2015 Christmas Celebrations!

31 December 2015


Last blog post for Year 2015!


Some snippets of our first Christmas celebrations at our new home!


Invited the family and friends to feast - ordered ham and lamb racks, home made pasta and party sets to serve the guests.  Nathaniel has been a good boy, napped for 2+hours so Papa can do his roasting, Mama can prepare the pasta and other stuffs and 奶奶 can do her shopping at nearby Sheng Shiong supermarket!  LOL

Santa Claus' getting ready for Christmas!

We have iberico pork and honey glazed bone-in ham and lamb rack roasting heavenly in the oven (really put our oven to good use!)...  Luther prepared his special beef recipe and MIL made home made steamed Christmas pudding which was very nice I must say!  Maybe get her to steam some for CNY.  ^_^

 

Group shots with Yeos and the family!

 

我们一家三口！ *hearted-eyes*

Nathaniel was elated to open his present - a drawing easel from aunt Jade!  #pricelessexpressions

 

With the HXDAs!  I received the nominated "best" gift (http://www.ostrichpillow.com/) of the year which I don't know how to put to good use.  Seriously.

 

We were unable to visit Gardens by the Bay Christmas Wonderland before 27 December, therefore we missed the Christmas carousel.  Such a pity bcos we have the priority Q tickets from our AIA agent which we failed to utilise.  The lightings were very impressive and nice... only if the weather could have been a little bit cooler like 20 degrees will be naise-er...  :P

 

Ho ho ho, happy holidays

&

Happy New Year!  #2016



Of Kuala Lumpur Vacation; 4-7 December 2015

15 December 2015


It's the last vacation with the extended family (together with 奶奶，公公 & 婆婆) for the year!  Yes - this applies to Nat for now because Papa is going Bangkok for work and Mama is tagging along before we close the year 2015!  *teehee*  Coming Y2016, we will have to buy a seat for Baby Nat... so must plan wisely where to bring him.  How about LEGOLAND or Hello Kitty world?  #mamasplot


There was some train ride in the mall and I read it's not too expensive so brought Nat over to get some driving fix after our dessert time!  Some rude boy just came to cut our Q and went to the 1st carriage and Nat looked so disappointed when he doesn't gets to drive the wheel.  Yes and we waited for 2 rounds of train rides so that this little man can sit at the 1st carriage of the train!  RM5 per head for about 5mins ride at Pavilion Mall.

#day699 - Go, go, go... Choot choot choot!

#day700 - Excited much having to drive the car all over the mall!  SG should have mini-car rental so parents can do their window shopping too!

#day701 - Family weifie!  Having tea at one of the cafes at The Gardens Mid Valley.  This little man was given pencil to do some drawings to keep him entertained.  Next time we should just stay in Mid Valley or Sunway Pyramid...  Berjaya Times Square is nice... rooms are spacious, but not too convenience compared to the other two locations and nearby doesn't have any massage parlours we have to walk to the 星光大道 to get our massages fix.

 

#day702 - A mandatory tourist shot with the Christmas tree at the mall before we check out and go back home!

Well, that pretty sum up this vacation and I cannot wait for many many more to come for Y2016!  :))

Growing up with Nathaniel; Day661-Day697

02 December 2015

 

Week 100!  *throws confetti*

 

Finally the day parents scratch their head 'bout where and when to send your child to daycare, childcare, playgroup and what not.  Decision, decisions and decisionsss... SIGH.

 

On 27 Nov, we brought him to view and explore Kinderland at MOM branch.  Looks like he enjoyed playing their indoor playground and ball pit.  Maybe he associates the place as indoor playground where we used to bring him.  He roamed around with supervision of 奶奶 while we were briefed by the centre admin.  Well, we are time-stressed in sense that if we enrol him in Jan, we will be charged at the new price which was $120 more then current fees.  And 我还没有心里准备 to send him to school but when I asked him if he liked schooling, he said yes. like. want.  -_-"

 

Then Mommy Elisa and Hamburger Mom highlight to me that Agape is under a new scheme that cost $856 before subsidy.  The next thing you know, I have fixed an appointment to view the centre which is 1 station away from 奶奶!  Ok, good news was the centre has available seats for him and after subsidy is only $556.  So now, which centre to enrol and which is better?  Measuring pros and cons, in terms of location, environment, teachers, enrichment, fees... to have and must have a conclusion and decisions before mid-December 2015!  *fingers crossed*

 

Milestones from week 95 to week 99...

