with basic ITIL. It is a requirement for me to take it. With this course, I need go for lectures for 3 days, study, burn midnight oil, no shopping and sit for an hour paper at the end. :wall: It will make me very nervous. Jazzmint, who is already basic ITIL certified, send me some mock up exams papers and answers. It helps a lot to bring down my anxiousness.

Last week was the worst week I ever had. It all started with a phone ring. It was my SIL, she told me Emily’s school principal called my MIL, saying Emily had a febrile seizure. We rushed to the hospital as the principal brought her in. When we reached there she was back to normal but feeling nausea. I carried her so that she will not feel frightened. She vomited a little on me. Her temperature was stabilized as she was given the suppository. She may inherit my fit as I had so many episode when I was young.

The principal told us she was normal, body temperature was all right. I did check her temperature before I left the house. Usually in the morning, she can wake up with a temperature. It was 36.9?C. It happened, she fell and started vomiting, the jerk begun. Quickly, the principal send her to the nearby hospital. It is 5 minutes drive or less. The emergency team gave her suppository and gave her oxygen. The nurses told us, her fever reached 39?C and was blue. The sudden rise in temperature gave her the seizure. All her teachers freak out because it was the first time they ever witness a febrile seizure.

She had to stay in the hospital for further supervision. Her fever was up and down. I had to stay with her. It went on for 5 days. Now she has recovered. I have fallen sick myself.

In the hospital, the nurses can be very ridiculous. They come in after midnight, I don’t mind them check the temperature and pulse. They will wake me up to ask me how much milk had my gal taken. Please, I need my rest too. Come back in the morning and ask me again. 😡 Later they will come at 6am, with the medicine and ask to feed the child. They are so robotic. After, staying there for 2 nights, I had it, I kept asking the doctor for discharged. I took wad leave after the 3rd day, took my gal back to have a better rest and shower. In the end, due to lack of sleep or probably the germs in the hospital, make me sick with fever, headache and flu.

After much said, I like what Dr Greene said in his article about febrile seizure that “In fact, some evidence suggests that children who have had febrile seizures end up brighter than their peers, on average!” :clap: Now I have to supervise her and Tim closely when it comes to fever. Any mild fever, they have to take fever medication.

By the way, doctor said, haze is the cause of poor health in children. Many children admitted with high fever. I saw one child whose temperature reached 40?C. 😯 Avoid taking your child out if you can, if it is hazy.

I found this interesting Nemo Quiz. I am GILL but I really want to be Nemo. 😀 Have fun with it! :dance:

Which Finding Nemo Character Are You?

You’re GILL, the smart fish with sights on success.
Take this quiz!

I notice Tim have a humorous character in him. Last Saturday, I followed what Jess did. I asked my hubby to take Tim to watch Superman Returns while I shopped with Emily, since both like to watch it.

At the end of the show, I asked hubby how it was. He told me what Tim did that was really funny. There was an ad that made a cock crow sound like “Cock a doo”. After the ad, there was a couple of secs silence before the next ad comes on. Tim made a loud “Cock a doo” sound and everyone in the cinema laugh. 😆 Reminds me of children say or does the darndest thing.

Tim likes to act out whatever cartoon or TV program that he is watching. He will follow what the cartoon says or does. One time, Mickey Mouse was hugging Minnie Mouse, he came over to me and gave me a hug. I like watching him do that, he really make me laugh at times.

As for my shopping expedition with Emily, I managed to get 2 working blouse (50% discount with Mega Sales on), a teenage style T-Shirt and a nice skirt. After 2 hours, Emily got tired, she didn’t want to sit on the stroller and didn’t want me to carry. She always does that when she cries, she will like to roll on the floor. :wall: I managed to get her to calm down and took her to Sushi King to have dinner. She was fine after that. She wasn’t hungry as she was eating the corn kuih I bought. She finished 10 of it.

Malaysia moms to be may have 84 days of maternity leave. Currently it is 60 days. Let’s hope this goes through. Mothers should have more maternity leave to breastfeed their baby.

Oh well, I will not be enjoying this as I have already made up my mind, just to have 2 children.

Source here

A story of how I know twinsmom, due to sensitivity, I created a story.

