End of 2020 and the start of another year

 

This picture sums up most of us in 2020 

Today is the last day of 2020 and i am so glad that is coming to an end. With next year 2021, i hope that somewhat fengsui changes and it will be better for all of us .

In 2020 , there's a lot of things to be thankful and a lot of things i wish things were slightly different .

2020 is a year of hibernation for me. This is the first time in so many working years that i able to spend so much time at home with my family and prob this is the first taste of financial freedom?

This year i am thankful for the birth of my 2nd child , Sara . She turns 10 months next week and she is such a joyful cheerful baby. Definitely quieter than her sister but very observant and persistent. 

Post pregnancy was also much better than the 1st as my mom and ah kor helping me out with the confinement. SO this gal is brought up full of love right from the starts. 

This year i am also thankful for both Marcus and mine financial impact. We hear stories of people loosing their job and getting retrench when the covid hits and also during the MCO . I am so glad that especially Marcus did not get hit when this happens . My makeup job definitely got affected badly so lucky my main job not affected. 

I am also very blessed and thankful for the right timing when all these happens .First thing is we manage to get the helper to come in by Feb 2020 before the government stop any foreigner from coming in. We started applying for helper since last year june but no news till this year Feb . I saw some friends was having trouble getting any new foreign helper this year due to the travel restricting . And with the helper here and when Hannah's school was put onhold and i have to work on and off , we are so so thankful with the extra hands we have .

Dad's cancer journey was the only pain in the ass that we have this year. It was really a shock for all of us that this cancer disease hit daddy . His body undergo chemo has weaken so much that during our Christmas trip , he was having trouble walking up the japanese garden hill. Now we just have to pray for the best for him and hopefully he able to have a quality life for the next 5-10 years . With the recent approval of his 2nd medical card , i am so thankful that at least we are not limit by financial constrain when selecting his treatment. 

Spending time at home give me the opportunity to spend time with my family especially my parents and i am so grateful for that. 

Hopefully next year will be a much better year for all of us ...looking forward to another year in life to able to make a difference .

Hopefully next year i able to do more makeup (hands getting really itchy) , bring my parents to new zealand (my mom wish) and able to bring hannah to disneyland ( this gal been watching too much youtube ) 

BYE BYE 2020 AND HELLO 2021

Last Meal in Florence 2017 @ Fishing Lab

This is the only restaurant we visited 2 times in the whole europe. 

I think coz we have too many meats and pasta that when we found a seafood restaurant , we were so happy!!! 

We were here for lunch 2x .... which explain the price is reasonable and freshness of the seafoods

 

                                            

Ordered sea salt baked fish ... 

i think is crab cake 

some scampi's 

and of course the usual bread and olive as starter ... yummy ... highlight recommended 

Marcus's 36th Birthday Celebration @Double Tree Penang

 This year is the year of cuti cuti malaysia / Penang . Lucky we purchase the hilton honor voucher so this year birthday celebration will be in Double tree Penang. 

With CMCO , there is not buffet offered , so our voucher was change to ala carte order.

Comes with salad , soups , 2 main courses and fruits. 

Yeah this gal is a screamer and she is so damm fierce . This is her face shouting at her mummy coz i ignore her request . 2nd child syndrome is out !!! 

Our main meals .... 

The very yummy mushroom soups 

Spend the afternoon at the pool ... went around 3pm to avoid the crowds ... 

View from our room 

The 2nd Bet

 Last 2 weeks , we receive another bad new. Daddy's 1st round chemo is not effective . Result from PET scan shows that the tumors are still at the bladder and the liver. At the liver area seems that the number of spots increasing . Dr propose daddy for 2nd round of chemo with different chemo medication. This round will be increase in frequency of chemo from 3 weeks per month to every week cycle. 

To be honest , i hope daddy's body able to take the chemo doses and also hopefully the insurance investigation able to finalized as soon as possible and we able to claim from insurance instead from daddy's pocket. I hope my parent save enough to afford the cancer treatment. My parent's coming from poor background has been very frugal their whole live. Until now , they are living a very simple lifestyle and saving as much as they can even now. Last 10 years , their biggest spending are only the yearly holidays that i bring them . And now daddy taking out his savings to pay for his treatment. I think he feels that living a healthy lifestyle can prevent him from getting sick and be pilled up with hospital bills which is why he did not buy any medical card till last year when i keep bugging him . I hope everyone who reads this learn this lesson from my parents .Do not think your susceptible to any diseases and please understand the important of medical card. You might be like them , paying your medical bills with your savings from years of working . 

