Life of a yummy baby ... and now there are 2!!!!!

At Lewis's Dress-70s works-party, it's a night of 'Punk (&) Rocker(s) with Flowers in my Hair'. My weak attempts to look like cool Siouxsie and the Banshees ended up looking like some 80s "歌台" ge-tai or stage-performer for the popular 7-month hungry-ghost festival in Singapore, or even worse like a night-prowler on the streets of Soho. I should have invested in better-quality eye-makeup and hairspray! Lewis decided to go in his made-in-Malaysia flower-power shirt that he would normally not be found dead in! Compared to lots of other people that night, we both looked pretty normal I think.

There's Elton John in starry glasses, ABBA in tight-fit romper suits, some crazy psychedelic misfits and a few real flower-power hippies.





Some excellent makeovers include - a strange duo from Burgess's Clockwork Orange, some American punks, ....











and my favourite is this pimp in super-big hair! And I mean BIG hair. That velvety red costume with zebra stripes, matching my pink-leopard skirt, and the frills to thrill ... he should have been awarded the best 70s costume for the night. A true 70s star .... !

These days, Morgan enjoys making a kind of speech which is mostly made up of one word mainly - "gow .. gow ... gow ... gow ... gow". I suppose he could be already speaking Chinese or Cantonese because 狗 means 'dog' whereas 'dog' in Welsh is 'ci' (pronounced as 'key'). Morgan has always been fond of dogs but the fact that we don't have pets meant that he is still wary of them when they are nearby,especially big and loud ones. However the dog is probably the first animal he recognised because we have 2 springer-spaniels living next-door whom we see and hear quite alot. Funnily enough, a friend brought some animal toys round - an elephant, a bumble bee, a dog and a teddy bear - for Morgan at 7 months old. He didn't seem to show any response for the animals but his face definitely lit up when he saw the toy dog!


Then again, Morgan IS afterall born in the Year of the Dog (2006), like my father (1946) and my 'Bat Leong' (dad's sister-in-law). Forgot to mention - cousin
David aka Yang yang is also born in the Year of the Dog!!

"Babababa ... mamamama .... gagagaga".

He could always say 'baba' but I almost melted when he began 'mama'-ing over the weekend. Everything else is 'gagagaga'. Awww - how cute is that?! ;)

HAPPY NEW YEAR - Gong Xi Fa Cai to family and friends. Hope you all had a lovely reunion dinner on 初 夕 晚 and 年初 一 ! To Morgan's grandma : Yes! we all miss your fabulous cooking and really look forward to mum's home-cooked when we return to Singapore!

"恭 喜 发 财 , 红 包 一 个 来 !" is the sort of thing I remember my younger aunties used to say during Chinese New Year, when I was little. The statement translates to 'Happy New Year to you - and thanks in advance for your gift of my red-packet!' , which starts with well-wishes followed by a demand of the familiar kind. So the tradition of bribing for red-packets in that manner carries on for generations. After getting married I have earned the 前辈 or 'senior' status of distributing 红包 or red money-packets to the next generation such as my siblings' or cousins' children. Fortunately for me, my good excuse is the long-distance away from home. I used to think it does not matter what amount one gets but the thought of giving that counts. However in Chinese families, people tend to be more practical. I tried explaining this to Lewis that the best gift you can give to a Chinese is MONEY! 够 现 实 了 吧! haha ...

Anyway, it is the year of the Pig. Taken at the London-Brighton charity bike ride in July 2005. Spotted roaming about outside a country pub?


According to wikipedia, this is what they say about the year of the Pig :
"In China, the Boar ( 豬 ) is associated with fertility and virility. To bear children in the year of the pig is considered very fortunate, for they will be happy and honest."

I suspect that I was already pregnant with Morgan in this picture but I wasn't aware and not showing signs yet.

I find such statements funny as it reflects how literal the Chinese people can be when it comes to interpreting metaphorical ideas from the almanac. Just as my parents used to say, "Pigs' brains soup make your brains work better and fish eyes gives you good sight." By the way I remember eating a lot of those in Singapore but it is not such a popular delicacy in Britian. Oh well ... parents do mean well after all, so long as it does not kill you to eat it!

Captions from our weekend in Aberystwyth..... Amidst the crowds, the 大 头 娃 娃
(also known as the famous Chinese big-head puppet) and the Mayor of Aberystwyth stood out because of their fancy costumes. The difference between them is that this is the way the Mayor normally dresses when he goes out to meet the people.

Speaking of big-head puppets, I remember seeing them in Chinese New Year celebrations every year since I was a kid. I must say the abnormally big head used to scare me more than entertain!














A fine day by the prom ... while Morgan's watching the dragon dancers.

The pirate party at Freddie's house was a rave! Mums & babies came dressed up in bandanas and pirate-suit complete with pirate patch. I had a drawn-on moustache that was done with a black eye-liner. The quality of the eyeliner was so fantastic that it was already smudging from the beginning of the party.
After the party, I went to the petrol-station to top up credits for my mobile phone and totally forgot that I still had my half-smudged moustache on! The station staff saw me and laughed till his head nearly rolled off, thinking I'm mad or something. I was feeling so hilarious I could barely explain that I had just been to my son's pirate party.





What do we do with the drunken sailors?
I think some tipped themselves over!

Until the beginning of this week, I thought we've been experiencing the warmest winter ever. I mean it's already the beginning of February and Lewis has been cycling to work without a scarf, hat or gloves! But then again, he's Welsh and helps if a little bit mad sometimes. We've not had frost and I've not seen a drop of snow on any side of the Malvern Hills.




Morgan and I only wanted to collect some water by the springs and ended up taking a walk, making pictures of a truly gorgeous day!


















