B is 10 months old

B is an active baby! She's always jumping up and down on her cot. Even when she's being carried, she'll move her legs about or lunge at things that caught her interest! It's really difficult to change her diapers or clothes as she's always moving about! She could stand up on her own without support for about 2 seconds before falling down. She could actually stand up and cruise very well with wall, cot, chair, table as her support! :)

New developments: she could wave at instructions now. She would stretch out her right hand and move only her wrist and fingers to indicate that she wants to go there or to wave bye bye, so cute!

She could also clap now, with only her right hand moving and closing up on her left. :)

She could also identify "风扇" when I said it. She'll look up into the direction of the ceiling fan. She also loves to pull the string hanging out of the fan! :)

She could also identify a hand puppet consistently. I called it PetPet. She seems to be pronouncing "Tat Tat"  every time she sees it. Without fail, she'll pass it to me when she got her hands on it.

She could also repeat "Baba...", "Mum mum", "Dadada.." when she heard it.

She also has her first tooth cut earlier this month. It was her top right front tooth. I guess that's why she's always putting her fingers in her mouth this month. It must be very... itchy?... painful? for her. She's also salivating a lot now. Her second tooth is coming out soon, can see some whites beside the first tooth. :)

She is sleeping through at night now, I think it's because the weather has turned cool. She's not sweating as much this month. :)

She had her 6-in-1 vaccination while she had her runny nose. After a week, her fever came. I wonder if the fever was contributed by the jab or weather? Hmm...

Food wise, we've changed a new milk teat for her and it took her a while to get used to it. She used to like to eat puffs but now, she sometimes rejected them, pushing them out of her tongue and no matter how many times you pushed it into her, she'll roll it out from her tongue! This month, I've also introduced her to baked pumpkin and boiled potato. She didn't like them and made them out of her mouth! I also tried to give A's porridge which is more solid. Instead, she finished them up! This lady prefers solid stuff to puree!

We brought B to Gardens by the Bay twice and was thinking of bringing her to the Disneyland next month. But, we decided that next year might be better for her. Nevertheless, we decided to make a passport for her and had a difficult time taking passport photos of the kids!

B will be turning one very soon (OMG, how time flies!) and I'm planning her birthday party now...  :)


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A is 3 years and 3 months old

A is getting very disobedient. He beats, pinches his sister and disobeys instructions at home and in his childcare centre. In fact, he got bitten last week by a classmate because A was naughty towards him! He also had his first scratched knee when he fell down during outdoor activity.

The weather was bad. A moment too hot and next too cold. The whole family had cold, A had runny nose which fortunately he recovered quite swiftly from.

This month, we celebrated mid-autumn festival with aunties and uncles, he loved to eat moon cakes! We brought him to Gardens by the Bay twice and his school brought him there last week. That makes him go there thrice! :) He loved the skywalk and garden walk very much.

We also brought him to his cousin's 5th birthday celebration. It's a star wars theme!

It's children's day this month, so I chose a present each for both A and B. A loves the toy house a lot and kept playing with it. He called it "Ding Dong" because of the door bell that he loves to press!

A loves to call out colors of vehicles around him and he especially likes to spot red cars on the road now because his uncle (my brother) has a red car. He'll say "Ah Gu Car Car" when he saw one that resembles my brother's car. Recently, he could even recognize "Ah Gu Car Car" in different colors! :)

A loves to eat snacks and sweets. I had some M&Ms and Skittles and he likes to name the colors of the choc or candy he eats. Once, when I tried to pop some bread with cheese into A's mouth, he pointed to his mouth to indicate that it's already full. I waited for a while and saw no sign of him wanting to swallow that piece of bread in his mouth. So, I took out a Skittle and asked if he wanted. At first he thought it was bread and wanted to point to his mouth again. Then, his eyes lit up when he saw what it actually was! He smiled and immediately opened his mouth and reach for it! Haha, that's my cheeky boy! He made me laugh out loud that morning! :)


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B's vaccination

We brought B to her vaccination today. It took us a while to see the doctor. DC was unhappy about the queue system. Why did we have to wait if we have booked an appointment? And, we had a baby with us and they should not let babies wait! However, we didn't have the chance to voice this out to the doctor.

B had her assessment done and she was developing very well. :) She's 75cm long, 10kg and head circumference is 44.5cm. She could babble, transfer objects to another hand, crawl and clap. :)

However, B hated being put down on her back for examination and on the weighing scale. She cried, so loudly that the nurses, patients outside could hear!

