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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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Bloom shot at Studio Loft.....

Went for bloom shot at Studio loft today. Wanted to do it when preggie with RaeAnne but Daddy convinced me that better to take 'quan jia fu' after she was born. Since Raelynn is no. 2 and not sure if we will have no. 3, decided to take some 'preggie' shots as a souvenir of my big tummy days.

We were late n rushing then still got to do make up. Our fault actually cos RaeAnne woke up early at 7am but we were too tired from her nocturnal wakings last night to do anything fast. I woke up at 8am. :P

Had told Daddy about the photo shoot a few months ago but since it was my suggestion and not something he was keen on. He basically left me to plan everything. From our clothes to RaeAnne's clothes, to toy/props to bring for RaeAnne and Raelynn. Even when I asked him if we should mount the family cartoon onto a board and make it look more presentable for the photo shoot, he said no need. I thought of which tops to bring (white and red tops) but didn't realise that we will need coordinated bottoms as well. End up Daddy's blue jeans were all at Nai Nai's house so we needed to make a detour to pick up the jeans.

Super slow traffic at PIE and CTE, that's the trouble with people like us who seldom venture out of Tampines area. Don't know when the 'morning rush' starts on weekend. Managed to park at mosque street, many parallel parking lots cos morning but only at 10am.

I paid extra $80 for make up/hair. Kelly? (shucks forgot her name) did my make up and helped to touch up the dark eye rings and blemishes. She straightened my hair with a straightening iron and blew it a bit but with no hair spray or fixing agent, my hair was still quite messy during some of the shots especially when the fan is on. Luckily, RaeAnne had fun playing with the toys and props while Daddy and her waited for me.

MaryAnn was a bit impatient (probably because we started 30mins late) and she still had 2 shoots lined up at 11am and 12noon. With a list of instructions Eg. face the light, tilt your eyes and smile towards camera, lift your left leg, hold up your left foot, straighten your shoulders, No, left leg higher, don't hunch, push out your butt more, your hair is dropping down, push it back on the left/right etc. Very difficult to smile naturally while 'holding' my position while facing a photographer who was rushing and hardly smiled. Think my solo shots showed the stress I was feeling so they neither look very natural nor happy. Definitely more stressful than my wedding photography studio shot even though I remember I was sick on that day.

I even had a series of photos in the red polo shirt where my left sleeve was not flipped properly and it was not detected by the photographer (can see how rushed the photoshoot was since the photographer didn't even notice it). Quite a pity cos the red series looked nicer than the white series.

We couldn't use the family cartoon for the photo shoot in the end cos it looks too unfinished. Maryann said there was ooo much white space as it was just drawn on a piece of A4 paper and the cartoon was too small :( Luckily, I brought along Raelynn's album of ultrasound scans. So, at least there was 1 photo for Raelynn, think she will feel left out if she saw the photos in future and there was not a single 'photos' to symbolize her in the entire shoot. :P

So, end up chosing more family shots with a smiling RaeAnne instead. Felt that it was difficult to capture her smiling nicely (instead of the usual 'see teeth no see eyes' poses) so rather pay for her photos. The bloom package included 1 8R and 5 5R so I kept shortlisting and shortlisting and end up paying for extra 7 shots at $15 each.

Raeanne was very grouchy on the car ride home, I had to pacify her and let her sit with me for a while in the front seat. Luckily we tapow mac back so had a quick lunch. Daddy showered her cos he ate in the car while driving (no mean feat). After her milk, she knocked out at 2pm n just woke up at 430pm. 2.5 hours, quite an accomplishment considering she was alone in her cot while Daddy and I caught up on sleep.

Since the fridge was bare, there was nothing to cook so we went out for dinner at Sakae sushi at 530pm. RaeAnne kept choosing an 'Elmo' shaped rice kiddy set (rice with tempura) so we gave in thinking we can give her chawanmushi instead of the tempura. But we didn't realise that it was the uncooked ebi roe that gave Elmo its rosy hue. Didn't dare to give her raw food yet so we ordered a few more sushi and took out the rice for her. She loves her yakult drink though we diluted it in a cup. :) Daddy and I fed her first while the maid ate so we ended not eating much. :P

Went to NTUC to stock up on groceries and reached home at 8:15pm. She slept at 10.10am after her shower and milk feed. :)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Afternoon naps

RaeAnne has been having longer and later afternoon naps at ILs place recently. :P On Wed, she slept for 4 hours from 130pm to 530pm. ILs said it's because of the cool weather and no dogs barking. She only woke up when they woke her at 530pm. Today, even worse, hubby noticed that RaeAnne was still 'steam steam' when we went over at 630pm. He asked FIL if RaeAnne just woke up. True enough, FIL said she only woke up at 620pm.

They had problems making her sleep so she only slept at 330pm after yeye pushed her downstairs in a stroller. MIL said only after her poo at 3+pm then she's willing to sleep. Anyway, can understand how difficult it is to put her to sleep cos we encounter it all the time. But an afternoon nap until 620pm is way too late. I should feel they should have woken her up at 530pm. But maybe ILs were too tired cos they missed their afternoon naps and coffee break that they rather let her sleep longer so that they can get a breather. :P

Anyway, nothing much I can do on both nights except try to bring RaeAnne home earlier so that we can start her bedtime routine earlier. This way, even if she takes 2 hours to fall asleep, at least her bedtime won't be outrageously late. Luckily, she was quite guai, Wed night, she slept at 1010pm while tonight she slept at 1030pm. :)

Bought her first Doraemon soft toy today at Mini toons. Cut my finger trying out a small umbrella which I wanted to buy for her. The mini toons staff were apologetic, gave me tissue, handyplast and even waived off the Hello Kitty strawberry marshmallow which I bought for her birthday party in Jan10. She can't say Doraemon so she calls it 'ang ang ang' after the song. haha. :)

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

RaeLynn Scans (belated)

Poor RaeLynn. We've not been posting her scans as Tiger daddy has been very busy and the scanner has been rather cranky recently. Finally managed to scan her photos so here they are!

Raelynn has been growing steadily from 700g (24 Aug) to 1.8kg (12 Oct) to 2.1 kg (26 Oct). Jia You! Jia You! :)



Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Sleeping through...?

RaeAnne slept at 1030pm last night while I was rubbing her back. Never did that before, was just playing with her. Told her Nai Nai used to 摸背摸背 then she'll sleep right? Surprised when she just lie quiet with tummy down on the toddler bed and let me rub her back. And fell asleep shortly after that. Hubby went to check on her around 12 and said she nearly flipped down from her bead, the big sleeping Pooh bear had fallen from the cot side. He shifted her inwards and we slept at 1230am.