 

1. he says drop, pick up, put back, pek pek 来了, heavy, bag, 吗地 (mop), ter-ti (dirty), o-lei (很累), water bottle, nudder (noddle), strawberry, 吃饭, pi-sai, ou-sai (outside), ma-lek (my leg), room, kof (cough), messi (messy), toto-bite  (mosquito bite)... 
2. he wanted to hold banana on his own and eat - 29/10/2015...
3. his maiden flight to HKG - 31/10/2015...
4. he picks up the toys on the floor and put them back in same order onto the shelves at the store - 10/11/2015...
5. he finally carries his own backpack (occasionally) - 11/11/2015...
6. he drinks from cup (we only allow when we are outside) - 14/11/2015...
7. he calls Mama when smacked by Papa - 17/11/2015...
8. he says "here" very loud and precise meaning to ask you come here or I'm here (this imitates me very well because I always tell him to "come here, now. here. here, here") - 18/11/2015...
9. Week 98 - he craves for strawberry and must press every single button he sees/passes by...
10. Week 99 - he has preference of who to pat him to sleep. One time when I was patting him and Papa comes to the room, at once, he shouted "Papa go, Papa go"... say hello to OT for outstanding house chores waiting for me - 24/11/2015...
11. he then decided that it's turn for a change, "Mama go, Mama go" the next day, so Mama can do her house chores - 25/11/2015...
12. he says "wher (silent where) arrhh  you" like "arrhh you...?", means where are you - 26/11/2015...
13. he says "drive" when he see those coin-paid cars in the malls - 29/11/2015...
14. he throws all the plushy and pillows together at 1 corner of the bed, sat on them and told me "messy" - 30/11/2015...
15. he greets uber driver "morning" in the car when he haven't even greet us on the same morning - 30/11/2015...
16. he wets the bed (again), last round was on the two Saturdays before and I thought maybe Huggies cannot tahan but I have since let him dunk in Drypers Overnight since 30/11 and today was super wet, overflow and I have to change the entire bedding and pillows - 2/12/2015...

 

#day662 - Cheeky moments like this made me so 无语!

 

#day673 - Z monster vs  Nathaniel 1-0

#day693 - "Mama, let's go!" At Jade's son's 1st birthday party...

#day694 - My son's soft spot for plushy!

#day694 - Heart shape fringe!

*ps: #day697 ends on 02 December 2015

 

 

Of Hong Kong Vacation; 31 October-4 November 2015

25 November 2015


At week 96, we went to our first family vacation.  Of course we survived.  LOL.


Here are few of the moments I noted down during our vacation like how Nat react, respond and relay.  A quick post before we hopped onto the next flight for our 2nd family vacation (and the last for Y2015).  This time with the Grandparents, hopefully we have more free hands with this little boy.


1) He will starts to register strangers when he first interact with them and will keep calling out to them "aunti / unke" for their attention.  ie: air stewardess and Disney shuttle coach driver


2)  He nods and shyly say yes, like or want when we offer to buy him a plushy or a toy in the store.  But sadly after we buy he act like one who doesn't really care about the purchase.


3) There was this incident when I left him beside the rack of key chains at Disney store while waiting for Papa to pay for the Alien plushy at the cashier.  I wasn't paying much attention to him even though I was standing next to him (cos I was also doing window shopping at the racks of toys and key chains).  However, this particular incident make me giggle so much I decided to pen down the whole process.  As mentioned, he was placed beside a rack of key chains and he dropped a key chain while trying to turn the rack.  He looked up and call this young lady standing between me and him, "aunti".  For obvious reasons, she did not acknowledged his calling and he felt frustrated and called out angrily few more times before he looked down the floor, at the key chain with  a disappointing look and say "drop".  I believe he wants the young lady to pick up the key chain for him.  After I finished with my laugh, I picked up the key chain for him.


4) He will demand to leave the place holding my hand or have Papa to push the pram (concurrently) if he doesn't want to stay any longer at the venue... and he make sure that nobody stayed behind.  >_<  Else, he will cry and fuss until the three of us leave the spot or shop.  We were invited to do a short survey (total 40 over questionnaires - you call this short??? with a sleepy/tired toddler in tow... imagine!) on the last night at Disneyland park.  He started to fuss and hold my hand signal to go halfway while Papa answered the questionnaires and I tried my best to distract and contain him.  But when he saw Papa still there, he fuss again and went back to hug his thigh and demanding him to come along.  Park attendant also tried to give him some stickers but it did not work.  He finally stopped crying when we leave for the bus park.  Well, it was a good cry because it helped him to clear his blocked nose full of muscles.

#day666 - It was our first family vacation!

