Chit-Chat Block Party cum LUP Exhibition

We brought A and B down to the next block to attend the session organised by the RC. It was raining and windy. The air was cold!

DC with A, standing amongst the crowd:


CP with B, sitting down:


When we were there, we saw Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister of State for Finance and Transport talking about the LUP and budget. We stayed on for a while before we moved on to view the proposed layout of the new lift shafts, our main purpose of attending the session.



The proposed lift shaft for my block. I'm so glad that no existing lifts would be shut down like other blocks! We don't have to pay for the lift upgrade and don't have to vote. However, we were quite concerned about the amount of air and noise pollution the project would bring to us after knowing that there would be new link bridges and gates to be built just above our unit. It's a hallow space right now and I can look up to 2 units above. Imagine the tremendous work if new bridges were to be buit in the air above! Fortunately, both A and B would not be at home in the day!


We didn't wait for the buffet nor take any popcorn. As we were leaving, we saw a commotion. It seems that a lady has fainted and the people were trying to fan her.

At home, we were dreaming again at the possibility of us buying the recess area along the corridor and converting it into a balcony and study area. The possibility seemed slightly higher as no one would pass by after the lift upgrade since there would be 3 lifts, each serving 2-3 units!


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Milk Powder Woes

We are now searching for a suitable milk powder for B...

While I'm still breastfeeding her daily, I need a milk formula for night feeds and for travelling.

We have already tried 4 without much success:

1. Simlilac by Abbott
This gave her a lot of wind in the stomach and she always fired her poop (watery consistency) far in all directions (propelled by the wind)! Although PD said the consistency and frequency was ok, we found 3 times of 2-3spurts daily too much and it always caught us by surprise! Yes, we were attacked by the mortar several times! We gave up the formula in the end even though we really love this.

2. NAN Pro by Nestle
This was the opposite. It gave her hard, snaky, smelly stools with blood streaks sometimes. We changed the formula after the second tin was finished.

3. S26 Gold by Wyeth
This was totally rejected by her! She would cry out loud after a few sips and it took ages to finish one bottle! Only lasted one and half days before we changed to the next formula.

4. Enfalac A+ by Mead Johnson
Currently trying out this. Third day. She doesn't seem to like it very much too. She cried out loud after taking half (sometimes quarter). It seemed to give her some wind and discomfort too. Stools excretion was not regular too. So far only once and quite watery. Not sure if it's because of the Similac that we gave during alternate feeds?

Still experimenting with Enfalac which doesn't seem promising... What's next? Mamil Gold? Friso? What else is there?


[10 Apr 2012: That's it! We have since switched to Mamex and now, Friso. B loves Marmex but she didin't poo for 5 days after that! Friso is our last option. Just started using yesterday and guess what? B pooed, not once but twice! I'm not sure if it's because the shit is due to come out or the powder is working its powers... we shall see...]


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Cooked Chicken Leg

Yet another boo boo when it comes to cooking...

My maid told me we had no more chicken meat but there was another pack of chicken legs. She pointed to her thigh and I thought she was referring to the drumsticks my mum gave last weekend. So, I told her to cook them together with the cut meat.

I got a shock when I saw this at the dining table! Ha, those chicken feet were meant for brewing soups, now DC had to finish them up!

And, the feet were not cooked long enough, DC commented that they were still hard! :P


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B's first 100 days

As usual, I made a note of the places she went to in these 100 days...

