To Elsa and Damian, I give you my best.

May you have enough happiness to keep you sweet. Enough trials to keep you strong. Enough hope to keep you happy. Enough friends to give you comfort. Enough determination to make, each day a better day, then yesterday. – From ‘The Wedding Planner’, the movie.

“Sleep chicken, sleeep!”

“You ah chicken, don wan to sleep ah!”

“Close your eyes!”

“Heiyer…!”

*huffs*

*pouts*

“Dowan to play with you anymore!”

Ah, the worries of a four-year-old.

While I am a little more seasoned than new at Motherhood, my heart still soften toward my Children more often than I care to admit, and especially when I hear them express themselves about their Mommy.

My Older Two Daughters put up a little stage presentation on Mother’s Day at Church.

Big Sis and some friends did a poem recital entitled ‘For As Long As I Can Remember’.

This was her line:

For as long as I can remember, you are the One I look up to. So strong, so sensitive, so pretty.

Middle Sis was captured on video expressing her thoughts for Mother’s Day.

Here’s what she said:

Mommy you’re very talented. You can cook, you can bake cakes, you can sing and you can operate the computer very well.

Mind you, their Sunday School teachers had already briefed me on what they were to do prior to going on stage and requested I helped prep them for their little item.

Still, when my Gorgeouses got up there and did what they were supposed to do, I couldn’t hold back the tears. Then my Middle Daughter who sat with me through her video clip whispered, “I’m crying too Mommy..” and that just basically burst the tear dam wide open!

Later in the evening, the Girls and I threw a quick pretty-up and had Daddy speed all of us in our little car into town so we could get a table at this cozy Little Italian restaurant that we love. The restaurant wasn’t taking reservations that evening, being Mother’s Day. It was on first come first serve. So we decided to be first, and I enjoyed my favorite Boscaiola Fettucine.

After that we headed over to my Mother’s house to hangout for a while before heading home.

My life has become a total disorder since I became a Mom.

I love it.

Granted we were directly involved with the preparations for the Easter Service, which saw the family rushing from one activity to another in the course of just those few days running up to Sunday.

Still, the children were delighted to have the opportunity to do some coloring during the Service, for a small competition no less!

so focused...

looking good Sweetheart...

here's Spunky & her basket of eggs..

The Littlest One was most excited about her coloring project as she had just been coloring some paper eggs as well at preschool the past week.

And… Middle Sis won the consolation prize for her artwork.

the prized pic..

Yay for Middle Sis!

The Children’s Buddy, J, won 3rd prize. Woot! *Note to J’s Mommy – remember to come collect J’s prize at Supercrew this Sunday.

On a sad yet peaceful note, we received the unfortunate news of the passing of a greatly respected and dearly loved Church Minister. On the way to Church, I asked the Hubby if it was odd that I felt a little sadness over his passing.  The Hubby reassuringly said no. As a young child who was learning to grow in her faith, this was a man I grew up watching. I always knew him to be humble, soft-spoken and just quietly going about doing what he felt the Lord had called him to do. I remember when he was conferred the Datukship, people said to him that we should begin to call him Datuk, although it would take a bit of an adjustment as he was already lovingly called Gembala (Pastor). He responded by saying that he was Gembala FIRST, and then Datuk. I have held him to high respect ever since.

To have gone to be with the Lord on Easter Sunday is beautiful.

Here’s a video clip that we watched during the Service that just wonderfully reminds us why Easter is the Sunday of Sundays.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mom and dad, today I’m not so mad, when can you take care of me, when can it be, mom and dad, I’m your eldest child, it will take a while to grow up, I’m gonna be alright to be your greatest child, oh mom and dad, I’m the on to chat, what do you think about me, let’s have tea together and talk about me forever, I wrote this song for you to remember me when I get married, I love you all, to my side being tall, give my sisters a big hug and all.

Gives a glimpse of what’s in her heart of hearts didn’t it?

And she’s learning to rhyme…

At the last check-up before today, Dr Lim announced that you were a perfectly healthy, 3.2kg, just kicking and waiting to scream it out when you finally got here, baby girl.

Mommy sent text messages out to close friends and family to ask for prayers for a safe and uncomplicated, with an emphasis on the latter, delivery. Although Mommy had gone through a ceasarian birth three years prior, Mommy was nervous about the procedure. It is after all a surgical procedure, coming with it its own set of risks. More than anything, Mommy wanted you to be born safely.

