PreSchool Report Card and Certificate of Completion

The certificates speak for themselves of Adam's progress in school.

The legend of all the symbols/signs is on page 3 of the picture.

Brown thing on a soft thing

Cooked Adam noodles for his lunch today (Sunday/16Dec).

All was going fine..till he went to the fridge looking for something..then comes to mummy and asked, "Where is the brown thing that you put in the fridge?".

Further questioning gets him frustrated, "It's the brown thing that you cooked long long time ago, the brown thing that you put on the soft thing!!! Don't you REMEMBER!!"

So we go to Daddy to seek his wisdom to decode the 'brown thing'. Adam elaborated abit further.."It's the brown thing that mummy cooked long long time ago, that you put on the soft thing!" We had to laugh..and that got Adam real upset, "It's NOT funny!!! Don't laugh!" Daddy asked if it's sauce, meat, how it's cooked...Adam replies, "Mummy cooked it on the cooking pot, the BROWN thing, that I want to put on my noodles; NO..it's not a sauce, it's not meat.DON'T YOU KNOW?? It's the BROWN THING! Mummy put it in the fridge before and we ate it LONG LONG TIME AGO..that we eat and put on the soft thing! It's soft and it's HARD!!"

Then he really cried, "You made me CRY!" I had to apologize to him as I did laugh so hard, I cried..so did Daddy! Poor Adam didn't find it funny at all!

David made him draw out his brown thing and yea,....he drew out something brown..have a look and see if anyone knows what in the WORLD it could have been that I cooked that can be put on a soft thing but it's not sauce or meat??

So...go figure out and crack your head trying to think what in the WORLD I cooked long long time ago that was brown and I put on a soft thing that was also hard?????!!!!!!!

When I do find out again what it was that Adam is talking about, I will DEFINATELY post it in here to let everyone know!!! HAHAHAHAHHHHAAA!!!!

Adam SO reminds me of the time when I was about 6 or slightly more and tried to tell my mum I wanted her to cook the thing that looks like an umbrella and she only cooks it when it rains! Haha!! What was it? At least my mum after many frustrating questioning and thinking hard, found out I wanted to eat mushrooms! Seems it only appears after heavy rain or something.

Check out my Guestbook!

I want my (scrambled) egg back!! & doing homework.

Adam is restless during this school holidays and literally driving us both crazy with his hyperness! Talks non-stop and very defiant but I suppose it's something to do with him being the Terrible Four stage! Just this afternoon (12Dec), I made him scrambled eggs for lunch (2eggs) and he complains (yet again!) that I made too much for him and he can't finish after almost one hour of nibbling (only managed to eat 1/4 portion). David came back from the snakehouse and I used the 3/4 portion which Adam didn't **couldn't** finish and made a jaffle egg toast for David.
As soon as Adam saw that, he miraculously became hungry again and demanded that David had his throat cut and (scrambled) egg taken out so he can continue to finish it! Talk about imagination! David said he'll throw it up again but Adam declined, preferring Daddy's throat to be cut out so the eggs can be out whole instead! Sigh!
Then he told me about 10minutes later after being sooky about it, "Mummy, I'm angry with you now because you gave my (scramble) egg away to Daddy!!" Pretty tiring just trying to talk to this kid sometimes :)

I don't think Adam is enjoying himself away from school as he's bored without his playmates/classmates.

He still gets homework from me (only one page a day of writing numbers) and that's where he complains the most!!
"My hands are tired"
"I can't finish, you gave me too much homework"
"I think I need a rest now, can I stop and go to my room to rest?"
So far, he has fallen asleep TWICE while doing his homework!
He can stare at his homework for a whole hour without writing a thing (or when he does, he draws pictures or scribble all over the book EXCEPT write his number homework!!) and then complain to say he's tired!
Oh well....his school starts again on 28January2008. I'm counting the days!! haha!!

In the meantime, I guess I'll have to talk some sense into him that his complaints are just an annoyance and will not help him in anyway to get what he wants - he have to ask nicely and learn to listen. :)

Tired from doing holiday homework given by Mummy!

Fell asleep before his homework can be completed!
Only took him a WHOLE day till past his bedtime before he crashed!

Ho hum..I'd rather be doing something else which is more fun than homework!!
YAWN...!! Gosh..it sure is tiring just staring at my homework book for an hour..I think I'm tired now, since I can't play..so I'll just take a snooze...
This kid fell asleep while doing his homework, twice so far..on different days! How much homework? Just one page a day but some days, he can't even finish it as, "Mummy, you gave me TOO MUCH homework, I can't finish" complaints abound!

I want my (scrambled) egg back!! & doing homework.

Adam is restless during this school holidays and literally driving us both crazy with his hyperness! Talks non-stop and very defiant but I suppose it's something to do with him being the Terrible Four stage!
Just this afternoon (12Dec), I made him scrambled eggs for lunch (2eggs) and he complains (yet again!) that I made too much for him and he can't finish after almost one hour of nibbling (only managed to eat 1/4 portion). 
David came back from the snakehouse and I used the 3/4 portion which Adam didn't **couldn't** finish and made a jaffle egg toast for David.