1. 21 Dec 2011: Arrival of Baby B (Read about it here)
2. 24 Dec 2011: First day home (Read about it here)
3. 27 Dec 2011: To the PD clinic for checkup with Daddy, Mummy and CL (Read about it here)
4. 09 Jan 2012: To another PD clinic for checkup (Read about it here)
5. 15 Jan 2012: First month celebration (Read about it here)
6. 19 Jan 2012: Confinement lady last day (Read about it here)
7. 20 Jan 2012: CNY steamboat reunion dinner at maternal grandparents' place
8. 21 Jan 2012: Out shopping at Kiddy Palace for B's neck support
9. 22 Jan 2012: CNY Eve reunion dinner at paternal grandparents' place
10. 23 Jan 2012: CNY Day 1, out visiting (Read about it here)
11. 24 Jan 2012: CNY Day 2, out visiting
12. 28 Jan 2012: CNY gathering at CP's Cousin's new place (Read about it here)
13. 29 Jan 2012: CNY Day 7, to A's music class, then to CP's parent's place for Lo Hei 14. (Read about it here)
15. 04 Feb 2012: To DC's colleague's place for CNY gathering cum house warming (Read about it here), at night to Spring Court for dinner with maternal family(Read about it here)
16. 05 Feb 2012: To Peach Garden with paternal grandparents, home then to A's music class
17. 06 Feb 2012: AM Photo Shoot, PM 1st month assessment at PD's (Read about it here)
18. 10 Feb 2012: To A's enrichment class, then to CP's parent's place for dinner
19. 17 Feb 2012: B's 1st 6-in-1 vaccination (Read about it here)
20. 18 Feb 2012: To celebrate maternal grandfather's birthday (Read about it here)
21. 21 Feb 2012: First visit to her nanny (Read about it here)
22. 25 Feb 2012: To maternal grandparents' for the whole day (Read about it here)
23. 28 Feb 2012: 2nd visit to her nanny's
24. 4 Mar 2012: To maternal grandparents' for dinner
25. 11 Mar 2012: To maternal grandparents' for dinner
26. 17 Mar 2012: To Cousin Enda's birthday celebration (Read about it here)
27. 21 Mar 2012: To meet Daddy for lunch at Tonkatsu Ma Maison at Mandarin Gallery (Read about it here)
28. 22 Mar 2012: To Keith's birthday celebration at Sakura YCK (Read about it here)
29. 24 Mar 2012: To Ikea for early lunch with DC, CP, A and paternal grandparents (Read about it here)
30. 25 Mar 2012: AM To Millenia Walk, PM collect stroller from mummy's friend, then maternal grandma's place (Read about it here)

Coincidentally, today is also her cousin's 1st birthday!

Happy 100th day, Baby B! :)


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Car in 4D

The registration plate number came out. A $60 gain from consolation prize. $12 System bet ...

Playmate

There were a number of young couples staying in our block and it's very coincidental that three families (including our family) of the similar age moved in, renovated our flats, gave birth to two children all about the same time! Naturally, we have lots of common topics esp about parenting.

We were closer to one family, the other family just moved out. They would stop by for chit-chat if our door is opened. Today, I invited the mother and son, Kevin to come in to play with A.

Kevin loved the toys and played with A's Thomas the Train, Fire Truck, Car Set and the Police Car, ABCD Farm, etc. The children played while the mummies chatted. When it's time to leave, Kevin refused and his mother has to call for his father to bring him back. He was crying quite loudly that DC nearly offered to let them take home A's car set!

It's good to see Kevin like the toys so much (frankly speaking, the toys at our home was rather under utilised as A is mostly not at home to play with them). I'm glad that A has a little friend to play with him. I think A enjoyed his company too!




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OpenNet Installation

We chose to have the OpenNet installation done on 20 Mar. DC took half day to oversee the works...

The men came early and I actually asked them to go to another door first as my husband was not back yet, ha! DC was back 15 mins later, maybe I should have made them wait for him! :P Fortunately, the wait was pretty soon. They were back in 30 mins.

At first, the man suggested running the cable along our dining room to our living room (ugly and too much work and cost money!). Then, we managed to find a better solution. They ended up running it from outside into the living room straight and the end product was so much neater than earlier suggested and free too!

The process was very noisy and I had to bring B to the room (A was in childcare centre), away from the dust and noise...




Related Tweet:
20 March 2012, 3:19PM, DC: OpenNet - Fiber to the home. Installation in progress
20 February 2012, 10:30PM, DC: OpenNet installation booked.


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A stroller for two

A friend of mine gave us a Phil & Ted stroller. It was a stroller that could carry two children on it, just what we need!



This morning, DC brought us all to Millenia Walk to get a gift for her. We considered Royce but decided against as the radiation situation at Japan has not cleared yet. We chose Sins instead.

In the evening, we set off to her house but alas! When we arrived, we realised we forgot the chocs! So, we turned back to get it.

