Welcome to the New Piggy Family

Piano

2012-01-28T17:13:00.004+08:00

3 days before the LNY sale ends at Yamaha, we finally bite the bullet and bought a piano. Been hesitating for the longest time because it is so expensive. But checked with a few friends whose kids are taking music lessons, even though they bought a Stagea (junior electone $2k+) and a digitial piano ($1k+) respectively, their music teachers still ask them to let the kids practise on a piano because the keys are different. Also for grade 1 exam (usu when the kid reaches pri 1), they will still need a piano.

That is just 3 years away since RA is already 4 yrs old. Really don't want to end up buying 2 instruments in less than 3 yrs so hubby decided to buy the cheapest junior piano at $3390. This junior piano will last the 2 gals till they are grade 4 ie. abt 8 yrs incl RL and there is trade in value after that, so it is a less painful decision to make.

Sometimes, I do wonder if RA has the commitment and dedication to learn and practise the piano but since music is the only enrichment which I consider a must have, I feel that I should at least get her the right instrument to try my best to nurture that interest.

She doesn't need to go all the way to Grade 8 or be qualified to be a piano teacher but at least I hope she can recognise all the musical notes and play a few simple pieces for enjoyment. Up to primary school is good enough. If she has no interest, she can stop and I will save that $ and let Mei Mei learn more instead (if she is interested).

Maybe it's because both me and hubby were not privileged to learn the piano. Maybe it's because I just don't want them to feel handicapped to join the band or choir when she is in Secondary school or JC like me cos I can't read notes at all. Anyhow, worse come to worse, I will take up adult piano lessons to make good use of the piano and fulfil my childhood dream if both gals are not keen. :P

Problem now is where to put the 177kg piano? Our flat is small enough and worse, it needs an electric point for its dehumidifier. Duh.... :P

Happy 4th birthday to RaeAnne n happy Chinese new year!

2012-01-24T04:46:00.003+08:00

RaeAnne's birthday is close to Chinese new year but this yr, it was the closest ever cos she turned 4 on 年三十. Had to rush through her celebration in school on 20 Jan afternoon amidst spring cleaning efforts, her school's cny celebrations on 20th, celebrating our customary wedding anniversary on 21 Jan, actual birthday on 22 Jan when we had to do reunion lunch at ILs n reunion dinner at my parents, uncles n aunties. Last year, we did not get to celebrate cny due to our car accident so this yr it is payback time.

We brought a 2kg strawberry shortcake cake to school at the teacher's insistence but it was too much cos being cny celebration, 4 kids did not turn up for school, 1 left early half day plus the kids have their little tummies filled with cny goodies. So, I asked the teacher to give more second helpings n the teachers to eat more cos I really dun want to bring 2 kg cake box back. My fridge has no space anyway cos overstocked for cny. We bought her a birthday present that she chose herself which was a gal's make up kit. The box said 5 yrs n above but she loved putting on the eyeshadow n different lipsticks so much that I can't bear to stop her. Luckily, the colours were light so she didn't look that bad. :)

On 22 Jan morning, we brought her to snow city cos she has been requesting for 1 week to play with snowballs after she watched mr popper's penguins on mio demand tv. We only brought RA as Mei Mei has been nursing a runny nose for more than 1 week so had to drop Mei Mei at ILs house first. It was a long drive to jurong n she fell asleep on the way. When we reached, it was already 11am n we had to be back at ILs place at 12+pm for reunion lunch so it was really a mad rush. Luckily there was a small eatery at snow city itself so we had some cheese hot dog n warm Milo for bf first.

Had to pay for the warm winter clothings but even their smallest gloves are too big for RA n they kept slipping off. She had fun at the snow slides n the snow tyres. We took pictures with the snowmen n since no cameras were allowed, we had to pay the exorbitant fees of $55 for 5 6R photos but well, once a yr is still ok right?

We had late reunion lunch at ILs place, the gal's didn't eat much. They didn't eat much at my mum's place where we had steamboat dinner too so they took turns n woke up a few times on last night to wee hrs of morning to cry for me n to ask for milk. Didn't get much rest n today was a busy day of visiting to ILs place in the morning at 10+am, then rushed to my mum's at 11am cos I am supposed to cook pen cai for lunch. Luckily, it turned out ok. Not salty upon my parents' taste n no pork or pork stock, the way my mum wanted it.

A hectic week so far. Today, chu2, was thinking of visiting my 2nd aunt but nothing else planned so we see how it goes. Time to R&R...

At last, some progress...

2012-01-09T23:47:00.003+08:00

Today, I put my foot down and told the teacher I don't want to keep bringing her back after lunch. Firstly, because the CC is already collecting gym enrichment fees from me cos gym class is starting tomorrow. No point paying for it if she is going to be absent in the afternoons right? So, I told the teacher, today, since I am not going out, we try to drag her timing. I will come when they call if she is crying badly. Tomorrow (Tues), I want her to start full day. To me, there is no point prolonging the agony. Even if I let her go on half day for 2 weeks, come the 3rd week, she will still cry as if it was the first day of school once she is forced to nap in school. So, instead of crying for 1 month, why not let her cry for 2 weeks?

Although the teachers didn't call me, I went to check on her at 1245pm. She hadn't slept yet but the teacher said she was not crying very loudly so the teacher left her be. I went to have my lunch at the CC foodcourt downstairs so that I can be on standby. At 120pm, when I went back to the CC, the teacher said she has already fallen asleep. Maybe she was also drowsy from her cold med cos she has slight runny nose. So, I went back home. But at 250pm, the teacher called me and said she has woken up and started crying. Told teacher to let her have her tea break first. So, I rushed to prepare soup for dinner and put it in the slow cooker before leaving the house cos I know I won't have much time to cook once she is home.

When I picked her up at 4pm, she was not crying at all. Think I am lucky cos there were 2 birthday celebrations, one in the morning, one in the afternoon so that also helped cos she was happily eating cake n holding onto her goody bag which contained a storybook.

Tom, i got to go office for meeting n there's gym class in afternoon so will try putting her for full day. Keeping fingers crossed. :p

Car accident - 1 yr on

2012-01-09T00:21:00.003+08:00

Just realised that today (since already past midnight) is the 1 yr anniversary of our major car accident. Although we didn't hit anyone but a tree, both of us ended up with bone fractures (compression fractures in the spine for me and left hand meta carpa for hubby) Hubby had an operation, the metal plate is still stuck in hubby's left hand and he experience slight numbness. By right, he can choose to remove the plate but that means reopening the wound. Ouch! As for me, I'm stuck with chronic backache whenever I carry RL for too long. Hiaz. Feeling like an old woman already. Yikes... :P

But of course, glad to survive the accident and got chance to bitch about it. To be surrounded by our two lovely but naughty gals. :)

Swimming lessons! :)

2012-01-08T23:02:00.004+08:00

Just started private swimming lessons at Tampines swimming pool for the gals today. The instructor, Mr Terry Tan, was recommended by Happy Fish. The toddler class is for kids 2-4 yrs old, $250 for 1 kid, $300 for 2 kids. My cousin, Shirley, wanted to enrol her kids aged 4 n 6 too, but we couldn't find a common timing. Sun mornings she cannot cos her kids attend church. She wanted Sat mornings but most instructors are full conducting the group classes so cannot conduct private class, unless we go to the Sengkang swimming pool which I'm not very keen. :P

Anyway, for the first lesson, RA did quite ok. With us around, she is not shy around Terry at all and can follow instructions to paddle, blow bubbles etc. RL has a bit of phobia of water, she will scream if we just drizzle water over her head to make her 'blow out' with her mouth. Instructor said I can actually choose to start her when she is older eg. 4. Ie, just let her play water while Cheh cheh is having lessons. Oh well, will see how, swimming lessons supposed to strengthen their lungs but we didn't have a good start. RA is having a cough and RL having a runny nose. Got nagged by grandparents for bringing them swimming when they are already sick. Duh. :P

Dec School holidays ending for me today. Hubby already gearing up cos had meetings all week. Even on his birthday last Fri, he had whole day meeting. So, I brought some 爱心便当 of curry chicken and fish maw meat ball soup. Tomorrow, he will start his 11 hr work days again. Leave the house at 645am, come back at 6:15pm again. The start of chaotic mornings for me to handle 2 gals to prepare them for school. RL is still on half day until teacher gives the go ahead. RA started her usual drama of 'I don't want to go to school, I want to go Nai Nai house, I don't want Mummy to work. I want Mummy 照顾我.

Hiaz, she really wears down my resolve to continue to work freelance. First of all, Elfa has no half day childcare from Nursery class onwards so if she does not change school, she has to sleep in school which she hates. Even if I want to pull them out and put them at PCF kindergarten, there are no vacancies. Registration for pcf is super kiasu, reg has already ended in April 2011. Even if there are vacancies, their lessons are very short, just 3 hrs. So, I have to cook lunch, then bring the gals back from school, feed them lunch, shower them, eat my lunch and put them to bed. I am not confident I can do this alone without a maid but I don't earn enough to hire a maid. Hope the new year is better cos I thought about it for long time, but don't have any solutions to this problem. :(

Raelynn's 1st 3 days at Elfa CC

2012-01-06T00:30:00.004+08:00

Raelynn started going to Elfa CC on Tues since it was a long weekend. First day, brought her back after lunch as advised by Teacher Irene. RA saw me but didn't protest. I bluffed her Mei Mei has diarrhea, that's why teacher asked me to bring her back.

Second day, I wanted to leave her there longer. At least try to keep her there to try to nap, but teacher called again that she is crying badly so rushed to pick her. Today, I was out at work so Nai Nai went to pick her up after lunch. She said she did not cry when she went. Today, RA came back during evening and complained to me why Mei Mei went back earlier than her.

Didn't expect Mei Mei to take so long to adjust since she only took 3 days to get used to Learning Train playgroup. But I guess she never slept outside home or Nai Nai's house before so it will take longer. But hubby is going back to work next Monday. Think I will make a judgement call by end of next week. If I have to keep bringing her back after lunch, might as well convert her to half day instead of full day.

RA's first Yamaha concert

2011-12-17T16:55:00.003+08:00

Today, RA just had her yamaha class concert, she's a bit distracted cos so many pp in her classroom (even Nai Nai came to lend her support) but at least she did not have stage fright. Compared to the first time she performed a dance with her playgroup classmates at 2 yrs old, must say she really grew up. Too bad, she is still not ready for unaccompanied enrichment classes though. -_-

Brought her for ballet trial at Crestar, Abacus Plaza but she did not want me to leave the room. How to sign up like that? Anyway, we decided to start private swimming lessons on Sunday morning at Tampines swimming pool. I think $300 for 2 tots is quite steep but hubby said we just go for it. The gals have been having cough and cold nearly every month, we spend a lot of $ bringing them to see dr anyway. Since, swimming supposed to strengthen the lungs, we will try it out and see if it improves their health.

Next yr, she is starting on Yamaha's Junior Musician class so we need to get an instrument for her to practise but I'm not sure which instrument to buy. The full height piano costs $5-8k. If I buy a piano at $3k plus (supposed to last for 10 yrs), will she lose interest? If I buy a digital piano at $1k plus, will I end up having to top up more if she does have the interest. Dilemma.

Happy anniversary!

2011-12-16T00:29:00.003+08:00

So fast, we have said 'I do' 7 years ago. 七年之痒? I definitely think it is up to us to make our marriage work forever, hope never to lose that loving feeling even though we are so busy looking after the kids without a maid for the last 6 months and harassed by our 2 night birds gals who sleep between 11-12 midnight daily and shuttle in our busy daily routines. Especially hard on hubby who gets only average of 5 hrs of sleep everyday cos his working hours are super long as a teacher.

Happy anniversary Dada! 辛苦你了! :)

Raelynn scissorhands

2011-12-16T00:12:00.004+08:00

Last week, I took my eyes off RL for 3 mins while she was cutting paper with a tiny pair of scissors at ILs place cos I went to the toilet. When I came back, I was surprised to see thin strips of black paper on the floor. Was wondering to myself how could her fine motor skills be so advanced to cut paper so accurately. Then I had a rude shock, the stuff on the floor was not paper, it was her hair! This naughty gal had tried to imitate Nai nai and cut chunks of her hair from both side off. Although there was no obvious ugly hole at the back, but her hairstyle was definitely disproportionately layered so Nai Nai had to remedy the damage. So she trimmed her hair very short and now she looks like 'ah dude' with coconut head hair. There goes my hope of taking a family photo in dec since I signed up with Pic perfect at Suntec in July when taking my ERA photos.

Today, she wanted to cut paper so I took out RA's Kumon workbook for her and tried to teach her to cut. She only managed the first cut so had no patience cutting lines. Then when I tried to help her cut out a pineapple shape, I turned around and saw that she did it again. She cut a tiny chunk of hair off again. I beat her hands and scolded her this time but she didn't even bian zui nor cry. Not repentant at all. Grr... no more real scissors for Mei Mei, only plastic scissors from now on.

Evidence of her holding strands of hair in her fingers and proudly admiring her masterpiece... Maybe, she wants to be a hairstylist in future? :P

RaeAnne's first concert at Elfa :)

2011-12-02T23:17:00.003+08:00

Her dance piece was I like to move it move it by Madagascar. She is sick with flu but managed to perform with the help of panadol. But I went to backstage and brought her home shortly after her performance though the concert has not ended so that she can rest more at home. :)

Happy 2nd Birthday to RaeLynn!

2011-12-02T22:43:00.005+08:00

Our little Mei Mei (RaeLynn) is 2 years old. She is 82cm tall and 11.5kg. Just 500g more than RA when she was two yrs old. RA was taller at 85/86cm though. :P

In terms of speech development, she can say short sentences. Some of them very well eg. I want 这个. Me, me, Mine. I want Mummy 抱抱. 找奶奶, 找Mummy. I want take/throw/jump, I want 穿裙,I want 穿鞋, I want cheese. 姐姐打. Oops! :P

Physical development - she can climb very well much to ye ye and Nai Nai's constant worries. She will dance and move to the music. She can take aim and throw a ball. She can walk with alternate foot on the staircase if someone holds her hand. Her favourite part is jumping off at the last step. :)

Social development - strangely, she is not as sociable as before. Eg. she will say hi five to certain close family, but no longer does it with school teachers and admin. She will still wave bye bye to everyone she doesn't know though. :)

We had her school bd party early yesterday cos today is RaeAnne's Elfa CC year end concert. Strangely, Mei Mei refused to eat her birthday cake though it was strawberry flavour Elmo cake from Polar. Previous yrs, we always ordered from Prima Deli cos it was the nearest bakery from our home. She did blow out the candle on cue though. :)

Bought 2 presents for her, one Elmo toy guitar that costs $36.90 (b4 30% discount) and a Elmo colouring pencil set that costs just $3 from Toy R Us Warehouse sale. She took only a few glances at the toy guitar but instead both gals clamoured over the $3colouring set. When we brought her to Toy R Us, she picked a pink cow potty seat and refused to let go of it so we bought it for her as bd present from the grandparents since they gave her ang pows. She went around holding her potty seat in her hands using it as her hat or trying to sit on it like a rocking horse. Quite a sight at Tampines Mall and hubby was quite embarassed. Moral of the story, it doesn't take much to satisfy a kid's imagination. ;)

But she stopped using it as a hat after her head got stuck in the potty seat ring when she was playing with it at home. :P

Stayacation at Resorts World

2011-11-19T18:41:00.006+08:00

Back from our stayacation with the gals and MIL at Festive Hotel. Checked in on Thurs and made use of the Mastercards promotion 3d2n with 2 free Universal studio tics and 2 free Voyage De La Vie tics at $590. I had to rush out 1 hr after checking in to see the Bedok Residences showflat on Thurs at 430pm.

Came back to Resorts World at 7+pm, gobbled down Pu tien fried bee hoon and fried rice which hubby tapowed earlier. Then booked a spa treatment last minute and enjoyed a green tea scrub and aroma massage at Spa Republic on Thurs night so that hubby and MIL can bring the kids to Voyage De la Vie. Only 2 tickets anyway. They left the show shortly after cos hubby said the show too quiet and the kids were too noisy. Luckily, I didn't join them. Keke.

Next morning, had bread from Breadtalk. Then we went to USS at 10am on Fri. Not that much crowd but still need to queue 5 mins for entry. RA went for 6 rides (boat ride and merry go round at Madagascar, Shrek 4d & Donkey Live show, Dragon kids roller coaster and Mini Ferris Wheel at Far Far away. RL only managed the first two rides but she didn't enjoy them nor does she like taking photos with the characters. She kept crying. Maybe she's too young or she was hungry. I was surprised by RA cos she said she wanted to go for the Dragon ride but I dun think she realised what a roller coaster was. Even I closed my eyes throughout cos I am always freaked out by roller coasters. She had a blank dazed look after the 3 mins 'hell ride' but I am really proud that she did not cry or scream during the ride. After I told her she's so brave, she said "I want mummy 抱抱." kekeke.

RL ko at the park at 3+pm, so we came back. But after we reached hotel room, she woke up cos hubby put her down on the baby cot too suddenly. So, MIL was the only one who managed to catch a siesta while we entertain the gals. Decided to go for international buffet dinner at Hard Rock hotel with MIL since we seldom get the chance to dine out with her. Per pax was $68++ but luckily got 10% discount for Masters card. The kids dine free since below 4 yrs old. Phew! Food was ok, not the best buffet we had. Couldn't load our plates with the sashimi and oyster and other seafood cos MIL didn't like us eating cold, raw food. hehe.

Then at 8+pm, we slowly walked back to USS for the fireworks show. We were just in time, cos it started at 9pm instead of 930pm which we were told by the hotel reception. The fireworks were beautiful, RA enjoyed it but RL was a bit frightened by the loud sounds. Came back at 9+pm and had an early night at 11+pm.

All in all, quite a good experience. Both gals enjoyed climbing up and down the loft bed which freaked MIL out. RA had her fill of her favourite bubble baths at the bathtub. RA had 3 bubble baths in 3 days. Didn't let them go swimming since both were dripping mucus and coughing.

Only comment was there there is not enough food variety at USS and the hotels. In the morning, the one and only Toast box had a long queue cos there was nowhere else for bf. At the huge USS foodcourt, there were only 4 types of food, laksa, wanton mee, chicken rice or kids nuggets meal. For dinner, variety outside was ok but hotels, it was sad. Imagine there was no restaurants serving buffet at our own Festive hotel so we had to walk over to Hard Rock Hotel. :P

First play

2011-10-23T02:20:00.003+08:00

Brought the gals to their first play at Esplanade today. It's one of their playtime programmes called 'What a Noisy Zoo'. It was their first experience sitting on the floor with a raised stage in front of them, people dressed up in costumes dressed as zookeeper or animals. Due to the floor seating, their view was blocked by taller kids in front who couldn't see cos they were blocked by the kids in front of them. Not an ideal situation for tots aged 2-4 yrs old cos they are already shorter than other pp in the first place.

But at least the play was interactive so lots of kids are shouting, singing and dancing. Not mine though, Mei Mei pooed in her diapers when we first went in and there was no time to change her unless we miss the 40 mins play so we let her be. RL didn't understand much anyway and she was too short to see anything so Daddy carried her to the back where there was 1 row of chairs. RaeAnne joined Daddy and Mei Mei at the back half the time.

