Baking!

It's one of those days that I feel the intense itch to bake ... I have bought Nigella Express almost 1 year ago and I still have not baked anything from the recipes, so I decided "Just do it!"

For the inaugural recipe from Nigella express, it's the banana butterscotch muffin, which of course, as usual I'll tweak the recipe somewhat.

I've melted butter in place of vegetable oil, used chocolate chips in place of butterscotch chips and replaced 50g flour with 50g quick cook oats.

The results? no idea, it's still in the oven and I'm not too hopeful. The mixture was thick and clumpy. I always thought muffin batter/ mixture was much more liquidy than this :P anyway we'll know tomorrow.

Meanwhile, my chocolate banana nutella chocolate cake is done, but it's still cooling away. It's made with Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge cake mix, with some changes as usual. Milk replacing water, and melted butter replacing oil (you can tell I really dislike using oil in my baking) and for my own variation, added 3 mashed up bananas, 1 big dollop of nutella into the mix, 1 big dollop of nutella in the middle of the cake with semi sweet chocolate chips, and then topping up with more batter and more chocolate chips. I sure hope it's good :P

Photo (1)

This was taken at the Singapore Zoo last week!

Yet another milestone ...

V is progressing at an astonishing rate ...

Today she uttered the phrase "I want apple" to me, and I was very happy. Just the other day, I was asking her to help me to look for my bag, she went "find mama bag". Today she saw Mr Bean on TV and she went "ah bean!"

She can say "aeroplane sky" but won't say her own name (after all aeroplane and Vanessa are both 3 syllabus words). I guess it's a matter of time ...

We went for a photo shoot today and she was basically "so thrilled" by the photographers she was busy smiling for them (and she doesn't do it for us!). I sure hope she has some great shots so we can print an album for the grandparents to coo at her pictures (she's turning 2 next week).

Terrible Twos?

V is changing her habits like lightning and often I am caught offguard.

1) She now starts her protest from home, refusing to sit in the carseat and crying on the way to CC. She used to start her protest the moment she steps into CC.

2) This morning my hubby dropped her off at the CC, she started clinging on to him, her mouth all downturned ready to start wailing. She did wail as I could hear her cries from outside. When the hubby returned to the car, I asked him and he complained that V did cry, but not for him. She wanted the teacher to carry outside for a walk! *rofl*

3) She is on a milk strike - she only had her usual feed at 7am and throughout the whole day refused milk. She had her nutella bread i packed for her, 2 portions of morning tea and 2 portions of lunch (she asked for more each time she finished her food), then when she reached home at 4pm, wanted rice (she can say 'rice') so they hurriedly cooked for her, she finished 1 and the half bowl of rice. When I came back at 7pm, she was eating again, from my sister's plate (she wiped out 90% of my sister's portion who is a small eater). Then when my hubby came back, she again ate a few spoons of rice from his plate. All this excluding the fact that she already had helpings from her cousins' dinner plate earlier before we reached home. I sure hope she takes her milk tonight! I mean, yes, she drinks quite a fair bit of milk 240ml (8 oz) 4 to 5 times a day but to suddenly drop a few feeds, I am worried if she is getting enough nutrients etc etc etc.

4) She is starting to "streak" again. Last night after I finished bathing her, she refused to put on her clothes and basically streaked in circles around me. *haiz*

Last Trip to the Zoo ...

Well, that's because our family annual membership to the zoo will expire end of the month, and given our schedules, this was the last week we could make it to the Zoo.

My hubby complains about it, that I spend the $$ on the membership, then never go for it, and then make frequent trips at last minute to utilise it. He is just as guilty as me, since he never did quite want to go for any outings on the weekends (he wants to sleep in late till 9 plus). Anyway, we did chalk up enough visits to make it worthwhile, and today, we managed to catch one of the animal feedings. It cost us $23 - $5 for the plate of 4/ 5 sticks of veggies and $18 for the photo they took of us. I am waiting for the hubby to download the pictures so I can convienently link it - I forgot to bring my camera today, or rather I seem to have misplaced it :P

The reason is obvious enough why I'm not renewing the membership (#2 will be popping out in a few months time) but I wonder if V will miss her visits to the zoo. She does complain about the smell, eg when we visit the primates or the zebras, but she seems happy to see the animals (especially when waving bye bye to them). If she does miss her visits to the zoo, then will she blame #2 for it? *sigh* Perhaps I should reconsider when #2 is out.

Off to school!

In the short span of 2 weeks, so much as happened.