Woke up feeling very warm and having restless leg syndrome again at 4am. Feeling strange cos don't think I heard her cry between 1230-4am. Tried to go back to sleep but my legs' constant 'sng sng' feeling made it hard for me to go back to lala land. Got paranoid after a while, decided to go over and check on RaeAnne at 435am. Found her sleeping soundly on her water mattress but her body was veered towards the 'unprotected' side of the bed again. Didn't dare to move her for fear of waking her so I put a big pillow and the pooh bear on the bumper mat beside her bed instead. Finally fell asleep again close to 5am.

Finally heard her cry, checked the clock and it was 5.55am. Hubby carried her over to our bed, made milk and she fell asleep again until 8.15am when I woke her up for school.

Checked with Filamie this morning, she said RaeAnne woke up at 2am and 3+am, saw her and went back to sleep. Keep fingers crossed that she'll be the same tonight. :)

Baby Raelynn is exactly 34 weeks today! 3 more weeks to full term (37 weeks). :) Was checking my old posts. RaeAnne was 2.2kg at 33 weeks. Looks like Mei mei is a little bit smaller though I gained more weight than compared to RaeAnne. Hmm.... Not enough tonics or ...?

We have the habit of feeding RaeAnne some water after her milk since we don't brush her teeth at night (lazy parents afraid that brushing her teeth will 'refresh' her). Anyway, she drank a lot of water last night (finished her whole Tommy tippee drinking cup). Tonight, she kept asking for water again and finished all the water (only filled to half this time). And she learnt to say 'water bottle'. :)

RaeAnne was super active tonight. Laughing loudly, skipping and running, walking on her own without wanting to hold our hands. So, she only slept at 1050pm. MIL said she only slept for 2hr15mins today but I was secretly glad cos the more she sleeps in the day, the more it will affect her night sleep. :P

Monday, October 26, 2009

Back from gynae visit

Went for gynae check this evening, only got to see dr at 7pm though we arrived at 6pm. RaeLynn is 2.1kg now. Every week, bb is supposed to put on 200g so she should be 2.2kg today. Her weight is now around 45 percentile but head is 30cm so 50th percentile. But I've put on 1.6kg these last 2 weeks so weight now is 56kg.

Gynae said I can eat normally or more if I want her to be bigger cos bb is projected to be 3.1kg at 40 weeks. 2 weeks later, must do the Strep B swab test liao. Gynae said she'll shun bian do a quick cervix check to see if I'm dilated when I asked her if it's possible for some mummies to be dilated without realising. :P

Just signed up with Cordlife today for Raelynn. Asked the consultant whether need to bank for no. 2, the consultant told me there is a 75% match between siblings so for some mummies, it's good enough. But if you want to ensure 100% match, only the kid's own cord blood will be 100% match.

Anyway, if the child needs to use the cord blood, and his/her own cord blood is not enough (depends on the no. of cells collected and how much is needed by the weight of the child/adult by kg), you have the option to use the sibling's stored cord blood (if it's a match). So, taking all the above factors into consideration, I decided to bank for no. 2 as well. Since it's like buying insurance, might as well go all the way and ensure full coverage lor.

The 10 yr or 21 yr savings not much lar, not worth it so we chose to pay annually. Opt for Sepax (maximise the number of cells collected too so $200 more. The upfront fee of $1080 incl sepax can use DBS or OCBC interest free installment (6, 12 or 24 mths). We opt for 12 months so less than $100 per month.

The consultant told me can use CDA account even if sign up for annual plan but can only use for the first 6 years cos after that, the child's CDA can only be used for educational purpose after 6 years old, something like that.

Anyway, since poor RaeAnne doesn't have CDA account (missed the 17 Aug deadline set by MCYS) so $12,000 (including matching grant with govt) have to be shared between no. 1 and no. 2 so we rather pay annually and keep the CDA funds for now. The total of $1080 can use DBS or OCBC interest free installment (6, 12 or 24 mths). We opt for 12 months so less than $100 per month.

Nocturnal intrusion... ;P

Yesterday, hubby took cough syrup cos he had itchy throat so he was drugged. Couldn't even hear RaeAnne crying at 2+am until I nudged him and shook him a few times. So, when RaeAnne cried at 4+am, I woke up to put her back to sleep. Ended up falling asleep in her cot, cos too tired. Somehow, she woke up again so I had to start all over again and she finally fell asleep at 6am. Maybe she was hungry though she said no when I asked her if she wanted milk.

I came back to my room to lie on my bed to sleep. Next thing I know, my closed room door swung open. An intruder had pushed open my room door again. This time, RaeAnne called "Mummy, Mummy, Baby" and she was holding her Mei Mei baby doll and started to climb up my bed. Pushed the blame to Mei Mei as if baby is the one who needed Mummy, not her. Very clever. Duh... too tired to fight with her anymore. Let her continue sleeping on the bed after hubby woke up and fed her some milk. :P At least she zzz until 8:15am so I got to catch up on sleep. :)

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Last but not least, my little masseur

RaeAnne slept early at 10:05pm today, probably because she didn't sleep very long for afternoon nap. She's a good gal today. She ate quite a bit of chicken porridge that I cooked (hubby said it's very sweet) and 1 chinese bowl (80% full) of stir fried macaroni and 1 small slice of teriyaki chicken.

RaeAnne helped me and hubby to 按摩 tonight. I was watching Japan Hour and showing her how the 'Aunty' was getting her massage. Asked her if she can help Mummy to 按摩 and she nodded her head. I lay on the bed and she climbed up the bed. Put her hand on one shoulder first then ask her to press. Then move to the other shoulder cos she's too small to reach both side of my shoulder at the same time. It feels good cos she used all her strength to squeeze. It's one of the shortest massages I ever had (she only pressed 4 times in total) and not as professional but definitely the most heartwarming shoulder massage I had. She did it for Daddy too but Daddy was a bit ticklish esp when her aim was off and she was squeezing near his neck. Haha.

After her last milk feed and before she sleeps, is always the time when she will blah blah blah non stop and show off her lyrics memorising skills. The words in bold are the words she said tonight when I sang it to her. :)

Baa Baa black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir. 3 bags full
One for the Master
One for the Dame
One for the little Boy
Who lives down the lane

Twinkle twinkle little Star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky

Friday, October 23, 2009

Raelynn....

This morning, while we were both 'nuaing' on the bed, I asked RaeAnne who is Raelynn and she pointed to my tummy. I asked her who is RaeAnne and she pointed to herself. So touched that she remembers Mei Mei's name. :)

Our little conversation went on:
Did you say "good morning" to Mei Mei?
And she did her signature '招财猫' wave.
Why you never say good morning to Mei Mei ah?
She paused and said 'Morning' so sweetly. :)


A few days ago, when I was trying to BF the Mei Mei baby doll, she pulled the doll away and said no, bird, bird. I was confused. What has Mei Mei got to do with a bird? She was insistent though, keep telling me bird bird and started to pat the doll. Then I realised she was saying "Burp, burp" cos I told her before after Mei Mei drinks milk, must burp Mei Mei. Nowadays, if I ask her to burp Mei Mei, she will happily hold Mei Mei and pat Mei Mei's back. But she still can't get it when I remind her that must stroke upwards not downwards. Haha.