But I think she did enjoy the play cos after she came back, she kept telling me that she went to the zoo, even told Nai Nai. And she said the monkeys are very naughty cos they took the zookeeper's keys and ran out of the zoo. She even asked me which animals in the zoo fell asleep (the segment she missed cos she went to look for daddy) but I had no idea either cos I was busy chatting with the other Feb mummies. kekeke. :P

4 tickets cost $50 so each ticket was just $12.50, slightly more than a movie ticket so I won't complain even though both kids weren't very enthusiastic. I was glad we didn't have to waste the tickets cos the gals, hubby and me took turns to succumb to stomach flu. Mei Mei brought back the bug on Fri, then it quickly spread to RA, ILs and us. Luckily, we recovered enough to go for the play though I'm still feeling queasy due to my gastric problem triggered again by this bad bout of stomach flu. RA did complain that she missed her music class a few times though so I told her next time if Mummy brings her for a play, I will make sure it won't clash with her music class. :P

Anal fissure & separate bedtime

2011-10-11T23:39:00.005+08:00

Raelynn gave me a shock last night when i changed her diaper for her. She told me ng ng after she stood beside her cot bed for a while so I knew she pooed. What I didn't expect was the huge amount of sticky blood on the poo. It wasn't a bit, it was a lot. Took a pic before wrapping up the diaper cos thought may need to consult PD or GP.

Problem with Raelynn is that she doesn't like to eat fruits nor vegetables (not even evergreen favourites like strawberries or golden kiwi or apples, papaya or watermelon which RaeAnne loves. So, she has hard stools once in a while. But the strange thing is that last night's poo in her diapers wasn't hard. It was quite soft actually. Hubby googled and think it's an anal fissure. Possible, cos I've seen a slight crack before but that was a long time ago. Maybe it got worse. Asked MIL to give her more fruit juice but she suggested yakult. Don't think that will help with her cough. But don't know which is the lesser of two evils now. :P

Tried a new strategy in order to make the gals sleep earlier. Got hubby to bring RL into the bedroom to sleep since she refused her bedtime milk feed (as usual). I kept RA with me as I hang the clothes (Had to do laundry cos RL's mamy poko diaper leaked again last night, too loose? :P). While I showered, I made RaeAnne do colouring in my bedroom so that she won't go and disturb Mei Mei. By the time I finished shower at 10pm, hubby was successful and Mei Mei had slept.

Was feeling good when I brought RA into their bedroom to sleep at 10pm. She talked non stop but in hushed tones cos I told her not to wake Mei Mei up. She finally fell asleep close to 11pm. But who knows, I saw Mei Mei sucking her thumb and pull it out, she hardly does it nowadays unless she is hungry in her sleep. She started to fidget, scratch herself all over and in the end, she woke up. Arghh!!! Think she was probably hungry so I made 200ml of milk and she drank all. After I left to wash the milk bottles, she didn't go back to sleep, and started to call 'Mummy... Mummy...' from the bedroom. Bo bian had to ask hubby to go back and settle her cos I need to do work tonight.

Morale of the story. Next time, must ask hubby to dreamfeed after putting her to sleep... -_-

WARNING!!! Don't scroll down if you don't want to see any gross pic ...

Height charts

2011-10-02T01:15:00.004+08:00

Haven't measured the gals for a long time ever since I stopped taking monthly photos for RL, just too busy after Maid left. RA is now 99cm tall, while RL is 81cm. :)

RL's birthday is just 2 months away. We will be having a party at her school and it's time to think about birthday cake designs. She really loves Elmo, loves her red Elmo socks (it's cute to see her wearing t shirt and diapers plus elmo socks), loves her Elmo music player book, and Elmo sticker book. I already bought party packs fillers 2-3 months ago from the party shops outside Bugis Junction so I am not going to change that. But at least I can find an Elmo cake for her, luckily Polar Cakes has sesame street theme so that's not difficult. Need to collect cake early in the morning though. :P

Brought the gals to Bedok Point for the first time cos suaku Mummy never been there before. We ate at Kungfu Paradise and the gals enjoyed the Mui Fan and esp Mushroom soup. RL started a runny nose, while RA started a slight cough, even Hubby. Sigh, think I'm the guilty one passing the bug cos I have been sick again since Monday. After 2 rounds of antibiotics for the previous 2 weeks, usual GP didn't want to give me any more antibiotics. But the runny nose, sneezing progressed to blocked nose and coughing after 5 days. Think I need to see dr again tom. Sigh. When will we stop cross infecting one another?

Sisterly love or not?

2011-09-28T10:25:00.002+08:00

Sometimes, I wonder if RA loves her little sister. Because she always wants to take away the toy that Mei Mei is holding. A few times, she did give the toy that she snatched back to Mei Mei but need constant reminder or bribes for other things before she will do it. I will exaggerate my praises for her when she does it so that she feels appreciated. :P

Her Mei Mei is like a little puppy, will fetch RA's shoes for her, fetch toothbrush, water bottle for her but Cheh Cheh 不领情. Sometimes, RA will deliberately refused to take from Mei Mei or even take and throw away to spite Mei Mei. When RA cries, she will offer her own toy to Cheh Cheh, or even goes to sayang her hair or stroke her back.

RaeAnne gets her own time with us cos we pick her up after CC then go for dinner usually to Tampines Mall. Sometimes, we let her buy small stuff eg. stickers. I will always remind her that she gets to go out with us, eat her favourite foods, see fish/toys, buy stickers etc but poor Mei Mei is at MIL house, so she must be nice to Mei Mei and give in to her. Sometimes, when we pick her up from CC, she will ask us where is Mei Mei. And when we are outside, she will ask us to buy something for Mei Mei (usually things that she wants for herself ;P), but at least I guess it means she remembers Mei Mei.

But come bedtime, they are best friends. Play and hug and sing and tickle each other. Don't want to sleep till 1-2 hrs later. If I try to separate them, eg. ask hubby to bring Mei Mei to living room to sleep. RA will run out to rescue Mei Mei or whine and plead with me to let Mei Mei come back to the room while Mei Mei will be in the living room, crying 'Mamee Come, Mamee come, Mamee come'. Then I will get soft hearted and let hubby bring her back to the room. End up both of them sleep very late, 11+pm. -_-

Backdated posts - Aug & Sept 11

2011-09-26T14:06:00.013+08:00

Whenever, both hubby and I didn't need to work on weekends, I will ask him to bring the gals out. Partly cos I feel guilty that I am spending so little time with them in the day, no quantity time so make up with quality time. And also because I didn't want them to become mountain tortoises cos Daddy and Mummy are busy. Poor hubby is always busy on weekends with markings and tuition and laundry so he is even more stressed nowadays.

Here are the backdated posts. Took me over 1 hour just to transfer and organise the old pics from camera to laptop. :P

8 Aug 11

RaeAnne's finally drew her first stick figure. Noticed that the stick man has no waist, looks a bit like an insect to me initially. But heard that it's normal for young kids to draw this way. Haha.

9 Aug 11

We had our first picnic at Pasir Ris Park. Both RA and RL didn't dare to step on the sand. But they polished off all the food that I brought, hard boiled egg, sushi and chrysanthenum tea. :)

8 Sept 11

We visited the Pasir Ris farm on 8 Sept during the schools holidays. It was the first time for me and RL, second time for Daddy and RA who visited the farm in Dec 09 during the PG year end outing after I had just given birth to RL. How time flies. Mei Mei was enchanted by the ducks while Cheh Cheh loves us to catch longkang fish for her. We got a total of 18 fish but only bought a fish tank 2 days later. By then, more than half of the fish had died. Then of the 5 fish in the fish tank, only 2 remained. :(

24 Sept
On Sat morning, cos hubby had to go back to school, I was alone with RA. We didn't bring RL back from MIL on Fri night because of that. I asked RA how to spell her name. And for the first time, she got it right. After R-A-E, she paused for a long time, then she said A-N-N-E. Yippee! I know it's nothing to shout about, considering some other Dec07/Jan08 mummies already know how to spell or write and even do K2 worksheets. But I never trained RA how to write, nor how to spell. The only thing we do every night is to read 2 bedtime stories to RA and sometimes 1 more for RL, so I'm proud of RA because she is able to do this on her own, without me coaching or rote learning. :)

25 Sept 11

It was supposed to be a playdate with 2 Feb08 mummies but the gals woke up late and hubby had tuition at 1pm so we need to leave at 11am. So, decided to go straight to Carpark C for Gallop Stables instead of meeting them at Carpark E & F for the playgrounds. The gals finally had their up close encounter with the ponies at Gallop Stables. RL sadly is the real 'gu niang'. After feeding the pony with hay for the first time with her outstretched hand, she was so freaked out with the slobbering tongue against her palm, that she cried and refused to feed anymore. She also refused to ride the pony, though we paid $10 for her ticket too. Luckily, a kind chinese family bought the ticket from us for their boy who wanted to ride one more time.

RA enjoyed herself feeding the pony. Proud of her, always thought she will be more 'gu niang'. She didn't enjoy her pony ride as much because her helmet was way too big (the indian/bangladeshi horse handler did not advise us at all on the size to pick and how to wear for her) and dropped off 4-5 times during the short 10 mins horse ride.

Crazy days

2011-09-26T14:01:00.004+08:00

It has been crazy days since the maid left and I started work. My blog has not been updated for 2 months. Many times, I wanted to blog about the places we brought the kids but either end up KO with them at 11+pm (sigh, this is their new bedtime) or I am just too tired after catching up on SMH posts and doing prop research at night.

Sigh, this morning, RL's diaper leaked onto her bed and RA merlioned her whole milk feed all over the bumper mat and floor cos she coughed. Hubby also late for work cos helping me to clean up. Everyday is a morning rush. Brought RA to school but forgot that it's RA's CC year end photo taking, so forgot to bring white socks. Got to walk back home to take and deliver to CC again.

This morning, just washing clothes, bedsheets, mopping floor, hang out the clothes, I'm all hot & sweaty till I got to shower at noon. All clean, lazy to go out for lunch and sweat again plus I want to sun the clothes till they dry, so decided to order pizza in. Will eat that for dinner also since tonight got to work.

Really thinking of throwing in the towel and hire another maid sometimes. But hearing all the Jan08 mummies maids' woes, reminds me of all the inconveniences I have to put up with. Sigh, 3 months plus of maidless life and counting. Tahan, tahan, tahan...

I will do a backdated summary of posts now while waiting for pizza or I'll never get to it. :P

FTWM

2011-08-29T23:58:00.003+08:00

It's been more than 2.5 years since I quit my full time job. The last few weeks I have finally transitioned back to being a FTWM. It have been crazy after I join the project teams for 2 condo projects. One is Arc@Tampines, an Exec Condo and the other is The Luxurie at Sengkang. Burned so many weekends and weekday nights camping outside the site or outside MRT station giving away flyers and explaining to passerbys on the condos. RaeAnne thinks my full time job is a flyer distributor. When she saw Arc@Tampines flyers on the floor in our estate, she told me: "Mummy, your flyer". Had to tell her that that one is not Mummy's face so it's not my flyer. haha.

Today, was selected to join the team to serve walk in customers at The Luxurie. Very lucky to get the chance since I'm not experienced like the rest of the old timers. It's a good experience serving walk in clients especially when I was one of those visiting Baywater showflat long long time ago.

Finally closed my first deal for rental today. Record price of $2700 for a 4rm unit in Tampines. But most importantly, I got the tenant profile that my landlord wants after answering more than 40 calls, shortlisting only 9 tenants for viewing and he only liked 2 tenant profiles. Finally, signed the tenancy agreement with the one who was renting at the next block. Talk about fate. haha.

Feel guilty towards hubby and especially the gals cos I really hardly have time with them since I started doing projects. Mei Mei gets it worse cos she will be at MIL place whole day from 11am till 9+pm. At least, for RA, we spend the evening with her after picking her up from CC at 6pm. Still working hard to find work life balance cos I have just started out on this career so got to be more 'piah' to expand my network. :P

Happy birthday to Maa Mee

2011-08-08T00:27:00.004+08:00

Last night, while at ILs house, RaeAnne was calling me, then I heard a lower, muffled Mummy. Wondered why RaeAnne's voice sounded so low, and turned around, then I heard it again. It was Raelynn calling Maa Mee. The first time since last year when I heard her call Mummy... Before this we have been trying for months, but when either Hubby or I ask her to call Mummy, she will point to me instead to indicate that I am her Mummy but she has never opened her golden mouth to call me. :P Asked her to call Mummy again last night and this morning, she said Maa Mee, Maa Mee repeatedly. Music to my ears. And it is really a timely birthday present for me. :)

My birthday morning started early at 5+am, with RaeAnne peeing on her bed but hubby helped to wash and hang the bedsheets after I rinsed it. But she did redeemed herself, by doing a flower artwork for me as present. It was actually supposed to be homework for her show & tell tomorrow. But since it's a flower, asked her to do it for me as my birthday present. Glad to say that she did it all by herself, from colouring to cutting and pasting, with a little bit of help from Mei Mei, who helped her to colour the shortest flower.

In the late morning, hubby brought the gals to ILs house. Hubby and I had a peaceful buffet lunch at Carousel, Royal Scotts on Plaza. Hubby even arranged for them to surprise me with a birthday cupcake. :) We had Curry fish head dinner at the CC foodcourt for dinner cos needed to buy a cake at Prima Deli and bring to ILs place. Bought a cake and brought it to ILs place for cake cutting with the gals cos we had forgotten about MIL's birthday last week on 31 July. Asked RA to sing a happy birthday song for Nai Nai first. Both RA and RL loved the cake though it was chocolate mint, keke. A relaxing and rewarding birthday indeed. :)

On course

2011-07-26T23:43:00.003+08:00

First day on course at ERA, delayed by 1 month. The course was enjoyable, learnt more tips from the trainers. :) Bad thing is that I need to take cab and rush there after sending RA to class and lock the door after MIL brings RL so taxi to and fro costs almost $30. :(

Good thing though is that ILs did well for the first day, MIL picked up RL at 11am then RA at 530-6pm. Both gals napped well (thanks to the cold/cough med ;P) and they had eaten and showered by 7pm. MIL has to leave for her karaoke lesson at 730pm so hubby and I went early after quick dinner at coffee shop to pick up the gals. We were home by 8pm so had ample time to shower and put the gals to sleep. Both of them slept before 10pm for once. :)

RaeAnne is 3.5 years old

2011-07-22T09:50:00.003+08:00

RaeAnne is 3.5 years officially today. Sigh, yesterday she refused to sleep after 1 hr. she slept on mei Mei's cot bed though I told her that Mei Mei will be coming back to sleep on it later. She moved back to her own place but was defiant, tried beating me or beating the bed beside me. When I tried to leave her since she wants to beat her, she fake cry and whine. Then she started to cough and vomited 1 small mouthful by the side of the bed, kept telling me never mind. I ask her to wipe herself so that she realise that someone has to clean up the mess she created. But she wipe the floor then wiped her mouth with the dirty wet wipe. So I hit her leg, how dirty can you be? She started to cry again. Told her to hush and drink water. Went back to sleep again, still sniffling, coughed again and this time she vomitted all over on the bed, dirtying the bedsheets again. Lost my temper at her and grabbed her from the bed roughly so that she won't vomit again on the bed. Feel guilty now. Sorry, darling. Mummy was feeling tired and grouchy but couldn't sleep cos you refused to sleep.

Actually, RA's been quite guai recently, even ILs said she was more guai than Mei Mei. Yesterday evening, she kept all the books and toys on the bumper mat (anyhow stuffed in though) cos I told her she needs to keep all the books, if not we are not bringing her to Ikea. Ikea's her fav place now. Every night, she wants to go to Ikea play area. But after we checked her in, she stays in for less than 10 mins. She would cry when I'm out of sight or not paying attention to her even though I am just outside the glass walls. Think the Ikea aunties must be getting impatient with us.

Sigh, I think what adds to the stress is not having a maid. But having a maid is a problem cos the gals become so reliant on the maid to do everything for them, the maid gives into everything they want too. Managing the maid is a different set of problems all together, can be different drama on air everyday. But not having a maid is also a problem, PT cleaners can't come everday, we can't afford them everyday anyway. End up the sofa, kids' toys and bumper mats are pertually dusty. I get tired of the endless wiping and cleaning up everyday esp when they are sick and vomitting.

Oh well, let's see how things progress after next Tues when I start my course and work 'full time'. Maybe if the kids and I are not in the house, once a week cleaning by the PT cleaner will be sufficient. :P

Belated post

2011-07-17T15:31:00.002+08:00

Long time no post. Busy looking after RL and running errands on my off days. Every Fri, I try to go for tuina cos my backache is really bad after 1 long day of looking after the kids and cooking.

Passed my exams and got my CEA license. I am already a full fledged real estate agent but still need to go for the internal ERA course from 26 July to 29 July.

RaeAnne caught a cold and runny last Wed after sleeping too near the fan. Brought her to see dr this Wed after she developed a cough. She vomitted on the bed twice this week due to coughing after drinking milk. When we had to change and wash her queen sized bed bedsheet, mattress protector, mattress cover for the 2nd time at 5am in the same week, I wished Filamie was still around. :P

Anyway, I also caught the cold bug from her, started a runny nose and sneezing 3 days ago. Didn't accompany hubby to town today cos think I need more rest. Tom got to start cooking and looking after RL again. :P

Wonder when I should hands off and let MIL bring RL back everyday after school. by right, I should start on 26 July but my team leaders seem much more eager than me. So, we'll see. Maybe I should start easing MIL in this coming week since I'm sick. Not keen to pass the cold bug to RL so it makes sense to let her handle RL more. :P

Raelynn is 19 months old! ;)

2011-07-02T15:00:00.003+08:00

Just realised that Mei Mei is 19 months old today. She is 10.6 kg n 79cm tall. The biggest change for this month is that we started sending her to PG at the The Learning Train PG at blk 702 since mid June. She is getting better and better, just cry a bit when she reaches school and when we start to take out her shoes and before I leave her to the teachers. When I pick her up at 11am, she is usually smiley and not crying. But, yesterday we have a setback cos her fav teacher Chris (also RA's fav Teacher) has just resigned. I spoke to her and found out the reason. Dun blame her for leaving but wish timing could have been better ie. wait till RL is more settled in school. Oh well, things are always changing and even a 19 mth old is not spared from learning to adjust. :P

Brokenhearted

2011-06-27T23:39:00.005+08:00

Was reading Tarzan story to RaeAnne, a bedtime staple since we came back from HK Disneyland. When I read that Kala was brokenhearted that Tarzan spend more and more time with the humans and less and less time with his gorilla family, RaeAnne said, "Mummy, I also brokenhearted because I go school, 我等很久你都没有带我回家。

Sigh, felt so guilty and brokenhearted when I heard that. Looks like it's almost 2 weeks but she still doesn't like full day CC. Every morning, she is still crying and whining that she doesn't want to go to school, she doesn't want to sleep in school, want me to bring her home, want Nai Nai to bring her home. But her cc teachers said she is fine, as in she sleeps in school n does not cry after I leave so maybe she is trying her luck.

Sending her to full day CC is the cheapest and easiest solution for us as adults since the maid refused to come back from home leave, Nai Nai cannot handle 2 young tots at home and I am going to get busy once I get my agent license, but is it the best solution for her? Even when I reminded her that she's the one who asked me to go to work when I said I got no $ to buy toys for her, even when I promised to earn $ & bring her on hotel room stays or buy a bathtub for her, she still say she doesn't want me to work.

Sigh... The dilemma of a SAHM going back to work. Will the extra $ (assuming that I do make $ as an agent) be worth putting her to full day CC though she is unwilling & the sacrifice of less time with the gals esp weekends? I don't know...

