° simply us...

Wrapping up, 2011!

2012-01-18T14:58:00.005+08:00

Just to sum up my 2011, like previous years did. But first of all, I have to confess that my version of project 365 failed terribly. It stopped short at Jul 2011: Feeding for the longest time till I did another one for jotting Little Bomber's milestone in December (like 2 weeks ago..?!). I was too greedy and wanted to do too many things for the past whole year: fighting with needle and thread, dancing with spatula and mixer, not forgetting constant mind games with my girl(s) on creative conversation and soon to become siblings rivalry. But one thing I have been keeping up is writing the diary! another form of keeping the record of the girls besides digital scrapbookingi.

Good and bad, for juggling so many things. Hubby has to get all the blames when things go wrong.

JAN:
Remarkable start of the year for us to learn (or for my case to re-learn) how to make rice-ball and spent a wonderful time in KL with family and old friends came by one after another to laugh and hug:).

FEB:
Chinese New Year family reunion and celebration. We were surrounded with lots of love and laughter.

MAR:
Marked Little Bomber's first year. Well, marked my 35th birthday too. We had a staycation in JB to celebration hers and my birthday. Nothing much to talk about, I mean my birthday. I thought more about the girls now...

This time of the year, Jiejie participated another round of wushu test, she passed it and elevated into intermediate class.

APR:
Have to pat my self on the back about picking up sewing skill from basic again, and revived the padded seat for the old stroller of ours. Little Bomber officially is an toddler!

MAY:
Unexpectedly, I had to deal with an office crisis and painfully accepted the true fact of Jag's leaving. Life is unpredictable!

JUNE:
Together with my parents, we travelled to Hong Kong for our annual getaway. Delightfully, Little Bomber started to call me "mama", mutterly.

JUL:
Went back to Kulim without exhausted our selves for almost 10 hours of driving. Jiejie made a remarkable statement for our trip. Little Bomber started to attempt and accomplish something new, like feeding her self with porridge.

AUG:
We were daunted by the registration system for local primary school. But honestly, it is a fair game.

SEPT:
This year, I did not post any entry about Jiejie's birthday celebration. But this was the very 1st time, we had it twice: one with her K2 class and another (party) with family members and friends. Well, it was a barbecue and we prepared the food by no-catering service. A big thanks to SC's aunt and Little Bomber's babysitter. I baked a brownie and most of the time, stuck with unwell Bomber. I should digiscrap this wonderful party!

OCT:
Sad to say goodbye to my grandma forever. Life will not be the same any more, for most of us.

NOV:
We attended Jiejie Graduation Concert. Contentedly sighed on her growth and milestone thus far.

And every Saturday, Jiejie attended extra training for an wushu performing early December. I was like a old lady riding on a skating board, tried to control my tone and temper in order to encourage her to join in the group. She was horrified by the momentum of the training, at the same time in doubt of her ability to do well.

DEC:
Well, She completed the wushu show. Could be better, if you wonder. Received the best Christmas gift:), hence embarking a slight different journey with my family.

Conclusion? Life is short, seize the day! And certainly hope I will do it better this year. Slow down perhaps....

Happy New Year, y'all.

Dec 2011: Smiles

2011-12-30T14:07:00.001+08:00

Looking back 2011, I supposed to digi-scrapbook once a month, at least.

To capture the wonderful moments of the girls.

But my last layout was in July.

Pretty embarrassing.

That I over estimate my capability in juggling so many things at one time.

Time to re-position and re-strategy. Re-learn too.

Credits: Che Yang Designs and Yoshiko Designs

A Christmas to Remember

2011-12-21T16:00:00.012+08:00

It's Christmas again. Season of giving.

Unlike previous working environment in Malaysia, office here in Singapore is more into gift exchange among the colleagues. Well, when you are in Rome, do as the Romans do, I kind of take it as a moment of appreciation and cherish the relationship with my very nice colleagues.

Jiejie and I happily did soap as gifts when I newly joined the organisation. This year, I baked Brownies, written wishes in a uniquely made greeting card and presented to my fellow colleagues.

As for the Christmas Lunch cum get-together, an unofficial annual event that was initiated by our selves for the office, I baked a banana bread. As I forgotten to buy banana in advance so it was not very ripe when I made this. The cake was not moist enough.

Don't ask me why the Banana Bread were cut like Brownie,
I just noticed my mistake.

Anyway, we had pot luck. Let me show you our huge team effort to make the feast a successful event:):

[photos courtesy of SD]

I enjoy working with the people around me even though the system and procedure do suffocate us sometime. But I guess nothing is perfect and it is all about give and take, suffocation occasionally is still bearable. Ha~! I try to look at the bright side of my life. But seriously, I am getting very comfortable under this shelter, where it gladly accepted my return to work force after stay-at-home for two years plus. For the past 3 years, this job of mine not only allowing me to gain knowledge and skills but also learn to have healthy work-life balance.

Yes, work-life balance is important for us. We do not have maid and extended family support is not throughout the year. Considering Jiejie is attending P1 next year and we are worry on the impact of change (from pre-school setting to a formal school environment) on her. I have been thinking for a solution... since last year. If I continue to work full-time, she will only see me after 7 everyday, I can imagine her anxiety and lost of love. At the same time, I do think that I should spend more time with little Bomber. She will be terrific two next year! So early of the month, I sat in front of my boss and asked him to allow me go for part-time working scheme for next year. With his support, it was processed and had been approved by HR!