#day667 - Day out at Ocean Park!

 

#day668 - Day 1 at Disneyland HK!

 

#day669 - Breakfast with Mickey!

 

#day669 Day 2 at Disneyland HK!  Boys decked in Star Wars #OOTD!

 

#day669 - We survived our first family vacation.  Cheers to many more to come!

 

ah Thiang's 34!

28 October 2015


ah Thiang turns 34 this year!


No special celebration, we went for Wagyu beef+sashimi buffet (totally not worth the money, and we aren't going back for sure...) and had the traditional candle blowing ceremony on the actual day.  Going away for a post-birthday celebration, in collaboration with Baby N's maiden flight to HKG this weekend!  Whoooooooyaaaaaaaaa!

To my better half;

I love you to the moon and back!

Happy happy blessed birthday!

Growing up with Nathaniel; Day610-Day660

26 October 2015

Week 95 (21 months)!

The long awaited, Baby N's maiden flight is happening soon... this weekend!

Yesh - we are leaving for Hong Kong for a 5D4N this Saturday!  Of course, what's a toddler's holiday without a visit to  Hong Kong Disneyland?  We will be Disneyland Hollywood hotel on the last night of our vacation.  Hope this kiddo will have this memory kept in his pea brain until his next visit to the other parks of the world.  (This trip alone cost us almost $2,000 prior landing onto HK soil - flight, Airbnb, hotel, park tickets, meal vouchers, insurance...)

Well, I always have this saying... "don't bring baby/toddlers to Disneyland, it's such a waste of money... they won't remember a thing!" but never did I realised that I actually did the same thing!

My excuses was;

1) he hasn't gotten his passport chopped once since he got 'em at 6 months old...
2) we get to pay infant price before his age hits two...

valid right...?

Meaning to say, for such excuses... I have already planned the next flight to somewhere nearer - KL, in December!  Both my parents and MIL is coming along too!  Hope both trips are manageable... so excited!

Milestones from week 88 to week 94...

1. he can say tiger, lion, mer-lion, yell-loh (yellow), or-tel (hotel), some Chinese words ending with high pitch tone, mar-jek (market), bridge, wheel, OK, hello, yes, spicy, hold hand, excuse me, mask, eh-ma-ti (MRT), ou-sai (outside), pa-zel (puzzle), tan-nu (tunnel), unke (uncle), ni ni mas (mini bus), open door, grass, glass (sunglass)...
2. he now chut a lot of pattern like applying cream every part of his body before he falls asleep - week 88/89... (... and this becomes a routine at bedtime!)
3. he turns to me and gesture to carry him when his Daddy refused to carry him twice (now he gestures to me whenever he wants to be carried) - 15/9/2015...
4. he will roar when we says "tiger", "lion" and bleh when we says "merlion"...
5. he will hold your hand to dance or pull you down to sit down and play with him - 16/9/2015...
6. he will say "cold" when air con is too cold for him (this is when he starts to sleep in air con room on hazy days) - 20/9/2015...
7. he will say "poo" when he wants me to change pampers, he will go take the mat and then pampers for me but in the end no poo and no want to be changed (now he will say poo when he pee or poo) - 21/9/2015...
8. he will say "char-gen" (charger) when iPad has no battery and wants the iPad to be charged and want to play at the same time - 22/9/2015...
9. he is trying to sleep through the night without waking up between 12-6am (week 90 milestones) - 25/9/2015...
10. he can speak 2-4 words sentence like "Good morning Mama, Papa shoe, Mama bag, Mama fix" (week 90 milestones)...
11. he can already recognized most of the alphabets; saw him completing some words in one of the iPad apps (week 91 milestone)...
12. he kept putting his fingers into his mouth or feel his gum; suspect his molar is sprouting out - 4/10/2015...
13. he wants to eat what you eat; we have to pretend that his food are scooped from our bowls/plates - 4/10/2015...
14. he received his 1st pair of Rayband wafer kids size - 5/10/2015...
15. he gaggles mouthful of water - 6/10/2015...
16. he pulled and point to my elbow and say "l-bow" - 7/10/2015...
17. he says "wher are you" - 13/10...
18. his first stay-cation at MBS Hotel while Daddy attends APJ Summit - 18/10...
19. After being on solids for so long, think he suffers constipation so badly that he fussing and crying angrily in the middle of the night between 5-10-30mins interval - 21/10...
20. he ate few teaspoons and accepted vanilla ice cream at Hagen Daze café - 24/10...
21. he says "Mama  kiss" and came over and kissed me before he sleep  twice - 24/10...