Professional Photo Shoot...... For Mummy ;)

2011-06-23T23:22:00.009+08:00

Today is an easier day for me cos hubby asked MIL to come over and help in the morning. She was supposed to come at 8am so that I can bring RA to CC but I waited and waited but she didn't come. I called their house but no answer so had to assume she's not coming after all. End up I have to wake RL so that I can prepare her and go to RA CC together. Then MIL turned up. Poor Mei Mei was grouchy cos she got woken up from her beauty sleep, and because MIL suddenly came, I had to leave RL in her care and bring RA to school instead. Poor Mei mei cried and cried so I had to pacify her for another 10 mins until she calmed down. By the time, I left the house with RA, it was 830am. Late again, sigh. :P

But at least, arranged for MIL to bring RL back from school cos I need to go to Suntec and get my prof ERA photo taken. Bad hair, and bad complexion, so I decided to pay $50 for make up service. End up taking extra passport photos as well since already done the make up. After 2 years of no make up, frazzled hair, casual clothes of tees and bermudas, I finally look like a professional again. Haha. Even got convinced to take up their family photo promotion (up to 8 pax) for additional $69 (hard copies photo: 2 4R, 2 5R & 1 8R, soft copy at $8 each incl touch up) They have another studio at United Sq and that one have more toys for kids. Total damage: $200. :P

Rushed the photo down to ERA so that I can get my registration and sign contract with ERA. Paid more than $1000 today (OUCH!) cos need to pay registration, name cards, indemnity insurance & the ERA sales course too. :( Decided to go for the day course cos the evening course is too dragged out over 1 mth. Want to get the paperwork done asap so that I can apply to RA's CC for the subsidy. Wanted an employment letter but they can't give me that until I get my CEA license no. Oh well, so I asked for a duplicate contract instead. Will show it to the CC principal and hope it works.

Spent a long time at ERA office so I only reached home close to 7pm after taking a taxi. Couldn't pick RA in time so asked hubby to pick her up instead. She said I 'cheated' her cos I didn't go to pick her. Whenever she complained that she doesn't want to sleep in CC and ask why I am late to pick her up. I'll remind her that she's the one who asked me to go and work when I told her I have no $. ;P

Hubby and I didn't buy dinner for ourselves so after RA's dinner, showered her and we went to TM for dinner. Wanted to eat at Old Malaya Cafe but RA insisted that we go to MacDonalds. So, ended up eating fillet o fish instead. Rushed back to pick Mei Mei at 9pm. She actually fell asleep but was woken up by RA. :P

Just now while trying to make both of them sleep in the big bed, RA bit me so hard on my upper arm that she left a swelling on my arm. Dun know why she did it cos it was unprovoked. Furious with her so I beat her mouth and asked hubby to bring her out of the bedroom. She must learn that biting pp have serious consequences. No use saying sorry if you bite pp first, then say sorry when they get mad. :/

A Hectic Day....

2011-06-22T22:50:00.005+08:00

RaeAnne is 1 month away from being 3.5 yrs old and today is my first day of trying out, looking after 2 kids esp in the morning since I'm now maidless. Poor hubby hide in the balcony while I got both gals ready to go for school. Mei Mei woke up first at 730am cos she is hungry so wash her face, brush teeth n changed to school uniform first. Went to wake RA in the morning n she refused to wake up. Threatened to leave her alone at home cos Mei Mei is all changed. While trying to clean RA, found out Mei Mei poo poo Liao so drop everything n wipe n wash her buttocks first. halfwaty through, RA said she also wants to poo. -_- while trying to wipe her bottom, Mei Mei went into the still wet toilet floor n slipped n cried. changed RA then finally left the house at 830am. :p thank goodness I bought a second hand buggy board so can push both kids. But got to push further to RA CC first then come back n drop off Mei Mei. :p

After quick bf with hubby, he went to work while I came back to prepare n cook lunch. Very tired cos Mei Mei woke up at 4+am then 7+am to drink milk (I have to attend to her cos as usual hubby KO) but i dun have time to nap.

Finish cooking porridge, steam fish with wolfberries & ginger, stir fry spinach with mushroom then rush to pick RL. Came back, tried to feed her but she refused to eat after 2 mouthfuls. Bo Bian change to cupcake but she ate less than half. Let her watch cartoon while I eat my lunch, was the dishes then bathe her. Feed milk she doesn't want to drink. 1pm, put her to bed but she refused to nap. Finally 2.15pm, feed milk again n 230pm, saw her sucking her thumb. Pull out her thumb n pat her n she finally slept. -_-

Start to prepare ingredients for dinner and cooked curry veg, already 4pm. Still tired so power nap with RL while waiting for hubby to come home. Started cooking again at 530pm. This time, cooked bah ku teh soup and steamed fish with RA's fav soy sauce. Luckily this time, both kids ate well so I'm not as 'qi keh'. :P

This morning, I just got my RES results online n I passed my exam. Yeah, can burn those notes liao. :) But the next ERA internal course is evening class for 1 month (starting 28 Jun, every Tues & Fri, 7-10pm) n I am not keen cos waste the whole day plus the course ends so late. By the time, I come home, it'll be 11pm liao. Definitely won't get to see the kids awake. But if it's 5 day day course then must wait until end July. But the sooner i finish the course, the faster i can get my cc subsidy. Dilemma. :p

Maidless

2011-06-20T23:27:00.003+08:00

After being maidless for more than 2 weeks since 2 June 2011, must say it's really not easy. When my maid went back, RA peed on her queen size bed twice in a row though she hasn't had accidents for months. Even waterproof mattress protector didn't help.

Then ILs' place having renovation so we cannot bring the kids over even when my hubby has tuition. Have to ask my mum to come over and help me out for a while.Every night after putting the gals to sleep, hubby and I are busy washing clothes, bottles, tidying up the house when we used to surf net. Nowadays we are free at 12+am earliest, hardly have time to surf net, watch dvds or stone so we need to stay up late to have 'me' time.

Raeanne vomited from coughing last night, after catching a cold last Thurs. Maybe not used to sleeping in CC aircon. Raelynn also started a runny nose today. When the kids are sick, an extra pair of hands is useful esp when feeding med. :P

Now, at least hubby is having hols so can help out. If it's me again, dun know how I'll cope esp the morning rush to get 2 kids ready for school. Once in a while, the thought of having a maid again does cross my mind but I'll try to 'dong' as long as I can. Cos for now, I love having my house back. I can buy all the exp household or pots I like without worrying that the maid will spoil it. PT cleaners are good too except it's sometimes hard to fit them into our schedule.

But mainly, I love the closer family bonding without a 3rd party in the house. RL is getting more attached to me everyday though she still refuses to call Mummy. -_- she cries the moment I step into the shower and refuse to go out with hubby if I'm home. It's hard to cook or wash with a koala bear hugging my legs all the time, and asking me to 抱抱,抱抱 though. :P

First kiss ...

2011-06-18T23:54:00.003+08:00

Got my first kiss from Raelynn. It was a funny incident actually. I was trying to put both gals to sleep lying on the sofa bed. Raelynn was either jumping around or sitting on my tummy trying to ride me like a horse. She bounced on my stomach hard and I yelped in pain. So, I started to scold her when she suddenly bent forward and kiss me on the lips. Of course, I had no heart to scold her after that.

Recently, she has been much more attached to me. Keep wanting me to carry or hold her hand while she walks. Even Daddy cannot take over. When hubby tried to put her on the stroller to go 'gai gai' to Nai Nai's house, she cried and cried until we abandoned plan.

Tonight, I can't even shower in peace cos she will cry and whine when she sees me entering the shower stall. I have already showered for her but I think she still wants a second go. I think she has shifted her reliance on the maid to me. I wonder what happened to my independent and fiesty little gal. :P

Raelynn's first day at school

2011-06-16T01:09:00.004+08:00

Due to the maid issues, I went to ask RaeAnne's old PG school at Blk 702, n we r lucky cos we can enrol RL immediately, no need to wait as they have 2 kids dropping out after end June. There are 14 kids now but after June, should be 12.

Previously, i was thinking of sending RL to playgroup but didn't do it cos of the extra cost and logistics issues of 2 kids starting & finishing school at different timings ie. RA, 830am - 12pm & RL 9-11am, plus i didn't want the maid to be so free at home while I'm out. But since we have no maid anymore, decided to do it n enrol her for some social interaction n learning. Cos if i start course/work n we put her at ILs house the whole day, she won't learn anything except messing up the toys n pouring water everywhere. :p

So, yesterday, we dressed her up in Cheh cheh's old school uniform n brought her down at 945am n left at 10am when the kids were having tea break. She was curious n observed quietly. I am glad she didn't cry nor cling to me like a koala bear compared to RaeAnne. When the teacher/children sang songs, she started clapping. So cute. Today, we brought her down at 10am during the tea break n left at 10.15am when she was halfway through her stick biscuits, n went to run errands at NTUC n buy lunch before fetching her. No time to cook cos pt cleaner coming at 11am.

She was carried by Teacher Chris and crying when we came. Teacher Chris said she didn't cry at all when we left. She only started crying when another little gal snatched her piece of paper. Will let her start officially Tom since it's 16th n easier to calculate half month school fees. Will bring her down at 9am n hope she does equally well Tom.

Hk holiday n maid issues

2011-06-16T00:40:00.006+08:00

This is an backdated post cos I am so busy these few days.

Good news first, we came back from hk. It was a good trip, not as bad as I thought traveling with 2 kids under 4 without maid or grandparents support. Even the flight was quite ok. We flew via tiger airways, super early morning flight at 6+am so we are really lucky that my bro gave us a lift and even my mum came to send us off. But cos it's budget airline, I got to entertain my kids myself, no inflight entertainment unlike SQ or CP.

RL continued to sleep in my bro's car but RA woke up and was alert after seeing me with the luggage bag cos she knows it's finally the day to go to her HK Disneyland Hotel. RL woke up when we were checking in.

When the plane took off, she was restless on the flight cos she doesn't like to be strapped to the infant seat belt. But luckily she can be distracted by food n her sister's toys. RaeAnne kept asking me why does it take so long to go to HK. :P

RaeAnne loves Disneyland, I am amazed that she is not afraid of the moving rides at all. In sg, she can't even stand motorized car rides in the malls. But she loves her hotel room n bath tub best, refuse to go out of her room to eat or shop. :p to avoid stressing ourselves n cos we were on holiday, we let the gals try pretty much anything, from cotton candy to ice cream to hk food from restaurants n chachanteng.

On the flight back, we had to order super exp airplane food cos it was a 11.15am flight and all of us didn't have lunch. Let the kids try instant noodles (no soup)for the first time cos the selection of food was so bad. Either jap curry rice or black pepper chicken rice (both spicy).

Then RL was awake while Raeanne slept shortly after lunch cos it was her afternoon nap time. :) Had a bad experience waiting for our luggage at the Budget terminal on our way back though, more than half an hour. Next time better fly Air Asia or jetstar cos they fly out from T1. :p But all in all, i think it was good family trip for our special bonding time w/o the maid and it also prepared us for what was ahead.

On fri night at 9+pm while we were trying to make RA sleep after we came back from hk, I got a call from Carine. As we suspected, Filamie changed her mind and is not coming back from her home leave. Carine said she wanted more pay, $600 n refused to listen to her filipino agent nor her.

Already have a standby solution before sending her off so we will be switching RaeAnne to full day cc wef tom, started Raelynn on RC playgroup n get MIL to look after RaeLynn n dun hire any more maids. Started looking for pt cleaner n got a few recommendations. Tried out the first one today, she is an experienced Filipino, fast but some parts not so clean cos I was too busy with the kids to tell her exactly what I want her to do.

Told Carine that I wanted to talk to Filamie personally cos I want closure before canceling her work permit n throwing away her things. N today the Filipino agent called me when I was going to fetch RaeAnne back from school. She said she was sorry but she can't go out n work anymore cos she needs to look after her son though she has no $ left. She cried when she talked to me n it has been a few days after n we have already adjusted our lives so I was quite calm. I asked her why she broke her promise but she just kept saying sorry. She also passed my kids photos back to Susy as I requested and even offered to give me a xerox copy of her work permit (which Carine had already done so).

In the end, I still wished her well cos she did take good care of Raelynn from birth to 18 mths. That's that, glad I am a SAHM so at least the impact on the kids r minimized. Even Mei mei adjusted after 2 nights of calling 'aunty aunty' while trying to sleep. Luckily, she only looks for her at night.

Just now, I typed a letter to MOM to cancel her work permit. Even though Carine said I can write that she cannot be trusted, wasted my $ and ask for her to be blacklisted and not allowed to return to Sg. But in the end, I didn't do it. I only stated the facts that she cannot be trusted but didn't want to ruin her livelihood in case she really wants to come back to SG. If she had stolen my money or ill treated my kids, I'll definitely be more harsh and blacklist. But since she did treat my children with a sincere heart, I also don't want to be so hard hearted on Raelynn's '干妈' for the last 18 mths. :P

A long week of flu, a super hectic day!

2011-06-06T23:53:00.002+08:00

I have been having a very bad bout of flu since Sunday, saw dr on tues pm but the fever struck every 4-5 hrs like clockwork. So unlucky, tues is also the day that we got to send back the maid for her 2 weeks home leave so i am really miserable. Tues, 2 June, is also the day little Raelynn turned 18 mths, not so little anymore. she has a temper to match her sis n started throwing things n fun. She lost wt though, only 10.1kg after the last bout of coughing. Ht is 78cm, not much gain. :(

As I was sick, Hubby had to bring one kid over to ILs house on most days. Only started feeling slightly better on sun morning. Lost nearly a whole week of studying for my RES exams so had to spend Sunday mugging away until wee hrs of morning.

Today, went around panicking cos the luggages r barely packed but many things r missing at home so got to buy. Dun even have ink cartridge to print my airtic n hotel bookings. Luckily my mum came over to help these 2 days to help me cook, seeing that I am maidless n sick. All thanks to her, we got to zip out for a short while to grab last min items.

Less than 5 hrs before I need to wake up to go to airport for our short 4d3n holiday to Hong Kong With 1 night at Disney Hollywood Hotel with the two gals. I will be bringing my RES notes along cos exam is on the next day after I fly back, sigh. But hope it will still be a smooth n memorable family trip for us. :)

Raelynn's molars

2011-05-26T00:38:00.003+08:00

Mummy has been quite dense, I didn't know RL already has 4 pre-molars out, though she has bitten me HARD twice so far. Her upper ones are fully erupted while her bottom premolar are partially erupted.

But I have an mitigating factor, the reason why I didn't notice is also because her canines (aka sharp teeth) have not erupted for her upper teeth at all and only partially erupted for her bottom canines. so, I'm surprised that she already has her pre molars.

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, I think LIFE is fair. she loves to eat so she gets her pre molars first so that she can chew and grind. RaeAnne definitely got her canines first. haha. :)

I want 2 mummies...

2011-05-25T00:19:00.002+08:00

Just now, when putting RaeAnne to sleep, she told me she wants 2 mummies. So, I ask her who she wants to be her other mummy secretly wondering which mummy friend she likes.

But she said 我要妈咪给我糖吃 (I want a mummy who gives me sweets).

So, I reminded her: "But I also give you sweets what, remember? I gave you milk sweets, ribena sweets, gummy bear sweets."

Her reply: 我不要吃药吃糖嘛。

Obviously, she has seen through our tricks of offering her sweets only when we have to give her med. -_-

No rabbit baby :(

2011-05-24T01:38:00.007+08:00

May is coming to an end, and it's final. I won't ever have a rabbit baby (like myself). I have been harbouring hopes since Nov10 but now, I've officially missed the boat for this horoscope cycle (no thanks to the car accident which caused me to recuperate for 3 months due to spinal fractures, delaying my real estate sales career and hubby who thinks '2 is enough'). For those who dun know, the chinese horoscope repeats itself every 12 yrs and I'll definitely be too old for the next horoscope cycle at 48. :P

RaeAnne has been very sweet though. She heard me lamenting so often that I won't have a rabbit baby (usu triggered when I see a pregnant woman). Now, she will console me: 'Mummy, next time, 我长大了, I 'dang dang da dang' ('here comes the bride' march in music), I give you a rabbit baby. 我的Rabbit baby 很乖的, 你可以抱抱她.'

Oh well, better than nothing, hope she remembers her promise n marry early. Then I can look forward to having a rabbit baby grandkid to look after. :)

First Parent Teachers Conference at RaeAnne's CC

2011-05-21T23:50:00.005+08:00

Finally, after hearing friends talk about PTC for 2 yrs (most of their kids r in childcare), hubby and I had our first PTC for RaeAnne. It's my first but definitely not hubby's though it's the first time he is there as a parent (& not a teacher).

We made the mistake of bringing RaeAnne with us. Apparently, that's not advisable cos the teacher cannot speak freely if she has anything 'bad' to share about the student as it may spoil the teacher-child relationship in future.

Luckily for us, Teacher Irene and 汪老师 did not have anything bad to say about RaeAnne. PHEW! I was so worried to hear about complaints about her bad temper and violent streaks which she displays at home.

The teachers assured me that she is a very good girl in class, she pays attention and is good at finishing her classwork on her own without further prompting once instructions have been given by the teacher.

Her only 'flaw' is that she is quiet (shy?) and not willing to speak up in class even when the teacher asks her a question. So it's a no-brainer that Speech & Drama was the answer Teacher Irene gave when I asked what kind of enrichment activities she would recommend for RA. She also mentioned that RA likes colouring so Arts is also a possibility. The nearby Global Arts Centre at the CC only accepts kids above 4yrs old.

I'll be on a lookout for speech & drama classes for tots but today, we just rejoined the Yamaha Music Wonderland class for another 1.5 months cos RA still mentions the music class once in a while and when I asked her if she still wants to go to Ms Chan's class, she said yes. No more leisurely Sat mornings. Dun know how we can still squeeze in S&D class unless we go for weekdays or June Hols intensive 1 week programes. Her CC has weekly S&D by an external vendor but it only starts at Nursery class ie. 4 yrs old so she will still need to wait for another 7 months. :P

We were given a CD of a powerpoint presentation of what she does in school (mainly pics) and I am so proud of our gal today. :)

Updates

2011-05-21T23:43:00.002+08:00

It's been many days since I updated the blog after my Real Estate Sale course started on 9 May. My course is daily from 10-1pm and I need to make notes after I come back cos my exams will be straight after my HK holidays in June. What a great timing! I can't afford to fail since the exam fee is almost $250 so got to be hardworking and bring my notes to HK to study. ;/

The gals are still sick from cough/runny, after 3 visits to the GP. They have been prescribed a stronger antibiotics (augmentin) this time. RaeAnne is better but Mei Mei is still having bad runny nose n phelgmy cough, yesterday she was still vomitting at bedtime(twice in fact, first her milk then her porridge dinner) and now loose stools from augmentin. Our usual PD is away on holidays and will only be back on 22 May. Hope Mei Mei gets well soon. So heart pain to see her suffer. :(

Realise that Mei Mei can actually say quite a few words but she's not good at addressing us. This week, I heard her say Bear Bear, Wet Wet, dirty, :)

The gals are sick again :(

2011-05-15T22:30:00.002+08:00

Sigh, RaeAnne has been running a fever for 2 days. She got an infection from her cough which started on Wed. So sian that she is always sick. Dun know if it's of the crazy hot & cold weather, cos ILs let her eat chocs (kit kat) at their house since I started my class or because there are sick classmates passing the bug. Probably all of the above. :P

Her bug spread to Mei Mei so I had to bring both kids (myself included) to see the GP on sat morning. Weekend burnt cos she refused to eat lunch nor milk on Sat, only grazed on some udon soup (brought her to Sakae sushi to whet her appetite) finally drank some milk on early Sun morning.

上汤苋菜

2011-05-11T18:16:00.003+08:00

Had this dish at Crystal jade on Sat so decided to try cookiing it cos I still have a carton of 皮蛋安醇蛋 bought from Taiwan (and expiring by end of May 11 :P). Follow recipe from Noob cook.

Heat oil and fry a handful of whitebait (银鱼) until crispy. Set aside.
Fry the garlic (2 crushed cloves) until fragrant.
Add in the local spinach and fry until leaves are wilted.
Add 2 or 3 ladles of seafood soup (from yesterday's dinner but can follow the recipe which uses soup with abalone sauce), chopped century egg and chopped salted egg yolk and soaked wolfberries. Add hua diao wine from the side of the wok when the soup is boiling and simmering.
Switch off the flame then sprinkle the fried whitebait.

