Blessings from Above

heard 2 pieces of good news today - 2 of my colleagues will soon join the ranks of 'motherhood'! i'm VERY happy for both of them... interestingly, they are due one after another (so that makes 4 consecutive months AGAIN)! seems like the baby dust is making another round in my office (when i had C two years ago, there was also one birth every month for 4 consecutive months!) *dear lord, pls keep all of us safe throughout our pregnancies and help us to birth strong and healthy babies*

li'l one's speech development is quite impressive (at least to me) and her favourite words currently are 'AGAIN' e.g. - Claire run away AGAIN - don't want aunty AGAIN & 'Claire DO' whenever she wants to do something on her own.

stay fit! prior to having my li'l princess, i was a regular gym-goer/swimmer. it is in my blood to keep moving (or just walking) as i cannot bear to be over a certain weight at any time. unfortunately, since she came along, my own fitness has taken a step back (in fact, even few steps back). i just cannot find the time (or sometimes, the energy) to exercise. its something i deeply regret and that i always agonize over! even though i am not the sort who'd make a new year resolution and stick to it (lack of determination mostly), keeping fit will be one of my focus for this year - largely due to the fact that i've come to realise that my stamina has really declined with age and it totally freaks me out. hence i've taken the 1st step by enrolling in an aqua-aerobics class (bearing in mind that at this stage, there are not many exercises i can carry out safely!). i had a great hour today, doing a relatively comfortable workout and boy, does it feel good! i am lookin...

saw 2 OB for 2 consecutive weeks - last week to do the OSCAR (one stop clinical assessment of risk) test for down's syndrome and today, for my 'regular' scheduled visits. the OSCAR test is really not compulsory and i was really not keen to do it - the OB, on the other hand, 'encourage' me to do so for a piece of mind, despite the fact that i really do not fall into the 'high-risk' category (its really good money for them - cost an additonal $500 - almost!). anyhow, to make my 'money's worth', i asked the OB last week if he could tell baby's gender - his answer? 'i'm right 80 - 90% of the time and i think u're carrying a boy but... there's still a 10 - 20% chance that i'm wrong'! on my scheduled visit today, OB tried to scan for the gender as promised in the previous appt... unfortunately, li'l one wasn't too co-operative and kept the legs closed - after 'disturbing' li'l one (by tapping o...

my li'l princess is fast approaching her 2nd birthday and i realised that i've not been tracking her milestones for some time now... so i'm going to 'attempt' listing down (from memory) all the way from my last record in Oct 08 till now... starting with the good ones tells 'stories' in both mandarin & english - she speaks in sentences (though not always grammatically correct and probably cannot differentiate between the two languages) ALL DAY LONG - yes, the only time i get peace and quiet is when she is sleeping puts on her own clothings, e.g. pants, shirt, socks and shoes (though not always correctly, e.g. sometimes both legs on the same side of her pants) answers questions correctly (e.g. 'what is ur name?', 'how old are you?', parts of her body) feeds herself (though really messy) plays imaginatively with her toys ('talks' on the phone, 'feeds' her dolls/bears) knows her (frequently seen) friends by ...

dh 'insists' that li'l princess must be a liverpool supporter so he bought her her very own jersey...

we usually have our reunion dinner with our respective families earlier and take off for a short getaway during CNY as dh hardly has any opportunity to take leave during the year (he goes to work even when he is unwell and on mc). after much deliberation, we decided to travel to hong kong/macau to see how other 'chinese' cities celebrate CNY, which on the hindsight was a great decision (we booked our holiday in sept) since i'm still in the 1st trimester and really shouldn't be doing long distance/3rd world country travellling. we really packed light this trip as compared to previous ones - one luggage for ALL our barangs (it was less than 23kg) and we didn't even bring along the stroller which is a mighty amazing accomplishment considering that we had to bring along li'l one's cooker, food, diapers and multiple change of clothes + winter wear for everyone! i believe it was the cold weather that 'helped' increase li'l one's appetite as she...

GONG XI FA CAI everyone! hope that CNY has been great for everyone so far! we are still in stanley ho's land and i'm overloaded with 'wanton mien' - probably something i'm not going to touch/order for the next one month! the weather is fantastic (i *love* cold!) and its great to be enjoying quality time with dh and li'l one - this will probably be our last vacation in a long while unless we can squeeze in one more trip in my 2nd trimester (and i'm thinking 'taipei'! right now) we'll be on our flight back tonight and photos will be coming up soon!

some time last week, this article came out in the local papers - the queensland tourism board is looking for someone to be a care-taker for one of the islands on the great barrier reef ! within hours of news break, the site crashed due to overwhelming response! if this position came about a couple of years back, i would jump at the opportunity! afterall, who in the right mind will reject a pay packet of A$150,000 for 6 months, with paid accommodation, transport and return airfare - mainly to blog about the fantastic island living?!?! i love the gorgeous beaches, relaxing lifestyle and mind-boggling number of activities available down under... go apply for the job, if you don't have a care in the world and dun mind being paid that obscene amount of money to enjoy yourself for 6 months!