#day609 - Our happy pill turning two in 4 months time!

#day617 - 我的阳光男孩！

#day623 - Sending his cuzzon off to her Europe holidays!

#day628 - It's a stay-at-home public holiday! #harirayahaji

#day642 - Today's wefie; all decked in our new RayBan's shades!

#day642 - Can't get enough of his selfie!

#day645 - Was away to Club Med Bintan for a company team building; coming home to my curly fries!

#day652 - Baby N's first stay-cation at MBS Hotel!

#day652 - View for the night!

#day653 - 陈家弟子的无影脚！ (... new way sitting on his new pram)

#day658 - Because nose-picking on the streets looks cool!

#day659 - His curlicious hair, chubby cheeks and two-tiered neckline!

*ps: #day660 ends on 26 October 2015

Growing up with Nathaniel; Day565-Day609

05 September 2015

Week 87 (20 months...)!

We have completed 6 rounds of house-warming part-ty with the family and friends!  (... still have other friends group haven't send out invites yet, maybe take a rest and do it some other time!)  Manage to clean up the entire place over the 2 weekends of hosting friends... Family members were to huge to host within the adobe so we had the buffet catering setup at the sky bridge #33.  Food was good - will officially appoint Chilli Padi as our buffet caterer!  HAHA  We catered party sets and mini buffet for the rest of the friends' group which was not too bad - Select even provided utensils to scoop the food.  Very thoughtful!

Some random rants; I really cannot tahan is self-feeding kids in the house (especially at other people's house, common' spare some thoughts for the poor mothers who have to overhaul the whole house after a long day of hosting).  Let me elaborate.  I thought having kids over my place is OK, but it is not so OK.  Especially during meal times when kids self-feed themselves.  I will not let Nat self-feed at people's home, restaurant is OK la, different mah (if you know what I mean...) - just imagine you have to clean up the mess, furniture and walls after their meals, adults feed directly into their mouth not the floor, you know... 1 is not enough, I have 3 of such cases.  Faint die me.  Imma so OCD, every drop of rice or food on the floor is too crazy for me to accept but this is house-warming party sure to have mess so I have to close my eyes and clean up after the party ends.  忍!  I do have friend that are inconsiderate enough to have their baby's diaper changed without using a changing mat - literally on my carpet!  Excuses me!  Hygiene.  Hygiene.  #whylikethat

Having said that, I am not sure when I willing to start Nat to self-feed... because I am so afraid of the mess and clean-ups.  Maybe I will start train him when he is outside restaurants, and I will spoon-feed him as long as I can within the house premises.  Who cares if they say that my son cannot learn to eat by himself at his age... it's such a pleasure feeding a kid who is willing to be fed and eat happily for as long as I can!

Okays enough of my ranting... a long update of Nat for the past 2 months' milestones nao!

Milestones from week 81 to week 87...

1. he can say pampers, one, bright, finish, touch, house, watch, wear, mine, monie (money), sit, brown brown (eyebrow), 暗暗, mos (mosque), miloo, grass, tuck (truck), MRT, pok (boat), spicy, lurv you (love you, only to Nainai)...
2. he recognised ABCD on the book - 24/7/2015...
3. he kicks on his own in the swimming pool - 25/7/2015...
4. he feeds his bear or us with his imaginary food...
5. he digs his nose by turning his fingers round and round...
6. he will 放空 and pretends to think think then 翻白眼 when we ask him something - 31/7/2015...
7. he becomes a parrot; repeats the last word in your sentence - 1/8/2015...
8. he will requests for his own seat during morning bus rides (and refuses to share with anyone) - 3/8/2015...
9. he can plays on his own while I rush out some house chores when we get home in the evenings - 3/8/2015...
10. he likes "the wheel on the bus" video and can pretend to roll his hands when he see the video/listen to the song... very helpful especially when he fuss during meal times...
11. he knows where eyebrow, eyes, knee and toes are - 13/8/2015...
12. I told him "Mama loves Nat Nat, Nat Nat loves Mama?", he replies "Mama" (and I assumedly he answered Yes) - 13/8/2015...
13. Papa teaches Nat to address where we stay... "Mah-graet-drive" - 14/8/2015...
14. he recognised his Maxi Cosi baby car seat and says "sit sit" unwillingly when ah Thiang's colleague came for collection - 14/8/2015...
15. I teaches him "cheers aka 干杯" and he drinks water very enthusiastically - 14/8/2015...
16. he weighs 13.6kg - 16/8/2015...
17. Nainai teaches him to answer "Boy" when people ask him Boy or Girl - 17/8/2015...
18. he can say 3 words (short sentences) like "pat pat poil" (iPad spoilt) when one of the days we off it or no battery and it only shows an apple logo after turning it on - 20/8/2015...
19. his jealousy strikes when he saw my Mom or Dad carries Jade's son; he fuss and cries - 23/8/2015...
20. finally willing to say "Yes" (out of desperately) - 30/8/2015...
21. he will stop walking and stands in your way, pretending wanting to hug you so he gets to be carried after a session of walking - 2/9/2015...
22. he was having slight fever in the afternoon (maybe that explains why he is very cranky the night before he slept...) and when we try to feed him medicine - very naughty, he don't eat medicine never mind, he even knows how to spit out the medicine after being forced fed to and even know when we stick the fever patch onto his forehead after he KO-ed and fuss until this was taken down...  *shakes head*  Thank you guan yin-ma, his fever went away on the same night - 3/9/2015...