Verdict
The dish tastes quite nice considering it's my first attempt. But it can be improved cos 1) I forgot to take the white bait out so they are not crispy, 2) Didn't soak the wolfberries long enough so it had a bit of sourish taste 3) Added too much hua diao wine so the taste is a bit strong. :P

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T21:10:00.002+08:00

Happy Mother's Day to Waipo, Nai nai and of course myself.

Had dinner with my parents at Crystal jade yesterday and bought a cake for MIL. For our own celebration, hubby got me a stalk of red rose and a silver chain from Perlinni Silver. RaeAnne gave me a laminated handmade card with her finger prints. Kudos to the CC teachers for helping her with the rest of the card. The touching thing is that when I picked her up on fri, she immediately opened her bag to take out the card to give it to me. Even Teacher Irene commented, wa, she remembers. :)

Today, we went to try Trattoria Italian Kitchen at 313 Somerset, a place I wanted to try for a long time. I seldom get to eat Italian food cos the kids dun fancy cheesy stuff so I hardly cook it at home and we dun dine out with the kids at Italian restaurants either. We ordered the Trattoria Salad with chinese pears which was very good, the Mother's Day special - Lobster pasta aragosta which was good, but the aglio olio was so so, a sparkling fruit juice drink and a cappucino. Bill was $70+, reasonable cos the servings are quite big. We were stuffed. :)

Bacon cheese stuffed mushrooms

2011-05-06T00:48:00.005+08:00

Mini portabello mushrooms were on offer at NTUC today so I bought a pack. Got inspired to make stuffed mushrooms for supper. So I googled for recipes there and then (ah... the convenience of an iphone). Bought the back bacon (less sinful than the streaky bacon though I love them too) since I already have cheese and onions at home.

Ingredients
1. 8 mini portabello mushrooms
2. 5 small shallots*
3. 6 pieces of Back bacon (prepacked from NTUC)
4. Chopped spring onions (extra from fridge, can omit)
5. 1 handful of pizza plus cheese (from NTUC)

Recipe (modified from online)
1. Prebake the oven (mine is microwave oven cum oven) at 250 deg.
2. Remove mushroom stems from portabellos, and chop coarsely.
3. Chop shallots (small red onions) coarsely.
4. Chop 6 pieces of bacon into 1 cm squares.
5. Fry the onions with some butter (I use salted so no need to add any seasoning), add in the chopped mushrooms stems then the bacon.
7. Stir in some chopped spring onions (extra in the fridge)
8. Stir in a handful of pizza plus cheese (from ntuc) until the mixture is a bit sticky.
9. Turn off the stove.
10. Scoop the cooked mixture onto the mushroom caps, sprinkle more cheese on top of each mushroom cap.
11. Grease a baking tin/pan with butter.
12. Bake them for 10-15 mins open faced until cheese has melted and looks golden brown.

Verdict
Hubby gave it a 3.5 out of 5 stars cos he said no water chestnut (duh, think he watched too much 三菜一汤) and not enough cheese on top (he sprinkled them on himself, hee). I though we baked for too long cos the mushrooms were oozing but he didn't mind the brown juices from the mushrooms cos he liked them juicy. Oh well, once I start on my RES course, dun think I'll be so free to make supper other than the usual instant noodles. Hope that will make him more appreciative. ;)

* I used this cos I ran out of yellow/white onions. Shallots have a distinctive aroma and tend to 抢味 from the portabello. Think Australian white onions will definitely be more complementary and sweeter in taste but they are pretty steep compared to other onions. Cos everytime, I get it weighed at the NTUC weighing counter, the friendly aunty never fails to warn me 'this onion more expensive, because it's from Australia'. hee)

新的哪有旧的好

2011-05-04T23:59:00.004+08:00

At least for Mei Mei, the old bed may be better. Since we switched her to Cheh Cheh's toddler bed on Sat night, she climbed down to sleep with the maid several times. Then, on Sun night, she climbed down but I caught her in action and carried her up. for the next few nights, she didn't climb down but started waking up to cry or make sounds in her sleep.

Tonight, (after 5 nights) we are doing a new expt by putting her back on her old cot bed. We removed just 1 side and flushed her bed with the queen sofa bed so that if she decides to climb out of her cot, she will just climb onto the sofa bed instead. If she sleeps well tonight, maybe it means that she needs the 'security' of her cot bed rails (she likes being a prisoner? :P)

Today, I went for my first job interview in 10 yrs. Even went for a hair colour and hair cut to look more presentable. The interviewers were 15 mins late to meet me cos they were too enamoured with the previous candidate. I heard lots of laughter while I was walking up and down the corridor outside the staff meeting room. No, there were no chairs, no reception area, nothing. I felt awkward holding my portfolio in my suit and heels as hordes of students walked past me. :P Anyway, I didn't harbour high hopes for this job. It was something I wanted to try long ago but maybe timing is also not good now since I'm going to embark on my real estate option first. I'll know in 1 week's time if they dun call anyway. :P

Tonight, we were very late in picking RaeAnne from MIL house (950pm) cos our dear Mei Mei broke the handle of my specs. It's my fault for being complacent and over indulgent with Mei mei cos she has asked for my specs before to help me wear them but she has never broken it before. Hubby was not very sympathetic cos I already allowed RaeAnne to break one pair of my specs in 2009. Sigh, so, we had to rush to Tampines interchange to get my specs fixed. Cos I'm blind as a bat without my specs. Plus my small, dry eyes make it uncomfortable for me to wear contact lens. End up going to the wrong optical shop but at least they took just 15 mins to resize the lens to fit into the new specs. While waiting, we had early supper of oyster omelette and ice kachang at the food court. Total damage for the frames only: $70.

Reminder to self: Go for lasik once I have a decent pay check. :P

Raelynn is 17 months old! :)

2011-05-02T22:16:00.005+08:00

Measured her today and her height is 78cm, not that short after all. ;) As for weight and photo, still waiting for Daddy dearest to fulfil his end of the promise. ;P

Finally in the last week, I heard her call Mamee, Mamee, Mamee quite often. Other than that, in terms of speech devt, slight improvement, she can say wet wet (when the floor is wet) and sing the 'twinkle twinkle little star' quite well. She will make ooh ooh ooh sound to me when she wants me to play the '坐火车' youtube video song from my iphone. As for animals, other than bird bird and dog dog and duck duck which she recognises, all other animals are randomly categorised by her as one of the three. :P

She still have only 8 visible teeth though she has been gnawing on everything for the longest time. Wonder if she could be sprouting molars instead? :PShe can understand instructions quite well but she is starting to throw tantrums more often when she doesn't get what she wants. Exact imitation of cheh Cheh, screaming and stamping her feet. Dejavu! :P

She makes her requests known by gesturing a lot though, putting her index finger into her mouth and moving it around to 'ask' me to fetch her toothbrush and toothpaste. She loves to help me with my daily activities. Eg. when she sees me in the morning without my specs (usually half stoned all thanks to Cheh Cheh who can find 1001 reason to wake up at night to 'ka cheow' me), she will run to my bedside and fetch my specs and twist it out of shape so I have to quickly grab it from her and wear it. If she sees me with my toothbrush in the morning (still half stoned), she will make lots of ahh ahh ahh sounds until I bend down and let her brush my teeth. Got to guide her cos her hands really don't have much strength to do the brushing action yet. If she sees me with a cup of water or coffee or milo, she will take my cup and try and feed me water. Otherwise, she will make herself 'useful' by stirring my spoon even though I will exclaim 'hot hot, don't touch'. With such a sweet loving nature, it's not a surprise that I love her to bits (though I can only spend pockets of time with her when Cheh Cheh is not dominating my time) :P

Poor Mei Mei is still sick, so is mummy who is nursing a sore throat from nasal drip (already finished our antibiotics). Between the two of us, we must have cross infected RA cos she started coughing again tonight. sigh, the whole cough/cold bug has been making its rounds in our family since 31 Mar and it's still not ended. :P

Bought Hungry Frog (a version of our childhood toy 'Hungry, Hungry Hippo') and all of us had fun playing it. It was easy to play and RaeAnne managed to win the game with 12 balls. :) Just need to make sure that the balls are kept properly so that no chance of Mei mei swallowing them. :P

P.S. weighed her today (wed) and she is still 10.2 kg. Poor gal's appetite hasn't been good for the last 2 weeks. :P Daddy finally took a photo too.

Mameee, Mameee, Mameee

2011-04-30T23:24:00.003+08:00

Finally heard Raelynn call mummy, mummy, mummy today. Too bad Mummy is sick with headaches and bodyaches and cannot entertain her much. :P Went for facial in the afternoon, so did not go back with hubby and RaeAnne after her music class and hubby said when they got home, Mei Mei was making a lot of noise looking for me. So sweet, think she misses me after all. :)

29 April 2011

2011-04-29T23:02:00.004+08:00

We finally collected our car from Ka Hup today. Coincidentally, our car's birthday is also the date of the Royal wedding, because we were supposed to collect the car on Wed. But on Tues, the car salesman said it won't be ready cos after servicing, still need to go for interior cleaning which takes some time. I quite like the salesman, Zheng Wenbin because like his name, he was 文质彬彬 even when he was under stress by me. He even got the service centre to take care of two deep scratch lines that we didn't notice on the bumper. Now that we got a car again, can start keeping the car seats and other barang barang into the car cos we need to upgrade Mei Mei's bed very soon. She is getting better and better at climbing out of her cot. :P

Poor Mei Mei started running a fever yesterday afternoon so hubby brought her to see GP last night. I didn't go cos I was having body aches (symptoms of flu). This morning, hubby woke up with fever and hives while my bodyaches n headaches got worse. No thanks to RaeAnne who kept me up from 2 - 320am. So I accompanied hubby to see dr together. saw dr as well. :P

Also went to ERA today and signed up for course and to be a new agent. Unfortunately, because I was sick, I had informed Riza that I will be late and missed the chance to under study her. She had already just signed up a new recruit so she passed to Bryan instead. Oh well, I wasn't very happy but they are in the same team and I guess if I can make it as a real estate agent, I can do well anyway. Problem is the course is Mon - Fri, 10am - 1pm, dun think MIL will be happy to look after RaeAnne everyday. Got to think of a way. Maybe get her to bring RaeAnne home from school and look after her until I get home at 1+pm.

Good Fri long weekend

2011-04-25T00:04:00.007+08:00

On Good friday morning, we went to Marina barrage for the first time (so suaku) for a playdate with the Feb08 forum mummies & kids. It was a potluck so we all brought food. I volunteered to bring fishballs and made some skewers with fishballs, quail eggs, cherry tomatoes and Jap cucumbers.

It was a breezy morning and many pp were flying kites but we didn't bother to bring one for RaeAnne cos we'll be the one flying for her. hee. There was an Easter egg hunt organised by Eliaw. RaeAnne wanted to the pink and purple eggs but during the actual hunt, she avoided any corners that had other kids (competition averse?). So in the end, she only collected 2 eggs that are yellow and orange.

Mei Mei was a good gal and did not cry despite seeing so many new faces. She didn't try to snatch any toys from the other kids. But she was tired out by 12+pm and fell asleep in the taxi ride back, while RaeAnne napped for 1 hr after we reached home.

On Sat evening, we brought the family out to Crystal Jade for dinner. RaeAnne enjoyed her noodle soup and ate quite a bit. Mei Mei didn't eat much on Fri and Sat though. Think she's teething.

Filamie said Mei Mei can almost climb out of the cot. Looking for a pull out bed for a long time but can't find anything suitable yet. Might as well make use of the sofa bed first. I bought a set of Disney princess bedsheet for RaeAnne to convince her to use the queen size sofa bed. She said ok but she doesn't want Mei mei to sleep on her toddler bed. Duh. :P

More than 3 months after our car accident, we finally went car hunting at Automobile megmart at 4+pm cos it's at Ubi n nearer to home. I already did research at sgcarmart and mycar forum for more than 1 month and narrowed the choices to Nissan latio, Hyundai Avante and Renault Megane. But in the end still prefer Nissan Latio cos it's a Made in Japan car and car parts are not as expensive.

Hubby was not feeling well so he only test drove one car though we viewed 2 Latios. First, a Mar 06 Grey Latio Premium edition from Ka Hup Car Trading cos the other Sept06 Latio we saw at Car Design was not Premium version and it had the same asking price of $37.8k as the first car but the salesman increased the price by $1k to $38.8k when we told them that we are not taking loan. Also the second salesman was not as knowledgeable and seems very ah beng n bo chup. He was not keen to let us test drive and started smoking halfway.

So we went back to the first salesman cos we decided on the first car. When trying to negotiate for the Mar06 Latio, the salesman was initially confident that we can seal the deal at $36k but I tried to negotiate for $35k instead. He couldn't decide so he called to ask his boss (manager) and his manager in turn asked the boss. Who knows the boss said $36k, he cannot even buy another Latio from owner and wanted to sell $37k instead. I wasn't happy with his boss '坐地起价' but the other car was so much higher. Plus if the boss refuse to lower the price, I guess the price is already quite reasonable. Another reason is because Hubby is not interested in cars and doesn't like to go car hunting n I am tired of researching non stop on his behalf so we decided to take it at $36.4k after negotiating for 1 hr. Still need to pay $885 for admin fee, lta transfer fee n STA assessment fee.

3rd dr review

2011-04-18T23:29:00.002+08:00

Went for dr review today, good news cos I can go for most activities eg exercise, yoga, swimming, 针灸，推拿, even go back to work (hahaha) etc. But she still advised not to carry heavy weights (babies) since I still have muscle aches at the fractured area. But guess it will get better. I'm relieved cos the dr said the recovery was similar to as if I had surgery and said maybe it's because I was compliant with the brace (oops, not all the time actually :P).

Anyway, time to make fresh plans for the future then. :)

Taobao spree for the gals

2011-04-12T15:31:00.008+08:00

Haven't spreed for a long time since the accident. No mood and no car to pick up the loot from spreeists. But Jessie (Jan10 mummy) organised a taobao spree again in march and it was too good to miss cos I needed to restock on clothes for the gals cos I donated a big bag of old and fairly new clothes to the maid's bb niece cos she is going back to June for home leave. The loot costs $200 incl shipping but for 3 pairs of shoes, 4 l/s shirts, 2 sets of PJs, 6 pants/jeans, 3 dresses, 1 swimming towel, 1 pair swimming goggles, 5 pairs of socks, 1 electric toy, 10 scrunchies, 1 safety lock, 1 shoe hanger, should be worth it bah. Won't need to buy clothes for RaeAnne since some of the clothes are still too big for her and can keep until she is years old. :)

Singing babe

2011-04-07T01:34:00.003+08:00

Today, when I was using the plastic threading star shape n singing twinkle twinkle little star to Raelynn, she imitated me and sang winker winker lil tar. The words are not very distinct but the tune is defintely right. When i used the butterfly shape n sang 'fly fly fly the butterfly', she sang something incoherent but the tune is right again n we seldom sing this song to her. She is growing up so fast.

Raelynn's first visit to the library

2011-04-05T23:50:00.004+08:00

RaeAnne has been asking hubby to bring her to the library to borrow many many books. He decided to bring her this evening and I decided to go as well so that we can bring Mei Mei to the library for the first time.

They were very happy with the train at the children section esp RaeAnne cos today we have been singing 坐火车 (Nai Nai is the first person to teach her this song) and I even found the youtube clip and finally realised the whole song is so long. :P When we took a photo at the train, a little Indian gal just came forward and squeezed in beside RaeAnne for the photo. RaeAnne was obviously displeased and a bit anxious but I'm glad she didn't push the gal nor start crying. At least she can control her temper. :P

She was a bit tired as it was almost 8pm by the time we reached. But she was still happy taking books down, pushing the books in, flipping them and stepping on books (just for a moment). We had to leave when Mei Mei started to lie on the carperted floor of the library to sleep. She can really sleep everywhere. hehehe.

RaeAnne wanted to borrow so many books for herself and Mei Mei so she kept bringing books to her daddy, but in the end we shortlisted to 19 books which was still a lot. :P

Raelynn is 16 months old!

2011-04-03T02:24:00.006+08:00

Raelynn is 16 months old. She is 65.5 cm tall and 10.2kg. Weight increased by 300g. She can do a rendition of Twinkle twinkle little star but only the words winker, star and up are clear enough. Training her not to suck her thumb is still work in progress. Imagine I have more than 10 pairs of legwarmers but phased out cos she knows how to pull them off. So, I've resorted to buying big Gap PJs (2T) for her so that the maid can tie off the ends to prevent her from sucking her thumb. The big callus on her right thumb is getting slighly better so hopefully we are on the right track. In terms of speech, she still doesn't talk much. But she calls a dog 'duck duck' and a bird 'burb burb'. Oh well, I think she is slowly getting there.

Today, we ate at Macdonalds for dinner at RaeAnne's request. I brought along home cooked plain porridge with fried egg, steamed threadfin and spinach for Raelynn (finally made use of my thermos 3 tiered food jar) but even after she finished most of it, she was giving me such imploring looks and reaching out her hands for my food as we ate, that I finally relented let her try a few fries (wipe off the salt with paper napkins), steamed corn and burger bun. Hey, even RaeAnne had KFC mashed potatoes in HK when she was just 11.5 months right? :P Of course, she ate the junk food much faster cos it was tastier. :P

Went for physiotherapy again on Friday, 1 April but we are reaching a bottleneck, the aches have shifted down from below the neck to my shoulder blades but they are still very much there. Even my PT doesn't know what to do. She said the shifting of the pain may be due to me consciously trying to arch my back to try and straighten and also because I don't have enough rest (how to with 2 active kids). Once I'm awake, and open my room door, they keep running to my room. Hiaz.

Anyway, since she can't magically wish for my kids to grow up, she told me to relax my shoulders and said I actually look ok. She did loosen my joints and immediately after that, the shoulder blades area were not as painful when she pressed on them. Next PT session is 26 April (almost 1 month away) but I can't keep paying $40+ each time for her to 'crack' my joints. The insurance payout has long been fixed and all my PT bills are not counted. :( So, I really hope that the aches will go away soon.

Stir fried bee thye mak

2011-04-03T01:39:00.007+08:00

RaeAnne's latest hot favourite is Bee Thye Mak or 老鼠粉. she loves to suck them down cos they are so slippery. So, I decided to try to cook stir fried bee thye mak today cos I had long beans and fish cake that has been stuck in the fridge for a long time. The recipe is diy after getting some inspiration from website.

Recipe

Ingredients (for 3 adults & 2 kids)
1) 1 bag of Bee Thye Mak (abt $1 if buying from wet market), scald with freshly boiled water.
2) 1 medium shallot or 2 small ones, sliced.
3) 1 fistful of dried shrimps
4) 3 prawns cut into small pieces (extra from my fridge)
5) 2 pieces of fishcakes (cut into slices)
6) 3 strands of long beans (extra from my fridge if not I would have used cai xin and added it at the end), sliced finely
7) Minced meat (abt half a bowl). Pre-marinated with sesame oil, a pinch of salt and pepper
8) 2 eggs (beaten)
* can also add some dried mushrooms. I didn't have time to presoak so never use them.

Preparation
1) Soak a fistful dried shrimps in a small bowl of hot water. Reserve the water for later use.
2) Fry the sliced shallots (red onions) in low/med heat until the shallots are golden brown. Remove shallots for later use.
3) Switch to high heat. Then use the oil to '暴香' the dried shrimps (and mushrooms).
4) Add the long beans. Once they soften, add the minced meat.
5) Once the minced meat is 80% cooked, add the fishcakes.
6) Add the bee thye mak, and the reserved dried shrimp water.
7) Add 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce and 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce (for colour)
8) Mix everything well then cover the wok.
9) Open the wok cover after 30 sec - 1min, then add the beaten eggs.
10) Don't stir too much if you want your eggs chunky.
10) Once eggs are cooked though, dish up and serve. :)

Verdict
1) RaeLynn loves it and ate very fast. Even pinched some from me when I was eating mine.
2) Hubby said it's nice. Like char kuay teow but not sweet.
3) But my most impt food critic (Ms RaeAnne Teo Kay Ris) REFUSED to eat it cos she said Bee Thye Mak should be white in colour not black. ALAMAK!!! Wasted my efforts to especially cook this for her.

