Yu En & Yu Chen

First day @ Malacca

2010-08-09T19:51:00.009+08:00

Leng and mum were going for a 3D/2N cruise to KL over the National Day weekend. She jioed us but i don't really fancy cruise so decided not to join them. I went for a cruise to nowhere few years back. It was boring! You do nothing except eat. With en then, I can't go to the casino nor the lounge. The swimming pool was so small and so were the rooms. Dad was quite excited about this trip as he can do his favourite thing, gamble.

I told YP we should also go somewhere as it will be boring to stay at home over the long weekend. We settled for Malacca as we saw a few new shopping complexes during the stopover at Malacca on the way to Port Dickson the last time. It's not too far and economical. YP did some research online and found out there is a new resort, Philea Resort & Spa and there is a 2 nights for the price of 1 promotion going on. We made reservation and informed the kids about it. As usual, they were very excited just like for the past trips.

The night before we departed, I went online and did a research on the good food in Malacca. On Saturday, we woke up at around 7am, took breakfast at CSM Kentucky and headed towards our neighbour via the second link. There was a massive jam at the Malaysia customs and we were stuck there for an hour plus. By the time we reached the resort, it was about 2pm. The check-in was fast and we were brought to the room via a buggy. The buggy used in the resort was ugly looking and unsophisticated, lots of grinding noise when on the move. I took a glimpse at the country it was produced in. True enough, there is a '.my' at the end of the company url.

The room is very clean and nice much to our delight. It is fully made of wood and feels very exotic. After that, we made our way to the lobby cafe and decided to have our overdue lunch there as we were famished. The cafe was about half full and we ordered 2 dishes to be shared among us. After waiting for about 30mins, our 1st dish finally came but our 2nd dish was no where in sight. I looked around and realized that the other patrons also waited very long for their orders. Few of them even went into the restaurant (we were sitting outside) to ask about their orders. I asked a waitress about my 2nd dish and she replied she will check for me. She never came back! I couldn't take it anymore and asked to cancel my remaining order. Just imagine, the place is not even full and they can't even handle. What will happen if it is full? They either suck in service or they are understaffed in the kitchen. Poor us, 4 ppl sharing one dish. The waiter kept apologizing but that's all he did, never bother to do any damage control. We had to return to the room and finish up all the snacks we bought in Singapore to last till dinner. I told YP with such service, we definitely have to go to Malacca town for dinner.

Then we did some swimming at the pool. The resort is quite quiet on a weekend maybe because it is new or it is too expensive for the locals. There were some malay ladies swimming and I was surprised to see that they were wearing swimming costumes with a tudung. interesting...

After bathing, we headed towards the town which is about 15 minutes away. The town was very congested and I noticed there were many many singapore cars. With the help of GPS (thank goodness), we went to 3 places recommended on the net. Firstly to Aunty Lee Nyonya Restaurant where we were kena turned away because the lady boss cannot handle the orders. Then to Capitol satay celup where the queue was like super duper long and lastly we couldn't find Lu Yeh Yen Seafood Restaurant. In the end, we ended up in Taragon Nyonya Restaurant along the Malacca River and chendol at San Shu Gong. The food at Taragon was so so only and I don't find it authentic at all. I was pretty disappointed as I really wanted to try the lok lok which has disappeared in Singapore long long time ago. YP promised that we will return tomorrow and go early to queue. Then we also shopped at the super duper crowded Jonkers night market.

As it was a long day, we headed back to the resort. While sleeping, I realized that there is a very serious flaw in the design of the rooms. You see, there are altogether 4 rooms in one building, 2 rooms at each level as seen from the photos. Our neighbours upstairs returned late in the night. Guess what? They can be heard thumping loudly above our heads, every single footstep. Buay tahan, very noisy. I mean knowing that everything is in wood, why can't the developer build a better soundproof structure between the floors? Really give up. Fortunately the people upstairs went bed within a short while and we could continue our sleep peacefully.

Birthday Celebration @ The Cathay Restaurant

2010-07-10T15:43:00.011+08:00

For the last 2 years we had buffets for Xavier's family birthday celebration. This year I decided to have a sit down dinner instead. I started to shortlist some chinese restaurants with VIP room and getting set menus from them. After much consideration, I was torn between Grand Asia and The Cathay Restaurant. In the end, I chose The Cathay Restaurant as I like the dishes better and the VIP room has a street view of Orchard Road (even though it's on 2nd level). I quickly called them up for reservation and requested to see the VIP room.

The VIP room is able to take 2 tables, just nice one main table for 13 adults and one small table for 4 kids. I also made some slight changes to the menu: added my favorite peking duck and ordered kids-friendly dishes for the kids and vegetarian for Ai. The restaurant manager was really friendly and nice. He even told me that I did not have to make a trip down, a phone call would do. I did not even have to make a deposit, just verbal reservation, total trust in customer. Thumbs up! For the next few days, i also ordered the birthday cake and balloons for the celebration.

On the day itself, Xavier was still having abdominal pains so he was not exactly in the best mood. I left the 2 kids with mum in the afternoon and made my way to collect the cakes and balloons.Fortunately the 2 pick up locations were quite near, saved me some trouble. We arrived slightly earlier at the restaurant to decorate the room with the balloons. Sister-in-law, Leng and father-in-law started to arrive. The birthday boy was late! Apparently it was National Day Preview and there was massive jam in town.

Once Xavier arrived, I told the waitress to start serving the dishes. Everybody had a great time with good food and company. Adults were chatting happily and the kids enjoying themselves with the balloons. However, the birthday boy was quite grumpy due to the pains and can see from the photos, he hardly smiled. When it was time to cut the cake, everyone was surprised at the cake that I bought. Instead of conventional cake, I bought cup cakes this year. As my sister-in-law shares the same birthday as Xavier, the cup cakes were decorated in the form of animals(for Xavier) and flowers & musical notes (for sister-in-law). Next comes the highlight of the night, opening the presents. This year, Xavier's favourite present is the ipod from his yeye. I think the only smile on his face for the night is when he held the ipod in his hands.

Before heading home, I reminded YP to give an ang bao to the waitresses as they had provided excellent service. I'll definitely come back for second visit for the good food and service, as feedback by my guests and my own experience.

Xavier will have a better time if not for his discomfort but he is still happy lah. I pray for his good health and obedience on this day!

Birthday Celebration @ School

2010-07-09T13:39:00.001+08:00

Xavier's big day is here again. This year, I had decided to hold 2 celebrations for him, one at school and one for immediate family members.