Doc felt that since her runny nose was better today, she could get herself vaccinated. We agreed. B cried out loud when the 6-in-1 jab went in her left thigh and it took her a while to recover from it. :P

We took her shortly to her nanny's and I was told that she slept for 3 hours straight!

Doc advised us to try for another child. "I think you both should have another child", she said. To give A another companion (brother?)? Hmm...


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Bitten Thumb and Scratched Knee

I received a call from A's childcare teacher today. The teacher informed that A was bitten by his new French classmate when he hit him. Haha, now A's right thumb has two teeth marks.

Also, A wore new shoes and he fell down during his outdoor activity. Now, he had scratches on his left knee.

When we saw A at his grandparents, he looked ok and could even show me the teeth marks and acted sad with furrowed brows. Today was not A's day but I'm glad that this has not affected him. He's still the same smiley him. :)


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Taking passport photos for our kids

Taking passport photos for our kids is difficult. In fact, DC almost gave up during the first session!

Haha, we have active kids who love to fidget about. :P

All the photos taken in the first session didn't make it as there were no proper lighting.

The second time, DC brought out his lighting stuff from the storeroom and set them up. The photos were much brighter, clearer and sharper but still, our kids, esp A didn't like to look at the camera!

It was a challenge and DC was full of sweat before we finally got a nice shot of A!

When it was time to upload the photos, we didn't have a hard time with the selection as there were not many good ones that met requirements. Either they were not looking at the camera or the head was tilted or the face was not within the guidelines!

Our Boy


Our Girl


If not for the trip that was decided last minute, I guess we would not have made the passport for them! Hehe... we've uploaded the photos, we hope they were accepted! Can't wait to travel with the kids!


[Edited on 24 Oct 2012: Trip was cancelled. Mum and FIL felt that B was too young to travel. So we decided to do it next year during the school holidays, so that all of us could go together! :) Can't wait!]


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B's first birthday celebration preparation

It's amazing how time flies! My B is 2 months away from her first birthday! It's high time to start preparations!

We've so far settle the location (will be at our place), the theme (hehe, secret) and date.

I've roped in my sisters to help out and had some ideas on the entertainment. Some DIYs again, hope I've the time and energy to do them all!


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Bad weather

Weather's bad these few days. It's either very hot and sunny or freezing and rainy!

A was the first. On Monday, he was found to be having runny nose while at the grandparent's place.

Then followed by B. On Tuesday, she started coughing. We felt that she was genuinely coughing and not like what her nanny had claimed - that she imitated and pretended to be coughing.

Yesterday, DC contracted flu and today he was on sick leave in the afternoon!

As usual, I'm still the last one standing! :)

[20 Oct 2012: Today was a rainy day and, all of us are down with flu! DC, A and B were having runny nose and I had sore throat!]


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Gardens By The Bay

We went back to the Gardens By the Bay, this time with my parents and sis.

We explored the places we didn't manage to go to last week. We went to the OCBC Skyway, Flower Dome and Cloud Forest. The admissions were paid for or subsidized by the company. :)

The OCBC Skyway was very high and my sis and I actually had the frights walking on it! Sis gave up after the group photo was taken and she went down to wait for us.

We had a nice family photo there too.

Love this pict that DC took of the skyway:

Next we went to the Flower Dome. We love this indoor air-conditioned garden! There were many nice flowers and it was very cooling place to rest our feet after the exposing ourselves to the hot sun outside!

A and B with me against the landscape design. A saw me squatting and imitated me.

Finally, the Cloud Forest!

We had a shock when we first stepped into the place! It was freezing cold at the foot of the waterfall!

We didn't quite like it there compared to the flower dome as it was too damp and cold inside. We left after we spiralled round the cloud forest.


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Restaurant Week - 2nd tryout

I wasn't too impressed with the Restaurant Week menu. The poached octopus salad in Sardinian style wasn't very good. The octopus lack a springy bite , maybe it was over-cooked or octopus should be eaten sashimi-style? Whatever it was, CP and I didn't really like it.



The stewed lamb shoulder, although very soft and tender, is too common a dish to be served at a restaurant such as Garibaldi. I could have an equally good lamb stew at Secret Recipe.



The Saffron homemade pappardelle with crayfish n broccoli was good, although my dining partner didn't like the springy feel of the pasta.



A common observation was that the dishes were too salty. It seemed that Italian cooking tends to sprinkle generous amount of salt on their dishes, something we have observed at Forlino too.

Dessert was warm apple pie with cinnamon gelato. Saving grace of the meal but I had expected something more Italian like maybe cannoli.


