3 Months

Hello My Baby,

At 3 Months old..

You are more responsive of your surroundings

You love licking your fingers

You look at me doe-eyed and i go all soft inside

You smile at me with your smile that brightens up my day

Happie 3 Months My baby.

This CNY

Its a busy yet not so busy Chinese New Year. Busy with looking after the little one. Not so busy because we are staying at the in-laws and I am still on maternity leave. I din "spring-clean" the homeland or got any new year goodies. (Although i still had a great time munching on the bwa kwa,pineapple tarts, kueh lapis etc at the in-laws's place and totally whacking my diet plan..haiz)

Its the usual steamboat at the in-laws a day before CNY eve with the familiar food like homemade fishballs, green chilli. I din really enjoy the meal much as baby was cranky and I had to feed him halfway thru the meal.

For CNY eve..We had dinner at the homeland with my bro and mum and the in-laws as per the arrangement after we got married. Baby slept for most of the meal, so i ate more this time round. We got teochew "peng cai" for this year as we wanted to try something different and not focus on steamboat.

The homemade Yu Sheng from Aunty Patsy

The "Peng Cai consisting of cold crab, steam fish, prawns teochew style

Seafood pot-Part of the Peng Cai

Visited the dearie's relatives and my mum for "Chu Yi" and went to the sis-in-law's place for "Chu Er". Steamboat at the homeland with the family on "Chu San". That's 2011 Chinese New Year in summary. Hee

4 Adults, 2 kids and 1 Baby

We had dinner at the mall nearby last Sat with the in-laws and the cute niece and nephew. We brought baby along, his first trip out with us. Its quite a major event, logistically. We had to bring along loads of items like diapers, milk, extra clothes etc in the baby bag. Little Braedon got his first ride in his stroller.

Little Brae was kinda grumpy and i had to feed him milk during dinner and keep him occupied. The dearie and I had to take turns to enjoy the meal as the gramps were lookin after the 2 naughty little ones and feeding them their food. Not much time for us to enjoy the meal. Def signs of the way meals would be for the near future. Its a good experience, tiring but we survived. We shopped for a short while before heading home. =)

He's Five

The nephew turns 5 this week and his parents had a mini celebration of sorts for him at their place. A simple gathering with close family and friends.

The baby has grown into a fine little boy, still so very cute and so very lovable. My little one will have ready playmates.. i sure hope i have the energy to organise such celebrations for our baby.

Bottled Up

I wish that he would lead a proper life, I pray that he would come to his senses. I hope that he would one day become more sensible, responsible and rational. I so wish that he would make good of his life.. For her sake. Its not too much to ask for, I sure hope. He remains my greatest source of worry, even if I have to shoulder the responsibility alone. I will. Or perhaps, I am simply too harsh, my expectations of him too high. Whatever, will have to see how it pends out..

Mommie's Birthday

We took the day off from work. Am I sure am glad we did. Its the mommie's 56th birthday! We caught up on lost sleep before heading out for the day. The mommie had wanted to visit the Flyer, and so we did ( I know, we quite "mountain turtle" ah..going only so many months after the opening!).

Lunch at Popeyes

It was a rainy afternoon and the rides were temporarily suspended due to the bad weather. We had a late lunch at Popeyes while waiting for the rides. Luckily the rides resumed around 4pm and we gamely got our tickets despite the slight drizzle. Its a good experience, being able to view my favourite landscape and the construction going on at the nearby Integrated Resort. (Despite the pricey tixs and the short half hour ride.. ;p)

Still Drizzling Outside

Beautiful view of the City

Top of the Wheel

This was followed by dinner at Vivo City. Yup, we brought mommie to dinner at JPot. We chose Dinner Set B this round, and added some items from the menu like vegs and bean curd. We had the superior broth and Bak Kut Teh broth again and ended up totally stuffed. We had free flow longan tea and drank many many cups of the drink too. Dinner was yums, and reasonably priced as we had a discount coupon for $20 off. Hee, perks of being an auntie with loads of membership cards.. We ended the day with shopping at Vivo and moi brought back loads of goodies from Candy Empire.. ;p

A Boy and Dragons

Worked from home (or from the MIL's place rather) today, so i promptly shut off the work mail at 5 plus. We had an early dinner and took the darling little boy out to the movies. Its the first time that he's watching a show with his jiu jiu and jiu ma. So, of course we caught a cartoon, and a 3D one as well. Yup, we watched "How To Train Your Dragon". At $11 per pax, it sure is a pricey movie.. but worth the moolah for the 3D version.. ;p

I only knew it was a show about dragons, but golly.. its a great show. Simple story lines about misfit boy "Hiccup" saving the day.. but the whole movie rocks. I sure luv "Toothless" the cute Night Fury.. ;p Plus, the little boy enjoyed himself too. Its been a good day and start to the week, just like its been some time since we've last caught a movie.

A familar route

The bus service which I have not taken in years. The bro says its been 16 years since. Time flies. The feeder service i used to know so well in my teens. The route from school to home and home to school. The childhood home. We've always travelled by car to his place in the past 1-2 years we've visited. So it felt nostalgic, seating on the bus with the bro. Taking the once familiar route of my childhood. Sometimes life passes you by so fast, that you dun often remember the past. Yesterday's bus trip was one of those days where nostalgia sweeps over in waves.

The neighbourhood has changed, the buildings tinted white brown with the dust particles in the wind. The area now looks shabby, in need of refurbishing; so unlike the home from yesteryear. Just like how he's aged in the intertwining years. The greatest enemy of one? Its the passage of time.

