The BRAND NEW Piggy Family

The BRAND NEW Piggy Family
The cartoon is by Piggy Daddy who is a full time educator and freelance illustrator. Anyone who needs freelance illustrations, please contact us! :)
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Monday, June 29, 2009

End of school holidays

So fast, Daddy's 1 month of school holidays is over. Well, we did manage to spend more quality time together as a family, we went for breakfast outside often, went to the beach, the zoo, 3 playdates. :) Mummy and Daddy managed to get a short holiday in Penang though we didn't managed to watch any movies. :P

Yesterday, we went to Waraku for dinner with my cousin's family. RaeAnne refused to nap from 2+pm - 5+pm and then promptly fell asleep in the car (even snored) when we were on our way to Waraku. Hiaz. She is developing the habit of falling asleep in the car, she did it in the morning when Mummy and Daddy went to TM for a short while so that Mummy can pop by Mothecare to buy the white dress for RaeAnne which I've been eyeing for a long time cos it's on 50% off. She fell asleep in the car even though we left early at 12noon. :P

Also RaeAnne has been sleeping later and later. Gone are the good old days when she will sleep before 10pm. Nowadays, 11+pm seems to be the norm and it doesn't matter how early we try to put her to bed. Even if she finished all her milk, she'll refuse to sleep and start walking on the bed, trying to take things from the bed ledge even when there's nothing there. I don't know whether it's because she's teething or because she has very long afternoon naps at Nai Nai place or because she is getting used to sleeping on our bed and waking up with us. So, every time, hubby puts her to the cot, she'll wake up and protest. Anyway, end up hubby and I can't sleep cos we got to keep watch over her and pacify her. At this rate, I think we need to revert to our 1st shift and 2nd shift night duty roster soon, if not we can't get any rest. :(

Good news is yesterday I didn't puke even though I had Japanese food. But I felt very thirsty (msg ?) and today, I developed a dry itchy cough. Maybe also because of the 2 fans we switch on at near full blast every night to cool RaeAnne down cos she sleeps on our bed. :(

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Naughty little RaeAnne

RaeAnne made Mummy very angry today to warrant this post. We were at ILs place tonight, and she's very naughty, she used the megablock to hit hubby's face, mouth and eyes. I scolded her and beat her hands when she did it the first time and she went ahead and hit hubby 2 more times. And hubby just lie there on the bumper mat for her to hit him. He kenna a cut on his lower lip and a cut between his eyebrows.

So angry than she is so defiant to hit hubby again and again, upset at hubby too for not putting a stop to it. Told him how are we going to discipline her if he and ILs act like nothing happened. Are we going to let our gal grow up to be a hooligan to beat everyone up? :P

When we came back home, told hubby to give RaeAnne a pep talk telling her that she cannot beat other people (not ye ye, not nai nai, not Daddy or Mummy or anybody) because it will be pain pain. Don't know if she'll understand. Hiaz. :P

I think another reason why my gal is fond of beating people that she knows well is because FIL shows by example. Eg. he'll use a toy hammer to hit his own head making those fainting and 'doing doing doing' sounds to make her laugh. Even encourage her to hit him, of course she thinks that beating other people is fine lar. When she hits his head, he also like no issue, never scold or make any noise, continue to play with her. When I protest, he'll say it's ok, she's still young, slowly teach her. But if it's a bad thing, why teach her to do it in the first place mah? Sometimes, I feel like the only bad cop trying to discipline a little hooligan. Hmmpff!!!

Chicken stock and visit to playgroup

Tried cooking chicken stock using the slow cooker as suggested by Bingbing. It's definitely more convenient cos it won't boil over and the water level decreased only by a little so I got lots of stock this time. Also the meat is so tender that when I was picking out the chicken carcass from the stock, they disintegrated. :P I boiled the soup in high heat pot over the stove until boiling then transfer to the slow cooker. Even used boiling water. But I cooked from 4pm till 8pm so I think I wasted a lot of electricity. Hee.

Taste wise, can't tell the difference between slow cooker or stainless pot chicken stock. Think my taste buds not sensitive enough. :P This time, I bought the oil blotting paper from NTUC so didn't bother to remove the fats. Wa, really very oily, my tongue got scalded while tasting the soup. Yesterday, I used the chicken stock to cook shanghai lamian for me and hubby's supper. :)

Woke up earlier than RaeAnne today so I could eat breakfast and get ready while she slept. She woke up at 915am. Since we are early and left the house at 935am to go to Nai Nai place, I decided to go to the playgroup at opposite block to pick up registration form and get her used to the place and teachers. We hung around for close to 1 hr cos the teacher was busy answering phone calls so walked in and out of the classroom while answering my query.

