NINKUMPUT

Jia En starts Berries

2012-01-06T00:32:00.002+08:00

Jia En went for her first lessons tonight. We rushed home to fetch the girls and then i walked Jia En to her class while Jia Yi and JH waited in the car. Halfway there, Jia En started to cry and refused to walk further. therefore i had no choice but to carry her into. At the entrance, we atracted so much attention from parents and staff and without asking, all knew it was her first lesson and the staff recognised that she was Jia Yi's younger sister.

In the classroom, the teacher offered to carry her over. They managd to tear her awa from me and as i walked out of the classs, i asked if the teachers are ok with her crying so badly. They answered that as long i am alright, they are fine with me leaving her alone. So i went back to the car and had our dinner at Sakuraya.

We went back to the school the peep on her and the staff told me that she was crying throughout and so teachers carried her out for a walk then went back in to contiunue with her lessons again. When we peeped at her, she was still weeping. But then she looked more composed when the teachers told them a story over the OHP.

As promised, after lessons, we took her to McDonald's for Happpy Meal. Hope the following lessons would be better.....

Hi5 Meet and Greet

2011-12-05T00:33:00.003+08:00

We went to Milennia Walk to watch the Hi5 performance today. When we arrived we were just in time for the 1pm show. However, as we were not in the first 60 families, we were unable to go for the meet and greet. Inittially both kids agreed that we shall only watch the show and no photo-taking. But as they loved this group to much and were mesmerised by their performance, they forgot their promise to us.

In the end we relented and decided to wait for the 4pm show. We had yogurt and mos burger while waiting and went to queue for our meet and greet pass at 2.35pm. Fortunately we were the 24th family in the queue. I waited in the queue while JH brought the kids around and bought 3 Twelve cupcakes to try. I must saw they are really good. At 3.30pm, we were allowed to make our way to the stage front and at 4pm, the show began. This time Jiayi was so familiar with the dance sequence, she danced along. Immediately after the show, both kids dashed to the stage to just Hi-5 with her stars while JH went to the right of the stage to queue for the meet n greet. Finally we got our shot... sigh.... JH and i didn't even chase after any stars when we were young but no as parents, just to appease our children, we had to go to that extent.

JH end up putting his head (or should i say his wallet) on the chopping board. He bought the photo at $25 and on top of them bought each girl at Hi5 t-shirt at $10each and an Hi5 dvd at $15, no mentioning the $9 cupcakes.

The kids were so tired tha they dozed off immediately in the car but their day did not end there. We met up with my in-laws for dinner at Tradehub then followed by proceeding to IMM where the grls did some sand art and window art. After which, they went to Daiso where their grandpa bought them presents. Next we went downstairs to buy Japanese Jelly before going home... what a day.

Year 2011 Graduation Concert

2011-12-04T22:44:00.005+08:00

3 December was Carpe Diem Playskool's graduation concert. It was held in Chevron and both Jia Yi and Jia En has 2 performance item each. My parents, brother and sis-in-law came to give their support too.

The concert was at 4pm but they kids were already very excited the night before. So they were very cooperative since. Jiayi was dressed as a bumble bee while Jia En wore a skirt which felt like feathers for her feathers shaking dance. However, Jia En was crying quite badly throughout her first dance and she forgot all her butts shaking moves. She was very scared as it was pitch dark outside the stage.

Jiayi came out next where she danced to the bumblee bee song, shaking her ken-ken skirt as she moved long to the beat. Jia Yi' next performance was her Magic Fiddler music dance were she played the tambourine with her friends throughout the "Its a small world" song.

Jia En came on after that dressed like a minnie mouse. Loved that costume and the DIY hairband. Though she was still a little reserved during the MIC-KEY MOUSE dance, she did not cry this time round.

After the concert, we went West Coast Plaza for dinner at Sushi Tei and happened to meet Pinocchio and a Magic Show. The kids also had their go at the Kid Lite slide and animal ride.

Was proud of my 2 girls for putting up such fine performance. Jiayi has obviously gained more confidence on stage and we could see her interest in dancing. Jia En still need lots of practice with public performance and i hope she will improve as she grows older.

6th Wedding Anniversary

2011-11-29T23:42:00.003+08:00

Received a bouquet of flowers for our wedding anniversary. On XN's recommendation, we had korean bbq dinner at Pasir Panjang. Good recommendation, as the food was good.

Breakfast with the Tans

2011-11-13T22:01:00.003+08:00

It had been a while since we met up with the Tan family. Chloe had replacement class at Jiayi's sunday Berries class so Mrs Tan smsed me the night before to ask if we should meet for breakfast.

For convenience, we chose Xin Wang Hongkong Cafe at West Coast Plaza. We ordered a good spread of food and chatted over breakfast as we waited for the girls' lessons to end at 10.30am. Throughout the breakfast, Jia En was very whiny, reason being, her daddy had threatened to change her daddy and Jia En was so fearsome of the Tan family throughout. On the contrary, Chester was much more nonchalent, sinking his teeth ino every item we ordered.

Soon it was time to pick the girls and we parted. As i was still not feeling too well, still having slight fever and runny nose, we headed back to Jurong Point for the children to have a simple lunch, went to the arcade so some games and then went home to rest.

Au Petit Salut

2011-11-13T21:41:00.005+08:00

Photo was obtained from Au Petit Salut Website

Au Petit Salut at Harding Road was where we had my birthday dinner. Heard of it's good reviews and have been wanting to try since. We had started degustation for two where there was a good variety of various staters including foie grae and then we also shared their popular escargot. For the main, i have oven roasted pigon stuffed with mushroom while JH had duck. Surprisingly the oven roasted pigeon was not tough at all. On the contrary, it was juicy and tender. Then we each had a dessert. Mine was orange souffle while JH had chocolate fudge cake w coffee ice-cream. Only after we were done with our own dessert, theat my complimentary birthday dessert was served. So by the time we dug into the dessert, we were full to the brim.

Overall verdict: My expectation was much higher. The starter did go down too well with us as the foie grae was way too oily and the others weren't very apt for our taste bud. The escargot was nice though. Although the main was not too bad, the dessert was quite dissapointing. Nothing too special on a whole and there were way too much echo in the room, making it a very "noisy" place to dine. But nevertheless, it was the company tha was most important for special dinners.

Jiayi's 5th Birthday Party

2011-10-28T22:21:00.005+08:00

This year we opted for a fuss-free birthday celebration for Jiayi's school. We have been toying with this idea for a few years already however it did not materialise then as birthday celebrations involved 3 classes then but recent years, celebrations are restricted to their own class.
Jiayi chose Macdonald's Birthday party to her Winx Club birthday cake. So we ordered Macdonald's Take-away party and the option to include the Ronald Cake. As each Happy Meal has a toy, i did not need to source for any goodie bags. When the delivery arrived, all the kids were very excited and happy, including our guest attendee: Jia En. Jiayi was brimming from ear to ear as she immersed in the attention.

Too bad, we did not have much time to spare and so everything happened very quickly. After the children finished their meal, they quickly gathered to sing birthday song and cut the cake. Then we sent Jia En back to her bay and left Jiayi with her class to have their afternoon nap and continue with their normal afternoon schedule.

Resort World

2011-10-26T21:25:00.004+08:00

After lunch with the family, we went to Resort World where we allowed the kids to try out at the Kids Club at Hard Rock Hotel. It was actually a drop off service charged hourly. We dropped the kids and proceeded to the Festive Hotel lounge for coffee and some peaceful time. We punched on our i-phone and i-touch, sipped coffee and chit chat briefly, trying to guess if the kids like the club.

An hour later JH went to fetch them to join us for tea, pastry and ice-cream. Turned out that Jia'En was panicky when she noticed that we were not around and gave the club staff a handful of time. Hahah... guess we would not be using their service much even though the quiet time was desireable.

After that we proceede to Candylicious before making our way back.

Diapers Free

2011-10-24T19:59:00.003+08:00

Both Jiayi and Jia'En are not diapers free even a night. However, i better still consicentiously check if they need to go to the toilet before they go to bed.

Too much on my plate?

2011-10-24T19:35:00.002+08:00

I had a vision... that is to cook for my family. I hope that the 2 girls will look forward to coming home to a warm meal cooked by their mummy rather than staying out because their mummy do not ccok dinner. That is why i started to cook dinner on sunday nights. I hope that while i put my cooking skills to practice, JH and the 2 girls would get used to mummy's cooking. This vision does not come overnight so i have to put in hard work. Need not be fanciful dishes but just some home-cooked food for my loved ones.

Now that the girls are growing up, it's about time i get my personal life back. Have not been exercising for the past 5 yrs. For my own overall well-being, i thought i should do something which i can enjoy. For that i signed up a 2 yrs Amore membership. Don't know if i am being overly ambitious. But i think i have to start somewhere. I hope to be able to achieve 2-3 nights of classes every weekday evening. Keeoing myself occupied with activites also put my attention away wishing for JH's company. He has been geting busier lately. Bye-bye to our weekly pak-tor nights. Rather than hoping and pinning hopes that he would ask me to go out dinner with him, i might as well keep myself occupied.

Actually i can feel the tiredness everyday after work. Wonder if i can sustain my exercise regime and to sacrifice my rest time on sunday afternoon. Preservere preservere for a bigger objective....

Blog Revived

2011-10-04T13:03:00.002+08:00

It has been more than half a year since i updated this blog. Since there were no activities since Mar 11, i was even contemplating making this blog private. But unfortunately, with my meagre computer knowledge, i don't know how it was possible. Therefore, left it untouched til now.

As the kids grew older and as work piled, plus subscription of SCV at home, i needed a lot more effort to maintain the blog. On top of that, i was guilty of not taking photos of our outings concientiously and was rather lazy to download the photos from the camera, if any and upload them onto the internet.

A lot happened during this half year and at the same time, nothing much exciting happened. Contradictory right? My in-law had a change in domestic helper and a few came and go and finallly this one stayed for about 2 months already. So out-sourcing of weekly maintenance of the house ceased and every now and then i had to sneak in time to mop the floor, wash toilet, do laundry and iron the clothes.

Both girls have grown older and we bought 2 study tables for them so that they would have a proper working area. Shifted the furniture in the living room to create a study area, a living area and a play/ reading area. So i had my coffee table back infront of my sofa.

Just came back from our 2nd Bangkok trip, to utilise the return tickets we bought wrongly the other time and also to bring Jia En along on the holiday.

Mum and Dad went to China for 1 month of Qi Gong retreat. They returned and collected the keys to their new flat. Now all excited with starting the renovation.

Nothing much happened because i think that's about all i remembered. The rest of the time was rush to work, fetch the kids, send them to school or supplementary classes, watch tv, do house work, weekend lunches, cook dinner for family etc. As we were so busy with work, we stopped going out on weekday dinner dates. I even resorted to eating dinner alone. Sometimes find it sad and lonely. But then in full control of what i do.

A part of me hope to catch up with friends while the other part of me was so tired from the weekly schedule that i just wish to stay home and rest or just play by ear. If i arrange to go out, will need to rush back and then chores will have to push to another day and then more chores will pile. Sigh... where is my zest? Can i rekindle them?

Jurong Park with Kou Fu and Kum Mo

2011-03-20T00:47:00.006+08:00

Only realised that Morris Allen was closed for the March school holidays when JH sent Jiayi to her class on sat. So i took both kids to my bro's house. At 10.30am, bro took his new remote-control plane and the 5 of us went down to the Jurong Park.

The sun was hot but the kids enjoyed the sand and slide. Then bro flew his new toy but not long after, it got caught on the trees. Fortunately after a few jumps, he managed to free his plane.

We stayed a little while and headed back to the children playground below bro's block. The we wondered why did we have to brave the scorching sun just to let the children have some playgound fun when it is right there just below their block.

Flyers Ride on 13 Mar 2010

2011-03-20T00:43:00.004+08:00

All thanks to Teo, we managed to get cheap tickets to the Flyers. Bought Ah Ma with us. Throughout the 30mins ride, the kids were very excited, moving from one side of the cabin to the other. Ah Ma on the other hand was jitery about the height and kept seated throughout.

