A sticker on the head

DC applied some ointment on A's 3 swells on his right leg and left hand. He was pasting the plasters one by one when A requested to have one plaster on his forehead too!


How cute!


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B is 6 months old

B continued to show good progress this month!



She pushed herself easily up on fours now and could bob her body to and fro. She could move one leg forward too. I guess she wanted to move herself forward but couldn't figure out how to. This one leg forward action might lead her to two directions: Forward crawl or Sitting position. I'm eager to find out which comes first!

This was a hot month esp the past week! She sweats so much that she wakes up almost every night 3-4am! The pajamas I bought for her were all long sleeves ones. I think she needs a change of PJs now!

Being more mobile, she also knocks her head against the sides of the cot very often. Sometimes she'll cry. I'm thinking of placing the bumper all around but fear that it'll be even more stuffy inside!

She just recovered from her first cough where she'll vomit her milk out after feeding. She even threw up at her pediatrician's during her visit there! After her cough, we arranged for her to have her 6-in-1 vaccination taken. She had fever for 3 days before it subsided.

We realized that she recognized people around her. She'll smile to DC, me and her Gor Gor. I'm quite surprised that she did not cry when DC carries her! In fact, she smile happily when she sees him. She loves her brother too and she always laughed out loud when she saw him running around or when he talked!

She developed separation anxiety or preference over who could carry her. She'll get quite anxious and cry when people she's unfamiliar with or dislikes carries her! We tried leaving her with my parents for 2 hours just last Sunday to bring A out to an enrichment school open house and I was guilty about it as my parents told me she cried a lot when I was not around!

We started bringing her out for brunches with us and she's been to the Hort Park, Botanic Gardens and Changi City Point. She seems to love water (evident from her bath) I'm waiting for the day I could bring her to the water play at the Changi City Point. Oh yah, we've also brought her to my cousin's house warming celebration and everyone there adores her! I love to doll the little princess up! So much that I even went to learn crocheting so that I could make her a headband to match her clothes! :)


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Back to the library

Ok, I think we've slacked enough and it's high time to get back into reading to A and even B now!

So, I went to the library to borrow some books for him.

I was lucky. It's the June school holidays now and the library has doubled the number of books I could borrow from 6 to 12 now! Wow!

I managed to find these.

I've not used the self checkout machines for a long time and I must say it has really advanced quite a bit. They refused to let you borrow any books unless you've cleared the fines. It even allows for multiple books to be placed for batch borrow! Cool feature but unfortunately, this didn't work for me and as a result, I was asked to place the books one by one *yawn*.


I decided to challenge the machine further and defied the instructions. Haha, in the end, I was told to look for the administrator as one of my loans was questionable!

It was at the counter that I saw this:

I wasted no time in getting one folder for myself. Aren't the boy and girl cute? Just like my A and B! Hee...

The library was really a nice place to chill in. I remembered my mum bringing all of us to the library every week when we were young! I hope I could instill some reading passion in both A and B! Well, it's never too late to start!

 If you're interested, here are the list of books I've borrowed:

1. I spy little toys by Jean Marzollo


2. Yawn by Sally Symes


3. Sizes by Luana Mitten


4. Curious George's Are you curious? by Mass Boston


5. My very first book of shapes by Eric Carle


6. Baby Plays  by Derek Brazell


7. Animals by Dawn Sirett


8. Whoo's there?  by Mary Serfozo


9. Go, Go, Go! : Kids on the move  by Stephen R. Swinburne


10. My first body board book  by -


11. Colours  by -


12. Twinkle, Twinkle Time for bed by -



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A Peek at B

After having brunches for the past few weeks, DC decided to go for an early lunch today, at one of his favorite ribs restaurants - Tony Roma.

Here's cheeky A opening up his baby sister's cover to peek at her.


Just before I took the above picture, B woke up from her nap, crying out loud and A, who was just released from his high chair after his meal, ran to his sister's pram and shouted at his baby sister, "Mei Mei, No No!", shaking his finger as he said that! That was unexpected by B and she instantly stopped her cries! It was all so funny and A acted like an adult reprimanding his kid! So cute!!! :)


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A's new hobby

A loves to line his favorite cars side by side.

He pushes them in line and mimics DC parking his car!



He can go on and on playing this car parking game. I like that he has something he enjoys doing, something that can hold his attention.

