Bloom shot at Studio Loft.....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Afternoon naps

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

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

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

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

RaeLynn Scans (belated)

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

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

Sleeping through...?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back from gynae visit

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nocturnal intrusion... ;P

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

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

Last but not least, my little masseur

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

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

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

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

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

Raelynn....

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

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

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

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

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

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

RaeAnne is 21 months today!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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


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




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


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


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

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

RaeAnne's nocturnal wakings...

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

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

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

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