Nothing fantastic though... not bad for a one-time ride.

Bangkok (25 Feb - 27 Feb 2011)

2011-02-28T14:20:00.011+08:00

We finally decided to take a short holiday to Bangkok and it was a haste decision. JH got his renewed passport on 15 Feb and our available window period was only til end of Feb. So JH scrambled to book our air tickets. SQ was our choice as we wanted Jiayi to have a good flying experience since she was rather apprehensive on going for a holiday. Of course i would love the comfort, personalised in-flight entertainment as well. We felt that Jia En was not ready for the trip yet and this was a testing trip for Jiayi, we deliberately kept the holiday short. Our trip was arranged from 25 Feb to 27 Feb.

This is my second trip to Bangkok after more than a decade ago with my parents on a tour group and it is JH's first. So we canvasses for hotel recommendations. Was choosing between Pathumwan Princess Hotel and the ever-popular among Singaporeans: Baiyoke Sky Hotel. Pathumwan is adjacent to MBK Center while Baiyoke is next to Pratunam Market. Despite having more recommendations for Baiyoke, we went ahead to book Pathumwan Princess. Was unsure if we made the right choice.

25 Feb 2011: Singapore, Pathumwan Princess Hotel, MBK Center, Baiyoke Sky Hotel

We left Jia En with my in laws th night before and on the very morning, we woke up at 6am and left for the airport at 6.35am. It was a very pleasant flight as Jiayi was behaving decently well apart from wanting to watch Tangled on her in-flight entertainment system while the plane was still preparing to take off. Jiayo was delighted to be presented with a Powerpuff Girl toy on board the flight and she enjoyed her kids meal.

Upon arrival, we finally located our hotel representative at the Suvarnabhumi Airport. The driver led us to their limousine and we reached the hotel in about 45mins. At the hotel, we were greeted by the friendly hotel staff. They sat us at the reception counter and gave us each a refreshing welcome drink of lemongrass lime tea. While we booked a deluxe room, we were upgraded to a hotel suite which has a bedroom and a spacious sitting cum study area. I was very pleased with the hotel as it was very cosy. As the hotel had security guards stationed at the entrance to scan all incoming bags, it gave me extra assurance that the hotel is concerned with our safety.

We settled down and after a brief rest, we went to MBK center which is linked to the ground floor of our hotel. It was a center with supermarket, food courts, restaurants, shops and departmental store. We headed for the departmental store where i accompliched my first mission: shopping for inner beauty. Next we went to the Fifth Avenue which has the same concept of Marche back home except that they are selling international food like Thai, Indonesian, Italian, Greece etc. After eating our fill, we continued with our shopping and this time round, it's chlothings for the kids and for JH. Before we stepped back into our hotel, JH went to tailor 3 cuff-links shirt for himself at S$40 each, ready on the day of our departure.

Had initially wanted to head for Platinum Fashion Mall before our dinner appointment at Baiyoke Sky Hotel nearby. But as we managed to get enough of kids stuff in MBK Center, we went back to the hotel to bath and rest before taking a cab to Baiyoke Sky.

We had already made a reservation to Baiyoke Sky Buffet Dinner back home and would be meeting Somsong and his family at 7.30pm. But due to the friday peak hour traffic in Bangkok, we left the hotel at 6.30pm. Although our hotel is not too far from Baiyoke, it took us about 30mins to reach. It was a worthwhile ride as the taxi driver drove us through Pratunam Market. So in the comfort of the car, we "toured" Pratunam Market. No regrets touring it in the car as we were sure we would not be buying anything from the market.

The moment we stepped out of our taxi, we were greeted with many people at the foot of the hotel, facing the Pratunam Market. We took a lift to the hotel lobby on the 18th floor. Still, the hotel was bustling with people, locals and foreigners. At this moment, i was truly relieved that we were booked into Pathumwan Princess and not Baiyoke. I personnally felt that Baiyoke's environment was too "complicated" and stiffling. Nevertheless, we met up with the friendly Somsong family and made our way up to the restuarant.

Thinking that the environment would be better up on the 78th floor where the restaurant was located. I was wrong. The restaurant was equally crowded and stuffy. Food wise... nothing fantastic. Plus both Jiayi and I were not having a good stomach so i gave all the cold stuff a miss. Only stuck to the safe dishes like rice, hot dishes and noodle soup. Jiayi was very fussy at the begining of the dinner as she was having a slight run. I had to put her on pull-up pants and pacify her with my i-touch.

[Afternote: Realised that we might have made the wrong booking of restaurant. We should have gone for the Crytal Grill Seafood Buffet on the 82nd floor instead. But as the web was down and JH had to just call to book the table, not knowing that we had othr options. The resultant was a booking at Baiyoke Sky Restaurant.]

Fortunately Jiayi was feeling better after a while and the restaurant entertainment warmed her up. We had a little magic show and ballooon sculpting at our table. Tung had a ballooon gun while Jiayi and Wit had a balloon rabbit each. Soon Jiayi warmed up a little with Somsong's children.

Dinner ended around 9pm and we spent some time on the exhibits at the Observatory. Somsong then helped us hail a taxi back to the hotel while he and family took another home where journey would take him more than an hour.

26 Feb 2011: Dream World, Nanthburi - Chopraya

We woke up at 7am, washed up and headed to the 8th floor for breakfast. The spread was good wih eggs counter, ham, cereal, bread, porridge and even sushi.

After breakfast we went back to our room and prepared to meet Somsong and family at 9.30am. At 9am, we went to the hotel's Business Centre wanting to confirm our flight home. I was unable to perform an internet check-in so we called the customer service hotline. It was only then we realised we were booked on a wrong flight!!!

Me: I was unable to perform internet check-in. Could you assist?

CS officer: Mdm, you can only check-in 48 hrs before the flight.

Me: Yah, but my flight is tomorrow which is less than 48hrs away.

CS officer: But Mdm, your return flight was booked for 27 Mar 2011. That's next month.

Thuderstruck in my head as i pointed the date to JH and continued my conversation with the CS officer, hoping to change my flight to tomorrow. The bad news: All flights are fully booked for 27 Feb. I requested to be put on waiting list for all flights. JH requested to be booked on any Start Alliance flights on the same date but was declined as they explained there were unable to do so.

Fortunately, with i-phone in the hand, we quickly surfed the net and thank goodness, flights were still available on Tiger Airway. Though it was a budget flight, it did not come to us at a budget fare. We had to pay more than $1,365 to get us home on 27 Feb at 2.40pm.

While we were making our bookings, Somsong arrived with the chartered van. We were late but those were not importatnt anymore. So we set off with our itineriary for the day at 10.30am: Dream World.

Dream World is located in the outskirt of Bangkok and it took us about an hour's ride there. This is not only our first time to Dream World, it was also Somsong's first. Tung was very excited about the trip while Jiayi didn't know what she was in for as we didn't breathe a word of the amusement park to her beforehand at all.

As Tung and Jiayi are only 2 yrs apart, they became best of friends that day despite thier language barrier. As we were accompanied by locals, we were able to get cheaper entrance tickets and getting around was a breeze. The kids took a ride on the Racing Car and we took a cable car into the other end of the park where we watched the Hollywood Action show, packed with real actions, gun firing and bombings. The 2 girls were slightly frightened by the actions but Tung was fully impressed. He even went down to the set with his daddy to take pictures with the performers.

After lunch at the foodcourt, we bought tickets into the Snow City. Wit and Act didn't come in with us as Act was worried that her 15mths old daughter might catch a cold from the chill. We changed our shoes and put on our jackets. The place was not very big, just the size of a container but its enough to have some snow fun. The kids didn't dare to go for the slide as the slope was tall and steep so we urged the 2 men to have a go. A least they got to have some speedy cold thrill. The kids were happy enough on the exhibits.

We made our way slowly out of the park, stopping by Naraya boutique in the park for some shopping. By then, the park was packed with student groups. Although the sun was hanging high in the sky, the heat was tolerable as it was not as humid as Singapore.

We left the park and headed to Nathaburi, another province for foot spa and authentic thai dinner nearby. The drive took us another hour. The beauty spa was next to the famous Floating Market, only that there's no more market already by the time we reached at 5.30pm.

Somsong was very nice to babysit the children while Act, JH and I could have an hour of foot spa relaxation. After the spa, the driver drove us another 15min to our dinner place. Don't know the name though but the setting was very peaceful. We had to walk through a small garden which led us to a warmly lit Thai Architecture which housed the restuarant that serves very fine thai cuisine. This posh restaurant also hosted many thai weddings and the whole area gave me a feeling equivalent to the Raffles Hotel.

Kongchin's sister, whom we only had 2 brief dinners in Singapore, knowing that we were in Bangkok, came to the restaurant to join us for the dinner. Thais are really very warm people and appreciated their kindness especially when she didn't know Somsong and his family at all. They managed to arrange this meetup only through Kongchin who is in Singapore. She even bought JH and i a present each.

After a long day, Somsong sent us back to Bangkok. The kids fell asleep in the van even before we reached Bangkok as the drive was another 1.5hrs. On our way back to the hotel, the driver showed us round the Palace and the City Hall. The palace looked magnificant and the golden architecture shimmered in the lightings giving it a grand look.

27 Feb 2011: MBK Center, Singapore

Our return flight was 2.40pm and our airport transfer was arranged to leave at 11.30am. After breakfast, we went back to our hotel room and waited for 10am when MBK Center would open for business. We then heaed straight for the souvenir shops selling local snacks for JH and i to bring back to his colleagues. We also packs sushi for Jiayi as she was making a whole fuss whining for sushi that morning.Next we collected JH's tailored shirts, which proved to be quite a good buy. and went back to our room to do a final check before checking out of our room and headed for the airport.

Checked our luggage into the Tiger Airway counter and went to the basement for our lunch. Did some last minute purchase at the departure hall and then rushed down to our gate at 2pm where the plane is already ready for boarding.

Jiayi was prepared for the budget ride. She missed her younger sister so much throughout the holiday that she would not mind the ride as long as she could go back to see her. So we entertained her with the activity book and the i-touch on the plane. Fourtunately she decided o sleep in the second hour of the flight.

To our greatest pleasure, thanks to Ryan and Ah Mah, who came to pick us up, we were greeted with lovely Jia En at the gate.

The trip was wonderful and it was a great getaway for us. Only regret was that we were unable to bring Jia En along. But then having said that, i still felt that we made a right choice by not bringing Jia En this time round. It would not be very suitable for her given the long distance of travelling. Another memorable event was the air tickets issue which left us with a return ticket from Bangkok until Feb 2012. We will make use of the tickets again but this time, we intend to bring Jia En along. That is also Jiayi's request.

JH: Did you enjoy yourself? Do you want to come again?

Jiayi: Yes. But i want to come again with Jia En.

Year 2011

2011-01-03T16:57:00.004+08:00

The first monday of the year 2011 threw me into new challenges. Firstly i was down with a terrible flu this morning. It must be the same strain as the bug which hit JH and Jiayi a week ago. I had been incubating in me til it striked me hard last night.

Made a tough decision to stay awaay from work today and visited the doctor. Doctor told me that 60% of the flu now is H1N1. My fever was high and it would not go away even though i took his medication and antibiotics. I supposed this is how H1N1 felt like. He told me his medicine could be coupled with panadol and so i decided to increase my dosage and popped in another 2 panadol for flu. It worked... now my fever has temporarily subsided and i am capable of blogging. Otherwise, i was so restless and terribly sick the whole morning and early afternoon.

We have decided to withdraw the kids from their school chartered transport. It was a hasty decision made last friday when the transport company called to advise that the pick up time would be either 6.55am or 7.35am. We were already not too happy with their service since last month as they have been changing their pickup timing and pickup van and auntie every other day and i have been bugging JH to think of alternatives for the kids. Since the new timing is no difference from the time we set off for work, we decided to bring the kids to their childcare ourselves. So for the first time, i gotta give them their morning milk, drag them off the beds and dress them for school. Increased level of challenge since i was running a fever today as well. Only consolation was that since i have decided to take a day off work, the time factor was lowered. As expected, Jia En made a fuss at the childcare entrance.Cried loudly and the teachers had to carry her in while she struggled. Hope she would get use o us dropping her off soon.

