Brotherly bond

Seeing eye-to-eye


Licks...

Sayang Dog-dog

After establishing trust, you can torture Man's best friend. Oops! Don't say Mummy said that!

Look at the proud face of our Tampines Torturer:
Poor Mavy!

Hari Raya Haji Friday

When we brought Baby A to Baby Hypermart to buy his new Maclaren stroller today, we found out they are having a Weekend sale until 12mn for these 2 days.
And we got a good deal for the new stroller, with a free stroller fan thrown in :)

Daddy A and Baby A love the Maclaren.
Daddy is very happy with his new Sports Car of strollers and I'm equally glad that Andy & I now have a "His" and "Hers" stroller :P

In a nutshell, (Im getting really lazy to type long posts these days), we did these today:
- Bought slow cooker for cooking Baby A's porridge
- Brought Baby A to Baby Hypermart
- Went to my folks' and had dinner with my family
- Tucked Baby A to bed and went out with Hubby to wash the car
- Drove to Jln Kayu for Selegie soya milk to reward ourselves for the hardwork and sweat

On Thursday morning, he called me at work and asked: "Honey you didnt prepare Kaikai's food today, so what should I feed him?"
Me: "Oh I forgot. Can you give him the Parsnip with Sweet potatoes? And choose any fruit to go along"
Andy: "Parsnip.... Ok... Can I give him Pears & strawberries?"
Me: "Ok sure. Thanks Hon!"

Andy is the New Age Dad in every way :)

When left to his own devices...

A bit too early for Alphabet Pasta, sonny!!

Storm in a Teacup

Trying to grab the camera

making funny faces is his forte ..

This is the Cheeky Monmon who brings much laughter into our lives.
No matter how tiring my day has been, seeing these faces melts away all unhappiness instantly.
He has so much love to go around, every single day I say a silent prayer and thank God for blessing us with a happy Bubs.

I cant take a decent photo of him nowadays because he is always wriggling.
Isn't he a handful!

Nearer and nearer

My toes are tingling in anticipation of the long weekend which will be in 2 days' time!
Last day of the work week tomorrow and I will devote all my undivided attention to:
- Hubby
- Baby Adam
- Waxing partner Charmaine
- Huiwen's wedding!

Er ok lah, not undivided attention already, but I am extremely excited and happy! HEHE

P.S. Still pondering what to get for Hubby and Baby Adam for Xmas.
Every weekend also buying things for Baby Adam, as if every weekend is Xmas.. . SO what will the real Xmas presents be??? I also dont know what I want for Xmas.. *scratches head*

Toot Toot

I am really amazed and impressed to learn that the new car has Automatic Rain Sensor function which will automatically activate the wiper when it rains, and it also has a built-in turbo timer.

Me to Andy: Eh dear, the engine is still running even though I switched it off already.
Andy: Yah, that is why you dont need a timer. Everything is automated. It will decide for itself how long it needs to cool down before switching off.
Me *genuinely amazed and grinning*: WOW so brilliant! This car is a Transformer right??
Andy *looking at me blankly*: No, the car is not Transformer. You are Toot Toot. (Blur blur)
Me: 0__O

Apparently, I'm very suaku according to Andy. -__-

A quiet Sunday for 3

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Baby Adam went to Changi Terminal 3 for the first time today. He fell asleep while Andy & I had late lunch and woke up just as we were about to bring him to the Organic shop to browse his Toothiepegs and puree.

Before that, we brought him to Baby Hyperstore to check out a new stroller which we intend to buy as a spare - Maclaren Quest Sport.
I'm in love with its fuss-free simplicity and quality.


People who dont know us might think we're having twins! Because we always end up buying 2 of everything - one for each Grandparents' home.


Here's a simple shopping list for the new car:
- Baby rear-view mirror (innovative invention for letting driver see their babies in the carseat)
- Hang toys
- Car polish & wax (Yes, I really do take good care of my belongings!)

By the way, speaking of car polish, this is what happened yesterday...
Me to Andy: Wah Honey, it is only Saturday and the car is dirty already. So fast need to wash.
Andy: Yah, because you drive so slowly that's why the dust settle.
-__-

Warning: Highly addictive!

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Received an email of these adorable photos of a Baby girl and her dogs. Uber cute!!
I feel happy seeing what a terrific time they are having and it reminds me of our 2 dogs & Baby Adam :)

Avocado

Baby Adam is on to Avocados today. Mummy loves grocery shopping nowadays :)

Abstract from "First Foods":
High in nutrients such as fibre, potassium (for muscle development), vitamin E, B vitamins and folate, avocados also contain beneficial unsaturated fats.