This is the best Christmas gift I received.

Like what June mentioned, income is shrunk, and I have seen it coming. SC and I agreed that we should cut our expenses, i.e. no more part-time cleaning services and no dining out during weekdays, big impact on my shopping. However, part-time employment also mean more time with the girls and perhaps a little bit less zombified morning for my self.

It will be hectic, as I will be equally involved between work and family. Work lesser hour doesn't mean workload lesser, but more hours with the girls will cause me some kind of disorder. These days, technologies give us no reason to defer our response to an instruction or a question. Best is, dinner preparation, laundry washing and folding, toilets cleaning, floor mopping, etc are all in my never ending to-do-list. Not forgetting that tough coaching in Jiejie's learning and more 'thinking corner' for little Bomber.

Still, I look forward to it. I will find a way out if I suffocate from the kids or the house chores or the emails. If someone ask me what's my resolution for 2012... I would say, stay sane and alive.

Anyway, wishing you Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip (and walnuts) Cookies

2011-12-04T00:23:00.019+08:00

Sounds healthier, right?

Pretty easy too, CS! [yes, the recipes is for you=)]

Just need to mix the ingredients together and drop the dough on the cookies sheet (tray) for baking.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 cups quick-cooking oats (I used Quaker brand)

1 ½ cups Gold Medal® all-purpose or unbleached flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)

1 cup chopped nuts, if desired (I used walnuts, crushed)

Method

· Heat oven to 350°F

· In a large bowl, stir brown sugar and butter until blened.

· Stir in vanilla and egg until light and fluffy.

· Stir in oats, flour, baking soda and salt; stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

· Onto ungreased cookies sheet, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart.

· Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

I got the recipes from here. [the page includes nutrition information]

Full strength to stir the ingredients.

A rainy Saturday afternoon. I was alone at home with two, SC was called to work urgently.

On a typical stay-home weekend, she refused to take afternoon nap like little Bomber. So to keep her busy and stop asking about watching Winx Club from iPad, I got her involved. She wanted to make cookies instead of cake.

While cookies were baked one batch after another, we read 1 chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Coincidentally, Bomber's nap was a short one. I then multi-tasked to bring out raisin, water, grapes, anything I can find from the fridge as afternoon snack while reading the chapter.

As a result of running in and out of the kitchen, I wasted some dough and got some over-burnt cookies...

Burnt cookies tucked at the back... keeping it for my self to consume.

Though it doesn't look pretty, it was irresistibly yummy. (I could not resist from munching it while it was just out from oven even though I was having sore throat). Intend to give some to Yvonne who handed-me-down some P1 books and one of Jiejie's teacher.

Children Book Picks: Maurice Sendak

2011-11-28T11:20:00.016+08:00

We had a playdate the other day.

Layla took out Where the Wild Things are and read-aloud to Jiejie right before our leaving. I was impressed with her able to read the book independently.

The plot of the book is based on the fantasy (and real) consequences of a little boy's mischief. One night Max dresses up in his wolf suit and does all kinds of things he shouldn't, like chasing the dog with a fork. His mother scolds him and calls him a "WILD THING!" Max is so mad he shouts back, "I'LL EAT YOU UP!" As a result, his mother sends him to his bedroom without any supper.

I observed timid Jiejie seemed didn't get frighten by the Wild Things in the book.

So I tried to search for the book in library after that, but could only found the other two of Mr Sendak's classic: In the Night Kitchen and Very Far Away.

Jiejie didn't agree to borrow those 2 books at first looked at the covers.

It looks oldies and oddly bland, especially Very Far Away. She then changed her mind after I finished reading about the little cowboy.

Both feature boys differently; one in his dream adventure in a surreal baker's kitchen, and the other is a boy dressing in cowboy hat and boots running away because of not being listened to.

It was interesting to read how each and every story brilliantly captures the child's feeling and fantasies. Some of the illustrations are dark, some are being criticised, like The Hungry Readers said about In the Night Kitchen.

But I like how brave Mickey is to tell the bakers that "I'm not the milk and the milk's not me! I'm Mickey!"

I also like the end of the other 2 books when both boys realised they ain't angry anymore and justified them selves to return to their mothers."And then Mama will tell me what refined means and why horses dream and why cats ever sing when they don't know how." Martin ran all the way home.

It was very much later I found the translated version of Where the Wild Things Are：野兽出没的地方 =).

We are immersed into Maurice Sendak's world, a fantasy world that shows true feelings of a child. At the same time, I learn about dark emotions and fantasies of a child.

Thanks to Mama Evelyn. She seems to have very good pick in classic children books and books based on real people as well as having fun with books.

Food = Life

2011-11-08T02:04:00.010+08:00

Recently, there have been an article published that reported that we have reach world population of 7 billion people. What really sobering from this article is that 1 billion people are in hunger everyday. This year, 6 million children might die from hunger related causes, if no help is given to them.

While I was listening to the news about the 7 billion population in SC's car, on my way to office, it reminded me that, humanity used the equivalent of 1.5 planets to support its activities currently. I felt uneasy about sad reality world.