RaeAnne was very wary at first but she warmed up when she saw the teacher aide singing and kids dancing. She even joined them for morning snack (xiao man tou biscuits) while I carried a crying little gal (the teacher said she knows A-Z at 14 mths, so clever) to the toilet to wash her hands. Don't know why but this little gal took to me, she rejected both teachers. When I left with RaeAnne, she called auntie auntie and cried even more. After that, then remembered I'm not supposed to carry any babies. Not sure whether 18mth old gal count or not. Told baby not to be pantang just in case. :P

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Baby no. 2 is 16 weeks today!

And baby (should be a she unless there are any surprises) is making her presence felt. I felt some familiar movements this afternoon and again just now. The books say that second time MTBs will feel movements earlier. Quite true. :)

My MS acted up again yesterday and I have a bitter taste in my mouth now so I can't quite say I'm rid of it. But since the symptoms took a break in Penang, my only conclusion is that I need to eat very frequently so that I won't have MS symptoms. Quite tough when I'm not on holiday and no cravins for instant foods eg. maggie noodles, bread or biscuits. :P

Anyway, my next gynae visit is next Thurs 2 July so hope baby continues to grow well. :)

Monday, June 22, 2009

RaeAnne is 17 months today

RaeAnne is 17 months today, but it was not a very good day for her. She was 9.6kg when we weighed her yesterday. Lost weight? RaeAnne woke up at 2.15am early this morning (so much for sleeping through every night at Nai Nai house when we were away) and we gave her milk cos she only drank 100+ml at her usual milkfeed at 10pm last night. Then she woke up at 7am but didn't want milk. When hubby woke up around 8am, we decided to put her porridge in the slow cooker then bring her to Macs for breakfast. She was already grouchy befpre we left the house, probably hungry. :P

Bumped into my mum, small auntie and RaeAnne's cousin Terrian at TM so we were late in coming home. Poor RaeAnne fell asleep in hubby's arms around 12noon. So end up her porridge was late at 1+pm. Hubby wanted to go for a hair cut so brought RaeAnne to ILs place to continue her afternoon nap.

End up RaeAnne only slept at 430pm and woke up at 630pm so her dinner was late. Daddy switched on a new volume of Wheels of the bus for her to watch during dinner time but she didn't like it cos the songs are new and a bit slow/sad? Her expression was unhappy as she started watching and she ended up crying and puked out most of the porridge we fed her. :( Bo bian, end to resort to feeding bread after that. She fnally slept at 11pm. Both hubby and I knocked out with her. :P

Her newest milestone at 17 months? She can feed herself using a fork for macdonalds hot cake, her aim is getting better but she loses patience easily. Will start stabbing non stop if she can't pick up the food after 3-5 seconds. Our present for her 17mths, a wooden toy piano which I bought from the BP. She enjoys banging on the piano so much that hubby said it'll be spoilt soon. haha. :)

Back from Penang & Happy Father's Day!

Back from Penang, bought so much stuff that we exceeded luggage limit by 4.5kg. Luckily the ground crew allow us to repack into hand luggage or else we'll have to pay RM80. It wouldn't be worth it to pay the surcharge cos the things we bought are cheap stuff in the first place. :P

Another reason why we exceeded luggage limit is because all liquids cannot be hand carried and we had lots of liquids, sesame oil, soy sauce, nutmeg oil, toiletries, RaeAnne's water mattress, pillow etc. :P We did all our shopping on the last day cos we had a private tour bringing us to all the famouse Penang hawker food stalls (charcoal bread, ayer hitam penang laksa, famous chendol, old stall chicken rice, roadside stall agong bong, roadside durian stall etc). Also went to Kek Lok Si, Penang Hill (waste of time, spent 2 hrs to spend 15 mins on the hill :P), Chew Jetty, E&O hotel, and Tesco. :)

We flew back from Penang on Sunday at 1010am, saw quite a few passengers wearing masks. They must be scared of Singapore's H1N1 situation. :P We only saw RaeAnne close to 1pm cos we went straight home to unpack and wash our clothes, thinking my PT cleaner will come today but she played me out again! :/.

