Friday, October 26, 2007

Baby fell sick :(

Baby was having cough & flu since yesterday, so I brought him to the clinic yesterday morning. After some medication, he looked OK and so I didn't bring him to the hospital since hubby was not back from outstation as yet.

Got a call from hubby today at around 7.30pm while I finished dinner and was about to go home...telling me that baby is crying since 7pm, looked like he was looking for me, so asking me to come home quickly.

The moment I got home, looking at my poor lil boy crying there, immediately I hugged him and I felt the heat on his forehead. He's got fever! Hubby & I quickly pack the bag and off we went to the hospital's emergency room. He vomited in the car while we almost reached there...poor baby...

Thank God we didnt need to wait in a queue! Immediately when we arrived, the nurse came by and checked him in the room, then wrote down all necessary details and then an MO came to check on baby. He said :" This is viral fever , and there's also oral infection. If the fever doesnt subside in 3days, please come back to do a blood test." Baby cried like mad when he was checked by this Indian MO and he vomited again...
Then there was this nurse who came and inserted the medication into baby's rectum. She also took a small pale of warm water in and sponged baby to help release those heat from his body... At last we collected the medicine and baby fell asleep as we drove home....

My heart broke when I saw baby crying in discomfort. He has never fall sick like this and at his 13th month now, this is the first time. I believe he himself doesnt know how to cope with this. He refused to take milk and he vomited each time when he cried & coughed. He couldnt sleep coz his nose is blocked but he's exhausted. Poor baby...

As I cuddled him all night long, I wished I could take the discomfort, the fever, the phlem & flu all away from him, so he could just rest and sleep well...And I really hope the medication will help him fast...

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Part 2 to 'Friend who hurts' - What goes around comes around

I would suggest you to first read Part 1 - 'Friend who hurts' before u start reading this post coz this is the Part 2 of the story...

Few weeks ago during the fasting month, I was invited to a Buka Puasa dinner with few more others colleagues. At first I was considering whether to go or not to go because I found out that this person "L" was also invited. ("L" is the "best friend" I wrote about in 'Friend who hurts' sometime in Aug). But finally I went...and I'm glad that I decided to be there coz eventually I heard lots of gossip about "L"!

When L and myself were very close last time, she was also quite close to this person "J" and both of them used to gossip about me behind my back...Now that I'm no longer close to L, naturally J became L's best friend...They are now well known as "bestest friend" in the company like how people used to associate me & L.

At the Buka Puasa dinner, since both L & J were not there, there were so much about them! There was this new hire N who just joined J's team where J is the teamlead. She got so feddup with J because she got bullied BIG TIME by her. So she was telling all of us about how J has treated her in her first few weeks. Then eventually N also told us, that J said to her that L knows nothing and was all the time depending on other people to get her stuff done...blah blah...

WOW! When I heard this...all in my mind was - WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND! Few of us just smiled to each other coz deep down our hearts, we know this is soooo shameful for L! Her "bestest friend" in the company is talking bad about her behind her back, just like how she did to me!

Sometimes I dont quite understand why do they treat their so-called "best friend" this way...Is this their nature? Is this their habit? Is this their attitude towards friends? I dont know...For me, this is definitely not something I'll do to my friends.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

About "sharlydia"

I'll leave the last part of Europe trip to another day...why? Coz I felt like sharing with you about "sharlydia"...


Yes, sharlydia is me, but it's actually not my real name, it's just my name in this blogsphere! So how did "sharlydia" come about? What made me decided on this as my blogging identity?

Simple...
"shar" is part of my name and some people or friends do call me "shar".
"lydia" is the title of a song by F.I.R which I really like.
So when u put them together, it's "sharlydia"!

Some friends actually knew that I blog, but they dont really get to read my blog coz I have no intention of sharing it with anyone who knows me personally. Then they asked:"So why do u blog then if u dont let us read?" Well, my answer is simple - I dont blog to get famous or something and I just want to have a channel to voice out how I feel and write things that are in my mind which I may not want to tell anyone!

I treat this blog like my lil diary where I'm hoping to read this some many years later to refresh on things that has happened, be it small matter or a conversation I once had with some old friends...

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Europe Part2 - About Rome!