It was raining really heavily and the visibility on the road was very poor. DC was stressed with the driving but both our children seemed to have enjoyed the cool (or rather, cold) weather very much. They were soundly sleeping in the car throughout the journey home! As we turned back to my friend's place, A started waking up and upon seeing the wiper, he did the sweeping motion, so cute! B slept throughout, all the way to her maternal grandparent's place and woke up only when we were about to go home!



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Off to Ikea here we go

We brought both A and B to Ikea with their paternal grandparents.

At the table...

CP with A. A ate a lot of meatballs (he loves them!) and both CP and his grandpa fed him non-stop! :P


DC with B. B had her milk and DC was the one who fed her.


After lunch...

B stayed quietly in her stroller... and A roamed around having lotsa fun!


Here's a tunnel we found in one of the children showrooms. We asked A to climb through it to find me who was at the other end. He cheekily took the convenient route and walked through the huge mouse hole (arch) instead! Haha... that's my boy!






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A goes to a musical

We signed up for A to watch the musical The Three Little Pigs. Before the musical today, the teachers did a great effort in preparing a performance related to the theme... I would love to hear from the school on his reaction towards the musical or see some photos of him! :) DC was reading the story to him at night for quite a while and after the school performance, he should not be unfamiliar to the story. Hope he enjoys the musical.




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Celebrating Ah Boy's 11th Birthday

How fast! Ah Boy is already 11 this year! We all went to Sakura at YCK for celebration.

A family photo is a must!


We reversed our roles today. DC took care of B and fed her milk while I took care of A and stuffed him with lots of food - chawamushi, salmon skin, steamed dory, hokkien mee, fried egg and durian paste! :P I think he enjoys the night esp placing order using clips.


Mummy feeding A

Daddy carrying B

We also took a group photo while the birthday song is playing in the background:


Instead of Starwars Lego, DC bought him a Gundam. Hope he likes it! Happy Birthday, Ah Boy!


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B is 3 months old

B is so full of sounds this month! Always rahhh-ing and she started giggling last week!



Her neck is still not strong enough to hold her head (only for split seconds). Soon, I think!

She sleeps through the night with a record of 8 hours into the night! Sometimes in the daytime she could sleep throughout too!

She loves to suckle her hands now (early of the month was left hand, now right) and makes loud sounds while doing it. *yummy* She now drinks 120ml of milk per feed over 2-3 hrs intervals. Still having breastmilk in the day and powder at night.

As usual, she perspires a lot and when I bring her near the fan, she stares at the rotating parts and smiles very sweetly to show that she likes it.

While there is no issue with feeding and sleeping, we do have a critical issue on her poop frequency. She pooed once every 2 days and her poop was hard, snaky and sometimes with blood streaks. Does that spell constipation? We decide to change her powder again, this time from NAN to S26 Gold. Today was the first feed and the result was no good at all. She seems to reject the milk and the intake was halved and frequency doubled! I guess I would have to monitor her for some days before we conclude if another change is necessary!

We still bring her to my parents' for dinner every weekend and this month, she attended her cousin's first year birthday party. Today, on her 3rd month old, I brought her to meet DC at Mandarin Gallery for lunch. Happy 3rd month, girl! ;)



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A is 32 months old

Here's A doing the leopard crawl in class...


Since his mei mei arrives, I think we have really deprived him of his outdoor play. DC was the one who always bring him to buy the groceries, to his lessons, to buy baby stuffs while I take care of his sister at home. I think he needs to soak up the sun e.g. dip in a pool, water or sand play, outdoor playground, etc. Me too! :P Fortunately, his schools organises outings once in a while and so far, he'd been to 3 of them: outings to Chinatown, Veg Farm and Musical. Lately, the school even organises a mini-performance with the theme "Pigs". Those activities are very good exposures to him, I thought! :)

DC was playing with him just last week and kept using the phrase "One more time". A repeated after him. The next day, when he was playing crawling (under B's cot), he applied and kept asking me for permission to play again. He said: "One more time?"! I thought that was a good one to show he understands!

DC unconsciously cut down his milk feeding after nap time and before bedtime. The school too, replaced milk with other liquids such as sweet potato soups, barley water. We tried to stuff more cheese cubes (which he has grown to love now).