I called his teacher 2 weeks before to check on the number of goodie bags to prepare and the size of cake to buy. She told me i can get ready about 14 packs of goodie bags and it would be good to get a bigger cake for the whole school to join in the celebration. I actually had to get a 3kg cake to cater for every students! It so happened that it was the world cup fever and Xavier decided on a soccer cake. I ordered one from prima deli online and arranged for delivery. I definitely cannot collect such a big cake and without a car or YP's help (he was busy at work and couldn't take leave).

Nearing the day, about a week before, Xavier was down with fever and severe abdominal pain. I prayed that he would quickly recover because he was so looking forward to this day and he was actually doing the countdown. I even brought him to KKH and he was diagnosed as having mild infection of the intestines. Thankfully, his condition improved and his fever subsided the day before but he was still having the pains. It was decided he should just go to school for the cake cutting and the distribution of the goodie bags and then we would head home after that.

On the day itself, I took half day off and picked him and En from mum's house. When we reached the school, the cake just arrived and we could hear the kids 'wooing and ahhing' over the soccer cake. The teachers began to gather all the kids in the hall and it was sure very noisy and lively with so many kids in one place and all talking at the same time. Xavier enjoyed being the center of attraction judging from his 'proud' look. We began with the photo session. First mommy and jie jie, then playgroup 1 & 2, nursery and finally kindergarten 1 & 2. We wanted to take a photo with the teachers but I think they are shy, simply refuse to oblige us.

Teacher Regina is a very experienced 'cake cutter'. The speed she takes to cut and distribute the cake was fast. Everyone enjoyed the cake and i saw some of the students asking for second servings. What was amusing is that some of the kids have green lips due to the green cream(grass part of the cake).

Soon after, we left for home. I wanted Xavier to get plenty of rest in preparation for the next celebration tomorrow.

Father's Day

2010-06-19T23:46:00.008+08:00

It's the time of the year to express love and honour fathers. I booked a table at Fremantle Seafood @ Clark Quay, which comes highly recommended by 8days, on behalf of the kids to celebrate this day. This fairly new restaurant specialises in seafood and has a fatastic view of Singapore River and Central.

We ordered oysters, kurobuta pork and Barramundi fish. Apologise for the photos of the half finished food, only remembered to take the pictures just before wiping everything off the dishes.

After dinner, it was still quite early so we went to Liang Court for some shopping. YP bought a Canon Legria HD video cam at audio house. Audio house was having some sort of World Cup promotion that is if the customer guess the champion correctly, they will refund half of the purchased item in the form of vouchers. YP made Spain his choice and I am keeping my fingers crossed. No prize for guessing which country I will be rooting for from now on.

There were some World Cup activities ongoing at the ground floor and we were entitled to 4 chances for the shootout. Sadly, en and YP did not manage to get a single goal but the prizes were not exactly fantastic lah.

Then we decided to head back to clark quay for some dessert and also catch the screening of the world cup match between japan & holland. We settled for hagen daaz much to the delight of the kids and thinking that we could catch the match on the tv at the opposite food kiosk. Guess what? We were blocked by the 'freeloaders' who actually stood throughout the 2hrs match! Solid right? I gave up watching the match as it gave me a headache trying to catch glimpses of the match. Instead, I watched the belly dancing at the neighbouring middle east restaurant.

Finally, we made our way home and it was indeed an enjoyable father's day celebration. DADDY, WE LOVE U!!!!!

Disappointment

2010-06-05T23:11:00.005+08:00

Xavier was very excited when he got back from school today. Apparently he was invited to his buddy classmate's birthday party and he was supposed to wear a superhero costume. His cheapskate daddy began to dig into their wardrope to see there is anything suitable. He managed to dig out en's old dancing costume and got him to try it out.

All of us had a good laugh when we saw him in the fish costume. He looked so comical. I told daddy that the theme is super hero and not Finding Nemo. I was hoping he was not serious in wanting him to wear that for the party and was planning to buy a superman cape instead. I don't want Xavier to become the laughing stock and be the centre of attraction for the wrong reasons. Checking the date, I realised the party was held on the day we will be in Port Dickson. I was very reluctant to let Xavier know that he is not able to go as he was so so looking forward to it. Just as I expect, he was so utterly disappointed and on the verge of crying when I told him. He did feel better when I told him the reason as he was even more looking forward to the trip. He still keeps the invitation card until now, not bearing to throw it away even though now it is a bit 'giam chye'. I think he wants to keep it as a momento.

GSS

2010-05-29T23:42:00.000+08:00

Decided to chiong Orchard since GSS started yesterday. Had lunch at the revamped Singapore Power Building first for some energy booster. It had changed greatly with its new retail area and a new name, Tripleone Somerset. There was even a NTUC Finest at the ground floor. This place brought back fond memories as I worked in Singapore Powergrid for more tha 3 years back in 1999 - 2003. The restaurant is called sapporo ramen sanomaru. I think there is a ramen craze in Singapore now with more and more ramen restaurants springing out. So far I have tried Ippudo @ Mandarin Gallery, Santouka @ Central, Tampopo @ Liang Court and Marutama Ramen @ United Square. IMHO, I feel that sapporo sanomaru ramen is not as nice as the other 4 I had tried. I'm not sure is it because I was not very hungry as normally when you are hungry, anything will tase good...

After lunch, we went straight to 313 for some shopping. Did not manage to see anything I like. There happened to be a story telling session outside Harris. The kids happily sat down to listen and I was fortunate to grab a seat provided for the parents. I think the kids really enjoyed the session judging from their focused look. We also grabbed a pair of sports shoes for Xavier. His feet are growing fast, outgrew all of his shoes. When choosing the shoes, he even specify his preference and selected a pair of black nike shoes with neon green tick (nike logo) and sole, very striking. This boy is very vain!

Shopping is really addictive. We did not even realise that it was close to 3pm, time for En's golf lesson. Rushed to the golf range and was 10mins late. While En was having her lesson, I watched Xavier play. Surprisingly few of his balls managed to fly a distance. His pose was actually quite 'stylo milo' (espeacially with his new shoes) as if he really can play. Not bad if he grows up to be a pro golfer...dreaming in broad daylight...

MBS

2010-05-29T00:03:00.005+08:00

It's Vesak Day today and also the beginning of the school break. Wanted to bring the kids out for some fun. Jioed Leng and found out from her that Francine is having stomach flu, vomitting since last night. Ke lian. As it's contagious, Melissa was being sent to Ah Ma's house. Since mum was alone at home, decided tobring her and Melissa along with us. We went to pick them out and then headed towards MBS for lunch and jalan jalan.

