How was your week?

My week was fairly good. And I think Johan would say his was pretty good too. The weather has been hot, as usual, and humidity as been at 90% and some days at 100%, as reported in the local newspaper. I'm not certain how they measure it anyway but it has been humid. You feel instant clamminess the minute you step out of the house.

Sera, on the whole, has been pretty well behaved. I mean, she only threw the TV remote control into the toilet bowl. After I quickly recovered from the shock of her act, I tried my best to drain the water from the control by flicking it several times. I then realised that was probably not the best thing to do so I left it by the bath tub to dry. It's been there for four days now, think I'd better check on it later.

And how was your weekend?

Mine was pretty good. Johan would say so too since this weekend we didn't spend it at a mall. We actually braved the weather and ventured to the souqs (markets) to run an errand for Sue Lyn. For you, Sue-Lyn, anything! Ha ha. We tried to find the Falcon Souq but failed. But we did pass the Animal Souq, which was a little disgraceful and unkempt. We, somehow, ended up at a Falcon Veterinary. Well, yes, you see, we do like to drop by once in a while to chat with the vet about falcons. Sera was, as usual, warmly invited by the vet to watch as he filed the beak of the falcon??? Hmmm, that REALLY got her excited. NOT. What got this girl a little excited was posing with the falcon. Her hand immediately shot out to stroke it and then, very nonchalantly, tapped its head, 'thump, thump, thump'. The falcon didn't flinch at all, but remained very gracious and remained calm ... hmm, this girl has no idea!

And ... it's just three more days to our departure to Singapore. To be honest, I'm a little fretful about the flight back, only because Sera will be strapped to me throughout the flight. But then again, what's there to worry other than to deal with it. So all you lovely people in Singapore, see you soon!

Yes, I did it! I threw the remote control into the toilet bowl.

I had lunch with Sera and a bunch of lovely waiters. I do not exaggerate when I say they did not leave our table the minute we sat down for lunch. Maybe because we were the only customers. Sera, of course, was thrilled to have all the attention. And since they weren't planning on leaving us alone, I took a photo of them.

Hello ... bird!

Half a cockroach

Yes it is cockroach talk again.

In case you guys are wondering what's up with cockroaches and this family, well, it's not a crippling problem just an annoyance, especially during summer time when even the roaches try to escape the heat and sneak through the crevices, into the air-conditioned houses.

So anyway, half a cockroach ....

Well you see, yesterday morning while I was preparing breakfast in the kitchen, Sera was wandering around the house hunting for little cockroaches to kill. Ha ha. No, that was seriously a joke. She was just wandering around, occupying herself as usual. I did pop my head out of the kitchen to check on her and found her in the toilet, settled on the new bathroom mat, I had assumed, playing. No harm in that since Johan and I have now made it a point to close the toilet seat lid, after catching her dung her hands into the toilet bowl. Don't all children like to do that anyway?

We had breakfast, it was a bit of a struggle though. She usually slurps up every spoonful of cereal, no resistance at all. Well, could be one of those days I thought. Nothing to worry about. After breakfast, we got ready for the pool and just before we headed out, I went to the toilet to close the door. You see, this toilet door is slightly malfunctioned. It doesn't lock properly when you close it thus Sera can easily push the door open, even if it is 'closed'.

So I was about to pull the door close when something on my new bathroom mat caught my eye. I looked closer and 'EEeeeeeeks' .... it was a dead cockroach, to be precise, it was half a dead cockroach. It was the bottom half, meaning its head and it's feelers were missing! Oh my goodness. My mind started racing ... Sera was in here a few minutes ago, on this same carpet doing something. I mean, why was she sitting on the carpet???

SHE ATE HALF THE COCKROACH!

