감사합니다 gamsahabnida!

My colleague invited us to an exclusive Korean homemade lunch, part 1 of his housewarming celebration.

The authentic Korean dishes... black sticky rice, tofu soup, cooked beef, Korean tang hoon fried with veg, spicy rice cake, korean sauced pork, chicken, sotong and the cuttlefish... what a feast! All cooked by his Korean mother-in-law, yummylicious!



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Happy Results Day

Thanks to all those who have been very concerned about A's blood test results. The results was out today and thank God, there was no abnormality detected in the report! :)

The specialist at KK and her assistant were so amused by Baby's and like him (n his smiles) so much that they joked that they wanted him back 2 weeks later to amuse them. Ha!


A dozing off while we queued up in the pharmacy. We got him a cream for his bites.

It was a happy day for us. We bought Baby out and bought him more toys at Robinson's privite sale. :) It was seldom that we bought our stroller out, today was one such day and Baby surprised us when he refused to lean back and kept wanting to sit up. He was sitting very steadily and didn't flinch when we rolled over humps! Wow!


A wearing his turtle shirt playing with his brand new turtle toy at Robinsons, ha!


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Planning for the '1'

It's less than 3 months to A's birthday! Time to kick start the planning!

At this point in time, we've only managed to gather a list of websites that sells birthday cakes and for the past week, I've been browsing the cakes online for ideas.

Next up, we will have to decide on the theme, pick a cake shop, design the cake, fix the venue and date, draw up the guest list, send out invites, confirm guest list, order food, buy decorations and the tasks go on and on... Boy, it feels so much like planning for a mini wedding!

*Breathe in*, *Breathe out*... I hope the process will be a relaxed one! Let's do it one step at a time - with no stress and hiccups! :)


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Nespresso Espresso

Yipee, the company decided to try out a Nespresso machine in the pantry. I downed 2 to 3 espressos and latte daily because of this new gadget. Fantastic and easy to make. I am so tempted to buy one for home now ...





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Tiring day for Baby

Baby must had a tiring day today. We arranged for 2 sessions of 45 mins matwork for him, one after another. Felt guilty about this as he's still having runny nose and expended a lot of energy today but fortunately he had his fill of energy-filled porridge before leaving home. Think we must try to space out the sessions next time!



One of the trainers commented that he improved a lot after the first lesson. He's more alert, more responsive, more stable and more mobile! Hehe, he also cries more than the last time whenever the trainers carried him! :P



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Baby is 9 months old

Baby has made much progress since the last update.



He can point to the object he wants and will tilt and bend himself towards the object to get it. His grasps improves, he's able to grip small blocks and his ball toys (but not firm enough to hold them for long). He can transfer objects to the other hand and can bang objects together.

He sits better now. He can lean forward without falling although he still can't lean sideways or backwards very well. He almost always wants to propel his body to bring himself to an upright position whenever I laid him on my lap but he still can't roll over to get to a sitting position although I can see that he wanted to.

He started trying crawling movements but goes backwards instead, ha. He has this vigorous action of banging himself against the mat (when he's on the mat) and us (when we are carrying him) that makes him look so cute and funny! It's definitely a sign that he's trying to move (either forward or upwards) but this can be quite dangerous and painful at times when his head knocks against our body. He, on the other hand, seems to enjoy it very much.

He babbles quite a lot lately and some of them sound like speech. He can say "Mama Mum Mum..." and "Mama Baba..." Whenever he's hungry and wants/or sees food, he'll say "Mum Mum". At 8 months, he loves to eat and wants food to be delivered to his mouth fast! He makes noise and bangs the table impatiently when food is not ready. New food this month: Sweet potato, potato, chinese spinach, apple, treadfin and beef. He takes 2 meals of porridge now. Milk intake remains low (about 400+ml per day). In the day, he sleeps 3-2 hours (decreasing) but luckily his night sleep is undisturbed at night. He's sleeping a continuous 10-11 hours (increasing) daily through the night! :)

Just yesterday, he experienced his first flu and was cranky and increasingly clingy. It must have been quite a torture for him. That separation anxiety seems to be growing but I'm not too worried. It's just a phase that will pass.

I can't believe it is 3 months to his 1st birthday! We have yet to start planning for his birthday celebration. Have to get start very soon! I've a feeling it's going to be a headache just deciding on a theme!

Anyways, on a side note, today was also my sis birthday. Happy Birthday, sis! :)


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Baby down with his first Flu

DC was informed by his parents that Baby had runny nose and cough and had difficulty napping. We decided to take him to his PD immediately.

