One, Two Buckle My Shoes

Time to take out Baby's shoes from the closet! There is a belief that Baby can only wear shoes from 1 year old onwards.

I was stocktaking the shoes he owns and had laid them all on the floor one fine day with Baby and he lost no time in playing with them.



Of all, I think he liked the pair from Timberland most cos he always held on to it and it's always that pair, no other... Good choice Baby, that's my favorite too! :P


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Clothes Matching

I love clothes matching!

When we were together, DC detested the idea of "情侣装" so until now, we do not own a top that look exactly alike in color and design. Fortunately, he was reluctantly ok with us wearing same design but different colors or different shades of the same color. Here are some of the few pictures of us in our matching tops years ago:


Picture above taken in year 2003 (Same wordings, almost the same colour. I can't remember how I got him to buy that top and don't recall how I got him to wear it out that day! :P )


Picture above taken in year 2007 (Same design, different colours. A gift from my dear sis after her holiday. )

I remember we had a few other pictures taken in photo studios in matching colors too... :)

Now that we have our baby, I get to decide what he wears and I had since coordinated many similar colors for both of us, sometimes even cleverly matched daddy's clothes to ours, ha! I don't fancy us wearing exactly the same, that would be boring (we don't have to wear exactly the same to show that we are one family.) I prefer to leave some variations and contrasts for the play of individualistic elements. What I did was to put similar colors, patterns or themes together whenever possible and most importantly, DC is receptive to this idea! :)


Matching my top with Baby's shorts (and bottom with Baby's top!)...


Matching my top with Baby's top and DC's vertically striped top with Baby's horizontally striped shorts...


The color is blue, the theme is christmas! Us with our dear deer, taken during christmas. :P


Our denim 牛仔装! :P


The color theme is beige here. DC wore beige, me and Baby in similar beige+white color combination.


Last but not least, here's the latest picture where DC was wearing a striped top in another colour as me and Baby. I feel like photoshop-ping DC's stripes to the same color, haha!

We are planning for a photo shoot soon. Maybe we could consider getting the same family uniform this time, just for the shooting? Hmm...


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Naughty will get you busted

Again, we count our blessings that we didn't get their photo packages.

As reported by The Straits Times on June 15 2010, "Photo studio Naughty by Nature (NBYN) abruptly shut at the weekend, leaving thousands of its customers with unused amounts on their packages.

Thirty of them who had paid between $1,000 and $4,000 upfront for photo shoots and albums of photographs have banded together on blogs to share information on what they can do. Nine also made a police report yesterday.

A former employee who declined to be named said 6,000 customers have unfulfilled packages of up to $4,000 each."


From CASE:
CLOSURE OF NAUGHTY BY NATURE PTE LTD

With regard to the recent closure of Naughty By Nature Pte Ltd (Naughty By Nature) as reported by The Straits Times on 15 June 2010, CASE offers the following advice for affected consumers:

As of 15 June 2010 (9.00am), the status of Naughty By Nature was live. Hence, if the company’s status is still ‘live’ at ACRA but not operating at their premises, the first thing the consumer need to do is to file a claim against the business at the Small claims Tribunal (SCT) so that he can obtain an Order of the Tribunal and demand the business to pay whatever amount awarded to him / her by the SCT. If the amount is not settled, the consumer can enforce the order by taking out a writ of seizure of other forms of legal action.

However, if the company or sole proprietor or partners offer a package and collect money with no intention to execute the package and cease operations, that may amount to a scam and be regarded as criminal offence rather than a genuine business failure. There is a possibility that the Director of the business may be held personally liable for the debts of the company when it is being wound up under the Companies Act. The sole proprietor or partner will also be liable for the debts of the business. Consumers can file a complaint with the police, so that the persons liable for the scam can be charged in court for commission of a criminal offence.

CASE had previously in 2007 commenced an injunction action against Naughty By Nature and its then two directors including Bupendra Ramason for breaching the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act.

Should consumers require any assistance regarding their disputes with Naughty By Nature, they can call CASE’s hotline at 6463 1811. Consumers can also visit the Small Claims Tribunal at Havelock Road to file a claim.

What a scam.


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A day after Baby's Birthday

I was sick! This time it's for real! My body was aching... who and where did I catch the flu bug from? I had to go my parent's place to rest so that I don't spread the germs to Baby.

I felt so well rested today and it's been quite a while since I last had long long hours of sleep! I'm lovin' it!


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Baby is 1 year old!

Time flies! It seems like just yesterday I've given birth to him and he's already one year old! :)

We held a party for him last Sun and he loved it! Smiley as usual and flashing his hands up to say "hi" to his guests... So adorable! Strangely, his stranger anxiety seems to be gone that day as he was friendly and willing to be carried by the relatives. It was truly his day, his party! I felt the effort spent on the party was worth it, it's a pity I didn't have time to do more. On his actual day, we brought him to a yacht ride and I think he enjoyed the cruise ride better than the party! He was not only smiling, he was laughing all the way! :D I'm so glad he enjoyed his celebrations so much.