Now, when people asked what does he like to do at home, I know how to answer! Definitely cars! :)


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A is 35 months old

A has grown up! Over this past 6 months, DC has been taking care of A while I take care of B. I seemed to have missed out on a lot of A's growing up details! All of a sudden, he seems so grown up, like a little independent boy with a mind of his own!



He is very into cars now. He can spend all his time picking out his favorite cars amongst all his cars (yes, he has his preference and I just found out today!), pretending to park his cars, lining all his cars parallel together in a neat slanted way (I'm impressed!), and of course, washing and cleaning up his car with water...

Lately, I even spotted him reversing, gauging the distance behind him and then, stopped just before he hit the wall behind him! He's pretending to drive a car and reverse into his imagined parking lot! :) I love it when he did this, he'll go "Dee dee dee dee..." (that's the sound of the car reverse alarm).

Since last week, A has been requesting DC to take his shower in our room toilet. Gone were the bath tubs, bath toys and pails, we shower him using a shower head now! I'm proud of him!

Another thing we're proud of is that he is now eating what we adults are eating, no longer do we need to cook the same old plain porridge. He could even chew meat and veggies easily now, I wonder why we wait so long? We sampled a few times the free mushrooms cooked in the supermarket and bought him some as ingredients for his dinner. He likes the new food! In fact, this little boy loves to eat. I love the expression on him when he's loving the food in his mouth! He will smile widely at the mention of the food he likes, run over for it and with the food in his mouth, raise his thumb to signal "good"! Of course, if it's something he didn't want, he will also do the opposite, i.e. shake his head and cried "no". That's when a little coercing is required for him to finish his meal. He's also finishing all his milk (morning and noon feed), something which we're extremely happy about!

DC's parents went Sabah for holiday for almost a week. For that week, we brought A to school ourselves. On the first day, A didn't want to let me go and he really cried out loud. But, on the second day, he very sensibly said bye to us which quite surprised me! He knew what was going on! I love it when he ran to us happily when we picked him up from school on those days. :)

Our maid, whom he was quite ok with, went back to her country. I was quite worried that he would ask for her (like he asked for me when I was in the hospital after I delivered B), fortunately, that didn't happen. However, he didn't quite like the new maid. Maybe the rapport is not there yet. He refused to let her feed him and ditate the grandma to feed him!

My boy is also more sociable now, he calls "auntie" whenever he sees one! He even attempt to tell them what to do sometimes! :) He smiles at waitresses and waiters and could ask for his bowl and cutlery from them. He's also always eager to help DC pay bill by handing the credit card to the cashier!

He knows and behaves like a big brother in front of his little sister. Whenever he sees his sister bite her finger, he'll "tell her off" quite sternly. There was once in the car I saw him beat his sister on her hand. When I asked why he did that and was about to tell him off, he tried explaining to me that it was because his meimei bit her fingers! I was pleasantly surprised by his response! I realized that he must have seen me telling his sister not to bite her fingers, and he's now helping me watch over his baby sister! :) Whenever his sister cries, he would also raise his voice and said "MeiMei MeiMei MeiMei!". That's funny cos his sister would usually startled at his words! A knows not to throw his driving set at his baby sister even when he's eager to get off his car. He knows to wait for his sister to get down the car before he can place his stuff on her car seat. I love them to see them together! You never know what you'll discover from them! :) There was also this once that B was smacking her lips loudly. I told A to go kiss her on her cheek. A hesitated and looked at me. I asked him why. He then do the smelly hand sign (wave hand around the nose). Ha, he thought his meimei had passed motion and is smelly. He didn't want to kiss her! Haha...

DC started bringing us out for brunches together with the grandparents this month. So far, we've explored the eateries at the Hort Park, Botanic Gardens and the Changi City Point. A loves the park, garden and the mall but not so much for the water play in the mall. Haiz, we still couldn't get him to like water! The same thing happened when he was at the school outing to the zoo that I went along. He couldn't appreciate the water play there (which I felt was fantastic!).

The school organized the 2nd children performance. This time, he did not seem as surprised as the last time.

We also brought him to my cousin's house warming and the Gazillion Bubble Show at the MBS Theatre with his cousins. We bought some bubbles solution and equipment back, hoping to play with him soon. After the show, we went LV and A happily roamed round the place uncontrollably. Yes, he was very happy that day!

It has been an exciting June Holiday for him!


