Caitlin.

Had a bit of fun with Caitlin after TLOML gave her a nice bath.

Messed with her hair and her outfit

The two sisters have been bonding nicely, look at Caitlin holding her head up! sniff sniff they grow so fast

Old School Series One.

A couple of weeks ago some friends and i took a walk around Sungei Road, while it is just a shadow of its former "resale" glory there are still bargins to be bought. I walked away with a couple of old school cameras which i am thinking of hocking on ebay but you never know. Here is Series One. If i ever get in the mood again i am sure there will be a Series Two.

Sidebar-These photographs were taken after a long day, i took them even though i am really tired so forgive the little problems you may have with them....i will try and do better next time.

One day to a Month

23rd of the month tom and my daughter(thats right u heard right) will be 1month old! Its been tough on TLOML over the past few days as i have been sick and she is bearing the load as it were all by her lonesome.WELL DONE HONEY! Today i feel alot better so its back in the saddle with the night feeds tonight, i hope our precautions were effective and she does not get sick as well(knock wood, oei knock man)

I have been asked many times over the past few weeks what its like being a father, i really cant explain as yet but i think the emotions have been changing or should i say growing as i get to know her. Caitlins sister Pepper has been a good girl and if i may say more loving than ever. Aside from her birthday tomorrow Caitlin will also be getting the first of a series of jabs, welcome to the world of immuinization!
On a photographical note, aside from the baby i havent really taken anything worth posting, got a couple of cat pics but hey who doesnt, i really need to get into the groove soon ...hopefully sunday

Still not sure who she looks like, it seems to change from day to day, she has one hell of a head of hair i must say. I have also been asked why we chose the name Caitlin, in many places on the net it states that the name is of irish decent, but Caityn is the Irish version and Caitlin is of a welsh background which has a suttle difference in meaning with the latter meaning pure and the former pure beauty, however both of them derive from the Greek "Catherine" which i always though of as a russian name Mischa actually pulled the name out and it was the only one we agreed on, as for Rose i picked that i felt it would go well with the first name plus i like roses, we had wanted Victoria, Isabell or even Gemma but in the end we got ourselves a little Caitlin. As they say a Caitlin rose by any other name.....
SideBar-As my sister has pointed out it is a rather nice quilt that baby c is resting on, i bought that quilt almost 10years ago for philip aka baba and i hope one day he can rest his baby's head on it as i rest mine.

Happy Fathers DAY

Today is my first fathers day as a father, last year we only had pepper and that really didnt count. A nice dinner was organzied by tloml, tuff and jamie for the doo and me, hot dogs galore!

I was trying to think if i felt different being a father, i guess i do and i dont..i do cause there is alot more responisblity with being a father now, and sacrifices have to be made by both tloml and i however i cant realyl call them sacrifices as we are giving up all the little good things we enjoy like the freedom to just go out or take a long nap or travel(for now) in exchange for a child that we love more and more with each day. I did not of course think its possible to feel like this before she was born but I AM A FATHER and i am going to get a real kick out of hearing Caitlin calling me Daddy for the first time! AS new parents everything and everyday something new happens sometimes its a joy and sometimes it does feel like a hard struggle esp when at 2 in the morning she doesnt want to sleep and i have work the next day! but the good outweighs the "not so good" i wont say bad cause there really isnt any bad in this context!
Some day i shall write about what kind of father my dad was too me, someday.
for now all i can say is HAPPY FATHERS DAY.
The pic i have loaded on this page should actually have been for mothers day but me being me i didnt take any pictures of fathers lol .

BIRTHDAY NUMBER 8

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MEGAN!

It seems that someone allowed megan to grow without my knowledge! i am very displeased! in a blink of an eye she is now 8yrs old!
We had a nice birthday celebration at my mums place and as always food galore! we ate like there was no tom! and instead of cake we had ICE CREAM!!! with 8 tiny candles !
It was also Caitlins first birthday party and she had a wild time!(fast asleep)
:)

"Weeping May Endure for a Night, but Joy Cometh in the Morning."