1. Vanessa started child care on 2 March. She was happy as a lark, so much so until I felt so useless as a mummy. Everyone praised her, including the principal, the teachers and my fellow mummies. She stayed for 1/2 day, from 8:00am to 1;30pm. She dutifully finished her all her milk, the tea, the lunch given. So much so even her teacher was "astounded" and asked if they should remove the milk feed before her lunch. I told her "no" because V has a mind of her own, and if she doesn't want to eat/ drink, she won't eat or drink. To see her in her uniform, see my hubby's posting here

2. So the following monday, we tried letting her nap and then I picked her up at 4pm, after they had their afternoon tea when they wake up from their nap. She was still very good, the teachers praised her again, that even though she didn't nap for long, she laid on the mattress and didn't fuss.

3. The childcare had an outing to a farm! So I went with her, it was quite fun, she seems to enjoy herself, even petting the rabbit! The teacher was kind enough to help me carry her when I was out of breadth, or rather, tired from trying to catch fishes from the "longkang"! I only caught 1 (so miserable) when I saw the other parents hauling loads into their kids' pails. Anyway, the place was kind enough to top up extra fishes when we all went home, and they are all now happily settling into my water feature (just nice, since all my guppies died).

4. Then .... the crying started, she would cling on, refuse to go to the teacher as per normal. So much so that even the teacher was shocked (since she was so happy to follow them in the first week). Well, it's not better although I was secretly happy for a while. So it's still half day for her at the child care, until she settles. It got so bad on Friday then I cried along with her too!

5. Next week will be bad because I will be very busy at work and I am not sure if I could even have time for lunch, what's more to go and pick her up. How bad, last week I had no time for water and pee break. My phone has lots of missed calls that I couldn't even finish calling everyone back. I could only complete my emails and email enquiries. I dread the coming Monday, but I rather be done with it then to grind my teeth in stress. If anything, I'm more worried about how V is going to cope with child care next week.

6. She had a small birthday party today, it was fun and I think she had fun too. Although she wasn't feeling too good, but she went on to participate in the activities and she even blew out her own candle without any help! Yes, this is a real proud mummy!!!!!! Then ... *haiz* she came down with fever, 39.2! She's now "labelled" with fever coolpatch - one on her forehead and one on the nape of her neck, and with the medication, it seems better. I will have to check her temperature later again to make sure it's not shooting up again. I guess she will be missing her cousins' birthday celebrations tomorrow and school for the coming monday, but let's see how fast she recovers. She's on a growth spurt now, asking for 240ml every 4 hours, on top of her solid meals.

7. Speaking of meals, Takashimaya is having their baby fair and I walloped her usual Pigeon food - I'm $200 dollars poorer, but well, it's quite a fair bit of savings! 20% plus 10%! And she had $6 worth of porridge earlier :P As long as she's eating (with the fever) I'm not complaining.

8. Oh she went for her MMR jab finally. She's now 13.2kg and 84cm tall (I think). It's getting tougher to carry her but she's easier to manage, as in I'll carry her for a short while, she will walk a little way when I asked her to, and then carry her again. She seldom struggles when I carry her (thankfully) so it's not so bad.

9. She's still kissing my tummy on and off, and addresses herself as "mei mei"/ "baby" (in relation to her cousins) and occasionally as "jie jie". We are trying to break the habit of calling her "baby", but really, it's quite difficult :P But I am sure it would be as bad as in my case of my SIL, who were called "baby" by my FIL well into her adulthood :P

10. My birthday wish for my girl? To be always happy and contented. There's a long list more of what I would wish for, but for now, I guess it would suffice.

Busy busy bee

1. Woke up before 8am this morning, and logon to settle some work email, my bintan trip booking and my maid air ticket booking.

2. Finally settled everything by 8:45 am and hubby was hopping cuz I promised to send him to work. I hustled the maid to change and then we all rushed out of the house.

3. Dropped the hubby off at 9:05am (he was 5 min late) and off to the zoo we go! We dropped by the petrol station to pump gas plus get some light breakfast / water.

4. Reached the zoo at 9:30am (i think) and phew, there were plenty of lots still! So we zoomed right in and since we decided we were going to talk (no tram rides!), we headed straight to the "australia outback" with some stop overs, including the pygmy hippo (breakfast stop too!) and the white tigers.

5. We managed to catch part of a show (not the splash one) and V was quite engrossed. We headed next to the splash show but the strong fishy smell put me off, so I ran away from it!

6. We took a break at the Ah Meng restuarant, and we had chicken rice for lunch (at 11:15am). By 11:40am, we were off to check out the orang utans, the polar bears and some gibbons. By the time we were done with the gibbons, V was already in dreamland, so we decided to head home.