She didn't have a BIG reaction when she saw us, just smile happily as if we are fetching her home in the evenings like a normal day. But she kissed me on the lips many times yesterday. When I asked her to call Mummy, she'll say 'boh' and kiss me. Or when I ask her if she miss me, and tell her Mummy missed her and loves her.

Yesterday was also Father's Day. Prepared a present in advance (a small soft toy and a photo frame) so that RaeAnne can give it personally to Daddy. It was a short walk from our MBR to the kitchen where Daddy was making her milk milk but she made a detour to her bedroom and the living room, I had to keep directing her back on track. Faint! ;P Hope Hubby liked the present.

Didn't get a chance to post yesterday cos I knocked out with RaeAnne who only slept at 11pm. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! Thanks for taking such good care of RaeAnne for being the hands on Daddy who can bathe, feed, cook, rock her to sleep, change diapers, clean her puke and play with her. RaeAnne is so lucky to have the best Daddy ever. :)

Our loot for RaeAnne from Penang


Friday, June 19, 2009

Penang - Day 1 - 18 Jun 09

Blogging from Penang cos hotel room has free wireless and wired internet access. Took airasia flight to penang this morning, luckily the flight was smooth. I was quite worried cos it's budget airline.

Took an airport taxi to G hotel for RM38, arrived around 1 pm but our deluxe room was not ready yet. Booked a deluxe room initially cos needed a bathtub to bathe RaeAnne but in view of the worsening flu situation, we did not bring her. Also wanted to have a real holiday with hubby before no. 2 arrives. Met up with my ex colleague who is also staying at G hotel with her hubby and 3 kids. We had lunch together at Kofulou chinese restaurant and she even treated us to lunch. Dim sum was ok, I had century egg porridge while hubby had meatball porridge, decent serving for only RM4, cheap cheap. :)

After lunch, I had a haircut at Janzen (only RM37 = SGD15+), one of the cheapest haircut I had in a long while. Then we went shopping and hubby and I bought each other a present as souvenir. I bought him a toy while he bought me a cable organiser. We also bought some sleeveless rompers for RaeAnne at only RM7. :)

Came back to hotel to check in at 5+pm and source for a nice restaurant for dinner. Went to Shangri-la Rasa Sayang resort at Batu Ferringhi beach for a nice dinner cos it's me and my hubby's dating anniversary. When hubby called for reservation, the staff asked if it was a special occasion. Hubby told them it's our anniversary. End up they gave us free sample of appetiser, lime sorbet, free chocalate cake and free chocolates. Hubby and I end up being so stuffed, love the service, the chef came to speak to us a few times too. Will definitely go back there again.

Went to the night market for a stroll, been to Penang 3 times but never been to the night market. Hubby bought 2 coolmax tank tops (1 for Rm18 & 1 for RM15) while I bought a red Mickey cap for RM12. :)

P.S. What really made my day was hubby finally wore the pink shirt I bought for him eons ago. I wore pink too to match him though different colour, felt like back to couple days again. ;)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Liulian liulian liulian ;)

Bought 3 for $10 durians near MIL's house, they were yummy. Dark yellow, creamy, and bittersweet. hubby and I took just 3 seeds each while ILs finished the rest esp MIL. Shows that they were good. ;) Let RaeAnne try a wee bit too. She loves it. Keep coming back for more so we let her eat from our fingers a few times. Didn't dare to give her too much cos durian is heaty. Besides, hubby and I are flying off to Penang tomorrow, don't want her to fall sick under ILs' care. :P

In view of the worsening H1N1 flu situation and the hot weather in Penang, didn't want to bring her and put her at risk so not bringing her though we already bought her ticket. Will miss my gal lots. :(

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Made fried rice for RaeAnne! :)

I tried to fry rice for RaeAnne and our lunch today. The first time I fried rice in my life. hoho. But it was too wet. My fault lar cos I knew the rice looks a bit wet but I still had 1 bowl of chicken stock left after boiling the veg and didn't want to waste it since it's already defrosted. Don't use, got to throw away the stock so I put everything in. Also I don't have overnight rice, so I cooked rice at 9am then fried it at 11+am so the rice was still too soft bah. So the fried rice was a bit too soft and soggy (hubby called it Japanese fried rice :P). Also, I didn't have a non stick wok so I used my normal wok and so a lot of rice got stuck on the wok, wasted.