He attended quite a lot of birthday celebrations this month: his cousin's first birthday, another cousin's 11th birthday, his twin friends in school, etc. My boy just loves to celebration birthdays. He always clapped his hands and smiled happily at the sound of birthday songs! So sweet! :)


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Lunch Date fulfilled

Just back from my lunch date with DC an hour ago. :) Finally! There were just so many times we wanted to meet for lunch but he just couldn't make it!

Getting B ready to meet her daddy:


At 12 noon, I took a cab from home to Mandarin Gallery. Before DC came to meet us at the lift lobby, I took some photos of B and myself! :) I thought he hadn't reached yet but he actually arrived earlier to collect some free Samsonite luggage bag!


We were thinking of either Lawry's, then we saw Tonkatsu @ Ma Maison. The Tonkastsu tasted yummy, as usual. I opted for the daily set lunch which happened to be veg tempura today.


B fell asleep while we were eating (nice!) but woke up before dessert was even served! We had the desert which was some green tea jelly and left shortly. It was milk time soon, we gotta bring her home! :(


Before we went home, DC popped by Mont Blanc to get a pen and then, sent us back.

A quick meal but with huge satisfaction! :)


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Enda's first birthday celebration

The celebration was held in Enda's maternal grandparent's house. The initial plan was to bring only A with me and DC stays at home to look after B. However, we decided to bring both instead.

The decision was not a bad one, for they have everything a baby needs. B gets to sleep on a bouncer. Here's A rocking her.


A loves exploring the buffet line and eating the "tadpoles" in the almond jelly dessert! He loves birthday parties too!

Photo of DC and CP with our two darlings:


The birthday girl with her parents and her yummy birthday cake:


Happy Birthday, Enda! Hope you like the walker we gave you. :)


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Woman's Day Ad

Have you caught this commercial on tv yet? Mediacorp celebrates Woman!

Love this commercial! It reminded me of the many pairs of shoes that I owned previously (not so many now and mostly flats now) and how DC used to tell me that one only need 3 pairs of shoes (one for work, one track shoes for weekends and one pair of slippers)! That was many many years back... now DC has been brainwashed and has more than 3!



The previous year one was not bad too.


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A's first performance

A's school organized a children's performance and get together session.

It was A's first performance in front of a lot of audience! Of course, DC and I went to 捧场 (support). ;)

A performing

We got my in-laws to help look after the younger one and we sent A to school. Then, DC and I had breakfast and went back to the school. The performance started at 10:30am. We were lucky to get the front rows. ;)

The theme of the mini concert is "Pigs". The PG, N1 & N2 danced while K1 & K2 acted in the drama "The Three Little Pigs".

When the teachers brought the kids out, some of them cried after seeing their parents, some run to their parents but our boy told us to get back to our car, ha! Then, he kept looking at us and couldn't even concentrate himself to dance! Then, when he was about to be brought back to the classroom, he then began to show us the sad face. We brought him with us to watch the rest of the performance.


A saw us and asked us to go back to our car, ha!

After the drama by K1 & K2, we viewed his artwork which was pasted on the wall and took some pictures.



Potluck lunch session follows. A had the most fun picking up the rice grains he dropped and running across the classroom to throw them outside! What clean freak, haha! I'm sure he had fun that morning. It was such an experience for him! :)

After lunch, when it was time to leave, I told A we were leaving and he sensibly said bye to us. I was so proud of him! Some of the other boys cried when their parents left and I was worried he would do the same!


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A was tugging this train of vehicles he did in class and I thought was cute!


After shower, he got sick of, dismantled and pasted them on the door of our bedroom. Too cute!


The next day, I printed out the words and started showing the words to him...


This helps him to identify words and match them according to colors. :)


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Weekly off days for maids?

These few days, there was a lot of sentiments over the announcement of compulsory maids' off day every week from 1 Jan 2013.

DC wrote an article and was published on ST Forum on 10 Mar. Here what he says:

IT IS ironic that with the days off for maids, employers with young children and the elderly must now have to work even harder.

Otherwise, who will do the chores and look after the children and the elderly when the maids are enjoying their days off?

My annual leave allocation will not increase, so if no one does the chores, it will only mean that the maid will have to do double the amount of work the day after her day off.

I agree with him totally. Why did we employ a maid in the first place? It is to allow us to spend more time with our family without worrying about household chores! Now that the law mandates us to give maid a weekly break, who is to give us parents a break?