7. The moment V was put on the car seat, she woke up and was so awake (5 min power nap!). So we decided to drop by the mandai orchid garden (no plants to buy!) but the flowers on display were pretty. We headed for orchid ville instead since I was quite determined to get some flowers :P

8. We found orchid ville!!! Bought 2 plants, 1 Vanda Miss Joaqium and 1 er, i forgot. Anyway we bought some cut flowers since I wanted to go to the colombarium nearby to put some flowers for my Dad. V was v good, she even wave and blow kisses at my dad picture when we were leaving.

9. Reached home at 1:45pm. V refuses to sleep after a shower. She's streaking around!

10. 2:45pm! Time to go! Off I zoom with V to her playgroup at Kids Loft. Almost got lost, but I did find the place! She fell asleep in the car (for 5 min) and then when we reached, I had to wake her up since I couldn't handle everything. The teacher, Lavina, came to help and V recognised her! She follow the teacher into the classroom, and within 15 mins, back to her perky, cheeky self. Man, the way she was participating in the class, you can't tell she has a serious lack of sleep! But I credit Lavina for engaging her very well!

11. Home at 5:10pm. V is now in the room, with the maid trying to lull her to sleep, but it's been 30 minutes, and I still hear her talking and making loud noises in her room.

12. Time for my bed. Will post up some pics and videos later if I get to it =)

A pain in the butt

.. literally. With this #2, my butt muscles hurt so badly I had to call in the massage lady to give me pre-natal massage once i hit 16 weeks. I just couldn't bear it anymore. The ache is especially bad in the right side, so much so I can hardly sleep on my right side. It also affects my body so much that I wake up in the middle of the night because my body was feeling so miserable. One of the "solutions" I came up was to lean more towards the front, so the pressure is off the butt, but it means more weight will be on my tummy. I doubt I can carry this method for long, but at least it gives me a more restful sleep.

Probably in a few weeks time, I'll make it a weekly massage session instead of once every fortnight. There's only so much my body can take, especially when baby is so active now (I felt #2 kick as early as week 12) so I need all the rest I can get.

It's probably time for me to stock up on chicken essence too - been feeling really weak and tired, despite going to bed early. It doesn't help when I wake up in the middle of the night, and spending over 1 hour trying to find a comfortable position to sleep on.

Going Potty!

We have started to train V on the potty (well the throne to be exact) ... she's will to poop on the throne but it comes to the pee ... *sigh* ... we can coax and cajole her for 30 minutes, she refuses to pee while on the throne. After we put the diaper on, she turns to me, point at her diaper and say "wet". Yes, she peed on her diaper ... for some strange reasons, she just doesn't want to pee without her diapers ...

HELP!!!

22 and almost half months old

The other day i just realised V turned 22 months old (3 days late) but I was so caught up with work I didn't really sit back and count the "milestones".

She's a bit more vocal now, crazy about chocolates still and a lot more "loving".

For Valentine's Day, my hubby got this deal off the web, he paid $10 for a night stay at a 3 star hotel. Wait, don't go "wah" yet ... his colleague got it for $1!!! I am not kidding, 1, ONE, Singapore dollar. Too bad I had a meeting that afternoon, so I couldn't take leave in the afternoon, though my boss was nice to let me off slightly earlier from work.

The hotel is new, and frankly speaking, I thought it was pretty decent, although it reminds me a little of the Japan's corporate hotels (no frills). The bathroom is tiny, but it's still bigger than what you get in Japan! The room was of a decent size, but no way we could put in a cot.

Anyway, we decided to take this opportunity to "test" market - that is take care of V on our own for 2 nights and see how it goes. This is in preparation of our helper's 2 weeks return to her hometown, and we are wondering how she will react. Needless to say, since she beds in with the helper, she was whining for the helper at night. The hubby took care of that, he brought her out for walks and they would returned with her fast asleep on his arms/ shoulder. the same thing happened on both nights, she would wake up suddenly after being put on the bed and wanted to go for the "walk" or "outside" again (based on her finger pointing). The first night i carried her and hum her favourite tune when she was a baby, that soothed her but she took a while to fall asleep. As usual, since I am blind at night, I couldn't tell if she was asleep, I had to inch my way to the light source (the tiolet) and peer at her. Anyway she was kind enough to let me sit on the bed to rock her to sleep after a while, and when she finally fell asleep, I propped myself against the bed, with her sleeping on my chest. Not that she was whining, but I missed it. I missed the times when she would fall asleep propped against my chest, listening to her breathing and smelling her hair. When I was dropping off to sleep, I put her to bed but she refused to sleep in between us for some reasons. So we ended sleeping L-shaped, and her feet near to the edge of the bed. Some sixth sense woke me later and her feet was dangling off the bed! I managed to shift her back into position and she continued sleeping. In the morning, she was quite funny - she woke up and checked "mama!" I answered her and then she went "papa!" then the hubby replied to her. Satisfied, she went back to sleep for 2 good hours, before we woke her up for breakfast.