I, of course, panicked, and remembered that she had been a little unenthusiastic about breakfast. Sera, by then was hovering about, curiously, at the toilet door. I quickly picked up the cockroach, well half of it, examined it to see if I could see any teeth marks or any evidence of it being bitten into. I couldn't gather much but the half cockroach felt very light ... dry and crispy. What's my point? Well, that could only mean that it had been dead for a while so none of that disgusting oozy goo that splatters out when you whack the living daylights out of them. I detract.

I called Johan immediately, of course. And in my highest pitch ever, I managed to report the incident. Johan sounded angry but I knew he wasn't angry with me, just worried for Sera. "MONITOR HER!"

'Gulp' ... that I did.

We still went to the pool and for a while, I even forgot about the little half cockroach drama. If not for Johan calling throughout the day, checking on me to see if I was monitoring Sera, it would have turned out to be like any other day. And correct me if I'm wrong, in many countries, the locals do eat some kind of roach for proteins as part of the diet. True?

By evening, Sera was still doing well, not suffering from any strange or foreign matter she may have consumed. I had parked my worry aside earlier in the day and well, Johan was probably appeased when he came back and saw for himself that she was pink and healthy!

So did she or did she not eat half the cockroach?

Instead of posting a photo of the dead half cockroach (ha ha, I jest ... did you think I would take a photo of it?), here is Sera seating on Opa's lap, eating green grapes.

Waking up at 5AM

When I joined Johan, here in Doha that one fateful night in January 2006, I was four months pregnant with Sera. By then, I had started to enjoy being pregnant as my morning sickness was OVER. Yippeee. I was an active pregnant woman and I remember waking up with Johan at 4.30am. Yah, talk about utter devotion. I used to crawl out of bed, into the kitchen, to lovingly prepare his breakfast. I would then kiss him goodbye and wave while he drove off into the early morning darkness. And, this woman here didn't crawl back to bed. Most definitely not. I would hop unto my yoga mat and do my practise for about an hour. But things have changed since Sera came into the picture. Actually, everything has changed! Ha ha.

Nowadays, Johan wakes up alone. Hey, that is a given since for the past year I was waking up during the nights, if not to nurse her, then to pacify her back to sleep. My waking hours have now become in sync with Sera's. Besides, Johan says it's too early to have his breakfast at 5AM so there really isn't any good reason for me to wake up that early.

Okay, from this paragraph onward, this post is going to make sense now because I was trying to give a nice prelude to what I'm about to share with you all - a resolution I made two nights ago. You see, since we came back from Holland, Sera has been, miraculously, sleeping through the night. That means, this mama here has been getting full stretches of uninterrupted sleep. It's been wonderful and though I've gotten used to being sleep deprived, I have to say, it sure feels good waking up, feeling rested and refreshed. So back to my resolution. Well, I decided that aside from getting more hours of sleep I wanted to go back to my morning yoga routine, which I tried to jump-start many times this past year but have failed due mainly to plain tiredness.

So the plan was simple, to wake up with Johan at 5AM. Yes, these days he wakes up 30 minutes later. He has concluded that it is most unhealthy to wake up before 5AM. Ha ha, go figure. Johan, of course, shared my enthusiasm and I knew he would MAKE SURE I'd wake up when he does. My first attempt at waking up at 5AM started on Thursday morning. Johan nudged me up but I had an extremely difficult time for two reasons - Sera woke up in the middle of the night so I had to attend to her and I was basically lazy. Anyway, this morning I did wake up when Johan nudged me. I was very eager to start my new morning routine (before Sera wakes up) and to ultimately regain some strength and flexibility in my body. I rolled out my mat, stepped unto it, took a breath .... and I was abruptly disturbed by Sera's 'wwahhhhhhh'. That is her wake up call for me.

Sigh.

I looked down, longingly, on the mat I was standing on ... hmm, maybe she'd go back to sleep. But her 'wwaaah-ing' only got louder, meaning she was done with sleeping. Shucks! So much for my morning routine.

