Family... and what it means

Over the Father's Day weekend, we had the Hubby's aunty and uncle visit us in Singapore. The Hubby's a transplant to Singapore from Sydney, which means that seeing his family once a year or so is about as good as we can do given the long 8 hour flight back and forth. We didn't make it back last year while I was pregnant, so we were really happy that some of them have made and will be making the long flight down here enroute to weddings/holidays in the region.

Uncle Ed and Aunty Eve with Baby M

How nice that his Uncle Ed and Aunty Eve made it for the Father's Day weekend! Uncle Ed is pretty much a second father to the Hubby, given that their families were early immigrants to Australia in the 1970s and 1980s and were pretty much on their own then. So it was truly wonderful to be able to have both families (his and mine) around the table for dim sum lunch; the last time this happened was during our mad wedding week 3 years ago. The time we had together was quite crunched, given that my mom and the Hubby were both flying off in the afternoon for work trips around the region.

The picture speaks a thousand words!

Watching Uncle Ed and Aunty Eve interact with Baby M, and their delight at having a grand niece (the Hubby's family being predominantly inclined towards males for some strange genetic reason!) pulled quite a bit at my heartstrings. At dim sum lunch with my family, I sat on the sidelines and watched both families have a good time catching up, talking about the latest news, watching and playing with Baby M, and felt a sense of peace knowing that Baby M would be growing up as part of a secure, close knit family and that she would be well-loved by everyone.

Baby M enjoying the attention!

A week or so back when my dad was out of town, my mom, aunt and uncle came over for dinner at our place. Thoughtfully bringing pot luck with them so that we wouldn't have to fret about feeding so many extra mouths, it was a great evening of catching up and playing with Baby M. Aunty Yvette is also close to being a second mom to me, given that she's my mom's only sister, and used to babysit my brother and I in our younger days when we went over to spend time with our cousin Mel. She too was equally enthralled with Baby M and I was quite amused watching my mom and Aunty Yvette do goo goo ga ga noises with Baby M that evening.

My mom, her sis and Baby M

As a nice round up, the Hubby's parents are finally coming down and will be here in a couple of weeks for Baby M's baptism. That's something we're really looking forward to!