New Year's Eve!

It's the last day of 2009 and also the last day of the decade. It's also Raelynn's official man yue cos it's lunar 16th today. Weighed her today and she's gaining weight well at 4.7kg (hope my weighing machine is accurate).

Since it's the end of my confinement, I went out to celebrate. Went to buy hubby's present and to NTUC to buy Betty crocker muffin mix cos I wanted to try making muffins for RaeAnne (she kept saying muffin muffin) but it didn't turn out very well cos CL and I were not sure of what is the correct amount is 1 cup size. Muffins were still cooked but do not look nice and puffy. Never mind, at least she said it's nice and there's always a next time. :)

Had dreamed of hugging hubby and the 2 gals and counting down together as a family but the 2 gals are fast asleep. But I guess I should count myself lucky that tonight is more peaceful cos RaeAnne screamed for 1.5 hrs last night when she woke up from her sleep but was inconsolable when we let her sleep on our bed. Hubby was busy watching his DVDs and just joined me to watch the last few minutes of the Countdown programme on Channel 5.

Here's to a better 2010 with the gals growing up well and healthy and all our dreams and new year resolution come true. :)

P.S. Oh yes, and I posted a total of 240 posts in 2009, almost double of what I posted in 08 since I stopped working in Feb09. Not bad huh? No wonder hubby calls me a full time blogger. hee.

Mama milk again...

I've got 30 over bottles of frozen EBM in the freezer now, was stocking up for my dental surgery but now I've got to do it in Mar (3 months away) cos my dentist is away whole month of Jan and I'm not keen to do it in Feb due to CNY period (want to eat the good food). Think got to start defrosting and giving it to RaeAnne liao. We have been mixing a bit of EBM into her FM since 2 weeks ago.

But today, I decided to give her some chilled EBM from the fridge thinking that if I give to it like fresh milk, she may take it. Also thought it's good to give her now since she's still having viral fever. It started the night after Mei Mei's Man Yue. I had to pretend to sip the milk with her cos she said share share. Aiyoh, it was so fishy, never tasted chilled EBM before. Freshly squeezed one tasted so much better. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind the taste and finished all the chilled EBM in 3 helpings. And said Mummy nen nen. Phew! :)

Celebrating Raelynn's Full Month

Celebrated Raelynn's Full month today on 27 Dec. Her official 满月 is 31 Dec 农历十六 but it is a Friday, not a weekend. Invited mostly friends and fewer relatives for lunch at 12noon. Still it was pretty crowded cos our 5 room flat is quite small. Raelynn was pretty 'cranky' last night and tired today but didn't nap well, maybe not used to the crowd. Even RaeAnne was tired out and only managed to catch a nap from 3-4pm. Poor Cheh Cheh was probably dehydrated and started to running a fever at night, luckily the fever subsided after taking ibufen. :P

Got the catering from Fu Kwee, the same caterer as RaeAnne's full month. Food was still as good esp fish otar and curry but portion seemed to have shrunk from last year even though prices have gone up. :P Luckily, we had a huge 2 kg cake from Prima Deli. Chose the carebear design since RaeAnne has the same Rainbow Carebear. Had a candle blowing ceremony for RaeAnne's sake since Mei Mei can't blow any candles yet. ;)

Thanks to all the aunties and uncles for the well wishes, pressies, vouchers and ang pows to Raelynn. She was too tired and knocked out without opening her presents though. Haha. :)

Xmas Holidays

It's Xmas again and this year we are celebrating with not one but two princesses, RaeAnne and Raelynn. Last year, this time, RaeAnne is still blur blur and can't even open her presents. This year, she still can't quite master the technique of peeling off the scotch tape but at least she can say 'open open' and direct us to open her presents for her. Haha. Raelynn missed out on the Xmas present unwrapping this year cos she was sound asleep at 9+pm but there are presents for her as well. :)

This year, similar to last year, we didn't go out for Xmas Eve dinner cos of the kids. CL cooked dumplings and MIL came over for dinner. The highlight of Xmas Day was the orange cake that CL baked. I was supposed to learn the recipe from her but halfway through, RaeAnne was sleepy and cranky while Mei Mei continued crying even though I've BFed her, so I didn't get to watch the whole cake making process. The cake still turns out wonderful though a bit sweet.

For Xmas Day dinner, CL made chicken cutlet, fruit salad, fries. Special request for western meal by me cos both she and hubby were not keen on roast chicken and honey baked ham. :( But the dinner was yummy. CL even had the honour of inviting both FIL and MIL to the dinner, the first time both of them ever had dinner at our place.

RaeAnne is 23 months old!

3 days before Xmas and RaeAnne is 23 months old. She is still 11kg and 85cm (maybe 86cm but she tore up the Fisher Price Giraffe height chart so many times that we can't take her height accurately anymore ;P).

Her language capabilities are much better. She can say short sentences like XX在哪里？， 起来，one more time, bear bear fall down, even teochew words like mai, wu, boh. She can hold a tune and sing songs like Jingle Bell, Baa baa black sheep, head and shoulders, knees and toes etc. Missing words will be slurred over. Haha.