Note to add:
You can freeze extra portions for subsequent feeds.
Frozen cubes can last 2-3mths while refrigerated puree can last 3 days.
I usually just make enough to last 3 days and keep them in empty babyfood jars in the fridge.

Rain rain, go away...

Mummy has caught the flu bug and passed it to Baby Kai.
But thank goodness his runny nose lasted for only 1 day. (Mine lasted this entire week!)
He has always been a healthy baby, thank God, because he is a Bfed baby.
I thought I couldnt Bfeed longer than 1-2mths due to my size, but I BFed Baby Kai till he was 1 week short of being 5 mths old because my period came back and also due to inconveniences at work. Since I couldnt reach my goal of 6 mths as per WHO's recommendation, we'll have to make do with 5 months.
But I'm happy enough since he has been healthy compared to most other babies his age who are susceptible to flu and such. *touch wood*

Now, Baby Kai has tried:
- Carrots
- Squash
- Spinach
- Applesauce
- Banana
- Happy Baby Organic fruit puffs
- Heinz fruit juice
He now takes 2 meals a day - Breakfast and Dinner, which consists of Cereal, fruit and Veggie.


I'm glad it's finally Friday. Been waiting for the weekend!
I hope I can get some rest and recuperate from my extremely crazy week.

And I do need to get used to my new wheels.
It's been raining lots these days and instead of turning on the wiper, I keep signalling Left/Right!
And when I wana signal direction, I end up wiping the windscreen instead. -__-
Not used to the Euro specs yet, having driven Jap cars all these while.

Mini Childcare centre

Thanks to all my friends and colleagues who asked about Baby A. I'm really grateful that he is in your thoughts.
My dear Charmaine's first question to me was, "Did you take a photo of him on the floor??"
-__- Don't know how to reply her.
He is fine, thank God, but it served as a valuable learning experience.

We set up his Haenim Play Yard, with 2 layers of Alphabet foam mats, and a playmat on top.

What a large area for him to roll around.


We didn't end up buying the Graco Playpen. Instead, we bought a Safety First playpen from online. Read reviews that it is better than Graco and it is not available in Singapore so your next best bet would be to buy it online.

The one we are buying looks something like this shown model but more elaborate - with skirting, bassinet and diaper organiser. It's really pretty :)

Baby A turns 6 Months old today!
What a way to spend the eve of his 6th Month. :(
I'm super exhausted and overwhelmed now and we've turned both homes into Mini Childcare Centres.

Okay gotta go catch my beauty sleep now. Dead tired.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

Baby A fell off our bed today. And Mummy is guilty as charged :(
I don't know how it happened, it just happened all too fast. I was sitting on the edge of our bed and my back was on him for just a nano-second and the next thing I heard was a loud "THUD" and Baby A was face-down on the floor.

The chain of events that happened were hysterical screaming & crying, and silly Mummy trying to pacify poor Baby A.
Bad bad Mummy. I'm soooooo clumsy! Sigh. I feel so bad and guilty now. How could I let my Baby be in danger when I'm the one who should protect him?? :(

"I'm sooo sorry sweetheart. Bad bad bad Mummy", was all I could say.

Moral of the story: NEVER under-estimate how fast your Baby can be. They can really surprise you!
No more hesitation.
Time to go buy the Haenim play yard with alphabet foam mats(for our home) and a Graco Play pen (for my Mum's place) for Baby A.
SIGH.. What a day.

Bathtime Bubs

I love a nice smelling Baby in the mornings!

Baby A's new ride.

Received call early this morning from the car agent saying that our new set of squeaky wheels has reached the showroom and is ready for us to go take a look.

Baby A had his cereal and greens.

Then waited for the folks to get dressed.

At the showroom: The youngest driver around.

Our new ride was waiting in the showroom for Master Kai to test drive :)
He loves the sunroof, among all things, and is fixated on the steering wheel.
Andy & I are both delighted to know that Baby A likes his new car.
He'd better, since Daddy bought this car for Mummy to bring Baby A out and to drive to work.

I, especially, love the reverse-camera which activates automatically when the gear hits 'R', and you can see what's going on in the LCD screen. No excuse for being kayu!
Actually, I've been very contented taking the MRT to work all these years, even though we already have 3 cars at home, because Lazy Me loves to sleep on the train and not having to worry about annoying drivers and traffic jams.
So with this new car, I told Andy...