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Trial to Toilet Training

Since it was almost time for shower, we decided not to change A's diaper after he pooped.

He realized that the diaper was missing and couldn't help but to find it funny and kept laughing about it!

I'm tempted to try to toilet train him! However, I think DC had concerns over unexpected "spillage".. hmm...


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Sweet Treat

My dad stealthily brought A out to the provision shop opposite the block and came back with a lollipop! I was in the room then and didn't know about it until A came to the room to ask me open it for him!

"Well, since my dad already bought it, why not?" I thought. I tore the wrapper off and the eager little fellow waited.

It was A's first time on a lollipop. I taught him how to lick it. He didn't take very long to perfect it. He started from bringing his tongue in and out, then progressed to swirling the lollipop around on his tongue, then finally to clamping his mouth shut, sucking his lollipop inside his mouth! You should check out his initial licks, they were so funny! :)



DC gave a disapproving look when he saw it as it was just before dinnertime. But, he was sold when he saw how A enjoyed it! :P


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Back to 1 maid

We sent our old maid back to her country on Saturday. Now, we're left with only one 2 weeks old maid - the one that we are still getting to know...

The old maid had served us well. She was also very patient and experienced with taking care of kids. Furthermore, she could communicate very well in English. It's definitely a loss to us now that she's gone. I remembered she wanted to collect all of Singapore's notes and coins to show to her 3 children, and I knew that she's still missing the two dollars and five dollars (from checking her luggage). So, I made a red packet (our diy cny ang pow) and put in two five dollars and five two dollars as farewell gift.

The new maid had all her freedom on Saturday as we were out the whole day in MBS. These few days she was doing good, the transition was smoother than I thought. I started hearing her speak some English and I was quite ok with her except for one thing: She wasn't very well-trained in the kids department! I guess some more time is needed for her and A to bond.

While she's settling in and coping well with the household chores, we also realised that we need to be more firm with this maid as she was much younger (only 24) and perhaps not as mature in thinking than the earlier one who is 38. In fact, she requested not to go to DC's parents house yesterday. On Fri, the old maid translated to me that she wanted to keep her own salary and not put in the bank. We also know that she loves to sing. Singing is ok but the problem is she sing too loud and she sings out of the window such that the Bangladeshi downstairs would ogle at her sometimes! Those are the things we know now that we felt are not acceptable. I guess we'll have to find the appropriate time to let her know, one by one... subtly...


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My first Skool - Episode 3

Following Ep1 on A's site visit and Ep2 on B's enrollment (aka my bad experiences) with them, I received yet another unexpected and equally head-shaking call from them just now!

It was a guy this time. He called to inform me that there was a vacancy for my son now and if I would like to register him for K1...

Wait a minute!

As he went on, thoughts was rumbling in my head. Something was wrong with this statement. Then, it came to me almost instantly. K1? What?!

I tested him, "What age should K1 be?"

He told me to wait and turned around to ask someone who sounds like she is sitting behind him who then gave him the answer! *Shake head!*

"It's 2007" came his reply.

"Excuse me, my son is born in 2009, not 2007!" I said flatly.

"Oh" and he gave me the most lame excuse that he did not have the details on hand and was only told to call to inform of the vacancy for my son.

"Ah, and I supposed you put my son in the wrong K1 group that's why you call me now?" I told him to update his database and put my son back to the correct group, confirm the details before calling in future!

How professional is that??!! They actually put my son in the wrong group!!! This must be the joke of my day!


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Brunch at Eggs and Berries

Another brunch, this time at Changi City Point's Eggs and Berries. It was featured in a the Sunday Times as one of the locations for brunch. It was quite crowded when we reached there, eve more so when we left. Parking was very limited, we opted for the complimentary valet parking.

Eggs Benedict


Veggie Omelette


Cabonara


Price was reasonable and the food tasty. It's a bit out of the way for us though but definitely a place to keep in mind.

A had fun too!


Even B seemed very interested in the food there :)


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B's 6-in-1 Vaccination

We bought B for her long overdue vaccination today. We couldn't have it earlier as the whole family was sick and after that B fell sick for quite a while. Now that all had recovered, we decided to have it before the GP went on her mission trip next week.


DC with B

The last time I didn't manage to record the process. This time I made sure I did.


DC put B in an awkward position. She's slightly over 8kg now!

She cried out loud when she felt the needle. Fortunately, it was just for a short while. We brought her to her nanny's after the jab.