As soon as Adam saw that, he miraculously became hungry again and demanded that David had his throat cut and (scrambled) egg taken out so he can continue to finish it! Talk about imagination!
David said he'll throw it up again but Adam declined, preferring Daddy's throat to be cut out so the eggs can be out whole instead! Sigh!

Then he told me about 10minutes later after being sooky about it, "Mummy, I'm angry with you now because you gave my (scramble) egg away to Daddy!!"

Pretty tiring just trying to talk to this kid sometimes :)

 

I don't think Adam is enjoying himself away from school as he's bored without his playmates/classmates.

 

He still gets homework from me (only one page a day of writing numbers) and that's where he complains the most!!

"My hands are tired"

"I can't finish, you gave me too much homework"

"I think I need a rest now, can I stop and go to my room to rest?"

So far, he has fallen asleep TWICE while doing his homework!  Will post his sleeping poses later once I've reduced the file size.

He can stare at his homework for a whole hour without writing a thing (or when he does, he draws pictures or scribble all over the book EXCEPT write his number homework!!) and then complain to say he's tired!

Oh well....his school starts again on 28January2008. I'm counting the days!! haha!!

Husband bitten by highly venomous snake!

At 6pm on 2Dec, I received a call from my husband, "Darling, do not panic, but I've been bitten by a Taipan and someone will come and get you"

That's the last I heard for the next 35minutes!! Can you imagine what was going through in my head!!! I thought my husband was at his snakehouse 10minutes away only and no call till 6.35pm when I got a call from Steve, a TV reporter, "He's in a stable condition now, do you have transport to come to the hospital?!!" What??!! My husband drives the only car we have and he asks if I got transport to go to hospital when I was expecting him!!

Reason for all these? The venom took effect in-within 5minutes of my husband being bitten and the people he was with was in a huge panic! He was bitten on the right thigh and there were 4 fang marks there - the snake must have been in a really bad mood - according to hubby, this Taipan has been quite docile and it could be due to the sudden change in environment that got it riled up.

He was very near to dying then and I'm SO glad they got him to hospital on time - got anti-venom put in and all. When I reached the hospital at 6.50pm, he looked slightly breathless and shivering with fingers all blue.

However, he's now recovering from the venom bite but have to deal with the after-effects from the anti-venom - he's got a few allergies - rashes, itchiness, numbness but at least he's alive!! I've posted a picture of the rashes he's got which you can partly see - there are lots more on his back and legs.

Might take him a few months to fully recover but at least I still have my husband.

Talk about adrenaline rush!

On top of all that, my 4 year old son was also having his first end-of-year Pre-school concert the next morning which hubby insists he must not miss since he's doing the introduction solo!

So, even though we were at the hospital till late, I took Adam to school, picked up hubby's staff to babysit hubby while I rushed back to attend Adam's first concert and then back to hubby again with son after his concert to watch over both my boys.

It's been a tiring few days (what with Adam starting his school holidays on 3Dec) and I'm still feeling the effect of lack of sleep from worrying and rushing around.

Early night again for me...hehe..even though it's past midnight now here ;)

Hubby also survived to celebrate his 43rd birthday today / 6Dec! Yay!

Contents of our fridge in PNG

Sharing food with snake (dead, of course, on bottom right)..for research, besides the numerous ice packs needed when taking snake antivenom out to hospital/medical centres.

See what I have to bear and put up with!
Sharing my fridge with ...what's THAT in our freezer????
Open the photos and read the comments in there to find out!!

Our Neighbour - Adam's playmates

These are the girls that Adam plays with - lives just next door to us.
Carrie turned 4 not too long ago, wearing a white t-shirt is mixed Aussie/Papuan and Katrina (Kor Kor) who's 4, is Papuan.
Hmm...strange that Adam never mentioned wanting to marry either of them..maybe too risky as then he'd lose his playmates if they rejected him..haha!


These are the girls that Adam plays with - lives just next door to us.
Carrie turned 4 not too long ago, wearing a white t-shirt is mixed Aussie/Papuan and Katrina (Kor Kor) who's 4, is Papuan.
Hmm...strange that Adam never mentioned wanting to marry either of them..maybe too risky as then he'd lose his playmates if they rejected him..haha!






These are the girls that Adam plays with - lives just next door to us.
Carrie turned 4 not too long ago, wearing a white t-shirt is mixed Aussie/Papuan and Katrina (Kor Kor) who's 5, is Papuan.
Hmm...strange that Adam never mentioned wanting to marry either of them..maybe too risky as then he'd lose his playmates if they rejected him..haha!

Watching TV - Adam's way

This is the way he 'sits' while watching TV!!
It's a VERY relaxed position, isn't it?
He's been mistaken for 5 - 6 year old before due to his height.
Can see his 'daddy long legs' and rough guess his height from the sofa size.