After playgroup, she refused to sit in her stroller again. I tried to persuade her as she was struggling as I was trying to put her down on the stroller.

2nd conversation:
Asked her a leading question:
"Who wants to be a good gal, RaeAnne or Raelynn?"
(Hoping she'll point to herself then I can tell her that to be a good gal, she got to sit in the stroller)
(She must have seen that coming, she never even pause to think before answering.)
"Raelynn"
Duh... Surprised that she can say Mei Mei's name and amused that she is so cheeky. But that leaves me with no choice but to use force to strap her in. But I promised her that I will carry her once we reached the lift at ILs' block. And I kept that promise. :P

P.S. she said wallet and pretty today. :)

Thursday, October 22, 2009

RaeAnne is 21 months today!!!

RaeAnne is 21 months today, she is 11kg (according to MIL who weighed her at noon) and 83cm tall. She has 16 teeth now and loves to eat adult food. Her recent new words are black shoe, black bird, nyuk (hakka for meat courtesy of FIL), purple, cookie monster, morning. Basically, we just need to repeat the word and she'll imitate the pronounciation. Not perfect imitation but enough for us to understand that she is trying to say the same word. :)

RaeAnne loves to throw things, take tissue, wipe floor, wipe table for us too. She can identify our shoes and will point and take our shoes for us when we are going out. She'll take out her own shoes and kick them off once we reached home. Once I washed my Crocs Audrey but the ribbon is not dry so I wore another pair of shoes. She keeps pointing at my Crocs and said Mummy Mummy asking me to wear that pair of shoes. So, now I've a little maid and a real maid at home.

In the last 2 months plus after I sent RaeAnne to playgroup, she learnt to talk more, make greetings, keep her toys, Tell us to keep quiet by putting her finger on her lips, sing lyrics of songs (only a few words), music and movement, will shake hands with other kids when we ask even though they just met at the park, etc. But I'll miss her baby-ish side too if she grows up too fast. So, for now, I'm happy when she runs back and to hold my hand when she wants to walk up the steps. If walking down, she skips down the step on her own.

Naughty gal is still waking up 2-3 times every night in her own room despite me and hubby putting her to sleep. She loves Daddy to carry her to sleep. Sometimes, even rejects me cos I will only lie down on the bed with her until she falls asleep. Usually after 6am, hubby will transfer her to our bed when she wakes up and cries cos he needs to get ready for work liao. Poor mummy got to try and entertain her and sometimes she falls asleep in 15-30 mins (usually after another milk feed) or not at all. :P

She loves to walk now or be carried now, refuse to use the stroller whether going to school or going to the park. :P She is still stubborn as ever, she insisted on ye ye closing the gate when he opened the door for us. Finally her palm got caught between the two folds of the gate. Luckily it's red but didn't bleed. :P

Sleeping peacefully on our bed at 830am, just before I wake her up :)


Making funny faces when I try to take a nice photo of her




Running to her own bed when I ask her to go out to brush teeth and wash face. Duh, still in denial. :P


ILs brought her to the park in the evening, here she is, flashing her signature '见牙不见眼' smile. So difficult to take nice photos of her nowadays. :P


Took a photo of her 'black' tooth (see the left molar) to convince her to brush her teeth cos she keeps refusing to brush her teeth in the mornings cos the toothpaste is 'la4 la4'.

Showed her this pic and asked her what she ate, why her teeth so black, she got the cheek to tell me 'biscuit'. Faint! She is rejecting both pigeon and First teeth toothpaste. I don't know what other brands to try next. :P

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

RaeAnne's nocturnal wakings...

RaeAnne woke up at 2am, 4am and 7am today. Decided to be nice and spare Daddy the agony of waking up so many times. Anyway, I'm a lighter sleeper than him so I always wake up at the first cry whereas he'll only wake up at the 5th or 6th cry. I lie down beside her until she falls asleep again. She woke up crying at 7am, I carried her to my bed but she was energetic and refused to sleep. Refused to let me sleep, kept disturbing my tummy and talking loudly. So I was up at 7am too. Duh. :P

Somehow, the maid just can't soothe her back to sleep. Either that, or it's because she is conditioned to cry for us cos everytime she cries either me or hubby will respond and 'rescue' her. Not sure if we are doing the right thing but since Raelynn will be arriving in about 1 month plus time, we'll play by ear and change tactic when Raelynn arrives. :P

Received the last lot of the loot from Qoorie's BP that I got for Raelynn last weekend. Hubby wasn't keen for me to get the bib cos Cheh cheh refused to use them (but i think it's also about conditioning cos I saw a lot of babies wearing their bibs with no fuss.) We probably started RaeAnne too late on bibs, that's why she resists them. Anyway, the cow bib is just $2 with postage, looks cute and most importantly it's Raelynn's chinese horoscope. How to resist? ;) The 9mth Carters cherry romper is only $6 with free postage. Button front rompers are easier to wear than those over the head. Anyway, I saw the exact same romper selling at Century square for $15.90 so i saved almost $10. Haha. :)

But no more new clothes for Raelynn after this liao. Time to do the laundry and start preparing for her arrival. Today there's bright sun, got Filamie to machine wash all of RaeAnne's old nappies, blankets and handwash Raelynn's brand new NB clothes. Hope the sun keeps up so that everything will smell nice and fresh. :)

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Swimming... :)

Been wanting to bring RaeAnne swimming for the longest time. We haven't gone swimming since June when we went to the water play area at the zoo. Since it's the long weekend, asked hubby to bring her to nearby swimming pool to swim. Wanted to swim with her initially but I'm too big now and even my L size swimming tankini is too short to hide my tummy. So, Daddy went to the baby pool with her while Mummy stayed on the sideline to inflat her float, take photos and videos etc. ;)

She swallowed a bit of water when the water was a bit choppy when she's too rough. Daddy carried her and let her glide through the water, but she didn't enjoy it very much cos she doesn't like getting her ears wet (she's also like that when she showers) She likes splashing the water, walking around and dragging the new swim float though. Hubby brought her to try the water slide and she wasn't afraid either. :)

After Filamie and I showered her at the pool, no mean feat cos the kiddie toilet has those rainshower and water saving shower head that you have to keep pressing. And the water is cold. It was difficult to wash her hair and body without getting wet ourselves. As her hair was still wet, we decided to detour and have a hot drink at the swimming pool cafe bar first. Let her try lukewarm milo for the first time. She likes it very much and drank half a styrofoam cup with a straw. :)