Firstly before I start writing about Rome, just wanted to provide some updates regarding my mum...Thanx for all your prayers, she's all well and the biopsy test result was finally out - nothing harmful..."PHEW"

Visiting Rome has always been one of My dreams, so I was really excited as we landed in Rome Fiumicino Airport on 21 Sept, around 1pm. Since we were in Rome for 5 days 4 nights, we have been to almost all the tourist spots and I figured that if I were to write every single details down, this post will probably get too lengthy...so, I'll just summarize it and share some photos with u!

Before I start talking about visiting places, I must say:"I really really love the varieties of Italian pasta available in Rome and the fantastic thin crust pizza there! I totally fell in love with them!" We tried Rotelle, Ravioli, Tortellini, Risoto, Fusilli, Rigatoni and ofcoz Spaghetti and many types of pizza. Personally my favourite pasta is still Tortellini, which I have never had in Malaysia...

On day 1, we only have time to cover Fontana di Trevi (photo below) and Piazza Barberini.

On day 2, we started our day really early at Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) which is an oval basin, nearly 600 meters long, was once a race track which could hold up to 200,000 spectators. Then we went across the street to The Palatino (The Platine Hill), which was the first nucleus of city life in ancient Rome and thereafter became the Imperial Headquarters.

From there, we walked through the Arco di Costantino (Arch of Constantine) which is situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, built after Emperor Constantin's victory on October 28 in 312AD.

As we walked down the path, I was amazed when I saw the Colosseo (Colosseum) in front of me! I must say, this is really one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering...Its construction started between 70 and 72 AD, and was completed in 80 AD. Originally capable of seating around 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests.

After Colossuem, we went to the magnificent Pantheon, originally built as a temple to the seven deities of the seven planets in the state religion of Ancient Rome but later consecrated as a Catholic Church. The building's dome, more than 43 meters high is most impressive. At the top of the dome is a large opening, the oculus, which was the only source of light.









On day 3, we first went to the famous Sunday Flea Market in Porta Portese. Fantastic shopping and great bargain!!!

Then after a late lunch, we went to Basilica di San Pietro (St. Peter's Basilica) in Vaticano (Vatican City). I believe this impressive building is the largest church in the world, with capacity of over 60,000 people. Near the entrance of the Basilica, there were few famous Swiss guards in their uniform...The interior of the building is just amazing...

On Day 4, we went to San Giovanni, visited the Basilica of San Giovanni, and did some shopping in that area too. Basically this is like our shopping day...so after S. Giovanni, we also went to Piazza Venezia & Piazza Navona. Ofcoz we also shopped at the famous Via del Corso and took picture at the Spanish steps.

Day 5 is when we took our flight to London at night, so we only had limited time in Rome...There is this one important spot which we have not covered so far and we left it to the last day - Foro Romano (The Roman Forum). The site looks like a disorderly collection of ruins to the uninitiated...including temples, basilicas, arches, senate house, law courts and others. The Forum was the marketplace of Rome and also the business district and civic center.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Birthday & Mum

Today is the special day coz I was born on this day many many years ago...So first of all, Happy Birthday to myself! haha...

Around 11.30am when I got a call from the company receptionist informing me that there's a bouquet for me, I was surprised. Happily I went to collect it and I was delighted that it's a bouquet of 3 dozen white roses (my favourite), with 2 lil bears on it...really sweet! Guess what? This was not from my hubby! haha...it was from a good deary friend of mine in Singapore!

Hubby? He's never a romantic person and he doesnt believe in buying flowers for me....So we will probably go for dinner tonight and have a small cake to celebrate it with our lil baby! Ofcoz I'm happy for that too!

Bunch of close colleagues thrown me a small birthday lunch too and bought me a lovely gift, so thoughtful of them...And I was touched.

On another note, mum is still feeling very uncomfortable eventhough she's on the strong antibiotics from the doctor. This is her 2nd week on medication and she told me last night that she's feeling as though she hasnt started any medication, unlike the first week where there were some improvements....She looked weak too when I saw her at dinner last night...

So I'm heading home now from office to take her to the hospital, at least then we get the doctor to check on her condition....And we could probably get the biopsy result today too...Pray hard that nothing is major!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Lost of a love one

Supposedly planned to continue my writing about Europe trip, but I was really busy during the day and my mood was so affected by an event today...