In the end, I had to whip up a bee thye mak soup version for her last minute using dried silverfish as stock, added meatballs, fishcake and dou miao.

After I served her the bee thye Mak soup, she said something that made me laugh so hard: "Bee Thye Mak 本来就是这样的'. Sigh, so much for being adventurous in cooking. She just wants the usual brainless version. :P

Hopeless clinic assistants

2011-04-01T01:12:00.004+08:00

So angry! Brought Raeanne to GP just now cos her cough is not better and still phelgmy after self medicating for 2 days plus she had fever yesterday night. While collecting the med, noticed that her phlegm med (mucuslovan) was colorless and not pink so I commented to the clinic assistants whether they changed the colour of the medication.

But they confidently said that it has always been colorless n said I made a mistake. Luckily I brought along the med (cos I have been self medicating her for 2 days) so I had proof that the bottle of 'mucuslovan' we were given was pink in colour. So the truth was revealed, they have wrongly labelled the pink med (given on 16 feb) as mucuslovan n given me the wrong med on 16 Feb 11. The night shift clinic assistants were defensive, kept asking me what was the colour of the other medicines given on 16 Feb and asked us if we have brought the other medicines and if we finished that. They were trying to imply that the clinic assistant merely swopped the labels (so it's not serious?) Hubby and I get irritated with their response cos it's irrelevant how the error occurred. Firstly, they should admit the mistake and apologize instead of making light of the situation and trying to pass the buck.

So I asked to see the dr instead. He kept laughing (in politeness or embarrassment or non chalance?)but after I got more agitated n told him medication error is very serious cos the patient can have severe allergy reaction then he said sorry n that he will speak to his full time staff, who was the one who gave the wrong med. We had shown the 2 bottles of pink med during the consultation to show him what we have been giving RaeAnne for the last two days but yet he never noticed that the second pink med was not mucuslovan. Even after this bad experience, we were still expected to fork out the consultation and medication fee in full, $22. Totally no service recovery or sincerity to appease the customers. The 2 clinic assistants tonight gave us black looks the whole way from dispensing to payment collection as if we were the ones at fault.

Raeanne had gotten allergic reactions twice since seeing this GP 2 yes ago. And now I wonder if it is due to wrongly labelled med cos there is no consistency in the types of medication triggering the allergic reaction. I feel like boycotting him altogether cos how to trust the clinic if he cannot stop his clinic assistant from giving the wrong med. I can't keep going back to the GP to clarify right? :P But Raeanne likes this dr cos he is gentle, soft spoken and always gives her a sweet.

i'm still searching for a good Gp nearby. The two we see are the GPs near MIL ie. hubby's old home. The one with hopeless clinic assistants (Seasons) is friendly but super long queue, whereas the other GP (JT) is very fast, but not very friendly cos he is a man of few words. Usually, we bring the kids to the friendly GP while the adults see the unfriendly one. But both require at least 2 visits before we recover cos med always not enough or not strong enough. I guess that's how they made their $. :/

After a long day at home with the 2 gals (since RaeAnne didn't attend school today), I initially wanted to take a break and just let hubby bring her to the GP. But if I have done that, I wonder if he would have brought the medicines to the clinic, if he would have noticed the colour of the medicines and questioned them. Or will he be as persistent when they insisted that the colour of the phelgm med has always been colourless and we were mistaken. He did raise his voice at the clinic assistants and I was a bit touched cos my hubby is Mr Nice guy and super non confrontional. But we are parents, if we don't fight for our children who were harmed by irresponsible medical staff, who would?

RaeAnne is sick

2011-03-31T00:04:00.002+08:00

Raeanne refused to eat dinner today n turns out she was feverish (37.6), must be cos she slept with hubby on the bumper mat (she woke up and refused to go back to her room to sleep) on Mon night n caught a cold. She started coughing since yesterday. Last week, got a bit of runny nose. But we only self medicated but never bing her to see dr yet. If Tom still not ok, will have to skip school for her.

Sometimes, I wonder how much enrichment classes I should sign RaeAnne up for. Now, she only has yamaha music every Sat afternoon. And I'm not keen to add more. But hubby thinks that she doesn't seem to be very interested but I think it's too early to tell. So we've agreed to give it another term to try out. I wonder if at 3 years plus, it's too early to know if she has any interest in music/piano lessons. Or should I let her stop music and try ballet or swimming instead? :P

I am also worried that I'll end up like my cousin, her no. 1 has shicida, jap and music classes while her no. 2 has music and shicida classes. She initially wanted no. 3 but she changed her mind cos she said she's too tired ferrying the 2 kids for enrichment classes over the weekend. She is FTWM and her kids don't attend childcare so all the classes cramped over the weekend. But at least her MIL and maid look after the kids in the weekdays and her younger sis will even help her bring her no. 2for music class on Sat. I don't want to deprive my kids of fun or impromptu outings/gatherings over the weekends esp since hubby's tuition means sunday afternoon are already burnt. But yet I don't want to miss the 'prime' 0-3 yrs stage when they are supposed to learn things fastest. Dilemma. :P

Tripadvisor.com review

2011-03-29T23:34:00.004+08:00

Wrote a review for Marriott Mai Khao Beach Resort n it has just been published online.

Leapfrog Phonics

2011-03-29T00:53:00.003+08:00

The set of leapfrog dvds arrived last week and I started to let RaeAnne watch it. Luckily, she seems quite entertained by the frogs and even asked me to switch it on for her on her own accord. Even Mei mei tries to imitate the phonic sounds with her usual babbling.

But despite this, RaeAnne still can't remember the phonic sounds of the vowels and I dun blame her cos even after watching it for 4-5 times, I can't remember them either. :P At least, she knows the sound of M is Mmmmmm and sound of C is ke. :)

Physiotherapy

2011-03-29T00:38:00.002+08:00

It's been one week plus since hubby went back to work, getting used to the routine but shoulder aches are getting worse. Not sure if it's due to the more active lifestyle or because of the mobilisation exercises.

Still can't carry Raelynn and it's physically tiring for me to keep bending down to her level (she loves to take my water bottle and get me to feed her water using the straw, or play with the straw) or play with her on the mat. So sad that she doesn't seem to recognise that I'm her Mummy. Ask her where is Mummy and she turns her head to look for the maid. Hiaz. :(

Looks like I got to keep parroting to her that I'm her Mummy and play with her more. But I wonder if it makes sense to make an effort to get close to her then 'throw' her back to the maid again after I take the real estate course or find a job. Dilemma. :(

Daddy is going back to work

2011-03-20T23:18:00.006+08:00

More than 2 months after the car accident, Daddy is officially going back to work tomorrow. I said 'officially' because unofficially, he has been going back to school to print exam papers, teach a cartooning module, watch over the GP exam and bring 7 classes of scripts back to mark. All these while he is still on hospitalisation leave leh. A teacher's work is never done, even if you are sick. Duh...

Hubby's latest book 'Why Study Smart?' made it twice to the top 10 top children titles on Sunday times. All the other titles in the chart were bestseller fiction titles like Geronimo Stilton, Diary of Wimpy kid by the seasoned top publishers etc. So, clinching the 9th spot with a non fiction title (involving studying which teenagers obviously hate) is something to be proud of. Congrats Daddy!

How will life change after this? We are still ordering tingkat cos the doctor and physiotherapist are still forbidding me to carry the kids. Trying to cook makes my shoulders ache badly then I'll need to lie down. I really miss carrying Mei Mei but still need to wait for the all clear from the medical experts. :P Definitely, I will need to be more hands on and will pick RaeAnne up from school again so that the maid has time to cook lunch and feed Mei Mei while I am out.

After the Phuket trip, I'm wondering if it's time to restart my 'career' engine ie. take up the postponed real estate sales course or to look for a job near home. We still can't afford to buy a replacement car and taking taxis are taking a toll (they are never around when you need them). Plus, the maid needs a higher pay after her contract ends, Raelynn needs to go to school soon (add expense) and RaeAnne will be starting full day CC next year (another add expense)

The only thing holding me back is that I won't have much time to spend with Mei Mei once I start 'working'. She grew up so fast, although I was home with her, she was taken care mostly by the maid other than breastfeeding. Thought i will have some time before she goes to school in July but post accident recovery took up 2.5 months. Wonder if I'll miss the chance again if I take up an time consuming job after I fully recover, that's why I still prefer flexi hours working arrangement. Oh well, I'll leave it to fate and see how things turn out. :P

Back from Phuket! :)

2011-03-18T01:14:00.004+08:00

Touched down in sg at 1.05pm and reached home around 2pm. The jetstar flight was smooth and I'm thankful cos I really hate turbulences. :P I'm glad the kids enjoyed the trip esp RaeAnne who insisted she doesn't want to come home and she wants to stay in the hotel room forever. Had to threaten to sell away all her toys, bicycles, storybooks etc to 'entice' her to come home.

Recap of Day 3
We brought the kids to the pool around 9+am cos hubby didn't want to bring them too early when the water was cold. We didn't had to worry, the water was not cold at all, maybe cos the weather was so hot. Raelynn fortunately enjoyed the shallow end of the pool (just 5cm deep) and didn't cry unlike the night before when we put her into the 'oversized bathtub' in our bedroom (maybe cos the water was too warm). RaeAnne had fun but fell twice in the swimming pool and swallowed some water.

First time was because she missed a step going down the steps inside the pool and the second time was because hubby was carrying her and she slipped. After that, she told everyone she could that she 'fell' twice in the pool. kekeke. We only spent less than 1 hr in the pool cos MIL kept reminding us that it's very warm for the kids. Oh well, grandparents will always be the protectives ones. After we brought the kids home, then I realised that we brought them to the wrong pool, we went to the nearest pool with jaccuzzi but that was meant for adults. The kids pool was the one with the water slide. :P

MIL fried bee hoon for lunch while the maid showered for the two kids. I took a shower too cos my hair was wet. Bee hoon was a bit bland cos it was catered for the kids. Raelynn woke up early from her nap so I brought her and the maid to the Kids Club and left them there until RaeAnne woke up. Cooked some macaroni soup with veg, mushroom, silverfish stock, topped with fried egg tofu, fried chicken drumstick with garlic. RaeAnne loved it. And kept telling me 'Mummy, I love your tofu'. It was such simple food but she must have missed my home cooked food and soup after 2 months of tingkat. Poor gal.

Around 4+pm, we went to Turtle Village one last time to shop and went into the Esprit factory outlet. I bought 2 t shirts for myself ($12-15 each), 1 pair of white pedal pushers for the maid ($15) and 1 flowery top for MIL ($20). Then we took the shuttle to the beach that was at JW Marriott. The beach frankly was nothing much cos the sand was golden and quite coarse. The drop off was steep too. But RaeAnne and hubby did have fun collecting tiny seashells and hubby even caught a small crab and put it into RaeAnne's pail so that made her day. :)

That night we cooked all the rice we brought along and ordered food from Kindee (there was good review at tripadvisor.com) and delivery is free. There wasn't enough rice to go along so hubby fried 'salty' bee hoon (with the leftover chicken seasoning granules). hehe.

I felt relaxed cos the resort apartment was large enough for the kids to roam about happily yet self contained and the facilities made it convenient for us if we want to cook, brew coffee for ourselves, let the kids swim in the bathtubs or pool, order food in and watch kiddy dvds and have fun with the kids. It is also easier now that Mei Mei is eating most outside foods. If I have a job and there is spare cash, I really don't mind taking up the Marriott package like two of my friends. But right now, I think saving up for a car is of higher priority.

Phuket - Day 1 n 2

2011-03-15T23:55:00.005+08:00

I was too tired to post last night, having slept just 2 hrs on sun night, partly because hubby was marking n didn't want to sleep early n partly cos Raeanne woke up at 2+am n didn't settle until 3+am.

Day 1
The plan was to book the cab n have it waiting downstairs while the adults load the luggage so that we let the kids sleep as much as possible. But in the end, had to wake a sleeping Raeanne at 6am cos mil said must let her pee before going up the taxi but as I expected she was grouchy n refused to pee. She only peed after we reached the airport n checked in. Mei mei on the other hand only woke up when she was in the cab. The flight was short n smooth though Raelynn was a bit grouchy towards the end. Think she was hungry. Booked a taxi n a half day safari tour for the next day.

Luckily we reached the Marriott Mai Khao Beach slightly after 9am. We were welcome by jasmine lei but waited at the lobby for a long time. Even had time for Raeanne to do some coloring at the Kids Club. It is open to all kids but only those above 4 yrs old can be left there alone. Our room was still not ready by 10am so we decided to head straight to Turtle village and we had breakfast at coffee club which was a recommended cheap n good place for Thai n western food. True enough, the thai mains were cheap, only 100thb, which was SGD4.20.

Ordered a soupy rice with minced pork ball for Raelynn n Raeanne, asked for no salt but it was still too salty. Next time, should ask for no salt. But no prob, just asked the waitress for hot water, n diluted the soup. They ate a lot cos very hungry by then. The hotel called us just after we ordered the food but we wanted to eat first. Decided to go to the Turtle Mart supermarket to stock up on fresh produce before going back to the resort so that we can cook. In the end, we bought some frozen chicken drumsticks, small cabbage, fresh mushrooms, baby corn, a papaya. I had brought from home rice, dried scallops, dried silverfish n ikan bilis for stock. Too bad, the pork didn't look fresh or we can vary our cooking a bit more.

When we saw our room, everyone was wowed cos it was so big. The rooms are big n the kitchen is well equipped with 4 electric cooker stoves, rice cooker, kettle, blender, toaster, microwave oven. It even has washing machine n dryer n ironing board. I. Managed to go to the spa at the nearby JW Marriott hotel while everyone else had their afternoon naps. The 2hr massage was relaxing but steep ($200) but I expected it but at least it was convenient. After I came back, the kids showered n we went for dinner at Turtle Village again, this time at Bill Bentley pub. the ribs were great n food servings were large. We shared a bottle of Thai Singha beer since it was the same price as fruit juice. Mei mei had her first Phuket hotel cooked soupy rice n she ate a lot. :) Went to the supermarket to stock up again, bought macaroni n bee joon this time.

I ko at at 10+pm thailand time (1 hr later than sg time) with Raeanne. Ironically, though the guest bedroom was so big with 2 twin beds, she ended up squeezing with us. :p

Day 2

Raeanne woke up early cos she has not adjusted to Thailand time but we were still almost late for our 9am meeting with the guide. It was a 45 mins ride to Island Safari but RA fell asleep in the mini bus. The ride was quite windy and I was a bit nervous due to the effects of our car accident. Kept worrying that the driver will misjudge and the kids will be in danger. Paranoid. :P

We did a lot at the tour, ox cart ride, orchid farm (not much blooming orchids), photo with buffalo, Thai papaya salad demonstration, monkey show, baby elephant show, elephant ride. The kids were tired n hungry but we took the opportunity to feed them at 1pm when choosing photos. On the bus ride back, it was Mei Mei's turn to sleep but Raeanne did nap for a short while.

When we reached hotel, the adults had cup noodles while I cooked some miso soup macaroni for Raeanne since she didn't want to nap anymore (used instant miso soup as base). Then we watched the panda dvd that i bought from singapore. Wanted to bring the kids to the swimming pool but it was hot n later found out the pool is closed at 6pm. So I cooked dinner instead, chicken apple soup, fried lettuce with mushroom n carrots, n canned teriyaki sardines with fresh cucumbers. The kids love the soup n apple n Raeanne ate two small bowls of rice. :)

Hubby went to the Kids club to borrow some DVDs n while Raeanne n MIL watched Lion king, hubby n I sneaked out for ice cream at Swensons n shopping at Turtle Mart n Jim Thompson. RA fell asleep on the long sofa just now but woke up to cry, think will have to let her sleep with us again. :p Tom is the last day n we have no plans except to bring the kids to the pool n the beach. :)

Blood

2011-03-09T08:07:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, we were surprised when the maid told us there was blood in the potty after Mei mei farted. Examined her anus n found a 'crack' n it was bleeding. Not sure if it's a anal fissure cos her stools have been a bit hard. Applied destine n will monitor for time being.

Mei mei can say more words now. Last fri, she can say dog dog n Monday, she said duck duck. :)

Dr review

2011-03-09T07:56:00.004+08:00

Saw the dr on Monday, After comparing the x-rays taken 3 weeks versus new x Ray, she said that there was 2-3 degree of shifting for t5 so recovery is not perfect. Felt very guilty when I heard that cos I had to take care of myself (showering, eating etc) since hubby had his hand op, I have not been very compliant with the brace since after cny when the initial pain eased. Also because I felt discouraged when she said 6 more weeks afterbthe first review. Sigh. :p but at least she said it's still ok, cos 30 deg is considered bad so she said i can take out the brace. But try to minimize 'nodding' actions. Referred to physiotherapy, first session on thurs so hope massage will ease the pains.

Raelynn is 15 months old!

2011-03-02T14:23:00.006+08:00

She is 9.9kg, 74cm today. She has 6.5 teeth, 4 on top n 2.5 on the bottom. Cheh cheh was only 9.1kg at 15 months but looks older because she has longer hair. Mei Mei is always trying to take a spoon to feed us (strangely not herself), may be the first step toward self feeding. We have stopped cooking porridge for her cos she doesn't like. She prefers plain porridge or rice with savoury dishes. Last Sat, brought her to Jap restaurant and she ate 1 piece of tamago (egg) sushi and rice with pork shabu shabu soup (gave her the lean pork, carrot, tofu and veg). Today, she ate plain porridge with stir fried pumpkin, steamed fish and steamed spinach. She's drinking 220ml of Friso3, even more than Cheh Cheh. I think I can give up thinking of bringing the baby bjorn to HK cos by June, she may exceed the weight limit. :P

Glad that she can eat outside food cos we won't have to always cook separately for her. At this rate, there'll be no problem for her to adjust to eating outside food at HK bah. I'm prepared to bring a travel cooker otherwise. But think shouldn't need to cos there's always bread, porridge and rice, eggs at hotel. The most, bring a thermos flask of hot water to rinse the food before giving to her if it's too salty.

She loves to drink water and especially loves to drink water from my water bottle cos I put in a straw so that I can drink easily without bending my neck.

The happiest thing for me is that she has finally learnt to call Mamee last week. The reward of me playing with her more often in the day now that my shoulder aches are getting better. Sometimes it still sounds like she is calling Mei Mei but at least it's an improvement.

Phonics?

2011-03-01T22:48:00.004+08:00

Raeanne's cc will only start teaching phonics next year but I am thinking of starting her early on weekly enrichment class. A bit worried cos that day, ask her to read to me n she chose her favorite book (beauty n the beast). She read the first page in entirety 'once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince stays in a shining castle'. But the next page, she went blank. Which shows that it is pure memory, she does not recognize any of the words at all. She doesn't even know the phonic sounds of the 26 alphabets. Hubby asked me to teach but I told him I can't cos I don't know phonics. More confident to teach Chinese. :p

Called 3house phonics enrichment at Tampines Central CC this morning, n they have weekday night class, 730-930pm every Thurs. $100 for 4 lessons, got free trial too so think I will bring her for it. Actually, they have a new class on sun morning 1130-130pm but I think timing not good. But the class is not accompanied by parents, afraid she won't be used to it. Hubby thinks she definitely won't take it well.