I hope daddy able to survive this 2nd round of chemo and hopefully he can live another 10 years with good quality life. My dad n mom hope that after these chemos over they they can go to new zealand and i hope i can be the one that bring them around . 

Rambling of Wawasan 2020

This year is 2020 . The year that all 80s malaysian kid is waiting for has finally arrived. But it doesn't feel any different from the year before or the many years before 2020. 

Years back when the media was covering on year 2020 , i did not envision things like flying cars or modernized tall towers but more on myself . What i have become when i turn 37 .

What will i work as or whether am i married and with kids ? During that that , i think maybe around primary school , i cannot imagine what would i look like at 37 or what i have achieved or owe at 37 years old. All i remember was , WALAU !! So old leh .

2020 is not a year that everyone enjoy . The most obvious is the pandemic that hit everyone.As i am writing down , we are going through the 2nd wave which is so so much worst than the 1st.

Today's number of cases in Malaysia is 871 which is the highest number so far. News stated that there will be 3rd or 4th wave coming and the situation will not change till we have the vaccine. 

Because of this covid , Kl/Sel is under CMCO which makes me unable to go back to subang next week.

Daddy coming down with cancer was another big hit to the family. It impact everyone especially my mom and my sis . I am so thankful that sis able to WFH and accompany daddy for his chemo session everytime. During this CMCO, she decided to stay at home with mummy in case any emergency happens again. 

Last week on Thursday , we have an emergency. During chemo ,he got high sugar that Dr prescribe him to take insulin. So on Thursday night , he took the insulin too early that his sugar drop till 2 and he was so weak that he nearly fainted. Thankgod sis and mum react fast and brought him to SJMC . If not we prob lost my dad. 

Daddy case of cancer makes me determine to move us back to Subang much earlier than plan but with the Covid , the number of company hiring is low . Just have to pray for the best and trust in his plans. 

Daddy got Stage 4 Bladder Cancer

We all got the bad news on 18 June 2020 from Daddy . He went for CT scan on 17 June and 18 June he got the result and it doesnt look good at all.

Summary from the report stated that his bladder walls already thicken up to 1.8cm (means infected) with nodes and also enlargement of prostate . At the liver there's also growth of 3cm (2 biji) .
Basically the cancer spread from the bladder till the liver . A rough recommendation from the radiologist treatment is to go for chemo. However he still need to go see a oncologist which scheduled on 24 June.

When i called him on the evening , he voice sounded positive . However for me ... i was really heartbroken .Stage 4 cancer is consider advantage stage cancer and based on statistic only less than 5% survive in the next 5 years .I was crying my eyes out ... he might not be around to see Sara and Hannah grow up.

To let everyone know , my dad is the most healthiest person i ever know. He don't smoke and don't drink. He exercise everyday . Eat lots of fruits , antioxidant supplements and very healthy choice of foods which means no fast foods , fried foods or junk foods.
He is the only person i know that ask me to throw away the chicken skin when we eating KFC !!
When he got diagnose with cancer , i was in shock mode. How can anyone so healthy get cancer.
If any of us got cancer , we have some explanation .. but HIM ??  Near impossible.
Non of our family members got cancer either.

So what now ??
We are seeking options !! Any kind of options for treatment especially non chemo ...

Ohh yaa... I am going back next week to celebrate my birthday at home . I hope next week don't be the last birthday i spend with him

Baby Sara is 2 weeks Today and Birth Story

Sara is 2 weeks today (16 March 2020)      


Sara's birth story :

We decided to induce her on 5 March 2020 . The date is based on Joey's yap bazi calculation.
Lesson learn from Hannah - choose the correct birth date since prob affect 50% of your children early characteristic .

On 1 March 2020 , after early dinner , we went for Reflextology near my place for leg massage. I was having bad leg cramp every night so a short massage might help with my cramp.
Came back around 11pm and get everyone ready for bed .
Around 12am busy watching Korean drama (Globin) , when i was lying down i was feeling a bit uncomfortable . More like some stomach cramps and discomfort. I tot that i was having diarrhea or something .
Honestly i forgotten how pregnancy cramp feels like . After moving around and sitting up , somehow the cramp become better. So end up continue to watch the series until 1am plus ...