I attended the funeral of my friend, T's mum, today in the church. The news about T's mum came to us on Sunday morning when her mum passed away in the hospital.

T's mum is a Christian and she's a regular church go-er, so we always see her in church. Once a while, she will come by and check out my baby and talk a lil bit...

At the funeral, I saw T, her brother, elder sister and her dad, ALL very sad. T was crying almost all the time...I know it must have been a tough fact to accept that her mum is now gone, forever...

After the funeral while driving home, hubby & I were just talking about T's mum...Though she was only 52, her life was so blessed (at least from what we see). She has a son and 2 daughters, a loving husband, and she accepted Jesus Christ about 10 years ago. Infact we should feel happy for her that she's now in paradise! Ofcoz it's easier said than done if we are not the family members, but both hubby & I thought, at least she could leave this world without much regret...

This conversation prompted me about my mum...If she were to die today, I'll really really feel sad, not just because she's my mum and that she loves me so so much, but because I'm not able to share Jesus' love with her! So I really hope and pray that I can convince her one day, to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord & Savior...so I may be reunited with her one day in Heaven! And I really wanna love her so much more and do so much more for her while I still can...

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Europe Part1 - About Paris...

On 19th Sept, 6.30am, our flight arrived in Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Hubby has been to Paris so he wasnt as excited as me. Despite of the tiring flight journey, I was all excited & ready to see "Paris"!

After we checked out from the airport, we went straight to check-in to Tim Hotel where we have made prior reservation. Then at 10.30am, we started our "day" at Champs Elysées...We passed by the HUGE Louis Vuitton (LV) shop and we went in ofcoz! Next is the Arc de Triomphe, 50 meters tall and 45 meters wide awesome looking arch, which construction on the Arch began in 1806, restarted in 1825, and was not finished until 1836.

At 11.30am, we arrived at the great giant monument of Paris - The Eiffel Tower! This amazing 320 meters high structure was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. The tower has 3 main levels where the first level has the post office, restaurant, cafe and souvenier shop. The second level is mainly the viewing terrace and then the top level is the office and viewing terrace too. Looking down at Paris from the Eiffel Tower is really awesome! And I must say...this is truely an architecture to be appreciated. See some of these pics i've taken...

After lunch, we went to The Louvre Museum. The building itself is 800 years old, and the treasures within it represent centuries of priceless works of art. The highlight ofcoz is the visit to see the original Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Many people including myself, also stand to marvel the 20 years old pyramid outside the Louvre Museum.

Hubby & I were all tired after the whole day of walking (non-stop), so we went for dinner & we tried Ratatouille! It was delicious but the presentation was really different from the one we saw in the cartoon though...haha! And u know what? We forgot to even take a pic of it!! dem...


On the next day, Notre Dame was our first stop. Constructed in three stages, the cathedral was completed in 1250. This is really one of the most outstanding church I've ever been (since I havent been to Rome, if u know what I mean...haha). The yellowish pic is the architecture model of Notre Dame.

After Notre Dame, we went up the hill of Montmartre to visit The Sacré-Cœur Basilica (Basilica of the Sacred Heart), which was constructed in completion in 1914. From in front of the Basilica, you can actually see the whole city of Paris, which was really an awesome view... This Basilica is not really one of the most famour tourist spot in Paris, but we decided to pay a visit since it's situated at the highest point of the city!

In the late afternoon, we finally had some time for shopping at the Galeries Lafayette! And then we went back to Eiffel Tower again to have a night view of the impressive architecture. Lucky us, while enjoying the view and eating crepe, the spotlight went on so I took this picture...

This is a rather long post coz I wanted to write down those details while I can still remember them fresh in my head...so when I read this some long time later in the future, I would be able to remember the experience clearly...

Monday, October 08, 2007

I love u, Mum!

Over the weekend, I was planning to spend as much time as possible with mum though we do not stay together. On Sat around noon, I went to my parents' house which is nearby to where I'm staying, but found out from my dad that they had a fight that morning and mum went out all alone...

I was upset with my dad but he said he really couldnt stand mum nagging on him all morning. Then I said:"But she's not feeling well mar, cant you just hold it there?" He kept quite. I took out my mobile and called her straight away (luckily I've just got her a subline few weeks ago). Apparently she went to a nearby mall by bus...So I told her to wait there and i'll come pick her up. When I found her in the mall, she was quite reluctant to follow me home, but I manage to convince her and then brought her out lunching with all my sisters and nieces...