Then we had to climb up this hill just to see what's on the other side .... amazing view huh?


See the winter sun on our faces!

... and the gorgeous view from the bay window of our living room.







On Wednesday night we attended this pre-Chinese New Year celebration in Cardiff.

A HongKong Chinese friend Roma invited us over for a 捞 起 & 喝 茶 gathering with the Asian women community based around Cardiff. A bit like the Joy Luck Club or 闲 女 聚 乐 部 so it seems. It was great because in the 4 years I have lived in UK, I hardly get to know any Asian friends! I met 2 Singaporeans, 1 Malaysian, 3 Hongkies on my table and quite a number of other Chinese wives but not sure where they are all from.

For most of the time, we spoke in English but would swop into Cantonese or Mandarin occasionally. Most of them of varying ages, are wives of British counterparts or immigrated to UK for more than 10 or 15 years. Lots of chin-wag, eating, drinking and catching up on the local gossips. I am impressed with how the older women present themselves as a confident, vivacious lot. They had plenty of stories to share and were totally at ease with themselves until someone casually mentioned that 'Food in Singapore is very nice one right?' and immediately broke the ice for me! We almost went on all night about food amongst other things. Anyway it's really nice to see so many different Asian women from different backgrounds coming together and having a good time. I could do this again I think....



8 February 07, Thursday - It was the first day of snow that we had in the year. It started coming down at 1am in the morning. We were so lucky to have driven home from Cardiff last night because I wasn't even able to get the car out from my carpark drive this morning!









Lewis had to take the day off from work and spent all morning shovelling snow off the path.












.... while Morgan was just looking out and ... admiring the snow.
















Country-wide, many schools were closed for the day and the kids in our area went out sledging & toboganning on the hills. We saw this group from the Outdoor Centre trekking down from the hills, past our way ...












There were not quite so many cars on the roads because it was almost impossible to drive where snow had piled up.














Morgan crying at the bus-stop because the bus didn't turn up and so he missed his swimming lesson!




We decided to go for a walk to buy groceries like milk and bread from the village shop, which is only half a mile away. Saw lots of people walking too - from work, to the shops and home.













Fancy meeting Mr Snowman ...















Today, the snow fell continuously. It piled up a few inches higher than yesterday. 今 天 雪 下 的 特 别 大, 还是下 了一整 天呢！














View of the carpark and our garden. Snow was blowing in the wind when I took these pictures. I didn't want to sound dramatic but I couldn't help being inspired ...

Before I go on to post about pirate parties and Morgan's adventurous voyages - just to let everyone know that we are returning to Singapore on 5 March, yipee!!

公 公, 婆 婆, 太 婆, ... 我 们 太 高兴了! 想 到 又 便 宜 又 好 吃 的 抄 果 条， 拉 撒，酿 豆 副 ， 及 种 种 美 食 .... 就 有 点 不 停 流 口 水 的 感 觉!!!
(Grandpa, grandma, & great grand-ma ... we are feeling all too delighted in coming home. Its difficult not to think of the excellent food from the hawker centres of Singapore without salivating!)

As this is another big trip to celebrate my dear little sister's wedding on the 14 April in Melbourne, we will be stretching it to a long stay till the 22nd April. In between family, I really hope to see more old friends this time and enjoy the local scenery before coming back to UK.

As we've already flown Morgan with Singapore Airlines when he was only 3 weeks old, we must say that the service Morgan had was quite excellent. As I was already breastfeeding him, I did not need to feed him water or anything else exclusively, which was so convenient! If he gets thirsty/hungry/tired, the solution is the same - just put him to the boob, quite simple!

Of course, the other important bit we did was to try and feed Morgan during every 'take-off' and 'landing'. The sucking action somehow prevents them from getting upset due to 'altitude pressure' that tends to block their ears. It worked with us but I must also commend on how well-trained the SQ pilots were! They sure know how to bring you to a soft landing.

Morgan's first trip to Singapore at 3 weeks old.


Long flights are dehydrating. The more important thing is for mummy to drink plenty before getting on the plane. I remember drinking so much that I felt like bursting, and brought a 1-litre bottle on board. Well that was before British immigrations come down hard on terrorists smuggling liquid explosives on planes. Even so, my 1-litre on board did not last me through the 13 hours and eventually I had to smile my way through for extra glasses of water.


Walking about the plane on a long-haul flight was another important thing to do if one is to avoid thrombrosis - blood clotting in the deep veins of legs as a result of flying. So I wore extra thick thick socks and walked up and down the aisle like a madwoman whenever Morgan has his little snoozes.

Morgan enjoying the in-flight entertainment!



SO this time, Morgan will fly with the SIA girl again, though no guarantees it's the same one as last time! On board he will get his own meal, his own bassinet, and exclusive service from a dedicated stewardess. And he even gets his own set of blankets, pillows, bib, toy etc provided on the side for him. What more can he ask for? Besides his ticket is still only the cost of 10% of the adult fare, can't complain right!


Morgan keeping his eyes on his dedicated SIA Girl.



For the sake of being Singaporean there IS one thing I thought of complaining. It's the business with using the bassinet. Every time we encounter a turbulence, the SQ girl will walk up to you sweetly and remind you kindly to take the baby out, fasten the baby with seat-belts to yourself till the turbulence is over, which is not till the seatbelt-on lights are off! By the time you've gone through all that, the baby would've happily woken! I understand that this procedure is for 'safety purposes' but the SQ girl made me do it so many times, it just got silly. In the end, I found myself holding Morgan for the remaining leg of the flight because I can't be bothered. Otherwise, its like what the pilot would say -