Not all children are equally fed with sufficient amount of food and aided with right resources. We should simplify our living in this part of the world. We should not pamper our children with too much toys, wearing and food. I should start to re-organise & de-cluttering my way of living. I should continue the effort to go green.

Knowing a child dies from hunger every 2.3 seconds, I was weeping, sadly, from this video to that video.

Lately, fussy little eater Jiejie's frequently used phrase is "not fair", as she sees unfairness treatment on her self. So much as she used it as an excuse to skip her hot serving food: how not fair it was that she got so much more amount of food in her plate. Frankly she eats like a cat, but I spent too much energy in the kitchen to make effort to attract her appetite. Sometime, I bribed her with ice cream after meal, or waited till she willingly to eat. I am not a sweet nice mummy all the time, I got angry sometime too and would put her in thinking corner to cry out loud (as if it helps to consume her energy and make her eat more). Last week we all were sick one after another, my patience seemed shorter limit than usual, and together with the hungry children news that was kept in my mind, I told her that I should have chuck her in Africa if she mumble again on "not fair" to be asked to eat.

She is so fortune to be here and served with variety of meals!

But I reckon she had little clue about what I said until I showed her Children's Hunger Fund. She asked many whys and hows: why children have no food to eat; how disaster destroys a home shelter; how precious is clean water to a community; why food is scarcely to some family... She may not grasp the entire picture of what happen beyond her comfort zone, but she wasn't hesitate to contribute some money for helping to buy food for the poor children.

I just hope she cherish with what she has and will not abuse using the phrase "not fair" from now on.

We all have be reminded for not taking things for granted, continuously!

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

A group of mommy bloggers are coming together to create awareness for this dire situation and raise funds to help hungry kids around the world. Through Children’s Hunger Fund. With US 5 cents, it’s enough to provide a meal to a hungry child.

So I am appealing to you for your participation in this little fund raising activity. All you need to do is this:

1. Crop and paste any of this above information or pictures on your blog site, together with this logo (just right click and save image in your hard drive or copy the html for this to add as a widget to your site)

2. Appeal for friends and readers on your site to go directly to this page to make direct contributions. All it takes is US $5.00 for 100 meals for the children. Of course, it will be great if you can contribute more. You can also go to this page to make a direct contribution to areas that are most needed; like disaster relief.

3. Organise your own fund raising activity.

There are plenty of ideas that you can adopt to raise the funds;
- Bake sale
- Make and Sell a product
- Give up a birthday gift
- Lose weight by missing a meal and contributing what you might have spent on the meal to the Children's Hunger Fund

4. If you have a preschooler or a child who has learnt to save some money, talk to him/her to see if he can give a little of his money to help to feed hungry children.

Children's Hunger Fund is a Christian nonprofit organization that works to alleviate the suffering of children in impoverished regions across America and around the world. Since CHF began in 1991, many with their donations have helped them distribute more than $927 million in food and other resources to serve the needs of more than 10 million children in thirty-five U.S. states and seventy-two countries worldwide. Charity should transcend religion and race, help us and Children's Hunger Fund to show a child in some remote corner of our world that he/she is loved. THANK YOU.

Do drop me a note if you are interested to participate and will be putting this fund raiser activity up on your blog or FB page. My deepest appreciation and thanks in advance for your kind and giving contribution to Children's Hunger Fund!

When the child is unwell, we learn Q for Quilt

2011-10-25T03:32:00.004+08:00

Jiejie has not been unwell for the longest time.

It was probably the rain on Saturday triggered her sensitive lungs and caught a cold. Hence started coughing again yesterday morning, feverish in the middle of last night. She burst into tears since then, telling us she was in great pain. I had no choice but to absent at work again, for different reason though.

Anyway, after visited doctor early in the morning and slept through till lunch time. She seems so much better and started to request if she could go back to her class again in the afternoon. How can? Childcare leave counted as 1 full day, no half day, my dear. I then realised that she has no interest to sleep again. Her eyes were wide opened starring at the ceiling. I tried to avoid the television show for her. So I dug out Jann's Phonics' material and flipped. Decided to do the activity for 'Q for Quilt'.

First, craft work: Paste cloth (alternate pattern) on soft cloth as quilt. 3 X 4 pieces of fabric, contributed by Jann and my limited fabric stash. But I improvised and let Jiejie had a little fun to sew it like a patchwork with the sewing machine. She was very enthusiasm at the beginning but died off half way of sewing. Can't really blame her, she ain't her usual self. I completed the work in the end.

Second, story time on The Magic Quilt. She was happy and into this: Get ready duck headband, queen's crown and the craft quilt. I read the storyline that was prepared by Jann. Jiejie insisted to be the Queen and so, Little Bomber is the ducky... the one without the noisy quacking.

