Friso 3 baby... :)

This morning, Mummy received a missed call when bringing RaeAnne to playgroup. Saw that it was a Bedok tel no., thought it was Daddy but when I called back, it turns out to be Carol from Bedok North NTUC calling me to tell me that she gave me the wrong info yesterday. There is Friso 3 promotion after all and today is the last day of the promotion.

Told her to reserve as much stock as she has for me so that we can collect this evening. She managed to keep aside 20 tins for us. There were so many tins that they had to keep the stock in the office in a carton. Hehehe. Thanks to Mummy's Jan08 forum friends for the tip off on Friso 3 promotion (2 tins for $35.95) cos it's not available at Tampines Mall or the nearby Tampines Central CC NTUC.

Phew, now RaeAnne has enough cheap Friso 3 to last her till next year liao. No need to worry about the pricey new formula Friso 3 that costs $25.45 even when it's on offer. :)

P.S. When I picked RaeAnne from playgroup today, I found her in a pink t shirt instead of her normal yellow uniform. Asked teacher Chris and she said she was playing with water while drinking from her water bottle and got her shirt all wet so they changed her t shirt for her. Naughty gal. She looked very pleased with herself somemore. Kept pointing to her T shirt and inside the shirt when the teacher narrated the incident to me. ;)

Oh ya, RaeAnne's diaper leaked/overflowed? last night around 245am. Think she must have been drinking a lot of water and soup recently (cos she's taking rice instead of porridge and sometimes the dishes are a bit salty) and we didn't change her diaper since her shower at 8pm. Tonight, we changed her diaper close to 10pm and it was already so heavy. Must make effort to change her diapers after her last milk feed. :P

Happy Teachers Day!!!

It's RaeAnne's first Teacher's Day today but Daddy's 9th? one so far. Playgroup is closed today so she didn't have to go to school. They didn't have a celebration like National Day though but I bought Teacher Chris and Teacher Suriya small gifts. It was a padded fabric Star wand with a pen. I was the only parent who gave them presents in the morning class though. They looked a little surprised. Bought a similar gift for hubby and of course it ended up as RaeAnne's present.

Since it's school holiday for hubby, we went to Tampines Mall for brunch at Crystal Jade instead of cooking RaeAnne's rice. She had some of hubby's minced pork congee but it was too watery and not filling enough. Hubby then tried to cut some of my noodles for her but it was slow and tedious work cutting up the strands of 'q q' noodles. Luckily, the bread talk shop uncle gave her bits of cheese bread to munch on. So that filled up her stomach. :) Bumped into MIL who bought a few blouses for RaeAnne.

We came back too late and RaeAnne nearly fell asleep in the car. End up she napped from 330pm to nearly 530pm. Didn't want her to sleep until too late so I opened all the curtains in the MBR and she woke up shortly after that. :)

Wanted to stock up on the Friso3 (old formula) from Bedok NTUC cos a mummy friend said it was on offer, 2 900g tins for $35.95. The new formula 900g is $25.45 for offer price. But called Bedok NTUC and they said offer already ended last week. Our Friso3 reserve stock only left with 1 big tin and 3 small tins liao. Think it'll run out in another 2 months time. :(

Raelynn is 26 weeks today. 98 more days. So fast, change from 3 digit countdown to 2 digit countdown liao. She is very active like RaeAnne, kicking me very often, sometimes even causing my tummy to appear lopsided with her big emovements. The babycentre weekly update said she's even more sensitive to hearing now and can start to recognise Daddy's voice if he speaks to her often. :)

No crying at Playgroup

Finally, RaeAnne didn't cry when I left her at playgroup today. She looks a bit sad sad and her lips quivered but she didn't cry. Teacher said she adapted very fast. Another gal, Myra who's already been here 3 months is still crying on and off.

