Mommy's gone to Heaven...

Today is a sad day. Mommy has left us for Heaven after fighting lymphoma for a year and 2 days. Words cannot express the sorrow Daddy and everyone close to Mommy feels. She leaves behind her 2 precious angels, the loves of her life. Daddy may never understand God's reason for taking Mommy away from her 2 Lil' Angels at such a young age. But i know that Mommy wouldn't want this blog to be filled with sadness, her struggle with the disease or the many disappointments she faced over the year. Mommy was always a cheerful, positive and spirited person. She always kept up a smile no matter the adversity.

Daddy had only knew Mommy for 8 short but beautiful years. I know that she wouldn't want us to be sad but rather celebrate her life. Mommy had also reminded daddy to retrieve all the old photos that were saved on an old computer just days before she passed on. She must have wanted all the memories preserved so that the 2 Lil' Angels will always remember the good times. Going thru the photos did bring back a smile and a tear... here are some from the 8 years i've known her...

Dec 2002

Daddy first met Mommy on holiday in the US. We were in Breckenridge Colorado when we first got together. This was when Daddy first held Mommy's hand down the icy path leading to the city square. This was our first picture taken together.

2003

Daddy and Mommy loved to travel. We were in the Gold Coast Australia in July and Korea in December. We also had a pair of rabbits named Mashi (brown male) and Maro (white female) which we kept in an enclosure in the garden. Both of us were working in close proximity at NUS and we had lunch together almost everyday! It was always Dover, Ghim Moh or Holland village market. We loved to eat and enjoyed each others company.

2004

We traveled to Japan in June and Melbourne in December. Then we realized that having a male and female rabbit together wasn't a good idea, as we now had 11 rabbits! But we loved each one of them and the garden had turned into a mini farm! On Christmas day, Daddy surprised Mommy by proposing to her with 99 roses and a ring at the Beaufort Hotel in Sentosa. That was one of the happiest days in Mommy's life, she couldn't contain her excitement and was jumping up and down. She immediately phoned her good friends to tell them of the news.

2005

Besides going on holidays, Mommy also liked staying in hotels. We stayed several times in Conrad Hotel which we liked the service and comfortable bed. In June, we went to Perth and stayed at Uncle Siang's vacation house. Mommy loved the place and its proximity to Perth City and Freemantle, the food in Chinatown and the Australian lifestyle. Here are also several pictures with Nicole Jiejie when we brought her to the Jurong Bird Park. The rest of the year was spent planning for our wedding next April.

2006

Daddy and Mommy got married at our favorite Conrad Hotel on 26 April. During the wedding, Daddy serenaded Mommy with one of her favorite songs The Search is Over by Survivor. Then we went on our Honeymoon to New Zealand! We toured entire south island in 2 weeks. Mommy loved that place, the majestic scenery and especially Queenstown where we went white water rafting and took the shotover jet. It was heaven on earth! We were back in Perth in December again!

2007

Mommy was pregnant and the joy of her life, Caitlyn was born in April. This blog was created soon after to document and share her joy with the rest of the world. Mommy's life now revolved around Caitlyn and she couldn't wait to bring her out to meet her friends. I recall Caitlyn was out of the house in only a week after birth! The rest of the year is well documented in this blog.

2008

One of the happiest years in Mommy's life! We were all off to Boston to accompany Daddy for his studies. We arrived and it was already snowing the next morning and Caitlyn got to experience snow at just 10 months old. Mommy's friendly and easy going personality made her many friends at the apartment block we stayed at. Almost every week, the Mummies brought out the lil' ones out to play or shopping. We also traveled around a lot. We went to Orlando, New York, Niagara Falls and not forgetting our weekend excursions to New Hampshire and Maine for the lobsters and sightseeing. Mommy never wanted to leave and she was ecstatic when Daddy told her he had to stay behind for an additional 2 months because he was slow in his work!

2009

We were back in Singapore and Mommy wasted no time taking the now grown Caitlyn out for activities and classes. There was also Gymboree, Julia Gabriel and Teacher Lavina's class which she had posted so many entries. It was also so hard to find pictures of Mommy because almost every picture taken was of Caitlyn and she did capture and document well the development of her Lil' Angel here. We were on the Royal Caribbean cruise for Christmas and the New year.

2010

We were in Phuket Thailand in the early part of the year and here is a picture of Caitlyn's first elephant ride. Mommy was diagnosed in February and spent the whole year in and out of hospital for treatment. Whenever she was better, she would take the time to update the blog. Caitlyn also visited Mommy regularly in hospital. Baby Evan was born premature in June and this was the first picture taken with him with Mommy while he was in the incubator at the NICU. She always made it a point to go see him the 49 days he was there, even if it meant being wheel chaired over. I know Mommy won't be too happy with Daddy for showing pictures of her bald headed as she never wanted to be remembered that way, but there were so few pictures of her during that time. In October, Mommy was proud to attend Caitlyn's first school performance, she was especially happy seeing the cute tiger outfit and the touching finale song for the concert.

2011

This was our final picture together just 2 days before she passed on. Mommy was always ready to put a smile, especially of it was for her Lil' Angel. On the night before her passing, Mommy was quite ill but still managed to summon all her energy to hold herself up to receive a final good night kiss from Caitlyn. Daddy knows that Mommy never wanted to leave her 2 precious Angels and she was determined to fight on and was hopeful to get better. There was so much to love and live for. Mommy will always be here with us in spirit and in our hearts.

This was a picture Daddy found in one of the folders on Mommy's computer that aptly sums up what Mommy was all about. We will always miss dearly the mother of my 2 Lil' Angels.