The girls are back in town

We arrived in Singapore in one piece, very exhausted after the restless flight but very relieved to be out of the plane and on land. Thanks uncle Sam, auntie Ivy, uncle Kimmi and Nic for welcoming us home!

We're currently settling back in, although with some hiccups, mostly from Sera who apparently is suffering from a bout of homesickness and and a severe case of missing papa.

Sera: "Papa ... papa" (with eyes so sad and teary-eyed)
Me: "Sera, where is papa?
Sera: "Papa home." (as in back in Doha)

She's been an emotional wreck! So much so that she didn't eat for 3 days, except for her two feeds of milk. And of course, I was getting worried. But as of today, she started to eat again - her lunch and her dinner. Phew! Big relief ... I think she's going to be just fine now.

In between the hiccups, we did some catching up ...

Just before going to bed ... enjoying her milk

Lunch with Evan and Chloe. Sera had new Dora floaties, which she insisted on wearing there and then

Checking out the many rides at the mall

Chloe and Sera in their race car, about to 'paint the town red'

Ice cream treat after dinner ... Sera, Isaac and Aaron waited patiently for their ice cream

Three very contented cousins

"Goodbye ... see you later"

The packers came this morning to pack our unbelievable collection of stuff in boxes, and after about 5 hours, they left us with a semi-naked house. I have to admit that the house, at the moment, feel un-cosy and even cold. The past few days, while mama and I were sorting out things to pack, Sera went around the house commenting how 'messy' it was. Today, she walked in the house, after school and exclaimed 'empty'!

So the reality is that we're leaving Doha in a few days. I haven't really had time to reflect or reminisce about our departure but today was Sera's last day at school and I was getting a little emotional. I brought a cake to her class and like bees to honey, the kids just followed me to the table, eyeing the cake happily and greedily. Sera helped me distribute the plastic spoons, calling out the names of her classmates (most of them) as she went along. She bade everyone "Goodbye... see you later!", and was a little overwhelmed and confused by the extra hugs and kisses today, from her teacher and the assistants.

But life goes on and the remaining days, aside from packing the remaining stuff, I'll be making it a point to say not goodbye but 'see you later' to the friends I've made here.

Sera and her classmates wait patiently around the table, waiting for lunch to be served

With Ms. Vicky, Ms. Georgina, a very pregnant 7 month mama and Ms. Sally

One more hurdle crossed ...

For 4 months, it took us (most of the time Johan) a good 30 or 45 minutes to put Sera to bed at night. That included using a few tools like patting her to sleep, reading her a few books or even singing to her. Often times, he would end up falling asleep with her till the wee mornings. And since she got so used to him sleeping beside her, she would grumble or whine the minute he tried to leave the room. It gets worse because for 4 months, she would 'visit' us in the early mornings in our bedrooms, between 12am to 5am, expecting us to put her back to bed! Too tired to protest, we did this for many months ... telling ourselves it was just a phase. Oh, how accepting and silly we can be sometimes!!!

Anyway, it really got too much for both of us. Especially in the last few weeks, we were failing to convince ourselves that it was just another phase of Sera's. We were waking up feeling even more tired than we had been the night before. We were totally wasted ... and very, very desperate!

So when Manuela and Pablo (bless them, bless them ... bless them!) shared with us their technique that they called 'magic' and their 'salvation', we listened well and hard. We did everything they instructed, starting from buying a security gate for Sera's door. In our minds, we had a sinking feeling that she was sure to tear it down or climb over it. But we quickly brushed aside any negative thoughts and ploughed along, positively. So the method was really simple - a simple, unchanging goodnight 'script' before tucking her into bed, give her a cuddly, walk away and hope for the best! This also came with a timing sequence that informed us when to attend to her, during her cries and protests (which of course happened) till she finally fell asleep. The whole idea is that eventually, she would realise that her crying would come to naught, that she is big enough to sleep through the night, and best of all, she'd still see us in the morning.

First night, she cried for an hour with a few intervals, whereby Johan and I attended to her, as instructed. She woke up twice in the early morning. It was a little heartbreaking for me and mama was close to tears. Ha ha. So dramatic huh?

Second night, she cried for 45 minutes till she fell asleep and woke up once in the early morning. Improvement.

Third night, she cried for 5 minutes and fell asleep. She slept through the night. Huh???

Fourth night, she fell asleep with no tears or complains. She slept through the night. MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, Manuela said it took them 4 nights with Gaston but secretly, we thought it was nearly impossible to change Sera's sleeping habits so fast. But we were just blown away by the overnight change in Sera. Johan and I would just look at each other, in utter amazement. Our immediate thoughts were "WHY DIDN'T WE GET THIS METHOD FROM MANUELA SOONER?"

Ha ha!

It has been 6 nights since we implemented this sleeping technique. We love it, we want to shout to the whole world because we're just giddy with the success of it. We're going to seriously recommend that Manuela and Pablo conduct parenting seminars on it! We have crossed another little hurdle ... Yeahhh!

Johan reading to Sera a bedtime story before tucking her to bed ... no stress now!

Happy Birthday Mama!

Today, mama turned a year older and we were delighted that we could celebrate her birthday here, with us. And since, she was here and not in Singapore, she had to cook her own favourite Singapore dishes for herself and ... luckily, for us. We invited some of our friends over, and they tasted for the first time, food from Singapore. We hope they enjoyed it!

Our dear friends from France and Argentina feasting on some Singapore fare - Chicken satay with
ketupat (rice), spring rolls, fried egg noodles

Happy Birthday Mama and Grandma!

One more photo till we're all together again ... some day!

A traumatic Saturday morning

Our Saturday started like any other Saturday ... at the hospital. Sigh, yes it does seem like we visit the hospital pretty often but something puzzling has been happening to Sera and we needed to get it checked. You see, in the last two weeks, one toe nail has mysteriously dried and dropped off ... and two of her fingernails were on that similar fate too!

For a while, we thought it could be several things - the chlorine water, her strange habit of scratching at her crayons or the fact that her fingers and toes often get caught between doors and drawers. Anyway, the alarm bells started to rrrringggggg when I realised that her big toe nails were drying up too. Yikes ... ! So anyway, that's why the hospital visit today.

Ok, so according to the doctor, although it is uncommon, she apparently has some form of nail dystrophy, say what? To my understanding, some form of nail malfunction and the doctor said it was the side effects from her recent 'hand, foot and mouth' problem she had a few weeks back. He assured us that her nails should be back to normal in 4 months time. Gulp! My poor baby! And as an extra precaution, she went through a few blood tests to make sure her vital organs are functioning well.

She struggled when the doctor was checking her but during the blood extraction (of which two vials were filled), we had four people pinning her down - two nurses, mama and myself. She put up a big fight and nearly ripped off the needle from her arm. 'Faint'! But she was clearly traumatised because she wrapped herself like a koala bear unto grandma for a good 45 minutes, looking very despondent, very hurt and whispering 'pain, pain, pain' and 'tired, tired' for the longest time.

But the Sera that she is and we know, picked herself up and eventually joined the other children in the waiting area. Grandma also made her a paper air plane, which she zoomed all over the place. So we're still waiting for the blood tests results ... hope it turns out fine ... I'm sure everything is fine!

She finally peeled herself from grandma's arms and roamed the hospital's waiting area

Kissing the air plane before it takes off

And zooooommmmm, away it goes ...

Finally, just a photo of Sera and Johan in an aquarium at a Korean restaurant we went to in the evening

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