Teacher Chris said she has 3 dummy phones which she got from her friend. She brought to school to 'pacify and distract' crying kids. So, she told RaeAnne that she can use the HP to call Mummy. She said very strange that RaeAnne insisted on a particular HP, when she was given other models, she went to another classmate to exchange. I saw the HP teacher was referring to and told her 'eh, looks like my phone leh'. Mine is a Nokia N85. Large screen with slide out number panel. Same as the dummy phone that RaeAnne insisted on. Haha, she must have mistaken the dummy phone for Mummy's phone. :)

Oh and when someone ask RaeAnne in school, your house got Mummy, Daddy and Aunty is it? She nodded her head. Looks like she already accepted Filamie's presence though she still doesn't really want her to do things for her. :P

24 weeks today! :)

Raelynn is 24 weeks today so I'm left with one more month to the end of second trimester. Time flies, remember I was counting down to start of 2nd trimester cos really wanted MS to end quickly. According to internet updates, linea nigra, a dark line of pigmentation, may appear down the centre of my abdomen. I had it for RaeAnne but strangely it did not reappear for Raelynn. Anyway, I'm not complaining. Just hope that those irritating stretch marks won't reappear. :P

RaeAnne has been wearing her clippies to school for the last 2 days. She's definitely more 'gu niang' these days. Occasionally, she'll let me tie up her hair at ILs place. Maybe due to 'positive' influence from her classmates. Today when I went to pick her up, again she didn't cry. And teacher Chris said she said bye bye to all the kids who are leaving. She also tried to paste the colour paper onto the A4 paper (shape of the boat) with 1 finger. Of course, teacher helped. It's been 2 weeks since she first started playgroup and she has adapted well. Atta girl! Much to my relief. :) Looks like I got to pay the teacher the 1 month deposit at the end of Aug.

Tomorrow, decided to bring RaeAnne home after playgroup instead of going to ILs place cos MIL got karaoke lessons at 715pm so she won't have time to bathe RaeAnne. Instead of having to help bathe her with a big tub of water at FIL's house, somemore, got to wait for ye ye to boil water. I think it's neater if I just bring her home and look after her with Filamie's help. We trial run last Fri, she's not keen on porridge at all. So, tomorrow, will try to fry bee hoon for lunch and steam the threadfin fish for her dinner to go with rice.

This morning, got morning sun so ask Filamie to wash clothes. My clothes, hubby's clothes and RaeAnne's clothes so that can use the water to mop floor in the afternoon. Let her use some of the second rinse water to wash her clothes. Then later when I check the bamboo poles, I see RaeAnne's romper being put on top of her towel to dry. Ask her why, she said no space. She used 1 bamboo pole to hang her own clothes. I told her if got no space, then why you use 1 bamboo pole for your own clothes. Take down your clothes then. Bamboo pole belongs to Mdm not you. How can RaeAnne's clothes take second priority to yours? Somemore, I gave her quite a few pieces of my own clothes cos she doesn't have enough. Tell her to hang her clothes (those that have no space on the one bamboo pole) inside to dry. Wait till our clothes are dry then she can hang outside.

Nowadays, I don't get any afternoon nap cos I got to keep checking on her work. Just now, ask her to mop floor. I saw that the living room floor is wet so I deliberately checked under tv cabinet and the floor is dry. I asked her if she mopped under the tv cabinet. She said yes she did. I put my hand under the tv cabinet and swipe to show her. My hand is dry. I swiped my hand on the living room floor and it's wet. I told her if she mopped under the tv cabinet. How can the floor there be dry whereas the floor is still wet? I caught her red handed still want to try and bluff me. Duh. Really believe those mummies who say that you must be very strict with the maid in the beginning. So fast, trying to cut corners and take advantage liao. :P

P.s. Duh, I was applying stretchmark cream then realised that there is a faint linea nigra line after all, how come I never noticed it before? Too busy with RaeAnne and the maid? :P

Playgroup update

Today, I had to see the GP cos of scratchy throat and dry cough, rush back to pick RaeAnne up from playgroup (without collecting my med cos no time to wait). Thought she'll be wailing there cos I was there close to 11am and 1 or 2 kids had already left.

But I'm very happy. Instead, I saw her standing guai guai near the door with the other kids. Her favourite teacher told me she adjusted well, nowadays, when I leave, she cries for less than 5mins. Also when the teachers brought her to playground (they do that on Mondays), she sang songs happily (teacher say don't know what's she's singing though) and will hold teacher's hand to ask her to play slide with her. Teacher also said she can recognise her own water bottle and bag and even waved bye bye to the kids when they were going home. So glad to have my sunshine gal back. :)

Official First Day in School! :)

It's finally 3rd August 2009. The day Mummy has been preparing for at least 2 months. Today is RaeAnne's official first day at school. Of course, we had gatecrashed the playgroup session umpteen times but today is the first day of 'paid' lesson so it's still considered the first day of the school term for her. Haha. :)

Being a Monday is not a good start cos sticky koala bear has been stuck to Mummy for 2 days in the weekend. It takes an extreme effort for her to 'detach' her from the Mummy tree. Worse of all, today, the maid agency staff (Carine) needed to collect a cheque from us so Mummy had to meet her outside the playgroup. Teacher Chris again claimed that RaeAnne can 'smell' Mummy's presence even though I'm outside the RC centre near the bus stop. Faint!