He's progressing well last month, much to our satisfaction. :) He understands giving, constructing and kissing. He has also started to creep despite hating to do so and he was doing pretty well. We were advised by the PDs, GP and friends that it is fine to skip the crawling stage and to follow the baby's cue - if he likes to proceed to walking, just let him be. Having tried for several months to train him to crawl, I guess we accept that he could probably really belong to the group of babies who walk without crawling. The ironic thing was that he picked up creeping the moment we began to go loose on him! He can't seem to sit still now, always wanting and pulling himself to be in the standing position...

Food wise, we've transited him to millet twice a day, wheat instead of oatmeal (he hates oats!) once a day and a new one year old milk powder twice a day. We've introduced him to nectarines and he enjoys it very much. Last week, he was suddenly on food strike refusing all food. We later realized that his lower right gum was swollen, indication that he is cutting his first tooth? For all we know, we may be seeing his pearlies very soon! :)

Special mention and thanks to DC! :) He has been a superb help since last month and we never know he was such a great milk feeder until then! Thanks to him, he always manages to let Baby finish his 1st feed, that's >200ml! Not only that, he also cooks Baby's porridge, bathes Baby and does the laundry! I felt esp. relaxed and pampered this month ... I only have to play with Baby and express milk for him (less frequent now, about 4 times a day). Hehe, I think I'm getting lazy! :P


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A Day out At Sea

Today's 21-Jul and Aaron is exactly 1 yr old! Time flies. CP suggested that we charter a yacht for the occasion. So off we go out to sea!

Baby A had such a wonderful time, laughing all the while. He still managed to nap a short while though (which was important), thanks to CP.

"I'm a whale!", says Baby A.



While on board, we also had another cake specially for Baby A.



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Baby's first birthday celebration

CP put in a lot of thought and effort to Baby A's first birthday celebration. We had a nice cake made for him, costing $250 then but has since increased to $300.



Then we had lots of animal balloons for the children.


Party packs too.


We decorated the house with balloons...

... banners, garlands, decals and lots of Baby A's photos...


And we had fun!


Here are the presents that Baby A received.



Related Tweets:
18 Jul 2010, 4:32 PM, CP: Celebration's over, we had a moo-verlous time. Hope you enjoy yourselves as much! :D
18 Jul 2010, 11:50 AM, CP: All done, now I can relax and wait for the guests to come! :)


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2 more days!

2 more days to the Party and all the stuffs needed have been purchased! :) I've to thank my dear sisters for giving a big hand. They help source for the decorations and collected the orders for me. Big Thanks!

Since the last update,
- the invitations were all sent out and all had confirmed their attendance.
- the cake design was confirmed,
- the colours of the balloons were decided and bought,
- the party favors were bought,
- the decorations all settled,
- the buffet menu were revised, and
- the programs planned.

Next, I would have to pack the party favors, put up the decorations tomorrow and get help from family members to take photos and video on the big day! :D


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Bus 168

My company is going for 3 Business Excellence certification (SQC, PD and iClass) on 16 Aug 2010 and organised several sessions to give us an overview of what the certification is about.

I like that the session was carried out in a very light and relaxed way with some excitement within. The organisers planned it such that we were on a bus ride - Bus 168. There were games along the way.


Pic above: The score card for our team... made to look like the old punched bus ticket!

Our team and another team had the highest score but came in second cos we wasn't quick enough for the tie breaker. Overall, it was quite a refreshing session. I never know internal briefing could be so extensive and yet fun!


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Uniquely You by Ken Low

It's a pity that such a talented person had passed away so suddenly. My remembrance of him was none except that he approved and supported many of my papers... The Board held a memorial for him today. Though the eulogy from the CE, colleague, friend and sibling, he seemed to be a person who enjoyed his life to the fullest, a perfectionist who has high demands but at the same time gracious and kind gentleman, he was an artist as well as an engineer, a unique blend. During the one-hour event, a number of staffs performed the songs he composed previously for the musical Chang and Eng and Uniquely Singapore. I fell in love with the songs... I heard from the memorial that he took only 30 minutes to come up with the song below! OMG!

R.I.P.!



References:
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_551437.html


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Baby's First Wedding Lunch

It's been almost a year (11 months to be exact) since I last met the group at Baby's first month celebration.



This time we gathered because of Cecilia's wedding... and we brought Baby along with us! :) The wedding was held at the Mandarin Oriental and this hotel was where we held our wedding years ago, it sure brought back a lot of the fond memories!



Food was still fantastic. Here's my favorite dishes of the day - the teriyaki cod fish and the chocolate cake (I had 3 of them!!!) Yum Yum...




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IT's getting cloudy

I'm starting to go on courses and seminar now that I don't have to visit the nursing room so frequently.

This one that I went to is on Cloud Computing at Raffles Hotel. I like such seminars - they'd invited a number of speakers to talk about the topic, each providing a different perspective and you get to see a clear picture of what the buzz is all about.