When I told my hubby about this, he said my mum was just crying for some attention. But I dont think so....Infact I suddenly realised that she looks so old now....she's no longer as energetic and aggresive as before...

A lot of people said I'm too close to my mum, and my hubby sometimes even get jealous about this! But u know what? I'm just appreciating her love!

I came from a small town in Johor state and we were quite poor last time. But I remembered mum trying her every single effort to make us all live well, study well, eat well etc. She works night shift in a factory so she could take care of me coz I was the youngest and my sisters all are 9-12 years older than me. She will cook "special things" like fried chicken and my dad will pack the A&W Rootbeer home so we could enjoy them as if we are in A&W coz we couldnt afford it. She will save every single cent so we could have more pocket money and buy more books....There were many many more little little things she did for us, that I couldnt list them all here, but I really appreciate them! There were many times when I disappointed her and made her sad, but she never gave up hope on me. I almost lost my life in a terrible accident 7 years ago and she was there to take really good care of me each day and I really felt bad to see her sad and worry about me.

I always ask myself, mum has loved us so tirelessly and unconditionally, but have I loved her enough? Have I done enough for her? Have I cared for her so much like she cared for us? Have I made her smile lately?
I hope I can do every single bit to make her live a happier life and I dont wanna wait till it's too late....

Mum, I LOVE U!

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Happy for mum!

Infact I should have written this post yesterday, but I was too tight-up with work so didnt really have time to blog it down...


Thanx for those who prayed for my mum, thank God she's fine, at least for now...I sent her to the hospital yesterday morning for the thorough checkup but I couldnt wait till the whole thing was done, so 2 of my sisters together with my dad were accompanying mum while I went to work.


At 10.50am, I sent sms to sis asking for status. She replied saying "scope" has just been done, now resting. There's a small growth near the gastric area which substance has been extracted for biopsy.


At 11.30am, I called sis to check if they have spoken to the doctor. She said :"Doctor cant confirm anything until the substance biopsy result is out in few weeks time, but it doesnt look cancerous. The reading of the blood test which indicated existance of cancerous cells was due to the bad bacteria infection in mum's stomach. So mum needs to go on special antibiotics for 3 weeks." WOW! What a relief when I heard this....


Nevertheless, please continue to pray for my mum that the growth in her gastric area is nothing major or cancerest at all, which the doctor can remove it and all will be fine.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Mixed feeling...

After a long holiday, I felt so refreshed when i touched down yesterday morning...still tired and couldnt get over the jetlag, I'm just sooooo sleepy! Infact I had so much to write about the Europe trip and I was all excited to start writing yesterday but I was just too tired, so I dozzed off after spending some time playing with my son, whom I missed soooooo much!

So I thought I'll spend some time blogging today despite of the busy work schedule...BUT my brain just cant seemed to be working at all after the phone conversation with sis few minutes ago...

Two weeks ago before I left for the trip, mum started having gastric problem...So she went to the clinic and got some medication and I thought that will do. Last night when I saw her at dinner, she looked pale and she lost weight, and she told me she's still having minor gastric though she's on the medication for 2 weeks....so last week she actually went to the same clinic for blood test and the doctor told her, she should consult a specialist cause the report showed some strange-ness...

There she was today...at SJMC, my sister brought her to the specialist doctor....And the doctor actually said :"Maam, I'm affraid the blood test report shows that there are cancerous cells in your blood, therefore we need to do a more thorough check. Can u please come back tomorrow morning and fast from 5pm today?" Sis wanted to ask more questions but she was affraid that will worry mum even more, so she decided to keep quite.

I was stunned when I heard it...I always have the 'this-will-not-happen-to-me' mentality, so when I heard about it over the phone, my heart was over-burdened...And after i put down the phone with sis, I realised tears are just running down my cheeks, uncontrolable...

I'll be fetching mum to the hospital tomorrow morning for the thorough check and I pray hard that God will lay His hand on her and pray hard that it's just a false alarm. I really cant imagine having to see mum going through the pain which associates with cancer...I think my heart will break! She is already a asthma patient, can she take that?
Oh no...Please God, dont let this happen to mum...please...