Work stress...and Kids!
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
so much work but so little time... CEO is hounding me for results.. man.. i guess that is the price to pay for the bacon you are bringing home..
the good thing though is that, despite a tough and stressful day, what never ceases to amaze me is the fact that when i go back to the in-laws for my dinner, elise and eliza's SCREAM of "daddy" "mommy" never fails to bring a smile of my face ... and honest to God, your whole being gets lifted! such is the simple blessings which i am grateful and thankful for
i am personally gratified that despite everything, elise and eliza is the reason behind my push to work hard and earn as much $$$ as possible, at the same time, paradoxically, they are the reason for me to keep my perspective and priorities in check, that no amount of $$$ can replace the time spent talking and being with them every evening that is most precious.
i am glad that i am still able to keep this promise i made to myself....
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
Fight Klub
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
had a long day today that started with signing a license agreement with suntec followed by approval to do our work. DS was there the whole time and am glad he is a trusted lieutenant to complete a job if you need him.
the day passed in a whirl and finally had a presentation at 8pm ... which i found the people i am presenting to were so old, the police were still wearing shorts! (mata cheng tor kor!) the next thing that blew me away was that i had to do the pitch in chinese - which i stuttered and muttered through - and thanks to AC, she was there to help me translate english to chinese... man, my mind was trying to catch up with my mouth during the translation.... pitch ended at 8.45pm and next step is to push the deal through.
went back to office and was really knackered but decided to send me daily report to the CEO before going back to pick kids - by which time it was 9.45pm
pick the kids up and mommy's face was black - and i found out elise and eliza have been fighting and when they hopped on, the fight continued... with mommy thrown into the mix. i was too tired to stop them and it was elise vs mommy vs eliza. sometimes a man simply needs to just shut up and let the girls (mommy included) settle the fight.
gave elise her medicine and after she took it, she took the bottle and shook it vigorously without realising the cap was not secured - and of course the whole place was full of medicine. in that instant, i was mad...really mad and i was about the utter the taboo word when something held back my tongue. i just told elise to go and cleaned up the place.
i need to manage my temper better as everytime i am provoked by the kids... i tend to lose my cool but this has become better as i just hold my breath and blow my cheeks to get the hot air out. i know i should just tell elise and eliza calmly and firmly that what they are doing is wrong but it is damn hard especially if you are tired and frustrated and the kid does something that will set it all off....
praying for calmness of heart, mind and soul.
i did talk to elise later and apologise for my outburst - elise is a very sensitive child in ever sense of the word - and she started to cry. i told her that what she did was wrong and i was also wrong for losing my cool and told her no matter what she did wrong and i reprimanded her, i still love her and she is daddy's girl. i followed that up with a big kiss on her.
sigh..... fatherhood
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
Sick
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
got call from mommy in the afternoon that elise was running a fever and was coughing badly, while eliza was also having the coughs as well....
told the team had to leave to bring elise and eliza to see the doc and was off at 7pm and picked them from mom-in-law to see dr heng at toa payoh. the place was packed as usual and while waiting, i was doing me report to the CEO. i was typing away furiously on my laptop with kids all around me...crying, screaming, bawling....plus a few curious ones that wandered over to see what i was doing... fascinated with this guy with furrowed brow and pained look in front of a laptop....ah.... such are these innocent ones...
maybe they think i was the most "sick" among the kids! hehehe
after seeing dr heng, plus kena jia lat jia lat in the wallet again for the diagnosis and prescription, there was a pasar malam nearby and elise and eliza bugged me to bring them there, which i duly did.... and they rushed to the stall selling stickers, and bugged me to buy them, which i duly did .... and then they were happy to go.
came home and shot off the emails to CEO and others and then proceeded to look after the kids, with their medicine and everything else....
what a start to the week....
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
Simon of St Anne
in nomine patri, et filli, et spiritui sancto, amen
a funny thing happened while i was at Mass with the family....
elise was climbing all over me when she started whispering excitedly "daddy...simon, daddy...simon". i was like "who? what? simon?" but she continued in a very excited hushed tone "daddy...simon, daddy...simon" then i asked her "where?' and she said "behind you..."
i turned around and i saw zachary mozelle .. the guy that plays "simon" on the artscentral program "looking for nathaniel" (i think!) ....the one who is the goofy janitor?
i almost burst out laughing but mommy gave me a dirty look as fr peter was preaching and i had to control myself as tears ran down my eyes from laughing soooo hard...
just like Jesus, i found "simon"! hehehe
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
Happiness is....