Once upon a time, there are 2 cities whose queens (Xi & Jiang) cannot see eye to eye with each other. It was mostly due to the cities’ policy that causes a conflict problem. Xi’s policy is stricter while Jiang’s policy is loose, the people has freedom do think and ask.

Xi’s was furious when she looks at Jiang’s city. The way it was run. She couldn’t let Jiang get away with some of the policies that she condemns in her own city. She sent herself over as spy with some of her minister. She caused a big havoc in that city. Jiang’s people knew about it and that caused a flame war.

While the war was going on in the background, a businessman (Mun) came into the cities. Mun was staying in Jiang’s city for a long time and helping the people out. Mun had a few problems, which she cannot get help from Jiang’s people. She left and went over to Xi’s city. In Xi’s city, one of the policy is to know the city policy thoroughly before you can do your business. Xi and her ministers were monitoring the people movement. Xi or the ministers thought that Mun was a spy from Jiang’s city. Mun did no harm to the city of Xi, she wanted help and seeking help from the people of Xi. She did get good knowledge from the people of Xi.

One day, Mun receive a mysteries letter from someone unknown. In the letter, there were evidences of Xi and her ministers accusing Mun of being a spy and a lot of bad thing wrote about her. Mun was stress up due the problems she had and now she has been flame by the people of Xi. She confronted Xi and the ministers. In the end, one of the ministers asked Mun to leave. Mun shook off dust on her feet and left the land of Xi.

Mun started her own city, she continue her business. Often, she still visits Jiang’s city and continues that relationship. After a few months/years passed, one of the ministers of Xi, Ming came to Mun’s city. She made friends with Mun, Mun welcomes her. It blossoms into a great relationship. Ming is no longer a minister of Xi, because she couldn’t live with Xi’s policy. Ming builds her own city too. Mun and Ming become great friends.

After reading this, if you have any questions email me. Please do not disturb twinsmom, she is busy due to her family commitments. I know most of you are smart, you can basically work it out. Thanks.

Feel free to tell this story to your children.

We embarked the ship in Singapore and head to check in to our hotel in Chinatown.

Hotel

We got a dirt cheap hotel in Duxton Rd, near Chinatown called Berjaya Hotel. My hubby’s friend is a Berjaya Vacation Club Member. He sold 3N to us for RM80 per night. I asked the front desk how much it cost for an extra bed, he told me with 15% additional charges it cost SGD50, more expensive that the room. :sc: However the room size is just nice but a queen size bed. Daddy long legs have difficulty fitting in.

The hotel is a near to MRT stations and Chinatown. I took a stroll in Chinatown to get some cheap souvenirs while my children were having a nap with daddy. I bought 2 nice Chinese blouse.

Clarke Quay

We took MRT to Clarke Quay for a stroll. Beautiful night view. We dine by the river. I ordered Peking duck, something I miss for a long time. The food in Singapore has improved tremendously. I believed they imported quite a lot of overseas chef. There were a lot of varieties of food to choose from.

Duck Tour

We went to Suntex City for a duck tour. From the picture you can tell why it is called a duck tour. Basically it is a boat that can travel on land and river, like a duck. It took us around the Singapore River, we can see the Merlion, the Theatre on the Bay (MIL called it The Durian), Singapore City Skyline, City Hall and Supreme Court. There is a guide to tell us all about Singapore. At the end of it, he will give out a duck whistle (sound more like a fart rather than a quack) if anyone could answer his question.

By the way, I knew what his first question was, so I won a duck whistle for Tim. The question was, Where is papa merlion? The answer is the title of my next title.

We also got to taste the Singapore “new water”, recycle water from the sewage. My children love it because the bottle has a picture of a duck and they think it is duck water. It has some kind of taste, maybe it was psychological.

Sentosa Island

We are tourist right, so next spot will be Sentosa Island. Tim was very excited about the cable car. I thought he will be afraid but he was fascinated when he was on it. I was a little phobia on the height. He saw the cable car souvenirs sticker and next thing, he asked us to buy from him. It cost SGD7.90 and we didn’t get any. :giggles:

I got some discounted tickets from Matta Fair that cover return cable car rides, sky tower, butterfly farm, 4D Magix, Images of Singapore, Cinemania, Merlion, and Images of Singapore.