But luckily RaeAnne loves it so never waste my efforts. She was already half puking (too full?) but she still wanted more when hubby was eating. Her favourite is the egg, pork and fish. She doesn't like the peas. Hubby's favourite is the egg and long bean. Me? I like the little bit of 'rice guo ba' that I managed to scrap out of the wok. Wish I have the recipe to make Korean Guo Ba soup, then I wouldn't have to throw away the guo ba that I couldn't scrape out. Hee.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Mini playdate at home :)

RaeAnne had so much fun with Ashlynn and Carrie Mei Mei when Sandy (bx) and Xiaoyun (Bing Bing) brought their gals over to my place. Sandy is having school holidays while Bing Bing is off today cos she worked on Saturday. Sandy left first as she got work to do at home. After RaeAnne and Carrie had their lunch (RaeAnne even got to try Carrie's macaroni soup), hubby, me and Bing Bing went to Nihon Mura at Tampines Swimming pool to have our lunch. :)

Here are the pixs of the playdate taken using my new Canon Ixus 110s. :)


L-R: Ashlynn, RaeAnne and Carrie all looking at the camera for once. :)


The gals crowding around Sandy once they saw FOOD! ;)


Group photo when Carrie was having her lunch. :)


RaeAnne at Nihon Mura :)

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Canon Ixus 110s

I finally bought my Canon Ixus 110s today http://www.canon.com.sg/p/EN/1-Digital-Cameras/3-IXUS/841-Digital-IXUS-110-IS/. Went to Courts first but they were not willing to give me any better deals. So I went to challenger to try out the camera, hubby tried it too and said it's not bad. And they gave me the same deal at PC show (same free gifts ie. 2 8gb memory cards, camera case, canon digital kit, card reader) with 1 extra screen protector and $20 off so it's $529. Chose the light blue colour cos pink may be too girly if hubby is holding it and silver/gold too boring. :P

Went to Ikea for a Feb08 mummies gathering last Fri, met up with Sandy (bx), Sharon (bkkgal) and Genice (Jeannie). Sharon was so sweet, she made sandwich for us using her own home made bread and brought little bits of bread for the kids . Yummy! AshLynn looks so ladylike while Gwen was so warm, giving hugs to everyone. Kate was so close to Sharon and keeps calling Mama, Mama. RaeAnne may be the oldest of the lot (since she is born in late Jan) but she's not the sociable type. Prefer to sit back and observe (aka stare) instead of making friends. But she did try to 'sayang' Kate when she cried. I said try to because she stretch out her hand halfway but changed her mind. See pix for proof. ;P

I didn't bring my camera (actually RaeAnne dropped it in the car while playing with it) so got no pixs to share. Will wait for the kind mummies to email me their pixs. :)



P.S. got the pics from Sharon's facebook account. :) Duh, I have totally no idea why I was raising my arm in this photo. :P

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Chicken porridge

Used the chicken stock to cook porridge with minced chicken, carrot, cauliflower for RaeAnne this morning. The porridge smelt so fragant and tastes so sweet. Didn't take a photo cos the porridge itself looks normal and you can't smell from a photo. Got inspired so went to NTUC again this evening with Hubby to buy another chicken carcass to make more chicken stock for freezing.


We went to Phin's for dinner and I had escargot and pork rack. The pork rack was so tender and juicy. Told hubby wished I can put on the blog that I cooked this and he commented that it's very easy to make. Cheh, I don't believe him unless he cooks it for me next time. ;P

Made tomata base pasta with the left over minced chicken and 2 tomatoes which I bought yesterday. As usual, RaeAnne very greedy, wanted to eat whatever we are eating, I gave her a bit of macaroni and bits of chicken. Hubby very clever, gave her a piece of chopped tomato. It must have tasted sour, after that, she stopped going to hubby for food liao, only target me. :P

Thinking of trying mee sua soup or fried rice next so asked the forum mummies for recipes. Got quite a few recipes so far, think will try mee sua soup first cos I'm not confident of my frying skills. :P

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Chicken stock and ABC pasta

Poor RaeAnne started a low grade fever early in the morning. Around 4am when she cried, felt that she was a bit hot so we took her temperature, it was 37.9. Must be side effect of her MMR jab as she had the jab last Monday, exactly 1 week ago. Luckily in the morning, she was fine, hot and sticky when she woke up at 9am so we went to KFC for breakfast. Was late leaving the house cos hubby had to go through his morning ritual, while I had to cook porridge, and check in on my FB games. Hee. ;)

We went to KFC but ended up missing the breakfast cos they were processing it so slowly close to 11am (probably trying to delay serving any more breakfast). In the end, we ended up at Hans, bad choice cos the breakfast set comes with butter toast, nice for adults but a bit hard for RaeAnne.