Halloween in Adam's school

Eeeee...!!! I see myself..scary!

Adam's school had a Halloween costume day on 2nd November,2007.
Couldn't figure out what sort of costume to get for him but since we couldn't find anything suitable, I used one of my pyjamas and drew some scary stuff on it, with Adam's help - and cut holes to make it look really old, then gel his hair.
As for Adam's face, the blue marker/color ones, he drew it on himself, without the need of a mirror.
I was told after he got back from school, his costume/face was the scariest so it turned out alright after all as he's had a good day scaring people (smiling most of the time, more like!!)

Husband finalist in contest

My smart husband has been chosen as a finalist in a contest by Holiday Inn:

http://www.holidayinneverydayheroes.com/readmore.aspx?id=57
However, to win, we need votes and that's why we've contacted all our friends for them to have a read and if they feel he's doing a good job, then to vote for him.

Here's his 'story', albeit a true one!:

Life s-s-saver
"Snakebite victims rarely die quickly. Death usually comes as the result of upper airway obstruction which leads to choking, or slow suffocation as powerful neurotoxins breaks down your respiratory system. And there’s really no greater despair than sitting around helpless while listening to another human being gasping for a breath of air that will not come!

Which is why when I first visited Papua New Guinea, I was shocked that so many people living in rural communities died from snakebites. In just one week, I discovered that three out of four snakebite victims brought to the local health centre died in this horrible way. This led me to devote my life to a career in research, training and education, to prevent other Papuans from experiencing this cruel fate.

Over the past six years, I’ve conducted research, planned and ran training courses for doctors and care-givers, taught villagers first aid, risked life and limb to catch deadly snakes for anti-venom manufacturing and even edited a textbook on the care for snakebite victims.

Today, I continue to help local doctors treat snakebite cases, and am available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to respond to any emergencies. While such commitment involves enormous personal sacrifice, it’s all worthwhile because nothing is more rewarding than knowing you’ve been able to help save a life that was so close to death!"
A Postgraduate Medical Researcher at the Australian Venom Research Unit, David Williams first visited Papua New Guinea in 1995. Over the years, he has developed a deep affection for the country and for his people who are among the friendliest and most genuine that he has met.

So far, it's been quite good as he's at top spot but we can't sit on our laurels just yet as contest ends end/Dec'07 and other contestants might have tons more friends than us so we're reminding our friends to spare a few minutes and go in to have a look.
I'm proud of my hubby! He's going a swell job in my opinion, even if he don't win!

Finding a job

Wow..been in/out of Papua New Guinea since Nov'06 due to dependent visa not ready, documents not found/received ...so what else is new in PNG?
Anyway, have that sorted out at last in July'07 and have been trying to find a job since then.

Spoke to husband last night and it's still a blur how long we'll be in this country so I'm feeling abit restless as can be imagined. Why? How to put your heart and soul into applying for a job when it's unsure how long you'll be in the country and then have to uproot yourself again??

I SO wish to have somewhere permanent where I can grow roots! Sick and tired of not having a place I can truly call home :( :(

Guess I'll have to bear with it and LIVE one day at a time, as I've named my Blog :)
Cheers! Here's hoping for a good day without power blackouts, water freeze, broken taps, leaking toilets!!

Adam's Drawings (Oct-Nov2007)

See how Adam spells..as long as all the letters are there, can be in a few rows/columns!

His drawings have improved slightly from previous months and getting better in Nov compared to Oct!
His Mr.Potato Head-shaped only people now have bodies after he's taught to add them in! I always ask Adam what he has drawn and put the title of drawings as such.

HOWEVER, shocker! He's added something else extra today (8Nov07)..Have a look at the one called 'Boy Chase Girl' haha! *grin*.

Home (Bitter) Sweet Home

Been back home at last for the past 1-1/2weeks! Have been adjusting back to the slow pace of life here and getting all stuff back in order again..happenings since we got back....

ONLY to find that there's no water the next day after arriving back due to a burst pipe somewhere down the road for a whole day!
THEN, our phone line was still down after a heavy downpour AND landlord increased our rent additional 50%' effective from Nov'07! Big OUCH!!
That's how it is in this country..sigh..try to make the best of it from an already tight budget as, like it or not, it's our own place for the time being, rather than be like a nomad always staying at relatives' house etc.