It was pretty crowded at MBS esp the casino. Lots of shops are still not opened for business yet, eating places are also very limited and renovations are still in progress. We had our lunch at RISE in the hotel. Was disappointed that there was no high tea buffet served. The dishes served were quite ordinary, nothing special but the price was very SPECIAL. I had cravings for some English high tea like scones, sandwiches, cakes but was shocked to see these items absent from the menu. In the end, we ordered nasi goreng, dim sum, fried rice and fish and chips.

After lunch, we walked around for a while. The only thing that was enjoyable was the view of the business district. We should have come after June when it is more ready but nevertheless it was an eye opener.

Melissa was very well-behaved without Leng around and it is also the only time that she is willing to be carried by yp and me with no whining :-P. Hope Francine has a speedy recovery and be able to have fun with her cousins.

Drop or not to drop...

2010-05-24T21:21:00.002+08:00

En's mid year results were released today. Mum called me and spoke to me in a very solemn and serious tone. She told me en's grade had deteriorated and asked me to drop 2 of her activities so that she can concentrate more on her studies and not get tired out.

Is she really very stressed out with the activies? Let me see, she is taking ballet, badminton, golf and piano. Our weekends are spent ferrying her around for her lessons. That night, I had a chat with her to see if all these activities are really too much for her. It turned out she really wanted to drop piano. She enjoyed golf and she told ah ma that she wants to become a golf coach so that people will pay her a lot to learn golf fom her. She is taking part in competition for badminton next year so she does not want to stop it now. For ballet, she's quite neutral, doesn't hate it but also doesn't love it too. Surprisingly, she DISLIKES piano. Guess she is turned off by the daily practices. Unfortunately, that is the thing her dad will not allow her to discontinue. hope she will grow to love piano as she progresses in her piano grades. For me, I think she should stop ballet as En has difficulty doing a split. How can a ballerina fail to do a split? I don't think someone who cannot do a spilt can be a ballerina at all. My dear hubby disagreed, he feels that she is still young and with practice she should be able to do that soon. He decided to let her try for 1 more semester after her ballet exam.

YP is not gan jiong with en's grades at all. He thinks that it is pretty normal for her grades to fall as the syllabus is getting more difficult and she has an extra subject this year. We can't expect her to get all band 1s like when she is in p1 and p2.

I'm sandwiched between my hubby and my mum or rather I think both sides are right in their own way. Famous for his 'metal teeth', my mum can only say this to yp "She is your daughter. You have the final say..."

The kid's new bags

2010-05-16T00:46:00.000+08:00

Ah ma and ah yees are complaining that En's bag is getting heavier and heavier which is very bad for her back. Since we were having breakfast at National Library HANS this morning, decided to drop by Bras Basah to get a new trolley bag for her. It's definitely a bag day as Leng is also getting one for Francine as she has just changed a childcare centre and needs to bring more things. Seeing francine and en getting new bags, don't think Xavier will miss the chance to ask for a new bag for himself too. Now that he needs to bring the mattress sheet everyday, his current small bag is quite squeezy so think it's justified to get a bigger one. They were so happy and satisfied with their new bags that the 2 of them have been dragging them the whole day at home.

I'm Back

2010-05-16T00:13:00.000+08:00

Have been out of action for a very long time. Decided to resume where I took off as it's really a pity not to pen down the interesting happenings in my life with my two darlings. Especially when En has another 3 years to her teenagehood and by then she may not spend as much time with her mummy as with her friends. Time really flies. Many things happen in the past one year. Will see how much I can backdate.

Life without maid

2010-05-15T00:21:00.000+08:00

Took leave today to send the maid back to her hometown. It was not a pleasant sight this morning. The maid refused to go back and asked repeatedly for a transfer despite the fact that I had already cancelled her work permit and bought the air tickets. I had no choice but to confront her with her stealing and told her it's either she goes home or I report her to the police. She was shocked that we knew about it. Oh please, keeping quiet doesn't mean we don't know. When things start to disappear at home, who is the first person we will suspect? Given her so many chances and yet she continued to do it. I felt betrayed as I really treated her well - gave her off day when she was not entitled to, 17 days of home leave instead of the usual 14, had the same food when we go out for dinner...She knew she was wrong as she apologised and cried, agreeing to be sent back.

now that the maid had gone back. Mom had to do the household work herself. Fortunately, I just enrolled Xavier to full day childcare. Instead of alternate nights, I'll be bringing the kids back home every night. Yes, I have the luxury of my mom helping to look after my kid on sun, tue and thur nites. But I'm not complaining as it is my duty to do so. The worst nightmare is ironing. Usually I'll bring my clothes to mom's house for the maid to iron the clothes. Oh no! now i have to do it myself until the new maid comes. Also asked mom not to cook during this period as it is very tedious for her to cook and wash after that. Being the typical good wife and mom, she will still try to cook for the whole family whenever possible. I think I have better choose a maid and quickly get her to start work. Mom is getting old and with high blood pressure, better not load her with the housework.

Port Dickson

2010-05-12T00:39:00.000+08:00

Yeah, we'll be taking another short trip this coming June holidays. This time it's gonna be a huge group. My own family (4), Dad and Mom (2), Leng's family (4), Brenda's family (3) and Father-in-law's family (3), total 16 of us. the destination is port dickson. Have very high expectation of the accomodation booked because it looked really nice on the website (http://www.thistle.com/en/hotels/malaysia/port_dickson/thistle_port_dickson/rooms_and_suites/index.html) so it better be GOOD!

Piano Grade One Exam Results

2010-04-26T11:23:00.000+08:00

En took her grade one exams on 17th March. On the day after her exams, I asked her how did she fare, she answered me 'Ok'. Hmm...I always worry when she gives me this kind of answer. YP was very confident she will do well, judging from her daily practice of the pieces. She had to play 3 pieces for the exam - Gavot, Trudging & Never vex a T-Rex.

Few afternoons ago, her piano teacher, Teacher Stefan smsed yp to congratulate Yu En for passing with distinctions! She received her official results today and we are all happy that her hard work really paid off. She scored full marks for 2 items and near full marks for the other 3 items. But she did very badly her sight reading so she will need to brush up on that.

One thing I do regret is not starting her early on piano. Many kids are already at grade 2 or 3 at her age. Nevertheless, I am still proud of her and it's better late then never. Grade 2, here En comes...

Interesting Conversation With the Little Boy

2009-03-26T00:08:00.000+08:00

Mummy: Daddy, pls come to the room now
Xavier : Mummy, not daddy, he's 'lao gong'

faintz...

*************************************
Mummy: (slams the door after taking something from the cupboard)
Xavier : mummy, so loud! Let me show you (gently closed the cupboard door).ok?

faintz...

*************************************
Jie Jie: (telling daddy how boys bully her at school) I hate boys!
Xavier: (overheard jie jie) I hate girls!

faintz....