Then we went to Nihon mura since it's right beside the pool for lunch. As usual, RaeAnne had some corn mayo sushi, some crabstick sushi, a bit of Daddy's teriyaki chicken don and some veg miso soup. :)

Reached home at 1+pm, so quickly made milk for her to drink. But it was either past her nap time or she was too tired and cranky so it took a long time to make her sleep. End up hubby had to push her around downstairs in a stroller before she fell asleep at 230pm. She napped for 2 hrs and woke up at 435pm. I peeped into the ajra room door and saw her sitting on her cot bed with daddy sleeping on the floor beside looking a bit blur but not crying. When she saw me smiling at her, she quickly asked me to 'open, open' the door. :)

We went to my aunt's house to get some foodstuff before going to Waipo's house. Waipo fried melon with egg and prawns and steamed fish. Cut all the food into small bite size and there was a lot of gravy so I poured over her rice. Initially, she refused to eat the rice so we dumped all the ingredients into her rice and 'bluff' her that it was fried rice. Filamie took over the main part of feeding her for dinner and luckily she was hungry enough to finish the bowl of rice and all the dishes with some cordyceps tonic soup. :)

She has a good memory and once Daddy opened my old wardrobe to take out her clothes for bath time. She said '娃娃,娃娃' cos she saw my huge pink dolly at the top shelf of the wardrobe. I never got to play with this doll by the way as it was my 3 year old birthday present which my mum kept away for fear of me dirtying it. Duh. Anyway, had to pacify her by asking her to shower first before she can play with '娃娃'. :)

On our way back in the car, she asked me to play the 'Teddy bear' song again and again. It was funny to hear our gal singing along to the music. She usually gets the last word of each verse right. Too bad we didn't have the videocam with us, if not can record it down.

Tonight, she slept late at 11pm. My fault cos she was trying to sing songs and nursery rhymes again eg. Row row row your boat, Pat a cake and baa baa black sheep. and I can't resist helping her when she doesn't know the lyrics. But the good news is she can now say 'baa baa black sheep'. :)

Saturday, October 17, 2009

An early night for once

Tonight is one of the rare occasions when I can post so early cos RaeAnne slept at 10pm today. She woke up at 6am, we went to the market with MIL at 9am to stock up on fresh produce for the long Deepavali weekend. She had her afternoon nap early at 1pm and slept unti 2+pm. Just 1.5 hrs nap compared to her usual 3hr or 3.5hrs at MIL's house on weekdays. Since we cooked at home, can eat earlier dinner and let RaeAnne play in the living room then lounge in her room from 9pm. By 930pm, she was ready for her milk. She rubbed her eyes and was quite quiet after drinking her milk. She fell asleep at 10pm.

Even hubby was surprised and said 'so fast'?. I'm not surprised though cos was telling hubby as long as she doesn't sleep so long in the afternoon. She'll be able to sleep earlier at night. It's a zero sum game. The total no. of hours a toddler sleeps in a day is more or less 12-15 hours. Take away 1.5 hrs from her afternoon nap then she can sleep 1.5 hours earlier at night. A refreshing and welcome change cos at least we get some 'me' time at night instead of knocking out with her at 11pm cos we are so tired ourselves by then.

Got a nice photo of her in her new Chateau de sable bloomers set which we bought when mylife, one of the Jan mummies passed us her unused discount voucher. Thought she looked quite sweet in it, though the bloomers are a bit short. :)

Keep forgetting to blog about this but RaeAnne will always 扁嘴 and look like she wants to cry when she hears sad songs. She was like that when younger and up till now, she's still the same. Currently, the two songs she doesn't like are 'Rock a bye baby' and 'Somewhere over the rainbow' which incidentally is Similac's new ad jingle so it's hard to avoid. Got to keep reminding her that it's a happy song cos all the babies are with their mummies who love them and the babies are happy and smiling. Gals are really more sensitive. ;P

Big gal?

Hmm... is our little gal fast growing up?
1) Nai Nai said when it was time for her afternoon bath today, she went to MIL's room, pulled open the toyogo drawer (she knows which drawer her bath towel is kept at), took out her towel and walked to the bathroom. Nai Nai said she's got a good memory and remembers where everything is kept. Even the next day, she'll open the drawer to look for the item. And if it's not there, she'll ask Nai Nai 'where?' 'where?'
2) Ye Ye said after RaeAnne drank milk, she put a bag into a plastic bag (which she got from Nai Nai's wardrobe), put on her shoes and asked Ye Ye to 'walk walk' with her. Ye Ye said she looked so contented and 幸福 when they were taking a walk on the ground floor void deck. ;)
3) Today, teacher chris said she was dancing to the song they were rehearsing for the performance. She will raise both arms high and sway her arms to the music. haha. Got to see that for myself. ;)
4) When we put her on the toilet seat, she'll reach out for the toilet roll and try to wipe her own bottom even though she did not poo nor pee. :P

Part of the loot that I bought from Qoorie's ready stock BP arrived in the post today. Just now I let RaeAnne try on the Minnie Japanese kimono over her pyjamas. She loves it so much that she refused to take it out when we were putting her to bed. Keep telling me 'mei mei'. Luckily it's loose (size 100 but she's only 82-83 cm tall) and she was wearing it like a yukata robe so not too warm. Haha.

She took a long time to fall asleep tonight though, only slept at 1135pm. She kept wanting me to sleep on her Winnie the pooh multipurpose mat but it was too small for both of us to sleep on. She also kept telling me 'ng ng' though her diaper is quite dry. Thought it may be the new romper extension that I put on for her, so I removed it. But she was still fussing. End up asked hubby to carry her to the changing table and change her diapers for her, then she was pacified. Then she wanted hubby to cary her to sleep. Duh.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Solving the mystery...

I asked the playgroup teacher today if they taught her counting. They said through songs like 10 indian boys and 1,2 buckle my shoe. And they taught them how to do the hand gestures for 1-5. No wonder my gal likes 2 best cos she can do the hand gesture for 2.

Told MIL about RaeAnne's counting feat last night and she said Ye Ye taught her to say 3, 4, 5 cos RaeAnne always says 2 only with the hand gesture.

I always read aloud the lift floors to her when we are going up or down the lift. I also play the 10 indian boys song in the car too and will count with my fingers to show her. Think I can claim some credit too.

Anyway, her feat was not repeated. Today, hubby counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 but she refused to say anything. Happy for nothing. hee. ;)

It was my neighbour's kid (Adiyah) birthday today and he is also RaeAnne's classmate. So, RaeAnne got a huge Disney colouring book, another set of Pooh crayons (she got 1 set from children's day party), 2 party blowers and lots of snacks including kit kat, gummy bears, biscuits, sweets, jelly etc. All that is fine but I was horrified to hear Teacher Chris tell me that she polished off a slice of ice cream cake on her own. Well, some of the other kids had 2 slices but HEY! I haven't even started giving her ice cream yet except the one occasion when my dad let her taste ice cream without my knowledge/permission. But well, what I can't see, I can't prevent right?