The second night, after our expensive Valentine's dinner (I spent close to $200), we came home and she was in a good mood, although she kept asking about the dogs and the helper. When she woke up from the first walk, i asked the hubby to carry her and I promptly fell asleep. When she was finally deep enough in her sleep, the hubby put her on the bed, but she again insisted on sleeping in her way. So we ended up in a H-shaped, her head butting my ribs, and her feet landing on the hubby's face. She tossed a bit at night, so she headbutted my tummy, my ribs, my shoulders, my chest ... it was no fun, but I doubt it would be any better if her feet was on my end! I'm glad to say we survived it, and she enjoyed herself. When the helper returned home today, V was stunned for a minute when she saw her. But as usual, soon after, glued to her like a fly on a fly paper. However, I am pleased to note that she wanted me to brush her teeth for her!

She'll be heading off to childcare soon, in preparation for the #2 arrival. Not that I really want her to go so early, but for practical reasons and since I cannot possibly work part-time now, it seemed like the best solution to get her used to childcare first. #2 will arrive sometime in June/ July, and I don't think the helper can cope with 1 toddler, 1 baby and 2 dogs. Hopefully things would have settled down at work enough to allow me to work reduced hours so I can spend more time with V, but I really highly doubt so. Having 16 weeks of maternity leave is already more than what I could ask for (well I did hope for 6 months!) and given the current situation at work, I cannot extend my leave period, so let's see how things work out for these few months.

Oh and ya, #2 is along the way =)

Evan has arrived!

Everyone says hello to my brand new nephew, Evan, 5 lbs 14 oz, 19 inches),borned on Sunday Jan 18, all natural, no epidural.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88929566@N00/3210734321/in/set-72157612719551223/

Amazed!

Sometimes I can't help but be amazed by V.

Hence the 'rare' occasion for the post today.

We were playing on my bed today and I was shaking the plastic cup 'macaras' she made in one of her GUG session. She was holding on to my jar of face cream, which obviously didn't make any rattling sounds when she try to shake it together with me.

She suddenly zoomed into my old jewellery box, which used to hold some buttons. I though she lost interest in the sing and rattle thingy I was doing with her and wanted to play with her buttons, so I fetched the other box where all the buttons are contained in now. She took some buttons and put into the empty jewellery box. Then she looked up at me and grinned. She shook her box and made some rattling noises with it.

Yup, this mummy was stunned for a little while when I realised what she did. And yup, this mummy is really, really proud of her little princess.

Turning 21 soon ...

21 months old that is ...

V has crossed some milestones of sort ... she will actually dance to Barney when they are dancing, and once the song "I love you, you love me ..." comes on, she will dash around hugging us.

She can imitate some words when we are trying to teach her.

In addition to her previous list of words, she can say
1. walk walk (sounds like wok wok :P)
2. egg egg
3. blue
4. yellow

She can doodle pretty well, she draws quite a fair bit of circles and wavy lines. I've just bought some paint brushes, and probably will go to diaso to get some of the canvas (they sell pretty decent ones for $2) so she can doodle her art and then we can frame it up.

I'm trying to teach her to sign "please open for me" so that she can start linking up words. I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do, since there's this debate that kids who sign will start to talk much later. But really, is that a bad thing? I admit I am worried about her not talking yet (compared to the long list of words my gf listed for her gal) but each child starts on their own pace, and even if she doesn't really want to talk, it doesn't mean I should stop teaching her things. That reminds me to print out the cards that I did some months back :P The Zoophonics pack still haven't arrived after a few months so i made my own version. Time to start putting some effort at the homefront!

hand in hand, just not yours!

V has this funny thing about holding hands.

She can walk hand in hand with mummy, but Daddy cannot hold hands with mummy at the same time! Mostly she will complain and forcefully remove his hand from mine. Sometimes we try to trick her, as in daddy wants to walk hand in hand with her too, so he will make a grab for my hand which is holding hers. She will remove his hand and occasionally allow him to hold her other hand. Sometimes she will try to to chase him away or rather flap him away, sometimes she will hasten her pace and pull me along.

This morning we tried the trick again, but it didn't work. She was happy as long as he was holding my other hand. She even gave him a cheeky smile and wave!

Is she possessive? I think so!