Than .... by that time the uncomfortable feeling gotten worst. Thanks to google , i realize that im having contraction . By 2am , i was timing my contraction using the apps to see whether should i go to the hospital.
I was really hoping that the contraction was going away . The idea of going to the hospital in the middle of the night and dragging Hannah together to the delivery room/Hospital wasn't very appealing especially when the Covic-19 virus is spreading rapidly.

By 3.15am , the contraction was around 4 mins every circle and the contraction pain increase. And again the contraction apps already ask to pack and go to the hospital. Quickly i woke Marcus up and start to pack Hannah's bag . By 3.45am we reach the hospital emergency center .
I was wheel into the delivery room while Marcus park his car and bring Hannah's who's sleeping into the delivery room .

After registration and deposit payment , 4.30am the midwife starts to time the contraction monitoring and also check on the cervix dilation. 4.30am is around 4cm .
Quicky told her to call for the anesthetic dr . Since Dr lee is not reachable =_= ||| end up have to engage with Dr Peter . That guy , he took damm long to come . He only finish administer the epidural around 5am and by that time i was still feeling the pain . By 5.30am i was still feeling the pain of the contraction and ask the midwife to topup the dose 3 times .
I only found out that this Dr Peter style was very different from Dr Lee . Dr Lee straight give very very high dose until leg all numb . But Dr Peter , he prefer  to have some pain or atleast can feel that contraction.

Anyway by 6am , the midwife check that my cervix was dilated around 9cm and Dr Eric was called in . The epidural was taking effect and my pain was near 0 .... however around 6something i can feel like a ball between my leg. I guess that's the baby head .... 6.15 i started to push . This round i manage to feel the Dr finger. He ask me to push towards the finger direction . After 3 pushes , can feel that baby slip out ....
And ...baby Sara is out by 6.26am , weight 2.94kg and length 50cm .
She was 38.6 weeks when she is out.

Stayed in the hospital for 1 night only . Not sure why i did not feel that painful compare to Hannah's delivery.
After 1st night i requested to discharge from the hospital . With Hannah's at home with my mom and Marcus not able to sleep well and getting sick soon , discharge and go home to rest is our best option.
We are only allowed to discharge on 3 March evening after given green light from Dr Eric.

Oh ....during the delivery ... Hannah wasn't allowed in the room . Thank god that there's room available so both Marcus and Hannah was lepaking there until when i was ready to push only they ask Marcus to come into the delivery room while one of the nurse look after Hannah in the hospital room.

 Woke up at 10am and saw this view. My girl was up playing daddy's phone while daddy "Kong" out of exhaustion.

 First pic of 4 of us.

 Really mata sepek !!!

First meal ( breakfast - porridge (did not eat cause no appetite) and lunch (stir fried fish with ginger)
Hannah finish all the apples ... hahaha she is really really hungry

Hannah's 3rd Birthday Celebration Part 1

Late late blog entry for Hannah's 3rd birthday celebration . Opps .... too busy with work and stuff .

Since 27 July 2019 is Mabel's wedding day , we end up celebrating Hannah's actual birthday in the room after the whole dinner.

Mummy very kolot wan ... somehow must celebrate on actual day . 

Pei and Ky also got a room next to ours (even tot they did not attend the wedding) . So all of us are here celebrating hannah's 3rd birthday.

This gal is very very lucky. What to do , only cucu from both side of the family. 

 Everyone got her a present for her birthday

 Pei got her a cake to blow

 me with her cake

our family photos .... 

Melbourne 2019 : Victoria Market

2nd day in Melbourne , we headed to the famous Victoria Market.
We took the tram from our Airbnb to the market. Just 20 mins by tram ..... and is free .... i think is at the last stop before get charge

 first impression : lots of lots of fresh fresh fruits and veges

 and my parents loves loves loves this place

 and everything here is so huge .... even the mushroom

 lovely carrots with leaves .
The fruits especially strawberries are so freaking cheap .
A box of strawberries only cost like $1.5
i think we brought another like 2-3 boxes here to eat with wine and nutella spread.

 they have warm mulled wine ....

 and after walking around we saw a long line here . Got Marcus to line up .... looks like some tourist thing ...

 if i remember correctly is some kind of donuts ..... not tht impressive .

 There's an indoor market as well that sell dry stuffs , like cheese , marinated vegs , seafoods ..

 look at those lobsters . Not sure expensive or not

 but i dont think the seafoods here are cheap

 Nearly lunch when we finish exploring both outdoor and indoor market.
Choose this porchetta for lunch . Only $14 for such a huge portion

see .... omg ......huge ..... shared with M for lunch