Bull Frog Farm

2009-03-22T16:02:00.001+08:00

It was the school term break. I took leave on Wednesday to bring the kids to the Jurong Frog Farm at Karnji Countryside. It was a long journey there. YP dropped us at Novena Square. We had some breakfast and bought some snacks before taking MRT to Kranji MRT station where there's a shuttle bus to the different farms at Kranji Countryside. We wanted to go Hay Dairies Goat Farm first but apparently there was a routine check by the AVA and the goats were quarantined so we went straight to the frog farm. We joined the tour conducted and cost $2.50 per person. It was pretty interested seeing the big frogs, tadpoles and frog eggs. The kids didn't dare to touch the frogs, hmmm...thought they were daring and adventurous enough to try. I wanted to bring them to the Hausmann aquarium but it was quite late and past lunch time. I decided to bring them to Northpoint and also meet 'gor gor' ah yee and the 2 gor gors for lunch. After lunch, we took a straight bus from yishun back to home. The bus was like a suana as the aircon broke down and it was a hot day. The kids were so tired that they fell asleep despite the high temperature. It was such a big relief when we alighted, it was so much cooler outside. It was a fun day and the kids really enjoy themselves. Hope to bring them there again, especially to visit the goat farm if the check is over.

Pandan Chiffron Cake

2009-02-16T00:18:00.000+08:00

Recently I had this craze for baking. So far I tried jelly hearts, moist steamed chocolate cake, chocolate macadamia cookies and pineapple tarts. Today, I had a go at baking pandan chiffron cake. I used the recipe from baking mum's website. It was a success except I was quite impatient when removing the cake from the tin and hence the 'ugly' cake. My hubby said it was nice but I didn't trust him as his answers are always 'politically correct' answers. Maybe I will let my family members or colleagues try it out. They always give me truthful feedback. The next dish I'm going to try is either mango swiss roll or luncheon meat puff (i happen to buy one from breadtalk and it was nice, so decided to bake it myself).

CNY 2009

2009-02-14T23:06:00.000+08:00

This year's CNY came and went fast and furious. Everyday (except working day) was fully packed with lunches, dinners and house visiting.

Chu Yi

We slept late on eve and woke up at 10am. The kids were very excited to wear their new clothes. Every year without fail we would visit mum first. The moment Xavier received his ang baos, he refused to part with it as I wanted to keep them for him. Then we had dim sum lunch at Ah Yat in Allson hotel with my in laws. Maybe due to the bad times, many restaurants were open on the first day of CNY as compared to last year. After lunch they came to mum house and start the black jack session and it lasted for 3 hours. Amazing! This year is really not a lucky year for me, lost everytime I gamble, even yp has better luck. Last stop for the day, dinner at godma's house. The kids were so happy to gather and have fun together with all the older gor gors and jie jies to entertain them. When we left at 11pm, we realised that the night was still young (only for CNY), we decided to have a mahjong session back at mum's place. Half way through the game, I was losing quite a bit and being 'kia su', I got YP to replace me. Luckily he managed to win a teeny bit at the end. My saviour!

Chu Er

Every year, mum would do the lunch on the 2nd day of CNY. Her house would be packed with goodies and people. This year I managed to order dim sum buffet for her. We had a great time chatting and eating. Next, we went to sis-in-law's house and they were entertaining my bro-in-law's colleagues. Did not spend much time there as we felt a bit out of place. We headed for cousin ah nee's house which is just nearby. Another gambling session after dinner. This time it is 'in-between' and all of 13 of us were so high during the game especially when the pool of money grew. Our voice were hoarse at the end of the game. Dad being a gambler only joined in when the pool of money grew beyond $50. Han Jie was considered the unluckiest when he had 'A's for all 3 cards. Ha ha what are the chances! Luckily the minimum bet was 50cents. It was a great game!

Chu San

My company shutted down on this day. With nothing to do, I invited my cousins over for lunch. After that, my sis and dad stayed behind for a mahjong session again. When YP came back from work, he couldn't resist and insisted I gave up the seat for him. I was winning lor!

CNY was always great fun even when I'm into the 36th year now! Really hope the year of Ox will be a good year and economy will improve!

NAFA Audition

2008-05-17T12:05:00.000+08:00

Yu En is having another round of audition for her acceptance to NAFA (Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts) Gifted Young Pianists Course tomorrow. Hope she makes it through. Her father has been preparing her for the past few months. She is expected to play a solo piece on the piano, sing a song and identify/read notes. The last time she failed one of the items as she had stage fright and did not dare to sing in front of the tester. It'll be good if she gets enrolled in NAFA as she'll learn much more than in yamaha. However, on the other hand I am afraid she cannot take the stress. At this moment, I am praying hard!

Family Studio Shots

2008-05-17T11:10:00.000+08:00

I had long wanted a family portrait taken since Yu Chen was born. So when I saw the promotion by U-foto on the singaporemothehood website. I decided to grab the chance. The package is $120 with one hour of unlimited shots. We reached there early as I anticipate the kids need to warm up a bit before the shoot. Yu Chen was still sleeping when we reached the studio so the photographer, Benjamin, decided to take Yu En's photo 1st. The session went well except Yu Chen refused to smile for the camera, acting so cool. Benjamin had a hard time trying to make him smile, he had to hi5 with him and then 'go stan' to take the picture when Yu Chen smiled after the hi5. I even had to resort to tickle him when taking picture with him. A few shots to share:

An Evening at Botanic Gardens

2008-04-06T23:42:00.000+08:00

i was looking forward to attend april's july mummies gathering this afternoon as it's been a long while since i last seen all the mummies and their tots. however, yu chen was still having runny nose and a slight cough. afraid that he would pass the virus to his frens, i decided to give the gathering a miss, yet again.

leng called me up at around 3pm and asked me if i wan to bring my kids along to botanic gardens as there will be a performance by SSO in the evening. since i had nothing on after missing the gathering, i agreed. yp was too lazy to go and send us there, i asked leng to give me a lift since it's on the way, er....sort of lah. i managed to dig out all the snacks in my kitchen and leng oso got some snacks and drinks for a mini picnic.

we reached there at about 5pm and it was getting really crowded (as compared to normal weekend). we quickly settled down and started to enjoy the music. guess we were not quite the artistic bunch cos the kids went to play ball and bubbles, i was chatting wif mum, leng and marcus were walking around(dunno what they were looking for). it was so humid and warm that all of us were perspiring esp the kids. when the performance was over, it was time to make a move as the sky was oso getting dark.

No More Pacifier!