I asked Filamie to boil some chrysanthemum tea with wolfberry today cos chinese barley is OOS at hock hwa. Only put in 6 pieces of wintermelon sweets cos I thought already got wolfberries. But RaeAnne didn't really like it cos it's slightly bitter and not sweet enough. Duh, proves that all kids like sweet stuff and of course ice cream, even those who are not exposed to it. :P Console myself that it's part of her growing process to be exposed to such snacks. As long as we don't give her sweet treats on a regular basis.

Stressed, think got to think carefully about what to include for her BD party packs next jan though. Remind hubby to take 'childcare' leave that day so that we can accompany her to playgroup for the BD party. :)

Oh ya, FIL said she said 'Money' yesterday. :)

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Counting.... after thoughts

A forum mummy friend commented that RaeAnne must have made my day with her counting feat today. Actually, I was surprised, happy yet a bit scared that my little gal is growing up so fast. :P

I remember a Mummy entrepreneur who quit her job to be a full time mum and subsequently started her own childcare business. When she was interviewed in a magazine on why she decided to quit her job.

She told the journalist:
One day, her husband came home and found her crying.
Her husband asked her "why are you crying?"
She replied, "because our son had just counted 1 - 10 today."
Her puzzled husband asked her again, "So, why are you crying?"
And she said, "because I didn't teach him that..."

I could really empathsize with that mummy who felt that she missed out on her son's growth and milestones cos I was a FTWM since RaeAnne was born until she was 12.5 months old. The first thing I asked myself when I heard her counting was where did she learn to count? Was it from me? Was it from playgroup? Maybe just feeling a bit sentimental lor, she was just a little bundle who can only cry, drink milk and poo. Now she's counting 2,3,4. Sigh, think I'll shed a tear when my gal goes to Primary 1 and cry buckets when she gets married. ;P

One thing for sure, Mummy will always love you, Darling. Whether you are a baby, a toddler, a girl, a teenage, a lady, a wife or a mum like me. :)

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Counting... Two, Tree, Four, Six...

Took a long time trying to put RaeAnne to sleep just now. Started trying at 930pm and she only slept at 11pm. She's very energetic cos she had a 3.5 hours nap at Ye Ye house. As usual, she rattles on and on while lying on the bed. Most days, it's Night.... Night.... Aunty.... Aunty..... She's trying to say good night to Filamie who is fast asleep after the first good night.

Then she surprised me by chanting Twoo, Tree, Foour, Six. She repeated it twice before sleepy Mummy realised that my little gal is trying to count. Haha. I wonder if it was the playgroup teachers who taught her to count. Or is it because I always count the floors for her when we are going up or down in the lift.

So, I taught her that it should be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. But she keeps dropping the 1 cos her favourite number is 2, she'll raise her 2 fingers and she loves to count 2. And after I taught her, she keeps chanting 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Selective counting, haha.

A mummy once said don't underestimate our kids. It may seem like they don't know many things but they are absorbing like a sponge. One day they'll shock us with what they know. True indeed. :)

On that note, glad I ordered 2 kumon books from BP for her. Collected the Kumon books from Babyling in the evening cos she stays quite near to MIL's place. RaeAnne already went through 5 pages of 'doodling' with her colour pencil in her "Let's Colour" Kumon workbook. I'm keeping the "Let's stick and paste" books first cos I expect it'll be very messy. :P

Oh ya, RaeAnne has a swollen bruise on her right shin and Daddy was cracking his head trying to solve the mystery of what might have caused the bruise. They were not fingerprint bruises which Filamie 'imprinted' on her during the first week when she started sleeping in the same room. She would struggle when Filamie tries to carry her when she wakes up crying and Filamie will grab her by one leg. She doesn't know the right way to hold a baby (strange considering that she has a 8 yr old son. :/) But we have warned Filamie and taught her the correct technique so we don't see those '铁砂掌’bruises anymore.

Back to the new bruise, I'm also not sure what she knocked into but when Daddy asked her if she fell down, she nodded her head. FIL said the bruise started yesterday so must go ask the playgroup teacher tomorrow if she fell down at the playground on Monday.

Today, teacher Chris surprised me by telling me that the playgroup has been invited to perform at some RC event at the Premiere (the new DBSS flats) on 7 Nov. She asked me if RaeAnne has a fisherman hat (yes, she does) and if we would allow her to perform with her classmates (Err... my little gal perform? Me and hubby truly think that she will help to 'ruin' the show instead. Haha.)

At 20+ months, she is not even listening to our instructions and will insist to do her own thing with her favourite NO! NO! NO!. But then, just now hubby asked her if she wants to perform and she nodded her head. Oh well, after the 2, 3, 4, 6 surprise, I'm willing to let her try anything as long as it is safe. The exposure will be good for her. Keeping fingers crossed that she won't cry on stage or end up being traumatised. One thing for sure, Mummy will be there with a video cam to document her first stage performance, hee hee. ;)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Preparing for Raelynn's arrival

After Dr Wong reminded me for the second time yesterday to take out old clothes to wash, I decided not to procrastinate anymore. :P Just passed a basin of RaeAnne's old bb clothes for Filamie to handwash. Still got a bag of new clothes and a lot of nappies and blankets. Better wash bit by bit lar, nowadays weather so unpredictable. Also don't know whether will rain or not. Wait the clothes difficult to dry especially once monsoon season starts. :P

Decided to take a pix of the stuff I've bought for Raelynn so far. Most of the clothes were bought from BP or from Taka/Robinsons/BHG sale. The 3 piece ducky and pink sleepsuit sets were only $10 per set from BP. The cow shirts/pants are only 3 for $8+. :)

The loot excludes NB diapers and the bb cot we bought from Metro and a few items that I have not received from BP yet. Next time, she cannot complain that Mummy and Daddy 'pian xin' and that she only got hand me downs from cheh cheh liao. hee hee. ;)

32 weeks, 8 more weeks to go.... :)

32 weeks now, saw Dr Joycelyn Wong at TMC in the evening. At 31 weeks and 6 days. Baby Raelynn is 1.8kg and I've only put on 500+g this time. Weight now is 54.4kg and my waistline is already 39.5 inches. Faint! :P Raelynn gained 400g so hoping my weight gain has reach a plateau, already gained 12 kg so far from 42kg. ;) Dr Wong projects that Raelynn will be 3.2kg at 40 weeks. Her head is 29cm (average for now) and she's head down since 28 weeks so gynae said she'll stay down cos no more space for her to move up. Head is not very low and not engaged yet so no need to worry about preterm labour.