The images of Singapore improved with meaningful story line about how Singapore was formed. It has a magical show in the beginning. It was very well done.

The underwater world was just ok. I was so disappointed with the Musical Fountain as I was looking forward to it. It turned out to be a laser show instead of musical fountain. When I was young, I remembered how the fountain dances with the music. It was splendid. However it has all changed. Just too much laser and techno stuff. 😡

They changed the monorail system to bus system which was very chaotic. In the bus, Tim made some teenagers laugh. A bunch of young student teenagers came up the bus. They were very noisy and discussing where to go next. Tim took out his duck whistle and blow a few times. All of them laugh, one gal commented, hey X (one of the boy’s name), please don’t fart. 😆

Cab Stories

As we were riding on the cab, the cab men told us stories of their life. Many dislike the government and half the time complaining about it. However a cab man told us that he left his 15 years of vegetables wholesales job to become a cab man. Reason is the previous job took away all his quality time with his son and family. He quit for the family. He said that no point to earn so much and no time for the family. He is so right. :clap: He is also an expert in knowing how to see the freshness of the vegetables. It is such a waste and his knowledge can really make him a guru.

Singapore Custom

As we were exiting from Singapore, we need to get our passport stamped by the Singapore custom. The young lady officer looked at us sternly. She gave me a weird look that is very annoying. Anyway, I kept quiet. It took her so long to clear all the passports. Lastly she asked me how come my girl has IC number. I told her, now all birth certs will have IC number determined. She didn’t understand. What’s her problem? I am getting out of your country, what harm can I do to Singapore? :wall:

However when we came to the Malaysia custom, they just allow us to pass without any problem. It is so weird!

Dead Rat

I opened my back porch door, pungent smell came on. I walked to my washing machine and asked my hubby. Maybe there is a dead rat in the drain or something. Little did I know the dead rat was just behind me! Fortunately I didn’t step on it. I am not a person who would scream at dead animals. Anyway, I ask my hubby to take a pair of chopsticks, dump into a double plastic bag and throw it away. After that, I cleaned the floor with dettol. My hubby found another one at the corner. It must be the stupid cat who always climb in to my back porch and chased after them.

We went passed some fruits stall and Tim said something to make us all laugh.

Tim: I want to eat rubber tongue.

Mum & Dad look puzzled. :sc: Figuring out what he was saying. Suddenly…

Mum & Dad: oooooh rambutan! 😆
Tim: Rambutongue. Mummy Buy!

We never gave him rambutan before, I wonder who thought him that, maybe he learned it from school.

We went on a 3N Singapore-Phuket-Langkawi cruise (won from a contest) and spent 3N in Singapore. It was a great experience and bumpy vacation too. I am back, now I need a week’s MC to recover.

Logistic

My family flew down to JB on dirt-cheap AA flights on Sat night. The schedule was changed a week before departure to 1 hour earlier. Thank goodness for that, otherwise we will have to check into JB hotel nearing midnight.

We arrived JB about 9pm, checked in to Pan Putri, a nice spacious hotel. Next morning we took a cab directly across Singapore. There are certain licensed cabs that can enter Singapore. It cost us RM50 per cab. With family, it is better to take a cab, as we do not need to exit for custom clearance. Everything is done in the cab. The cab can only go direct to Queen St in Singapore and from there you can take the Singapore cab to anywhere. We went to Harbour Front to embark our ship Super Virgo.

A limousine cab is very costly from airport to Singapore. There are also bus rides from Senai Airport to Singapore. However with bus ride, you need to queue for custom clearance. If you want to save some money, it is better to take the airport taxi to any nearby hotel and from there, ask the hoteliers to call a cab to go to Singapore.

Similarly on our way back, we took a cab to Singapore Queen St -> Senai Airport (SGD55).

By the way, in this trip we went on cab, ship, MRT train, Sentosa cable car and buses.

Timothy

Tim started bad. He was fine when we arrived in JB. Next morning he had motion sickness as we were travelling to Singapore. He felt like vomiting and lost his appetite on the ship. He refused to take lunch. If he continue to refuse food, with tummy acid filling up, he will become worst. Mummy had an idea to coax him into eating.