we were unable to see baby #2 during the 1st visit scans as there were 'interference' with the signals - even the heartbeat was inaudible - and as a result, i was worried for 2 weeks! fortunately, we had clear scans today - Dr Tan even did the 4D scans and gave us a copy of our li'l caterpillar. he claims that he will be able to tell us the gender at our next appt in 4 weeks' time! :) here's what baby #2 looks like at 9w3d... heartbeat : 167bpm size : 4.09cm

the original intention was to have li'l one go for playgroup twice a week when i need to go office so we enrolled her in the school, got the new uniforms and even paid the fees. this was her on the 1st day of (play) school - so happy and at ease - i felt very relieved that she took to 'school' so well! she actually woke up on time and the 1st thing she said was - 'go school, go school!'... but i believe that having a familiar face around definitely helps! UNFORTUNATELY, the weekend after the 1st 2 days of 'school', her grandma (婆婆〕was shoved at a crowded place, fell and broke her thigh bone as a result. after several days of consideration, i decided to delay school by another term or two so that i can go over to take care of mom until she gets better.

we have 3 months more to our zoo membership so we will have to fully utilize it - since the weather was wonderful, i managed to convince daddy tan to bring us to the zoo today. my intention was to check out the newly opened 'kidzworld'. i like it - the facilities look really fun and i definitely will bring li'l one to come back and play on a weekday (so that its not crowded). we also took the newly opened boat ride - surprisingly, we had the whole boat to ourselves despite being a crowded sunday at the zoo!

since we stay in such close proximity to the airport, it is one of our fav. haunts - there's aircon (for hot days), good selection of food choices and plenty of space for li'l one to run around - what's not to like? we decided to have our breakfast there and also take the opportunity to bring li'l one to check out the mickey mouse display that so many of her friends have already gone to visit. see how happy she was to take photo with the mickey mouse!

can't believe how time just flies by - seems like y'day that the world 'reportedly' was going to end because of some Y2K bug - its been almost a decade since! anyway, i never bother with new year resolutions because i forget them faster than u can say 'what was that you said?'... but I do wish that everyone will have a better 2009 - even with the economical crisis looming! i do not think that recessions are big deals really because 'what goes up must come down' and vice-versa. have a swell time!

and more presents! is it any wonder that children enjoy festive seasons? while they may not understand the true meaning of x'mas yet, who can resist ripping off wrappers to reveal the surprises within? dd loves chanting 'new toys, new toys' non-stop nowadays... the 1st two presents that dd received this year... see how happy li'l one is with her presents! more presents = more smiles... photo with x'mas tree at grandma's house

wishing everyone a great time filled with love, laughter, good food & lots of gifts!

its our 'usual' playdate day but unfortunately, the group size is shrinking by the weeks as more and more toddlers get packed off and sent to 'sch'! we have also decided that li'l one will go to 'school' starting from Jan - however, she will only go on two days - tue & wed *which are days that i will most probably have to go to office and there will be no one who can care for her while i'm away* so we can still continue our playdates! anyway, we wanted to go cycling today with our tods but the weather was not exactly agreeable so we ended up in an indoor playground - not that i have any problems with that - afterall, we did buy a package for use there! the indoor playground has a scheduled activity every hour so while we were there, we made a x'mas card for the gramps, listened to a x'mas story & li'l one 'colored' the snowman picture that was provided. :) i shall just leave you to enjoy the photos...

once more!! the regular meetup kah-kis were just talking about this last week... about how as we move further away from the newborn stage, the less inclined we would be to have another one! one of us even set the dateline for june 09 to hit the jackpot (its not me! i'm terrible with datelines!)! so now i have an explanation for the weight gain, the sore nipples when li'l one nurses and my craving for meat! bring me the churrascaria anytime! i now have a legitimate reason to pig out! :P on a more serious note, will i have enough love to go around? will i have the time and energy to chase after a active toddler and at the same time, change nappies & nurse every hour? how will li'l one take to her new sibling? and most importantly - will the new sibling be a 'meimei' or 'didi' for li'l one? i suppose - only time will tell!

no, we didn't put our names on a new property and no, we did not strike lottery! all we did was to spend the weekend away, in batam, to enjoy quality time together as a family. the exchange rate is approximately S$1 to 7,500 indonesian rupiah... so that explains how much we spent eh? we had a complimentary night stay, thanks to mil's hotel card again, paid for an extra night and upgraded to a king sized bed since l'il one still sleeps with us. we had no plans at all, except to relax at the hotel. this is the breakdown of how much we spent: 2 nights accommodation : 569,500 indonesian rupiah return ferry tickets for 2 adults + 1 child : S$138 (1,035,000 indonesian rupiah) including departing terminal fees of S$7 per pax BBQ buffet dinner w/drinks for 2 adults : 323,351 indonesian rupiah lunch @ Jap restaurant : about S$30 (225,000 indonesian rupiah) buffet breakfast for 2 adults : 157,300 indonesian rupiah spa for 2 adults : 375,000 indonesian rupiah Ayam Pen...

y'day was one of those days when i lost count of the no. of times i had to say NO to li'l one and (almost) everything i said went in one ear and out the other! thankfully, these days don't come around very often (and hopefully, stays that way!) but the end of the afternoon, i was exhausted and completely drained both physically & mentally and was so glad that she drifted off to lah-lah land on schedule (i.e. before 8pm!) on such days, i keep HIM constantly in my prayers... Dear Lord, pls give me the strength and patience to carry out your work, in moulding C's life and teaching her the values that you would want to see in her. Amen! notes: her bottom cuspid erupted on the 24 Nov and the top followed quickly on 28 Nov! could her behavior be due to more teeth erupting? she now has 14! 6 more to go!