#day566 - Today's ABCD!  Now he knows more than ABCD...!

#day567 - Little lifeguard training in progress!  He now can kicks freely in the waters.

#day571 - Little Chef Nat's stir-fry beef + vegetables for breakfast!  #natcancooksocanyou

#day574 - It's August already!  Always enjoying this beautiful view when he wakes up in the morning.

#day574 - Excursion to the zoo with 奶奶！

#day579 - Morning's pig-face!

#day580 - Achievement unlocked; swimming by himself!

#day583 - Being entertained by iPad.  You gotta love that smile!

#day590 - Wanted to FaceTime 公公 and 外婆 but none of them picked up the call (because they slept in early...).  First 2 pic was enticipating that either 公公 and 外婆 will pick up the call, manatau the call was picked up by SIL and he was stunned like ve-get-table!  #pricelessexpressions

#day594 - Because "Bed Head" hair looks cool!

#day595 - The day we brought him for Chicken Pox vaccination.  He was running around the polyclinic and smack his face right onto the floor, and still can look so happy!

#day596 - Truly Singaporean!  #nationaldayrally2015

#day603 - The father and son moment before the guests arrival.  This is the 6/6 session of our house-warming party with the friends!  After that was a major haul cleaning up the house...

#day603 - It was then... the mother and son moment before my MIL's birthday's dinner feasting starts!

*ps: #day609 ends on 05 September 2015

Dawson - Home Renovations Completed!

24 July 2015

On 27 June, we moved 意思意思 and slept one night at the new house (because ah Thiang cannot decide when he can slowly move finish his stuffs, so that one I leave it to him.  I settle mine and son's first)...

On 1 July, I fasterly arranged for a mover to move part of the mountain and Nat's cot from my Mom's place over - approx. 25 boxes...  WOW.  Finally she can has space in her store-room or even rent it out!  *joking laaah, why so serious?*  She came over together via the mover's truck and help me unpack, sort and clean up part of the house so mine and Nat's more or less 80% done...

Officially this week we have been shuffling between new place and MIL's... very tiring because this super active boy refuses to sleep even at 10-ish!  Cried to leave his room and go play or walk around the house, touching all the forbidden items and what not.  Then wake up at least two times a night and I have to set my alarm 45mins earlier than usual (so that I can be ready to leave the house to prepare him and send him to MIL's place) way before he wakes up!

• Living hall - left decorating the wall on sofa side with printed photos and Legos on the TV console displays...
• Study room - hardware all setup, waiting for ah Thiang's remaining assets to come into place...
• Nat's room - completed!
• Master bed room - 20% of my clothes not shifted yet... (cos don't know when need to stay over MIL place unless we cleared 100% in the current room - sooner.  Sooner, we will get there...!)
• Kitchen - completed!
• Store room - mentioned earlier, unless we reinstate 100% in the current room... else store room cannot be completed.  LOL!

A quick house tour of our humble adobe!

An overview of the living hall area (from clockwise) - dining with featured brick wall and sofa, balcony greentified with bamboo plant and artificial grass, tv console and hall entrance with our featured mirror!

Living hall in night mode!  ah Thiang DIY ownself solar fairy lights from Amazon!  Very malayu right, I know... LOL!

Kitchen (from anti-clockwise) - sinktop, hood and hob, built-in oven and steam oven and corridors hall walkway.  Yes, we are one nice normal family.  :P

Nursery room aka Nat's room!

Toilets - My Hollywood inspired vanity top in Mickey mouse theme and a very child-proof friendly for the little one during bath time!

Soon will arrange for house-warming party in small batches...  soon lah, soon...  :)