Once upon a time, there was a farmer with a group of duckies (put duck headband on child).
But there is one little duck that quack very loud and will lead the other duckies to quack all day long. (Child to quack... and quack...). They were never quiet.
One day, the farmer was tired and he needed a Quiet peaceful rest. He yelled, "QUIET! QUIET! STOP QUACKING!" But the duckies continue to quack. (Child to quack... and quack...).
While the duckies were noisily quacking away, a Queen (Mummy put on the crown) passed by. She heard the quacking and wanted to help the farmer.
The queen took out a Magic Quilt (the craft quilt) and told the farmer that if he raise up the quilt, the duckies would keep quiet. So the queen raised the quilt up and the duckies stopped quacking and were QUIET! (Prompt child by putting fingers on lips) But when she took the quilt down, they started to quack noisily again (Child to quack... and quack...). The queen again raised the quilt up and the duckies kept quiet.
Finally, the farmer hung the quilt in the farm and the duckies stopped quacking. At last, the farm was quiet again and the farmer can have a good quiet rest so everyone is very happy.

Thirdly, pretend-play: used the craft quilt to cover Jiejie, pat her and sing "Are you sleeping". At the same time, I pat Little Bomber too. I usually don't pat them to sleep, but I reckon this time 1 was just taken the medicine & the other kid was tired, both dozed off at 4 plus in the afternoon.

Her condition was rather like riding on a roller coaster. She became teary after dinner and cranky. "No" was the only word I don't wish to hear more but she kept repeating it. Somehow, when she is ill, it also means both of us on EQ test. It was a busy day on remote desktop connection and 2 kids, thank God that MIL is here to help around. As she's got sensitive lungs, I began her Ventolin and Flixotide puffers to ease her breathing.

Let's hope that she will be better tomorrow.

Side note... I am now game into making a proper quilt like expert Yvette:o)...

Learning Compassion Early through Volunteerism by Emily Patterson

2011-10-23T16:37:00.002+08:00

This is a guest post. Thanks Emily for sharing with us about teaching children to volunteer.

Submitted on behalf of Primrose Schools: preschool working to be the best in education and child by Emily Patterson (@epatt1062)

In a world where television highlights spoiled teens or the extravagant lifestyles afforded to rich children, many parents are seeking ways to counteract such images and ideas by raising more compassionate and caring children.

Many parents seek to do this by teaching volunteerism to their children while they are young and giving them an earlier start on helping others.

Volunteering can play an important part in building a child's character and establish a positive habit, rather than a bad one. Working together at volunteer work with their child can allow parents precious bonding time, while making an impact in their communities that a child will certainly notice and be proud to have done.

One of the first steps to getting a child involved through volunteering is not about the child at all. Instead, the parents should address their own goals for getting their children to volunteer. What sorts of organizations do the parents want the children to be involved with? What kinds of lessons do they hope their children will learn? Choosing a cause that is meaningful to the family is a good start in this direction.

With a broader group of organizations in mind, parents can begin narrowing that list down to those that are appropriate for a given child's age. Some activities might be very meaningful, but they may be difficult for a child to understand or even find ways to participate. When they can see the results of their work, they are more likely to grasp the idea. Also keep in mind that young children do well in group activities and are capable of following instructions.

The third step narrows the list down further. While some activities may be wonderful learning experiences for children, the atmosphere or organization itself may not necessarily be child-friendly. Parents should research a group's staff and history to understand if their children would be welcome.

Having planned these parts out will make the final step much easier on parents: Explaining to the children about volunteerism and the contribution that can be made to the community as well as the type of work the child may do at a specific organization. Once a parent has established an answer to these questions for himself or herself, it is much easier to answer that most-popular question in a child's vocabulary: "Why?"

Teaching a child to volunteer benefits both the hear-and-now and the near future. A compassionate, giving child is much more likely to one day become a compassionate, giving adult.

Goodbye

2011-10-18T02:37:00.006+08:00

My maternal Grandma.
1921-2011.

May she rest in peace.

Credits: Designer Digitals Chat Freebie, Katie Pertiet, RuthMelody Designs.

I didn't get to say goodbye in the end.

Cover for sofa... my way.

2011-10-11T02:12:00.006+08:00

Three years ago,

we moved into this house without a sofa.

No time for furniture shopping.

Minimalist for easy floor mopping.

Good 'common' space for Jiejie to have lots of play and mess.

The hall is small, so to speak.

Anyway, a living hall without a sofa isn't friendly to my guests.

A year later we saw this in The Green.

Clean cut.

Earth tone.

2-seater,

Simply fit into our humble space.

However, I have to be extra careful when the girls are around.

It's fabric!

It's extremely troublesome to unzip and separate the cover sheet for washing purpose.

Well, Jiejie is old enough to know where not to doodle.

But not Little Bomber who is naively curious to explore anything and everything.

It was just another attempt to sew a cover for the seat.

I mean, it is really a fabric being stitched at the 2 corners and top over the sofa seat.

See what I mean...

See how fun this could be for her?

Peek-a-boo!

It took me a while to find another fabric to "close the loop" seamlessly.

Thought this is tight to be hold at both ends at all time;

easy for me to remove the cover for washing if necessary.

When it is in place, the leafy cover sheet will be tug in and hid under the cushions.

See the tightness of the cover?

I was beaming from ear to ear.

The work revealing.

Trust me, it is tightly tug in and hid under the cushions.

For most of us when we sit down.

The sheet may fold a bit,

coming out a bit.

Different story for my dear fatty SC, the neatly leafy cover will behave like a runaway son after he sits on it.

Crumple, and half of the cover is out from the seat.