When i first started this blog almost 1 year ago, i did not think it would survive. As i said in my first post i have never been one for the "diary" entries but as time moves on all things change.
Change, that seems to have been a big part of what has happened over the past year. With a tough first couple of weeks of being pregnant when both TLOML and i thought that we would lose our baby to a tough delivery with an emergecny C sect, we have run the full range of emotions from Happiness, Fear, and finally JOY.
Over the past week TLOML lost a major part of her life, her grandmother Nano as she was known by all. At 80 Nano had alot to be proud of having raised 3 fine children who went on to raise their own fine children some of whom are rasing children of their own! Wealth, glory, power all these things are well and good but what Nano had could not be bought it was a family who loved her, who love each other. On her deathbed Nano was surrounded by the one thing she deserved the most, love.
Tales will be told for many years about this grand lady, a woman who could truly use the words "my way". An impossible amount of strength of will and fortitude she was also a fount of infomation and wit. Nano was everyready with a good story and always ready with a quick comeback. I shall miss her phone calls which always seem to start with "what exactly is everyone doing?' and somehow connect to food, she would always ask how pepper was having met the dog only once! Her concern for details legendary as was her use of the english language, once we were playing charades(this is my fav nano moment) and someone was acting out a movie tital or something and out of the blue the nano shouted "BARRAGE" fits of laughter i tell ya i had fits of laughter. She survived a war, being widowed early, illness and many other trials and tribulations that would have broken most people but with her spine of steel Nan survived it all. It is a bittersweet moment, when i know we should be happy that she is at peace but ........scripture says "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning " I do not know about the "a nigth part" but i do belive that joy does come in the morning if it didnt life would not be bearable. So here is a tip of the hat and a gentle bow to a grand dame.

Day 15

Its been rough at work lately and this morning is no different. Sigh what i wouldnt give to just be able to tell these people off but such is life. On the plus side Caitlin is doing well and TLOML is getting better everyday. Caitlin is already 15days old and tough it has been trying esp since we are still trying to find a rythm. It has actually been a joy overall. Pepper is in assistant mother mode and looks like she wants to give "a paw" at feeding the baby. anyway just thought i would post some pics ...

Battle of the Milk

So the weekend has come and gone and last night was the first night that Tloml, Pepper, Caitlin and i spent alone without the moo as backup. We were both nervous but it went well and it will get better as we learn more. (pics will be posted tonight)

feeding time 0200hrs
While sitting there in the semi darkness, holding the baby in one hand and the bottle with the other i came to a conclusion. Feeding time is not about fun and games its about fighting a battle, what as a parent i want is to get the most amount of milk down Caitlins gullet in the shortest possible time, she on the other hand has her own ideas about the whole process. In my arsenal i have many weapons including delaying the feeding till she goes WAH WAH, or the rotating of the bottle so that she doesnt fall asleep, or tugging it in and out of her mouth so she remains interested and if that fails and she does fall asleep i can always try tapping the bottle with my finger nail and that normally works . The nuclear option is burping, clears her belly for more milk. Caitlin like all females feels the need to thwart her fathers good intentions, her weapons are, sticking her tongue to the roof of her mouth so the nipple goes under it, closing her mouthing tightly so you cant get in, shoving the nipple out with her tongue, falling asleep, pretending to be asleep, and my favourite smiling and allowing lots of milk to drip out the side of her mouth. There can be only one winner in this battle of milk and that is her, she will feed when she is hungry and sleep when she is tired. And that my friends is lesson number 1.

Hold On Daddy

Doesnt it just say it all.

HOME!

Today was the day of TLOMLs return home and it was the first time that Caitlyn(yup this might be the spelling) has come home. She has only known two place the womb and the hospital and now she needs to get used to our humble abode. Pepper was excited to see her mummy as well as her younger sister. we spent our time trying to figure out the milk balance..the wrapping of the baby and all other things associated to the baby.

Day Two

Feet that have never touched the ground
Today was a good day for both mother and child, TLOML managed to walk around with less pain then yesterday and i hope it gets better tom. Caitlin was as snug a bug though from what i understand while i was at work she was a little handfull. Tom they will both be home and all will be well! So exciting its the start of a whole new life for one and the beginning of the next phase for the two of us.

Our Baby.

Tuesday 23rd May 2006, and our little bundle of joy was born.
After a long and sometimes stressfull day the very brave love of my life delivered a bouncing baby girl. We have named here Caitlin. Mother and child are doing well. As for the father, words cant express my emotions. Many thanks to the many supporters, esp those who prayed for us.

Pongol.

It was a rather quiet day at work this morning, i should say half a day really. I knocked off at 1230hrs and a friend and i went to an abandoned house i heard about in pongol, nice looking building with a high ceiling, large rooms big bathrooms but as i said abandoned, i reckon its waiting to be torn down.

I actually spent more time photographing the servents quarters then the main building, seemed abit more interesting

The pics themself are nothing special, just another set of pics to document an old building

On the grounds of the building we stumbled across a doggy and her two pups, very cute. Its so sad to think of them all alone in that house ..so if you know anyone that wants a couple of cute little puppies drop me a line.