Dr Wong will start seeing me every 2 weeks from now on to monitor my progress. She also reminded me of the labour signs to watch out for (water bag burst or bleeding or contraction pain that gets worse and worse) :)

If contraction pain, need to activate hubby once it reaches 10 mins frequency and need to leave home for hospital once it reaches 5 mins frequency. Checked with Dr Wong regarding pain relief. She said for second time MTBs, if want epi, must take it between 3-4cm dilated. If dilated beyond that, then too late liao. Still have not decided whether to go for it cos my first dilation was very slow. She was reassuring as usual. She said for her no. 2, when she went to hospital with pain, she was only 2cm dilated, so decided on epi. She said for most 2nd MTBs, the really bad pain lasts for 1.5 hours if never use epi. She also shared that the gas and pethidine don't work well for the pain. Oh well, we'll see. Hope I make the right decision when the day comes. :P

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Chicken stew with potato and carrot


Tried making chicken stew today. Wanted to make English chicken stew but I searched online and there were so many different recipes so I mixed and matched the steps and ingredients and ended up with a 'char pa lang' English stew. ;) As long as it's different from the ginger oyster sauce chicken stew that I usually made cos that one reminds me too much of confinement food.

Ingredients (Preparation time: 1 hr, serving size: 3 adults and 1 toddler)
3 chicken thighs (remove fats and skin)
2 med carrots (cut into slices, about 0.5 cm thick)
2 potatoes (cut into 1 cm cubes)
Half a yellow/white onion (sliced) - can use less onion if you are not an onion fan
8 cloves of garlic (peeled)
2 cups of chicken stock (I added more cos I had a lot of frozen stock)
2 tablespoon of flour
Two 1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of oil
1 sprig of parsley (finely choppped) - can be omitted if don't like parsley

1. On a plate, combine the flour, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess. In a nonstick Dutch oven, heat the oil until hot by not smoking over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

2. Using the remaining oil from the chicken (add another tablespoon if the oil has disappeared), add the garlic, onions, fry until fragant. Then add carrots, potatoes, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables begin to brown, about 5 minutes.

3. Return the chicken to the pot and add the broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce to a simmer, and cover. cook, turning the chicken occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, about 20-30 minutes.

Verdict
RaeAnne loves the stew. I had lots of gravy so we poured over her rice. Guess she loves mushy, savoury rice more. Hubby didn't have anything bad to say this time and actually said it's nice. I thought the onions and parsley was overpowering (cos I'm not a fan of either) but he likes it this way. :)

Note:
i) The recipe said can add 1 cup of dry white wine and cook for 3 mins (after the vegetables have browned but before adding the chicken). But I didn't add wine cos cooking for RaeAnne.

ii) I added slightly less pepper and salt than the recipe called for cos afraid it'll be too hot or too salty for RaeAnne. Can use actual amounts stated if cooking for adults.

iii) I simmered the stew uncovered cos I had a lot of stock. Plus I was removing the scum from the chicken thigh bones which appeared as I started cooking.

iv) Best to use a real non stick pot. I use corningware pot cos my WMF stock pot was too big and my non stick saucepan is too small. Nearly spoilt the dish cos corningware is NOT non-stick and some parts was getting burnt after I took out the chicken and added the garlic/onion. I had to remedy that by adding more oil and adding stock before vegetables are properly browned. :P

Oh ya, RaeAnne said Rabbit yesterday and said onion today. She also made a good attempt to imitate Daddy saying Me, he, she and they. ;)

But the naughty gal poured the bowl of rice with ingredients and some soup at my mum's place when she got 'tired' of eating. Beat her hands but she has no reaction at all. My dad said I should beat her when she do it instead of shortly after. Little did he know that I'm counting to 10 to calm myself down. If not, I'm afraid I'll spank her even harder.

My younger bro (who is not married and has no kids) thinks that she has no reaction cos I didn't beat her hard enough. Well, first of all, he didn't witness the whole saga, I did beat her hard on her hands (not on her diapers cos that'll be cushioned). Secondly, a lot of toddlers this age are testing boundaries so I don't know whether it's worse to give her a reaction everytime she does something naughty or to ignore her antics so that she doesn't get a kick from doing it anymore.

Eg. she used to bite her nails all the time a few months ago and we'll keep shouting at her not to do it, pull her hands out, make a big huha. But after we gave up, she actually stopped doing it. Anyway, it's a fine balance that we need to find as parents. :P

Today, she bent my specs out of shape when I was on the bed in a drowsy mode after taking my cold medicine. Tried to bend it back and broke one of the handles. Sigh, got to go and replace my specs soon. Should have done lasik before conceiving no. 2. Then my problems would have been solved. :P

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Risoni with homemade pasta sauce

Tried a new recipe: Risoni with homemade pasta sauce. Bought risoni at NTUC when I chanced upon it cos it's not as 'kiddy' as ABC pasta but yet small enough for RaeAnne to swallow so no need to cut unlike elbow macaroni.

Checked out the ingredients of pasta sauce bottles and reverse engineered from there cos I don't dare to let RaeAnne take bottled pasta sauce yet. Tried out the recipe on Tues and decided to cut down on the onion used and increase the tomato puree from 1 tablespoon to 2 tablespoon. Thought she might like it since she loves the stir fried macaroni, which is also ketchup based.

Ingredients (Serves 3 adults & 1 toddler)
1 teaspoon of oil
1 teaspoon of garlic (chopped)
Half a white/yellow onion (chopped)
3 ripe tomatoes (cut, scald and remove skin then chop)
2 tablespoon of tomato puree (for taste and colour)
3 fresh mushrooms (chopped)
1 sprig of fresh parsley (chopped finely) (Can also use dried italian herbs or dried parsley instead)
3/4 chinese bowl of minced chicken
1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese (can add more if desired)
2 chinese bowls of Risoni (pasta that looks like rice bought from NTUC)

Steps
1) Boil the risoni with water with a few drops of oil (can add salt if you want). Drain the risoni and put into the serving bowls.
2) Use a thick base pot, use low/medium fire, add 1 teaspoon of oil and fry the garlic until fragant
3) Add the chopped onion and fry until it softens.
4) Add the chopped tomato and tomato puree, then turn to med/high heat, cook until onions and tomatoes soften.
5) Add parsley and mushrooms and stir.
6) When mixture boils, add the minced chicken until it is cooked
7) Add the parmesan cheese and stir through until melted.
8) Pour the pasta sauce over the risoni and serve. :)