Sobbing for tug-in nicely again.

He is warned!

Now, peek-a-boo no more:).

I wanted to continue the sewing on the sofa cushion covers.

But the problem I have now is,

I didn't buy enough fabric!

I went back to Spotlight the other day.

They sold out this colour, particularly!

Very bad luck.

Sigh... need more shopping to find the right match for the leafy sheet...

walnut brownie

2011-09-27T12:58:00.005+08:00

Need a break from stress of dealine.

Hence, featuring this...

I have been making this walnut brownie for 3 times in less than 2 weeks.

1st was testing.

Overwhelmed with the rich chocolate and the successful attempt.

2nd was for the girl's 6th birthday party last Saturday.

Double the ingredients.

A little dry.

3rd was yesterday dawn.

For little Bomber's nanny and family's great help in the party.

Appreciation from the bottom of my heart.

I do wish that the spirit of (baking) enthusiasm will spill over to... now in office.

Back to digging history of work and do my self-appraisal!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

200g dark cooking chocolate
125g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 180C.
Chop the chocolate into pieces of about 2-3 centimeters.
Chop the butter and add it to the chocolate.

On low heat on the stove, melt the mixture without bubbling.
Remove the mixture from the heat and carefully fold in the brown sugar.
Add eggs, stirring carefully.
Slowly sift in the flour and fold it into the mixture.
Add milk, mixing it in completely.
Add chopped walnuts.

Pour the mixture into a greased medium-sized baking tray lined with baking paper.
Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for five minutes,
then turn onto a wire rack until cool and slice into squares.
Dust with icing sugar.

I Went for Phonics Class

2011-09-14T15:45:00.009+08:00

I understand that, there is more than one way to help young children to read, probably Phonics is one of them. Before I was a mum, I personally see how well phonics helped my young cousins to decode the sounds for each letter, learn and assimilate word. They were able to read out loud on Peter and Jane series at preschool stage. I know nuts about phonics. I struggled in learning English by memorizing hard on each and every new vocabulary. [That explains the standard of language here;)]

On the other hand, the childcare center of Jiejie doesn't offer a structured phonics lesson to kids. I realised that their curriculum is science based and provide a literacy programme to build children's vocabulary in English Language. In a way, Jiejie is kind of taking her own sweet time to learn listening, speaking, reading, spelling and writing, prior to her Primary 1 next year.

So she joined into "I Can Read" programme in the beginning of the year. I have to guide her in doing those weekly homework. It is usually just 2 or 3 pages of identifying and colouring exercise and I just need to do a little help to prompt her on the sound of letter. Often, I fail to differentiate the sound of "A" and "E". I started to pay very serious attention to hear Jolly phonic in youtube, repeatedly, till I wonder, am I too old for phonics?... It was somewhat embarrassing.

Coincidentally, SL, Jiejie's classmate's mum, shared with me about Phonics by Jann, a course for parents. At the same time, I thought it would be good to learn about fun learning session at home effectively. Not only will it benefit Jiejie, but also to Little Bomber in future.

When I first called Jann, she listened to my background and my daughter's learning pace pretty carefully. She sounded like a doctor and diagnosed "my case" immediately over the phone. I then followed-up with an email on the detail of the course. She managed to slot me in the earlier class she could find for me, knowing that my girl is pretty much behind in term of able to read and write. Anyway, to cut the story short, I signed up and became Jann's student.[reasonable price and distance]

Jann is a SAHM and was a pre-school teacher previously. I reckoned that's why she is able to outline her course in a structured manner, creatively and comprehensively cover the phonics from A to Z. She provides craft material for every letter, and each letter consist of 2 sets of lesson plans. Frankly, I can't imagine how she produced all the material by duplicating, cutting, sorting and packing. On top of that, she emailed us the videos on songs as part of the lesson plan every week, prior to our class with her. There are at least 6 of us for every class I attended. She must be a very well organised person!

In the lesson plan, by combining flashcard, craftwork, story-telling, singing song and a magic bag with objects that starts with the letter, it makes the home-learning truly fun and meaningful. In addition to that, she also shared tips on effective strategies in prompting using phonics, spelling, stages of reading, writing ideas and how to encourage creativity and meaningful ways that lead to children self-learning. To her, age 3 is the appropriate time to start phonics and slowly guide the child at home. Once the child is familiar with the sounds for all letters, mummy should apply phonics sound to prompt child for spelling. If the child is unable to spell out the word after prompting, we are to write down what the child spell so that they can see what they are combining the letters and form the word. What she believes is that, if the child is being taught effectively and knows how to spell many words by 4 or 5 (depending on the child's progress), together with regular reading, it can lead to early writing. Once a child can spell, read and write by 6 years old, the likelihood is that tuition is not needed during P1 and P2. The child will be able to self-learn, perhaps with some help from parents.

Sounds pretty attractive to me! Jann's lesson plan is a great resource to re-start our home-learning. Jiejie likes it! She often ask if there is any craftwork for her to do. However, I can't afford to spend longer than 15 mins with her on one full lesson plan as I tend to run into kitchen, or Little Bomber, or some other chores at home. Fortunately, she is mature enough to do the craftwork independently while I'm 5 or 10 mins away from her.