Asked some Jan08 mummies and a few of them said Leapfrog phonics DVD is good. So, decided to buy from Amazon and give it a shot. If it's really good, will buy the numbers DVD too. Until now, she can't count from 1-20 without omitting 6 or 16 or both. :P

Updates

2011-02-28T22:54:00.006+08:00

Have not blogged in a long while cos kept watching the different korean drama dvds that hubby bought for me. Just a quick update

Last Tues, let Raelynn try the Thai basil chilli minced meat that I fried. Poor gal, so hot that she kept sticking out her tongue. After that, she refused whatever food I gave her. :P

Tues afternoon, Maid's agent came to speak to Filamie, and she has agreed to renew contract and we will let her go on home leave from 2 - 11 June. It will be a long 10 days without any help. But managed to convince hubby to go for a short 4d3n holiday to HK disneyland from 7-10 June so at least got something to look forward to. :)

Last week, Raelynn has recently sprouted a lower left incisor so she has not been drinking much milk. Luckily this week, her appetite has returned to normal.

Not sure what's wrong with RaeAnne these 3 days. Every night she wet her bed, previously she will wake up around 1am to go toilet. Last night, finally we buay tahan n put on diapers for her after she slept. End up she pee in her diapers, then wake up n change into panties herself. :p

Happy V Day!!!

2011-02-14T23:02:00.001+08:00

Happy Valentines to dear wifey as well!
May you stay healthy and lovely!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T21:58:00.001+08:00

Been a long time since I posted cos I got gastric flu since chu3 and had to see 24 hr clinic. Took me 1 long week and another visit to the GP before I finally recovered. :(

Happy Valentine's Day to hubby! Thanks for remembering and getting a new Swatch watch for me. So sweet! :) We didn't go out for Valentine's day lunch nor dinner but we sneaked out for a short while in the afternoon (RaeAnne woke up by then, oops!) and had a heavy tea at F.I.S.H. Tampines1. Didn't manage to buy hubby a gift yet cos he didn't see anything that he fancied. Hope he can find something on ebay later. :P

Happy Rabbit Year!

2011-02-03T23:58:00.002+08:00

Today is 初一, Mei Mei woke up at 6am and cried so loudly at 7am that she woke up Cheh Cheh (she cried cos she wanted to touch her pee in the potty and was stopped by the maid. :P). End up we woke up early but went back to sleep. It's a good thing we did not make any plans for CNY visiting today. Just wanted to pop by ILs place and maybe my mum's place. My bro came over for a while in the morning cos he helped my mum deliver some CNY goodies to MIL. In the end, we popped over to ILs place at 5pm, had steamboat dinner there, then my bro picked us up at 7+pm and we went to my parents for a short while.

Measured Mei Mei today, she is 73cm tall and according to maid who weighed her on Wed 9.4kg. :)

Raelynn is 14 months old!

2011-02-02T22:09:00.004+08:00

Today is 年三十, the last day of Tiger lunar year and also the day Mei Mei turned 14 months. She is trying to wear her own clothes n will stand on any circular eg. Book or placemat n pretend it's a weighing scale. She cries easily when she is hungry or sleepy. Have let her try a few foods so far cos she is such a glutton eg. Waffle, corn bread, bun, mushroom, tingkat soup, crab n even fish maw n abalone today.

We did not go to ILs place n my mum's place for reunion dinner today. I cooked the soup (chicken stock with fishballs, fish maw, prawns, scallops, mushrooms, vegetables) while hubby cut the abalone. Simple 2 dish reunion dinner for us. Hope that we will 年年有余,代代平安,哈哈(虾虾)大笑 this whole year.

Officially stopped BF

2011-01-30T22:47:00.004+08:00

29 Jan 11 - The day I officially stopped BF cos the last pack of FEBM was gone. Switched off the stand alone freezer last week too. Have been mixing FM with FEBM for Raelynn and she's taking it well so that's a relief. :) I wouldn't never have been able to stop BF on my own (will have felt too guilty). Stopped BF cos of the circumstances after the accident so in a way, I'm glad the decision was taken out of my hands. Time to take out the BF ticker. I've lasted almost 14 months (3 days short) so I am still proud of myself. Hope Raelynn will stay healthy and grow up tall and strong. :)

Red CNY dresses

2011-01-28T22:34:00.003+08:00

Although we don't have plans to go CNY visiting this year (cos post accident, must wear brace plus no car), I couldn't resist ordering two 'Ang3 gong4 gong4' dresses for the 2 gals from SMH BP. Thought they look so sweet. I especially like the one of Raelynn doing a 'Marilyn Monroe'. :)

Follow up dr review

2011-01-26T23:43:00.005+08:00

Came back from dr review at cgh, condition not worsen (good news) but still need to wear brace for 6 more weeks (bad news). Thought my 6 weeks started from 14 Jan, how come kenna restarted and now still got to wear for 6 weeks.

Next review is 7 mar, so close to my phuket trip on 14 mar. Hope I can still go for my trip lor. Got to wear the brace for so long. Hiaz. Went back to Lifeforce rehab centre and adjusted my brace slightly to give my face more breathing space. Bought another cervical collar too and it costs $156. No choice cos the brace is too uncomfortable to use on the bed so look for another alternative so that I won't feel so miserable. Met a couple there and the Malay lady is still wearing a hard plastic brace though her accident was in Nov and her fracture is only in T12, guess I can't complain. :p

Wonder if I was right to insist on no surgery so I went to search online. Looks like most pp will only go for surgery if there is nerve damage (which hopefully I don't have). So, brace is the best option for now bah. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000443.htm

RaeAnne is 3 years old!!!

2011-01-22T20:42:00.003+08:00

Raeanne finally turned 3 today. She is 12.8 kg n 95cm tall. We did not managed to go out n celebrate as a family today cos hubby brought RaeAnne to her music class in the morning and went for tuition in the afternoon and he's tired out. But at least we walk out to nearby Ntuc together to buy mamy poko diapers for Mei Mei.

She was a very sweet gal together, maybe because she knows it's her birthday.She asked me a few times, 'Mummy, are you feeling well?' When I said no, she took the 'yoko yoko' and wanted to apply the yoko yoko for me. :) When I was watching Japan hour and said that the gal was so nice to bring her Daddy and Mummy on holiday. I asked her 'Next time when you grow up and have money, will you bring Mummy on holiday. She replied. 'Monday, Monday, I bring you on holiday'.

hehe, so sweet, don't know if it'll be an unfulfilled promise. But I'll look forward to the day when instead of we bringing the gals on holiday. The gals will bring us on holiday. :)

Happy 6th wedding anniversary (again)!

2011-01-21T20:20:00.002+08:00

Today is our customary wedding anniversary. Normally, we don't celebrate in a big way since it's after our ROM anniversary and hubby's birthday. But after surviving the accident, must learn to appreciate each other even more. Plus hubby just had his hand operation on Wed, so I bought an Ipad for him as anniversary present. So that it's easier for him to type and read chinese comics online.

Got it from SMH WTS thread at almost $150 cheaper than retail and the seller delivered to my house on Wed night, just a few hrs after confirming the deal. But another forum mummy got it even cheaper than me from hardwarezone forum at only $820. :( Oh well, never mind, as long as hubby likes it right? :)

Anyway, we can't go out to eat since we already ordered tingkat but we did tapow some salmon belly sashimi from NTUC finest to jia cai. After accompanying hubby to polyclinic to change his bandage, we popped by Tampines Mall and had a snack at Wang Jiao and hubby bought 2 sets of drama DVD (1 taiwan, 1 korean) and promised to watch them with me. I hope it's true and he won't fall sleep halfway as usual. hee. :P

Birthday celebration at Elfa

2011-01-20T22:29:00.004+08:00

RaeAnne's school is closed tomorrow for staff training. So, we had to celebrate early for her birthday which is on Sat. Luckily, I had ordered most of the items from Party City when preparing for Mei Mei's BD party. Cos post accident, we really don't have the time and energy to shop for her party stuff. But we still had to scramble to buy party favours and sweets/jelly last minute cos we didn't know there were 18 kids in her class including herself. I only see her own class ie. PrenurseryIIA (only about 6 kids) but PrenurseryIIB are also counted cos they share a classroom (separated by book shelves) and the same lunch break.

With me and hubby in bandage and brace, we were quite a sight walking to the CC with maid, baby and MIL in tow. I got the most curious stares from kaypoh aunties and uncles cos of my neck to waist brace. But bo bian, told myself must be thick skin and sacrifice my 'face' for my daughter. After all, it's her 3rd birthday party and I wouldn't miss it for the world. :)

RaeAnne got the pink smiley face cake that she requested for and all the kids are happy with the party bags and cake. We didn't bring the cake back since it wasn't very big in the first place. No place to store in the fridge also. But in hindsight, we should have cut a piece and put into tupperware for Ye Ye. I was too busy trying to take photos that I forgot. :P One of RA's classmate, a little boy by the name of Ryan Koh (Standing behind RaeAnne) likes me so much (despite my strange looking brace) that he called me Mummy and tried to leave with me. So sweet. :) Even RL hasn't called me Mummy yet. Duh...

Anyway, we also got RaeAnne's fortnightly progress report from school today. Her English lessons were of good progress but Chinese vocabulary 有待加强. These were for words like 幼儿园,再见,小朋友,你好etc. Yes, although we do speak Mandarin at home, we don't use such words often. No wonder she doesn't know. Got to hide the 'Beauty and the Beast' book which she loves and start reading some more of the Pelangi chinese books that we used to read to her. :P

Hubby's in the news today

2011-01-20T00:58:00.002+08:00

Just found out that my hubby is featured in today's 联合早报, in the 现在 supplement. Haven't seen the papers yet, cos my mum was the one who tipped us off and we don't subscribe to chinese papers but at least managed to find the article online http://www.zaobao.com.sg/fk/fk110119_009.shtml. There is a reporting error though cos my hubby studied at NUS/NIE, not in USA. :P No photo in the online version though. But maybe it's better this way cos I don't like the photo they used in the article. Asked hubby and he said the student journalist took many photos, don't know why they picked that one. :P

Post accident

2011-01-18T22:43:00.006+08:00

Quite a few people asked me how we are coping post accident with my neck to waist brace, hubby's fractured hand and 2 active kids below 3. Grandparents support is minimal as ILs pop in only when we call them for help eg. this afternoon MIL came over cos the maid wanted to go to PO to send $.

I am stiff in the morning, can't get off bed without going Ow, ow, ow. Hubby is even worse cos he has to sleep at the reclined position or he can't get up in the morning. Very difficult for him cos RA will always kacheow him at night for shh shh or milk or just to get Daddy to sleep with her.

I lie flat on my bed as much as I can. I am most comfortable lying down on the bed actually cos no need to wear the brace. My dr said I can skip the brace when showering and sleeping so I'm cheating a bit (ok, ok, cheating a lot) by lying down on the bed and using iPhone to surf net most of the time. but it's also very straining for my eyes. Think my myopia power will increase after 6 weeks.

A lot of things that I took for granted eg. shower, surf net, carry Raelynn, even drink water, I can no longer do comfortably esp with the brace. I often had to pull apart the chin support to breathe properly cos it was so claustrophobic to have half your face covered with a hard brace. :P

So, I have to find ways to improvise, utitlising whatever I can to make it work. :p

To surf net without the brace, I prop a big pillow behind my back and sit up straight, keeping neck in neutral position, then I put a Giant table tray with fold out legs (that we bought long ago for RA) then put 3big photo albums on top to prop up my laptop. That means that I can look at the screen comfortably without straining my neck but it's too high for my hands to type. But luckily hubby reminded me of the wireless keyboard I bought while still working at CGH. So, I connected the wireless keyboard so that I can type it on my lap. Very useful when I need to post on my blog or forum.

To shower, I got to sit on a stool, put my toiletries on another stool and position the showerhead so that it sprays directly on my head. I need to keep my back straight and lean back on the wall most of the time. Over head and bending down my head is discouraged by the physiotherapist. I managed ok but still have problems washing the upper right hand part of my shoulder due to the stiff back so hubby helps me. Drying my hair with a towel is also difficult since I'm supposed to minimise over head arm movements so I sit on a chair while hubby blows dry my hair with his good right hand.

To eat, we have ordered tingkat since Monday and hubby will put the pink table top on top of the coffee table with all the tingkat containers so that I can eat without looking down. To drink water, I use a straw so that I don't have to tilt my head.
I tried to wear the brace to eat the first few days but it was so claustrophobic cos I can't tilt my neck and my chin is half hidden. I broke one of my Corelle bowls (Duh, won't they supposed to be break resistant?) on Sunday while trying to eat my fried bee hoon dinner cos I can't see properly. Think it'll be difficult to buy a replacement cos that particular green lotus design is being phased out. :(

Hugging RL can only be done when someone places her on my lap but it's always very short hug cos she will struggle to get down. As for carrying her, it's even more impossible, cos it will strain my compression fractures at T1-5. So, I've sadly fallen out of favour cos she prefers the maid who can pick her up from the cot when she wakes up and carry her when she is pushed down by Cheh Cheh. In fact, she started to call 'Aunty' yesterday and often looks for the maid when she is out of sight. Hiaz. Such a practical gal. :P

But luckily, last night, when she was whining and trying to fall asleep, I put my hand on her hand to prevent her from 'tunneling' off the bumper mat and she fell asleep in just a few seconds. It was the first time I managed to make her sleep without letting the maid take over. At least it's a small accomplishment.

Hubby is a GREAT help to me (he brings me my water, my painkillers, helps me with my shower, hair drying etc). Sometimes we can't help commiserating about our fate as we go ow, ow, ow together especially when we are trying to find a comfortable position to sleep at night or when we are trying to get up from the bed. Sneezing and coughing literally 'rips us apart' us cos it is so damn painful esp to the ribs and painful muscles. But have you ever tried to stop a sneeze or cough? I have not had much success so far. It's worse when we laugh. So got to avoid comedies for now.

But yes, above everything else, we are thankful to be alive and see our gals' faces again. So got to keep reminding ourselves when the going gets tough. :)

Poor hubby going for day surgery Tom, poor guy got to go alone n come back alone cos he doesn't want to trouble his parents to accompany n technically they also didn't offer. Hope he doesn't feel too drugged tom and will make it safely back in a cab.

Mixing Friso3...

2011-01-18T22:19:00.003+08:00

Decided to start mixing 1 small scoop of Friso3 to Mei Mei's EBM this morning. She took it well so did the same tonight. This way, I can slowly get her used to the taste of FM while depleting the remaining bags of EBM. Hopefully the FEBM can drag until 2 Feb, then she will be 14 months. Nice date to wean off BM totally.

Surprisingly, RaeAnne asked for milk by 830pm today and fell asleep before 9pm. Maybe it's because she went to school and went out with MIL and hubby to Tampines interchange to buy her birthday present. She wanted a pink bear but don't know why she came back with a pink stuffed piggy instead. Hubby is not complaining cos the toy from Toy R Us only costs $9.90.

I didn't follow cos it's tiring to go out for long with my brace. Yesterday, we went to the CC NTUC that's just 5 mins walk away cos I need to get sweets for RaeAnne's party packs. Quite a few people were staring at me though I wore a hooded jacket to try and hide the brace. It didn't help that the neck brace in front can't be hidden from view since it blocks part of my chin.

To mix or not to mix

2011-01-16T22:58:00.005+08:00

Counted today and I have 17 bags of FEBM. Won't be long before the FEBM gets depleted since I am no longer pumping. Just hand expressing a bit when I feel full (not really). Got to start 'training' RL to take Friso3 which is what RA is taking. Wonder if I should mix FM with EBM or just let her take it neat. Afraid that she won't want EBM (bland) after taking FM so in a dilemma when to start giving it to RL. :P

Once the last bag of EBM is gone, wonder if I should sell the upright Farfalla freezer which I used to store EBM. It has served me very well for the last 11 months but it does take up a space in the kitchen. After the accident, think the chances of trying for no. 3 is even slimmer cos I need to defer my RES course and both hubby and I need to recuperate and recover from our fractures too. I already managed to sell the Arms reach cosleeper and got $100 for that. Not bad, considering that I bought it for $139 in 2007. :P

Oh ya, Mei Mei said I don't want 'sleep' today. Apparently, she said 'Eat' to Ye ye very often too. Tomorrow, starting on 2BQ tingkat for lunch and dinner for 10 days trial. Hope the food is good. Hubby has always been excited about tingkat so hope he's happy with the food. :)

Weaning off

2011-01-15T21:44:00.006+08:00

Due to the accident, I'm weaning off Raelynn. Last pump was on Tues, 2 days after the accident cos I was feeling quite full. I have to pump and throw away because of all the painkiller jabs I was given anyway. Cannot pump with the brace on and I am not supposed to strain my neck nor spine which is what will happen if I pump cos I need to look down and pump for quite long nowadays for a miserable 30ml.

When I discharged on Friday, boobs already not feeling full so hardly needed to hand express. Oh well, FEBM is running out after our 5 days in hosp cos ILs refuse to feed RL enough solids (FIL claims her tummy is very big but doesn't understand that she is clever enough to refuse food or turn away when she is full) so end up she keeps waking up in the middle of the night for milk.

Tonight Raelynn is at Ils place cos the maid is sick (severe gastric pain according to her though GP said clinically her stomach is very soft). She said her stomach is very 'cold' for 3 days liao. Must be too much coffee and tea and Coca cola at Ils place and not enough solid meals. Spent $67 seeing 24 hr dr cos it's Sat night. My bro was the one to drive her down cos both of us are handicapped. Hope she gets well soon, we have enough trouble as it is. Hiaz...

Car accident

2011-01-13T23:42:00.003+08:00

Never thought I will have a blog post about this. But just 3 days after hubby's birthday, we had a road traffic a cident at slip road at bedok north into PIE jurong. It happened last Sunday at 12+pm in the afternoon when hubby was driving me to my hair appt at Wheelock Place. It was raining n the road was slippery and the car skidded n we ran into the tree that was by the roadside. Luckily the gals n the maid were not with us. I am still warded in cgh as I post it but should be discharged Tom. it has been a very long painful 5 days but I must count our blessings that we survived the accident though both hubby n I suffered fracture injuries and will be on the long road to recovery.

Fisher Price Rocker

2011-01-08T23:07:00.004+08:00

Sold off the FP Infant to Toddler Rocker today at SMH WTS thread today. Although made a profit of $10, I must say I'm feeling quite sad. Sad because it signifies that Mei mei is no longer a baby, plus I'm selling because we may not be having any more babies so no point keeping the Rocker which we got for a steal at FP Lok Yang Warehouse sale. There is no more space in the house or storeroom and the longer I keep the items, the more the value will depreciate. I took too long to sell the Arms reach bedside cosleeper and it's quite tough selling it off now.

This same wistful feeling strikes at the oddest times. In Nov last year because that was the month to have a Rabbit Leo baby if we had ttc that month, when RL decided to self wean, when I have to start selling Mei Mei's things, when I see CNY Rabbit decorations in the shopping malls cos it reminds me of the rabbit baby that I will not have, when I see Singapore Mint Rabbit Coin collection knowing that I won't be going down to buy a set cos we are not having a rabbit baby, when I see pregnant women on the streets cos I know they will be having a rabbit baby. Sometimes, I tell hubby if I had known that he was insistent not to have a 3rd baby, maybe it would have been better if I waited until June 2010 before TTC then Raelynn will be a rabbit baby. But will I still be successful to TTC or will Raelynn still be the same sweet temperament baby?