She caught sight of me and Carine when we were hanging at the RC centre gate cos Carine wanted to get some blank paper from the teacher so that I can pre sign something. Aiyoh! Can't bear to see her being whisked away by teacher after seeing Mummy so I carried her and explained to her again that Aunty is looking for Mummy so Mummy is not free now. Mummy will definitely fetch her later when her class finishes. She still cried when I left but I had to harden my heart and pass her back to teacher cos it'll never end if I'm wishy washy about this. :P

Luckily, the teacher brought the kids to the playground near our block. I could peek on the kids walking to the playground from the balcony. Teacher Chris carried RaeAnne and she was not crying and was pointing to the direction of the playground.

Went to standby outside the classroom early at 10:50am cos I wanted her to see Mummy the moment the door opened. I think she'll be sad and scared if the door opens and Mummy is not there. :P Also, now there's another 11am class so the teacher has already asked the parents/maids to be on time in fetching the kids.

Teacher Chris told me she cried whenever the door opened cos she'll want to go out. Same as last week. Hope she'll get better and better after this week.

Tomorrow night, the new maid will be arriving. Mummy went to get some last minute items for the maid eg. toyogo box, toothpaste, clothes brush etc. Hope she takes to the new maid, or else this preggie Mummy tree is going to be very tired for the next 3.5 months. :P

P.S. Oh ya, she slept tonight at 10pm, took 30 mins to fall asleep, considered an improvement for her. Must be because she wakes up earlier nowadays for playgroup or because she's tired out from crying/screaming at playgroup in the day. ;P

Before all the tears and fears! :)


Looking a bit lost in the classroom, didn't even want to join the other kids to play with the kitchen toys. ;P

Happy gal once again! :)

Hubby sprained his ankle yesterday so it was swollen today. Brought RaeAnne to playgroup and left almost immediately cos got to drive him to the nearby clinic. Long time since I drove, but can't bear to see hubby trying to drive with a painful swollen right ankle. Luckily I didn't knock into anything though my parking is still not perfect. Always needs 2 tries before I park in the middle of the lot. :P

RaeAnne's new school bag arrived by post yesterday so today I could pack all her barang barang into the bag. Teacher Chris was very impressed that they can actually personalised school bags with names, she said the bag is big, can use until K1. Teacher Suriya asked me where to order but I didn't have the url at hand.

Today, I took the time to explain to RaeAnne that I got to bring Daddy to the doctor cos Daddy's leg pain pain. I bluffed her that I cannot bring her along if not doctor see her, will give her injection/medicine too. :P Bad to bluff her actually since this evening, we got to bring her for her 18th month DPT booster jab. Her original appt is 2 Aug, Sunday but since the side effect is fever, I didn't want her to have fever on her official first day of school cos it'll be very disruptive if she got to miss school when she's supposed to be adapting. :P

Teacher Chris also helped to reinforce to her during class that mummy bring daddy to doctor so she accept it better bah. Told her I love her and will definitely come and bring her home. When she saw hubby with the bandaged leg, teacher told her, see, Daddy's leg pain pain, her face immediately changed and she cried. I had to reassure her that daddy already saw doctor, not painful anymore. Looks like our gal is sweet and soft hearted despite her usual boisterous and tomboy behaviour. ;)

Anyway, she was playing with plasticine on teacher's lap when we went back around 1040am. Didn't hear any crying which is good. Teacher Chris said she adjusted well today, only cried a bit from 9-930am when the door opened and other students came in cos she thought it was Mummy. Luckily she didn't beat any one today. She ate a bit of the pre cut bread bits that we prepared and teacher said she even gave some to her classmates.

When we fetched her, she even ran back to the classroom to hold teacher Chris's hand and bring teacher out to the waiting area again. Teacher Chris said she was very touched. She waved bye bye to both Teacher Chris and Teacher Suriya too. :)

Meltdown at playgroup

Intended to bring RaeAnne to playgroup today but she woke up at 710am today, an odd timing, maybe cos she slept late at 11pm last night. But I got no choice but to give her milk cos I could hear her stomach rumbling. She was still sleepy so as expected she slept after her milk feed. I got up to have breakfast and wash up. Thought I should let her sleep a bit more, if not, she'll be too tired by 11am.

