Where is Reegan?

You can find Reegan in the most unexpected places...sometimes its quite difficult to to find him...

He is happy playing and exploring by himself sometimes, but his sister is still his best pal. He is terribly excited when Big Sister plays with him.

His all-time favourite game: Hide n Seek

Meanwhile, Meredith had a short orientation this morning to reacquaint herself with her teacher and classroom before the real school tomorrow...We hope she'll like school and enjoy learning here...

The teacher is all ready for the new year... the pencils are sharpened...

the tubs are labelled...


The teacher even had a wall of pictures of the kids taken during the first orientation...



with pictures the kids drew...Meredith's the biggest one outlined in yellow right in the middle...


I would have done that for my class...but where is that thing called motivation?

2 more days to school

It's two more days before Meredith goes to school. We decided to take her out instead of getting her to shop and pack with us. We went to the Botanic Garden.

As usual, the cockatoos woke me up early in the morning. Might as well... I started to make sandwiches and prepare Reegan's lunch for our little picnic.

We had to go to the Children's Garden. It's actually quite fun. They had miniature 'dense forest', some rocks and little hill for kids to climb, a little tunnel....etc But I think they can try to expand it. It's too small and you get over with everything in a while.

We managed to get a real good spot under a shady tree by the lake which we shared with a nice Polish couple. They reminded us how important it is to provide our children knowledge.

We were enjoying our little picnic...but of course we couldn't beat the locals who have their wine and cutlery and pillows. But it was still nice. We chatted and Meredith ran around after the birds....until a group of people from a particular country came to our spot. The sort where ladies dress in this particular way...


....umbrellas, 'hip' sunglasses, high heels for the park... They started to take lots of pictures and made several pose (gosh! what are they doing??) for that. They spoke loudly and polluted the peace...sigh...

We tried to put Reegan down on the ground. He was at first afraid and would not put his hand on the grass...



But he soon got used to the new texture.

Almost done...just a bit more

We are almost done setting up the house. We are so happy. That means we can go around a bit before Daddy leaves again and before Meredith goes to school next week!!

We took a break from all the business and went to Tai Pan for yum cha on my birthday. The food was great great great! No disappointment! True authentic and generous servings! Yum! It was so good we had to take away some to eat at home...I also just realized that here, we need to pack takeaways ourselves...and so we did...


Meredith made little books for my birthday. The books are about our family. She talked a little about each one in the family. She also bought a bunch of gerberas for me at the supermarket. She's wanting to do this since Reegan was born...Now she finally did...flowers for Mum!


Reegan is doing great! He is getting a little more greedy and wants to try everything we are having. He would 'bounce' happily whenever we agree to let him have a bite. And he thinks its so cool...eating what the grown-ups are eating.


And this is what he does sometimes when we leave him alone for a while to do some unpacking...


This one is funny...he climbed up the suitcase and didn't know how to get down!
We are almost done though. The apartment is looking good! We went to get sofas today. This weekend, all the clearance sales ends. We are happy we got what we wanted. I think we still have to get a bed for Meredith and that should be it. She wants a bed loft...the sort where she can sleep on top and below, there's space for her to work or put her toys. There are some really good looking ones here...but we are on a budget. Let's see what we can get!

It's been busy

And so we arrived...some 3 weeks ago...nearly...and this is the amount of luggage we had...just me and the kids first.


So Mummy tried to clean up as much as possible before the shipment arrive ...Reegan had fun with the empty spaces...



Sometimes we take a break from all the cleaning and unpacking and decided to relax at the park. We are at Albert Lake Park, a nice one by the lake.



While Meredith did all the climbing and sliding and swinging, Reegan is just happy to stay by Mummy.

New Year

It's incredible how time flies! I spent the beginning of last year in great anticipation of my new arrival, and it has been such great joy looking after him. This new year, in a new place, would be a whole new experience. I am not extremely excited, but am happy we are finally going. There would be lots to do as we (hopefully not just me alone...!) try to get settled down.

My dreams for the new year...well, I try to keep my dreams small...

*I hope the children and every one in the family and friends be happy and healthy
*I hope Daddy will have more time with us, especially the children, not just physically with us but mentally and spiritually...
*I want to spend more time taking care of myself...I am getting old!!
*Continue to have lotsa fun with the kids!

Happy New Year one and all! And may your dreams come true/ through!?!

Elizabeth and Anna

Meredith met up with Elizabeth and Anna for the first time and they clicked instantly. For their mummies, it was a reunion after nearly 16 years! It was nice to be chauffeured to the restaurant in a big "family car". The grown-ups had so much to talk about, the kids had to find their own fun.

The girls were first extremely delighted when they were served with princess cups..."Wowwww!" they all said.




Then they decided to play hide-n-seek...

Hiding under the tables, Xmas tree...etc

Luckily we managed to persuade them to do other safer and quieter activities...