You can see more on the fun home-learning through Winny's sharing:).

Letter N - Craftwork on colouring macoroni and make necklace.

Seeing that she is enjoying her learning journey, so I have to be consistent with her on the lesson plan provided by Jann. As I always have pockets of time, I alter Jann's lesson plan by doing more on craftwork (skipping the part on letter tracing, flashcard and magic bag) and cultivate the prompting habit on her to assimilate words. Sometimes she would frown and request me to stop prompting her; other times she guided me through instead. I admit that I need to brush up my skill on phonics prompting.

At night, we continue our routine on reading too (10-15 mins). Jann advised us to read books with interesting storyline. Interesting storybooks with repeated words or sentences are very helpful for memory reading. The stages of reading from 'Read-To' to 'Read-With' progress will be able to guide the child to learn the pronunciation and visually absorb the words and capture the word as we read to or with them. Eventually, the child will be interested to read on his/her own.

Scholastic book: This is the Way We Take a Bath.

These days, we try to distract her from iPad to do other activities at home. I reckon several exposures in learning (through childcare, enrichment and home-learning) has build her word bank as well as confidence. She's now attempting to self-read as well as write her own story. Recently, she re-read book 4A and into 5A of Peter and Jane Series. It is heartening to see her progress well.

***************************

The course will be featured in Straits Times soon and I got the chance to be interviewed about the course. But when the journalist asked me (over the phone) why did I take up the course at the very first place. I didn't answer her fully.

If you ask me... I would say, I'm greedy and try to learn as much as I can to inspire my child in learning, similar to my new attempts in sewing and cooking/baking. Life seems more interesting with all sort of learning. I try not to sub-contract the responsibility to all kind of so-called professional tuition and other services in future, which leads to her possibility to rely on others to learn and to explore her curiosity. Also, through the phonics materials given by Jann, I dirty my hands in the mud to deal with her attitude and temper on doing the writing, cutting, pasting and drawing. Sometime, a session of the home-learning does harsh her mellow. Or mine.

I'll deal with that part slowly.

If possible, I want to send the message to her that, if I can do it, so can she, in anything that we want to. Of course, you may say that, go do something harder and inspire her!

Jul 2011: Feeding

2011-08-29T13:13:00.005+08:00

Digital scrapbook of mine is somehow taking a back seat.

Into baking;

into sewing too.

Both are great activities at home,

keep the little hands busy.

Along the way,

been into nitty-gritty of household and kids.

Sleep-deprived.

But it is a joy to be in the process of learning and doing,

produce and strike off one task after another.

I reckon it is the joy to be busy with the little one.

Don't feel like stopping.

Too many to-do things in my list.

Watching kids is part of the to-do list.

Especially the one who is so eager to grow and learn,

who is looking forward to join the fun.

One day, second serving of her lunch.

She signaled that she wanted to feed her self.

I back off and let her try her hand at a simple task.

I smiled at her cheeky smiles;

at the little dynamo;

at her messiest fun.

Credits: DecaDesigns

She was 16 months and 3 weeks old.

An Attempt at Starry Night

2011-08-21T00:09:00.007+08:00

A little space of our home.

Showcasing family portraits and lego sets built by Jiejie and a big help from daddy.

A console in the living hall, to be precise.

Somehow, I forgotten how was it before.

The canvas painting is newly hung on the wall.
Jiejie's attempt at Van Gogh's Starry Night.

She did it through a 2-hours free trial in 1 of the art centre in United Square.

(we just need to pay $12 for the canvas)

Somehow, it brights up the space.

I want to cherish the artwork as much as I can!

It is now featured in A Dollop of My Home Series by Corsage.

She is doing an awesome job in collating and showcasing homes of others.

I always look forward to every Friday to the series.

While enjoying the simple yet incredible ideas of others for their home,
It gives me inspiration not to stop creating a unique corner of my home.
And I totally agree with her that,

"It is so much inspiration and encouragement to ordinary home-owners like my self who don't have access to top-notch designers and furnishings."

Do hop over to see and enjoy the lovely effort from every home-owner.

And Corsage is always welcome you to send in a picture or two of your home to join the series:).

Wish you a great weekend, by the way!

HK 2011: Last But Not Least

2011-08-16T16:20:00.009+08:00

Other than Ocean Park and Disneyland Park, roaming around to see more about colonization, revolution and emigration of Hong Kong (HK) is part of the itinerary. As HK is well known as a metropolis of concrete canyons and neon signs, we were in the bustling city streets most of the time and experience the rich culture of the city. To encounter the true HK living culture, you may want check this out.

Us, on our way to Star Ferry Terminal...stop by one of the handmade accessories stall

The Peak
On the day we went to The Peak, it was an intention to let the kids had the experience of riding the train (MTR), bus (double-decker), ferry and tram. I was totally melted! The weather was sunny hot and hazy. My dad, SC and the kids ended up with taxi ride back to hotel. (My mum and I went off for shopping!)

In the tram up the hill.

By the way, Hong Kong iconic cross-harbour Ferry is a must try! HKD$3 (if I remember correctly :p) per trip. The kids were thrilled when they were in the floating ferry deck. It was not too good to SS, Fong's wife. She was then dizzy for the rest of the day.

Nostalgia ferry ride.