2008-03-02T22:55:00.001+08:00

Sometimes I do wonder how to wean Yu Chen off pacifier. He is quite dependent on his pacifier when sleeping, even crying for it when he is awake. Just imagine, he has 5 spare pacifiers at my house and ah ma's house. I remebered en en weaned off pacifer when she was 2+ without any fuss, it just happened.

One night, it just happened. I was about to put yu chen to sleep at home when I realised all the pacifiers were at ah ma's house. Daddy was simply too lazy to go buy one or go ah ma's house at get one. He asked me to try making him sleep without it and take this as an oppotunity to wean him. I was very hesitant as I was afraid yu chen would make a big fuss or even wake up a few times in the night without the comfort sucking. Daddy assured me that he will help in the later shift if that happens. Surprisingly, yu chen fell asleep quite fast and woke up only once to drink milk, no fuss at all.

The next day we were very proud of him and felt that it was a great achievement. He is a big boy now. Daddy quickly disposed all the pacifiers, afraid that yu chen will go back to his old ways when he sees one. Now, my next target is to toilet train him, hope it's just as fuss free and easy!

Bonding Time

2007-12-29T21:50:00.000+08:00

Yu En's Birthday

2007-12-22T20:33:00.000+08:00

the vips...

singing the birthday song

cheez...

totally engrossed...

the lovely lamp

it's en's actual birthday today. we had a mini family celebration at the disney themed restaurant, 'disney naturally' at anchorpoint. this restaurant is really a place for the kids, colorful deco, big screen for screening cartoons, computer for playing online games (but very pathetic only 2) and not forgetting the disney merchandise. the food is so-so as it's catered for kids, blend and healthy, mainly pasta and pizza. the pizzas come in the shape of mickey's head, so cute that u can't bear to bite into it. the kids' eyes were glued to the big screen when eating their food. the staff were friendly, the whole crew even sang the birthday song with us for en en. the kids loved the place but i can't say much for the adults...

Yu En's Birthday Celebration at School

2007-12-22T10:09:00.000+08:00

it's yu en's birthday tomorrow so i planned a mini celebration for her in her school today. i bought a 2.5kg cake to cater for all the kids. the kids were very excited to see the cake and all of them crowded up around the table, i was so afraid someone would accidentally 'damage' the cake. when singing the birthday song, all of them sang at their loudest and it was the loudest birthday song i had ever heard. can tell that yu en enjoyed the celebration.

Yu En's Mini Concert

2007-12-19T22:36:00.000+08:00

today is yu en's yamaha mini concert. each student had to play 2 solo pieces, sing 1 solo song and a group song. i specially brought yu chen to support his sister. this time quite a few family members of the other students turned up.

at the beginning of the concert, the music teacher, miss lee asked the students to volunteer to start the ball rolling. nobody raised their hand. miss lee had to ask the students one by one. all of them rejected except yu en. she simply nodded her head and headed for the piano (she was one of the two students who chose to play the piano instead of the electone). she played and sang her solo pieces very well except for a slight hiccup. she even did a unique bow when she finished her performance. I am really proud of her.

Genting

2007-12-15T16:18:00.000+08:00

the day to genting is finally here. we were going to take a morning coach and all of us had to assemble at 6.30am on sat morning at the golden mile bus terminal.

on the day itself, the kids were awake at 5.45am and we rushed our way through. but we were still the latest, so pai seh, our whole family clan waiting for us. the coach was a double deck one with a lounge at the lower deck. It was very comfortable with personal entertainment system, ample space and the 'shook shook' massage chair. the kids were enjoying themselves even on the coach itself. francine and yu chen were running up and down the stairs, climbing on and off the chairs, and along the passage way, we had a hard time looking after them even within such a limited space. yu en was emersing herself in the cartoons and nintendo games.

when we reached genting, we quickly checked in genting hotel and we were satisfied with the rooms cos they were clean and spacious. the weather up there was wet and foggy and cold. It was also very crowded due to the holiday season. just imagine, we queued about an hour plus for the monorail ride. one of the days we even booked transportation to go shopping at KL. The weather was so hot at KL and the malls were packed with people. the kids had such great fun for the 4 days there as we took them for rides everyday. as for the adults, it was a different story. firstly, i lost my wallet. fortunately i did not bring my ic so i only lost 2 credit cards and cash, abt S$150. i even kenah flu and fever from the 3rd day onwards as i couldn't tahan the coldness at night. next, cousin huan had a serious backache from the 2nd day onwards. we could see that she was trying her best to walk so as not to dampen our holiday spirits and worse, her hubby had gastric pain on the 2nd night and had to stay in bed. we accompanied him by watching a horror movie (30 days of night) in their room. lastly, my sis, leng was nearly robbed. it was dramatic and we realised that malaysia is really not a safe place, even genting. we were having our dinner at one of the food market in first world plaza and leng placed her longchamp bag on the floor next to her. i wanted to cut the meat for yu chen to eat so i borrowed the scissors from her. when she was about to get it from her bag, she actually saw a malay guy bending down besides her and taking off with her bag. she had a big shock and started chasing and shouting at the guy and then her hubby also gave chase. i think that robber was also shocked to be discovered and dropped her bag after a short distance. luckliy she managed to recover it. i even asked yp to go and help in chasing the robber. later, we found out that the robber's accomplice also stole a handbag from another table. but the bag owner was not as lucky, the robber fleed with the bag. a police report was made and we created quite a commotion in the eatery. my hands were shaking even after the whole ordeal.

overall, we enjoyed ourselves as we had good company and it was really rare for all of us to get together for this trip. will try to plan another trip next year at one of the beach resort.

Application of Yu Chen's Passport

2007-11-25T22:08:00.000+08:00

another 3 weeks and off we go to genting. we are going in a big gang approximately 20 of us - my whole immediate family, auntie, 2 cousins and family. the no of people is just enough to 'bao' a whole luxury coach from 5stars. this time no more 'first world hotel' which really sucks, small and smelly. we'll be staying in genting hotel. i think the kids are going to have super duper fun time there. right now, gotta do the most important thing of all, else my family can forget about going for the trip - applying passport for yu chen!
really a difficult task to capture a good passport picture. i remember we had a hard time when doing the same thing for yu en. finally a 'can do' shot after 6 or 7 trials. hopefully ica won't reject the photo. guess what we use as the backdrop? hee hee my fridge.

Finally settle on this...

the most lucky thing is his rashes are gone...