But while she's expressing herself more, she is also throwing more tantrums if we don't understand her (her diction is still not perfect so sometimes need to pick out key words to know what she's talking about) or if we don't give her what she wants (eg. her new favourite Organix Alphabet biscuits that my cousin got for her from UK)

Physically, she's pretty much the same. Running, jumping and climbing as usual. Development wise, she's now trying to wear her own pants. Though she usually only manages to put on 1 pant leg and the front, not the back yet. She's still not potty trained cos doesn't know how to tell us before she 'wee wee' or 'poo poo'. But she can now tell us after she poo poo without fail. She's also more easily frightened by loud noises outside the house. She can open and close the door on her own cos she's tall enough but the bad thing is she'll often barge into my bedroom when I'm BFing Mei Mei. ;P

RaeLynn's Massage (Part 2)

A follow up to an earlier post. :)
While mummy was doing her massage, baby RaeLynn also got to experience her first baby massage!

18 Dec - First school trip

Should be resting after BF but suddenly remembered that I have not blogged about RaeAnne's first school trip. She went on her first school field trip on 18 Dec. Mummy couldn't go so Daddy accompanied her. They went to the fish farm and animal farm at Pasir Ris. We have been wanting to explore the place for months since we passed by it when going to my auntie's chalet gathering. Good that the teachers brought her there.

Daddy said RaeAnne enjoyed herself but she was frightened by the sound of a real rooster cos it was really loud and very noisy. Haha.

She was tired out cos the trip was from 10am - 12+pm. Hubby brought her to Nai Nai house straight cos I had a dental appt at NDC in the afternoon. She didn't even want to shower before sleeping but Daddy insisted. She knocked out at 2+pm in the end. Daddy also caught a big bag of 'longkang' fish for her and they are now at Nai Nai's house. Hope they can survive there. :)

Oh yes, finally had time to take a photo of the Carters warehouse loot that I got for the gals. $58 for 3 packs of rompers, 5 t-shirts, 1 play suit and 5 rompers. Cheap or not? Haha. :)

Cheh cheh & Mei Mei

We finally took a photo of RaeAnne holding Mei Mei today. It's not the first time she held Raelynn in her arms. She did that last week but we didn't have the presence of mind to whip out the camera to take a photo. Too busy and distracted last week bah. Hehe. This photo was taken just before RaeAnne went to school so she's in her playgroup uniform.

Went to the yearly Carters Warehouse Sale at Tampines. Bought $50+ of clothes, it was so crowded though it was after the morning shower. Bought some rompers and T shirts for RaeAnne. Rushing so never check properly, bought too many NB and 0-3 mths rompers for Mei Mei. Just wanted 1 or 2 for her full month celebration actually. Hope she doesn't outgrow them by Man Yue. :P

RaeAnne had a milk strike yesterday when me and hubby went out for lunch to celebrate our ROM anniversary. Filamie tried to feed milk at 130pm and she refused. When we got back past 2pm, we tried to feed milk but she also refused. She even rejected her before bedtime milk feed. I only managed to feed about 180ml of milk at 2+am this morning. She refused milk again this afternoon. Luckily, hubby managed to feed her milk tonight. Hope the milk strike has ended. :P

Oh ya, I finally traded in my N85 and hubby got me an Iphone. Can't wait to let RaeAnne try out the new games/apps but worried she'll spoil the phone. Dilemma. :P

5 years and counting...

I remember a TV commercial where the guy presented a solitaire diamond ring to his wife on a beach. As they ran hand in hand, the tv screen showed flashbacks of their wedding, the birth of their beautiful children and how they have grown older. The wife said at the end of the commercial 五年了，却不象五年。

I remember I wasn't even married when I first saw that ad but I thought it was so romantic. Today is our 5th ROM wedding anniversary. I remembered how I teared and my voice choked as I 'signed' my life away at Rasa Sentosa Shangri-la in front of friends and colleagues 5 years ago in 2004. Haha.

How time flies and we are now parents to 2 beautiful (in our eyes, they are forever beautiful) gals while both me and hubby have aged prematurely due to the late night childcare duties. Hubby even sprained his back cos he has been carrying RaeAnne so often when she cries and wakes up a few times at night.

On this special day, I will like to pay tribute to my loving and patient hubby who has put up with my quick temper, impatience and laziness (especially when I was preggie and feeling like a beached whale). Thanks for loving me for who I am. For being a doting Daddy to our gals.

Although we have not said this to each other for a while since we've been too focused to being parents. I love you, dada. Look forward to growing old with you. May our marriage grow stronger everyday. :)

五年了，却不象五年。。。我终于体会到了。

Massage and weight loss

Finished my last RN home massage session yesterday. Weight down by 1.7kg and waist smaller by 1.5 inches. Glad that I don't need to be bounded by the super tight binder anymore. Hee. ;) Still got a lot more to lose so must continue to use my stretch mark reducing cream and dig out my old OSIM binder to use on my jelly tummy. :P