Me: Dear I don't wanna drive it to work lah.
Andy: Huh, then what's the point of buying if you just park it at home???
Me: I'm very happy sleeping on the train and you also know I'm very blur.
Andy: But I want you to save more time so you can come home early everyday.

Didn't expect Hubby to be sooooo sweeeeet... I'm so touched and surprised, maybe because I didn't ask for it, not to mention I least expect it.
Some women want all their lives to marry rich men and lead the Tai-tai life, but I'm very happy with my lot in life, happy to have a loving family and a healthy Baby.
I'm really easy to please :)
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THANK YOU HUBBY. You're such a good man. I must've done something good in my past life to deserve someone like you.
I love you so much!

Love,
Your wife and Baby A's Mummy

Saying Goodbye...

... is the hardest thing to do in the mornings when I have to leave my peacefully sleeping Angel, for work.

To be honest, I've been back to work for 1.5 months now and there isn't a day that passes where I don't wish I can stay home to be with my baby.So contradicting, I know. When I was at home, I grumbled about being a frumpy Housewife.Now that I'm back at work, I wish I can go back to being a frumpy housewife :)


Anyway, this are Baby A's pressies for Xmas 2009, which we bought over the last weekend in town.

I wonder what other presents Baby A will get for his FIRST X'mas.
I guess there isnt much a 6-month-old Baby would want other than his parents to be around him all day :)

HERE!

Dear Santa....

Received news from our car agent today - "Yes. Your GTI has reached yesterday. Will be out of port on Saturday. Will call you once it reaches our showroom."

OMGMGMGMGMG. To say I'm soooo excited is an understatement.
I've been waiting sooo lonnngggg for it to be shipped thousands of miles from Germany. I even thought the shipment got hijacked by pirates or something.
And throw in the free tuning plus changing Volk Racing rims.

I'll be careful with it and treat it like my 2nd Baby... I promise!

Thank you Santa!!

Shinryoku, Bugis

Huiwen's getting married so as her "sisters", we had a dinner meetup .
The food is nice and ambience also not too crowded and we had a fab time gossiping mainly, not so much discussing about the Wedding Day details Hehe.. except we must all wear white.

Feel so happy for her to have found a gem as her Hubby!
Here's wishing them a blissful marriage and have lots of bubbly children!

Enclosed with love.

Andy offered to help wash the fan and aircon filters today, what a gem!
Before the operation could be carried out, he had to put Baby A in another room to prevent him from ingesting the dust.
Mummy on the other hand, was busy taking a shower and getting dressed for going back to my folks'.
When I was finally done wearing my new Dior foundation, I went to the other room to check on the Rascal, and this is what I saw...



Daddy A had set up an enclosure with pillows and bolsters to prevent him from rolling off the bed! so he could go about doing his chores.

"Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special (and humorous) to be a Daddy" :)

At Zhor-zhor's.

After a day's shopping in town, we brought Baby A to his great-grandma's.
Here he is, sitting up on his own without support from the adults.
He could even swing his hands excitedly while holding his fav teether, and turn his head while still holding the Sit position.

This is the first time I'm seeing my baby sit up on his own without needing me to hold him.
Does this mean that my baby is needing lesser of me?? Sob sob.


A conversation between Andy & I today:
Me: What do you think of "Alexander"? "Xander" in short.
Andy: Too long.
Me: Ok, how about "Aleric"??
Andy: (pause) sounds too French.
Me: Huh nice name leh... Then what do you want?? "Ang ku kueh" can or not? Very Sing-gah-por-lean.
Andy: (smirks) Ok on!

My hubby just dubbed our future son Ang Ku Kueh Tan. Just like he did to Baby A last time.
In case you're curious, Baby A was almost named:
- Julius Cesar
- Augustus Ignatius
- Johansberg

Precious moments

Baby A loves doing things on his tummy these days, and I get tired just looking at him doing endless push-ups! Isn't it too early to start training for NS??
He seems to be enjoying it though :)


This week, I've started him on CARROTS.
I'm going to introduce him new foods week by week. American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends introducing one new food over a period of 2-3 days but some intolerances show up only later therefore I'd rather be conservative and wait 1 week.

By the way, Baby A doesnt sleep much during the day, he can sustain very well on 20-min cat naps therefore, it's hard to get much done around the house with a highly explorative Baby A.
Napping for Mummy & Grandma is a luxury only to be fantasized about.
I wonder how long I can hold out without caving in to my temptation to buy the Exersaucer or Jumperoo though I know it is NOT recommended for babies!