Wanted to go to the PD at Mt A but DC remembered the clinic don't open in the afternoon.
Then, I tried calling the PD at Paragon and was informed that he doesn't work on Tues afternoons. The clinic referred me to another clinic on top of theirs.
Called the PD at Mt A just to be sure the clinic was not closed today and was informed by the receptionist that she was on leave for two days!

Where are all these PDs when we needed them?

Then, DC remembered the very first PD. Thank God he was still available!
My vendor also recommended a baby and child clinic to me and it turned out to be the same one that we went to!

DC and I rushed down to the clinic to meet Baby and DC's parents. Today, the PD left a different impression on us, he seem different from the first time. More confident and convincing that we decide to put him back on our list of PDs. :P He's proven very useful today!

After feeding the medicine, Baby managed to sleep through the night. Thank God!


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22 Apr 2010, 1:13 AM, DC: Baby Aaron fell sick for the first time in 9 mths, slight cold and cough. God bless him with a speedy recovery :)


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Nephews Weng and Onn's 2nd year birthday

Time flies, my twin nephews are now 2 yrs old. They are the elder twins, we actually have 2 pairs of twins among us. Imagine that ...

Baby A was quite subdued this time. I think he's probably tired. He even managed a short nap through the cacophony.




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Birthday Poxed

Ah Boy contracted Chicken Pox on the day of sis's birthday treat! What bad timing and I had to choose to skip the dinner cos I didn't want to tire Baby (he was out the whole day). Poor sis had to celebrate a few times because of this - Fri with parents and bro, Sat with parents and us and another day with Ah Boy and us...

I hope my present was a good consolation... Got her a LV wallet and passed it to her on yesterday. :)


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Baby (n Us) at LV

This was not the first time we bought him to LV, not the first time he squirmed on the comfy sofa, not the first time we were served beverages but it was definitely the first time we took family photos in LV!



I love these pictures! Too bad the store manager was in a meeting then, we should have posed a picture with her earlier when she was carrying our Baby! :)


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Follow-ups at the PDs

Today was a tiring day for the three of us because we have 2 appointments (11am and 4pm) with Baby's two PDs.

Today was also a happy day. Both PDs were satisfied with Baby's development this month! One was amazed by his improvements and the other said he seems too bright to cause any concern! :D We are sooo proud of him!


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Free Starbucks Beverage again

Thanks to Sis, I've got free beverage on Starbucks again! I don't know why but the hot chocolate tasted exceptionally nice today, different from usual! :)


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New Staff Pass

Changed a new pass. 4 designs to choose from, I picked the most colourful one.

I was thinking... they should have changed the photo too!


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Jammed

Traffic was really bad today! I was caught in the jam for 1 hour! Can you imagine the cab fare of a 30 minutes-turned-1 hour journey? It came up to $30!!! *Heartache*



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Was it fish or sweet potato?

I am always suspicious about the rashes on Baby and wary of the food he eats. The rashes that appeared on him previously can almost pass off as nappy/heat rashes with the exception of some I know for sure are caused by his nappy cover. Today, I saw some really red and big & small rashes on the back of his hand, it was so obvious that you can't miss them! Then, I started tracing back...

Hmm, we had sweet potato and fish these few days: fish and sweet potato on Fri, sweet potato on Sat, fish on Sun and fish and sweet potato today. So, was it fish, sweet potato or the combination? Arghh, I should have stick strictly to my '3-day first foods' rule!


[Updated on 16 April 2010: Baby's fine now. PD confirmed on our follow up visit that the rashes was not food allergy but they were insect bites. The mosquitoes sure know where to hide... we couldn't find them anywhere!]


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Transformer

Ah Boy's drawing improves! I was taken by surprise when he showed me his latest drawing of his transformer toy! :)

I always hear from DC that he used to draw transformers very well (too! It's so amazing to know how time flies and goes round) when he was young... I wonder if what DC drew was something like what Ah Boy drew?


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Baby goes 推拿

We bought Baby daily to this center for 推拿 for this whole week since 3 Apr. It was an eye opener for us on our first visit last week, we were wowed by the influx of "patients" there. There were so many kids waiting to be massaged/treated there!

On our 2nd visit, I saw a colleague there with her daughter... she told me that she had been visiting this centre since she was young, it is now her daughter's turn - and all this while, we didn't even know that such a place exists!

After going through 7 sessions now, we saw improvements on Baby. His appetite improves and so is his development. Will definitely be bringing him regularly there.


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Find me all the Baby Rooms

The first thing I do when I go to shopping malls now is not to browse the clothes but to look for the nursing rooms, ha! There are many nice rooms around in town, it's a pity I don't see any in hotels yet.