in nomine patri, et filii,et spiritui sancto,amen
am happy the weekend is here as my job is getting very intense and pressured and this is the time i have with mommy,elise and eliza.
went for novena today and the priest was fr simon perreira, a favourite of mine with his "real" sermons as well as non-judgemental look at the problems of today. somehow he made me realise i have lost touch with Mother Mary for a while..... time for me to wake up!
let me tell you a secret... you wanna know where heaven on earth is? it's at TOYS'R'US! brought elise and eliza to forum galleria after elise's class and man ... there was nothing but PURE UNADULTERATED JOY!
so much laughter... so much running around... so much screaming.... so much..EVERYTHING! this place has the magic to to make the world beautiful, as everyone, including adults, become kids again ...
every adult became a kid again, looking and playing with the toys there ... in fact, mom-in-law was so tickled by a toy baby that would cry when you pulled out the pacifier and shut up when you shoved it back in that she was doing that repeatedly and laughing her head off and saying ... this is eliza when she was a baby!
even i was not spared from the infectious happiness as i saw a pogo stick laying by the corner and i surprised elise and eliza by shouting "look at daddy!".... boing boing boing boing..... hehehe
that 1 hour we spent there makes up for all the stress i have to face at work!
i also learnt 2 things today:
1. puddles and kids have an imaginary magnetic force
whenever there is a puddle of water, despite your advance warning not to step on it or to watch out for it, kids will inevitably develop selective hearing and go ahead to step onto the puddle. i have long accepted this but mommy is still fighting this inherent "gift" from nature.
2. never let your kid ride her bicycle around the house while you take a dump or always have a tag team to watch the kids.
mommy was busy with her chores when i needed to take a dump and eliza decided to ride her bike when suddenly i heard a long bang and eliza crying loudly that rushed to wipe me arse and run out
to find that she had toppled over from the bicycle while riding in the kitchen. she has a bump on her cheek and man ... me mom is gonna give it to me when i go back for lunch after Mass tomorrow morning
all in all ... i wouldnt expect any less from a saturday!
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
Pain - Sakit - "Tong" - "Tia"
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
crashed for only 4.5 hours after replying to emails from CEO and was at the office again to fight the many battles. day flew by - like it does any other day when you are up to your neck with appointments, meetings and presentations.
good thing is i REMEMBERED to buy elise her birthday present: "My PICTURE Bible Storybook". scurried down to MPH at robinson road to get this and scurried back to work. it's a nice book that has pictures within each paragraph and encourages kids to use words to describe the picture. just like "cloze passage" when i was in pri 5!
mommy leaves office early on thursdays to bring elise to her weekly swimming class while i leave on me own to go to the in-laws to have dinner and pick eliza up first before detouring to pick mommy and elise from the swimming pool after their lesson.
elise was very happy when i told her i got her a present and she asked me "today is not my birthday" and i had to sheepishly tell her "daddy bought your present only today"
mommy had bought elise those "wafers" - the ones that look like humongous holy communion (forgive me pater but that is what every catholic says!) - after class and elise and eliza started chomping on it like mini pacmans...pacgirls in my case!...in the car.
we came back home and it has been a long time since i caught the 9.30 news and me favourite newscaster (christine chan..woowoo...mama mia) was reading the news tonight.
living room picture: elise chomping, eliza engrossed with her toys, daddy watching news and watching elise and eliza, mommy frustrating over the mess ....typical picture that has not happened in a long while since i started working for the CEO.
had fun wrestling with eliza and my favourite moment is to cuddle her while i feed her milk before bedtime. elise.... she takes a deep breath and gulp down her cup of milk in milliseconds!
then something happened that precipitated the title of this post .... PAIN .....
elise and eliza have this nightly ritual of drinking a cup of water before they go to bed (after they have had their milk - wonder where all the fluids are!) and as usual, elise and eliza would follow me to the kitchen to get their cup of water. while they were drinking, i went to the living room to switch off the tv and when i came back to the kitchen, i saw elise had finished but eliza was putting her hand into the cup and splashing the water all over the floor. i snatched the cup from her and smacked the top of her hand twice and at that moment.....i swear, i feel the pain more than her ..... especially when she rubs the top of her hand and looks at me with those sad eyes....
elise saw what i did and immediately "siam" from the kitchen and i asked eliza if she should be doing what she did and she whimpered "no". i immediately rubbed her hand and gave her a kiss and a hug.... and guess what she said? "daddy, i want my bolster" no anger, no growl, no resentment, no snide remarks. Sigh .... such innocence
before i started this post, i went to eliza's room again to check if her hand was ok and also to rub and massage her hand, kissed the hand and kissed her again .... aw man....daddy feels really bad.... :-(
i can bet that tomorrow morning when she wakes up, she will smile and calls out "DADDY" without even remembering i had smacked her ..... true lesson in forgiveness
i hope and pray that i will be the daddy that elise and eliza is proud of....