Anyway, for a spot of good news, the phone is up in the next few days after we got back from Cairns, water tap is full and flowing again, and we've got approval from hubby's boss that we can have so-called wirelessly connected DSL connection which will cost more but will be more reliable and faster AND rent hike approved by boss too instead of having to look for another cheaper accommodation elsewhere and have to re-apply for phone which too Telikom here ONLY 6months to activate :P :P :P. Certainly DO NOT look forward to packing and moving all our stuff after getting all comfortable here and besides, this place is located in quite a safe area, facing the harbour and high enough to prevent any planned robbery :P
Safe weekend all :)

Mostly Adam's self portrait (Nov'06-Jun'07)

What does a 4year old do when he's holding a mobilephone camera?
He takes pictures of himself, Daddy, cloth pegs, pasta that he's eating, 'leng lui' when he sees one (Mummy's ex/colleague, Cathy) but mostly himself!
Only one picture that Daddy took (of Daddy & Adam) after posing an 'ogre' face when Adam was taking his picture.
I quite like his cloth pegs and pasta picture though, shows his creative side :-)
Now that I know how to upload via infrared on my laptop, the phone camera will come out of it's hiding place and placed in his capable hands again ;)

My eldest brother's NZ citizenship ceremony

After staying for years and years and YEARS in NZ, my eldest brother, Jeffrey, has at last decided to apply for NZ citizenship.
He invited Adam & I to the ceremony and we were proud to attend and watch.
They also have a short Maori sing/dance performance later and that's where Adam learnt his Maori 'Kamate' dance as well, funny boy!

Going home...another 2sleeps!

Yippee! Counting the hours..another 2sleeps! Then Adam & I will fly back 'home'.
Port Moresby is not our real home but it's as close to one that we can get at the moment where we can do whatever we like!
Not that I want to sound ungrateful staying at my brother's place while we are in Cairns where my sister-in-law cooks dinner for us every night, but it's always best staying at our own place where we can feel comfortable and I can continue with my 'experimental' cookings since I've hardly ever cooked and now that I'm sorta kinda in charge of the kitchen back home, I'd like to try my hand at cooking stuff that I see in recipe books as they almost always looks so yummy!
Oh...not forgetting that I miss hubby and Adam misses his Daddy too, of course! Haha!

Managed to upload photo into my profile!

Phew!! I did it! All by myself! Took alot of reading and clicking websites back and forth but managed it at last! Don't usually have much patience for such things as tend to give up if I find it too difficult so keep saying to myself, "one last try and then I'll stop, one last try"
I'm happy with myself.
I have a face now! Photo taken with my son, Adam.
I had to edit the photo as it was taken from quite a distance away but I'm happy that I can put a picture to my 'About Me' instead on blogs:)
Pat on the back for me!

Australia Zoo, Beerwah (Steve Irwin's Zoo)

I feel a kinship...I wonder why???!! Maybe because I'm born in the year of the Goat? Hmmm....must be it then!

Some pictures taken of Adam's visit to the Nursery part of the Zoo

Adam & his various antics in PNG (Jan-Sep 2007)

Out in the bush looking for snakes, though we are quite safe from any!

See what Adam has been up to the last 9months that he has been in/out of Papua New Guinea

Adam my little gentleman!

Adam & I was at the Cairns City Library yesterday (Monday/01October). He loves it there as they have a children's PC that he can play some interactive games and some learning CDs that is available only at the library.
He was there at the PC for about an hour and a half when a boy came along (he knew this boy from last week when the boy 'shared' the PC with him; the boy playing and Adam watching!) and he stopped playing to let the boy use the PC. Part of the reason was also because Adam was hungry as it's already 2pm!
Anyway, we went out for lunch, came back an hour later, the boy was till there and he gave up his PC time to let Adam continue his game but there was a girl there (Caucasian 5years old but shorter than Adam) that was also waiting but we didn't know she wanted to use the PC as it's sort of like first to borrow the CD from the library counter gets to use it.
Anyhow, after about 10minutes of sitting at the PC, he came over to the girl & her grandmother sitting on a nearby couch and said, "I'll only be a little while and then you can use the PC!" It's like he's worried they will get tired of waiting and leave without playing on the PC! Haha!
I couldn't help smiling to myself (I was on the other side of the 2way couch) as the grandmother was ever so surprised as well when she answered, "Oh! OK!"
True to form, Adam got up in about 5minutes to let the girl use the PC but he was hovering about nearby, trying to be 'helpful', in case the girl didn't know how to use the interactive CD as I keep overhearing him say, "Do you want me to teach you how to play this game?", "Click here!", "I can show you!". Forever trying to make friends .but some kids might think him a nuisance instead as he doesn't know that normally, older kids know more than him.
We didn't stay on for too long after that as the sky was getting quite dark and I didn't want to risk getting wet but when we walked out, it was not so bad, quite breezy so I asked him if he wanted to walk home so Mummy can save the bus money to buy him ice-cream another day (he has a slight cough). He agreed and we walked about the 4kms back!
He's done this before, walking to the playground (3kms or so) and sometimes further (about 5kms). It's more so that I get abit of exercise but he seems to be able to do it quite well without complaints, though by the time we reach home, he usually is tired out and asleep before 7.30pm! However, he will never admit it, saying he's not tired.
He really is a great kid when he does not try to annoy the heck out of me! Haha!

Adam's such a little gentleman sometimes!

Adam & I was at the Cairns City Library yesterday (Monday/01October). He loves it there as they have a children's PC that he can play some interactive games and some learning CDs that is available only at the library.