Got back at around 2, had a it of lunch played with the puppy while TLOML rested and then we went to pasir ris for the great introduction between Dolce and Pepper, lo and behold we met Glen and clan there as well! A nice time for dogs and all. Dinner was lovely Salt fish fried rice and sweet and sour pork from changi village we the two of us brought home and filled our bellies to satisfaction.

Nostalgia

The baby is due any time now! It could be today or next week but any day now another little simon will pop out. I had lunch with my mum today and we had a look at her photo albums. Nostalgia, thats the word and looking at the pics thats what i felt and still feel. Above is a pic of my mum in her youth, prob in her teens ! sitting next to her is her sister in-law and her assorted neices and nephews who now have children and grand children of their own!



Above is a pic of my Dad, Sgt Simon. He signed up with the british army before his 16th birthday and told them he was already 16!

Edwin met Lucy and they were wed!

Above is my granny from my dads side and on the right is my grandpa(now you know why i like to wear hats) from my mums side.

An early pic of the Simon Kids, and now i am having one of my OWN!


Checkout the bed Alison and I are on! what a cool kiddy bed not a sharp edge on it, mind you its solid metal! Like my doll?

170506

Weedila
These are pics i took some time back but just never found the right time to post them. So here they are, not that this is the right time but it aint the wrong time either.
Branch(my current wallpaper) this pic has so many things wrong but only one thing right and that is the fact that i like it.

Its been a busy few weeks for me, having been out of the office since the 18th of april. I really havent had much time for photography, with the baby coming in a few days most of my time is spent at home keeping TLOML company of course with Pepper AKA fatty. Last weekend was pretty nice, on friday which was vesak day Moo, Doo,Jamie and Atun came over to help touch up the paint in the babies new room(pics to be posted in TLOML's Blog) as well as set up stuff like the cot. Its all systems go for us here in the baby factory,i am both nervous and excited!
On saturday night TLOML and i went to the Ritz Carlton for a lovely dinner,it was prob the last fancy dinner that two of us would have before we beacme three, the place was awash with salmon, raw tuna(lovely) and many other delights including some great choclates(when i laid eyes on them i knew ...migrane and i wasnt wrong). After a great meal we didnt have the energy to go anywhere else but home.
Mothers day, we met Jamie and the Doo at the pasir ris dog run/pet shop as Jamie wanted to get some stuff and we wanted to let fatty play with the other dogs. She was running and jumping, trying hard to look like lassie i think. From pasir ris we went to jalan kayu to get some flowers for the many mothers around. Being mothers day we had planned to meet my sister and her brood at my mums place for lunch but lo and behold upon arrival my mum was no where to be found! It seems she had gone out with her friends so we ransacked her fridge, utelized her hosue and had a lovely meal. Back home, i bathed the dog, did some gardening, took fatty for a walk and went with bil to pick up dinner for our respective homes. A nice close to a pretty nice weekend at the back of a pretty horrid week.

Metaphor

Its been a rough day, and it doesnt look like its gonna be any better tom. Things didnt go as planned which i am used to but instead of getting worse, it got MUCH worse. Anyhow i took a walk to try and calm down but that didnt work so i took 1 picture(above). and if your into metaphors the pic is full of them. Below is a pic i took a couple of weeks ago but never posted.

CROC!

(just added this pic)

WOO HOO! Went to Sungei Buloh this morning(with Doo and Jamie), and it was pretty bare..not many birds...a couple of monitors. Then everything changed as we were walking back to the visitor center a couple pointed out a nice looking crocodile(bout 6ft maybe abit more) laying in the shallows. It was tough to get any shots that werent obscured by branches or leaves, and i reckon even after jamie and i moved down the slope till we were around 10ft away from the croc this is the best i could do. Dont forget i was very excited while i was doing this!! so forgive the poor pictures. The pic below was taken in 3 parts and then merged.

I have seen many many crocs some big ones and some little ones but this is the first wild crocodile i have ever seen much less photographed. Mucho Excited
Yesterday was a full day as well but i shall blog that abit later.

SECTION, 12OCLOCK CHARGE!

So i shall not go into all the bad things that happened this week, i shall just say this MISSED MY BROTHERS FLIGHT on friday, so i didnt get to say a proper goodbye to my godson, niece, bro and sis in law. I was very very disappointed.
After a full day at work today, yes saturday...i came home to the nice pink room that the DOO and JAIME painted! lovely. Thanks to the two hardworking painters who were rewarded with hotdogs and a couple of beers, cheap labour i say.
AS you know i havent been very active in the photography department so i decided to take some pics of "ARMY MEN". There will be more to come but for now enjoy.