Verdict:
i) RaeAnne ate enthusiatically initially but lost steam after the 5-6 spoonful. Maybe she's not very used to the sour taste? :P Interestingly, after hubby started feeding her muffin, she started to pick up the spoon and eat the risoni herself on her own. Maybe the muffin was sweet so she prefers 1 mouthful of 'sour' followed by one mouthful of sweet stuff, more 开胃。 At least she ate more risoni than the cheese baked pasta but maybe can try adding some sugar to the pasta sauce next time. :)

ii) Hubby as usual was not very encouraging. He said he doesn't like the texture of risoni (found it too hard). Duh, it was cooked aldente and each risoni's so small, how hard can it be? And that he prefers a thicker sauce (that can be easily remedied with more tomatoes and cheese but I'm afraid RaeAnne won't like it too cheesy and tomatoey). In fact, he joked that we should feed RaeAnne muffin for lunch and muffin for dinner next time. She'll eat faster. Sigh, so demoralising to cook sometimes. I had to take time/effort to plan the weekend menu, buy ingredients, cook and try out the risoni recipe on Tues first, then improvise and cook again for RaeAnne today. Sometimes, I wonder if I just stop cooking and tapow food or order tingkat for all the meals next time. Save my efforts and time. :(

Oh ya, when she wanted to eat the sweet muffin instead of the pasta, hubby said you so smart ah, want to eat the sweet stuff only and she mimicked and said 'mart'. The 's' sound dropped as usual. :) Just now, she pointed to my feet and said 'big, big', I was wondering why she thought my foot was big. Then remembered that I had taught her about her 'big toe' last time. Haha.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Brushing teeth

Upgraded RaeAnne to stage 3 pigeon toothbrush (short soft bristles similar to adult toothbrush) since most of her 16 teeth are out. Bought a new strawberry flavour pigeon toothpaste for her too since she doesn't like the first teeth toothpaste anymore.

But once she tried it, she doesn't like it. Guess it must be still too hot/minty for her. Difficult to make her brush her teeth properly anymore. But at least I taught her how to spit out water from a cup after brushing her teeth. Must be consistent so that she won't end up swallowing the water. :P

I went to Taka member's sale with a friend yesterday. Bought some cheeky bon bon pillow case, bolster case and fitted sheet for RaeAnne, price was good cos less 20% plus less 15% for card members. Went to Tampopo and had the black pork shabu shabu and mini ramen. Satisfy my craving. :)

Had a cold since yesterday morning though. Sneezing yesterday, runny nose started today, took yellow pills, Vit C, echinacea and Augmentin. Self medicating, hope will get well soon. Filamie also started to sneeze today. Sigh, with both of us sick, hope RaeAnne won't catch the cold bug. :P

RaeAnne said 'Monkey' instead of 'wu wu wu' (her usual 'word' for Monkey). She also said '娃娃' when she saw the long forgotten 'new' doll that ye ye bought. :) Still trying to train her to say 'dog' instead of 'ow ow' and 'cat' instead of 'Mao' ;)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Singing & talking

RaeAnne is starting to parrot what we are saying, sometimes not 100% accurate but enough for us to guess what's she saying. She said 'remon' when I said lemon and she said 'Milk' with an US accent, (influenced by Filamie?) today too, LOL. I let her try some Koko crunch with fresh magnolia milk.

She likes us to sing to her too. So besides being car deejay, she'll dedicate songs and we have to sing for her usually around bedtime when we are trying to coax her to sleep. If she says 'ang ang ang' or 'mon', I have to sing the doraemon song. Nowadays, I'll sing and let her complete the last word. Eg. Ang ang ang, totemo daisuki dorae.... and she'll finish with 'Mon'.

She likes the "Pat a cake" song too cos there is an illustration of baby in the lyrics "put it in the oven for Baby and Me" in her the picture nursery rhyme book which we bought from a TMC push cart. Turns out to be a good buy cos they illustrate each nursery rhyme with many pictures instead of just 1 main picture for each nursery rhyme. Only problem is sometimes she wants to run back to the living room to get the book after saying baby, baby. She also likes the incy winsy spider song, she'll put her forefingers together to 'symbolize' the spider climbing up the spout. We put our thumb and little finger together to show the spider climbing but she can't quite get that yet. Haha.

Oh and she knows how to count but only 1 and 2. For one, she'll write 'yi' as taught by MIL. The other day, when we received the Parklon Pooh Multipurpose mat which we bought to put beside her little bed (delivery was sent to ILs place). MIL said she wanted to drag the big bumper mat out and said '2' and gestured with her fingers 2. hehe. :)

Strangely, she has been fake crying when I leave her at playgroup these few mornings. She has stopped doing that for some time. :P

Belina, my feb08 mummy friend recommended 2 books "Big sister" and the Usbourne Phonic series (with a hidden yellow ducky on each page), her daughter loves it. Will try and order from book depository soon. :)

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Ng ng = shh shh?

Ever since we moved RaeAnne to her own room, she's been waking up around 6+am. I suspect she always wakes up at this timing cos of the commotion in the house. First, the maid will get up, have her breakfast and clean up the living room. Then hubby will get up and do his morning routine of getting ready to go to work. Anyway, this morning when I carried her back to our bed to sleep, she took a long time to settle cos hubby was in the bathroom showering and the light was on.

After tossing and turning on the bed for some time, she pointed to her diaper and told me 'Ng Ng'. Was surprised cos she just pooed last night, should not be pooing so fast again. Then, when I touched her diaper, I realised that she just peed cos her diaper was very warm. I think she's trying to tell me that she wants to pee but doesn't know how to say shh shh, only ng ng. I changed her diaper lar since she is trying to communicate to me and I want to encourage her efforts. Haha. Still, it's an improvement, I've just ordered a set of 3 layer Minnie training pants for her from BP. Maybe can try letting her be diaperless this weekend. :)

Ng Ng...

RaeAnne didn't poo at all today at home or at ILs place. Then after her last milk feed, when I was lying down on the toddler bed with her, she said 'ng ng' to me. Ask her if she wants to 'ng ng' (poo) and she nodded her head. So, quickly brought her to the toilet. Put the child potty seat on the toilet bowl but she sit there for a while but no 'inspiration'. Put her on her potty instead and she started to poo after a short while. Think the low potty is more 'ergonomically' designed for her to poo poo. Anyway, I'm happy that she managed to tell me 'ng ng' today before she pooed instead of after the fact. Praised her 'clever girl' many times. :)

Raelynn is 31 weeks now. Wow! Just 5 more weeks before Dr Wong said I should pack my hospital bag and 6 more weeks before she's considered full term at 37 weeks. Think I better start washing her clothes in a few weeks time. ;P

Saturday, October 3, 2009

The princess and the pea

No, we DO NOT have a hundred mattress in the house but after buying another cot today, I'm reminded of Princess and the pea because the number of kiddie beds/cots stands at a grand total of 3! Seems like an overkill since we only have 2 kids. :P

The 'baby' room already has an ikea queen size sofa bed and a big white Taurus cot belonging to RaeAnne. I also have a Arm's reach cosleeper bassinet beside our bed which we never kept though we only used it until RaeAnne was 6 months old. The bassinet is not recommended after 6 months or once the baby can turn/flip because there is only one level and 1 side is 'open' concept.