Decided to let RaeAnne try more homecooked adult food today. Since she is feverish, decided to make chicken stock (chicken soup supposed to nourish the body right?) and make ABC pasta soup for her and macaroni soup for ourselves so went to NTUC to buy ingredients. Ended up buying a lot of food stuff but total only $12+, I was surprised, haha.

To me, the chicken stock was a success (I'm not a perfect chef, hee), cos it smelt exactly like the chicken soup that they serve at hainanese chicken rice stall. Now, I know why my mum's chicken soup always taste very bland, she never add any vegetables when cooking, only ginger. But I think she'll faint if she saw me trying to debone the chicken drumsticks. Hee. :P

RaeAnne woke up just as I was starting to prepare the ingredients for the chicken stock at 430pm. She cried and cried in hubby's arms cos she wanted me to carry but my hands were full and messy trying to deskin and debone the chicken drumsticks I bought. I had to carry her after washing my hands before she calmed down. As usual, she is very excited when I was cooking, she can't see so she keeps wanting me to carry her, so hubby had to do the honours cos I can't cook and carry her at the same time mah.

Made her ABC pasta soup with small bits of brocolli and chicken thigh meat. Next time, must throw in the brocoli first, they take quite some time to soften even though I already cut them so small. :P Gave RaeAnne a piece of carrot that has been cooking in the chicken stock, it tastes so sweet and soft, she loves it.

Left the feeding of the ABC pasta to hubby cos I had to continue to cook our own dinner. Hubby said she ate quite a lot. :) Under estimated our dinner, cooked too little macaroni but hubby was still stuffed cos I had lots of extra 'liao' for our own macaroni. Hee.


Recipe for chicken stock
1 chicken carcass ($1 from NTUC)
3 drumsticks bones (next time will just buy another carcass, and buy chicken breast for the meat, easier and faster)
1 large Australian white onion (but I only used half)
Left over carrot (almost 1 stick)
1 knob of ginger (thumb size)
i) Put everything in a pot of water, making sure the whole chicken carcass is covered and bring to boil in high heat.
ii) Once it boils, switch to low heat and let it continue simmering for another hour.
iii) Can add salt and pepper to taste, I added just a pinch of both since the chicken stock is the base for RaeAnne's ABC pasta.
* Photo was taken after scooping out the soup for RaeAnne, and after taking out our portion for our pasta, I'm just left with 1 bowl of chicken stock for tomorrow's porridge. Will definitely increase the portions so that I have some stock for freezing purpose.


ABC pasta
i) Boil a handful of ABC pasta in water (can add some salt) and drain off once the ABC pasta looks soft.
ii) Strain the chicken stock with the sieve and pour some to the ABC pasta.
iii) Bring to boil, then add the broccoli to the soup. I also added 2 pieces of cooked carrot.
iv) Once it boils again, add the chicken thigh meat into the soup. I pre-seasoned the cut thigh meat with 1 drop of sesame oil for fragrance but it's optional cos actually the chicken stock is already naturally oily. :P

P.S. Her fever came back in the night, 38.2 degrees so we gave another dose of paracetemol before her last milk feed. :P

Monday, June 8, 2009

First Zoo Outing!!! Long long post... :)

Finally fulfilled one of my "to do list" items to spend quality time with RaeAnne during hubby's school holidays. Yup, a trip to the zoo ranked no. 1 in that list because I think it'll be fun, educational and a trip Mummy and Daddy have been saying for the longest time (even before RaeAnne was born) that we will make in the 4.5 years that we've been married but we never made the trip. :P

It was a very good outing. :) First of all, RaeAnne woke up early at 7.18am. Sidetrack a bit, Kudos to our gal for being so cooperative cos she actually woke up around 1+am crying cos the mosquito bites on her feet were too itchy. We already applied mopiko diligently since we discovered the mosquito bite on Sunday morning but she still scratched till the skn broke. She kenna 4 mosquito bites on her left foot and 1 on her right foot. The only worry was that she didn't poo on Sunday, and she only pooed a grape size poo in the morning before we left the house. I was worried that she had constipation. :P