Anyway, The Peak is another spot of commercial, packed with tourist and souvenirs shops. Indeed it was magnificent view of the green as well as the city through the tram ride. Like Penang Hill, there is another way of sightseeing through hiking. If given more time, I should have find Lugard Road to enjoy the greenery of the city.

Malls

True enough Hong Kong is a shopping paradise. I can't run away from the enticement of the shopping malls. But since SC offered to take good care of the girls, I popped to the mall after mall and into the shopping culture there my self (with my mum). I was a lunatic shopping queen without much fashion sense and budget control. It was eye-opening experience to the latest trend of fashion. Trendy merchandiser like i.t., H&M, Chocoolate and other local brands that really wow me to bring it home but had to drop the thought by just looking at the price tag. Somehow, I was still over spent.

Note: It was NOT the sales season during our visit. Best to go for Grand Sales in Hong Kong are during July-August or year end.

A S$39+ shoes for her! Told you I was lunatic.

Birkenstock

It is CHEAP in Hong Kong. Unbelievable!

SC found one pair of Betula when we hopped into Silvercord for lunch. With some discount from HSBC credit card, it was only S$44.73!

Later part of the day, we hunted a pair of Birkis for Jiejie in Chickeeduck, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui. They happened to have sales, and we actually could not find Jiejie's current size but to grab a bigger pair:).

Just hope that she can wear it next Chinese New Year.

Log-on

Log-on is a lifestyle specialist store, which offers a modern range of latest trendy products, fashion accessories, gadgets, stationery, interior decorating products, kitchenware and personal care items. It was recommended by Fong, and obviously the section on kitchen tools and gadgets attracted when I walked into the store. I bought the 2 bread moulds and 1 message-on-a-cookie cutter for HKD195.00.

Why the cookies cutter? It is flexible with different words if we want to. Also because I saw it for the first time in Lisa's Blog. When I follow the link and look for the cutter, it was priced at SGD26 for just 1 unflexible cutter.

Speaking of the cutter, I have yet find a simple recipes to make cookies and use the cutter... Anyone can share?

Find Log-on stores locator here.

[I later understand from Fong that, this set of alphabet mould has its limitation. It can't have 2 lines at one time of making.]

Hang Heung

For authentic food to bring home from HK, I don't know what else beside Wife Biscuit.

Out of all brands, the famous Hang Heung Wife Biscuit is highly recommended by my colleague. With her detail instruction, I got 4 packs from Sogo, Tsim Sha Tsui. However, I was stupid enough to put all the yummy biscuit in my luggage and check into the flight. PLEASE do not do that! Hang Heung's Wife Biscuit is more flaky and the crust fall off easily.

Address: Counter at Sogo Department Store, Basement 1, 12 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

MTR: East Tsim Sha Tsui Station, Exit J2 or J4

BTW, the filling taste is absolutely good. Sweetness is just nice and chewy. Highly recommend to heat up few seconds before served.

Hang Heung Wife Biscuit is the only thing I miss about Hong Kong.

Wong Tai Sin Temple

The altar of the temple.

In the end, we made it to Wong Tai Sin Temple. To see the tradisional taoist parying culture and just 上香 to pray for family safe and health. The lighted joss sticks usually calm me. I didn't go for Kau Cim, I am not sure about seeking an answer from Immortal. I mean, if I get what I request, how to return a thank?

Burning incense

I don't see enough of true Hong Kong. I believe Jiejie sees HK only diversified shopping, busy traffic, packed crowds, theme parks, yummy wanton mee and consumptive walking. I didn't do much research prior to the trip, I thought I knew HK well with so much drama-watching over the years. But it wasn't the case. I was lost in finding my way few times, I didn't get to taste put chai ko (砵仔糕) and I spent too much time in shopping malls!

Daddy had promise her a return visit for theme parks when meimei is big enough to be as enjoyable as she is now. By then, I would like to bring them to Hong Kong Park, Hong Kong Wetland Parks, hiking, and taste more on HK's rough culture, perhaps through Night Markets.

New Addition to the Room

2011-08-07T17:51:00.140+08:00

It tooks us a while to move Jiejie out from our room after Little Bomber was born.
Kids' room was then developed.
Bit by bit.
Piece by piece.
For example, the curtains is the latest addition.
I sewn it 2 weeks ago.

Tinker Bell says "Hello..."

I agree that, the fabric isn't really fascinating to the taste of the room,

or mine.

A simple thought was, would it be good for an experiment, if I fail?

But it turned out, to be a joy to see the finishing.

Or perhaps it will serve as a good reminder to be wiser in terms of material selection:).

Good, I have a reason to make another set of curtain for the room.

Twinkle twinkle little stars lid Tinker Bell at night...

Who would have thought there isn't any proper curtain for this room
since we moved in 3 years ago!!!

I cant believe either.
Time flies and I have been procrastinate for the longer time!

Little Bomber's favourite's mobile

The room is laid with 3 mattresses and without it, I would say it is pretty bare.
Mobile in the middle, Jiejie's artworks on one side of the wall and the wall decal on the other side.
Not forgetting a stand fan at 1 corner and another corner cluttered with kids toys and... toys.

It is my favourite mobile too:).

