Watch Joy Blossom

She looks more and more like my sister Jen as she grows older and I don't believe I am biased in any way, when I use the word prettier as well. She is the quieter of the two, rarely speaking in a social environment, and doesn't find the need to charm anyone, but she does have her lighter moments. She is a keen observer and judging by the way she poses for the cameras, and the things she tells her Mummy and I, she picks things up pretty quickly. Here is her journey in chronological fashion:














Her first horseride
In her Princess outfit that I bought for her.
Playing with snow at the Science Centre




Mum loves to challenge the kids by teaching them chinese poetry or names of our family members. Here are two videos of Joy at three pronouncing some of our names. Since she is more reserved by nature, I just love how much fun she is having and laughing at her own jokes in protest of this exercise. The first video also demonstrates the love of grandparents when you can hear my Mum praising her pretty face, something that I had never heard when I was growing up. LOL.

Lastly, here is her last November, practising her singing at piano lessons she was having:

Brother and Sister

2005 was the first year I purchased my Sony Cybershot camera, and hence commenced my photographic and videographic journey.

This is Joy and Joshua's first day at School:




It is such a joy to watch the two of them showing affection towards each other. They do fight as well, but these moments of connection are just plain beautiful:








Lastly, here are two videos of Joy feeding Joshua. Note how quickly she withdraws her fingers the moment Joshua feeds on the food. They are a little dark but they are too cute to miss:

Love At First Touch

I was always afraid to carry newborn babies for fear of breaking their bones or dropping them or something silly of that sort. However, when I first laid eyes on Joy, it was love at first sight, and it was a strong and firm "Give her to me". It is an inexplicably wonderful sensation, to connect with a baby for the first time. I was so happy when I felt that same connection with Joshua.

Happy Birthday My Little Darlings

It was Joshua's 4th birthday on the 9th April and Joy's 6th birthday tomorrow and I can't think of a better way to wish them Happy Birthday (besides the presents I had already sent) than a couple of blog posts about them. This is also in part, inspiration from my fellow cousins who have been blogging about their babies, and I thought it is my turn to show off the two loves of my lives.

As you may know, I am a baby lover, so I relished all opportunities to capture them on my camera, be it photos or videos whenever I am back in Singapore. This usually serves me well in Sydney when I get to look at them via my screensaver or have a couple of chuckles when I review the videos again, like I just did, to select a couple of my favourites to share. I love this video technology, that is now cheaper and accessible to more people, and is a wonderful way to capture a memory, because there is nothing that tells more than a moving picture.

Even when I was younger and back in Singapore, I wondered what I was like when I was little. Too little to really remember my thoughts and behaviour. Hence, I love to capture them in motion, especially when they are not really watching. As they grow older, it becomes harder, because they learn all the silly tricks and try to poke faces at the camera. Still, I managed to capture some really precious videos of them which my Mum and sister really enjoyed when I finally burnt them on all a disc and uploaded it onto the family computer.

Even though I may not be around all the time with the two of you, I can't tell you how proud I am of the two of you, and how much I love you both. I wish I could be around the two of you more often, to watch you grow and blossom, but sometimes, we can't help the way things are, which may be difficult to explain to you, but I hope you will understand when you reach my age. Strange as it may sound, this distance in some ways also helps to accentuate the relationship that we share, because I feel that I am able to spend so much more quality time with the two of you when I am back around you both, and I cherish every single moment down to the second.

I know that every time I see you both again, you would most likely have grown a year older, and will inevitably grow further apart, which is an acceptable part of life. Hopefully, I will always be able to connect with you both, and treat you both always with love and respect, because there is nothing I can do or say that will express my love and gratitude, and the ways you have taught me to love more than I could ever know. Happy Birthday, my little darlings! May you always embrace life and love as you do now and never be afraid to explore what life may bring along your way. I will always love you both.

Vainpot Syndrome

Since our Canberra holiday was pretty relaxing, we took the opportunity to explore taking shots of ourselves using my Cybershot camera. It gets harder with age to accept what time has done to us, but we have to remind ourselves that we have to be kind to ourselves and accept what we have been given. These are some of our favourites ...




















Publish Post

An Autumn Holiday

We broke our "tradition" of celebrating our anniversary this year with a visit to Australia's capital, Canberra, instead of our perennial favourite Melbourne. After a "lacklustre" memory of my last trip to Canberra more than six years ago, it was time for a reassessment, if I could remember much from my previous trip at all. The other reason was to visit the Turner to Monet exhibition being held at the National Art Gallery, which has been recommended by more than a couple of friends, speaking of which the inspiration of the previous visit was also a Monet Exhibition which I visited with my flatmate then.

Canberra is a smaller city in comparison to Sydney and Melbourne, and unfortunately, there isn't too much to do in terms of tourists attractions except the Parliament, Museum and Art Galleries. It is primarily a place where government officials and embassies congregate, so there isn't too much development to the city or perhaps a need to attract tourists to this city. The good thing about this though is that there is less overcrowding of people, buildings and apartments leaving plenty of space for national parks and beautiful gardens and walkways.

It was a perfect time to visit Canberra and stroll through the Autumn colours, so beautifully represented with their gorgeous flaming red and bright yellow trees and their fallen leaves peppered along the streets. Beautiful as this sight, and as interesting as Parliament House is, there is little much else to visit in Canberra. Shopping is sparse and their Brand Depot, a factory outlet of supposedly famous brands abysmal, I was looking forward to discover a different Canberra in my mind, which unfortunately never eventuated.

Thankfully, the exhibition was excellent even though I am not a big fan of impressionist art, which made up only a fraction of the artwork presented. My favourite segments were the paintings that presented human behaviour during that period. I was intrigued by how the focus on these art pieces changed over time. Human behaviour was presented quite prominently in the early 1800s by some of these artists, which moved onto landscape as these artists ventured further away from their "comfort zones" of their towns, onto beaches, seas, volcanoes, and then back towards the simpler things in life, back to their home surroundings and gardens. There were only a handful of paintings of human study, which could be a representation of the times where little information flowed from one town to another, and these paintings were used as a form of communication about what people in the other towns and cities did. Note that this is just my interpretation based on what was presented and what little I know of art (which is practically zilch), but this was what I walked away with from the exhibition.

It is always the company that counts, no matter where we are or what we do, and John put it well that the best thing about the trip was spending the time together. We did make sure that we made up for the shopping disappointment with a really lovely dinner, hotel breakfast and luxurious accommodation. We also took opportunities to take many silly and fun photos of ourselves, making full use of the Autumn beauty of Canberra. It was a overall, a nice getaway but it will definitely be a long time again before we pay another visit to Canberra.