Debated whether to buy a second cot cos the house is really too small but I wanted to start sleep training for Raelynn on the right foot. For RaeAnne, we made many mistakes, in the day, she was sleeping on the bouncer in the living room, then she slept on the queen size ikea bed with the CL during my 40 days confinement. At ILs place, they put her to sleep on a bouncer and even tried the sarong. Then after confinement, she slept on the cosleeper bassinet in our room until 6 months when we moved her to the big white cot in her own room. When she refused to fall asleep in the cot, we put her to sleep on our bed then moved her to the cot in her room after she has fallen asleep. Then, when her teething hit big time in June this year, she coslept with us on our bed cos hubby was too tired to keep patting her back to sleep and putting her back to her cot only to have her wake up and the cycle starts all over again.

I think the easiest time to sleep train is when she is still a baby. I heard of parents whose babies have no problem falling asleep on their own in a cot because right from the moment the baby left the hospital, the baby was left alone in the cot to fall asleep on his own. Parents should not rock or use other sleep aids cos that will make the baby reliant on this sleep aids and as a result, they cannot self soothe and go back to sleep when they wake up. So, I thought if we have a cot for Raelynn, we can put her to sleep there right from the beginning and save ourselves the hassle of sleep training and retraining over and over again.

Got to know from forum that Metro was having a baby fair and there's a Shears cot on offer at $159 with free 4 inch mattress and free musical mobile. Couldn't find the ad on Straits Times (it was actually Friday's Today newspaper) but located the ad on the website.

Went down to see the cot today at Sengkang Metro and tried the cot side release mechanism. Very particular about this because for RaeAnne's cot, I needed two hands and 1 leg to lower the cot side. Very pek chek, cos I could NEVER lower it even with 2 hands free, let alone when one arm is already carrying a baby. :P The Shears cot was smaller than RaeAnne's cot at 65cm (W) x 124cm (L) x 120cm (Ht) and it has only 3 adjustable levels and feels rather flimsy. But the cot side is more easily released, best using 2 hands but still possible to do it with 1 hand with some skills.

Went to Kiddy palace to compare prices and their cheapest and smallest cot was 67cm x 128cm and it costs $199 just for the cot and need to top up another $49 for the 4" inch mattress. Decided to buy the Shears cot from Metro since it's a steal since the price is comparable to Ikea cot or a second hand cot.

We were home rather late and RaeAnne fell asleep in the car at 1+pm. Reached home and put her to her little bed but she woke up soon after that. All of us went down to wash car since we have lots of second rinse water from this morning's laundry. RaeAnne was very excited and happy to witness the whole cleaning process. She kept running around say 'And And' cos there were many ants in the carpark especially under the big tree. She also dipped her fingers into the dirty water in the pail when I was busy giving instructions to Filamie about the windscreen. I already told her not to do that and pulled her away many times. Naughty gal, too curious and wants to join in the 'fun'. :P

Had facial at 4pm today so I rushed to pick up some missing ingredients at Tampines NTUC cos decided to try the Baked macaroni with cheese recipe from Little Gastronomy. http://littlegastronomy.blogspot.com/2009/09/macaroni-and-cheese.html

It was one of the more tedious recipes I tried (many steps and preparation) but I'm glad it turned out to be a success. Bad thing is I found out that RaeAnne doesn't like cheesy stuff (like Mummy) cos hubby said she ate around 10 pieces of macaroni at most. :P

Today is 中秋节but we were too busy cooking dinner to 赏月,it was raining anyway. But we did have pomelo to celebrate the occasion, nearly forgot about the pomelo in the goodie bag that we got from the celebration at the park last week. The pomelo was nice and sweet, just slightly bitter and helped to take away the 'jelat'ness of the Mac & cheese. Even RaeAnne likes it. :)

We were still left with half a dish of baked cheese macaroni after all of us have eaten (3 adults and 1 toddler). Duh, looks like we got to have that for breakfast tomorrow. Baked cheese macaroni, anyone? ;P

Hubby tried putting RaeAnne to sleep when I left the house for my facial but she refused to nap. So, we tried putting her to bed earlier today at 9pm. She got cranky cos she couldn't settle to sleep. End up hubby and I had to take turns to carry her before she finally fell asleep on hubby's shoulders then we transferred her to her bed. Sigh. :P

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Happy Children's Day!

RaeAnne is a good gal today! Because she ate most of the stir fried macaroni for lunch. Maybe it helped that I ate my lunch with her while Filamie fed her. She even tried to scoop macaroni for me and wanted to feed me. Her romper and pants are all stained with ketchup sauce after the meal but it's part and parcel of her learning to self feed process. :P

Last night, RaeAnne woke up at 2.25am screaming for Daddy, daddy. Hubby slept very late and was knocked out so I decided to lie down beside her and soothe her back to sleep. The next time, she woke up, it was 7.15am so I consider this an improvement from previous nights.

I made milk for her at 1:15pm. She was a bit sleepy I think, at least she was willing to lie on her bed instead of running around but she kept farting and true enough she poo poo around 2:15pm (she didn't do it when I brought her to toilet at 2pm, she peed instead). Told Filamie to lie down on her mattress and pretend to sleep and ignore her whatever she do.

Finally, at 3pm, after she exhausted herself running from her bed (where I was lying down) to Filamie's side, and playing with the ABC mat on the floor, she knocked out on Filamie mattress with her body on the floor from waist down. She woke up at 430pm refreshed and in good mood. I was sitting on the floor using my laptop when she woke up.

Made pan fried salmon with some salt and pepper (it kept oozing oil on its own that I had to use 4 kitchen towels to soak up the oil before giving it to RaeAnne), got Filamie to fry egg omelete and I made local spinach soup using ikan bilis stock with fish cake.

MIL gave me the fishcake and it expires tomorrow. Paranoid about the MSG listed as one of the ingredients so washed it with water twice and soaked it with hot water. Since it's Children's day, asked hubby to come back a bit earlier so that we can go out after early dinner. Initially wanted to go to TM but decided on Giant so that I can buy big flower pots to repot my pandan leaves. Bought a small dustbin for RaeAnne (she loves to step on our house's pedal bins and 'Thow' things but most times she uses her hand to lift the lid.) So dirty! So I decided to get a small one for her to play and thow things in. Can ask Filamie to wash her little dustbin everyday. Also got her a barn puzzle game with die cuts of the animals. :)

We came back at 915pm and after everyone showered, it was 10pm when I gave her milk. Luckily, she fell asleep around 10:25pm tossing and turning on her bed with me beside her. Hope this is the start of earlier nights from now on. :)