Brought her to playgroup. She was ok when I was there but still not interacting with the others. Keep pulling hand to take the wooden blocks for her when the other kids are playing with teacher Suriya. I left the room when Teacher Chris was writing on the paper cups and she was so kaypoh that she stood near the table for quite a while.

But the moment I left, she started crying. Even teacher Chris couldn't pacify her. She carried RaeAnne but she continued crying. It got worse when teacher Chris had to come out of the room to bring an Indian gal to the toilet. RaeAnne was wailing inside and banging the door by then. :P Teacher Chris quickly went back to the room when the little gal finished but the damage was done. She was inconsolable, didn't even want teacher Chris liao. I took a peek at the window and she saw me. Oops, that made matters worse. She cried for nearly half an hour.

By 10.15am, I buay tahan liao and went into the room cos I know it's nearly tea break then. I also felt bad cos firstly I sneaked away without telling her and secondly, she has become a bit unfamiliar to the playgroup again cos we hardly went last week and didn't go yesterday. Had to bluff her that i went toilet, why you cry until like that. Carried her and show her different interesting things in the classroom until she calmed down. She was happy enough to take pandan chiffon cake from the teacher after that. Ate quite a bit too. Must be hungry from all that crying.

She was not like this 2 weeks ago. Think Wed's absence from playgroup did make a difference cos we stayed over at ILs place on Tues night. Also this Mon and Tues, we did not stay long at the playgroup, half an hour at most. :P Think she's also learning about separation anxiety. Yesterday when MIL went for Karaoke lessons at CC, she even cried at the door. She's never done that before.

Later on, Teacher Chris said RaeAnne even slapped an Indian boy who came forward to 'comfort' her. Teacher said she was the only one who ever did that. Most kids will just cry on their own. Aiyoh! So embarrassing. Had to remind ILs esp FIL again that they cannot allow her to beat anyone at home. Must scold and tell her it's wrong. Everytime, never scold, let her beat, that's why she end up with this bad habit of beating others when she's angry. :P

Ba luku, blueberries and Jam

Yesterday we went over to ILs place around noon time, FIL said she ate only a small portion of porridge but they have no choice but to give her milk. I brought over a bit of rice that I cooked for lunch (rice cooked with chicken/veg/mushroom stock and sliced mushroom, diced yam, chicken and lap cheong). Hubby gave her the rice and bits of chicken and she kept pointing and saying 'um' 'um' for more. MIL asked me if I added salt, I told her just about 1/5 of a teaspoon into the rice water cos hubby always complain tasteless when I cook kids friendly food. She tasted the rice and said not salty, very sweet. Hope it was a compliment. :P Anyway, I told hubby I rather cook for RaeAnne, at least she's more appreciative of my cooking than you cos he always have nothing to say, when prompted/pressed, he'll patronise me and say not bad then add on 1 or 2 more criticism. So demoralising for the cook. :P

We've been more and more relaxed towards RaeAnne's diet now that she is 18 months. Hope that we can cook a family dinner where she can share our food and eat with us. So, on Sunday, she tried baluku at waipo's house then today, she tried blue berries and she stole jam from my bread. :P

The baluku she took about one small slice all in all, the blueberries, only one (and she doesn't like the skin so got to peel off). When MIL tried to feed her another blueberries, she spat out liao, maybe got distracted by other things on the kitchen table. She made noise and refuse to cooperate when Ye ye was trying to feed her cheese bread so I got no choice but to carry her to the living room where I was trying to eat my breakfast (bread with goober and bread with blackberry jam).

To distract her, I let her feed me as she pinched the bread from my sandwich. But when she pinched too hard and got the jam part (instead of just plain bread), she stare at the white and pink bread and sent that morsel of bread into her own mouth instead of feeding mummy. So naughty but so clever. After she tasted the jam, she kept pointing to the bread and wants me to feed her the jam. I fed her with bits of bread with just a hint of jam and she 'cheated' by picking up only the jam part and licking it off her fingers. Sigh, why do all kids like sweet stuff? :P

Oh ya, tried our best to make her sleep earlier last night, she slept at 10:30pm so that I can wake her up earlier today. She's starting playgroup next Monday so I need her to get up at 8am or she'll be late for school. It was difficult for me to wake up though I already set alarm cos I took cold medicine yesterday. :P At 830am, after I press the snooze button for umpteen times, I finally got up and started washing up. I hoped that my brushing teeth, washing face and toilet flush will wake her but she continued to sleep without even stirring at all. She looked so peaceful when asleep but I had to be hard hearted to wake her. Kept calling her name, noticed that her fingers had some skin tags so I started to cut them off using the nail clipper while continuing to talk to her.