The counter receptionist was wearing slippers ... not very fitting to their uniform ... Restaurant ambience was good. They had revamped the decor since I last dined there eons ago and I liked it better this time.

In all, I guess we won't be returning any time soon. Gunther's at just next door will be still our No. 1 choice!

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Hot hot B

On Monday, B refused to be put down and could not sleep well at night. She felt very hot but her body temperature when measured, was normal.

On Tuesday morning, it was still normal. Then, when I went to pick her up at the nanny's, I was told that her temperature rose up to 38.5! It further rose to 38.7ºC at home. We wasted no time in feeding her the pink medicine and patched her forehead. I also wiped her body to cool it down while she lay on me. Same as Monday, she refused to be put down. So, I brought her to my room and she was willing to sleep on my bed.

Today, her fever came down after she sweated during her sleep, thank God that she's well again! :)

We didn't know why she suddenly had fever. When we recalled, we weren't sure if it's because she had a bad fright from Fri (Chalet), Sat (Family at Gardens by the Bay) or Sun (Cousin's birthday party) or was it because of the terrible heat in the outdoors during the weekend or was it because she was teething? Hmm...


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Anniversary (Dating) Lunch

It was our dating anniversary, something worth celebrating because we had known each other for 14 yrs. This week was also Restaurant Week, so I made an early booking for a nice lunch at iL Lido, Sentosa :)

Location-wise wasn't very convenient unless you drive. Very limited parking for that afternoon as there was a golfing event. To reach the restaurant, you also had to walk a long boardwalk to reach it. It's located behind the club building.

Excellent view and ambiance in the afternoon. The natural light coming through the full length glass creates a very relaxed environment. Staff could have been more attentive. Nobody saw us to the door when we left.



Bread was warm and delicious.


This is actually cantaloupe soup. Served chilled, it provided nice relief from the hot weather outside.



Prawn salad with artichoke cream was succulent. I even swiped the artichoke cream with my bread.



The other starter of tagliolini with crab was so so, sauce was too thick for my liking.


The wagyu beef cheek served for the main course was cooked till very tender, which was good.



The other main of snapper wasn't too bad also, although the presentation on the plate looked quite awkward. The skin was crisp but slightly on the salty side.


Dessert was tiramisu, quite standard stuff.


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Taken 2

Taken 2 (Digital)

CAST: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen
DIRECTOR: Olivier Megaton
LANGUAGE: English
OPENING: 04 Oct 2012
RUNTIME: 94 mins
RATING: PG13 - Some violence

Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Mills, the retired CIA agent with a “particular set of skills” who stopped at nothing to save his daughter Kim from kidnappers. When the father of one of the villains Bryan killed swears revenge, and takes Bryan and his wife hostage in Istanbul, Bryan enlists Kim to help them escape. Bryan then employs his unique tactics to get his family to safety and systematically take out the kidnappers, one by one.







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Both of us enjoyed the show but felt that the first one is better probably because the plot was not new anymore.  There were lots of fighting and actions. He was still using his wits and means to save his loved one, this time his ex-wife.


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A Star Wars Party!

Oh boy, we looked forward to parties. This one was at One Degree 15 Marina at Sentosa Cove. It's the birthday celebration of my 5-yr old nephew. The theme was Star Wars!

We have the Darth Vaders.

Yoda.

A Pinata.

Goodies.


Light sabers!


What party doesn't come with food? :)

The birthday cake.

A n B with Mummy :)

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Family Day

We brought A and B and DC's parents to the company's family day.

This year, a carnival was set up at the new Singapore attraction "Gardens By the Bay". It's the first time we participated in the event. It was our first time to the Gardens By the Bay too.

It was drizzling in the morning and when we were there, the sun was scorching hot! As we arrived late, the seats at the tentage were all taken up. We had to take shade under the super trees.

There were performances, games, kids play (bouncy castle), lucky draw, food - free flow of iced water, potong ice-creams, popcorns, candy floss, hotdogs and buffet lunch.

There was also a photo booth. We took our family photo there.

However, we didn't have the time to go into the two domes, we'll be back. :)


[Edited 15 Oct 2012: We were so sotong (aka blur) that we forgot to take our family photo we took at the photo booth! Everyone thought it was with one of us, Ha! Fortunately, there's a softcopy that could be downloaded from the photo booth company website!]


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A Notebook ... somewhat

It's the Samsung Galaxy Note, to be exact. I was very surprised to win this from a Kit Kat lucky draw. Yes, just from buying $12 worth of Kit Kat bars! Screen is so much bigger than the iPhone, I think it will be enjoyable for all the dramas!



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