Rashes

2007-11-11T10:41:00.000+08:00

sigh, yu chen has rashes on his face and neck. the red spots look extra obvious as he is quite fair. the lucky thing is he has no fever and his apetite is not affected. i brought him to a GP on friday and he said that yu chen is having allergy. but i never introduce any new food to him these few days leh. could it be the cough mixture that KKH prescribed last week? the gp prescribed some cream for him to appy. i had appiled it on the affected areas religiously for the past 2 days but the rashes did not seem to improve. haiz, feel very heartache. when will the rashes go away? if the rashes does not subside by wednesday, going to bring him to see dr ong eng keow, the pd i trust most.

A Trip to the Zoo

2007-11-10T22:56:00.000+08:00

daddy managed to get the corporate passes and so off we go to the zoo today. the weather was cool and nice. it's yu chen 1st visit and yu en's nth visit to the zoo. yu chen was very excited when he saw the animals especially the hippo, monkies and kangeroos. it was pretty obvious that the elephants are not his favourite animals as he couldn't pay attention to the elephant show. he really wanted to play at the children's playground but we only let him play on the swing as we were afraid he would frighten all the kids with his rashes. everyone was tired out at the end of the day.

Future CEO?

2007-10-28T11:32:00.000+08:00

yu chen: dream on, mummy...

An Afternoon at Sentosa

2007-09-29T23:08:00.000+08:00

ah yi and yi zhang rented a room at rasa sentosa and so we made a trip down to make use of the pool and also the beach. the hotel room had a great view and the kids were very excited by it as they can see the sea and ships. initially we had no intention of swimming at the hotel pool, just going to let the kids play sand at the beach, whch is why we did not bring the kids' swimming costume. in order not let francine feel lonely at the pool, we decided to buy a swimming costume for en en at the hotel shop and yu chen can simply swim in his shorts. i had to trouble leng leng ah yi to take care of yu chen since i also did not bring my swimming costume. the kids had a super duper great time at the pool.

after the swim, we proceeded to the beach, situated next to the pool. since this is yu chen's 1st encounter with sand, i think he was not used to it. worse thing was he used his sandy hands to rub his eyes and caused him discomfort and irritation. guess he did not like the sand very much.

finally we called it a day and went back to the hotel to wash up. followed by dinner at the hotel cafe, silvershell cafe. ah ma asked me to let en en to stay over at the hotel with her. not wanting to disappoint en en, we agreed even though she is supposed to learn her spelling tomorrow morning. by the time we reached home, yu chen was sound asleep. hope he has a good night sleep as he only had a 20minutes nap in the afternoon and he woke up at 8o'clock this morning!

Time to Say GoodBye

2007-09-27T22:53:00.000+08:00

sorry darlings, mummy borrow your blog for a while to bid farewell...

this coming friday will be my last day at nss as i will be returning to HQ. time really flies, i've been here for about 3 years plus. throughout this period i had made many good colleagues cum good friends here. this place has given me wonderful and unforgettable memories. especially this year when my project team slogged through few months of hard work, spending more than 12 hours everyday in office. not fogetting the late dinner and supper causing all of us to put on weight. the spirit and closeness we managed to establish during this period of time was tremendous. i would to take this chance to thank everyone in nss for your guidance, help, friendship...for everything.

supper kaki, don't forget our date at the last thur of every month! finally, thanks for the farewell dinner and let's keep in contact through food and msn :P

Lantern Festival

2007-09-25T23:45:00.000+08:00

today is latern festival. my family decided to hold a dinner gathering by my house swimming poolside to 'shang yue'. initally, we thought of a barbecue dinner but last minute decided to go for pot luck since it's a weekday and everyone is in a lazy mode. i bought golden pillow chicken & mutton curry, bee hoon and drinks. leng bought sushi & sashimi. mum bought fried chicken, fruits and mooncakes. the kids enjoyed themselves by parading around with their lanterns. it really feels relaxing and good to be able to enjoy the food and also most importantly the company of your loved ones.

Loving Siblings

2007-09-24T00:35:00.000+08:00

sometimes i feel really lucky to have this pair of loving siblings as my darlings. they had never fought before and are always huggng and kissing each other. i ever heard from my aunt that my cousin's children are always fighting and even biting each other, scary. en en likes playing with her brother, like blocks, hide and seek...entertaining him. as a result i can catch a breath and relax for a while.

New Camera and Printer

2007-09-22T23:25:00.000+08:00

been a long time since i last blogged, main reason being my digital camera went into 'rip' mode since i like photos to go with my blog. it's abt time, it has been wif us for 6yrs. so today we made a trip down to suntec harvey norman to source for a new one. wah, this trip was an expensive one, spent abt 600 bucks. told yp not to get an expensive model this time, a basic one will do. in the end, we bought 'fujifilm finepix z5' which cost us $399. it has the latest face detection feature and is abt 6.3 megapixel. on top of this, we also bought a digital photo printer at $199, Sony DPP-FP60 , as it's cheaper to print our own photos, with the convenience of printing them anytime and at home. we can even customise a calendar with our own photos using this printer. saw a big hole in our pockets...

Not very accurate leh...

2007-09-07T16:42:00.001+08:00

Penguin Head

2007-08-28T00:37:00.000+08:00

dun you think i look like the penguin on my t-shirt...

When you wish upon a star...

2007-08-27T00:11:00.000+08:00

yu en's dancing school, attitude performing arts studio, put up a dance production titled - when you wish upon a star. all students, dancers and teachers participated in this production and there were altogether 3 sessions held at nafa lee foundation theatre. we bought the sundays night's tickets to watch yu en and cousin thania's perform. we were pretty lucky to get seats at the first row. yu en's dance item was little mermaid where she acted as a fish and cousin thania's one was the swan lake.

during yu en's performance, i made a mistake by waving to her. she slipped and even halted half way to wave to me. luckily she doesn't seem to be bothered by it, she sprung up immediately and continued her dance with a big smile on her face. although she only had a small part, i think it was a good exposure and experience for her to participate in such a big production. the concert was quite long as it lasted for 3 hrs from 7 to 10pm.

one thing i was quite pissed off with the school was they printed yu en's name wrongly on the program booklet. she became 'Leah Tan' and her friend became 'Lee Yu En'. how can they make such a mistake. my sil said i should try to get compensation from the school for the mistake they made...

What a Horrible National Day!

2007-08-17T14:20:00.000+08:00

this national day is indeed an 'unforgettable' day! what are the chances of 3 family members admitted to the hospital at the same week. poor yu chen was the first victim. after 6 days of continuous fever and 3 visits to general practictioner, we finally brought him to KKH and the diagnosis was unexpected, we didn't know his condition was so serious. the doctor wanted to admit him into the hospital as yu chen was suffering from
bronchiolitis and the oxygen level in his body was lower than normal. after numerous feeding of paracetemal, cough mixture and neuberlizer treatments, his fever subsided and he was allowed to go home after 2 nights. then it was my turn, continuous fever for 6 days and also coughing. i was admitted to SGH 1 week later and was diagnosed of pneumonia. during my 1st night stay in the hospital, leng leng ah yi fell and her tail bone suffered a crack and she was admitted to Gleneagles Hospital. Aiyo, really suay leh... luckily, during this period while i was recuperating(on 1 week mc), ah ma helped me take care of my 2 kids. a big thank you to ah ma!