She finally woke up at 840am. Luckily she didn't cry cos she was fascinated by my nail clipper. Changed her diapers and put her on the potty, no poo or pee today though she did pee in the potty yesterday night at Waipo house before her bath. When we finally left the house, it was already 910am. :P Tomorrow, got to try and wake her earlier again. Slowly adjust everyday. :P

Weekend and playgroup again

RaeAnne slept very little over the weekend. Sat, she only napped for 30mins while we are having lunch at Century square foodcourt and Sun, she only napped for 1 hr when we were going to my mum's place from 2nd aunt's place. Sigh, really don't know how come she can nap so little in the day when she always sleep for 2-3 hrs at Nai nai's place. Whether we stay at home or go out doesn't make a difference. :P She has the bad habit of eating her fingers, biting her fingernail and playing with the piece of fingernail in her mouth. A lot of times, we'll catch her doing that and tell her not to do it but she'll only cry and throw tantrum. Think I've got to buy the 'bitter' solution that people apply on children's fingernails to stop her habit soon. :P

She woke up today at 845am. After I fed her milk and got ready to leave the house, it was already 930am. Too late to pop by the playgroup or so I thought. Then we saw many mynahs downstairs on the grass patch behind the RC so I let her down from the stroller to chase the birds. After that, I pushed her past the RC colourful animal murals to go to Ye ye and nai nai house. But after I pushed past the last animal and headed towards the bus stop, she whined and cried. I thought maybe she didn't have enough of the animal murals so pushed her back once again. This time, I went past the playgroup entrance and asked her if she wants to go in. She nodded her head so off I parked the stroller oustide and brought her into the RC centre again.

I was actually just carrying her and letting her look in from the door peep window since it's already 930am and I'm sure the 'lesson' is underway but teacher Suriya spotted me and came to open the door. So, here we go again, gatecrashing the playgroup. Think we have become habitual gatecrashers. But at least I've already paid for her school fees, material fee, insurance and 2 sets of uniform the last time we gatecrashed so I feel a bit better. haha. After I brought her in and took out her shoes (no shoes allowed inside the RC and classroom), I decided to try leaving her alone, told teacher Chris that I'll go and put her shoes outside then see her reaction.

When I came back, the door was already closed so I peered in from the glass peep window to spy on my gal. She did well, she didn't really join in the songs and dance and kept to the wall initially but later she warmed up and went to touch the car that a little indian boy was playing. She warmed up further when teacher Suriya started showing the kids rambutan and mangosteen. She even allowed teacher Chris to seat her on her lap. So proud of my gal. Even the teacher thinks she'll not have a hard time adjusting. I like to think that Mummy's efforts to keep bringing her to the playgroup to gatecrash helps. hehe. :)

Tried uploading the video clips but got problem with video trimming. Sigh. :P

NO!!!

Found out today that our gal has started to say "No!!!". We were at Spring maternity and I had become friends with Abi, the salesperson cos she's very nice and frinedly since my first pregnancy. Today, we brought RaeAnne to the shop and when Abi asked her if Auntie Abi (she's expecting her no. 3, it's a gal after 2 boys ;) can have her shoes cos it's very nice. My gal said No! distinctively and purposely. Abi teased me that it must be because Mummy has been teaching her to say No. Haha! Maybe it's true, I didn't purposely teach her but I've definitely been saying No to her naughty antics very often. She must have picked up from there. :P

Besides No, recently she also started saying 'A' when I show her the fridge magnet A. Hopefully, she knows at least a few more alphabets before going to playgroup. We have decided to enrol her in 2 hrs daily playgroup Aug after she turns 18 mths so that she has some time to adjust before no. 2 arrives. Brought her to the RC centre (at opposite block) twice and she seems to be slowly warming up to the environment. :)

Chicken stock and visit to playgroup

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

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

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

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