So Sera and I started our day very early today. After we sharing a hearty breakfast of Cheerios with soya milk and kiwi, we headed for the pool, which was empty, of course. But it was very nice waddling in the pool with my duracell bunny, who was waving at the cleaners, gardeners and security guards. Yes, she is very thrilled that the pool area is walled with glass and not concrete.

It is only 10am now. Sera is taking her morning nap, which she hasn't for over two months now. That will only mean she'd be up ALL afternoon. Oh well, that's ok because Johan has his half day today. Hee hee. Over to you, babe!

p.s. By the way, with regards to my 'wake up at 5AM' resolution, it's still on ...

What is this????? Ok, I'm getting a bit morbid here but this morning, Sera grabbed this little elephant from my coffee table and whacked the life out of this little baby cockroach. And for sound effects, she went 'Ahhh ... ahhhh ... ahhhh'. Err, I think she was imitating Johan killing the bigger cockroaches. Opps!

At our front door, getting ready to walk to the pool. This morning, I did away with her swim suit (ok, I was lazy) but at least I didn't forget her swim diaper

In my opinion, contrary to what her swim teacher had advised, arm bands are a great necessity for easy enjoyment (for both mom and baby) in the pool. The arm bands gives Sera a sense of freedom in the pool. She'd hang on them and twirl and twirl herself in the water

Contentment ...

Down in the dumps

It's been a rough few days thus the absence of posts and apologies for this coming one, which I fear is none too interesting. You see, I had an attack of food poisoning last Wednesday and yesterday, a mild case of dehydration.

Last Wednesday morning, Amy and I went to a little Indian restaurant at the souq for some thosai and .... some seriously milky tea. Ah hah! That, I highly suspect, was the culprit. The tea was so milky that it tasted like it was brewed in hot milk. I knew I shouldn't have drunk it upon my first sip but I was silly and thus suffered horrible consequences for the next two days.

Ok, in case you guys are wondering ... is she pregnant, maybe? Well, it did cross my mind those two days. I was feeling so sick and so miserable, exactly the way I felt when I suffered two months of morning sickness when carrying Sera. But I did some quick calculations and knew that I wasn't pregnant so it was just a case of my bad relationship with lactose. That is not to say I wouldn't have been happy if I was pregnant. In all honesty, Johan and I would feel very blessed and even ready (gulp, I think ... I mean, who is ever 100% ready even if it's for second, third or fourth child?) for number 2. Anyway, I was feeling mighty fine by Friday afternoon and even went for a dip with Johan and Sera at our re-opened pool. The pool, I'm very happy to report, is sparkling with very clean and filtered chlorine water.

But there was a mild sandstorm yesterday afternoon and the temperatures went up high into the 40's. It was a messy day with too much wind and sand coming from all directions. We, together with Amy and Ted, spend a good two hours indoors, bowling. Don't laugh! It's not so strange, this thing called bowling. I mean, it does sounds very 80's but we had a very good time. Though after a while, I was wondering about the asymmetrical effect bowling was going to have on my body. Surely there would be harm in repeatedly heaving and throwing a 9-lb acrylic ball down the polished lane? Well, suffice to say, this morning I did wake up with a slightly aching body, especially on the right side of my body. And a bad headache, which actually started pounding hard last night. Last night, before we went to bed, Johan and I discussed the possible causes of my headache and queasy tummy. Ha ha, yes we do have very seriously unnecessary conversations just before bed. Anyway, we narrowed it down to my lack of fluid intake thus my apparent dehydration.

Sigh. So today I woke up feeling very unmotivated to start another day. I know, how terribly wasteful and even sinful to not embrace every new day! But despite feeling down in the dumps today, I still managed to give Sera a good time in the bath, played with her in the den, fed her breakfast and lunch, put her to bed for her afternoon nap ... and even did three loads of washing. A fairly productive day so far, I would say.

Today, Sera discovered the joy of an inflatable plastic globe. She was walking around the house, with the globe in front of her face, bursting with excitement.