When it was time, Mommy was still nervous. Daddy held Mommy’s hand and rubbed his thumb against Mommy’s. And Daddy prayed quietly while Dr Lim, the Anaesthetist and Aunty Kitty and her Nurses team busied themselves with their instruments and equipments. Doc then said, “Ready to receive your Baby?”

(Mommy wanted to say, “Are you kidding?! Don’t you know you don’t say these things to a woman having a Baby?!”)

“Yes, we are Doc.” said Mommy and Daddy nodded.

Doc then quietly went to work, the Lite & Easy station playing on the radio, occasionally giving out his instruction to the surgical team while chatting with the Anaesthetist about football . Once in a while, Daddy chipped in, and here were the Men talking about club standings and referees while carrying out the delicate procedure of lifting a baby out of Mommy’s womb.

Mommy felt cold in that operating room. The room was cold, the table that Mommy laid on was cold, the spinal block that had been administered to Mommy’s back felt cold.

And then, You came.

Not screaming, just a soft cry, but you were kicking.

Suddenly, it was no longer cold but this amazing feeling of warmth took over. Mommy felt warm on the cheeks and as Mommy looked at you, Mommy cried.

You were so beautiful and you still are.

Everyday since then Mommy celebrates you.

Happy Birthday my Baby Girl. Mommy loves you.

*Sorry about the video orientation. Don’t know how to rectify it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It was raining heavily on the Sulaman stretch just before the UMS while on our drive home. All of a sudden a brand new turqoise colored Proton Saga cut into our lane from the right and skidded right off the road,  kept on going in bumps and eventually crash landing into the ditch, on its passenger side. Both the Hubby and I were shocked and slightly confused as to what was happening with the driver of the car.

So the Hubby stopped our car, came down and walked over to the crashed car. He knocked on the windshield of the driver to check on their condition and eventually opened the driver’s door. It was a while before there was any response from the driver and according to the Hubby, all the driver wanted was an umbrella. The Hubby proceeded to make his way back to our car to get the umbrella.

In the meantime, several other motorists also stopped and came down to offer assistance. Unfortunately, when several of the men opened the door to try to help the passengers in the car get out, the passengers refused and even closed the door. The Hubby informed them that the driver had only asked for an umbrella, and that Hubby was on his way to get it from our car. The men then quietly left the scene, running slightly back to their vehicles as it was still raining at that time.

My next thought was to call someone, an Ambulance or the Police. Thankfully, a Police Car happened to come by and stopped. By then Hubby had got the umbrella to them, and the two elderly passengers in the back seat, a man and a woman, came out and proceeded to sit at the back seat of the Police Car. The driver and the other passenger then stepped out, the passenger limping a little.

The Hubby learned that the driver is a UMS graduate from Kuching, having just gone through the Convocation Ceremony in the morning and was on his way back with his parents to Tune Hotels at 1Borneo. The Proton Saga is a rental, and the driver recounted that he suddenly lost control of the car as it wouldn’t engage and the brakes didn’t seem to work.

The driver then called the rental agent, with the Police also asking a few questions. The Hubby then felt it was time to hand the matter over to the Police and excused himself from the scene. The Hubby left the umbrella with them. From where I was seated, the driver and his passenger appeared grateful to The Hubby. And then we drove home. No names nor numbers were exchanged. And in the commotion, no photos were taken either.

That’s my Darling Hubby, always kind and always ready to offer help. And that is the essence of my marriage to him.

Today I witnessed yet another reason why I love him.

“We need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet… I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things… all of it, all of the time, every day. You’re saying ‘Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness’.” – Susan Sarandon as Beverly Clark in the movie, “Shall We Dance”.

Last 15 February, Spunky sat up all by herself! She is now 10 months and 21 days old.

We’ve noticed for a few days prior to that, that she’s been attempting to go on her hands and knees. And every so often when Cool Dad and I notice it, we try to get her to sit up while supporting her back.

That morning just as I was about to carry her out off her crib to take her downstairs, there she was sitting on her ‘bum-bum’ and grinning gleefully at me. She didn’t even support her weight with her hands on the floor. Yay!

Since then, she’s even learned to pull herself up in her crib and stand! Here’s my little champion…

)

She kept repeating the chorus, which ‘normally’ would go… “When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with you above the storm, Father You are King over the flood, I will be still and know You are God…”

I look forward to the day when she can actually understand those words… )