Whiny Baby

2007-07-24T00:27:00.000+08:00

ah gong told me today when yu chen wants to go down for a walk, he will take his shoes to ah gong and point to the door. Apparently he needs to go out at least 3 times every day or else he will whine and whine non stop (like a engine that won't start). Pity ah ma and ah gonf, this is mental torture...

Tai Tai for a day

2007-07-21T00:02:00.000+08:00

had been slogging for my project for the past 3 months. finally the darkest hours are over(i hope so). took leave today to spend some time with my kids and to give myself a break. planned to bring my kids and oso francine to gogobambini. called the school during noon time to check if en had extra curriculum class later in the day and found out she had speech and drama class. thus, could not bring her along.

we tried to book a maxi cab(7 seater) as there were 5 adults and 2 kids but to no avail. no one wants to accept our booking. in the end, we took 2 normal cabs. gogobambini is situated at dempsey rd which is quite ulu. it was leng's 1st visit to dempsey and she loved the place, proclaiming to go there for dinner next time. the place was crowded and very popular among the expats tai tais as i think we were the only locals there. the kids couldn't wait to get to the play area but we made them eat lunch 1st. food there was not bad and price was reasonable. while the kids have fun, leng, ah ma and I browsed magazines and sip coffee. life is good(for today only lah)! the kids palyed so hard that they fell asleep around the same time. we left around 4 hrs later and the bill came out to about 120 bucks. the next time i must bring en along(maybe around national day) as i know she will enjoy herself here with the big playground. I made all the adults promise that they won't utter a word about this trip to en cos i know she will surely feel disappointed if she knew she was being left out of this trip.

p.s. unfortunately, we had some minor injuries, not the kids but the adults. Leng and Anna suffered some abrasives on their arms when they try to slow down on the spiral slide by rubbing their arms against the walls of the slides. Alamak! Leng even sprained her fourth toe, amazing...

Yu Chen is Officially 1!

2007-07-10T23:35:00.000+08:00

today is yu chen actual birthday. daddy was so sweet to play the birthday song on the piano to the birthday boy on the strike of the clock at 12am.

at night, got the whole family together to have a mini celebration. i volunteered to buy the birthday cake as i thought i would knock off from work on time. who knows i only manage to leave site at ard 8.30pm. i started to feel gan jiong as i was afraid the bakery shop will close and i will be screwed by my family members for failing to get the cake. luckily, i managed to get one from a bakery shop hidden in one corner at sing post building (all thanks to leng leng ah yee's info). just like 2 days ago at his party, yu chen started to laugh, clap hands and bounce to our singing when we sang the birthday song.

Yu Chen's Birthday Party

2007-07-08T23:09:00.000+08:00

today is yu chen's one year old birthday party. it's a lunch so we started preparing early. ah gong, ah ma and ah yees came as early as 10am. after a quick breakfast, all of us started on our respective assigned task. ah yees were responsible for decorating the function room(who had a hard time blowing the balloons), ah gong to chauffer me to get the cake from bugis junction, daddy to receive the toys and buffet, ah ma and auntie anna to doll up the kids, and yee zhang to get the balloons.

the party was a success! the money was really well spent on the buffet and the toys. the kids enjoyed themselves tremendously, the toys and the goody pack. they couldn't bear to leave at the end. the food cost abt $15 per head and the guests seemed to like the food as the butter rice was wiped out half way through(yp got to go to the nearby coffeeshop to buy chicken rice) and cousin huan even commented the food looked very appetizing.

when it was time to cut the cake, yu chen just woke up from his nap and was feeling blurry and grouchy. he practically fell asleep in the midst of the toys. but the moment everyone started to sing the birthday song, he brokes into smiles and was dancing to the song. the cake which i bought from four leaves was so so. aiya, cannot hiam cos it cost only$70. I didn't want to spend too much on the cake cos usually everone will be too full to appreciate the cake. ah gong, gu zhang and jiu jiu even had a majong game.

Thanks to those who made this party a success and to everyone who turned up for the party and all the ang paos and gifts! Yu Chen had an unforgettable birthday party!

Cake - Four Leaves
Toys - http://www.rent-that-toy.com/
Food - Eatz Catering
Ballons and Deco - Concourse

Father's Day

2007-06-18T09:43:00.000+08:00

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO AH GONG, DADDY AND FRANCINE'S DADDY

It's Father's Day today. There are 3 'fathers'(Ah gong, daddy and marcus) in our family. We had high tea buffet at Holiday Inn Atrium (old Concorde Hotel), Melting Pot Cafe. There is a kid corner at the cafe and the babies (Yu Chen and Francine) enjoyed themselves there. According to ah gong (it's auntie anna's off day today so ah gong is the temporary babysitter), yu chen was behaving like a road bully. In order to climb up the ladder of the slide, he pushed whatever, whoever was blocking his path. We took our own sweet time and spent 3 hours eating. The food was ok and the speed that they replenish the food was really slow but the price was reasonable.

Milestones

2007-06-15T14:03:00.000+08:00

it's been a long time since i last blogged. I was really tied down with my project. Only recently did i manage to catch the sun when i return home from office. For the past 3 months my project team had dinner at around 8/9pm and going home around 9/10pm during most of the weeknites. Now that my project is nearing end, I finally had the time to plan for a short Taiwan trip and also yu chen's birthday party.

Yu Chen will be 1 year old next month. So far, he had been able to achieve the following all thanks to ah ma's coaching...
1. Wave bye bye
2. Blow kisses
3. Plant kisses on faces
4. Comb his hair
5. Pretend to talk into the phone
6. Do the 'no more' action
7. Do the 'twinkle twinkle little stars' action
8. Stand steadily
9. Stand from a squatting position
10.Walk steadily with support.
11.Walk 2/3 steps without support.
12. Feed himself with hands.
13.Hold and drink from milk bottle himself.
14. Point at things and people.

As for yu chen's birthday party, so far only managed to book the function room. Still haven booked buffet, cake, toys, buy his present, get decorations, send invites, create his 1st year CD...Oh no, better get all these done before I leave for Taiwan.