Guess what make him alive? We went to the ice-cream bar and got him some banana split. How can anyone refuse a banana split? 😀 After that, he was back to normal. :clap:

By the way, Tim got 3 free Sentosa souvenir buses from special mystery draws. One for himself, one for Emily and one for his cousin brother.

Emily

Emily was worst. She has flu a week before we travelled and I thought she would be fine. Hey she finished a course of flu antibiotic, should be strong right? Nope, she had a bad urine infection. Totally lost her appetite, no breakfast, lunch and dinner. Occasionally after much persuasion she will take her milk. I have to feed her when she wants to eat. Worst is that, we cannot take any restaurant food into our cabin. We did sneak some muffins in. 😆

At Phuket, I did get her a bunch of banana, which she took. When we reached Langkawi, we took her to a nearby clinic. There wasn’t any paediatrician around in Langkawi and the ship doctor is hopeless, as he didn’t have any children medication. After visiting the Langkawi doctor, she seems a bit fine. She was sticky to me and always wants me to carry her, not the daddy. 🙁

When we reached Singapore, we took her in to the famous KK Children hospital, as she was not getting any better. After the examination, she told me that it was not serious and changed her antibiotic. It cost me SGD 65 for medication and consultation. The pharmacies that gave us the medication got confused with the doctor prescriptions. I was frustrated as it was late and the children haven’t had any dinner yet. After the doctor verified, we left without checking further. Later in the night as I was about to give Emily her medication, her new antibiotic was double (8.2ml) her normal dosage (4ml). 😯 If you were me, what will you do?

I didn’t give Emily her new antibiotic as her appetite came back after we saw the doctor. It was like magical. I continued her old antibiotic and she recovered. Thank God for that.

Super Virgo Cruise

The cruise was a great experience on a very beautiful ship. However most of the fun activities were around adult centric like gambling, disco, pubs and topless shows. First day, we had to get familiar with the places. It has from 4th – 13th floor. It is HUGE.

There were 3 restaurants where we can dine for free, Mediterranean International Buffet, Pavilion Room (Chinese) and Bella Vista (Western). The rest, we have to pay. There are Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Indian and Asian Bistro restaurant. There is plenty of food but most of the food is not appetizing to children. We went to the restaurants at odd hours to avoid the rush.

The ship was packed with people from all races, a huge percentage were Indians. There were many older folks and I bet they are on board because of gambling. I overheard some conversation on how their betting went in the casino. There were also BINGO running on certain hours and the jackpot was SGD24,000. I forgot to tell you that I don’t gamble, although I like to sit through a bingo game and watch people win.

There are tours which you can take when the ship embark in Phuket and Langkawi. Most of the tours are costly and in SGD. In Phuket, there is a shopping tour that cost 18SGD per pax. You can also book your own cab with a bargain to those places but make sure you are back before the ship leave.

There were free movies on board in the Picture House such as Chronicles of Narnia, Memoirs of Geisha, King Kong, Four Brothers and Fun With Dick & Jane. At the Lido, there were special gymnasts & dancers show called the Kingdom of Kung Fu and Tropicalia. They mixed dancing (samba, mambo & tango) with kung fu gymnast. Excellent. My children enjoyed it. Tim made a funny remark on their dressing, he said “Papa, power rangers”.

I brought the children to play at the children pool called the Neptune Wet & Wild. Funny the pool was with warm water. There is also a spa pool for adult. If I am not having my PMS (sigh), I probably will jump right in.

Fine Dine

Everyone is invited to a Gala Dinner on Tuesday night with a choice of 2-4 restaurants. We chose to do a fine dine in Bella Vista Western Restaurant with 3 course meal. Everyone Some will be dressed with formal attire. You probably think I am crazy to bring 2 children to do a fine dine. It turned out to be a great experience, except they didn’t use the right spoons or fork.

They were so well behave that the couple that sat behind us came over and complimented them. :clap: At least we didn’t disrupt their evening. They were from Australia.

More about our trip (Sentosa Island, Clarke Quay & DuckTour) in the next post….stay tune & enjoy. :dance:

Map of the Cruise Super Virgo Ship:

More cruise picture here.