As parents of two and employer of a maid for 9 months, I'm proud to say that we are still very hands-on with taking care of our kids. Our maid is only assigned with cooking, feeding A with his lunch and dinner (one of us sit beside to play with him while maid feeds him), packing his school bag and preparation of bath water, that's all. DC takes care of A in all other aspect (used to be me) such as morning/night feed and bath. I am looking after all of B's needs now. I'm sure anyone who has children would know that taking care of an active boy and a newborn girl is not easy. Our maid just need to keep the house clean, prepare my lunch and the family's dinner on alternate weekdays and weekends. The rest of the times, she rests. We don't even have time to rest!

I must say that our maid's well-being is very well-taken care of and in fact, my family thought that she was very "好命" compared to others. She only started cooking last month because I am now at home on maternity leave. For the past months, she had us packed her lunches and cooked her dinners. She gets to carry my LV bags which was stuffed with baby stuffs (now no more as we got her another baby bag) and she was treated like a guest in my parent's home (my mom stuffs her with food and cold drinks!). She watches TV with us, eat the same food with us and she gets to call her family regularly (on us)!

Lately, she made requests to buy her ointments from her home country, to take time off to buy clothes, to cut her hair with a specific style she spotted from TV and to have a handphone. While we rejected the request to get her a handphone, we did accomodate all other requests. I even went to the internet to search for that said hairstyle so that she could show it to the haircutter! There was once we brought her to a gathering and she was enjoying herself watching tv in an air-con room while DC and I chased after our child in the house. DC ended up not able to spare himself time to chat with his friends! Makes us wonder if we were too good to her?

Lately, she made some friends from A's school and she sneaked out of the school compound with them without informing my FIL who was also there waiting for A to end his lesson! Last Thursday, she even rejected my in-laws' request to go their home on Fri! We started to sense some defiance here...

Now I kept hearing her say, "My friend say this, say that". What happens if she made more friends during her off days? How would she behave under peer influence, I wonder?

When the time comes, we would probably buy her off days or, grant her off during weekdays... off during weekend is just not possible now!


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Burnt Chicken Drumlets

Besides soup, we also always have problem getting our maid to dish out fried or baked chicken wings on time without hiccups! I guess the root of the issue is again about communication! :P She is otherwise ok with soy sauced chicken, the usual way of cooking.

First time, she deep fried instead of pan fried the wings.

Second time, the timer was not set properly but she managed to bake it out, taste reasonably well.

Third time, the temperature control was not set properly and she waited and waited but the wings were not hot! There was a delay in the baking process.

Fourth time (today), the chicken (drumlets this time, to bring to A's class) was overcooked! She thought DC was in charge and didn't bother to check the drumlets in the oven like she did the last times!

This is the failed output:


We ended up ordering Pizza Hut's Spicy drumlets to bring to the class party! :P


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Fun with lights and colours

Just before shower, DC passed A a torch light for some playtime. He gave him an orange filter that could be slotted in front of the torch light and that gives a different color light.

A had his fun and was fascinated by the light and colors! He shone the light on the walls and corners of the house. Too bad, playtime was too short, we could have taken all the filters and explore more colors... next time perhaps! :)




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Drawsome

I'm in love with the iPhone app "DrawSomething" as it provides me with a platform to draw and create my art anytime, with anyone anywhere. :) (Think: Win, Lose or Draw & Hangman)

It was a sheer coincidence that the tv (yes, I watched a lot of tv nowadays!) is showing a program called "综艺大哥大－叫我毕加索" which is similar to the game, only that it was in chinese. The program caught my interest and since them, I wanted to get my hands in doodling! However, I find it stupid to have myself create the topic and draw to myself. You need someone to play the guessing game with you!


It was just timely that I know of this app from the fb where some of my friends were addicted to it. A good reason for me to satisfy my drawing craving and I don't need to trouble anyone to play it with me! The game allows you to choose a random player! :)

Here're some samples of my doodles. It's interesting to note that when I just started, I was conservatively using black as my main source of colour and how I advanced to use more colours now. :) Now, I can't wait to get more points so that I could "buy" more palettes of colours!

From Black:


To Colours:



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