Recently Yu En has been biting her finger nails. Her daddy had tried all ways to make her stop this bad habbit including barred her from going swimming, beat her hand, show her his angriest face but to no avail. I even told her the story of how the worms will get into her stomach to grow there and then will come out from her mouth and ears but also no use. Everyweek, she will run away once her daddy ask to check and cut her nails. Do we have to resort to put axe oil/chilli on her fingernails just like what our elders did last time?

En En's New Piano

2007-06-10T10:18:00.000+08:00

En's new piano arrived today. It's high time we get her a piano in order to train her fingers which is not possible with keyboard. We had a hard time deciding which model and brand to buy for her as PIANOS ARE EXPENSIVE! We are actually not sure how serious or interested is en into playing piano. Everytime we asked her if she likes playing piano, she would just answered 'yes' but without the enthusiasm in her tone. But she is quite hardworking in her practice. Since it's still early to guage her interest, we decided on a cheap model, WEBER, an American brand manufactured in China from Cristofori. Even a cheap model easily costs us $3K+ We'll switch to a better model once she is into the higher grades. The other models which we had considered are Kawai and Yamaha. A second hand model of Kawai or Yamaha can easily hit $4k+. Expensive right? Now one of my enjoyable moments is to listen to my dear daughter playing a tune on the piano.

The Terrorist

2007-04-08T21:49:00.000+08:00

best time to disturb jie jie(while practising her keyboard)! here I come!

Shopping Day

2007-04-06T21:26:00.000+08:00

today is really an eventful day for both kids. we were out shopping for the whole day. our first destination was vivo city. we had lunch at hogs breath where yu chen enjoyed the yummy whipped potato. then we proceeded to white cafe to have desert while witing for leng leng ah yee and ah ma. the shopping started at giant where auntie leng leng ah yee did her grocery shopping. after that we left for alexandra ikea to get a bed for yu en and yu chen. we managed to buy a pull out bed for them which cost around $200+. yp was very against the idea of a bunk bed cos he could predict that yu chen would get more and more 'giat' by the day and one of these days he would fall while climbing up the upper deck of the bunk bed. everybody got what they wanted and headed for a sumptous dinner. dinner was settled at nan hua chang fish head steamboat. when we got home, everyone was dead beat and slept straight away after washing up.

I Only Want A Smile

2007-04-04T00:21:00.000+08:00

Play Yard

2007-04-01T23:40:00.000+08:00

it has been 3 mths since i rented a toy for yu chen. yesterday, i managed to rent a play yard and a toy piano from www.rent-a-toy.com for him and 2 computer games for yu en(in case she feels that i am unfair). yp kept saying that i am wasting money. but in fact i am trying to save money as kids will get tired of playing the same toy very easily and the rental fee for the play yard is only $20 per month. moreover, the play yard will come in handy as i do not have to look out for yu chen now that he is crawling everywhere. proved that i was right. this morning i finally had the chance to enjoy my breakfast and take my time in reading my newspaper as yu chen played with his jie jie in the yard. even yu en likes to play in it, she pretended that it is her mini garden. hmm...now considering whether to get one for him. the only thing is it occupies lot of space, making the sitting room a bit cramp.

His First Word

2007-03-20T09:47:00.000+08:00

yu chen had been blabbering his first word for the past few days. despite me being his favourite person, his first word is 'pa pa'. sigh! yp was so proud. after hearing yu chen call 'pa pa', ah gong decided to be ambitious and teach him to call 'ah gong'. of course, he failed. by level of difficulty, the next word should be 'ma ma' mah. as for 'ah gong', guess he will learn to say that around 1 yr old.

en en's spelling results was released yesterday. my goodness, 1 out 5 correct despite revising with her for so many times. i asked her why her results was so bad and guess wat was her answer-'But mummy, daddy was wrong'. it seems that yp had taught her to write 2 words wrongly. give up! moreover, her chinese teacher who is a chinese national proved to be very strict with her writing. ai ai ah yee commented that there were 2 words which looked correct but the teacher marked them wrong as the strokes were a bit out. i guess it's time to send her to chinese lessons.

'Bo Song' Face

2007-03-18T15:45:00.000+08:00

peach, a mummy from singaporemotherhood.com july forum, is attempting to make a july babies collage. so she is jioing all the july mummies to send in our darlings' photos. i was trying very hard today to capture a smiley picture of yu chen and guess wat kind of face he showed me. his 'bo song' face! in the end i gave up.

A Cute Visitor from England

2007-03-16T15:57:00.000+08:00

today we were having dinner at 'pu tian' with some relatives from malaysia and england. they are yp's third aunty and his cousins. after dinner, they dropped by our house to take a look. yu en and yu chen's cousin, rachel, is from england and she is really a big baby. she is only 17months but she weighs a whooping 15kg. her mother told us that becos of her size and weight, she appears to be older than her actual age. She is a very cute baby with chubby cheeks and curly hair.

Time Flies

2007-03-15T23:18:00.000+08:00

i was looking through yu chen's past photos and realise how time really flies. it seemed like yesterday when i was having post natal blues just after delivering yu chen. now he is already 8 months old. How different he look, now and then.

Little Rascal

2007-03-13T13:44:00.000+08:00

Nowadays, i observed that Yu Chen is starting to exhibit the traits of a bully. He will grab every golden opportunity to pull his jie jie's long hair and he will give a big tug after grabbing her hair. After that he will release his hand and he will open his palm and look at the hair he has pulled out. Seems to me like he is counting how many strands of hair he has managed to 'detach' from his jie jie's head.

Yesterday, my maid complain to me that Yu Chen had caused her lips to bleed. She said his 'metal' head knocked against her face when she was carrying him and her lips bled.

Aiyo! Yu Chen, u continue behaving like a rascal and no one will want to befriend you.

Chinese New Year

2007-02-18T23:03:00.000+08:00

today is yu chen's 1st chinese new year. Both of my kids wore the traditional chinese costumes to go house visiting. Our first stop was ah ma's house. ah ma, ah gong and ah yees commented that yu chen looked cute and yu en looked pretty. All wanting to take photos with them. After having lunch there(as usual, leftovers from prev nite's steamboat reunion dinner), we headed to nai nai's house. Gu gu, gu zhang and cousin thania were already there. I bought the same dress for thania as for Yu En, cos they were 'twins', born on the same day, same month, same year and they like to wear the same style of clothes. After yet another round of lunch, our next stop is lao ma's house. all the uncles and aunties there want to carry yu chen but yu chen is having stranger anxiety. the moment he leaves my arms, he will burst into tears. final stop, yee po's house. the place where i can finally have some rest cos ah ma and anna are there to help yu chen. my bones are like shattering. when we reach home, we immediately went to bed after all the cleaning and changing. Another long day awaits us tomorrow.