gerry

Saturday, March 21

we're safe and in one piece back form Japan! 10 days with nat has been super fun but also very tiring but i wouldn't have it any other way!

recovering from a flu and cough that she passed to all of us but i'm glad to be home one week ago we had a 2h drive from club med to chitose airport followed by a delayed flight and a grumpy sweaty nat before we arrived in tokyo where she REFUSED to sit down and have dinner but instead wanted to hang out by the poster of a closed egg waffle store, wonder what goes on in that little head of hers hahahah!

there has been alot of talk about encouraging singaporeans to have kids i personally wrote in on the motherhood tax relief which is a BIG reduction compared to what working mums used to get the government replied to say that blabla they want to make things fairer i.e. mums that earn more should pay more and they will give one off incentives like a 10k baby bonus but i guess one off incentives like cdc vouchers is nothing compared to a perpetual rebate which is what the government is afraid of (i.e. moving from unlimited pensions to defined CPF) but i'm not sure what will help i would personally love to have more kids but things are getting pretty stressful and costly even at the pre-school stage, maybe if they forced ALL singaporeans to send their kids to local pre-schools then things would get better?

i think what they did with the GEP program was a step in the right direction in leveling the playing field between super kiasu resource rich parents and regular families, they even published that teachers teaching these higher level GEP-like programs WOULD NOT be part of the regular teaching staff of the schools fully anticipating what kiasu singaporean parents would do. nonetheless there will be loopholes which reminds me i need to find a berries for nat. BRB!

gryvrybry @ 3:28 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, February 17

the wheels on the bus go round and round round and round round and round ok stayed up abit later than expected printing photos making my printer that i bought worth while time to go to sleep nat has been SUCH A JOY what was i doing before i had her? probably sleeping through the night and drinking wine but still WHAT A JOY!

gryvrybry @ 11:42 PM 0 comments

Saturday, January 17

& the green grass grows all around all around

& the green grass grows all around

ALOHAMORA and a very happy Saturday! this was my second full week at work and also my birthday i am THIRTY SEVEN WHAT?? its been a lovely week i also wanted to document what i learnt during my MTA last year - to slow down and do things in the now vs waiting and preparing for what's next. I remember victor once asking me 'how do you do it buddy' and i told him well i just plan everything in advance and make it happen, increasingly planning nothing is quite fun too because it is always SO FUN to hang out with nat whether we're in a fancy theme park or just lying sploot on her playmat.

also the other day i was hungry but it was 8.05am in the CBD and none of my pals are in that early and i really missed my ma, i used to buy an assortment of buns and drinks for her and her office but now i have no more reason to visit because she is not there. on the bright side having my mum retired means we can easily activate grandma pick up i.e. when nat had a massive watery poop on wednesday and had to be sent home haha

i have a few trips this year, going to delhi next week for a day but india always means its two red eye flights zzzz, then to bangalore in early feb followed by bangkok from 9 - 10, back to singapore on the 11 then to bangkok again for jon and aom's engagement then to hong kong at the end of february. 2026 let's gogogo!

gryvrybry @ 3:05 PM 0 comments

Thursday, December 18

we'll take a cup of kindness yet
for auld lang syne

tomorrow will be the last time i ride with my mum to work because she's retiring at the end of the year and i'm out of the office for the rest of the year. never thought i would feel so sad, when i moved out after getting married our car rides were much less frequent but at least i knew they could still happen and i could pop into her office for a snack or to just say hi or give her a buy 1 get 1 free bun or coffee.

my mum is really quite amazing, she made senior partner at age 32 and she's always been SO NICE i remember once i drove the car and forgot to turn off the lights but had to go to dinner, she waited for the AA guy to come and then told me to go for my dinner. of all the car rides she has given me since secondary school i think i've been asleep 50% of the time, somtimes i'm late and we hit really expensive ERP gantries but she never ever scolds me. she always says nice things about everyone rarely complains (but when she does show her true feelings sometimes its really funny) i'm a real monster compared to my mum. she is SO nice so commercial and so kind, she was telling me that that's how they were raised and auntie sui was exactly like her dad very kind, always generous even though they didn't have much. i will miss my mum. also haven't visited auntie sui as often since nat can now walk in the direction she wants (that is NTUC or the park) we'll visit auntie sui before the year ends, i wish she could meet nat.

gryvrybry @ 11:03 PM 0 comments

Friday, December 12

we'll take a cup of kindness yet for auld lang sye

HELLO! I'm on the last day of my MTA and i've had the best time, spent the past 2 weeks sending nat to school picking her up and spending my free time in between worrying about her and also relaxing. for the first time in my life i'm slowing down at yoga i don't rush to switch poses and i really sit and stretch deep, breathe high and low and feel pretty relaxed and at east (maybe it is because i can't reply any emails or take any calls) this job has given me quite abit of stress, its usually ok but the off event of something happening is still pretty stressful

nat has been ugly crying at every drop off but she's getting better and better, i am the mother of an almost 18 month year old who has never slept more than a 5 hour stretch in her life (i think she did one 7 hour stretch during the simone biles vault night) she averages waking up every 2 - 3 hours but can be 1 - 2 hours if things are rough. she's been extra needy because of school and when i pick her up and say 'mama is here' she repeats and says 'mama is here'. i love her so much.