About a dirty pool and a paediatrician

Since we came back from Holland, we're been busy settling back. It hasn't been too much of a hassle just a matter of getting used to the extreme heat outside, thus Sera and I have been hiding at home during the day. We would have loved going for a dip in the pool in the evenings but the pool has been closed for cleaning for a couple of weeks now. The last time I passed the pool, it was being filled up with water that was coming from a skinny hose of a tenant's garden. And what made me nearly balk was the colour of the water, it was a greenish grey. Geesh! Looks like we won't be using the pool any time soon. Well, until I can actually see the life-size mosaic image of the dolphins at the bottom of the pool, I may re-consider jumping in with Sera.

We also went to the paediatrician ( I sometimes wonder about the difficulty of the word that basically means baby doctor. I mean, 8 out of 10 can't really pronounce it ... ha ha). Sera was due for her 'well visit' and her 1 year vaccination. Sera, in general, doesn't like to be fussed at. She doesn't like her head to be touched, or the rest of her body poked or prodded at. So just a simple physical examination became a tussle, with Johan, myself and two nurses trying to restrain her to get some measurements. And to make matters more uncomfortable, Johan whispers loudly, "Bad, bad nurses!",into Sera's ear when she reaches out to him to be carried. 'groan'. I had to "quickly brush his comment aside with a chuckle assuring the nurses that Johan was jesting. But of course, we all know he wasn't!

So next, we went in to see the baby doctor for the 'well visit'. Basically, it's a pretty straightforward process whereby the doctor checks on Sera's progress, plots her growth chart and does a quick physical examination. I get a little tense especially when she starts throwing all those questions regarding her progress.

"Is she drinking from a cup"

"Err, no" (A cup! I thought drinking from a straw was pretty good progress already?)

"Is she scribbling?"

"Huh? Well ... no." (Is this doctor for real or am I really a bad mother for failing to give Sera paper and pen to scribble on?)

"Is she calling papa and mama, and knowing who is who?"

"Yes, she is ... I think? ... or but she says HI!" (That has to count for something right?)

"Is she still shy with strangers?"

"Oh was she suppose to be? Well ... she's actually very sociable and not shy at all with strangers." (Now that has to be a plus for Sera right?)

Anyway, the Q&A went on something like that and I was getting a little annoyed by the end of it, especially when she plotted Sera's growth chart and commented that Sera was a big baby. Yes, we have heard that before ... actually on every visit. And then, she goes on to ask the SAME BORING QUESTION, "Oh I wonder who was the big baby in the family?" This time, both Johan and I answered in unison, "Both of us!"

Come on, enough with this big baby talk! It's getting stale ...

Aside from feeling a little peeved, I do still think Sera's baby doctor is good and experienced, maybe a little overworked. Personally, I think if she was less methodical, she would be perfect.

Anyway, in case you're wondering why I have clumped the story of our dirty pool and our strict paediatrician together ... well, actually there's no good reason at all.

"Ah ha!, the paediatrician didn't ask about my fork skills, did she?"

Hmm, we still have to work on her habit of overturning her plate when she's had enough ...

Our flight back to Doha

A few days before our departure from Holland to Doha, Sera decided she was done with crawling, period. During those days, she would suddenly surprise us by walking unassisted to targeted destinations within the house. Of course, all of us would watch with bated breath, silently cheering her on. So by the time we boarded the plane for Doha, she was walking on her own, confidently. And that could only mean trouble for Johan and I.

You see, the plane, which was filled with so many PEOPLE was Sera's ultimate playground. Our peculiarly sociable daughter was on a high, trying to wave at everybody in the plane and with her newly acquired walking skills, there was no stopping her from personally going up to all the sleepy passengers. Once the seat belt sign went off (and believe me, it was a struggle trying to keep her strapped down during take off and landing), Sera would eagerly crawl out of her seat and begin her 'meet and greet' sessions. Johan and I would take turns accompanying her on her 'tour', just in case she got into any mischief. Most of the passengers received her with bemused smiles while there were some that simply ignored her. With the unfriendly ones, Sera took extra care to reach out to them, by grabbing onto their toes. Ha ha. I'm serious!

