My brother's Wedding

My baby brother Eugene got married to Nicole 3 weeks ago. He's the youngest in our family but he's not the last to get married...(Perry's wedding is just 2 months away!) Oh..did I just say he's my baby brother....yes, my baby brother who I can't imagine being older than 3 is now someone's husband. He's always our baby in our family. I'm very happy for them. Everything about this April wedding was perfect. Everyone was so blissfully happy to be part of such a special ocassion.

Eugene & Nicole, congratulations and I love you guys.

This is Eugene, he has grown into a wonderful, young man...

Ok, all I have to say is ~ GORGEOUS COUPLE...Totally photogenic...and soooo soooo in love...

A simple family photo

Standing (left to right): Perry, Jeryn, Nicole, Eugene, Jims, Me, Rebecca, Tian

Centre: Mom and Dad

“May God bless you with happiness, togetherness, love and laughter, too ....And everything else that makes this marriage, a happy one for you”

Her big yawns..so amazingly cute...

27 weeks 3 days - Routine check-up
It was amazing to see our girl again.. She has grown from a tiny bean to a 15inch and weighing 1.1kg. She gave us 2 big yawns today. That was definitely a cute sight to behold!.Our gyn also laughed along. He was determined to get us some good 3D pictures of her yawning, but when he switched to 3D, she was persistently looking away from us. It was absolutely hilarious and wonderful.

We wish we had recorded those special moments so that we could show it to her later. Dear, bring your video camera to our next visit, yah...

Question - How safe is 3D/4D scan? The doctors and the books will tell us it has not been shown to cause any harm to the mother and the unborn baby, coz' unlike x-rays or CT scans, U/S does not employ any form of radiation. What's your thought on this?

While 3D/4D scans provide astonishingly and breathtaking views of our baby's behaviour inside us, however, I still think that 3D/4D scans can be used sparingly, for instance, to see if there are any complications or to give it a detailed anatomy scan. Apart from that, it may not be necessary to do it at every gyn office visit.

End Times...Revelation

Someone came up to me yesterday and asked if he could have a last will and testament drawn up for him. I did not think much about it and thought it was just a normal thing to do, especially for millionaires like him. But it struck me when he said "you know la..2012 is coming and do you know that it's doomsday." Then, I said" Why do you need a will for it's end of the world?"...Hmm...

For years, there have been heaps of disaster films made based on the idea of a global doomsday event or doomsday predictions...the movie 2012 has indeed left a surpassing mystery, giving a clear date, leading people into embracing the "like-it-or-not, 2012 is coming" notion.

Recently I was also introduced to a short film. This film calls for an examination of what it means to be human beings on this earth? Where are we heading in terms of environmental concerns with the dramatic changes that are taking place around the world, signs of eminent collision between civilization and earth? Is civilization really necessary if we had to poison the earth, numb our senses, stifle our emotions, and destroy all things natural? These mind-boggling questions cause multitudes to wonder - would there be an end to all on this earth? If all is to end, will God be able and willing to re-create the world and human beings'

So, I think I should just blog a little about my thoughts on this. . I think it's relevant to make out a topic on End-times in Revelation...does it sound right in the first place? anyway....Though Revelation can be difficult to understand because it uses so many symbols, it actually provides a very simple description of the End Times as the early Christians noticed. For example, after reading Revelation and the rest of Scripture, can I say that the early Christians summarized End Times as follows: "[Jesus now] sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From then He will come to judge the living and the dead . . . We believe in . . . the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting". We do not evolve, we revolve within a cycle that goes from consciousness to unconsciousness to consciousness. It is if we truly believed that the purpose of life is 'life after death' rather then rebirth into higher realms of existence lifetime-after-lifetime. The idea is we must 'unlearn the past'. The destruction of natural resources via technology cannot be undone. If we want a green future to unfold, let the sunshine in and see a new day dawn in with the restored Garden of Eden when the Father Almighty returns.

Disclaimer: The opinion expressed herein are my humble thoughts :)

Kicks that made my day..