At night, she had a fever and we applied the fever patch on her. Despite being feverish, she was still active!

[17 Jun 2012: Fever continued for another day and it fully stopped today! :) ]


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Zoo Trip with School

A's school organized an outing to the zoo and there's going to be water play. I thought it would be fun to go along. So, I signed both of us up! :) As I had the zoo pass, I only need to pay $3 for the transport that's all. Although I could admit A in as well with the pass, the school charged $10 after some calculations. Still cheap, otherwise the total fee would have been $46!


It was A's 2nd time there but I doubt he remembered anything from the last family outing.

We saw parrots, crocodiles, monkeys (lots of them), otters, peacock, giraffes, ostrich, ponies and goats. Then we went to the water playground in KidzWorld. Like last time, A still didn't want to step in and was still fearful of the water. :( I regretted not bringing an extra set of clothes! We ended up watching other kids play and waiting to see the big splash.


After that was snack (lunch) time. The school prepared cheese with bread, seaweed chicken, nuggets and pears for the kids. I bought KFC's whipped potato, popcorn and iced milo (my lunch) and A had fun munching the food.

Next was the animal show which A was not quite interested but he did look with interest when the monkey made his way on the rope to the stage.


When the time came to go back, all the kids are very very tired. Most of them slept in the bus. A was still energetic. I brought him back home to sleep.


On the way back, we met his grandparents. They offered to bring his school bag to their home so we could pick it up later when we go their place for dinner, that's a relief, thanks! :)

At home, A slept for half hour. DC came back in the afternoon to spend time with him. After his nap, we brought him to buy our favorite drink - KOI before we went to his grandparents' for dinner.

I think A enjoyed himself very much today. :) However, I feel that the zoo session was too long. All the children were tired, sleepy and cranky and the teachers couldn't really manage them all. My arms were aching too, from carrying A as he insisted on me carrying him throughout! Despite all that, it was a really good bonding session. :)


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Hair Cut

Finally found time to go for my long overdue hair cut!

My hair has grown too long and limpy. Plus, I'm now going through post-partum hair loss, it doesn't help that B loves to pull it. I wanted to make it lighter and shorter!

So, I went back to my usual hair stylist who sniped sniped and sniped my hair to a much shorter length (still long hair)...

Here's me after the hair cut.

It's not the usual cut. If you noticed, there are two different styles on each side of the face. The stylist told me that this was modified from the latest permed hair. I like this hair style!

The old friend said me that I looked much better than my last pregnancy. That makes my day! :)


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Preparing for A's 3rd birthday: The Venue

A's birthday is only 1+ month away and we only managed to find a suitable venue today! Well, at least the venue is secured now and we can move on. We actually spent quite a bit of time sourcing for a place to hold the celebration. Here are a few places we consider:

1. Community Club
This was our first choice. We checked out the nearest one to our place and the multi purpose hall was booked for the whole month for their in-house programmes. And I called about 2-3 months ahead! So, no choice, we checked out the next preferred venue.

2. Parks
Our 2nd choice was a multi purpose hall at one of the new parks. DC was told that there was no more slot on the weekend we wanted. The Park suggested that I check out another 2 parks that offer function halls.

I called one of them (a Garden) to find that buffet line is not allowed in the room. They could only offer to place the buffet line outside of the hall, in the roof top (hot!).

However, it was nice that they counter-proposed another outdoor site in the children's garden which they could have it covered and sheltered. DC didn't like an outdoor party, so that option was out.

Then, I went to call the earlier park again to check if there are any other dates available. The park provided me with a alternate date. I made a tentative booking with them and was sad to find out that they restricted the use of the hall and was quite inflexible! They rejected our proposed activity for the kids and I had to make 3-4 calls and negotiated with them to get the booking through! When they finally did accept our proposal, DC and I were delighted to the max! Finally, the venue was fixed!

3. Hotels
While waiting for the park's reply, I went on to search for other possible venues... I know of at least two hotels that has packages for kids' parties. I called up the "M" hotel but looking at the menu, we were disappointed that most of the food were western. The reason why we stroked this off was because there was a church event going on in the next room and it would be crowded and noisy.

I called up "T" hotel, the one A had his birthday celebration last year. They sent the proposal quite fast but we hesitated about having it at the same place again. Furthermore, the price went up.