Needless to say, both Johan and I were very relieved when we finally landed in Doha because we were totally exhausted.


Before her 'meet and greet' session, Sera took a power nap

And away she goes ... notice some of the passengers sticking out their heads, checking out Miss Sera Ling

Okay, I placed those headsets on her simply because throughout the flight back, she was trying to get hold of it from me so when the movie ended, I placed it on her head and she was happy

Bedankt en tot ziens

Alas, our holiday in Holland has come to an end. So after four weeks of visiting with family and friends, we now return home to Doha, where the real summer begins, with a bag full of memories. So I would like to say THANK YOU to the many people we met up during our stay ... it was a pleasure, most definitely for Sera, who always found so much delight in meeting each and everyone of you.

Oma, for being so attentive and just so loving to Sera

Opa, for making sure Sera had a good view of the animals at the zoo

For being a super grandma to all three - Pieter, Ralph and Sera

For the lovely house we stayed while in Holland

And we apologise, on Sera's behalf, for messing up the house ... tsk tsk, Sera!

To the super-charged boys - Pieter and Ralph, for giving Sera many kisses and making her feel very loved

Mom and dad, for lending us your car thus being car-less for 5 days when we drove down south. We had put the car to good use, even using it as a playroom when it rained on us while at the beach

Benoit, for meeting us in Dinan, we had a good time catching up

And Benoit, for helping Johan with Sera's buggy up and down the stairs at St. Malo ... and Le Mont St. Michel

To the entire family for making Sera's 1st birthday so special

Sieglinde, Bertil and Zoe ... we had a great time at your place. Thanks for the yummy dinner and the birthday gift for Sera. Zoe, I'll be sending you another pair of Arabian sandals

Sweet Zoe, for being a perfect hostess to Johan, me and Sera

And to Johan's friends who made their way to Rhoon to visit Sera ... thanks for taking the time. This is the photo taken at the restaurant, Oliva, on Emille's phone.

Weekend in the country side

That's where we stayed this weekend, at the farmhouse of Klass and Natalie in Kortgene, Zeeland (south of Holland). Johan, of course, kept teasing me about it, doubting my ability to stay on a farm. Please ... sometimes,this guy has no idea! I had a good time, surrounded by endless fields of green, hardly a building in sight and waking up to the sounds of birds chirping. What more could I ask for right ... well, if it was less colder, that would have been nice. I know, here I go again.

So on Boer farm, they grow potatoes, sweet beets, wheat and onions. Apparently, I was supposed to help Klaas sort the potatoes one morning but I missed that appointment. Well, this mother here still wakes up twice (thanks Sera) in the middle of the night so if I can sleep in a little, I'll have to politely pass on sorting potatoes. Ha ha.

Ok, but it was really nice and our Duracell bunny, I mean baby, had a blast. There was constant attention from her two cousins, Pieter and Ralph, and the many toys at her disposal. We did little side trips to the towns around the area - went to an indoor swim park (it was like 12 degrees outside and raining), a pirate themed museum and even drove to Antwerpen to visit a few of his friends.

Thanks Nathalie, Klaas, Pieter and Ralph for a great weekend!

Sera and Johan taking a walk around the farm


Johan goofing around with Ralphie

This was really a Kodak moment, when the cousins were playing with Nathalie's cat

I didn't get to take a photo of Sera going absolutely wild in the swim park, but I did get this one of her chilling out in the changing room, snacking on a cookie ... exhausted but happy.

And in honour of the Boer farm, a photo of some freshly dugged potatoes. I have to say, Klaas's potatoes are one of the best I've tasted, really!