He was there at the PC for about an hour and a half when a boy came along (he knew this boy from last week when the boy 'shared' the PC with him; the boy playing and Adam watching!) and he stopped playing to let the boy use the PC. Part of the reason was also because Adam was hungry as it's already 2pm!

Anyway, we went out for lunch, came back an hour later, the boy was till there and he gave up his PC time to let Adam continue his game but there was a girl there (Caucasian 5years old but shorter than Adam) that was also waiting but we didn't know she wanted to use the PC as it's sort of like first to borrow the CD from the library counter gets to use it.

Anyhow, after about 10minutes of sitting at the PC, he came over to the girl & her grandmother sitting on a nearby couch and said, "I'll only be a little while and then you can use the PC!" It's like he's worried they will get tired of waiting and leave without playing on the PC! Haha!

I couldn't help smiling to myself (I was on the other side of the 2way couch) as the grandmother was ever so surprised as well when she answered, "Oh! OK!"

True to form, Adam got up in about 5minutes to let the girl use the PC but he was hovering about nearby, trying to be 'helpful', in case the girl didn't know how to use the interactive CD as I keep overhearing him say, "Do you want me to teach you how to play this game?", "Click here!", "I can show you!". Forever trying to make friends .but some kids might think him a nuisance instead as he doesn't know that normally, older kids know more than him.

We didn't stay on for too long after that as the sky was getting quite dark and I didn't want to risk getting wet but when we walked out, it was not so bad, quite breezy so I asked him if he wanted to walk home so Mummy can save the bus money to buy him ice-cream another day (he has a slight cough). He agreed and we walked about the 4kms back!

He's done this before, walking to the playground (3kms or so) and sometimes further (about 5kms). It's more so that I get abit of exercise but he seems to be able to do it quite well without complaints, though by the time we reach home, he usually is tired out and asleep before 7.30pm! However, he will never admit it, saying he's not tired.

He really is a great kid when he does not try to annoy the heck out of me! Haha!

Power failure in Cairns??

I was replying an email to my cousin when suddenly the power went off in this super modern country!

We (my brother, whose apartment I am staying for my 2weeks' holiday, his wife and I) looked out the window and it was quite dark except for a bright moon and some flashlights from neighbours so we knew it wasn't just a power trip in the apartment.

Surprising thing is, powetr was off for about 30minutes, the longest I've ever encountered in all the time that I've ever been in Australia.

Strange..seeing as I'm so used to power failure back in Papua New Guinea, at least there's power generator backup that kicks in within 1minute but over where I am staying with my brother in a resort/hotel type apartment, I'm surprised they don't have any sort of backup system at all.

Just goes to show that we cannot take things for granted, even in a modern country like this!

Guess it'll be in the papers tomorrow on why it happened.

Whew!! Creating a new blog site..success..I think!

Hah! At last!

I've created this blog with my own name at last! Fiddling around with it for the last couple of hours and I think I've got it down to how I want it for now till I learn more as I go along.

Didn't think it'd take this long and I'm all tired out...so...this is my first post to announce I'm tired and I'm going to bed soon..haha!

Hope y'all had a great weekend..whoever is reading my post ;-)

It's brand new and I guess I should shorten the 'About Me' part but my brain is slowly going into sleep mode so what I've created will have to do for now. Can't add a picture of me in my profile; have yet to find out how so here's a picture of me with my son, Adam. It's either Daddy or Mummy taking picture so we hardly have any family photo :)

SnrJnr@McD_11Mar07.AVI

Adam having his favorite fast food meal, McD Cheeseburger Happy Meal with his grandfather when we were in Auckland for a visit in Feb-Mar2007.

Adam's Drawings (July-Sep2007)

Some of Adam's drawings which I've scanned and posted here.
I have written exactly what he said he has drawn. Some of the drawings do make some sense.
There's one drawing of which he's marrying another girl (done in Sep) instead of his fav gal, Amelyah (done in July)....just goes to show how fickle minded guys are..they recover from broken-heart super fast when they've met another pretty girl!

Adam starts preschool today/13Aug2007 in Papua New Guinea

At last!
Adam has started preschool today, his first in Papua New Guinea.

He is at St Joseph's International Catholic School, Port Moresby and I was surprised when teacher gave me his 'homework' book on his first day of school! It looks like homework for a 7year old!! I hope he can cope and not lose interest in school.

He was so looking forward to going to school, Adam woke up at 6am today!
His school starts at 8am and ends around 2.45pm but I picked him up early today at 1pm as was worried there might be some problems with people not happy about the re-appointment of the current Prime Minister of PNG.
Hopefully all will be ok tomorrow as well.

He seems happy enough to be in school though he made some comments about not liking other children due to their color, the little racist! So many things to explain to him about how to be nice!

 

Adam & Amelyah (2007)

The 2 'lovebirds', can't wait to see each other!
Adam's already caught up to Amelyah and is taller than her by about 1-1/2 cms.
Adam says he wants to marry Amelyah but Amelyah has already rejected him because he says Adam's too bossy! Honest! I overheard their conversation!

