Pool time with Grandma ...

This morning, mama finally caved in and went into the water with Sera. And I'm pretty sure she enjoyed it because she lingered on after Sera came out of the pool. Ha ha. I guess the water wasn't so cold. After a quick wash up, we dropped by at Kelyan's for yet another birthday celebration ... this time with Gaston.

Sera hung on to the end of the 'noodle' while grandma pulled her along

Sera struggled to keep her legs up ... too short and probably top heavy. Ha ha

A satisfied pool time for Sera

More fun at Kelyan's where the three friends celebrated his birthday together ...

... and dug into the cake

Sunset at the Corniche

For a change, we took mama outdoors (and not to another freezing mall), to the Corniche ... just in time to watch the sunset, mingle with the locals and to enjoy the cool evening weather. We even did the touristy dhow ride, which was actually quite nice. The view, well, could have been better but it was just nice being out in the sea for an hour. Sera was enjoying herself until, I suspect, she had a mild bout of sea-sickness? We couldn't really figure out why got all still, serious and quiet???

"Hands!" ... she's a little bossy chicken , but she likes it when Johan and I hold her hands when we're out

Snuggling up with Grandma

Snacking on popcorn while we waited for the dhow ride

Getting cosy and comfortable on the dhow

She was running around the boat, dancing and all of a sudden, she stopped and got all serious

She climbed unto the seat, and continued with this serious manner, ignoring us when we asked after her

She decided to face the sea ... maybe to get some fresh air ... look beyond the horizon?

She gazes out for the rest of the journey, and was back to normal when we finally reached land

Simple pleasures

It's a (sluggish) Friday morning, the start of another weekend. Phew! I'm currently in a slightly (zombi-fied) state of Korean soap opera overdose. Ha ha. Blame it on mama!!! Nah. It's all my fault. Admittedly, the story lines are incredibly over-the-top but they are embarrassingly addictive.

Anyway, some photos of Sera at school ... to usher in the weekend. Enjoy, have fun and ... relax!

Every morning, for 45 minutes, the kids get to splash and play


Sera looks on while Ms Georgina sorts out a ''This is my see-sawwwwwww!!!!' problem between the little girls


Ahhh, the simple pleasure of spraying water

Kelyan and Sera watching a Korean drama ... just kidding, they're watching 'Huckle and Lowly'

Happy Birthday Kelyan!

Kelyan is 2 years old! And because it was his special day, we celebrated his birthday twice! For his pre-birthday celebration, we went to Fun City.

Cheap rides since they didn't want the train or the taxi to move ...

Very engrossed while beating the drums

The adults were also joining in the fun

And on the actual day, we went to Ray's Reef! When Gaston is back from Italy, I bet there will be more celebrating.

Little artistes at work

Under the sea

As usual, they rather go up the slide than down

Grandma is here!

We've been keeping ourselves busy since mama arrived a week ago. As usual, and of course as we were anxiously anticipating, mama has been whipping up delicious home-cooked meals that remind us of Singapore ... ahhh, what a luxury! Ha ha. We had a 'popiah' (very similar to spring rolls or lumpiah but these are not fried but eaten fresh, like a Mexican burrito) dinner with our friends, Amy and Ted. We definitely stuffed ourselves but we were all happy and contended.

Sera has been, of course, delighted to have grandma around. More attention for her ... and more 'Dora the Explorer' DVDs and books. Thanks Kor for the backpack and the water bottle. She loves them!

Singapore-style popiah ... YUMMY!

Sera and grandma playing dough

And her latest craze is doing jigsaw puzzles ... she's fixing a 'Dora the Explorer' one, but of course.

Sleepover ... well, kind of.

Kelyan, Sera's good friend, slept over on Thursday night. You see, between Manuela, Sylvie and myself ... we take turns to babysit each others' kid when needed.

Sera was ecstatic when she realised, just after having her bath, that Kelyan was downstairs. She was practically taking two steps at a time and I was struggling to keep up with her. Such a treat for her to have Kelyan over to play, just before her bed time. And boy did they play ... and play ... and play. They drank their bottle of milk, which basically signalled their time to calm down for bedtime but it was impossible to get them to settle down.