We took quite some time to pack the stuff to bring to the zoo though (should have done it the night before) so when we finally went over to pick up Nai Nai and RaeAnne's porridge, it was alread 845am. We left Nai Nai house at 9am. Luckily the ride was quite fast going by TPE then SLE. We reached the zoo at 930am. Hubby and I got the adult saver ticket ($25 which included the tram ride and 1 boat ride) and MIL was lucky cos the ticket gal allowed us to buy the senior citizen admission ticket at $9 even though she forgot to bring her IC. Tram and boat tickets cost another $10. So, altogether, we paid $69. RaeAnne's ticket is FREE cos she is below 3. :)

Since it was still quite cool in the morning, we decided to do the hard part (walking first) before it gets hot. Looking at the zoo map, we decided that the must see animals are polar (bear), zebra and giraffe (in that order) and elephant because these are the few animals that are on RaeAnne's bumper mats so she knows what they are. ;)

We were lucky to catch the polar bear feeding time which was at 10am though it was already 1008am when we reached the polar bears, having made a stop to see the Maned Wolf. RaeAnne was very fascinated to see the polar bears (Sheba and Inuka) swimming, eating water melon and catching fish. :) Next, we saw lions, zebras and giraffe, she was more in awe of the giraffe cos I had told her many times about giraffe's long neck. Also, it was feeding time so the 3 giraffes were busy eating 'dried leaves' hung up on a tree. RaeAnne is also interested in 'um um' (food). ;)

We took a short walk to the tropical garden, saw mangosteen tree, gourd vines, lime shrubs, etc but it was less interesting for her since she didn't recognise the fruits and everything just looked green. There was also not much shade there. MIL suggested feeding her at the small pavilion but hubby decided that it's better to find a restaurant with air con so that RaeAnne can eat in peace and comfort instead of sweating away.

So, we walked back to Ah Meng Restaurant, located near Tram station 1. We nearly started feeding her at the al fresco dining area, not knowing that the 'real' restaurant is in the air con area. Luckily, the staff told me when I asked them for the menu. Off we went to the cool comfort of Ah Meng Restaurant. Hubby fed RaeAnne her porridge, we didn't want to order our food first cos if RaeAnne sees our food, she won't want to take her boring porridge anymore. After 2 servings of porridge, even hubby gave up cos RaeAnne was eating very slowly even though I gave her 1 straw and 1 plastic spoon to entertain her. :P

It's time for the adults to eat so MIL order curry chicken naan set, I ordered the bbq chicken leg with fries set while hubby ordered the hot dog with fries set. We fed RaeAnne with bits of chicken, naan and hot dog bun. So she was very happy. :)

After lunch, we went for the tram ride and got off at station 4 so that we can see some exhibits and make our way towards boat deck 1. Enroute, we managed to see kangeroos, Emus and poisonous snake and lizards at the Australia Outback exhibit. The entrance was quite hidden, we nearly missed it. :P We also saw the pgymy hippos (they were all sleeping) and RaeAnne got a close up view of big big fish in the huge aquariums. :) We saw the white tigers (also sleeping) and wild boar before reaching the Boat Dock 1.

From there on, it was a long, long wait. Frequency of the boat ride was supposed to be 15-20 minutes but it felt like at least half an hour cos there was nothing to do there and there were not enough benches for us to sit down while waiting. A mother feeding her baby son bottled milk and me squeezed on the same bench with 2 caucasians. Luckily RaeAnne was distracted enough by the baby so she didn't make any noise. When the baby cried, she was so cute, she kept kissing my tummy (thinking it's 'mei mei' crying). When she understood that it's not Mummy's baby crying, she even wanted to stretch out her hand to 'sayang' the baby. Luckily, the mother was only amused at RaeAnne's actions. :)

RaeAnne pooed while we waited for the boat so we quickly changed her, luckily it was the solid poo not the mushy type so we could change her diaper standing up. The boat ride was nice and cooling, can see that RaeAnne was a bit sleepy but luckily we knew she will 'wake up' at the next stop which was the Rainforest Kidzworld (with waterplay), one of our highlights of the trip. We packed so much stuff because we knew there was waterplay (thanks to all the forum mummies who tipped us off cos they already brought their kids to the zoo many times).