The kids look so cute all squashed up at the back of the car. But you know, they said the car ride was the most fun!

Fire and tears

How my sentiments exactly!

We have finished emptying our house and its contents is now on its way downunder. It was tiring and nearly stressful.

But the concert we attended was a nice treat. It got better this year, more orderly I think. They had a pram station and had some teenagers to help usher around.

It was splendid to listen to a 'live' orchestra again. Even nicer when you can tap, swing and clap along with your kids.

Like previous years, kids could go up and mingle with the musicians at the end of the concert when the orchestra play their final treat. This time, Meredith was brave enough to go up there by herself. She said she saw the violins, trumpets, double basses up close in action.

What I saw...was quite hilarious. One kid actually went up and close up the score and pack up the score of one violinist. That made the violinist lose his track and had to scramble to his partner so that he could continue to play the music. Some others stand right in front of the musician's music, blocking their view. All these, the musician could not do anything but giggle and didn't seem to mind at all. Some little mess this kids would have caused.

Going home

We had a lovely flight back. No transits. Reegan decided to greet every passenger as they board the plane and everyone liked this little new flight attendant.


The flight seemed so much shorter. Maybe next time I should pay a bit more for another airline that doesn't transit.

Reegan slept a lot more this time. Check out his hairstyle after the nap. He also had a baby friend, who was sitting next to us and they spoke to each other in baby language, with clear turn taking techniques. It was quite hilarious!

The last but best

Just before we head back home, Uncle Stanley decided we should meet up. And as usual, he was late. He came at about 1:40pm for our noon appointment. But its ok cos I got Reegan and Meredith to have their lunch first.

Uncle Stanley took us to Springvale, using his new gadget, the navigator. He took us to Gold Leaf for yum cha. I have had so many yum cha this trip but this last one was the best. I was relaxed and could actually enjoy the food and order things I like to eat.

Reegan was also very happy. Uncle Stanley was really good with kids. I hope their plan for next year will come easy.

Visitors

We had families from Adelaide, Malaysia and Singapore visiting us today. Caitlin got along really well with Meredith. They wanted to sit together at church and sit together at lunch. But Caitlin comes from Adelaide. They are visiting because their uncle had come from Malaysia.

After church, we all went to yum cha. But poor Mummy could hardly eat anything because Reegan and Meredith is keeping her real busy. That's ok though, Mummy just had to eat whatever is given. By the time she is ready to eat, everyone has finished eating and had stopped ordering. It was a big group. And it was nice meeting with them.

Olivia

Among the kids at Eastside, Olivia is the only girl. Now that Meredith is here, they now have each other to play with. It's great that they are also the same age, and both are starting school next year.

See how they have started to act silly together.

We went to the city today

We took a train to the city today. We wanted to get a good vacuum machine and Aunty Carol said the stores in the city have more variety. Meredith was excited because it was her first time taking the train here.

This is them at the Auburn station. We were so glad today was nice and cool, just 16 degrees.


When we arrived in the city, we saw Krispy Kreme. When they first opened, they used to have queues and people had to wait for an hour to get their donuts. That's just like the current donut craze in Singapore. But Krispy Kreme was good. Well made and has that nice soft texture.

I think the best part for Meredith must be the rides in the malls. Now that its Christmas, the big stores each set up an area for kids. This one is at David Jones. She had the carousel all to herself. How is that!

Over at Myer, it got better.



They had a mini train that goes round. And the place was nicely set up to look like the real thing.


Even the enthusiastic train driver was looking good!


Of course Reegan would protest. He could only sit in his pram while Big Sister got all the fun.


Luckily, there was a even minier train for him. And he could drive it himself!

It's a torture Malcolm!

One of the things we need to do before Meredith goes to school is to make sure she is fully vaccinated. So we visited the clinic to get a certificate from the GP. Then we realize Meredith is still short of 2 needles. In Singapore, these would be administered when she turns 6. But here, kids need to get it in before they start school.

So there Meredith had it, 2 needles at one go. Of course she went hysterical. The whole clinic could hear her screams.... "We could hear her..."....

But Malcolm was patient and really good with kids. But it was still a torture to Meredith. 2 needles...of course.


Today also I started to give Reegan red meat. I think it went ok. And this is the bag that came with the meat I got from a 'good butcher'.

MGS

We attended an Information Session for parents. And got to take a look at the school. In the morning, we met with the head of the Junior School. She asked Meredith some simple problem solving questions and had Meredith draw a picture of the family. Meredith did very well and the Leonie said she is all ready for school.

This would be the classrooms...



This is like a refurbished chapel. Nice.

Its got a big field. So unlike the school I came from.

We didn't know its the culture that kids should not be present at such meetings. Indeed no kids were there except for one baby. We met with other parents and the teachers. Hope all will go well from here...