Will be starting Jiayi on her weekly english supplementary this coming saturday. No more lazy saturday for us. Initially had thought that for the first lessopn, i could deposit Jia En with Ah Ma while i familiarise our routine with Jiayi first. But i was again threw into another challenge. Ah Ma has an appointment onf saturday and so Jia En had to come with us to the lessons. After lessons, i would have to setle the kids lunch before making my way to my mum's house. I hope everything will turn out smotthly.

Work continue to pile up. Never-ending projects and responsibilities, increasing expectations from bosses. Wonder when would i see a breather.

Year 2011 don't seem to start too smoothly for me. Wonder if that's an omen. But gotta stay a positive attitude. Hope that the coming year will be a good one:
1) Happiness and health for my dear family and friends
2) Jia En would adapt well in child care
3) Jia Yi would see progress and continue to love learning new skills
4) JH would continue to strive in his career and deals would come in smoothly for him
5) My career would be smooth sailing, with little hiccups
6) New challenges could be tackled with a breeze

Botanic Garden

2011-01-03T16:50:00.004+08:00

Had a picnic with the Tan and Wong family last sunday at the Botanic Gardens. Each of us prepared some food and we met up with the Tan family at 10.15am. While waiting for the Wong family, we searched for a nice shady spot and laid our picnic mats. We started eating and the Wong family came by.

When the children had their fill, they ran around the green playing ball and catching. It was great that the children warmed up with each other and enjoyed themselves. Naturally each child displayed their preference for themselves, Chloe and Jiayi striked out to be closer to each other. Probably because they met up with each other more often and they are of the same age. Jia En seemed to amused herself running behind the other 3 girls.

Soon the Wong family had to leave while we stayed til 1pm before leaving the park.

Bird Park @ 19 Dec 10

2010-12-20T15:02:00.008+08:00

We went to the Bird Park again on sunday. This time our mission was to visit the waterfall. So we headed for the monorail and alighted at the waterfall station then made our way out of the park.

We stumbled acrossthe Penguin Party at the children playground area and then we spent the whole afternoon there.

Firstly, Jiayi and Jia En made eco-friendly penguins with the help of Fairy sister. While Jiayi queued up for a penguin to be painted on her hand, Jia En enjoyed herself at the slide.

On our way out, we met with the penguin masccotts whom invited Jiayi to the Penguin Party that would be starting at 1.30pm where there would be dance and magic show. So we had an "anyhow" lunch consisting of chicken nasi bryani, cheese sandwhich and hotdog. While Jia En ate some rice, Jiayi could only mouth 2 bites of hotdog bun as she was too eager to go to the party.

At the party, the small area was packed with children and accompanying parents. Jiay was independent enough to sit alone amongst the other kids while Jia En clung onto us as we stood behind all the kids.

After the show, Jiayi insisted on doing some sandart. Finally we dragged Jiayi home around 3.30pm> Jia En didn't need any pursuasion as she willingly made her way to the car.

Jamie Came Visiting

2010-12-20T14:55:00.002+08:00

XN and Jamie came visiting last saturday. The kids had their lunch and after a short rest, we took them to the playgounr behind my block. The kids had a great time at the playground, running from the see-saw area to the slide then the swing and back.

Glad that the kids enjoyed each other's company while mummies had time to catch up.

Mum's Birthday

2010-12-20T14:50:00.003+08:00

Took leave and celebrated mum's birthday. We had lunch at Ellenborough Market Cafe then went to Ion for a walk. Bro came to join us during his lunch break. Didn't buy anything that day but it was quality time spent. Hadn't been spending enough time with my parents since i became mummy. Guilty Guilty.

Drawings

2010-12-20T14:48:00.004+08:00

Jiayi proudly showed us her drawing of a ship one night. JH told me to take a photo of it which i was reluctant initially.

After seeing jie-jie's art work, Jia En too worked on her own.

A Date With Repunzel

2010-12-20T14:43:00.003+08:00

Jiayi went for her 2nd movie: Repunzel. After lessons, we zoomed to Jurong Point in a cab, grabbed lunch at Burger King and headed for 12noon show.

However, the over-rated movie failed to captivate Jiayi as much as Toy Story 3 did. But nevertheless, she did last through the show with a small pop corn and green tea in her hands.

四季之花

2010-12-09T00:39:00.003+08:00

边走去提车回家时，嘉怡边念着什么花什么花的。织细听才知道原来她在念：

“春天偏地开什么花？春天偏地开春花。
夏天池溏开什么花？夏天池溏开荷花。
秋天园里开什么花？秋天园里开菊花。
冬天林里开什么花？冬天林里开梅花。”

哈。。。今天嘉怡又给我上了一堂课。与其说我们得传知识给孩子们，倒不如说我们互相学习。以前的我们从来没有学过这类的儿歌。可是因近来校园迎进了许多中国籍的教师，教的东西也有所不同。就有如这次，有时不能否认题材相当有趣与新鲜。

Holiday @ Siloso Beach Resort

2010-12-07T00:31:00.004+08:00

We had a "holiday" in Sentosa over the las weekend. Lodging was booked with Siloso Beach Resort which was conveniently located in the centre of the Siloso Beach, well accessed with free tram. The room has a full length window and a platform allowing us to enjoy the scenic view of the sea. We checked-in the hotel on friday night and our holiday began the next morning.

The kids woke up early on saturday morning, eager to go see the fishes. We had our breakfast and boarded the first tram to Underwater World. We bought the package tickets which entitled us to both the Underwater World and the Butterfly Park. Jiayi fed the angel fishes, touched a starfish and fed the shark. Then we proceeded to meet the Dolphin. OUtside the Dolphin Lagoon, the kids saw this attractively colourful billboard and starting their funny poses.

The sun was very hot that day and so after purchasing our photos, a T-shirt and pants set for Jia'en and a pink dolphin stuff toy for Jiayi, we headed back to our room. Next we called for room service, rested for a while and changed into our swimming suit and headed for the pool below our room. The pool was 1.2m deep and with the rubber tyres available, and the kids equipped with their own float, we had a wonderful 1.5hr swimming.

The kids still haven't had enough of their dip as they continued in the bath tub in the room as i washed them up and got them ready for their afternoon nap.

At 5pm, we woke up and went to the beach. Jiayi was more adventurous as he followed JH out nearer to the water to buildsand castle. Jia'en didn't like the sand and so she remained on the picnic map and played with the moulds.

We went back to the room to clean up and came out again to the teppanyakki restaurant along the beach for dinner. The kids were so famished that they wallopped up my teppanyakki set while waiting for their noodles to be served. After dinner, we went to Imbiah and watched the performance put up by an Australian Busker for the Busker Festival.

We started the next morning with visiting the Butterfly Park after breakfast. However, i was so nervous about so many big butterflies fluttering around me that the kids especially Jiayi got affected by me. Sh too refused to walk into the park. Finally i plucked up the courage and dash through the exit into the aviary area. Fortunately, they were no more flying and creepy crawlies in the rest of the park.

After that, we were quite lost and didn't know where else to visit. FInally JH suggested that we take the cable car and at Mount Faber, Jewel Box, Jiayi fed the kois. I was quite surprised that she actuall dared to put her hand in to touch the fishes. This is another act which her lousy mummy dared not do.

We went back to RWS for lunch and then chilled out and had toilet break in the conventional hall area. Next we watched a clown performance. Jiayi loved the performance so much that she requested to take a photo with the artist.

We ended our short holiday after their afternoon nap. Overall, this holiday was an enjoyable one. Jiayi did not make much fuss this time round, unlike our previous round of hotel stay in Raffles Hotel. Although the kids evidently enjoyed thier stay in the hotel this time round, they still preferred their home and when asked if they wanted to come again, they said no. Guess, we need to give them more time before we are ready for distant travelling.

Steamboat

2010-12-06T23:57:00.003+08:00

This was the first time we brought the kids to steamboat. It was at JPot in Vivocity on a sunday afternoon. I wasn't too sure what i was in for until we were at the table.

We ordered a pot for Jiayi so that she could have hands-on experience. Kept on warning her to be careful of the hot pot. She was extremely excited and insisted that she cooked for us. In the end, her pot was full of food. Naturally, she was too occupied with her pot that she didn't pay much attention to eating her lunch.

Jia'en screamed her head off when she saw us putting the raw mushroom and tou fu into the pot to cook. She was worried that we would not allow her to eat. We could not stop her from screaming as we had to cook her tou fu and mushroom before we could ever place them on her plate. Fortunately the waitress whipped out an activity worksheet which distracted her and gave us sufficient time to ensure that her food was cooked before serving onto her plate.

Verdict: The kids are not quite ready for steamboat yet. Next time when we decide to bring them to steamboat again, i have to be more mentally prepared.

An Afternoon in Marina Sands

2010-11-07T00:32:00.005+08:00

Deepavali afternoon was spent in Marina Sands. As the kids had their nap in the car, we could afford to spend the whole afternoon outside.

We had initially wanted to grab a late lunch in Beach Road but the stores which we intended to go were either too crowded or was closed for the day. Evenutally we ended up searching for chinese food in Marina Sands. The food court was still not opened yet and the make shift eateries were too crowded. Fortunately there was a chinese restaurant in the hotel and so we had a simple lunch there.

After lunch, we went up to the Sky Park. There was no sun and a the same time it was not raining so it was a perfect weather to visit the sky park. We had a hard time explaining to Jiayi that the pool was only meant for hotel guest. We were even told off by 2 of the hotel staff when they saw Jiayi was fast to take off her shoes and wanted to have a dip in the Jaccuzzi. Sigh... personally, i felt that it was poor management by the staff as they could have placed a sign board informing the guests that the pool was open only for hotel guest.

In order to appease Jiayi, we went down to the shopping mall and queued for the Sampan Ride. We were informed by the ticketing staff that we had to wait for at least an hour for the ride. Fortunately, the queue was much faster. Only 2 passengers were allowed on each sampan and so Jiayi followed JH while i took Jia En. Both kids were very excited over the ride especially Jiayi whom got very imptient while waiting for her turn. Along the way to the carpark, we were distracted by a pole dacne performance by an Australian Dance Group. Jiayi did not allow us to leave the place until JH bought her a boutique chocolate mousse cake. By the time we left Marina Sands, it was 5.30pm and Jia En slept all the way back.

It was an eventful afternoon. If not for the car nap, the afternoon's activity would not be possible. Imagine we could do so much just by skipping their afternoon nap.

Mum and daughter's birthday party

2010-11-05T22:26:00.003+08:00

Had a combined birthday celebration at my mum's house last saturday. Thoughtful bro and sis-in-law bought a cake each for me and Jiayi. The kids were overjoyed when their uncle and aunt came with the present and helium foiled balloons. They could not get their hands off the new toys.

After dinner, we had a quick cake cutting and eating celebration. My parents had to leave early for another function while we stayed behind for another hour and we had a go at snapping more photos. Happy with the "professional" photoshot of Jia'en.

Birthday Dinner @ Les Amis

2010-10-30T22:49:00.003+08:00

JH took me to Les Amis to celebrate my birthday. We chose the 7-course dinner set. The waiter would introduce us to every dish that was served to us.. but serously, i don't know what are they talking about. The names of each dish was so out of the world. I just know we had free flow of bread with yummy butter, prawn rolled in smoked ham, lobster with aspargus, fish in some soup gravy, foie gras with white truffle, grilled wagyu beef steak with truffle french fries, a sunny side up pre-dessert, a blackberry chocolcate mouse dessert, my birthday cake, and some other snacks to end the meal..oh not forgeting the english breakfast tea. By the time they served the cake and the snack, we were too full and so we had to request for the snacks to be packed.

