Ho Ho HO!

Merry Christmas!!!

Well we decided to celebrate our little Family Singapore Christmas yesterday, as we are off to the UK this week and didn't want to carry all the presents there.

You can see that I was getting into the spirit. Lara wanted to get in on the cooking action so she was in the Baby Bjorn so she could see Mummy at her culinary best. We had roast chicken (as in the UK we'll be having roast goose/turkey), roast spuds, roast sweet potatoes, surprise mash cauliflower and of course, a salad. Can't have a roast in Singapore without a cooling salad.

My sister and her two boys came up from KL, they didn't come up for Christmas as they don't celebrate it, but we had planned on this Sunday as being our Christmas day. But it was really nice to have family sitting around our table tucking into the grub. Mira and her two cousins, who are 8 and 3.5 (same age as Mira) had a blast. They don't get to see each other very much but it was great to see that when they do, that they get on very well. I didn't witness any snatching/kicking/ biting/not sharing which meant it was a great day!

Mira at the tree with Leia.

Yes, you'll er, have to tilt your head in the beginning to watch this. Oops.

Singapore Chainsaw Massacre!

The other day while I was out (I always seem to be out when these exciting events occur), there were some snake incidents. Next door's maid was busy battering a snake to it's doom, when she noticed that there was a black cobra in our garden. Being the great multi tasker that these Filipina ladies are, she hollered over to Jeane to let her know about the unwanted visitor in our garden, while not missing a beat on the snake's head.

So Jeane, armed with her "snake stick" was assuming the position (picture a woman, eyes not wavering from her victim, lightly running toward it, holding onto a long pole like a javelin thrower), when she thought she saw what the snake was heading to. A mouse. But a dead one. So if you're keeping count, we have one dead snake next door, and one dead mouse. Jeane was keen to add the cobra to the massacre count. But before she could get to the snake, it disappeared - slippery little buggers they are.

But oh yes, we got our 3rd victim. Not a snake. But, the baby mouse... Jeane, in her first rule of snake hunting (never take your eyes off the serpent), didn't notice the baby mouse next to the dead mummy mouse, and stepped on it. Not pretty is it. Poor little thing. Well the snake would probably have gotten it anyway.

Tacky or Tactful?

One thing that I'm very ashamed of is that I've ballooned since having kids. If I want to get to my pre-Mira weight then I have some 10kg (22lbs) to lose. That's a lot. It doesn't help that I've been sick and so when I was getting into a great rhythm with my exercise, that has now gone on the back burner as I recover.

I know I've put on weight. I only have to try to squeeze into my old clothes and the seams on the clothes groan and seem to say "you have GOT to be kidding me woman". I don't quite need any more reminders.

So it rather upset me today when I bumped into an ex client's wife at the doctors, and she didn't recognise me at first. She said "oh your hair's different, and you've put on weight on your face".

No way. Really? I honestly hadn't noticed.

And she's not Singaporean which any asian person will tell you, asians are not shy about commenting your weight. "Wah you so fat one ah" is a favourite line. Oh yes, they are in the tactless camp.

I get it. I need to shift this weight. But please don't tell me to my face. I'm breastfeeding a darling baby and I know I will lose it, but it will take me a bit longer than anticipated, because hey, I'm 37 and that's life.

Now - I wonder if this Natural Therapist can help....................................

Rockstar and Rockettes show cancelled due to illness

So about 3-4 weeks ago, Mira and I fell sick. Nothing major and not the H1N1 bug, but it was more like bronchitis for both of us. And as of today, Mira isn't back to 100% yet. Lara caught the bug but has bounced back faster than you can say "poor baby" and the Backer, well he hasn't caught a darn thing.

We went for the traditional western medicine, went on antibiotics but that hardly did a thing. More medicine and still, not much progress - for Mira anyway. I am 99% there. In the end, yesterday I went to a Natural Therapist. She combines Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which works on the meridiens of your body and essential oils. The TCM is the same thing that Lara has been too for her baby massages. It was fascinating. I grew up in a household where western medicine was the only thing we believed in, but now as a mother, I try to look for other cures that complement, or where western medicine seems to fail, to be the only method.

Today, 24 hours after Mira saw the natural therapist, her cough is no longer "wet" or "phlegmy" (that may not be an actual word but you know what I mean). That was the symptom that was lingering. Coincidence? I don't think so. My job is to give her daily massages that the therapist showed me, and hopefully by the time we leave for the UK next week Mira will be right as rain.