I don't know. Same like I don't know when this feeling of wistfulness will go away? Will it go away only when I'm 40 because I'll stop pining for a 3rd baby cos physiologically and emotionally I don't think I am cut out to be a 40 yr old mum like Zoe Tay? Or will it go away when I'm having a succesful second career cos my life is no longer about my family and kids and I have higher opportunity costs? Will it go away when I travel to faraway countries with the 2 gals cos I only need to buy 4 air tickets? Or will it go away when the kids go to college? Will be glad that we have enough for our retirement instead of spending all our savings on their tuition fees? :P

Happy Birthday to my Sweetest, Dearest Hubby! :)

2011-01-06T00:43:00.003+08:00

Birthday Animations

Happy birthday, dada. Thanks for always being there when I need a listening ear, a hug, a massage, and a break away from the gals. May all your wishes come true. Mua Mua Mua! :)

From 'I don't want' to 'Go away'

2011-01-03T23:33:00.003+08:00

Raelynn has learnt to say all the 'bad things' from Cheh Cheh, today i heard her say 'Go away' distinctively. Aiyoh, she can't call Mummy but can say all the 'negative phrases' like 'I don't want', 'Go away', '没有' etc. She hasn't even master saying 'Mummy' yet. Sometimes, I wonder if I can send her to school early. After all, she can walk, talk, and can poo and pee if put on potty, but she's still very much a baby, though a faster developing one.

Just realised that by Jan 2012, she will be considered 3 years old liao cos she's born in Dec 2009 ie. Prenursery 2 like what RaeAnne is attending now. So, if we don't send her to PG earlier, she will be going straight for minimum 3 hrs prog (PAP) or 4 hrs prog (CC). :P

P.S. Raelynn was woken up by Cheh cheh around 1030pm, after the maid made her go back to sleep again. She carried RL to me and asked if I wanted to feed. I thought yesterday will be the last time I try but I can't resist a sleeping baby. So I told myself one last try and tonight she did latch at first asleep but woke up when I started talking to hubby. But the best thing is she didn't unlatch and continue to suckle for almost 10mins. :) Until I tried to switch sides then everything went downhill and she struggled off my lap liao. :P

Raelynn is 13 months old! :)

2011-01-02T23:44:00.004+08:00

Raelynn is 13 months old, don't have her latest weight and height yet cos she was at ILs house today.

It's official. She has stopped latching since 12 Dec. It's been 3 weeks and I kept trying to make her latch again, tried honey, tried it when she's hungry, tried it when she's sleepy and tried it after she has fallen asleep. But it's no use, I must admit her persistence has worn out my patience.

Although I had occasional success latching her when she was asleep, it's getting harder and harder cos if she is too hungry, she won't fall asleep so got to give EBM via bottle. If we don't give her enough EBM, she's still hungry and wakes up at my nursing pillow and cries, refuse to latch. If we give her enough EBM usually 125ml, she is satisfied and falls asleep. No amount of prying her mouth and jaw with my little finger nor tickling or tapping her jaw will make her 'unclench' her teeth.

So sad though I am, I cannot force this issue anymore. Because she's not latching, I can only pump out 100ml after 2 pumps of 20-30 mins (even the pump gives up on me). So, it's a matter of days before I stop pumping altogether.I weaned RaeAnne off BF at 12.5 months and she latched all the way till 12.5 months too. Since I still have some frozen EBM, and Mei Mei is already 13 months. I have already surpassed my BF target of feeding RL as long as RA and longer if possible.

Anyway, 2 days ago, while trying to make RL sleep, I flashed at her and she came forward and kissed my left nipple but didn't even try to open her mouth. It was like a kiss goodbye and it shows that she no longer sees it as her source of food. Oh well, at least she had good memories of latching, if not, she wouldn't kiss it. I must take heart for that.

For her 13th month milestone, RL is able to say 'I don't want'. Don't understand why she cannot call 'Mummy' (only occasionally Mama) but yet she can say 'I don't want'. But it's true, I heard it myself tonight, she kept chanting 'I don't want', 'I don't want' when me and the maid took turns to put her to sleep. First, I didn't let the maid feed too much EBM cos I was still hoping to latch (failed - she struggled off my lap or her teeth were clenched the whole way), secondly because her arms are wrapped up in the baby legs legging to prevent her from sucking her favourite pacifier - her thumb. So, she was sleepy, hungry and frustrated so she kept chanting 'I don't want'. In the end, the maid had to feed another 60ml of EBM and let her roll on the mat before she fell asleep in 5 mins. :P

Went with hubby to Dempsey for lunch. Our first time to Dempsey, though I've heard of the place 5 years ago, so suaku. Thanks to the GPS, we made the trip. But because I changed setting from 'Faster route' to 'Shorter distance', it took us 40mins to drive there cos the GPS directed us to all the small roads instead of the expressways. -_-

We ate at Barracks as recommended by a few Jan08 mummies. Hubby ordered the braised veal caramelised onion skinny pizza while I had the Bay Prawn Capellini, then we shared the salted caramel banana cake. The food was really good. :) They weren't exactly cheap though cos all their mains are $22 and above. :P Went to Jones the Grocer to browse and we passed by Gogo bambini, another adventure park for kids but we have not brought RaeAnne there before. Maybe next time. :) We went to the PageOne warehouse sale at Kaki Bukit View after that but hubby didn't buy anything. I bought some stationery and a notebook for taking notes at my RES course. :)

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-01T00:39:00.002+08:00

Bye bye to 2010 and Hello 2011!

Brought RaeAnne to see GP in the morning cos her fever hovered around 37.8. At first, she refused to see the GP. So we had to bribe her with toys from 7-11 next door and reminded her that the nice doctor will give her a sweet. And he did give her one soft jelly sweet. But RaeAnne ripped off the packaging so forcefully that the sweet landed on the floor. Hubby and I refused to let her eat it since it's dirty. She protested loudly and wanted to put it in her mouth anyway until the doctor told her he'll give her a new one.

GP said it's viral fever cos no ulcers and no throat infection. But she does have a runny nose. Assured that it's nothing serious. Hope she gets well soon to enjoy the new year.

Later, hubby asked her if the doctor is nice. She said yes, 'Doctor nice cos doctor gave me a not dirty sweet'.

She dropped food at Nai Nai floor tonight and hubby told her 'Gal, cannot eat, dirty'. And she replied 'No lar, dropped on the (bumper) mat'. kekeke. Things she said always make us laugh. ;P

After that, went to ILs place. She napped there for 3 hrs from 1 - 4pm so she was very alert when she came home and refused to sleep until almost 11pm. :P

Mysterious fever

2010-12-30T23:03:00.006+08:00

RaeAnne started a mysterious fever this morning. 38.2 deg. Hubby gave panadol and it dipped to 37.2 by 11am. Brought her to MIL house as planned though she didn't go to school today cos didn't want her to infect Mei Mei. I called her CC and Huang Lao shi said none of her classmates were having fever for the last 2 days. That's good cos I was worried of HFMD.

Just started giving Nestle chicken & rice stage 3 cereals to RL today. Wanted to save the FEBM for milk feeds and not to mix into cereals since supply is running low. Nestle is really very sweet cos I tasted it. And she kept farting today, not sure if it's due to the added milk powder. :P Tonight, she didn't even finish 80ml of EBM. I fed her and she kept turning away, taking the cover and trying to cover the milk bottle. Gave up and about 20 mins later, maid tried to feed and she took about 50ml only. Last night, she finished 125ml and still woke up at 4+am for more milk, not sure why today her appetite so poor. :P

Ikea finally delivered the new toy storage racks this afternoon. Finally can move some of the toys from the storeroom into the toy boxes. The storeroom is becoming a hazard to enter with the toys stacked way up. :P

Went to Yamaha to buy her textbooks for her Music Wonderland class starting on 8 Jan 11. We didn't know that we have to pay separately for textbooks. They should have incorporated it into the course fees since it's compulsory to buy. Anyway, the textbooks and a percussion kit came up to $101.25. Commented to the course organiser and she said the materials will last 1 year. Oh well, hope RaeAnne is interested in the course and her interest will last for at least 1 year. :P

Sigh, RaeAnne's fever spiked up in the afternoon and evening though ILs gave panadol syrup. Brought her home at night and gave ibufen cos temp was still 38.5deg. She keeps insisting to take out her clothes cos she said she's very hot. Poor thing, keep explaining to her that it's the fever that makes her hot, not the clothes but she doesn't understand. :P

Raelynn's MMRV vaccination

2010-12-27T23:41:00.007+08:00

Went down to IEA at HDB Hub in the morning to sign up for the Real Estate Sales course. So exp, $780 + $100 (student membership). Got to go for class from 17 Jan 11 on Mon, Wed & Fri. Sian to travel from East to North cos bus take 1 hour plus and MRT is not direct. Think I'll spend a lot of cab fare cos I would rather spend 2 hrs of travelling time playing with RL than being stuck in public transport. :P

In the afternoon, finally brought Raelynn for her overdue MMRV vaccination. Was debating whether to split up into 2 jabs (MMR and chickenpox) cos some of the Jan08 mummies were discussing that MMRV's side effects are worse than MMR + chickenpox separate jabs.

Spoke to the PD about our concerns. She confirmed that MMRV may cause higher fevers and fever may last longer (depends on individual). She asked if there is any family history of fits and I told her no. So, that was good, cos risk of febrile fits is low.

Anyway, she said it's up to us, we can always bring her back next month for chixpox vaccine. No point jabbing her twice today, cos the side effects will be similar to taking MMRV then. Let hubby make the decision and he said just do it. He is not keen to bring her back again next month. Plus we usually give panadol syrup after jab anyway. Hope RL will be ok.

Strangely, MMRV vaccination ($110) is $5 cheaper than taking 2 separate jabs ($35 for MMR and $80 for chixpox). One of the Jan08 mummy was quoted $200 by her PD. Wonder why my PD's jabs are always so cheap, but then, I am not complaining. :)

Weighed and measured RL today, she is 9.3kg (75th percentile), HC 45 cm (50th percentile), but her height at 71cm is only 10th percentile :( I still think she's short but sweet. But wonder if I should introduce her to skipping rope soon. :P

Asked PD what to do about RL's thumb sucking habit (her poor thumb is getting calluses and infected). She advised us to bandage her hands and pull a long sock over it. She said it's important to bandage both hands so that she can't pull off the sock with the other hand. If it still doesn't work, she said we can get her to suck the pacifier instead cos at least that can be thrown away. But I'm not really keen to wean her off thumb to pacifier cos that will be another evil to be weaned off. As it is, the reason why RL has crooked front teeth is because of her frequent thumb sucking. PD said that's why must wean off bottles when the kid is 4 years old, if not it will affect their permanent teeth. :P

Went with hubby to a movie gala event at Vivocity. Got to try Ximending restaurant before going for the movie (Narnya 3). Haven't gone for a movie with hubby for a long time. :)

Why Study Smart?

2010-12-26T23:43:00.003+08:00

Hubby's 5th book 'Why Study Smart?' is out! I think it is very relevant to all the students and parents out there cos this is Singapore mah. Most of us are kiasu when it comes to grades. kekeke.

This is the first book to be dedicated to our second princess, Raelynn, so hope readers of my blog can go support! So that we can buy more formula milk for Mei Mei since she is self weaning against my will. :( The new book is available at all Popular bookstores. :)

Merry Xmas 2010!

2010-12-24T23:29:00.005+08:00

It's Christmas Eve today. How time flies, last year at this time, we had CL to make a really nice Xmas Eve western dinner for us. We were too late to preorder festive roasts so we went to NTUC in the afternoon to try our luck. Lucky for us, we managed to buy the last turkey with stuffing they had at $59.90. Decided to bake some potatoes and make a simple salad of assorted vegetables with yuzu citrus sauce (french beans, pumpkin, carrot, baby corn) so that it's a more nutritious complete meal. Raelynn has already eaten her porridge but since it is Xmas, I let her try the vegetables and turkey. We still have lots of turkey left so tomorrow there'll be turkey porridge or turkey sandwich. ;)

As per tradition, we gathered round the Xmas tree and opened our presents. To me, Xmas is not a religious event cos even schools and companies celebrate Xmas through xmas parties and gift exchange. It's an occasion to gather with the family and express our love for one another through presents. After all, who doesn't like presents? kekeke.

RaeAnne got a big fire engine with doors that can open (as she requested the door must open), and Raelynn a set of plastic bowling pins. As usual, the gals always seem to like each other's present better. Duh. I got 2 books and a computer game for hubby since I didn't wake up in time to queue for the iphone4 at Hello shop. Wnated to get the iphone4 Hubby got me 2 robin blue boxes to my surprise cos he said one was for our wedding anniversary and one for Xmas. :) Even the maid is happy cos she got 2 shirts, 1 pair of shoes and 1 hair scrunchie from us. This was on top of the 5+kg airmail box of goodies which we paid for her to send back to Philippines.

Self weaning or Milk Strike?

2010-12-23T23:22:00.006+08:00

I was searching online for answers on why RL doesn't want to latch anymore and finally I found some useful info from http://www.llli.org/NB/NBNovDec92p173.html.

Possible Causes of a Nursing Strike
Sometimes the cause of a nursing strike is obvious, but other times the mother may never discover the reason. Some common causes for a baby to refuse to nurse include:

•mouth pain from teething, an injury, a cold sore, or a fungus infection, such as thrush, (Check, 4 teeth sprouted while we are away. )
•an ear infection, which may cause pressure or pain while nursing,
•pain while being held in the nursing position, perhaps due to an immunization or an injury,
•a cold or stuffy nose that makes breathing difficult while nursing, (Check, she was having a runny nose when we were away in Taipei and still had it when we came back.)
•too many bottles, overuse of a pacifier, or frequent thumbsucking, which >may lead to a reduced milk supply, (Check, she has always been a thumb sucker, She even has a sore thumb with swollen bite marks. :P)
•regular distractions and interruptions while nursing, (Not sure, RaeAnne has always been a distraction but I thought Mei Mei would have filtered out the noise by now)
•an unusually long separation from mother. (Check, I was away for 5 nights due to Taipei trip)

Raelynn has 4 checks out of 7. Wish I read about this before going to Taipei. But then I'll never know if it's because she is self weaning because according to another article from kellymom http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/toddlernursing.html#selfwean.

A child who is self-weaning will almost always cut down on nursing very gradually over a period of months one session at a time (anything abrupt is most always a strike). Many children will continue with only a nighttime, morning or naptime nursing session (or a combination) for months before weaning. When a child self-weans, she will also have been drinking well from a cup and getting the vast majority of her nutrition from solid foods for a while.

RL has been willing to nurse only at night before she sleeps for the longest time. She loves her solids over her milk ever since I started giving her solids at 6 months plus. Besides finishing 1 cereal feed & 2 porridge feeds, she has started eating rice and bread. Many times, she refuse to nurse but when the maid feeds her, she will eat esp fruits, biscuits and bread. She can drink from a cup but not very well yet.

Oh well, I guess I really don't have answers. Maybe it's a mixture of both internal as well as external factors. Anyway, all I know is my heart ached when I had to lead the weaning for RaeAnne and she was lifting my t shirt and crying cos she still wants to nurse. Not to mention the physical pain cos I was engorged all the time and applied cold cabbages for 1 week plus and still had to rely on hormone pills to stop BF. Now, even when it is weaning initiated by Raelynn, I can just stop pumping immediately and I won't even have to worry about engorgement and blocked ducts. But my heart still aches.

I always think of breastfeeding as the unique bond between me and Raelynn cos it was something that only I could do. Not Daddy, not the confinement lady, definitely not the maid (RL's favourite person). I love to soothe her hungry cries and gaze into her closed eyes and suckling mouth and seeing her fall asleep happily and peacefully when she had her fill. It made me feel less guilty when I had to ignore Raelynn's cries and let the maid attend to her sometimes because of sticky and demanding RaeAnne. That's my motivation to BF no matter how many times and how early she wakes me up in the middle of the night.

Now, I feel sad when she is sleepy and crying cos she will suck her thumb and lean on my chest but I can no longer soothe her to sleep with my breast. I have to pass her to the maid cos even after 10 minutes, I can't make her sleep cos I don't have the right technique to carry or pat her to sleep. That was the maid's forte. For me, it was always my boobs that did the work. :P

Rationally, I know nursing is only one aspect of motherhood. Although losing the BF connection made me feel that I've 'lost' my baby, I must not forget that I have an active 13 months toddler who has been mimicking sounds more and more accurately (it's a bit unnerving sometimes to hear her trying to say 'rubber band' and 'tiger'). I think it won't be long before she shocks me by speaking accurately and putting 2 words together. She is waiting to discover more and more of the world around, I can be there for her even without BF. In fact without BF, I know I will have to put in extra effort to bond with her so that I can move from 2nd position to 1st position in her heart. :P

Family outing to the zoo - drama ahead :P

2010-12-23T21:51:00.006+08:00

One of the Jan10 mummies can get discounted zoo tics at $17 each so I decided to bring the gals to the zoo again though need to 'ponten' school for RaeAnne. Been wanting to go to the zoo again with Mei Mei before RaeAnne turns 3 years old in Jan cos admission is free below 3 years.

We reached there at 10am, it was cool but the sky was grey. Waited for some other mummies to reach and it started to drizzle by the time we went in at 1030am. Luckily I rented a buggy for 2 with rain cover. :)

We already missed the giraffe feeding at 1030am but we decided to head there anyway cos RaeAnne wanted to see the giraffes. Then we went to see the lion and took the tram to the Elephant show at 1130am. The show just started when we arrived but we had no seats cos the place was packed. Although she did not get to see 'elephants fly high high' (she watched too much 'Dumbo' VCD), it was still the highlight of the zoo outing for RaeAnne. Tonight, she kept asking me why the uncle's hat dropped and why the elephant picked up the hat for him.

After leaving the show at 12 noon, we proceeded to Ah Meng restaurant on foot (didn't know that we can take the tram again) so that Mei Mei can have her lunch. She looked sleepy by then. Who knows we were still too late cos Mei Mei fell asleep on the moving buggy before we even reached the restaurant. Raelynn really has hubby's genes, she can fall asleep anywhere. kekeke.

Good thing the Ah Meng restaurant had lots of long couches so I decided to let her nap while the rest of us enjoy our meals. RaeAnne and maid had the hotdog set while I had laksa and fried chicken wings (finally dare to eat sinful laksa again after my bout of food poisoning. :P). Hubby didn't eat cos he was too full from eating the bun he bought from 7-11.

After napping for 1 hr, Mei Mei was still sound asleep but I had to wake her up cos we still wanted to catch the afternoon feeding sessions and it was already 1pm. While she ate, I decided to bring RaeAnne to the Rainforest Kidsworld myself so that she can pet the rabbits at 130pm.

Her wish to feed the rabbit came true cos there were 2 small buckets of carrots and long beans for the children to feed the rabbits. She had fun stroking the rabbits too. I was proud to say that though she was the youngest kid there, she was more gentle than the other bigger gals there. :) The zookeeper had to keep telling them: don't be so rough and don't force the rabbit to eat etc. If only she can be as friendly n gentle towards her 2-legged friends ie other kids and esp her own Mei Mei. -_-

After the rabbits, we went to see the goats (Hubby & co caught up with us by then) and the ponies and they were surprisingly smelly. Ew... :P Tried to find the Giant Rabbit and dinosaurs walk indicated on the map but we failed. Maybe the map was outdated? So, we went to the waterplay area again. RaeAnne enjoyed the water very much and knelt down on the rough ground so many times until her knees were badly bruised. Poor Mei Mei looked very worried in the cold water and didn't like being splashed by hubby. She shivered and cried so we took her out of the water n wiped her dry after just 5-10 mins. :P

After showering RaeAnne, we went to the toy shop but RaeAnne wanted to ride on the motorised ponies. So, paid $4 for 5 mins ride. Of course, she had her heart on the pink pony and even complained when another little gal after her chose the same pink pony. She said 'no, she cannot take my pink pony.' Possessive gal! ;P

When we went into the toy shop, I told her to choose 1 thing that she wants and I'll buy it for her. Then I started to browse around for good buys. Got distracted cos as usual the maid acts like a tourist n wanted to get a souvenir so she was browsing n asking my opinion on what is cheap but good. Since the maid was obviously more interested in the merchandise than her charge, I carried Mei Mei out of the buggy and tried to take a few nice candid photos of her.

