Chinese New Year

Two weeks after leaving Singapore for Hong Kong, we're back again for Chinese New Year. Prior to coming back to Singapore for Christmas and Chinese New Year, I was very excited and happy because this would be little Ba Ba first Christmas and Chinese New Year in Singapore. Well, Christmas came and left and we had great fun catching up with the family. But there was something that made us a little sad as we left Singapore.

Babe's 3rd aunty didn't look well at Christmas dinner. She had been feeling kinda sick and rundown for a while. Babe and I were just talking about how sickly his aunt looked over Christmas and we were hoping that she'll be able to get well soon. But who's to know what could happen. Just one day before flying back to Singapore, we got news that Babe's aunty fell, hit her head and had a blood clot and in a matter of a week or so, she went to heaven. We were in shock. Well, everyone was in shock. We made it home for the vigil and burial services.

That led us to Chinese New Year that seemed to be a little sombre. As we celebrated, we were reminded of Babe's 3rd aunty's absence. There were sadness around as Babe's mum and aunties talked about it. Sure, we know that she's in heaven but there's still grieving. We're praying for the family to heal.

This Chinese New Year honestly doesn't feel much like a Chinese New Year. Each year that comes, Chinese New Year seems to be losing it's lustre. As kids, we loved CNY. There were lots of food, visiting, hanging out with cousins and lots of fun. But as I get older, things seem to change. I guess grandparents, granduncles and grandaunts passing on might have had impacts on the celebrations or that we hardly visit people anymore. Or maybe it's that we've moved away for such a long time that we've lost touch with people, that made a huge difference too. Babe even mentioned that maybe we shouldn't fly home for both Christmas and CNY. But to me, that's the time that I really want to spend with the family. And especially now that his grandma is so old, we should try to be home more so that she'll be able to see Josias more.

So this CNY has been a little bittersweet. Nice to be home with the family but at the back of my head, I wished that 3rd aunty didn't have to be home with the Lord so soon. Anyway, that's enough of my rumblings. Happy Chinese New Year! Oh, please don't be mistaken that I don't like CNY, I actually enjoy CNY because I get to fly home to send time with the family and get to see my relatives too.

Time for Ba Ba to Start School

So it's finally time for little Ba Ba to start school. It's not something that I'm looking forward to. I dragged my feet with the application process till finally this week, I could no longer put it off any longer that I went to the kindy and dropped off the application.

When I dropped off the application, I wasn't surprised that I was told that little Ba Ba has to attend an interview. But still, I wasn't ready for him to deal with the stress of attending school at such a young age and the stress of the interview. At the back of my head, I was what if he fails the interview? How would he feel? I don't care if he fails the interview. But then again, he wouldn't know that he failed the interview, right? Because he's too young to understand.

Anyway, I had the conversation with Babe. We'll just apply for one kindy and if it doesn't work out with that kindy, we'll just keep him home for another year. And a year later then apply for a couple other kindies that we have in mind. We like having little Ba Ba at home. Currently, he goes to a couple of playgroups and he spends the rest of the time playing at home and we are happy with what he does.

On the topic of education, I want little Ba Ba to have a childhood. I want him to enjoy school and not be stressed up by trying to get all As. To me, I want him to look back and remember that he had an enjoyable childhood and no matter what his academic results were as long as he tried his best, his parents love him. Yes, education is important but character development is more important. So what if he aced throughout his education but he doesn't have morals and he turned out to be a crook. I'd rather him be a mediocre student and have a simple job but he's a moral man. Yes, you might think that I'm naive to think that way but that's what I really want for little Ba Ba.

So little Ba Ba, all Ma Ma wants for you is to be a God fearing man and that's all that matters.

First Post of the Year

I noticed that I've not as written as much as I had in the past on my blog. Wish I have more time every day but since the arrival of Ba Ba, my blogging and even my time surfing on the net has been greatly reduced. He takes the bulk of my time apart from work. Not that I'm complaining. So now back to blogging.

How was 2011 for me? 2011 started with lots of crying at home. Yes, we were blessed with little Ba Ba and January saw us learning to be parents and we are still learning to be parents. There were times that were frustrating but it was and it still worth it. The first 6 months of the year was also hard as we could not travel with little Ba Ba as we were under probation. But God was good. He brought people that we love and miss to us. We had family and friends that visited and ohhed and ahhed at little Ba Ba. It was very heartwarming to know that when we couldn't go to them, they came to us.

Summer rolled along and we had little Ba Ba's papers finalised and we flew home! Ba Ba took his flight. I was kinda worried but he did well. No complains at all. July also saw us taking our first trip alone without Ba Ba. I've always wanted to go to Maldives and it was exactly as I wanted the trip to be! Awesome! I got to see Eve too in August and we celebrated little Ba Ba's birthday in Spore too.

The rest of the year rolled on and frankly, there was nothing more that I wanted for the year. The year was perfect and there's nothing that I was like to change. A fantabulous year! And if 2012 can be as fantabulous as 2011, I'll be glad! Here's to a great year ahead!