By 11.30pm, they were slowly fizzling out. Sera hugged her cuddly to sleep, trying desperately to open her eyes but she soon gave up her struggle. Kelyan, on the other hand, refused to sleep (even though he practically fell asleep sitting up) just because of his unfamiliar surrounding. He started to panic when Sera was fast asleep because he realised his friend was 'abandoning' him, leaving him stranded. I brought him downstairs to play some more, while we waited for Sylvie to pick him up. Such a sweetie, so determined to wait up for his mama ... no matter what.

So the 'kind of' part was that he didn't actually sleep over. It was the plan but this time round, it wasn't so successful. Nonetheless, it was fun having him over ... most especially for Sera.

They played ...

and played ...

they drank their milk ...

and they played some more.

Goodbye Miss Kathleen!

Today, Sera, together with the rest of her classmates, bid Miss Kathleen goodbye. Miss Kathleen, who was not only a teacher but a 'mother' to all the children will be missed for sure. Sylvie and I popped in just before their lunch to bring a cake for Miss Kathleen and of course, the kids dug into the cake and made a mighty fine mess!

The kids settle around the table for lunch

Sera was frowning because she had finished her cheese and was looking around for more food

I gave her the little chore of handing out the spoons for the cake

While going round the table, she found more cheese. Oh, the sneaky one!

One last kiss for Miss Kathleen

Sera and Kelyan, tired and waiting to go back

Bouncy news from my Skippy Ball!

Psst ... ! I've got good news to share with you all ... I shall do it while bouncing on my Skippy Ball!

Mama ...

doesn't have

gestational diabetes! Whoo-hoo!

Ha ha! Yup, the test results came back and Dr Schwaiger, in his very serious German accent, assured me that all the blood tests showed no signs of gestational diabetes and I could be 'normal'. 'Normal' ... whatever does he mean? Ha ha. Anyway it's another 'Phew!' for us. I really wasn't looking forward to dealing with that 'something extra'.

Un-diseased

I'm not so sure what form of HFMD Sera had contacted but she kind of breezed through it. Thank God! She wasn't an impossible patient, not at all. The only thing I was fast running out of this week were IDEAS to keep her entertained, since she was barred from school. And by the time the weekend came, you couldn't tell she had HFMD because she rashes were gone as well. Phew ... we were all very relieved.

However, we ended the weekend at the hospital, this time it was my turn. I had to go for another round of glucose test, as the first test indicated I may have gestational diabetes. Basically a form of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy, if you're unlucky to get it. So as worried as we were that I may have that 'something extra', we made the hospital visit into a family outing. Ha ha. Yes, nowadays we try to find joy in everything that we do, however mundane. What else can we do right? So we got all dressed up like we were going somewhere special and drove to the hospital at 8am. And because I had to take several blood tests over a 3 hour period, we were in and out of the hospital for almost 4 hours. Ok, it was admittedly very tiresome but I've learned two things from this experience. One, I'm terrible at fasting and second, I can always count on my two fantastic supporters.

I was actually mopping the floor, but Sera insisted on taking over



I thought, "Why not?", since I'd expect her to help me in maybe a couple of months time?

Hanging out with Johan and sipping on her juice, outside on the patio

These two rallied me on while I went for my blood tests yesterday ... thanks my dears!

Diseased

My poor Sera has been attacked by the wretched Hand, Foot and Mouth disease (HFMD). It all started with the rashes that I noticed on her feet after picking her up from school on Sunday morning. The red spots were all over the soles of her feet. I also noticed that she had a terrible rash all over her buttocks. Yesterday, I noticed spots on her hands. And then, I realised she had that little sore on her lip since Saturday? My gut told me something was wrong and by the time I spoke to mama, I was certain she had contacted HFMD. Gulp! My sentiments were exactly the words that Sera have been using of late ... "What Happened?"

Anyway, last night, just when we were about to put Sera to bed, we decided to go to the hospital just to get a proper diagnosis. The wait for the doctor was long but Sera, though supposedly diseased, was in high spirits waving at everyone and thrilled that she was out with her parents and not in bed. The doctor very quickly confirmed that she had HFMD but assured us that the virus would eventually go away, we just had to give Sera time to naturally 'battle' it and to monitor her temperature. No specific medication was given, just something to soothe her inflamed throat.

So Sera and I will be staying indoors for a while, till she is un-diseased.

Hand

Foot

Mouth (see that tiny sore below her right mouth + her inflamed throat)

Disease ... well, she still looks pretty healthy and is quietly fighting the virus