Sum Where Out There

Yesterday, I had a gathering with Roy and Sebby @ Sum Kee .

I have always wanted to try that place but didn't really get the chance to do so. So when suggesting for the meet up location, we decided to have it there this time round.


It has been a really long time since I saw them. The feeling was SSBD (Same Same But Different ) . We connected very easily even with such a long hiatus and were mostly on the same wavelength after spending so many years as bunkmates. We are extremely comfortable with each other.


Those private, familiar jokes flowed easily. However, there are also some changes in personality/lifestyle like Roy's preference for smaller quantity of food *gasp* and Sebby taking the bus.


Different experiences over the years have also shaped us as individuals.


We caught up and updated each other on our life, family, job, world cup, soccer, Uber/Grab and spoke about start ups etc... remembering we almost started a drink business many years ago. It could have been a unicorn as Sebby ruefully commented.


Oh yes, food was quite good. We ordered the Ultraman Chicken, Hor Fun, Coffee Ribs, Four Seasons Beans, Pumpkin Tofu and a Bi Feng Gang Prawn (Off - menu item) introduced to us by auntie. She seemed very proud of that dish and kept asking if it was good. It was. All the good food, washed down by 2 bottles of beer and the total cost is around $99.


There was another table behind us full of uncles reminiscing about the past, we sort of see glimpses of ourselves in them, 20 years later...


Our dinner lasted around 3 hours and after that Roy sent me home.


Thank God wifey is looking after Kai at home and that allowed me some time off for this gathering. when I reached home wifey asked if my tank was being refilled. My answer was a definite YES.











Wifey's Birthday

A Meaningful and Fulfilling Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. I started the day very early because I got to feed Kai. To be able to do this, is definitely one of my greatest blessing in life.

he loves to lie against our chest after feeding

I usually do not sleep long after Kai's 2nd feeding so I decided to go for my exercise which I have not been doing after Kai is born. As we now have a helper , that frees up a bit of our time and I am glad to resume my exercise routine gradually.

It was a nice morning and the air felt so fresh at 645am (seems like it rained the night before). Quite the perfect time for a workout.

The 1st view I have when I do sit-ups



This is the 2nd view

After exercise, I went up and wash up. Had my breakfast and QT and spent time with wifey and Kai.

Kai in his new smurf outfit from grandma-preparing to go out

We tried on the Tula Baby Carrier and this time round, Kai seems fine to sit in it. We have adjusted the carrier to a bigger setting and maybe it is more comfortable for him now as compared to a month ago when he refused to settle down.

love the bird prints and olive colour of the Soar carrier

Took a pic before going out

After washing up, we grabbed a taxi to NUH for wifey's gynae checkup. We had planned to bring Kai to visit the nurses of Ward 48 to show our appreciation and to let them take a look at the baby they have been "taking care" of, a few months back.

We also wrote them a little thank you card and presented a box of merci chocolate.

It was heart-warming to see those familiar nurses like Joan and Carissa carrying Kai. (too bad other nurses like Mimi, Jessa, MaryAnn, Huifang and Ameer were not there) They have played an important role in this whole pregnancy journey.

Ward 48 Nurses

After leaving ward 48, we headed to woman's clinic and managed to meet Nurse Yong. She was very surprised and happy to see wifey with Kai. She is another person whom have helped wifey in her pregnancy as she is the nurse whom wifey felt most comfortable with, administering those weekly progesterone injections. She is the gentlest of them all.

Nurse Yong with wifey and kai










with MOMMY@@!!



with Daddy@@


 

Mommy simply loves this blanket on him..


We got Prof Mahesh a single shot cappuccino from Starbucks before we got to see him.
To see Prof cuddling Kai close to him was such an endearing sight. We are most grateful to him walking with us through this journey.




He kept saying "so nice, so nice..."



After leaving NUH, we took the train over to Star Vista with the intention to have dinner at Sazeirya. To our disappointment, it was closed due to their ordering system being down. We were famished, so in the end we settled our dinner at Texas Chicken and headed home after that.


At night, wifey secretly arranged for deb and folks to surprise me with a cake. In normal circumstances, I would have suspected she is up to something but because I was too tired after a long day, I didn't. I had wanted to go down to collect the mail when I saw them approaching and singing Happy Birthday...lol..

Very nice, what a perfect way to wind down the day, my 40th birthday. Thank you Jesus, wifey, Kai and my family who made it so special.

Every Bitter Thing is Sweet

Currently, I am reading this book “Every Bitter Thing is Sweet” by Sara Hagerty.

 

I bought this book for wifey many years back but didn’t get down to reading it myself.

 

Recently, I started to do so as part of my morning routine devotion. (to fill up the gap of time which I have, after feeding Kai and before leaving for work.)

 

I am a third through it and I think this book is literature gold. It is indeed beautifully written, and I am learning to savour every word in it.

 

Sara Hagerty has that gift of expressing in words what many people may be feeling and thinking but are unable to verbalize out themselves.

 

I intend to read it slowly and not rush through it so that I allow those words to sink in.

 

I also bring the book out wherever I go so that I will not look at my mobile phone while commuting which I think is a waste of time and data.

My Early Birthday Meal

😃⊙🌝😶😉😉Last Friday was a public holiday (Hari Raya Puasa) , wifey suggested that we go out nearby for a quick dinner to celebrate my birthday in advance.

 

I was surprised by wifey’s ad hoc plan but it was a very good idea.

 

It seems like a long time since we went out in such a manner. As much as we love Kai entering our life, we are thankful to be able to have some time to go on a simple date as well.

 

So with folks and our helper tending Kai for a while, we went over to Ma Maison @ Anchorpoint for our dinner.

 

We tried out wifey’s new Redmi Note 5’s camera and took some wefies..

I like the depth of field effects

 

And we had their meat platter

A Fathers' Day Special

we also tried their sausages, escargot and squid ink curry tendon.

This is just nice to fill us up

 I also had an Asahi

smooth

while wifey ordered her mango juice.

After dinner, we strolled back home…

to spend time with our darling Kai.

当下时光

I am not good with my Chinese, I always struggle to read Chinese books as well as articles.

 

However, I plan to expose myself more to reading Chinese so that I can be more confident and competent to guide Kai in his school work in the future.

 

For the past few months, I  have been listening to 96.3FM and  noticed that their use of the language is rather poetic, and it piqued my interest in the language more. After all, Xin Yao which the station often play is a celebration of the local Chinese language and culture.

 

Their tagline is 当下时光 which means the present moment . Their station ditty is very catchy and meaningful and  goes along the line that the present moment is the most beautiful.

 

Listening to that station I sometimes capture some nuggets of truth. Just a few days ago, a listener wrote in and say that the 2 major stealers of joy are  比较 (Comparison) and 计较 ( to focus excessively on something, being calculative etc )

 

It is so true, when we compare with others or focus excessively on often unimportant matters, we find it very hard to appreciate the present.. what we have, how we are doing seemingly pales in comparison with what others put out in FB. This is very true in the season of parenthood where insecurities can be at its height.

 

That is why I am learning to wean off social media, barring the occasional scrolling of soccer news. I will continue to put down my thoughts and sharing in this platform which is more private and personal.

 

I want to learn to appreciate the present more.

Walking Past the Biggest Prize

Walking Past the Biggest Prize ... lets come back stronger