Adam's eye got scratched by nephew's docile pet cat!

One day after house cat scratched Adam's eye

No witnesses to what happened but Adam says he only wanted to make the cat 'comfortable' whatever that means!!
We arrived in Malaysia on 19June and on 2July, he's got his eye scratched by a very docile cat that belongs to my nephew!
Only heard his scream and next thing we knew, his left eye was all red and there was some blood and 2small scratch marks just below his left eye. Took him to doctor immediately and thank goodness Dr says it's only superficial wound, otherwise, see what he would look like otherwise.
His 'red' eye look was worse the next few days though he says it doesn't irritate or hurt.
Adam's all ok now but took almost 10days for his 'red' eye to recover fully.
I don't think he's learnt his lesson somehow as I still see him eyeing other animals in his sneaky cheeky ways!!

Blood Donation in Nambour, QLD and other updates on our journey/holiday

I've donated blood again on Fri/27July,2007. The time taken; 5minutes 22seconds, amount taken-470ml. Pledge to donate 3times in 2007 and have done it 2times already, hopefully can do my third donation by end of this year.

What am I doing donating blood all the way in Nambour???

Adam & I got back from our holiday in Malaysia and was supposed to get our dependent visa to enter Papua New Guinea but it's just too much to hope for that it will be ready?? True to form, we arrived in Brisbane from Malaysia on 22July and had Adam's passport renewed immediately the next day (paid express etc for it and had it renewed as his passport is only 5years and due to expire in another 7months) and collected it on Wed 25July and went straight to PNG Consulate. Was told the visa approval not received!!! Gosh!!

Anyway, since we had the time, I searched through the internet for the nearest blood bank (as we stayed in a serviced apartment in Caloundra - cheapest apartment we could find) since calling the Red Cross did not get me anywhere; I was told the nearest was Brisbane City which was about 40minutes' drive away! Nambour was only about 15minutes away!

Saw that they were opened till 12noon on Friday and arrived there at 11am. A lady that seems to be in Admin told me that I'm too late!! It's because I have to fill in a form and had to go for an 'interview' (same process each time anyone donates blood here) and the donated blood will be collected at 12noon so if I'm too late, then no point in donating!!

When I insisted and told her another lady already gave me the OK, she relented reluctantly. When I went in to donate, the nurses there was very nice and they said they would have accepted my blood donation, no worries! As I did not want to keep them too long, I keep squeezing the little pole given to me so that my donation blood comes out faster, which it did.

All said and done, we are leaving to Papua New Guinea on Wednesday/1Aug after getting tourist visas (again) to PNG as we couldn't afford to wait as it could be months before we hear anything from anybody! That means another trip to Cairns to visit my brother in September as PNG tourist visa only lasts 60days!

What a trip! After all these travelling, I'm looking forward to going back to PNG!

Holiday in Malaysia 18June-22July2007

Well...here we are, Adam & I, back in Malaysia for a holiday and what has the little terror been up to so far?

We arrived on 19June as it was an overnight flight from Brisbane (we flew out from Port Moresby to Brisbane and was on transit from 5pm+ till  midnite. Didn't go out of the airport, stayed in transit airport the whole time). Not much for shopping if you happen to have long transits in Brisbane Intl Airport. Adam wasn't behaving all too badly considering the long transit time; he is a good little traveller most of the time.

He's managed to fallen sick in less than a week from being back. We went to Genting Highlands on the weekend with his Tua Ae and he had cold and bad cough. Took him more than 2weeks to get well. In between that time, he has also managed to get his eye scratched by nephew's cat!!! He claimed he did not stare the cat in the eye or disturb the cat, he only wanted to pat the cat and make it comfortable. Would you believe him??

Had to go see doctor twice in a week; one for his cold/cough and the other for his eye; had to be on antibiotics for 2weeks. Thank goodness it's just a superficial wound and his red eye is recovering quite well now. Took some pictures but didn't bring camera cable back to Malaysia so don't know when I'll be able to upload them in here but it'll be here one fine day .

Hubby will be joining us from 12-17July (Yippee!!)  thought it's only a short time but we'll see each other again when we meet up in Brisbane on our return journeys.

Still another week and a half to go before I leave Malaysia. It's been fun doing the rounds of marathon food eating which I've missed. Don't know when I'll be back again, hopefully for a joyous occasion like my nephew's wedding!! Anyway, it's about time Adam starts to go to school and mix with kids his age again, he's getting too 'old' for his own good. Getting to be an 'old man' when he's only four. Anyone who's spoken to him will know what I'm talking about! .

Can Adam swim??? Well...watch the video to find out! :)

Can he really swim? Haha....watch and you'll find out.

Nov/Dec2006 in Melbourne, VIC & Newcastle, NSW

I'm a fireboy in a real firetruck!

Taken around Melbourne City and outskirts and in Newcastle.