When hubby came and asked me where is RaeAnne. I wasn't worried and told him I didn't know and asked him to look for her thinking she must be at one of the toy racks since the shop is pretty big. 5 mins later, he asked me again. And I told him, you find lar. Only when he replied me that he made 2 rounds looking for her already, then I started to kancheong and went around looking for her myself.

I must have looked like the 'perfectly irresponsible mummy who lost her kid and now frantically searching' (guilty guilty... :P) cos a Caucasian lady quickly appeared in front of me and asked me if I'm looking for a little gal dressed in a pink shirt. I quickly told her yes. Then she told me she found RA crying and didn't know where her parents were so she brought her to the first aid hut and she directed me there. I can't remember now if I thanked her properly but I must admit at first, I thought why is she so kaypoh to bring my kid out of the toy shop. If not, we would not have lost her even though she was out of our sight.

Only when I reached the first aid hut and saw the KFC staff there, then I realised through him that RaeAnne had been found outside the KFC. The KFC is a distance from the toy shop separated by the motorised ponies. So, RA had gone out of the toy shop on her own and went all the way to KFC. Why did she walk there instead of looking for us inside the shop, I'll never know. But thankfully, she was found pretty fast and didn't seem to be traumatised so far.

Morale of the story, I should never underestimate the kid's ability to wander far and never overestimate her ability to act rationally (ie look for us inside the shop first) even though she is such a precocious kid and always so clever to talk/argue and drives me up the wall most of the time. Secondly, either me or hubby or maid must tag teams and be responsible for 'sighting' her instead of everyone thinking that somebody is with her but end up nobody is. Finally, I better think of a way to do a 'Return to Mummy' dogtag or buy a ranged radio beeper for her so that if she is ever lost again (touch wood!!!), I will know asap. I saw one of those things being sold at SMH BP before so better go look out for it and buy one next time. :P

Other than this episode, it was a happy zoo outing and the kids were neither grouchy in the car rides there nor during the return ride though it was already 4+pm and RaeAnne did not have her afternoon nap. :)

RaeAnne is 1 month away from being 3 years old!

2010-12-23T00:16:00.003+08:00

RaeAnne is 35 months today but it was not a good day. Today, her barely 1 week CC teacher complained that she has a bad temper and swept the bowls aside during lunch when throwing a tantrum. The plastic bowl struck another kid who was having his/her lunch nearby, luckily it was a plastic bowl so didn't cause any injuries. The teacher told her to say sorry, but she also refuse. The teacher said she let her be today since they are having Xmas party but she will discipline her more gradually. So paiseh... I told the teacher yes, please go ahead, that's why I send her to CC so that she can learn to socialise properly instead of being queen of the house. :P

Then Nai Nai and I went to NTUC with her after picking her up once it's Dong Zhi today and I wanted to buy tang yuan. Nai Nai bought a pair of scissors for her and she 'thanked' Nai Nai by cutting a hole in their fabric sofa cover. AIYOH!!! Really hope she will learn her manners soon. If not, she will grow up to be a kid that everyone dislikes. -_-

Went down to Spa Infinity this evening at Far East Shopping Centre which we bought the Beeconomic deal a few months ago. The way leading to the spa located at basement 1 was very shabby and dirty, we had to cross the basement carpark to get there. The facilities inside the spa was quite ok, big common jaccuzzi, many shower rooms and changing rooms. But they don't have shower room or jaccuzzi inside the couple room. Massage was ok but very rushed.

What I disliked most was that they made us pay $18 x 2 for aromatherapy oil. When the sales rep tried to get me to sign package after the massage, I told her I don't like the idea of having to pay for my own oil (no other spa I've been to does that). Then, she said that there is an option of not paying, then they will use normal grapeseed oil.

The first guy we met never said that. He just asked us to choose 1 out of 4 oils and said we must pay $18 each, usual price $30. He did not give us any option so end up we had to pay $38.52 incl gst for the oil when we have already paid $48 x 2 for the spa coupons which included 45 mins massage and 2 snacks. I will not patronise them again. -_- Their 'fan choy' with chilli was yummy though. :P

Milk supply running dry... :(

2010-12-22T00:42:00.004+08:00

RL has been refusing to latch since last Monday, 13 Dec unless she is asleep. And it's taking a toll on my supply. At night, I can only pump out only 50ml after 20 mins of pumping. Not sure how long I can persist to BF at this rate. I still have 1 tin of happy bellies oatmeal cereal left (which I need to mix EBM for her cereal). I think the frozen stock can last for only a few more weeks at this rate. It doesn't help that for the last few days, I'm pumping for her milk bath cos the milk cannot be consumed due to the antibiotics that I took for food poisoning last Fri. This morning, I was even crazy enough to try using honey to entice her but she still refused to lie down on my lap.

The TMC LC hotline told me maybe she finds bottle easier so she refused to latch. :( she said her own son not even refuse to latch, he even refused bottle in milk so she had to flavour it with chocolate, before he would even drink milk. Such a naughty boy she said. Oh well, I guess in that aspect I was lucky, at least I did have 12.5 months of BF bonding with Raelynn.

Oh well, must look at the bright side. I did try my best to BF her. Everytime, my supply dipped is because she rather take solids and bottle than to latch. Even when I went to Taipei, I refused to wean off on my own and rather let her take the lead. Even though I pumped diligently there, she refused to latch when I came back after just 1 lucky time. I did reach my BF target of 1 year and looking back, I also BFed RaeAnne for 12.5 months before I started to wean her off. But RA was not ready to be weaned off so it was heartbreaking for me to stop latching her and apply cold cabbage. Subconsciously, I wanted to BF RL as long as possible to compensate for my loss of BF bonding. But I have to keep reminding myself, that RL is a different baby and she has always been more interested in food than milk. maybe, she is also trying to make it easier for me to be fair to both sisters so that I BF them for the same duration.

Just now when I tried to latch her while she was asleep, she pulled out her thumb to cry and woke up but she didn't struggle and unlatch. For a while, it seemed like things were back to normal but I knew she was not really suckling and swallowing but I am already very glad. I don't have much confidence that things will improve but I will try my best until Xmas.

If she still doesn't want to latch after that, then I will have to take it that her Xmas present to Mummy is Time and Freedom. Time to do my own things since she is no longer tied to my boobs and my supply is drying up. Freedom for me to pursue my own things, take up a part time course and hopefully find a fulfilling second career. :S

Raelynn's 1st Birthday Party Photos

2010-12-21T00:42:00.004+08:00

Realised that I haven't uploaded Raelynn's birthday photos, hehe. Cos shortly after we got the photos from Sindy (who turned out to be my Sec schoolmate), me and hubby flew off for Taipei. Seems like so long ago. hehe. But better late than never ya? :)

Wedding anniversary, hotel stay, wedding dinner, food poisoning & Polliwogs

2010-12-20T21:41:00.005+08:00

This is an outdated post cos a lot of things happened these few days. Rewind to:

16 Dec 10
It was our sixth ROM anniversary, we didn't go out early cos I was too sleepy after 'chasing' Korean drama Cinderella's sister until wee hours of the morning. In the end, we decided to go to hubby's favourite buffet place 'Olive Tree' at Hotel Intercontinental, Bugis Junction. Buffet was not bad but I thought the price has gone up, $59.90 for weekday dinner buffet. Isn't that similar to The Line, Shangri-La. Anyway, at least there was a 15% POSB discount. :) We didn't have time to shop for presents but we said we'll do it the next day. (P.S, nope, due to unforeseen circumstances, that didn't happen. :()

17 Dec 10
RaeAnne's CC was having their year end concert so we brought her home earlier. Who knows she didn't eat lunch at all that day so we had to scramble to buy food for her from the food court. Fish slice bee hoon soup then rush home to feed her. We are supposed to check into Swissotel Stamford Hotel before 2pm cos it was my cousin's wedding dinner but in the end, we only reached hotel at 230pm and reached our room at 3pm. RaeAnne had already napped for a short while in the car and refused to sleep anymore. Mei Mei slept though. At 430pm, after we gave up trying to put RaeAnne to nap, we decided to go downstairs and walk around and get some tea since we were feeling hungry and the wedding dinner is at 830pm.

We decided to try 'The Hand Burger' at B1 and that was the start of our troubles. I ordered the Pulled Pork burger while hubby ordered the Handburger Original. The beef patty of hubby's burger was still raw inside but being gungho, we decided to eat it instead of rejecting it. Thought it was normal for beef patty to be a bit raw inside. But technically, they never asked us how well done we wanted the patty to be. RaeAnne made noise and said she wanted to go back to the hotel room so hubby brought her back. But she only ended up waking Mei Mei up so we ended up downstairs again, all 5 of us this time.
5-6pm - We went to Robinsons to walk around cos Filamie said there is one at Manila and she is curious to see the Sg branch.
6pm - tapow salted veg duck and rice and some side dishes at the soup/broth place for RaeAnne's dinner. She ate only a little. She's been eating very little nowadays. :/

8pm - After showering the gals, we went downstairs to the ballroom.
845-9pm - March-in of the blissful couple who have been together for 10 years, their wedding date is also their 10 year dating anniversary (Aw..., so sweet), RaeAnne helped to throw rose petals at the aisle.
9pm - Wedding dinner started but it was very slow going, almost half an hour for each dish to be served cos the waiters were busy dividing every course into individual portions. RaeAnne started to cry and scream that she wanted to return to the hotel room at 940pm. Hubby only managed to eat 2 courses so far and he went up with her.
10.10pm - Mei Mei's turn to get grouchy and need to KO so brought Filamie up to the room. She just had 4 courses so far.
1030pm - I came back down and made it in time for the table photo though I was the sole rep of my family.
1110pm - Went up to the hotel room. We knocked out at 1+am after watching survivor.

18 Dec 10
830am - Start of our real woes. Hubby and I both felt our tummy were no good. Hubby started the runs while I started the runs then switched to vomitting. In total, hubby went to the loo 10 times while I had the runs 4 and vomitted another 4-5 times. We were too weak to look after the gals but RaeAnne still needed to eat something for breakfast/lunch so in between, got hubby to bring RaeAnne and the maid down for breakfast. But still, RaeAnne only ate half a sausage.

11am - 2pm
Everything passed in a painful blur. We were too weak to check out of hotel and drive but we had to do it cos the kids and the helpless maid are with us. Luckily we got back in 1 piece. Hubby brought me home first so that I can KO in peace and he went with the kids/maid to ILs house to rest.

730pm
we finally found a clinic that was still open and I was given a jab and antibiotics while hubby opted for just med cos he still needed to drive us back home. Unfortunately, the antibiotics the GP gave was not suitable for BF. But I was too stoned to protest and insist that he gave me another type of antibiotics. Poor hubby still had to go to the loo 3 times after coming home, probably cos he didnt have the jab. we just slept and slept after that.

19 Dec Sunday
we slept the day away, hardly ate, except taking our med. But we roused ourselves in the evening to prepare to bring the kids home. Luckily they are quite guai.

20 Dec Monday
Yeah, we are finally feeling alive again. RaeAnne has no school today. In the late afternoon, we finally went to Polliwogs and made use of the POSB everyday card 1-for-1 coupon that I have been keeping in my wallet for almost 5 months. Instead of $24, we only needed to pay $16 for the 2 gals. There was a slight drizzle when we reached East coast park but luckily, they could play indoors.

Raelynn was so sweet at the ball pit, she kept passing the ball over to another boy who is 17 months old (think she will have no lack of suitors next time) while RaeAnne had fun running around the activity gym and slides like a monkey. We had an early dinner there at the cafe. The gals had a good time so I have no regrets going there though hubby and I were not completely well. One item off my to do list but still got 10 more things to do. :P.

After dinner, we went to ILs house first (cos Mei mei KO already so we left her there to nap) then brought the maid and RaeAnne to the Tampines interchange pasar malam cos the maid wanted to buy some hair clips to send to her nieces. I had bought a box for her from Post office and had offered to let her send back 5 kg of stuff back to Philippines for Xmas.

P.S. Found out why RaeAnne ate so little recently, she had an ulcer below her lower incisors. -_-

Happy 6th wedding anniversary!!!

2010-12-16T01:17:00.002+08:00

It's been 6 years since our ROM. Happy wedding anniversary to my sweet and wonderful hubby. :)

RaeAnne's first day at new school

2010-12-16T01:05:00.004+08:00

Today is RaeAnne's first day at Elfa CC. Hubby and I brought her over at 8+am cos breakfast is at 830am and Filamie doesn't know the way to the school yet. When we reached, Raeanne was happily exploring the toys and the role play area. She wasn't interested in the peanut butter sandwich and soya bean milk breakfast though. We were introduced to her teachers and her principal Mrs Cynthia also touched base with us. At first it was a bit messy cos the classrooms all open concept and the music room was playing a concert performance CD so RaeAnne was watching it there with all the other kids while RaeAnne's classmates were still having breakfast. But they finally broke up into their classes and to the indoor playground at 930am. So hubby and I took the chance to leave during that time.

When we went to pick her up close to 12 noon, her form teacher Teacher Helen that Raeanne did well for the first day. She finished half a bowl of rice with braised chicken and choy sim and told the teacher twice that she needs to shh shh. The same teacher already told that RaeAnne will be fine in the morning when she saw RaeAnne running around playing and touching the toys. She said kids who can play on their own are ok and can adapt fast. Oh well, she was ok until she saw us and nearly cried but luckily I distracted her cos we brought Mei Mei to fetch her as well and she was an instant hit among the students, teachers and principal. :)

Raelynn refused to latch on this morning and tonight. Don't know if it's because she is too sleepy from the cold/flu med or because she is trying to self wean. Had to let her sleep at 830pm then latched her when she was asleep. So ironical, cos usually I had to do that for bottle feeding of EBM or FM but never had to 'trick' a baby to latch. So sad. Maybe my BF days are ending soon. :(

Raelynn rejecting latch on...

2010-12-14T23:12:00.003+08:00

When we came back from Taipei, we found out that Raelynn has sprouted all 4 teeth at the same time. All along we thought there were only 3 teeth cos the last one was quite hidden away. No wonder she has been gnawing everything she can get her hands on and even had diarrhea which is always associated with teething. But though I managed to latch her after 3 tries on Sunday (after a 5 days break). But a few times, she will refuse to latch and cry after touching my nipple. Duh, such an insult. -_-

Couple Retreat to Taipei

2010-12-12T23:54:00.009+08:00

Went to Taipei with hubby from 7-11 Dec without the gals. Left ILs house at 11+pm on Monday cos I 'bu she de' the gals and went back at 9+pm to latch Mei Mei. End up RaeAnne refused to sleep until 11+pm so hubby and I were stuck in the living room/balcony feeding mosquitoes in the dark.

Day 1 - The SQ flight to Taipei was good and smooth. We reached Taipei at 1pm as scheduled and the tour guide picked us up. We were very lucky to to be the only 2 people on this semi F&E itinerary (booked with SA tours) so we had a personal tour guide 杨先生. He was a knowledgeable and responsible tour guide but with a sharp tongue when you ask 'stupid' questions. But he explained before that Taiwanese tend to speak like that ie. they are very straight but they mean no harm. Tour guide told us that the next 2 days will be very cold because of the cold winds from China. Great, I thought. :P

Around 3pm, we arrived at Cosmos Hotel 天成饭店, location was very good, near to the Taipei Railway station and the Taipei MRT station. Many 7-11s nearby too. But I think the room was very small and they don't have wifi facilities. :P Given a choice, will book Caesar Park Hotel next time.

Had to pump cos it was more than 14 hours since I pumped and I was engorged (had blocked ducts after day 1). Then we went for late lunch at 4pm at 何记 near M8 exit which served very good 生煎包,蚵仔大肠面线 and the smelliest 臭豆腐which I tried in Taipei. The shengjianpao was only 10NTD each which is about SGD0.40 and it was very juicy so we loved it so much that we went back on our last day to eat and even tapow 3 back. Then we went to Ximending on our own as suggested by the tour guide and ate so many street snacks along the way that we were too full to try the famous Ah Zong Mian xian. The sun starts to set at 5+pm cos it was winter and by 6pm, the sky was completely dark. I needed to use a toilet so for dinner we ended up eating at Meiguanyuan Jap food restaurant. The sashimi there was very generous, super thick slices but I thought it didn't taste as sweet as those we had in Singapore.

Day2, we met with the tour guide at 830am (SO EARLY!!!) and we went sightseeing with him driving us, we went to Yeliu's rock formation, Jiufen, old mining city near the sea (loved the ru3rou4fan4 and drunken chicken beside 阿信的店), then time on our own and we went to ShinKuang dept store within walking distance to our hotel. There were 13 floors and we were very lucky they were having their anniversary sale. I bought SKII there cos it was even cheaper than Singapore's duty free shop at departure hall. Bought some toys for the gals too. Best of all, there was 5% tax rebate. :)

Day3, it was an early start again at 830am, and we went to see the changing of guards at Martyr's Shrine (9-930am) and then to Lover's Bridge (very bright day with blue sky), they were building a huge Ship hotel near here. Then, we went to YangMingshan for a hot spring experience, we forgot to bring our own towel so we had to pay $10+ for a white bath towel (why didn't the tour guide remind us? :/) Then we went to Wufenpu, but we hardly bought anything cos it was the wrong season plus very few children's clothing shops. Then we went to Raohe night market for dinner. :)

Day4, finally a later start to the day today, at 1030am, tour guide drove us to Taipei 101 and we had lunch at the Italian restaurant there at the 85th floor for the free view. Initially, we wanted to go for dinner since it was a hazy day but the tables near the windows were fully booked so we decided to go for the cheaper lunch deal instead. Paid about $42 per head. Food was good and I got so sleepy. hehe. Took the free shuttle to the MRT station and went to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, the sun was starting to set by the time we left there. Then we went to find Jay Chou, Mr J restaurant, it was so ulu and difficult to find. And the restaurant was so empty that I wasn't keen to eat there for dinner but then it was only 530pm on a Fri so maybe that's why it was so empty. :P Went to Sogo (fuxing branch), thought we can shop and have dinner there but was surprised that there was no toys/children floor there. Initially, wanted to eat at 'Ding Tai Feng' but the queue was too long and the menu was identical to the one at Singapore so we gave up our queue number. We ended up eating at the basement2 japanese restaurant instead. Food was so so but at least it was quiet and there was no queue. :) After that, we went back for an early night and to start packing our stuff.

Day5, after an early breakfast, we took a taxi to the Weekend Jade market and bought some jade souvenirs. Since we were not experts on jade, didn't dare to buy expensive items so the most exp piece I bought was a NT2000 jade pendant with crystals. After checking out, we went back to ShinKuang Baihuo to buy some lipsticks for my MIL (ended up buying the Elizabeth Arden Xmas make up set), then we gobbled our lunch at Heji again. Then it was back to the hotel and the tour guide brought us to buy some fruits enroute to the airport. Our flight was 6pm and we reached Sg at 1030pm.

Flight was quite turbulent and I even spilled water all over my shirt. Luckily we came back in 1 piece and stayed up till 3+am to unpack, organise and take photos of our loot. We almost exceeded the baggage limit of 50kg, never bought so much before. I'm sure we can't shop like that if the kids were with us. hee. :P

Thought I will miss the gals so much (plus they were having diarrhoea the day before we left and we even brought them to see the GP near ILs house) that I won't enjoy the trip but I was wrong. I hardly missed the kids while at Taipei. Partly I did the missing before I left and also because I told myself, spend so much $ to go on holiday, must enjoy myself thoroughly and don't worry about things at home anymore. It was a good R&R trip with hubby. Felt recharged upon coming back to see the kids again. :)