Food, coupled with the ambience and most importantly the best dining company, made the night wonderful. We were initially feeling uncomfortable as we were not sure what to expect. But the wait staff were very attentive and after a while we were more at ease, chatted and took photos too.

Thank you dear, for the exhorbitant french dining experience.

Jiayi's School Birthday Party

2010-10-29T16:52:00.002+08:00

Jiayi had her 4th birthday celebration in school today. She changed into her "princess" dress and then distributed the party hats to her friends. All her little friends were very excited and were asking me alot of questions and kept calling me "Jiayi Mummy"

Next, we prepared the cake and the chilren sang the birthday song in both english and mandarin. After which they had group photo and cake cutting ceremony. Jiayi was very eager in dishing out her birthday cake to her teachers and friends.

Before the busy birthday girl could settle down to savour her cake, she was told to distribute the goodie bags to her firends with the help of daddy. Due to risk of HFMD, Jia'en could not come over to the bay to join the party but thoughtful Jiayi remembered her little sister and held on to a goodie bag for Jia'en. (Awww.... its so sweet of my girl).

This is also the first celebration in school that daddy took time off to join. We could see the twinkle in Jiayi's eye and the joy she being the central of attention that afternoon.

RWS Festive Walk

2010-10-11T23:09:00.003+08:00

The weather was so hot that we had to seek refuge in Hershey's and Candylicious. Bought some candies and gelato from the colourful candylicious. Having second thoughts about buying tickets into Universal this coming november. Don't wanna melt in the sun with the kids.

Ben & Jerry at Dempsey Hill

2010-10-11T23:03:00.004+08:00

Yum yum Belgium Waffle, great music and wonderful company. Jiayi was camera shy while Jia'en posed sponteneously.

A perfect place for family dessert but gotta be there early to beat the crowd.

Peekaboo @ Kallang Leisure Park

2010-10-11T22:43:00.003+08:00

Quite a nice place but just paying for the socks can burn a small hole in the pocket.

Barney Space Adventure

2010-09-12T23:37:00.004+08:00

This is Jiayi's third Barney show while it is Jia'en's first. Jiayi was very excited while Jia'en seemed to only half understand the meaning of going to the Barney show. It seemed to me that she was excited only because she saw the excitement in her jie jie.

Way before this, upon seeing the show's advertisement on tv, Jiayi repeatedly requested to be brought to the show. In the end, daddy bought 4 tickets to the show.

While waiting for the show to start, the kids were given lollipops as promised. They were courtesy of Auntie PK. During the show, Jiayi was enjoyed the songs and dances while Jia'en's interest was lonly luke warm. This is probably because she is not an ardent fan of Barney as she did not watch the purple dinosaur as often as her jie jie did at the same age. At the same time, the show was at her nap time and so she was rather tired and at a point in time she seemed rather stoned in the hall. Fortunately the interval came in time which chased away the sleepy bug.

After the show, we bought a hotdog from Orange Julius for the kids. As their tiredness set in, the kids started to get fussy and so we headed home. Needless to say, the kids fell asleep along the long drive home.

Hari Raya Holidays

2010-09-12T01:04:00.004+08:00

The kids woke up early on this holiday and so after washing up and changing out of their pajamas, we went to have breakfast at Mcdonalds. The kids were fast in action the moment they heard of the big M. WE were not the only family we headed for the big M for a good holiday breakfast. The counter was busy serving hungry customers.

After breakfast, we headed home and allowed the kids to play with the bubble gun at our void deck. Thereafter, we lazed around in our room before going to Vivocity for lunch and shopping for mooncakes. Wow... the mall so so crowded that we went for immediately after accomplishing our goals.

At night, we met up with Tan Family for a "kopi" session. As usual, the Tan family was very pucntual while we reached late as the kids were taking their own sweet time again at their dinner. Chloe was looking forward to seeing Jiayi but became shy when they met each other. It took them som time before they warmed up. Both kids were engrossed in showing each other games and MTVs on the iPhone and iTouch.

Jia En was left out of the technology but made herself comfortable, entertaining herself beside Jiayi and between the tables. Chester on the other hand was enjoying his milk feed and his mummy's warm cuddle.

While the kids played, the adults chatted about investments and children education. Soon it was time to say goodbye and we bid each other goodnight at 10.30pm. The next session would most probably be after the Tan's have moved into their new home.

Reflections after dinner with Ms Wassan

2010-09-09T15:02:00.004+08:00

Together with 7 others including JH and myself, we met up with Ms Wassan, our Sec 3 & 4 form teacher cum chemistry & biology teacher for dinner. It was organised by Cnythia and the whole event was communicated or rather forwarded via sms a week ago. Although all are busy with our own lives, we made an effort to come for the event. Reason: It's Ms Wassan we are catching up with and it was about 3 yrs since we last met each other at the NHSS Anniversay Dinner.

I chose to wait in my mum's house for JH to fetch me after he knocks off. I was rather worried that they would be nothing much to talk about with the rest since XN and SY would be late. Turned out, we were the last to arrive.

We chatted about the memories of our past and exchanged some updates on the remaining of the classmates whom we might still have contact with. The rest of the conversation revolved around Ms Wassan's trade education. We talked about the current condition in NHSS, student qualities and profiles and contributed in sharing how stressed up we felt being parents ourselves now. Be it our own kiasu-ism, or peer pressure, we are in the situation. We complained, we joked but still we have to face it. Regardless of how things would eventually turn out, we tried our best within our means, the rest is up to them. At least we would be conscious free and answerable to our kids in future. It's not so much of wanting them to top their cohort or whatsoever but it's more of trying to provide an environment within our means to nurture them and for them to develop their talent. The utmost importance is still to do all these within the orbit of a happy childhood.

If i were not a parent myself, i would never understand this. But it is amazing how a different stage of life would change one's mentality; just in a snap. Is this good or bad? I don't know; i can't tell. Life is a path of no return. We choose the path at that moment but there is nobody, not even ourselves who can judge if the path we took was correct or not, or would our road be smoother, happy if we chose otherwise. Like in any science experiment, we need a control to allow us to compare the results of different variables used. In life, we do not have the control experiment set. So we would never know if things would turn out better than now if we did otherwise back then. All we can do is to cherish the current and continue to walk down the path, living the fullest.

Visit to Chua Family

2010-09-06T00:02:00.002+08:00

Last saturday after dinner, we were siting infront of the TV thinking of where to go. The thought of all the crowd in nearby shopping malls turned us off and so i smsed XN to asked if its convenient to visit them in their house.

Chua family welcomed us and i was glad that when i delicately broke the news to Jiayi, she did not shun the idea of visiting Auntie XN and little Jamie in their house. In the house, the 3 little girls played on the cooking toys while daddies and mummies chatted in the living room. For a while Jia'en was very fussy but Aunt XN was quick to appease her with a packet of yummy panda chocolate biscuit.

We sat til 10.30pm before announcing our departure. The 3 little girls helped in packing the toys enthusiastically which surprised Joe. That's the power of peer pressure.

Happy Birthday Dear!

2010-08-29T23:01:00.002+08:00

It JH's birthday today and we bought an Awfully Chocolate cake for the occasion. It was a simple cake-cutting ceremony and the kids especially Jia'en were more excited than the birthday boy himself.

Jia'en was so worried that i would cut the cake without her that she came running to the kitchen shouting "Wait ...me" while i was preparing to bring the cake out. Jiayi also took a virgin shot of the 3 of us. She must have known that the picture is meant for my blog post and so so had our faces on the top of the picture and leaving ample space for me to make the above collage.

Simple and blessed. Daddy, happy birthday!

Power of the i

2010-08-29T01:13:00.003+08:00

Adults and children alike. All glued to both iPhone and iTouch.

Baby Isabel's Full Month Party

2010-08-29T00:43:00.005+08:00

Had initially planned to give Isabel's full month party a miss this afternoon as i was worried that i could not cope with the kids alone in the crowded house. XN persuaded me and even offered to fetch us from home and send us to my mum'splace after that.

In the end i took up the challenge. Fortunately, the 2 girls were very well-behaved throughout. Probably it was Auntie XN and Jamie's presence which made the feel as ease.

Ed and Christine came with Celest shortly after while PC arrove last. The kids started to feel more relaxed with each other and soon they were playing with each other. Finally, when we left, Celest and Jamie even kissed each other while Jia En hugged Jamie and Celest.

Omasake @ Tatsuya

2010-08-28T15:59:00.001+08:00

We were back to Tatsuya the second time on Friday after about 3 yrs later. This time round we opted for Omasake (Chef Recommendation) to celebrate JH's birthday. Though it burnt a big hole in my pocket, we enjoyed every bit of the dinner.

There was full satisfaction as not only did we feast on the wonderful food, our eyes had a great feast too as every dish or even every piece of food that was presented to us was an art piece. we were sitting in at the sushi counter and so we could communicate with the sushi chef who served us and got entertained by the sushi chef who was serving the guests next to us too. We manged to meet the founder of the restaurant that night too.

Our sushi chef told us that they have to spend at least 5 yrs washing rice and doing chores before they are qualified to stand at the sushi counter. All 5 chefs were very experienced and they catered to each guest request, likes and dislikes individually. Our chef made sure we were full before he put a stop to dishing us more food. That night other we had sea urchin, abalone, cockles and geoduck among our sashimi; grilled fish with foi grais, fresh scallop sushi and many many.

I would highly recommend anyone to give it a try, for the taste, for the experience and for an eye-opener.

My Advanced Birthday Present: iPod Touch

2010-08-24T23:41:00.002+08:00

Have been contemplating to get one for myself and for Jiayi to play games with for about a month. FInally, on saturday night when JH went to book his iPhone4, we walked into a NuBox shop in Causeway Point and there JH paid for the iPod Touch (32GB) and said this shall be my birthday present.

Hope i will not get too addicted with playing on it as the screen is very small, realised that it is not very good for my eyes. But still i would prefer this to iPad as i could carry it out with me wherever i go when necessary.

National Day @ the Zoo

2010-08-09T23:37:00.004+08:00

The Singapore Zoological Gardens was packed with locals and tourist on the 45th Birthday of Singapore. We went to Mcdonald's Drive-thru where we had a quick b'fast while the kids had fresh milk. We reached there at 10.15am and the carpark was full. Our first stop was the Splash Safari Show followed by the Elephants of Asia where the kids fed the elephants. As they were unable to reach the elephants, JH and I had to carry them and we demonstrated the wonder-girls stunt in feeding elephants which was captured on photo by the park photographer.

The kids had bread for lunch and we took the tram round the park before going for the Rainforest Fight Back show. The visit ended off with Ben & Jerry ice-cream at the park entrance.

National Day Carnival

2010-08-09T23:19:00.004+08:00

A National Day Carnival was held in the park behind our block on sunday. After the kids had their dinner,we went down to join in the crowd. The kids had a go at the rides and i was glad that they performed well on them. At least they did not freak out the moment the rides started moving off.

Car Rally @ Terminal 3

2010-08-09T23:06:00.004+08:00

Jiayi refused to sit on the bubble cars but chose the self-drive mini-cars insted. But she is very amatuer in manuvouring the car. Jiaen on the other hand did not have enough on the giraffe bubble car with daddy, insisted on having a go at all the other cars. We had a hard time refraining her.

Pedal Go Kart

2010-08-02T16:44:00.002+08:00

Sunaday after Jiayi's lessons, we told her that we would be cycling that day. She was very hapy and excited; finished up her lunch in a jiffy at a nearby coffeeshop. As we were turning into the carpark of West Coast Park, it started to drizzle. We were already unable to pull the red light to stop that activity as Jiayi was looking so forward to it and she would not take no for an answer.

We park our car and went up to the kiosk to check out the pedal karts. Since it didn't really need much balancing and could be controlled even when holding to an umbrella, and judging for the drizzle, we went ahead. We rented 2 karts and with an umbrella in each of our hands, we headed off to the main park. As we rode, the drizzle became rain. When we reached the main park, "Walk for your Children" activity was going on. It was a fund raising activity by the Children's Charity Society. There were food kiosks, lots of families and school children and a kite flying activity. We went round the main park on our karts and as the wind was very strong then, it become more difficult manuvouring and balancing the umbrella at the same time.