So, RaeAnne was well prepared, we changed her into her Konfidence wetsuit, luckily with the velcro fastenings, she can fit in though it was meant for 6-12 months. She had an extra set of thicker clothes, a big bath towel, and even a swimming dress robe. We even brought hubby an extra set of clothes so that he can accompany her into the water. She was a bit apprehensive in the water initially, when hubby put her in the water, she just sat there with her hands and legs reached out, not daring to move. But once she warmed up, there was no stopping her, she was splashing water at hubby, hitting the water, playing with the water pipes and sprinklers. She had so much fun in the short 20 minutes, the waterplay was definitely the highlight of the zoo trip. We took her out as her fingers were already wrinkly. :)





She was very cold after the waterplay and the shower in the changing room is very cold, not much help. So, we just rinsed her, quickly took out her wetsuit, and dressed up. Her hair was still very wet so I'm glad I bought her hooded swim robe (only $7 at Ehub). :) RaeAnne has been imitating adult behaviour and one of the things that she does best is cleaning. She'll copy us, take tissue, wet wipe or towel to clean the table, floor, babychair, etc but the ultimate today is taking the wetwipe out to clean the glass door outside the toilet. See our little Ninja door cleaner. ;)

After the waterplay, we went to Kfc to have a snack. A mini burger for MIL, cheese fries for me and a bit of mashed potato (without gravy) for RaeAnne. Wanted to let RaeAnne take the horse carriage ride but hubby is unwilling cos need to pay $6 for child and $6 for adult. So only managed to take a photo in front of the horse. :(

After eating, we took the tram ride back to the start and that's when I realised that RaeAnne smelled bad. True enough, she had pooed again, mushy type this time. :P
Since we were on the tram ride, we laid her down to change her diaper and she was very cooperative (probably also tired out). By the time we finished changing her diaper, she fell asleep in MIL's arms. It was 350pm, way past her usual nap time of 1+, 2pm. And she slept all the way so we skipped the elephant exhibit, past the cockatoos/parrots, even when we shopped in the souvenir shop, selected the photos from the zoo photographers, back in the car, all the way until we were nearing Tampines. She woke up at 5pm, it was a good 1hr 10 mins nap for her. We went straight to ILs place cos we had already called FIL to cook her evening porridge.

What a long day and she slept earlier at 945pm today, she had a tiring day but hope she had fun and happy memories of the zoo. Told hubby that we should bring her back to the zoo before RaeAnne turned 3 and no. 2 is 1 yr old so that admission is free for both kids. :)

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Kids Friendly Dinner :)

Decided to cook a kids friendly family dinner today, first time cooking rice with dishes for RaeAnne. It's been really long time since I cooked (exclude RaeAnne's porridge of course), almost 2 months in fact cos I stopped cooking ever since morning sickness set in. Can't stand the smells of cooking, still can't actually.

Even though MS still has not abated (why? why? why? Gynae said if not ok by 12 weeks then it may take up to 16 weeks. :( ), I decided to be brave cos RaeAnne is taking lesser and lesser of her porridge. Doesn't help that we always get ingredients from ILs so she always end up eating the same stuff, pumpkin, carrot and baby corn. ILs tried feeding her rice added with soup (with bits of fish, veg) for her before but the rice and the small amout of soup they cooked cools too quickly, they end up reheating the soup so many times that they gave up feeding her rice as a main meal. :P

I bought minced chicken, egg tofu, local spinach from nearby NTUC and I have leftover carrot and chinese mushroom. Can't put much seasoning since it's meant for RaeAnne as well. I chopped the carrot and chinese mushroom finely and mixed with the minced chicken to form a paste and put it on top of the egg tofu to steam. Only added 3 drops of soy sauce and 2 drops of sesame oil to the meat paste.

Next I fried an omelette using minced chicken (gotta maximise my ingredients mah) and sliced chinese mushrooms). Cooked a soup using ikan bilis stock (wash the ikan bilis twice to get rid of some salt), local spinach, sliced carrot and tomatoes. Ended up adding meatballs too cos I had leftover meat paste and hubby said throw everything in, don't keep. ;)

The verdict? RaeAnne was quite excited over dinner, kept pointing to this and that so that we can feed her. Her favourite dish is the tofu and she loves the meat paste. Hubby had to 'bribe' her by putting the meat on top of her rice before she would eat it. An even BIGGER meatlover than mummy.

BUT the downside is, she ate very little rice. Less than 2 tablespoonfuls. Much much less than her usual portion of porridge. Fortunately or unfortunately, depends on how you look at it, she had a very late nap close to 5pm (she ended up taking 2 milk feeds in the afternoon) and woke up around 6pm so she was not so hungry when she woke up.