Pain
Sakit
Tong (mandarin)
Tia (teochew)
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
Wot? Part Deux
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
after posting my blog did i realise that i did not do what i was suppose to do - BUY ELISE A PRESENT FOR HER BIRTHDAY! AARRGGHH!
looks like it will have to be tomorrow.... God please remind me!
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
Wot?
In nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
today was a stressful day at work. after many rounds of interviews, this candidate that we offered a contract to said she just found out that she's pregnant.... was happy for her but am afraid that the business development job that's offered may be detrimental to her health and unborn child. she's seeing doc on friday 24 june to confirm her pregnancy and if so, must tell her sorry - must pass on her. so now back to square one in hiring and CEO is on me back again....sheesh
had a good meeting with the team this evening where i spelt out our goals as well as plan - that we have 5 weeks to hit our target and to commence selling advertising. giddied and galvanised the team and asked FY and SC to stay 1 month and help the SG team pull this through. they going back to HK to consider and decision next week.
this was followed by dinner with EN, my MD that's visiting from HK. brought her to ah teng's bakery to sample local delights where we talked about expectations as well as coping with the CEO's demands and idiosyncracies.
by the time we were done, it was 10.45 and i dropped EN off and rushed to pick kids from in-laws. by then, elise and eliza looked "stoned" and it was quiet in the car, unlike the usual banter we normally have - plus mommy was very tired too. elise dozed off and i had to drive with my right hand on the steering wheel while my left hand was propping her head up - as it was swaying round. thank God no "uncle sam" around or sure kena ticket!
by the time reach home, it was 11.30 and mommy carried eliza while i carried elise, plus laptop and laundry. dropped elise on the bed and she is snoozing soundly now. eliza as usual would sit up and gave me the mischievous smile that makes me wanna give her a real smacker on her lips - which i did! - and she said she is not sleepy. i told her its 11.45 so please put your head down and go to sleep but she said not before her cup of water every night - which is becoming a ritual between she and elise. MUST drink a cup of water before they sleep.
everyone is sleeping soundly now and its been another day which i thank the Good Lord for.
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto amen.
First Post Part Deux
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
managed to leave office early - 7.30pm - after telling the boss it was my elise's birthday. had wanted to get a gift for elise but was too late by then so went to the in-laws to have dinner and then brought both elise and eliza out. asked them where they wanted to go and of all places, they shouted "NUTC"!! i was like "huh?....of all places NTUC??!" and they chorused in unison "yes!".
acceded to their wish and so went to Rivervale Mall NTUC and let them "enjoy" themselves. since it was elise's birthday, i let her have her fill of what she wanted to buy: Pringles potato chips (which mommy stashed back on the shelf) ; koko crunch; strawberry milk; pastilles .... it was like a mini party for her =)
bought a whole bunch of other stuff and finally came back. nothing beats seeing elise and eliza happily sharing koko crunch, that is if they don't start fighting LOL.
i learnt a lesson in simplicity while at NTUC, as i was wheeling the trolley. being with with elise and eliza IN the trolley with mommy beside me.... nothing in the world seemed to matter at that instance.
i promised myself i will get elise her birthday present tomorrow.
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
First Post
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
this blog is a chronicle of me with my 2 daughters - elise and eliza. why did i choose "e-cube"? cos their father's name is ernie! so ernie, elise and eliza = e-cube! so clever!
it is about my experience .... as a father, guardian, counsellor to my girls. their mommy is the most beautiful angel with strength of heart and character to boot...but this is about ME - the daddy!
reason i am starting my blog today is its elise's birthday.... 21 june......she turns 5 (eliza is 2 and a half). she woke up early and started going through her presents and eliza was like asking where are hers? cos "jair jair" has so many.... so early this morning had to play peacemaker ..
mommy took leave to go out with them but i had to work so elise gave me a bear hug and we kissed and i dropped them off at the in-laws...
So elise ..... this is from daddy
"happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to elise.....
happy birthday to you!
may the good Lord bless you,
may the good Lord bless you,
may the good Lord bless elise....
may the good Lord bless you!'
*muah* *muah*
hopefully i can leave early today so that i can bring her out for cakes.....
in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritui sancto, amen