When we completed our round and back to the kiosk, it was about time to return our karts. Then we went to our car and drove back to the main park to check out the fun. Jiayi wanted to see the kites and even wanted to fly a kite. But the grassland was very muddy from the heavy downour the night before, we did not agree to it. Moreover, it was still drizzling and the wind was so strong that we worried the kids would catch a cold.

We mingled around the fair for awhile, bought 2 t-shirts and received 2 TY dolls from the volunteers. Too bad, still no bicycle rental kiosk in the park but we can come back again for another round of Pedal Go Kart.

2010-07-28T23:53:00.002+08:00

Last sunday we celebrated Jia'en's 2nd birthday in my in-laws house. My in-laws bought both girls a qi pao and upon arrival, they asked for both girls to change out of their new dresses and into the newly purchased qi pao. Initially Jia'en refused but finally she agreed and that pleased the old folks except mummy who had to keepmum about it. Jiayi only agreed to try on her qi pao momentarily and insisted to change out of it quite immediately.

As Ah Mah cooked tung hoon, curry chicken and chicken soup, we ordered only another 2 large Supprino pizzas. Finally the highlight of the night came and Jia'en was very excited to see finally be able to cut her elmo cake.

Finally, the 2 girls spent some time playing with their 姑姑 before they bid us goodbye.

Happy 21st Birthday Huiyi!

2010-07-25T00:39:00.007+08:00

Huiyi celebrated her 21st Birthday at her house this evening. We walked over to her house at 6.30pm and was greeted by a big banner put up by her friends announcing the party. Jia'en warmed up quite immediately in her 姑姑 house, mingling with 小姑 while Jiayi stuck closely with us as we dug into the buffet spread.

Soon it was cake cutting ceremonyand the birthday girl took photo with almost all family and friends present. It was only then Jiayi warmed up enough to play freely with 小姑. We were the last of the family members who left the party, allowing the kids to have more fun in the house as we were also staying nearest.

House Warming

2010-07-25T00:32:00.003+08:00

We were invited to SSM's house-warming on saturday afternoon. JH came back to take us there. We were the only guest when we arrove and we chatted with our host. Although they have been staying in the flat for about 2 yrs already, they had only started their renovation a few months ago.

The house was very nicely thought up by SSM which incorporated paracticality into the designs. Shortly, more family guest arrove and soon the house was filled with children. Jiayi and Jia'en were entertaining themselves to the toys while we feasted and chated over the vegetarian spread.

It had been a long while since we met the host. It was a good catch-up and we hope to be able to meet up with the warm couple more often in the future.

Jia'en 2nd Birthday Celebration

2010-07-18T01:01:00.005+08:00

Lizhen and my bro arroved at 5.30pm when the kids just woke up from their nap. They came with 2 big helium balloons: Full sized Elmo for Jia'en; Mickey Mouse for Jiayi. They also bought the bautiful Doreamon cake and not forgeting birthday presents for Jia'en.

The kids especially Jiayi loved the cake cutting toy. She insisted that that cake belonged to her as there were 4 candles on the cake which coincided with her age. On seeing the enormous elmo bolster, Jia'en was nonchalent about Jiayi's posession over the cake toy.

After an early dinner of home-cooked fried rice by grandma, it was cake cuting and family photo snapping time. Finally, Grandpa presented their present to the birthday girl. It was a shopping cart toy. Fortunately there was a shopping basket on top of the shopping trolley and so the 2 kids could play along with each other instead of fighting over each other, allowing us to finish watching the movie "The Karate Kid".

The night Jia En turned 2 Yrs Old

2010-07-18T00:10:00.003+08:00

After work that day, i went to Kiddie Palace and bought the birthday girl a kitchen set. I have been wanting to buy her one for some time already but hestitated as that would mean more packing for both JH and me. But nevertheless, i still bought it for her birthday. Felt that she would love it since she loved pretending presenting dishes to us.

When the kids saw it, Jiayi was very excited but after being told that it belongs to her mei mei, she respected her (for a while) and allowed her younger sister to open the package. Jia'en only got excited over the new toy after we managed to set it up. Was glad that it's a toy which both of them could play pretend together.

Jurong Bird Park @ 12 Jul 10

2010-07-12T00:47:00.004+08:00

It was quite a good day to visit the bird park today. There was a short rain shower in the morning around 10am and so the sun is bright but there was breeze in the air. Only thing is that the air was a little humid.

After fetching Jiayi from her supplementary lessons, we settled for a quick lunch in the coffee shop nearby. The coffee shop was a rare find because the environment was clean and cooling. After so long of dining in air-con eateries or restaurants, i was glad that we were finally more able to manage the kids in coffee shop. :)

We reached the park at 12 noon and we headed for our all time favourite spots: the penguin, the macaw and the flamingo pool. Next we detoured to visit the owls and SEA bird aviary where the kids got up close and personal with some birds. We waited for the 1pm parrot children show while the kids munched on some biscuits. On our way out, we chance upon a not so crowded monorail main station and so decided to have a round of the whole park on monorail: something which we haven not been able to do so far in our previous visits as it was always packed with tourists.

We ended off the outing with ben & jerry ice-cream. Next station, the singapore zoological garden. Also a birthday trip for Jia'en.

Sunday spent in NSRCC

2010-07-06T23:18:00.003+08:00

Attended a birthday celebration of an elder family friend in NSRCC. Brought the kids to a swim before buffet lunch. We had a wonderful swimming time. Jiayi got comfortable with being in the water quickly while Jia'en was too comfortable that she even attempted climbing out of her float. While waiting for the cake cutting ceremony, the kids occupied themselves with bubble fun.

Catchup Dinner with Busy Mummies

2010-07-06T23:12:00.004+08:00

Met up with Kim and Jac for dinner last friday. It was a long overdue meetup but thanks to Jac who initiated and suggested the date. Jac brought Jovin and we met up much earlier. We sat and waited for Kim who came late due to some work commitment. We gathered it has been about a year since the 3 of us met up. Our meetup frequency decreased steadily over the 10 yrs which we have know each other due to the different commitements we have for our familes and for work. However, it is heartening that we are still able to click whenever we met up. Kudos to our coming decade friendship anniversary!

Meet & Greet with Dora and Spongebob

2010-06-21T09:54:00.004+08:00

Brought Jiayi and Jia'en to meet Dora on Sunday. We reached Taka at 11am and when we broke the news to Jiayi that we were supposed to catch our lunch before meeting Dora, Jiayi became so excited that she told us she was not hungry and didn't want to have her lunch in fear that she might miss meeting Dora.

The kids were considered rather cooperative while we waited in the queue for the guest appearance. We waited about 45min in the queue before we were allowed to sit in-front of the stage. There was no show but only a quick photo-taking session.

Fortunately Jiayi did not freak out when she stood beside the cartoon characters. Instead, she even shook hands with Dora. Jia'en on the other hand clamped hard onto me the moment we walked towards the characters. Fortunately she still allowed us to take a quick shoot with them. As we descend the stage, each child was given a Dora or Spongebob balloon each.

Taste of Love

2010-06-13T14:16:00.002+08:00

As boh Jiayi and Jia'en are still feeling unwell, we kept Jiayi from her supplementary class and stayed at home today. So after changing washing the kids and changing them out of their pajamas, i wento to the market to get some ingredients for simple soup noodle lunch while JH babysit them.

It was a great sense of achievement watching over my loved one enjoying the meal that i have whipped up for them. Both the girls loved the noodles and slurping on the ikan bilis soup. Even JH complemented it.

Me too have always enjoyed my late grandma and my mum's cooking. Never seemed to be sick of the same weekly menu after 27 yrs of eating. After marriage and staying near my in laws, it only makes practical sense to go over to their house for dinner. Still have not really gotten to really like my in law's style of cooking and i continue to miss mum's. Although weekly saturday dinner was a simple fare by mum with occasional special dish, it was a meal which i relish and brought back those childhood memories.

It's not that mum's cooking is superb. One can easily find much beter cooks than mum but i guess to everyone, mum's cooking would always be the best. It's the familiar taste, the memories, love and sincerity that comes together with the dishes. It's the taste of the greatest love on earth... motherly love.

As i continue to cook for Jiayi and Jia'en, i hope that they would associate the same taste of love for my culinery skills and in time to come, i too wish that my cooking would also qualify to the best cooking to both Jiayi and Jia'en.

Vivocity @ 6 June 10

2010-06-09T00:08:00.003+08:00

Ran out of idea and so we headed to Vivocity on sunday. As we had our Mcdonald's Brunch at home, we decided to skip lunch. As we passed by the newly opened Fruit Paradise Cafe, enticed by the beautiful fruit flans, we proceeded into the cafe and ordered 2 sets with Mixed Berries Chocolate and Mango Cheese.

As we strolled around the mall, we stumbled across a nostalgia spanish ship berthed outside the mall. Since it was open to the public for touring, we went aboard. Initially Jiayi was rather apprehensive about being onboard the ship but as we moved from the top deck to the bottom, she became more relxed and began to view around.

Not bad for a sunday outing as the ship tour made our trip there more meaningful.

McDonalds @ Tradehub 21

2010-06-08T23:57:00.003+08:00

It was a rather impromptu meetup with the Tan and Wong family. Just a week ago, PK and I were exchanging sms and cathcing up on how PK is coping back at work. Then a gentle mention of meetup, she proposed the date while i proposed the venue as it was conveniently located between our homes.

Then the day before the great meetup, KY informed us that the Wongs would be joining us too. We arranged to meet at 8pm but we were all late. An achievement by the Wongs though is that they don't seemed to be too late this time. Anyway, the kids were very excited about meeting each other especially Chloe and Jiayi. But when they saw each other, they turned shy. This is especially so toward Xinyi as the last time she met up with the other 2 girls was when they were about 2.5 yrs old.

Towards the end, we were making ourselves so comfortable that we occupied that bar table and chairs behind our original able and the kids were running amock around the restaurant with their balloons.

Let's hope that as we progress into various stages of our lives together, our friendship continue to strengthen and the same would go for our kids. Wish Yanling a smooth delivery of their little junior on 21 Jun 10.

It's great to have some getaway time with friends

2010-06-08T23:50:00.002+08:00

It's the long-awaited half-day leave to meet XN for lunch followed by shopping on friday. We were supposed to be meeting early May but as both of us were tied up, we could only meet up for GSS.

Chose Triple Three buffet lunch to treat XN for her birthday. It was a good deal as they were having a 1-for-1 promotion and as expected, it the cafe was rather crowded. We left the cafe only at 2.30pm and we headed for Robinsons sale. We each have a few items which we were hoping to get during the sale and fortunately we managed to find what we wanted.

XN was very nice to treat me to Haagan Daaz ice-cream before we hopped onto the cab and return home at 5pm.

It was a half-day affair but it was enough for us to catch-up and to steal some time away from our routine. Can't expect much more exciting things for the 2 of us to do. Though simple, it was quality time spent.

Singapore Art Musuem

2010-05-31T23:27:00.003+08:00

Recently the weather is so hot that we had to forgo outdoor activities. However, we are trying very hard to keep patronising the shopping malls week after week. Afterall, there is nothing much to buy and we could make use of our time better to expose the kids.

So this week, we spent our sunday a little differently. We had lunch at holland village, then we visited the Singapore Art Musuem as it has a children festival going on whereby they had some activities suitable for children from age 2 to 6 years old.

The 2 girls were already enjoying themselves at the "grassfield" on the ground floor of the museum. They ran around the carpet grass, throwing pyramid cushions that are supposed to be trees. After much persuasion, we proceeded upstairs for video screening of the famous "Alphabet Soup". The next gallery we visited was the enchanted forest. In there, the kids were able to have some hands-on handicrafts like colouring and pasting of butterflies. Next they had a walk into the enchanted forest where there saw tiger, monleys and snakes. We then visited the floribots where the flower robots bloomed as we strolled the garden. Another attraction allowed the kids to learn about lights and sensors where they could divert the stream of water to the tree stubs.