26 weeks
She started kicking actively at about 7.30am….she rested for awhile then started to move and kick again after I had my breakfast. I could feel her approximately 8cm above my belly button today. I don’t want her to stop kicking, but at the same time, I want her to rest. Mixed feelings, huh… I wonder what is she doing inside there right now? Is she sommersaulting, turning around, scratching my tummy with her growing finger or toe nails......I have never felt so good before.
I could not stay focus on my work the whole day, but just to feel her kicks and movements means the world to me. Honey, mommy and daddy can’t wait to see you.

Babymoon...

Jims and I decided to go for our babymoon before entering the third trimester.

We arrived at Bukit Tinggi Colmar Tropicale at around 12noon. Settled at 2500 ft above sea level, we expected some cool breeze but it was a scorching hot day.

We checked in at Colmar, it is supposed to be a replica of a collection of buildings from the north-eastern villages in France. The entire Colmar square does resemble Villach town in Austria. It brought us back to those days when we were in Austria, we talked about our expatriate life in Villach the whole time when we were in Bukit Tinggi. So, french-themed buildings?....urm...not so much, I guess.

Anyway, back to the hotel rooms, I think it’s time to learn our lesson, photos are always deceiving. Photo editing tools can do wonders.

We rested in the room for awhile before we had our lunch. There were only 5 restaurants to choose from and we ended up in a restaurant that serves only buffet lunch. Bukit Tinggi is definitely not the place to include in your food blogs.

We took a stroll at the square, took some pictures of the surrounding area, nothing but buildings and yeah, the bridge that links the main entrance to the square is the hotspot for photographers. We decided to try the free shuttle to the Japanese Tea Garden.

Bad experience and never will I go on the shuttle, I call it a truck. Feeling remorseful towards our decision, there was nothing we could do. The road leading to the Tea House was so steep, not to mention the rough and loud sounds coming from the truck engine. We were so worried for our lil' girl, ‘Will this affect the baby’, ‘will this affect her hearing development’, ‘will the sudden braking of the truck affect her’... these questions boggled our minds throughout the 10-minute journey up to the Tea House and the ride seemed to be taking forever.

When we finally reached the entrance of the Tea House, we were like ‘oh no, is there a sign that says pregnant women are forbidden in this place?'…if you have been to the Tea House, you will have to hike up a small hill slope which looks rather steep. Pregnant women should not even try this. No way I was going to do that. We both agreed that we should go back to our hotel. Jims was contemplating whether to have me wait at the station and he takes the shuttle back to the hotel, drive up and pick me up at the station. I suggested that that was not a wise thing to do. So we concurred that we should take the shuttle truck back together and never to come back again. Even if we do come back, it will be a trip with our girl.

We took a nap. It was time for dinner and we had roasted chicken pizza and pollo de funghi pasta. Food tasted better than what we had for lunch definitely.

Cracking our heads what to do for the night, we ended up watching a street/hip hop dance show by the Street Dance Academy…well, we are not into shows but if only we had the choice of what to do la.

We walked around the square, hoping to burn some calories. Jims took a few night scene shots, then we called it a night and went back to our room. We went to bed pretty early that night but I was wide awake the whole night, slept for 1 hour and stayed awake for 2-3 hours. The next morning after our breakfast, I was feeling feverish and weak. We went back to our room again and slept for another 2 hours before we checked out.

And oh, we did not visit the Rabbit Park. That was our babymoon, it was more of a relaxing trip for both of us. We had a great time.

Yeah, we decided to drive down to USJ to meet Jeannie and Lai Seng for lunch. The food at Tek Kei Noodle House in Taipan was good. Thumbs up for the food and price. Will go back there again.

I slept all the way from KL to Penang as I was just too tired and weak. But Jims was feeling fresh the whole time. He has just established a new theory of his own, I call it Jim’s theory – Here's one - Sleep for at least 2 hours before checking out from a hotel if you are travelling long distance. It helps a lot and I think he’s right this time.

A post will not be complete without pictures....Here are some snapshots...
My favorite pictures...