I left the troops abit out of focus to give the "not important" effect.

Yes i know they all look pretty similar atm but i am tired so given time i think this series will evolve.

"Sian" is the word of the day

You ever feel "Sian" i cant think of a word in english that can convey the right emotion that goes with being "sian", the blues? downer? thats how i feel now "Sian".(if you have another word i would love to know)
So here is another photo-less post. When i get home at night i am really to tired to post any pics and until i leave Bukit Timah and go back to my safe haven of Sengkang i doubt i will be doing much in the way of uploading pics from work.
We went to the Doctors over the weekend for TLOML's regular check up all is well though the little one is not so little anymore! On saturday i went to my mums place to hang out with the kiddos from oz, along with the machado kids we went to the playground and played then we went to the park and played somemore!
On Sunday a lovely outing to the zoo was organized by TLOML and i was very suprised when i got out of the car and there was the DOO awaiting our arrival, with a bag of lovely sandwiches.
Philip, Phil Jr (megan and michael were sick) turned up as well along with Eileen(sis in law) Becky, Edwin(godson) and Gabriel our cousin. SO all in a nice morning of animals and kids.
Thats roughly what happened over the weekend, and now i am back in bukit timah...sigh and sunday seems oh so long ago. The one saving grace at the moment is that i have a couple of books to read and am reading 4 books concurrently, Winstons War a trashy yet exciting book on the pre war days, another book on the ten years prior to ww2 focusing on churchil's life also a book by a birtish tv journo on reporting in general but mainly of his time in afgahnistan, i also just finished two books bravo20 and a biography of frank sinatra. Except for the bravo book the rest were purchased at the book fair recently. I have different books for different moods, one for the bus, one for lunch time, one for the bed and dont really like to sleep without reading a page or two at least. When i have nothing new to read i tend to go back to old favourites like old copies of national geographic sometimes i awake to find myself surrounded by yellow bordered magazines....
its 1330 now and i have another 5hrs here today....sigh....


i almost forgot my disclaimer. IF you should find any typos please refer www.idonotcare.com a site for the many things in the world I DO NOT CARE for. :) havbe a nice day

What a difference a day makes.

33 thats just a number like any other but for me, today, its my age for the next 12months. How do i feel? i dont rightfully know, though i do know i am no gazelle now, more of a water buffalo inside i feel 16. The things that excited me then still excite me now, camping with my boys, playing with them laughing like 8yr olds without a care in the world and damn the stares . Some things excite me more now then they ever could have 17yrs ago ..i married the girl of my dreams my childhood sweetheart who tries so hard to make me happy, we have a beautiful home we got the dog and we have a little bundle of joy on the way, problems? cheh of course we got problems, in the fairy tale i was supposed to be flushed with cash and was able to give my family all they desired but alas i live in this world and not in a fairyland. . I often wonder what my father would say, how he would be so proud that i married Mischa, how he would play with my "on the way" daughter, how he would probably tell me to tuck my shirt in and stop walking round like a loafer, today of all days i wish i could hear his voice even if he said "lets clean the storeroom" but once again such is life and i am left with memories.
I often think back to our house in opera estate and feel abit sad that my family is scattered across thousands of miles and how even when we are together we seem so far apart, maybe its the knowledge that we will all go back to our homes and that we throw ourselves into our own lives that make it s so easy to forget everyone else. IS there more i could do? of course there is i could call more often or write but that 4 letter word "lazy" creeps in and i always think that will be tomorrow but someday tomorrow will be too late. So that is my BIRTHDAY resolution that i will try harder.
i dont like celebrating my birthdays, not cause of getting older but because i will forever tie my birthday to my dad who passed away suddenly 3 days after one of my birthdays. but if i can have my family with me then sorrow will pass into the night.
When my daughter is born the next phase of my life begins where i forever will be responsible for this little life, where i will become the daddy...i hope i have a little of my father in me so i dont get lost along the way.

Suddenly i realise that this post might seem depressing so i shall snap back into what is the regular flavoured edward and tell you something that makes me feel all is well with the world. AS i type this my wife is fast as asleep, we watched James Bond-Moonraker together which i love, my puppy is sitting on the desk snoring away, Kenny G( yes i am a fan) is playing in the background and on the chair in front of me are bags upon bags of baby clothes, now you tell me how you cant be content with such a life. MY cup of life isnt just half full, its half full of coke. :)

My two cents for the day.
We shall walk in the sun and save the shadows for rest, for in the warmth of the sun and you by my side i can face anything.
Holding hands is better then ice cream