Christmas 2006 in PNG (pre/post)

Yay...these are some of my Christmas pressies that I got! More are on the way!

Our first Christmas in Papua New Guinea together.

Four Years Old Boy's Birthday Pictures

Taken on Adam's birthday.

Trip out to village in PNG - Jan2007

The local kids are so curious about Adam as he looks so different from them!

Trip out to village in PNG - Jan2007

The local kids are so curious about Adam as he looks so different from them!

MaoriDanceKamate_10Mar07i.AVI

Adam was in Auckland from 14Feb till 11Mar 2007.
He was watching TV which had some Maori singing and dancing competition one day and off he goes with this song!
Watch his tongue action towards the end! Hilarious!!

Rona & Adam's trip to Auckland 14Feb-11Mar 2007

This trip from Cairns to Auckland was sponsored by my dear younger brother, Nicky! Thank you, adik!!!
I had taken quite alot of pictures but as I was not overly familiar with my new birthday pressie my hubby gave me this year, I deleted by accident those that I had taken earlier, which was quite a lot! Boo Hoo!! Here's the rest of them though...enjoy! Sorry if the pictures' sizes are big but that's the way to go if you want clarity :-)

Donated blood again today.

Oct 31,2006 was the first time and now, April 5,2007; I've done it again and this time it took a normal 8minutes for 460ml of blood - in fact, have made a pledge in the RedCross Australia website to donate at least 3times this year.

We can only donate once every 3months so hopefully, I will be able to do it; what with me not being in Australia all the time. I hope that the dates that I AM in Australia will be around the dates that I am able to donate again.

Walked around 3kms to the Donation centre, then walked to the City to get some cough mixture for Adam as he has runny nose and cough, then walked all the way back home; all in all, walked for about 2-1/2 hours...slow walk as it was also drizzling...I think it's about 5kms or so.

But it feels good though , so I'm giving myself a star!

Happy Easter Holidays, everyone! It's a long weekend holiday here in Australia, with most shops, banks, bakeries, well...basically everything closed from Friday till Monday!!

Adam asked, "Mummy, how do you spell H O S P I T A L?"

We passed by Port Moresby General Hospital one day and Adam asked, “Mummy, how do you spell HOSPITAL?”

 

Mummy spelled it for him, “H O S P  I  T A L.”

He's into alot of these spelling questions nowadays, trying his best to learn to read by asking how this is spelt or what those spelling means when he sees them.

 

Then Adam asked, “How do you spell PEA?”

I thought he meant PEE as he wet his bed and still need to wear diapers at night, but didn’t want to teach him that so Mummy spelled, “PEA” instead and told him “Green PEA.” Guess he didn't hear that.

 

Then Adam asked to spell HORSE. I was a bit distracted as talking to Daddy in the car, so Mummy duly obliged, “H O R S E.”

 

Next thing I know...Adam said from the back of the car was, “Oh, that’s how you spell H O S P I T A L!!”

Wonder why he didn't ask how to spell "TAL" for the 3rd syllable, otherwise I would have caught on earlier.

 

Duh..!!! WHAT??? Haha! He split the syllables up and I didn’t realize it. We just had to laugh at the innocent way Adam makes a fool of us sometimes!

 

I am now more careful of what he asked and be more observant next time when the cheeky boy asked questions!

Adam's 4 on 1Feb07!

Well..the little cheeky mangi is 4 at last!

He woke us up bright and early to open his presents! He got a small radio/cassette player with headphone so he can listen to radio/cassette when he is napping/sleeping, a racing car with remote, a jeep with remote from 'Tua Eh', a race track with small battery run car..and we are still waiting for another present to arrive from his grandmother, sent from Newcastle, Australia.

We spent the day getting him a small birthday cake (not much choice here as there's no proper cake shop, so we can't get him his 'Superman' birthday cake, just a plain one with 'Happy Birthday Adam' written on it. When he saw/read his name, he was happy. "YUP. That's my Birthday cake", he says!). Later his Daddy and him had a haircut, cut by a Malaysian lady and she did a pretty good job of it. Hairdresser also have hair wash with abit of neck massage. When I told Adam they have massage, he said he wanted one too but when it came to his turn, he chickened out!! But he seemed to like his haircut, though and still pretty reluctant to have his rat tail cut off!! Asked him to confirm and he repeated, 'Don't cut off my tail!!' The hairdresser in her rush to finish cutting his hair, still cut off abit by accident, so now his rat tail is very very thin and fine and it irritates him sometimes, too thin to tie up too. What to do...he wants to keep it. It actually looks abit like 2 rat tails . He looks so much more cheekier now with his hair cut short at the sides and his ears standing out and his eyes looking like puppy eyes when he wants something or when he is sad! Should have seen the look on his face when he asked, "Daddy, do they sell Prawn Crackers in PNG?" and when Daddy replied yes....it was a hint that he wanted to eat Prawn Crackers. When we went to the supermarket to buy them and there was a long queue, his face looked sooooooo sad when I told him I will get it for him another day as there's just too many people at the cashier. Tears welled up in his eyes immediately and I had to go back in to queue at least 15minutes just to buy a packet of Prawn Crackers! Gosh!!