I'm glad that we were able to find such an interesting place to bring the kids and spend their sunday afternoon. It's air-conditioned too!

A Visit to Marina Bay Sands

2010-05-16T00:35:00.003+08:00

We visited the newly opened Marina Bay Sands tonight. We travelled across the Helix Bridge and we found ourselves among the huge crowd in MBS. Marina Square carpark was full as many of the visitors chose to park there and walk across. We found our way directly to the MBS carpark and a buggy took us from the place where we parked our car to the shopping arcade entrance.

We were quite lost but fortunately the staff were very helpful and with the directory in our hand, we soon found our way to the casino entrance. It was so much more crowded than the Resort World Casino. We proceeded to the hotel and Jiayi was enticed by the International Buffet spread and requested to eat them. So as a compromise, we went to the lounge next door. Seems like we love to have coffee, apple juice and nuts in the casino hotels. We ordered the same thing when we visited the Resort World Hotel too.

This time round, both the girls were more well-behaved. At least Jia'en did not make a din just to get her hands on her drinks. However, while trying to throw the nuts into daddy's coffee, Jia'en toppled the half-filled glass of apple juice. Fortunately the mess was quickly cleared by the attentive waitress.

Conclusion: MBS is defintely alot bigger than than RWS and has alot more shops. MBS's layout and architecture is more complex but both seems to be rather lacking in eatery.

Mother's Day

2010-05-09T23:53:00.003+08:00

Like every other year, the family gathered to give tribute to all the mummies of the family. The cousins upon obtaining the elders' opinion, organised a small makan party in ah ma's house. Although ah ma was told that they would be ordering pizza and KFC followed by a cake, she never failed to whip up a few dish for her beloved family.

This year, it was fried bee hoon, fried tang hoon, curry chicken and fish maw chicken soup. Photo taking session followed after makan and then ended off with cake cutting ceremony. It was a heart-warming annual affair which once again tightened family ties and at the same time achieved to subtly gave thanks to the mummies.

Snap Snap while in the Queue

2010-05-09T23:47:00.003+08:00

Saturday after dinner, we went to Jurong Point to escape the hot weather. However, there were too many alike us so the carpark was full and there was a long queue of cars. The kids were in super good mood that night and there were giggling and amusing themselves while we waited in the line.

YOG Dance

2010-05-06T23:16:00.002+08:00

The catchy YOG song became one of the children's favorite dance song recently. The heard JJ sang in on TV and Jiayi would actually sing along the chorus together with the actions...."Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah...hey! Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah ah! We are the one Singapore..."

The children were having a fun time with the song while daddy and muumy were fully entertained by them and mummy was busy snapping away.

Mother's Day Celebration

2010-05-03T01:12:00.003+08:00

With compliments of Ting Tai Fung where we had lunch with Ah Ma, we got a mother's day cake. We cut the cake after the kids dinner. This became a little Mother's Day celebration for us. Jiayi kept asking me if it's my bithday despite us explaining to her that Mother's Day is not really mother's birthday.

Nevertheless, the cake was very chocloatety and yummy. See how much the girls loved chocolate cakes... just like mummy.

The Fidgets @ Turf City

2010-05-03T00:55:00.002+08:00

We visited the Fidgets on May Day afternoon. We started our day with yummy pineapple rice lunch at Yishun. It was the popular thai zi chai restaurant that was previously in Sembawang Shopping Centre.

After a satisfying lunch, we headed to The Fidgets. Without any signage in Turf City, we had a hrad time looking for the largest indoor playground and we had to ask for directions at least twice. Finally when we arroved, the place was very crowded as there was 2 birthday parties going on at the same time. We proceeded in and spent a good 3 hours there.

Jiayi enjoyed herself in the older children playground while Jia'en could only spend her time at the Little Fidgets area. We did not manage to get any good shots of Jiayi because we were too busy looking after her while she went through the obstacles.

After coffee and some snacks, we left the area and both kids were knocked out even before we hit the PIE. In the end, we ended up going for a joy ride just to allow the kids to have enough sleep in the car.

It was very tiring for daddy who had to follow Jiayi throughout the course (mummy was afraid of the climbing, and the slide). We were glad that the kids enjoyed themselves alot and it's another new experience for them.

Just photos

2010-05-01T00:20:00.002+08:00

Realised that i haven't been conscientiously taking photos of the 2 girls lately.

RIP: Dr Kwek Soon Kiat

2010-04-26T18:32:00.005+08:00

In my previous blog post, i wrote about the demise of our friend, our family doctor. In a way, JH and I are still "mourning" over his death. We still think alot about him, and talked about our doctor.

We also searched the internet about him. How many of his patients, just like us, are still remembering him and praying for his family to be strong. It still sadden us whenever we read about him and we respect him even further for all the extra mile he did for his patients. I still have the Fever Running Nose and Phlegm chart pasted on my fridge.

Here are some other write-ups on our wonderful doctor.
http://6csens.blogspot.com/2010/04/another-true-storyno-anguish-but-full_16.html
http://6csens.blogspot.com/2010/04/another-true-storyno-anguish-but-full.html
http://mayjek.blogspot.com/2010/04/dr-eric-kwek.html
http://www.symphonyoflove.net/blog/1717/lessons-from-more-than-a-doctor.html

Sensitive Skin

2010-04-19T00:11:00.002+08:00

Last wednesday, Jiayi's body developed heat rash both on her back and on her front. Whenever she felt warm she would feel the itch and she would scream and reach to scratch all over her body. We tried to apply calamine lotion and prickly heat powder to ease her. The next day, we allowed her o go to school as usual hoping that her rash might subside. But at around 12noon, i received a call from her teacher informing me that she was scratching all over and crying for mummy after her shower and she even refused to take her lunch.

I called JH and fortunately he was somewhere near the school as he had intended to drop by to peep at her during her nap. We suspected that the hot weather and her synthetic gym mattress was the culprit. So he picked her from school and brought her to the skin doctor whom i patronise too.

There, he diagnosed her to be allergic and pescribed her an anithistamine to ease the itch, a wash and some moisturiser. He said, it's the same problem as mummy.

May the God be with you

2010-04-10T23:48:00.003+08:00

We read about our family doctor's demise at the orbituary section today. Both JH and I were both shocked and saddened by what we saw. He was 46 years old and he left with him his wife and 3 primary school going children.

We last saw him aboout more than 6 months ago. He was looking rather bothered then and thou i did not know what was bothering him, i told him to take things easy, i'm sure things would be resolved in no time. He was no longer in the clinic during our subsequent visits. His clinic assistant told us he was not feeling well so other relief doctors would attend to his patients. We tried asking the clinic assistant what's wrong with him but they merely said that he wasn't feeling well and even his wife would just smile when she overheard our conversation.

Later on, we found out from some other neighbours that he was suffering from some cancer. We were all hoping for his speedy recovery and to see him back in action again. When the assistant told us last year that he would be back this year, we were very hopeful. But 3 months into this year, he was still not back. Last week when i visited his clinic again, the clinic assistant informed me that w.e.f 1 May, the clinic would be sold to another doctor. She told us that he would be retiring but as she was whispering something with another patient, i felt that things might not be as positive. JH and i thought it would be a pity and a loss to our neighbourhood to 1 less good practising doctor but still hope for him to recover soon.

JH and i got to know him about 5 years ago when we got married moved into the neighbourhood. Since then he had always been our family's trusted doctor. Over the years, he became not only our doctor, but also a teacher and a friend. Whenever we had to visit his clinic, he would greet us in the waiting area. In his clinic, generally he would just take 5 to 10 mins carefully diagnosing us and the rest of the half hour would be giving us a crash course on our illness and how we should treat our illness or it would be discussing of tactical equipments or the latest LED TV technology.

I would always remember him as a cheerful and dedicated doctor who took pride in his work, always remember the dramatic first acquaintance that i had with him, always remember the way he chuckled and giggled, always remember how he would ensure i had sufficient rest to nurse my sickneess, always remember the lessons he gave me on how to differentiate a cold from a flu, always remember our enjoyable chats in his little clinic.

Curious Tots Fair by OKTO

2010-03-22T23:44:00.003+08:00

Initially we planned to go West Coast park to fly a kite on sunday late morning but for some reasons we worried that it would rain and so we went to Suntec to join the Curious Tots fair by OkTo instead.

The journey there was exceptionally long as the AYE exits were all closed due to the Aviva Trithalon. In the end we could only exit at FOrd road and detour back via nicoll highway. We had a quite lunch at Suntec Fountain Terrace and headed for the Entertainment Atruim. It was very crowded and we went to the colouring station, bowling pin station and ball pool. We could see that Jiayi has grown a little more confident as she made her way in the ball pool to the crew to collect her stickers. She even encouraged Jia'en whom was rather nervous in the pool initially.

While queuing up for the wheel game, JH brought Jiayi to the puzzle station. We also watched baby Tweety and Baby Bugs on stage. Finally we made our way to Carrefour to get some grocery but as it was so crowded and they have ran out of Huggies Dry Comfort, we could not do a very complete grocery shopping. Nevertheless, we made arrangement to deliver the carton of Friso milk powder and went to Toys'r'us.

We left around 3pm and as expected, the kids fell asleep quickly in the car. In the end we had to let the kids nap in the car while we parked beneath our block in the heavy rain.

Festive Hotel

2010-03-22T23:36:00.002+08:00

As ah ma wished to have a look at our newly opened casino, we took a ride with the kids to Sentosa after dinner on saturday night. We had quite a hard time locating for a parking lot. From our lot,we had to walk a long way underground to the escalator up to the casino. When we came to the ground floor, we arroved at Universal Studios' entrance and we made our way slowly to the casino entrance.

We then walked up tp Festive hotel. As it was quite a long walk for ah ma, we decided to stop for a break at the lounge of Festive Hotel. There JH and ah ma ordered a latte each while i order lychee iced tea and Jiayi had an apple juice.

The wait staff was very friendly and she came up to chat with the kids. Jia'en was rather a handful that night as she insisted on having her hands on the glass of apple juice without anybody's assistance. She thorew tantrum once again when we refused to let her do so as we were worried that she might break the glass.

When the waitress brought us the nuts, both the kids could not stop handling them and stuffing them into their little mouths.

We took some photos at the hotel lobby and slowly made our way back to the car.

Friday night out

2010-03-22T23:27:00.002+08:00

It's been at least 3 months since we met up with KY and PK. PK has just completed her confinement and returned from another 1 mth stay in her KL. This time round, we met up with SW and YL too. To make it convenient for all, we chose the centrally located Anchorpoint.

I met up with PK first and we chatted while waiting for the rest to come. PK was settling down with coping with 2 kids and she was looking good... cheerful and full of zest still. Although we were supposed to meet at 7.30pm, SW and YL arrived only at 8.15pm. They sure do live up to their name of Mr and Mrs Mo. But preggie has got priviledge.

This time round, apart from sharing about how we are coping with our kids and YL's plans for the kids upon the arrival of baby Rei, we exchanged ideas on getting our husbands to get us valuable gifts like branded bags, watches and bling blings.

TIme passed swiftly and at 10pm, we bidded each other goodnight and each of us rushed home to fetch our little ones.

Was telling PK, i am still missing those prata days where we had full freedom to chat into the wee hours of the night. Guess, the next time we could do that again would be when our kids are already independent.

Raffles Hotel Courtyard Suite

2010-03-15T23:17:00.005+08:00

We have a 1-night free stay in Raffles Hotel Courtyard Suite voucher and so we redeemed it last saturday. JH came home around noon and as we were too early for the check-in, we went to Lavendar for a famous bak chor mee lunch.

We were greeted by the warm and polite valet staff and bartler in the hotel whom showed us around the hotel before sending us up to the room. Upon request, the house-keeper brought us a thermos flask for the kids milk and some extra towels. The room was big with not only the normal bedroom and dresser-room, they even had a living cum dining and study room. The kids were so excited that they were running around the room even before the bartler left us.