Happy New Year - in advance!

In case I forget again (I just remembered I forgot to give my hubby the christmas card I got last year - again), here's Vanessa wishing everyone a very happy new year.

May the new year bring good news and joy to you!

Have yourself a blessed Christmas!

Tra-lah-lah-lah, lah-lah-lah!

Merry Christmas to all, and may we all have a better 2009, despite all the gloomy forecast.

Take joy in what we have, and faith is what keeps our hopes alive.

Sorry no pics of V doing her reindeer stunt again =)

on the mend

Vanessa seems to be better this morning before I went to work. However, closer to noon, her fever went up to mid 38s to 39. So I applied for urgent half day leave to go home to help look after her, since we couldn't send her to my mum's house today. Her cousins are over at my mum's house and they will be leaving in a few hours for their holidays.

Thankfully she's better now, in the low 37s, but .... then I started nursing a headache. Took my temperature and it's in the low 37s too. Hopefully it will go away by itself, and it won't develop into a full blown flu germs infested Christmas for me.

I am just very exhausted and am looking forward to a nice little break for the Christmas. Hopefully this wish will be granted :P

Fever, cough and cold

Vanessa's running a fever and cough for 4 days, plus a running/ blocked nose for 2 days.

She started on Augmentin (antibiotics) yesterday, and she had a bad case of diarrhoea this morning, her diapers leaked and it stained her clothes and her bedsheet. Her fever was hovering about 38.5 so we started ibuprofen in place of panadol. Her forehead is plastered with koolfever and her bed now has a water cushion to help bring down her body temperature. She's still quite active, but her appetite is gone. She mostly only wants milk, eating only little solids. I've bought some yakult for her to help with her tummy troubles.

She missed my ma jie's 81st birthday celebration lunch today, but I didn't want to risk her passing the virus to the other kids since 2 of them were flying off for a holiday in a day's time, or worse puking her milk/ lunch over the birthday "girl". 

If her fever is still in the mid-38 to 39 range, I'll probably have to "harass" the PD again. I'll probably need to ask if I could give her some expectorant to help get rid of the phelgm. It sounds really, really bad when she coughs.

Seems like a really woefully germs infested Christmas =(

Step 2 USA - 50's Diner

One great thing about staying in USA, you can get great stuff for kids from Step 2 at a price that we will never ever get in Singapore. Sometimes I wonder why is the price discrepancy so great, but then again, we win some, we lose some.

Anyway, for Christmas, I wanted to get a kitchen set for my niece in USA, but the one I wanted was out of stock. So after considering some items, I decided on the 50's Diner. It looks quite fun, with a serving area too. The clincher was ... free shipping :P

This is the link for the 50's Diner: http://www.step2.com/product.cfm?product_id=1561

I thought it would be a great gift, just by the sheer number of awards it has won:

Awards:

• Toy of the Year Award, Family Fun, 2008
• Platinum Award, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, 2008
• Top Pick, Today's Parent Magazine, 2008
• Three-Star (Highest) Rating, Canadian Toy Testing Council, 2008
• All-Star Holiday Toy, Toy Wishes, 2008
• 'Best Toys' winner, Parents Magazine, 2008
• Best Products of 2008, iParenting Media Awards

Look at the stuff that comes with the toy:

• Kitchen includes oven, grill, fryer, icebox for storage and sink for cooking and cleaning
• Patron side features attached booth-style seating for dining and can also watch the cook
• Electronic service bell lets the server know when kitchen orders are ready for serving
• Silver-metallic divider window gives the diner a classic retro feel
• Retro style tabletop features a jukebox that plays three 50s-style tunes
• Special griddle pan and coffee pot activate electronic sizzling and bubbling sounds on the stove's front burner
• Accessories include: coffee pot, griddle pan, dishes, silverware, cups, spatula, ice cream scoop, sundae dishes, deep fryer, and ketchup & mustard bottles
• Play food includes: burgers, fries, hot dogs, ice cream, cones, sundae fixings and pie

And it comes with a jukebox!

Maybe it just reminded me of "Happy Days" ... *sigh* who can forget Fonzie?

I just hope the recipient enjoys the gift!

Christmas Madness

It's a mad rush to buy the presents, so I didn't really put much thought into the gift selection this year. It's more of generic gifts, so just ran into the stores, grab some items and ran home again.

Just finished wrapping all the presents and were doing a count, and I realised to my horror *sigh* I forgot to get a present for Vanessa. What kind of mummy am I? Think tomorrow will be a mad dash to the shops to get something for her, but at this point of time, my brains are not functioning very well!

*help*

*stressed*