P.S. Speaking of Exersaucer, Mummy asked Aunty Meena to help check out the price of Evenflo Exersaucer at Baby Hypermart and our dearest Aunty promptly went to the Feeding section to look for an "accessory to put sauce in" !!!! *ROFL*
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P.S.S. We love weekends!
Daddy A is going for his haircut in Orchard, and Mummy has cancelled her appointment with Aunty Charmaine for lashes and waxing, so we'll be bringing Baby A to Orchard for some Xmas shopping.
I hope there will be mad sales everywhere in the Takashimaya Baby Dept!

What a loooongg Saturday for a Preggy me

My Saturday started at 8.30am because we had an appt to go Mt Alvernia for our fetal anomaly scan.
Arrived there late, well because stupid Andy insisted he wasn't tired and wanted to watch 140min-long Red Cliff 2 on Friday night.
I always know not to trust everything guys say, now to reinforce that belief.

Parking at Mt Alvernia was a beech as well because there were so little parking lots and so many cars! Most available lots were reserved for doctors and handicapped.
They say men are like parking lots, the good ones are taken, the rest are handicapped.
You begin to think there is some truth in that.

Ok, so we got to the Diagnostic Imaging Department of the hospital - more waiting for our turn."If I wait any longer, what's gonna turn up in the ultrasound would be my poo poo" I said to Andy, to which he responded with a frown and half-smile.
Finally, the sonograper called my name.
Yay! Andy was grinning like a proud Dad, his sideburns tingling with anticipation to see our baby after the long wait.
When you are about to become a parent, waiting for that monthly antenatal scan seems eternity.
Few weeks ago, he reminded me "Hon, you remember when is our next appointment?"
Few days ago, he reminded me "Hon, this Saturday we can go see baby already."
On Friday, he duly reminded me "Hon, tomorrow we can go see baby already.. so excited!"

The sonographer - a pleasant young lady wearing lab coat - ushered us into a dimly lit room and I promptly lied down, unbuttoned my jeans and pulled up my blouse.
A good Brazilian wax is worth it - not just in the bedroom or at the beach.
The sonographer went over each and every vital organ in detail and measured the spine, the femur, the head etc.
"Looks like a boy. You can see something in between the legs" she pointed with the cursor.
Actually, I couldnt make out anything on the screen because I was lying flat and the images looked a sea of black and white to me.
How disappointing.
Me: (pointing to something round which looks like a scrotum to me) What is this?
Sonographer: "The hand"
Ok I give up. I obviously am not very good at ultrasound-deciphering.
"This is your baby's face. You can see the 2 eyes, the lips"... she went on.
As she went on describing our baby's anatomy to us, I could feel my frustration rising because I obviously cant make out most of them.
What eyes? What lips?! I thought the entire face looked like a whole egg - round and without features.

In the end, I just lay there like a defeated soldier as Andy looked and listened on.
I was quite peeved, only I didnt go around shouting "I CANT SEE MY BABY'S COCK"
After the appointment, it was already 12noon.
Decided to grab lunch before supposedly meeting Charmaine and Meena.

In the end, we didnt meetup because the girls decided to spend the afternoon at Arab Street while Andy & I were in town for his haircut and some shopping.
While waiting for Andy to have his haircut, I went to Mothercare to look at prams and strollers and baby stuff.
I didnt know baby stuff are so expensive! A newborn overall from Baby GAP easily costs $25.Even the cheapest stroller costed $139 on discount.
The most expensive in the store was $899! A 3-wheel multi-terrain stroller with HUGE spiked wheels for going on grass and sand.
I dont have many friends with kids - only 3 whom I seek advice from.
They all seem to have 2 prams - a heavy duty one for going to the zoo/grass/walk the dogs, and a lightweight cheapo one for chugging around and going shopping with.

And with advice from my friends like - 3-wheel strollers are easier to steer.
Make sure the front wheel can swivel so it's easier to maneuver, and the wheels must be big enough to go up and down kerbs and wont get stuck in drain covers and grills.

Andy: "Our baby needs one with 12-inch rims and change the suspension.. he is going to Pram Rally - P1!"
Do I smell trouble brewing?!
We popped in Times bookstore and browsed through pregnancy books.
I pointed an interesting line to Andy which says at 20 weeks your baby's external ears have developed and can hear noises inside the uterus and from the outside world.


So, Andy has replaced the word "dick" with "dictionary".

"Honey, do you wanna read my dictionary?" which I cant help but laugh out loud!
By the time we were done shopping and walking around, my hips and lower back hurt, and I was feeling drained.It's been a long day for me!