We tried to get the kids to have a nap before going out for dinner in the evening but no matter how hard we tried, they were simply too excited to fall asleep. So we gave up on trying and declared it was bath-tub dipping time. The kids had such a wonderful time in the bath-tub which i think that was the best part of their stay.

After the bath, we lazed around in the room, spent some time watching tv in the living area and the kids started drawing on the letterpad and JH suggested they write us a postcard. Jiayi told daddy that she was very happy and she drew herself on the back of the postcard. Jia'en too got engrossed in writing her little postcard.

At around 5pm, we stepped out of the room but Jiayi kept whining to go back into the hotel room. Kept repeating that she doesn't want to go shopping but wanted to go to the hotel. She simply would not accept that we were still in the hotel, only just not in the hotel room. After spending $30 on Raffles Thois chocloates and cookies, we admitted defeat and returned to the room.

Since it was about dinner time for the kids, i fed Jia'en some home-cooked porridge while Jiayi ate her share on her own. We tried again this time to convince Jiayi to leave the room as we needed our own dinner. She only agreed when we told her that we were going to see some toys after dinner.

We crossed the road to Raffles City and went straight to the basement but every eatery was packed with patrons except for one chinese restaurant and so we settled for that. We quickly finished our barely edible noodles and bought half a dozen of donuts befored heading for Robinsons toy department. As they kids had not napped during the day, they were rather fussy by then and so we had to move fast. After about 20 mins in the toy department we returned to the hotel.

This time Jiayi had a different whine. She wanted to go home and didn't want the hotel. She kept repeating this on and off until 10pm when we finally succeeded in getting them to bed. We snuggled onto a king sized bed and patted the exhausted kids to bed. Finally at 10.30pm, we could have some peace. But due to the long day, i too turned in around 11pm after enjoying a donut.

At 7am the next morning, JH walked over to Mcdonalds adjacent to the hotel to get us some breakfast. We had enjoyed our sunday breakfast and at 8.30am, we check out from our room and headed back, just in time for Jiyi's sunday lessons.

Conclusion of the stay:

1. It was a valuable experience to be able to stay in one of the most expensive hotels in Singapore.

2. Now i know my way around the hotel and knows where the rooms are situated. I have always wondered where were all the rooms whenever i walked pass the hotel.

3. Another experimental overseas trip in which we felt that Jiayi doesn't seem to be ready for. We will faint if we were really out of the country and she kept whining about going home.

4. It's so tiring! They never nap and they continue to sleep late!

5. On one hand, JH and i badly needed a break but on the other hand, how come we still don't really get our break except for the half hour of peace before bedtime?

6. But despite all the whining of Jiayi and running about after the havoc Jia'en, we are glad that the kids still do enjoy the stay and when we asked Jiayi if she still wants to stay in the hotel, her response was positive.

Never-ending Sunday

2010-03-07T23:18:00.003+08:00

I thought i had the perfect plan for today. After Jiayi's enrichment class, we went to my mum's place for lunch then at 1pm, JH brought Jiayi to watch "When you gave a mouse a cookie" play in the CC of my mum's estate. Jia'en and I stayed in my mum's place and at 2pm, i put Jia'en to sleep.

I thought my planned worked cos by the time daddy and daughter comes back from the play at 2.15pm, they can then have thier nap in the air-coniditoned room. BUT.... JIa'en was having a cough and in her sleep she started coughing quite badly and so in the end she vomitted on herself and awoke. I quickly cleaned her up and tried to rock her back to sleep. Too bad, not enough time to put her back to sleep... when i heard Jiayi shouting "mummy!" from the living room.

That's it!! No one gets to sleep! So we gave up and decided to go shopping in the newest shopping mall in town... City Square Mall. By the time we were done shopping, it's 5.30pm and they fell asleep in the car. BUt then they didn't have enough sleep so by the time we woke them up and went to my inlaw house for dinner, they were making a whole lot of fuss.

Both we whining and crying to be carried, refused to bath and have their dinner. It was not until about 8.30pm then they were more manageable.

We went home at 9pm and tried to put them to bed... they did not fall asleep immediately and had to be threatened and scolded before finally we get to rest for the day at 10.45pm.... phew... what a day.... sigh...and the week starts again.... Arghhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overly Agitated

2010-03-07T23:11:00.003+08:00

DUe to stomach flu and CNY in Feb and the recent cold bug in our family, the kids had long over-due in their hair-cut. In fact, all 4 of us badly needed a hair-cut. Yesterday, we had a quick dinner and went to the kids' usual hair-dresser. We were the only cistomer then. Jiayi went first and as she had grown to like having her hair trimmed, she was behaving superbly.

When JH came with Jia'en after parking the car, we seated her on the chair and she started to fumble. So i told the barber that i might need to hold her on my lap. Without the barber doing anything, she was already crying like a piece of her meat was missing. In the end the barber had to suggest that his female colleague do the job after Jiayi was done. Jia'en continued to cry and alast!!! she vomitted!. Fortunately we were both well covered and only Jia'en's feet were soiled.

After that she got slightly distracted by the Wheel on the Bus cartoon in front of her and she calmed down a little.

Sigh...still remembered Jiayi also vomitted during her first few haircut and now it's JIa'en's turn. Does this thing really run in the family?

I can do it myself!

2010-03-02T23:04:00.003+08:00

Last sunday, we had our lunch in Crystal Jade. We were fortunate to have a corner to ourselves as Jia'en is in a stage whereby she wants her hands on pracitcally everything, from saucer to plates, to bowls to fork and spoon and to glass.

She is very eager to feed herself and when she is bored, she would start to throw her food and utensils onto the floor. I was so embarassed when the cleaner uncle had to sweep up Jia'en's noodle. But the waitresses and the cleaner uncle was so nice as he assured me that it's very common for kids dining in their restaurant and they are happy to clean up the mess for us.

Jiayi was also in very good mood as she ate some of my porridge and JH's noodles.

Saturday Night

2010-02-22T00:39:00.004+08:00

Last Saturday after dinner, we couldn't find anyone friends available for cny visit so we ended up at IMM. This time when Jiayi saw those animal rides, she asked to ride on them. Seeing that she finally had the courage to do so, a acceded to her request. We allowed Jia'en to ride behind her too and both girls seemed to happy with the ride.

We ended off with Mcdonalds after we made our purchase in Popular. As usual, the girls were exhilarated when they realised where there were heading to. They each had fresh milk and both feasted on french fries with Ketchup.

River Ang Bao

2010-02-22T00:28:00.003+08:00

We visited River Ang Bao on the 3rd day of Chinese New Year. We were not expecting such a crowd as it was a working day but we were wrong. We did not squeeze our way onto the floating platform but merely walked along the main stretch of the promenade. It was a rather nice walk despite the corwd as it was very breezy then.

Jiayi enjoyed herself that night as she managed to get a "fortune" caligraphy and she got to jump onto the Planet 51 bouncer. She was even allowed to drink 100Plus as we ended the walk.

Jia'en too enjoyed the walk as she was beaming with joy at the end of the walk.

Three Character Classics

2010-02-20T22:52:00.004+08:00

I could not remember how we realised that our daughter is learning the Three Character Classics but one day she was reciting it. She could actually recite 10 phrases which is alot more than what her daddy and mummy knows. After some questioning, she told us that it was her chinese speech & drama classes in her school which taught her that.

Her knowledge sparked interest in us to learn more about the classics like what does each phrase mean and what are the remaining phrases. So we bought a book on it... it's time to learn from our girl.

NHSS CNY Gathering

2010-02-16T23:45:00.002+08:00

In the evening, we headed for XN's mum's place for a gathering with our NHSS buddies and family. Thanks to XN and her mum's generosity that we finally could settle for the gathering at her place. We arrived at 6.30pm and by then Boon and Li Er, Ed and family were already there.

Although there were 4 kids, all of age of 2 except for Jiayi, there weren't much interaction between each other. they played alongside each other. As usual, Jiayi and Jia'en were very sticky and tonight was mummy's holiday. JH sat with them and chatted with Shaoyou while i chatted with the rest in the kitchen.

However, Jia'en wasn't feeling too well that night. She was crying occasionally as she was suffering from her 1st case of constipation. I applied some desitin to her bottom hoping to help lubricate her but it don't seem to work. So about 8.15pm, we bid them farewell and headed home to get some enema to help Jia'en solve her problem.

It was a pity that we could the gathering only lasted for 2 hours. With kids and family, each of us were unable to stay too long as some have 2nd round of programme while young kids need to turn in early. Nevertheless, it was comforing that all still made an effort amongst our tight schedule to meet up during the festive. Hopefully as our kids grow older, we are able to extend our gatherings further.

(Too occupied to take nice photos... next yr we shall have some great shots)

CNY Meet up with Chow Family

2010-02-16T23:29:00.005+08:00

Was supposed to meet up with Jac and Kim since last X'mas but due to individual hectic schedule, it was postphoned and pstphoned. Finally managed to catch each other on the 3rd day of lunar new year. Was initially wanting to visit Chow family in the house but for convenience, we finally decided on Waraku in Marina Sq. Kim was unable to join us as she has other activities.

We were there slightly early and when the Chow family arrived we ordered our lunch. I ordered an Udon while JH ordered a ramen to be shared with Jiayi. We also order a maki for Jiayi. Jiayi was very shy and queit while Jia'en wasn't too cooperative. She refused to sit in her high chair but to squeeze in between JH and me. At times she demanded for her daddy's attention and even crawled underneath the table.

On the other hand, Jovan was much more cooperative. He fed himself and was very well-behaved. Jovin was very tired and dosed off in her chair. We managed to chat about the Chow's new jobs, their future plans and our volunteer plans. While we were footing the bill, the Jovin and Jovan fought over their box of Gerber biscuit but surprisingly they were very wiling to share it with Jiayi and Jia'en.

Outside the restaurant, Jovan developed a liking for JH and held on JH's hand for quite a distance. We even joked about bringing Jovan home for a night so that JH would give up his thoughts of having a 3rd kid.

It was a wonderful family lunch out and i am glad that both our husbands could hit it out quite well.

Fist Day of CNY

2010-02-16T01:57:00.004+08:00

The first day of the lunar new year is always super tiring for us as we got to shuttle between my in laws place and my grandparents' house. It was non-stop programme for us and after visiting JH's maternal granny, we had to rush back to my in law house to greet families and families of relatives who came to to send their well wishes to Ah Ma.

Just when the crowd dispersed at 5.30pm, we had to prepare ourselves to go to my mum's place. Finally when we reached home, we are all shacked out and then we would have of prepare for the next day of visiting again.

Although it is always so tiring during cny, it is great to gather with relatives and friends. Afterall, it is the presence of family and friends that make this festive so special and maningful.

Resort World @ Sentosa

2010-02-16T01:53:00.005+08:00

Prior to it's opening, we visited the newly built Resort World. JH took some model shots for Jia'en while waiting for us outside the washroom.

The whole place was still very vacant then but we had quite a lunch at Chilijs. I should say it is a very family friendly restaurant and hope it would continue to be so after it's full launch.

Struggling With Two Kids

2010-02-16T01:30:00.003+08:00

Those who heard me complaining how tough and tiring it is to struggle with 2 very sticky and attention seeking kids, finally, found some photos which literally showed how i was struggling.

Electronic Keyboard

2010-02-16T01:19:00.002+08:00

Ah Gong bought them a new toy today again. This time, it's an electronic keyboard! It's evident that Jiayi was enjoying the demo music and singing along with it while Jia'en played her ardent fan.

Haha.. too bad daddy and mummy are music illiterates so can't teach them anything on this subject.

Spot The Kids In Long Hair

2010-02-16T01:09:00.003+08:00

Those who are familiar with our family, probably know that the kids are always in short hair. Not that i love short hair so much, in fact, i very much would like to see them in long hair so that i could doll them up.