There was good lunch and tea buffet served and there were booths (set up by the companies that participated in the event) and games. It's the World Cup season now, a company came up with the soccer game where the player gets to win by scoring a goal by pushing the soccer ball into the little goal post. I flicked the ball into the goal post effortlessly and won myself a token! :)


What I like best is that at the end of it, there was a forum which was followed by a lucky draw! The grand prize was an Apple iPad, there were 2 Raffles Hotel stay vouchers. The voucher was won by a man 3 rows in front of me, the other voucher was won by a man 2 rows in front of me and the iPad was won by a man 1 row in front! If there was another prize, I might have won a prize too! :P


Some photos I took at my leisure... :)


Click here for more on Cloud Computing:


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2 weeks more!

How fast! Baby's birthday celebration is 2 weeks from now and we've got some things done here and there...

- Buffet menu was confirmed.
- Invitation was sent and the list of attendees was more or less confirmed.
- Cake design was more or less finalised.
- Got some balloons yesterday but there were not enough to go around - Have to search for the balloons at other party shops!
- Still in the midst of collecting the birthday favors, outstanding items: the party hats and toys.
- Started to look for decorations now, I find it hard to find suitable ones... I'm thinking of DIY (DC thinks I'm crazy, ha!)

At the same time, we've also planned and made arrangements on Baby's actual birthday itself! :D


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Conversation with the doctor

DC and I were on leave today but both of us had diarrhea. We had to take turns to see doctor while Baby was sleeping. I went first. The usual female doctor that we see was not in and so I chose the other doctor...

Doc: Do you feel like vomiting?
Me: No? (He asked several times, I wonder why? Maybe he wants to assess the seriousness of my illness?)
Doc: Are you still breastfeeding?
Me: Yes.
Doc: Now, there is a complication. You are having a throat infection and diarrhea at the same time. I have here two antibiotics for you to choose from: One will allow you to continue to breastfeed but there is a side effect. It will cause diarrhea. The other one will not cause diarrhea but you will not be able to breastfeed. The one which allows you to breastfeed is more expensive.
Me: What about the other one? How much is it?
Doc: Actually it's about the same.
Me: ??? (He seems to want me to take the one that is more expensive...)

I chose the one which is safe for breastfeeding of course. I ended up paying $86 in total for my medicine inclusive of that antibiotics.

DC went to another clinic and his medicine only cost him $38!

Next time I know where to go when the female doc is not around.


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Rainbow Spotted

Spotted a rainbow when we were on the way home. Ahhh, a rainbow right at the door step and it's a big one stretched across many streets! Nice!


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A Maddening EXperience

We had A Maddening EXperience with a credit card company yesterday.

I tried to make a booking for a cruise a week ago but was informed by the lifestyle department that it was only valid for another card type and all the slots were full. I disappointingly accepted it.

This week, DC received a newsletter from the card company that stated clearly in the terms and conditions that our card is eligible for the booking. I thought I could try my luck and so, I tried to call the hotline again. This time, another staff answered my call and surprisingly I had a different response - The slot I wanted was available and she did not tell me that the card I'm holding does not qualify for the booking. She helped me make a tentative booking and requested that I confirmed my booking with her the next day (which was yesterday).

I called back to confirm the booking but to be doubly sure, I checked with her on the card that I had to make payment with. I don't want any unwanted surprise during paying. Then, she told me it has to be that card. I brought up the newsletter that DC received but she insisted the card that was stated was not the one we were holding.(Also called Platinum card but this platinum was not that platinum?!!) DC took over the call and was so unhappy that he demanded to talk to the manager.

While waiting for the manager to call us back, we checked the newsletter and the website again. There were a number of discrepancies in both e.g. the prices were different, one with food inclusive and the other without, the size of the boat was different and the number allowable was different, etc. Even the versions given by the staffs were different! This caused us a lot of confusion! Although I would say that the customer service is good but this experience wasn't really pleasant. We ended up almost wanting to terminate the card! Almost! DC was very nice to me and he knew how much I wanted to take the cruise. So, he decided to go to the extent of upgrading his card (despite the unhappiness) so that we can go ahead with our plan. Thanks hubby, love ya! :)

P.S. To whom I've invited to be on board, you must be there wor cos we spent lots of time and effort (almost vomited blood) trying to make this to happen! :P


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Sleepy Baby

Aaron was so tired one day that he fell asleep while taking his porridge. No wonder he was so irritated during the meal.









Here's another one of him sleeping while sitting on the stroller. Cute!

World Cup buns from Crystal Jade

Doesn't look like a soccer ball to me ... but tasted great!



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Season to get wedded

Love is in the air besides the rain this wet season...

We have wedding celebrations lined up every weekend starting from last week all the way to our son's birthday celebration! Woo... busy weekend ahead!

It will actually be only DC who will be attending the wedding dinners. I have in fact rejected the dinners for the benefit of our dearest son. I could only make it if it's a lunch event and we do have one lunch next weekend where DC and I will be attending a friend's wedding lunch with Baby. This will be Baby's first time attending a wedding function! :)


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