4. Convention Halls
I called up to check up on two of our convention halls but one is having renovation and the other one has a church event on that day! So, they were both out.

5. Pit Building
Yes, I was crazy enough to consider this! However, they were also fully booked by the NDP folks.

6. Condo Function Room
This would be good if I'm staying in a condo myself!

7. Home
Both A and B's full months celebrations and A's first birthday was held at home. We wanted something new. Of course, this would be our backup plan if we fail to get a venue.

8. The Company
I called up my company's building management to check. They do not have meeting rooms, only auditoriums. What?

9. Country Club
This one is in the outdoors but air-conditioned. DC is tempted to check out the site but I don't feel comfortable with having a celebration next to a swimming pool for safety reasons.

10. Indoor Playground
We thought of one nearby but from many pictures, the background design of the wall seems to be of care bears. I didn't think this was suitable for A.

Now that the venue is fixed (Hooray!), we can jump into the next thing to do! Time is running fast!


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First Time at MBS

A and B both woke up early, so we took them to church. Suntec is undergoing renovation works, so church service was moved to MBS - A, B and my first time there at MBS!

We were absent for quite a long period of time. Now, instead of grouping the children class according to their exact age, they are grouped according to their birth year. A was upgraded to a higher class and no parents were allowed to accompany the child. So, DC left A there alone and came to join B, me and our maid at the service.


The hall was grand and the chair was comfy but, there were no crowd there? Is it because of the location or what? B was fidgeting inside, I got up and carried her around. The usher by the door, an uncle, played with her for a while.


After the service, we all went to pick A up. They brought another Aaron out! Oops! Then when A came out, he was holding a water bottle with another name on it! Oops again! Although later they found his bottle which is the same as the one he was holding, I had to shake my head at these blunders!


We saw a landscape of balloon sculptures outside the rooms and that brightened up our day! They were beautiful! We wasted no time in taking pictures with A!






Next, we went to the food court for snacks before heading home. I like MBS, we'll be back again!

Cousin's House Warming

We brought A and B to my cousin's house warming. She just done up her unit at Ponggol and decorated it the Zen style. I like her walk in wardrobe, just like the one in the beer ad!

A had his fun exploring the house and watching the dog drink water.

B was carried by my mum and many others so that I get to eat.

We took many photos, it's difficult with the kids looking at different directions! This one seems the best. :)

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2 maids

I've 2 maids at home now. My new maid is here for 1 week already and my current maid is leaving in 1 week's time. Many people had asked: "Why put the two together?" We considered for quite a while before reaching to this conclusion:

1) Easing Culture Shock

My new maid is new to the country and having come from a rural area, she is definitely not as used to staying in a city with high-rise buildings as the current maid who came from the city. Having someone from the same country who understands her and could communicate with her in her language would definitely help the new maid to settle in faster.

2) Smoother Transition

The new maid is from a rural area, so she may need time to be familier with the household chores, such as using appliances like microwave oven and washing machines. We thought it would be a good idea to let the current maid to orientate and guide her on the house rules and practices without us going through the process for a second time. An overlapped period for transition would allow the new maid to take over with less stress too.

3) Relieving Grandparents

DC's parents are taking a 5-day holiday break and during this time, it would not be advisable to have the new maid unsupervised at home alone while we were at work. She's just too new. We thought having one more person in the home with her would be better.

One week has passed and I'm happy that we opted for an overlapped transition! The new maid seems to settle in quite ok and she is already on the job with the guidance of her "senior". Although there are still things that requires reminders, I'm satisfied with her progress so far. Hope she can be on her own when our maid leaves...


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2 Jun 2012, 8:30PM, DC: New domestic maid is here. She will understudy the previous one for 2 weeks. Let's hope she can get up to speed fast ...


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Chocolate Day 2012

I didn't remember it until today! I texted DC that today is our special day but didn't expect much out of it.

In the evening when he came to pick me up from work, I was pleasantly surprised to see a box of chocolate on the car seat! This brings a wide smile to my face!

I opened it up straight away to see and guess what flavors the chocolates were! *Love* 



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Brunch at Botanic Gardens

I am suddenly very interested in going out for brunch on Sunday. So today, our brunch venue is Food for Thought. It had two outlets, we chose the one at Botanic Gardens.





The dark choc and raspberries pancakes are nice! Overall, we had a much more satisfying experience than the Vineyard at Hort Park.







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