As they are still too young to look after their long hair and it's difficult to dry, which might increase the risk of catching a cold, or it would be super smelly if they could not bath when they are not feeling well, so more for practical purpose, i have to constantly maintain a short length.

So this is how the girls looked like in pleats.

Artisitc?

2010-02-16T01:04:00.003+08:00

Jiayi loves to paint. Occasionally she would remember about it and request to do some painting. Problem is, she would paint both sides of her drawing board and so close supervision is required unless i don't mind my table and floor becoming one of her mode of artistic expression too.

Weekly Fun

2010-02-16T00:58:00.003+08:00

There were some CNY programmes prior to the CNY. With a spending of $50, the kids get a go at the inflatable playground, activity corner and the aqua ball area. Jiayi loved the inflatable playground. She would be very cooperative just to get her turn at the playground.

Sleepless continued

2010-01-24T22:57:00.003+08:00

Nope, our sufferings did not end miraculously last night. Jia'en woke up every and we had to put her on our bed. Nevertheless, she did not sleep well. She woke up every 2 hours to cry for comfort. And i don't know how she would toss and turn and she would find her way to the end of our bed. So throughout the night, we had to comfort her and to make sure she doesn't fall off the bed.

She also had 3 runs last night and we had to change her in the middle of the night. Half way through Jiayi was awaken by all the cries and JH had to move down to her mattress to make sure she falls back asleep. All in all, the night was chaotic and the kids awoke at 8am. Arghh!!!! tired tired....

Tired Tired...

2010-01-23T21:42:00.003+08:00

Lately i have not been blogging as regularly. Partly because i have been zapped of energy with work and caught up with taking care of 2 kids who are down with stomach flu one after another and partly because the kids have moved into another stage whereby their chagne is not as rapid and our programmes have been more or less routine.

Whenever i received a call from the childcare centre, my heart would stop for a moment. "Oh no something happened to Jiayi?". Tue was such a case when her teacher informed me that Jiayi had vomited thrice since morning til after lunch. I was in the middle of a meeting which would continue after lunch and so was unable to go fetch my sick girl. Called JH and fortunately he was able to take time to fetch her to see a doc. Was worried about poor Jiayi, wondering if she was feeling terrible and hoping to be with her to comfort her. Called JH a few times to check on her progress.

After the meeting, i went straight home and JH had just put Jiayi to bed. It was then he told me that she vomited in the car so he had to bring her home to clean up before going to the doc. That night she vomited another 2 times.

I took the day off the next day to nurse Jiayi. Fortunately she stopped throwing up but she could not stomach much food. I had to kept reminding her to hydrate herself. She was fit to go back to school the next day.

But since last sat, Jia'en was very fussy at bed time and in the middle of the night. She would cry and repeatly point to her feet and shout "pain.. pain". SHe refused to lie on her back to drink her milk and she would clamp onto me like a koala bear. The same thing would repeat at 3am during her night feed. It lasted til wednesday night.

She was due for a vaccine appointment on thur but as she was still fussing on wed night, i decided to postpone the appointment. Thur night she was showing signs of improvement as her struggles were less.

I have been plagued by ezcema problem since pregnancy and lately my condition had worsen and not only did it spread to from my feet to my hands but also to my waist. Planned to go see a doc on fri after work and then meet JH for a quick dinner (seemed like ages since we went out after work). But on early fri morning, Jia'en vomitted.

Oh no.. bad sign to me. This first thing that came to my mind was: Jia'en contracted stomach flu. We asked ah mah to monitor her and at noon, she informed us that she was running a fever and had vomited her lunch and her milk. JH said he would fetch her to the doc and assured me that he would be able to manage without me. So we had to forgo out dinner date and i headed home to see poor Jia'en immediately after visiting the doc on my skin condition.

Jia'en's stomach flu was accompanied by diarrhea and fever and I have since lost count of how many times Jia'en vomited these 2 days. As i was typing this blog post, Jia'en woke up crying again and we had to spend another half hour to appease her. Looking forward to her getting well realy soon. Tired tired...

Welcome Tan Ke Yang!

2010-01-18T00:29:00.002+08:00

As i was preparing the kids for their bedtime on friday, suddenly i thought of PK and wondered out aloud if she is near delivery soon. JH updated me that he just smsed KY that day and said that they are due to checkup on Sat.

On Sunday morning, JH and I received sms from KY and PK respectively, announcing the arrival of their little prince. Didn't have much chance to get the full details but PK briefly told me about her labour process. Though it wasn't an easy labour, most important is for both adult and baby to be safe. We are happy for the Tan family.

The Tan family would be busy for a while from now on. We hope that they would settle down with their new addition soon and then we can meet up for family outings again. :)

Fun with Nature

2010-01-05T00:07:00.004+08:00

JH promised Jiayi that we would be bringing her to visit the farm since New Year Day. As we had to keep our promise, we headed for Farm Mart Animal Corner at 10 am. Ah Mah came along with us too. Although the animal corner was very smal with just some tortoise, bull frog, guinea pig, rabbits and 3 goats, it was enough to get Jiayi all excited over them.

She was very eager to feed the rabbits and the goat. To my surprise, Jiayi was not at all afriad of the animals. She even reached out to stroke the goat while feeding it! OMG!! She is so unlike me where i find the animal so smelly!!

Jia'en on the other hand was very frightened of the animals. She refused to get down to the floor when i tried to put her down. She would grab tightly onto me and hide her head into my chest.

We didn't really spend too long in Farm Mart. We headed off to the Farm Resort at Neo Tiew Ave to meet kids' paternals for lunch. However, we reached the place much earlier than them and so we walked around the place. There, Jiayi saw some papaya trees and had some encounter with centipedes.

As the weatehr was very hot, we headed home after lunch. JH has the intention of bringing Jiayi to Hay's Farm soon. Arghhh!!!! I would dread that cos 1 goat is smelly enough, cannot imagine the whole fleet of them. But then for the educational sake, i guess i will have to endure it.

New Year Eve

2010-01-02T02:12:00.003+08:00

It was a great meetup with XN and SY on the last day of year 2009. JH offered to fetch Jiayi home when i told him that i wish to go out after work on the eve. Immediately i smsed XN about asked if she wished to meetup either for lunch or for shopping. As she had the same sentiments, we didn't take long to confirm our meetup. As we have been trying to arrange a day to catch up with SY as well, we smsed her if she wished to join us.

We chose Coffee Club in Taka for lunch. Remembered meeting them in the same cafe a few years ago too. Wonder how come we always chose that. Anyway, lunch was relaxing as we chatted and joked about intimate stuffs. We parted with SY and after buying bread for the family breakfast tomorrow (hmm.. some Auntie stuffs), we went bags shopping. Finally XN bought a Gucci handbag. It was quite a good buy as it suited her needs and the item was on sale.

It was a great way, fun and relaxing to bid farewell to the year 2009. Come to think of it, we have known each other and been best of friends for 19 years! We seen and suport each other through various stages in our lives. Though we are very caught up wih our own lives, our friendship continued sailing. Thank you for being such wonderful soulmates, gossip mates, coffee mates and shopping mates!

2010 in the Zoo

2010-01-02T01:39:00.008+08:00

Today we met up with Chua and Chow family to spend the first morning of year 2010 in the Singapore Zoological Garden. Thanks to XN whom went to queue for her company zoo pass and for offering to share the pass with us.

We arranged to meet at the zoo at 9 am. We were the first to arrive and the Chua family arrived not long after. We had a bite at the Ah Meng Kopi while waiting for the Chow family. XN brought each kid a present (hai clips) and Jiayi put it in use immediately.

Initially the kids were very shy but after a while, they warmed up and started to interavt with the adults and with each other. We walked around the park and watched the Splash Safari Show. After the show, we headed towards the Kids Zone where Jiayi and Celeste rode on the pony while Jamie had fun on the carousel.

Jiayi has been very excited over the pony ride since yesterday. I was still worried that she might freak out upon carrying her onto the pony. But to my delight, she was very calm and she loved the ride. She was so full of a sense of achievement whenever she showed her picture bought from the zoo photography shop to her grandparents and uncles.

Initially we had wanted to lunch in the KFC at the Kids Zone but it was packed and so we made our way to the Ah Meng Restaurant instead. By the time we finished our lunch it was already 12.45pm and as both adults and kids were tired, we made our way home.

Though we were long time friends and all our children are born in the same year except Jiayi who is 1.5 years older, this is the first time where the 3 families met for family outing. Despite the efforts in preparing for the family outing and having to wake up early, it was a great success and we enjoyed the trip very much. Hope that we could have more of such outings in time to come.

Gathering in TKY's House

2009-12-28T00:02:00.008+08:00

We have yet to visit the Tan family since their shift into their new home and so we requested to be invited. The warm Tan family responded to our request immediately and invited the Wong family and our family over for dinner tonight.

Despite PK's full term tummy, she whipped up a delicious dinner for both adults and kids. After dinner, there were still lots of treats for the kids including strawberry milk, jelly, honey stars and twisty.

It had been so long since all members of the 3 family met up and we spent a good 3 hours in the house. The kids had their fun time playing and "fighting" with each other too. As Jia'en was still too young to play with the other 3 girls, she self-entertained herself to all the toy available.

Once again, thank you for inviting us over and for the warmth welcome throughout our stay in the house. It was a wonderful gathering and both adults and kids enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

A Simple but Fun Christmas Day

2009-12-26T00:25:00.005+08:00

We wanted to take things slow on christmas day as we did not want to go squeeze with the crowd. So instead of going out for lunch, we had home-cooked black pepper ribeye steak while Jiayi had macaroni and cheese. Side-dish was buttered mushroom and boiled carrots. We bought the steaks from Cold Storage the night before and as Jiayi doesn't take to meat, i decided to cook the packet of pre-ready Mac n Cheese in my fridge for her. Jia'en as usual, had her wholesome porridge meal.

After a hearty lunch, we went downstairs to have some bubble fun on the bubble gun which Ah-Gong bought last sunday. Jiayi was in possession of the bubble gun throughout while Jia'en was happy chasing birds, poking the bubbles and just merely running around.

X'mas Toys

2009-12-26T00:18:00.003+08:00

Last Sunday, ah-gong brought us to a toy warehouse sale and as usual, he bought the kids many toys. It was meant for their x'mas and the kids were so excited that they opened the toys immediately when we returned home.

On the same night, we went to celebrate my grandfather's birthday. There, my mum passed the kids each a party goodie bag while they got their x'mas presents from their kum-mou.

Castle Fun in Terminal 3

2009-12-16T00:35:00.004+08:00

Went to the airport twice over 2 consecutive weekends to send and fetch my mother-in-law from her trip. In tandem with x'mas celebrations, an inflated castle was set up in the airport for kids to have some fun time jumping and sliding on.

Jiayi was very excited when she first saw it and kept pestering us to let her have a go on it eventhough we kept explaining that we would go after our meals. The castle was a very good "carrot" to make her obey us the following weekend when we told her that we would be bringing her to the castle again.

Spongebob Squarepants

2009-12-16T00:23:00.003+08:00

I decided to forgo the long queue of Barney's show in United Square and since the timing for Spongebob in Suntec City was more suitable for us, we went for that instead.

After Jiayi's sunday lessons, we headed down to SUntec City and grabbed a simple lunch a Wang Cafe. By the time we finished, it was about just nice for us to head down to the atrium. We made our way into the centre area where kids and parents were seated on the floor waiting patiently for the star to come on. We waited for about 10 mins before the show began. Meanwhile, Jia'en was munching on her butter sugar toast.

Jiayi's response to the show was rather lukewarm. I wondered if that's because she was not too familiar with the character or she was far too shock to see the cartoon character come alive.

First Finger Painting Experience

2009-12-16T00:19:00.003+08:00

That was Jia'en's first finger painting experience. She was rather excited initially but once she started, she seems to be a little worried and afriad of the mess on her hands.
Nevertheless, it was a good start for her.

Time to change from cot to mattress

2009-12-16T00:13:00.003+08:00

See the way Jia'en climbs on her cot? It's about time we haveto put her on the floor. Shall see how long i could delay that.