Hubby didn't enjoy it as much though, even though I already warned him that everything will taste bland, ask him to dip the food in soy sauce if necessary. He still commented that the egg had no taste, the soup had no taste. Think the only thing he liked was the tofu since he didn't complain about it. Like father, like daughter. Faint! :P

But in hindsight, I think our pace of eating was too fast for our gal. When she realised that all the food were gone (we finished up her leftover cold rice and her favourite tofu). She kept pointing to the empty plates and said 'Boh', 'Boh'. She probably wanted to eat more. End up hubby had to feed her some bread to fill her up. :P

Put her to bed at 915am and she only slept at 1020pm. She was too busy babbling to sleep. Haha.

P.S. I had ultimate heartburn and super bad MS after rising from the bed (had to lie down for 1 hr to coax RaeAnne to sleep. Baby no. 2 doesn't like the food (must be the spinach and mushrooms, the 2 food smells that I can't stand). I even throw out a bit of the dinner which I cooked myself, what an insult to my own cooking. :P

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

MMR jab, Tampines1 and Oscar results

Backdated posts...:)

1 June
First day of school holidays, and we brought RaeAnne for her overdue MMR jab. She cried for so long inside the clinic, it started the moment the dr put the cold stethoscope on her tummy. She hates that. She is 9.9kg and 78cm tall. PD said 50th percentile. Actually, Dr Lee suggested Hep A jab on the same day but I thought since Hep A's an optional jab and she's not taking any shellfish, we can delay the jab. Got to watch out for fever 5 days from MMR jab.

2 June
Hubby had to go back to school but when he came back in the evening. We decided to bring RaeAnne to Tampines1 together with MIL who has also not been there. RaeAnne loved the toy shops, she'll run around and touch/pull out everything. When we were at Cold storage, while hubby, MIL and RaeAnne were waiting for me (outside Cold storage) to pay for my items. Hubby 'instigated' RaeAnne to go take an apple for Nai Nai, she'd run there, touch a fruit then run back again, shaking her head. Haha, clever gal, never fall for Daddy's trick. I always tell her must wait for aunty to scan (di di di), we pay $$$, then the item is ours. If not, it's aunty's, cannot take otherwise aunty will scold. ;)

3 June
Finally, ACJ clinic called me bright and early at 9am about my oscar risk. RaeAnne was already up at 830am, today I let hubby sleep in, she was babbling loudly when the clinic called. So all I remember is for my age group, it should be 1:350 but my oscar results show 1:9668 or 1:6998. Didn't write it down at that time, by 930am when I woke hubby up to tell him, I already forgotten the correct order liao. Cham! memory failing. :P We went to LJS for breakfast today, as usual, left the house late, came back even later. But today is the first day, I sat in the front passenger seat while RaeAnne sat in her car seat and she didn't make any noise. Yeah! finally, my chance at freedom. :)

Hubby fed RaeAnne porridge at 1:15pm, shower at 2pm, and she didn't want to sleep, finally napped from 4pm - 530pm. 1.5 hrs only, no wonder she was grouchy when she woke up. The porridge which I asked hubby to prepare at 430pm still wasn't ready as he didn't use freshly boiled water (hotter), so we finally left the house at 7pm to go for our dinner after feeding RaeAnne. My stomach was protesting and feeling pukey so ate a nutella sandwich in the car. Went to compasspoint so that hubby can check out some toys at Metro Sengkang. Ate at Sakura cos the other restaurants all long queue. After dinner, we went to Metro, RaeAnne has a really fun time running all over, playing peekaboo with us from the racks of clothes and peering at herself at mirror and pushing changing room doors open. Aiyoh! Hubby had to physically grab her and carry her out of Metro cos she kept running back to the store. ;P

Was too late to bathe her proper as we got back around 10pm so we just wiped her face and hosed her down with warm water once without washing her hair. I went to shower while hubby gave her last milk feed. Naughty gal, she always leave a lot of milk behind when daddy feeds. So I added some hot water and fed her myself after my shower. My hair was still wet and she felt it. Immediately gestured for me to blow dry my hair, told her I'll do it after she finish her milk milk. She drank a bit more only (maybe cos she had 2 spoonfuls of rice at Sakura). After her milk feed, I told her she must lie down and sleep then mummy go and blow dry hair. She really guai guai and put her head on my cushion (her impromptu pillow) but she will go to 'push up' position. When I catch her doing it then she quickly guai guai lie down again. She finally slept at 11pm. What a long day for her. :)