This Chinese New Year

Table of food at the In-Law's
Yummy veg

Chicken, Duck, and fried Veg

Golly, have finally heralded in the year of the Tiger. The frenzy last minute shopping for clothes and cleaning of the house. And the 2 steamboat reunion dinners on friday and saturday (the day before the eve of CNY and the eve). Its because the dearie's family eats a day earlier. Its the same type of hotpot ingredients which the mother-in-law prepares. Homemade fishballs, cut fish,pork,beef slices, prawns and other wat nots. The dearie's grandma and little uncle joins us for this meal. So much food huh.

This is followed a reunion dinner at my place on the actual CNY eve itself. With my folks and the in-laws. There's only the brother and mommie at my side, while the in-laws are alone if the dearie eats with my family. The win-win situation, is to have both families together. My mother-in-law prepares the bulk of the steamboat items (almost same items as the day before) while I got some extra vegs. This year, the mommie got some mini lobsters and a plate of homemade yummy yu sheng which her friend made for her. I really luv auntie Pat's yu sheng. She adds in mango slices and fried yum sticks which gave the yu sheng an extra 'something' which is missing from store brought ones. So we did a lo hei that day, the first lo hei of the year. So much food again.

The CNY feast

fishballs, roast duck, chicken, vegs,prawns

mini boiled lobsters

Adding lime to the Yu Sheng

Yu Sheng-'Huat" ah!!

On the first day,or chu yi, we went to visit the dearie's relatives. The tradition of the dearie's family is to have a vegetarian breakfast ( while mine is to have mee sua), so we gathered at the in-law's place and hopped to the other aunties and uncle place as the day progresses. We managed to visit my mommie's place in the late afternoon. I think we had like four meals that day.. breakie at the in-laws, noodles at the third auntie's place, mee sua at mommie's place and dinner at the third uncle's place. *Glup* I cannot even bear to think of all the food and tibits I've eaten the past few days. Yup, we're done with the CNY visiting after the first day.

Strangly, I don't feel as much for this festival as I do for Christmas season but I so enjoy the free days before work starts again, Opps.

Happy Chinese New Year........ :)

New Year Goodies

I've been rather slack in the preparations for the new year. Din really clean the homeland much, except send the curtains and carpet for dry cleaning. The cleaning lady is coming on Friday, I sure hope the homeland is decent enough with her helping with the cleaning. Wanted to take leave to spring clean, but.. with so little leave left, guess i wanna save the precious off days.

I wonder how the little containers start piling up. Most of erm are contributed by the dear MIL. She's been a dear, frying the prawn crackers, cashew nuts and floss rolls. She also helped us to order the other tarts and wat nots. Add the items from the dear mummie.. its food galore for the festive season. My contributions? Only a bottle of almond cookies I got from a colleague and maybe some peanut thingy. Looks like not much left to get huh..except for Bak Kwa for the dearie's family Oops..

Christmas Gathering

Met up with the JC friends for a Christmas Gathering on Christmas Day itself. Cecilia's aunt had a rental place which was vacant for the day. We trooped over to the place. It was near the workplace, and the windows looked directly at our office building. Ha, its the holidays and I'm near the workplace. Signz, if I lived near the area, the travelling time is wonderfully short.. ;p

Roast Chicken

Our hostess busied herself with the cooking of rather yummy cuisine. It was actually the most Christmassy meal I had for the past few days. There were mussels with white wine, prawns in chili sauce, spaghetti with cream sauce, squid with salt & pepper, roasted Chicken on a bed of potatoes and carrots, fillings for crackers. So very yumms. Plus, Fen joined us finally. After so many years. Its great to attend a gathering without the dearie at times. No one brought partners, so it was just the mates.

We did the requisite gift exchange. I got a rather pretty precious moments stamp set from Wen. Plus, Santa Colin got us all presents. A pretty mug. It was great meeting up with the JC mates.

Gift Exchange

I ended the day at the In-Laws's place. Where the little ones had great fun opening up their pressies. We ate Chinese, Curry with Bee Hoon. Not too Christmassy huh, but rather economical.. opps.

26th Dec 09. Was supposed to meet the babes for a meal. But Han went overseas last min, so the meet up was postphoned. So, I woke up late and went shopping with the dearie. Post Christmas Sales mah! We ended the day with great steamboat dinner prepared by the mother-in-law. Very yumms. *burp* food overdose these past few days. I so lurve the holiday season with its long weekends.

By Myself

The dearie just left for his work trip to Jakarta. He will only be back on Friday. He just left, and I'm already missing him. So much, its scary how he's become such a big part of my life. How he's replaced the mommie's placing so so fast. That i'm a tad guilty about it.

And the best part of it, is that the mommie is also away. She also hopped onto a plane today, bound for community work in Cambodia. The Bro is also overseas. So, I'm literally by myself. Its scary, how loney one can feel when one is alone. I guess much of my energy in live comes from the confidence in noeing and having that cocoon of love from the loved ones. Yet, when they are all not around.. i miss erm all terribly.

Hmm.. and coupled by the downs and challenges at work for the coming week.. this donkey's feeling a tad blue. Silly old me. Starting to doubt my suitability in undertaking the portfolio. Silly silly.

Mousey and Bossy

At times i feel that i am a good example of being Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In my case..alternating between being mousey and bossy.

Mousey moi in the office, when interacting with the bosses. Still the inept blue donkey who wanna be the tigger. Even in mid-life. Why? Still so shell-in and bottled-up. Why not be moiself? So what if the real moi is goofy?

Bossy to the family members. I can be rather nasty to the ones who love moi the most. The bro and the mommie. And the dearie too. Maybe its because i express my concerns by wanting the best for the bro, and end up being too critical. Distancing myself because of disappointment. Yet, i do know that he is free to live the life he chooses to. It cuts at me when i know i've hurt them, yet.. i don't know how to tell them i'm sorry. So porcupine huh.

And so Jekyll and Hyde.

Gosh! Grow up and love moiself more, please!