Just some humble comments on the nursing rooms I've been to, mostly shopping malls, 3 are companies:

Company 1

The Good: Comfy cushioned seat, cute baby posters, mirror that runs across the wall, a table top for laptop, fridge in the room, a box of tissues and power adaptors.
The Bad: No washing detergent, no hot water, the fridge is inaccessible when someone is in the room and the air-con is just tooo strong...
The Want: The room temperature raised, the hi-fi system that used to be there (i heard) and have another nursing room so that I don't have to queue for it.

Company 2

The Good: A washing area with hot water and washing detergent. Fridge is outside the room, two rooms, there's a clock outside the room that tells when the person inside is ready.
The Bad: The chairs are not comfy and the room is too bare. The freezer compartment in the fridge is too small to store my ice-pack...
The Want: A bigger space to put the pumps which can also hold a laptop.

Company 3


The Good: Sterilization machine is available
The Bad: Shabby - two chairs combined to form a sofa covered by an outdated flora sofa cushion
The Want: A nicer looking chair and furniture, Mummies deserves a nice and relaxing area!

Orchard ION
The Good: Modern, clean looking but looks more like a pantry. There's air-ventilator, hot water and a baby changing station.
The Bad: The chair is not very comfortable.
The Want: A more comfortable chair.

The CapitalLand Malls

The Good: Simple room with baby tips on the wall
The Bad: The nursing room can be smelly and stuffy
The Want: A more ventilated room

Paragon

The Good: Large changing area for diaper changing, I love the mirrors.
The Bad: The ventilation in the nursing room is bad.
The Want: Increase the number of nursing room. Currently, only 1 is available.

Raffles City

The Good: Stools, high chair can be found inside. Even strollers are available in the concierge!
The Bad: The baby room can be seen from outside, it's not very private (I ever saw a mummy breastfeeding inside). Another time we saw another mummy feeding the baby in the room and we were changing Baby's poo!
The Want: Soup for handwashing

Forum

The Good: Nice and comfy, the nicest I've seen so far!
The Bad: Shared room, can accommodate two families. Nursing room is separated by only a curtain. I find it open and no privacy.
The Want: - Have not tried the room yet, no comments -

Ikea

The Good: Hooks to hang stuffs (hooks from Ikea), there's sanitizer from Korea!
The Bad: Diapers and baby changing sheets are not provided for free!
The Want: A bigger space.

Also went: Tanglin Mall, CK Tangs and United Square

From the above, it's not hard to know what I look for in a baby/nursing room! Comfy seats, ventilated room with mirrors, and not too cold!


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To the Rescue

Since last week, the air con system in our server room cannot cool the servers down effectively. Yesterday, the temperature hit a record high of 31ºC! All systems were ordered to be taken down and the rescue team managed to bring down the temperature by channeling the hot air elsewhere... What a sight!

My system testing was halted twice because of this issue, I hope the upcoming replacement of the cooling system would resolve the problem!


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Citibank - Is it asleep now?

Has the cost cutting also affected Citibank's customer service? In the past, they always respond to queries within 2 to 3 days, sometimes even the very next day. Now, it's been 2 weeks, a month and still I have not heard from them. Understaffed, overworked or the bank that never sleeps now has fallen asleep?


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Dog-tired

DC was on course this weekend and today. I was alone with Baby and I thought I did a rather good job taking care of this clingy baby! On Sat, I managed to feed him close to 600ml of milk (he usually drinks only 400+ml only), prepared sweet potato puree and cooked his porridge and, he still got his sleep! :)

Felt happy and accomplished until weariness sets in...


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I wanted ... something else

In the end, it's neither the Bose or JBL. It's the Harman Kardon Soundstick II. Sweet!!! Sporting a sort of alien look, it comes with touch-controlled volume as well. Cool!!! Nice bass and treble as well too. What a joy it is to listen to it.



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Is air purification really required?

Never know cleaning services companies are so aggressive now. DC had a few calls referred by his friends. Just last week, someone from Rainbow called to inform that a colleague refer me for a free cleaning demo and I accepted the offer.

We arranged the session to be today afternoon. I was supposed to get two rooms purified but the lady only cleaned up 1 bedroom. Then, the demo was all heavy sales talk which made both DC and I yawned. The worst thing was the cleaning wasn't done very well, only the bed vacuumed, a pillow thoroughly cleaned and the floor shabbily vacuumed! It may be true that with the cleaning system, the air will be purer and we may be healthier but the equipment looked very bulky and complicated to use. Knowing myself, I will likely not use it after a few tries.

1 hour of precious sleep time wasted because of this! I was rather disappointed with the session! And, I actually chose not to provide references to the company, hehe. :P I don't think I want to accept such demo sessions ever!


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