In the evening, we had cheeseburger cooked by Daddy at Adam's request for his birthday dinner. They went out into the driveway to play with the jeep and when it's almost dinner time, Adam decided he wanted to have egg also in his cheeseburger. He got his request and he ate all of his burger in less than 1hour!! (his usual dilly dallying time of eating dinner is 1hour...sigh!) Then after dinner, we took birthday cake out and sang him his birthday song and he blew his candles and some pictures were taken. Will post some on here when I have them resized and when I am in another place where there's broadband!

From terrible Three, now I'm in the terrible Four stage...wonder what surprises he will give me...high blood pressure, more back-chatting, rudeness..more loving embraces, cuddles, more coy...peeing on his bed...haha!!!

Taking a bath and singing/talking to himself

Adam is taking a bath right now as I'm writing this and he is singing and talking to himself. It's so funny that I can't help but put this in the blog right now.

I did not notice him talking as I thought he is playing as usual in the bathtub but then I heard him say, "Mummy & Daddy always scold and smack me, but it's because I always naughty.", like he is talking to someone.
Next thing he said, "When Mummy is busy she tells me, "GO AWAY" and other things which wasn't very clear but sounded like, "I don't like it when Mummy scold me and I will be sad/angry".

Makes me think sometimes, what goes on inside this almost 4year old's head.

He is loving his bath time as he is 'helping' our housekeeper who comes in twice a week and his help always ends up with him 'cleaning' the bathtub and making the whole bathroom totally wet! He treats the bathtub like a slide and shakes his whole body inside it and splashes it as hard as he could to spill the water out. I guess the housekeeper lets him have his bath so that he gets out of her hair!

As I'm finishing this blog, Adam shouts out to housekeeper, "Daisy, I'm finished now!!" when she is busy mopping the floor. She told him to wait and he just jumps out of the bathtub totally naked to the living room and says he wants Daisy to help him when he can very well dry and dress himself. What a bully!! When I give him his bath, he always insists to me that he is very capable of dressing himself as he's a big boy now and he is going to be big and strong and he is going to be a 'cooking man', fireman, ambulance man, superman, batman, doctor, dentist, policeman, 'dumptruck man' all rolled into one! Sigh...what a boy!

As he is getting dried up by Daisy, I can hear him singing some nursery rhymes and other songs which he hears from Disney Channel and ABC Kids channel and from Nursery Rhymes and Alphabet songs CDs which I play for him sometimes to keep him quiet for 1/2 hour.

When he replies to questions if he has done something, he will reply, "Yes/No, am ARE", so funny, instead of saying, "Yes, I AM".

Talking and asking questions all the time and gets in your face and always wanting cuddles. That's my boy!

Adam wants a new Mummy & Daddy today

Well, what can I say?? How do I start???

It was a hot day and I did not let Adam out for a run and he had to stay cooped up in the house the whole day. Towards evening, he told me, "I want a new Mummy & Daddy".

I told him he can go out to find himself a new one and off he goes for almost 2hours, didn't bother to come back inside even when it got dark. He was at neighbour's house. Only time he came back was when he said he needed to change his shorts as he has wet it playing with the hose outside. Didn't allow him to come inside as he hasn't found his new 'Mummy' yet and he couldn't care less...off he went again back inside neighbour's house.

I lost! Had to get him back inside and he wasn't abit sorry for having to stay outside at all....sigh!! The place we are staying is in a compound and has a guard so I'm not worried about him getting lost but I have an almost 4years old who is willing to sleep out and not want to come back inside!

When I asked him why, he says it's because Mummy & Daddy always scolding him. I told hiim it's because he's stubborn and always backchat/backtalk and do not listen when he is told not to do something (almost always an immediate WHY? comes out of his mouth) until we have to scold him.

Anyway, I had to go get him and he was pretty reluctant to come back inside as he was having a fun unlimited time outside to play!!! I told him since he doesn't want to come home, he will have to stay in his room (yes, he sleeps in his own room now!) and will have to miss dinner as he will only be fed once he has found his new Mummy. He couldn't keep quiet, keep saying loudly 'Daddy, I'm hungry!!' again and again until we have to feed him to keep him quiet! Haha! The reason why he is so noisy is because he is bored in his room and getting fed means he gets to watch TV and be in the living room.

When we had ice cream, MAGIC! He suddenly likes his Mummy & Daddy again!

MAGIC!

Tomorrow we start all over again the nagging and repetitions of what he can/cannot/must/must not/should/should not do and the scolding. He is not sad for long and always trying his level best to irritate you. Behaves like an 11 year old but cries so easily like a baby sometimes.

***** He picked up a lizard today too!! Like his mummy, he's scared shitless of the poor thing but with abit of encouragement, he managed to pick one up with 2 fingers. Daddy fed it to his snakes though.