having a kid changes you, i'm always mindful to NOT turn into those mums who become all about their kids but i know why they are that way its because kids are the cutest and they make your heart burst everyday. also my mum is retiring planning a retirement party for her tomorrow (its a surprise!) the last thing i can do for her before she retires and i won't be able to walk to her office randomly anymore (she's never been more than 150m away for the past 13+ years!) wow i'm really an adult now. ok better to go bed, nat may be up soon! cute photo of her at NTUC (which she calls UC) here with my dad looking at lemons and grasping raspberries.

gryvrybry @ 1:44 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, November 5

as we go on, we remember all the things we had together

and as our lives change, from whatever

we will still be, friends forever?

hello! we had a splendid holiday in sydney the photo above was taken with my mum

and her JC friend auntie irene, they've been friends for 52 years, WOW!

it takes some effort to maintain friendships, i think i do abit to do that but i'm

much better at group friendships and bi-lateral friendships in times of need

some people like more intimate friendships actually i'm fine with all friendships

visited my mum on monday with nat and my mum always says how little girls

are great companions as you can drag them everywhere which makes me chuckle a little

because that's what my mum did with me i remember her bringing me 'shopping' and if she took

too long i will walk over to the cashier and report myself lost then my mum will come swooping

around the corner saying 'GERRY GIRL mum told you i was at the towels! haha'

it has been such a wonderful thing being nat's mum.

i can hear her say 'mama' downstairs while she plays with all 4 of her grandparents

what a lucky little girl she is, she's also really cheeky she's been calling my mum 'kim'

because that's what my dad calls my mum and she's been hearing that alot on our trip.

my dad loves her so much he always yells at the top of his lungs when he sees here some day

that may be embarrassing but as a mum it really warms my heart because it reminds me of

how he used to shout for me when i was a little girl too.

LIFE IS PRETTY PEACHY just need to find 1m more revenue to end the year.

also thank you God for everything!

gryvrybry @ 6:15 PM 0 comments

Sunday, October 12

who keeps this love in a photograph?

hello! what a week it has been, nat had a fever last week which the doctor diagnosed as 'upper respiratory tract infectin' i.e. sore throat. she was quite the trooper though and i'm not sure why we even bothered buying the nasal spray which baby in the world likes having weird plastic sticks shoved up their noses when unwell? separately i really do wonder why clinics / doctors / hospitals always involve such a great deal of waiting can't someone fix that, assuming someone goes to the doctor twice (including when they bring their kids etc) per year, that is well a good 5 hours spent waiting and like a full working day. WHY? i guess everyone is trying to justify their profession with qualitative elements so they can't be replaced by a robot but SURELY something better can be done. I recall when we went to nat's first paediatrician he was super nice but the wait time was TWO HOURS? even after we had an appointment and he gave us advice on raising daughters etc THEN charged us for a 'long' consultation, BUT WHY? and it really annoys me when the clinic nurses say, ya minimum wait time 4 hours, why do these things even exist? when we brought nat to the clinic on Monday we had an appointment but still had to wait 50 minutes while actively avoiding this boy that clearly had HFMD and was touching everything. WHY again??

ok enough of my ranting, having nat has been so very wonderful we went to church today where she wanted to be carried through all of worship then disrupted sunday school by crawling to the front and plopping herself right in front of the teacher. she came home for a play date and lunch with charles before her nap then woke up to a different baby (matthias!) who visited. oh its been so lovely i love you natalie!

gryvrybry @ 9:39 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, October 1

all that i'm after is a life full of laughter, as long as i'm laughing with you

and all that still matters is love ever after, after the life we've through

because i know there's no life after you

hello little person, how are you doing today, is your day quite terrific or only okay?

i feel like my memory has gotten really bad after having nat but somehow i can remember

all her weird story books by heart now, sandra boynton is so funny and nonsensical LOVE IT

(are you happy as a hippo, or angry as a duck? perhaps sad like a chicken can you sadly say cluck cluck?)

life has been wonderful, javier and i have been married for 2 years now who would have thought!

we still disagree over many things (like how keeping the house clean is important, not really ..)

and how we have to rush like crazy in the morning just to save $2 ERP but it has been a wonderful journey

planning holidays before nat turns 2, then its no more business class because

well just because (should we go to taiwan in January? HMMM?)

everytime javier and i walk around the estate to look at houses we'd like to buy

we come to the same conclusion that we're so blessed and so lucky to have been born

where we are, with the friends and families that we are in but then it makes me worry about nat

how she will do, can she take care of herself etc etc but its ok she's learnt how to say 'pray'

and i think that's the only thing that give me any sort of assurance that jesus loves her way more

than i can or ever will

some cute photos then i've gotta go pump (why yes i still do that i don't know how to stop)

and watch some bridgerton before going to bed

why yes mama i've been a very good girl today

2 year anniversary dinner at the line

50% off extra yummy

nat in ugly clothes but she is SO CUTE

gangster faces at grandpa daycare

always daddy's little girl

it takes a village not only of adults

but these 2 wonderful baby sitters too!

beautiful flowers from javier for our anniversary

he is very sweet i love him very much

ok bed time (also need to pee and brush teeth)

toodles!

gryvrybry @ 10:55 PM 0 comments