Jiejie's paintings probably is the earlier batch of parasites on the wall.

Jiejie's artworks proudly display in the room.

The Poang armchair that was suppose to be in the living hall brought into the room by me
as I sometime need it to snuggle little Bomber to sleep.

The little bear on the right is Jiejie's baby.

Kids' room is my hiding room, too.

We are pretty "tortured" with some unsuccessful and uncertainty this week.
Snapping pictures and re-organising things in the room somehow heal my disappointment.

As we maybe going through the process of "torturing" for another week or two.
I need to reposition.

"Faith and doubt both are needed - not as antagonists, but working side by side to take us around the unknown curve." Lillian Smith

Jun 2011: HK Disneyland

2011-07-29T01:13:00.002+08:00

My parents used to bring us to Genting Highlands for fun ride and kart racing.
Best of all, we got a chance to chill in the cool and refreshing weather;
stay in the hotel for a night or two;
dine in the restaurant up there.
Family holiday, I recalled.

That was the only themed park during those days, I reckon.
Or, perhaps it was that much of spending that my parents could afford to on 3 of us.
Or, maybe my papa had a chance to sneak out to casino at anytime he could.
One stone kills 2 birds, so called.

Anyway, many roller coaster years later.
I brought them to Disneyland, for the first time.
To experience the true fantasy of young children.
To wind back our memories of spinning and riding.
To laugh as much as possible under the hot sun, and so on..

They are more like a body guard and a babysitter though.
Watched the girls as alert as an eagle;
While explored the Park as curious as little Bomber.
Trying to figure out, what so fun about Disneyland!? I think.

It was a tired day for all of us.
Being watchful and being playful in the colourful amusement park.
They conquered the place, half, at least.
They stretched their body part and burnt calories most in a day, perhaps.
They had adventurously fun, I hope.

Many years later, we will reminisce this trip,
as much as we talk about our stories in Genting.
Till the girls are older, we will find another way of family bonding. I promise:).

M i s s t h e m, I a m.

And the winners are...

2011-07-27T21:14:00.002+08:00

TG (#11) Ms Tan (#18).

Each one of you win a Petit Bowl voucher worth of $25!

Congratulations^^!!!

Please email me your name, email and contact no.

Please be reminded that the collection of the vouchers from Petit Bowl is

by 11 Aug 2011. (2 weeks from now)

The results of the giveaway was generated by Random.org;

duplicate entries were removed so that everyone stands an equal chance.

Thanks everyone for taking part in the survey.
Your feedback is very much appreciated by Petit Bowl.

If you miss this giveaway from me,

hop over and response to the same survey in the following sites:

Ruth (ends 1 Aug);

Madeline (ends 29 Jul); or

Jus (ends 31 Jul).

Quick, you will be the next lucky winner!

Giveaway: Frozen Solution

2011-07-21T15:22:00.006+08:00

[photo courtesy of MamaJ]

Last week, Little Bomber and I went to Petit Bowl for a food tasting. An event that will offer me and my girls an alternative meal solution.

[photo courtesy of MamaJ]

I was rooted with a believe of healthy home-cooking. But these days I do it over weekends and at least 2 dinners during weekdays. Somehow, I seems tucking my self for the longest time in kitchen in a day, from preparation of ingredients to serving of food to dish washing. The amount of work needed to be done for a meal are endless, no matter how I cut corner to make the process simpler and faster, like just serving 1 pot meal consist of stewed black-sauce pork with eggs and broccoli for dinner, or reducing dish-washing by serving the dish direct from the pot. At one time of last year when little Bomber was still being breastfed, very fascinated into solid and clingy to me, I was a grumpy mum to cook a decent dinner for my family. Not to mention baby food that need to be chopped, slow-cooked and blended. On one hand, she resists jarred baby food (reckon is because of the artificial flavourings). On the other hand, she will scream for whatever food in our hand for a bite, which is maybe over-seasoned & not suitable for her.

Those were the days I had with many restrictions and hoping for alternative meal solution that is nutritious and convenient.

She wanted to feed her self!

About Petit Bowl
When I found out about Petit Bowl from Ruth, I was curious about their product. Whether the food will consist of artificial and preservative flavourings... But little Bomber prove me wrong. She like the food!

During the food tasting, Josephine, the founder, gave us a thorough introduction on this new concept of preparing meals for kids. Petit Bowl started in 2009, launching new concept of "cook and freeze" for children and baby meals at a commercial level out of a retail mall. The product which also known as "frozen solutions" is prepared by blending and mixing only the freshest organic ingredients such as fruit, vegetables and grains, together with fresh meat and fish without added salt, sugar or artificial flavourings into delightful combinations. Sounds great isn't it?

Besides using organic fresh ingredients, Petit Bowl also ensures the strictest hygiene and quality in standard operation procedures (SOPs) and adhere to NEA standards. Josephine and her team have creatively designed over 70 unique products to appeal to every child preference. Any Petit Bowl meals sealed in capsules (about 4oz) and can immediately be consumed by the child with simple heating or stored for future mealtimes. So it is definitely a good solution if you are outing or traveling with your little ones and having problem to find a healthy and suitable meal for him/her.

Kids had consumed 2 capsules of 8 of my purchase($22).

Little Bomber is not a fussy eater. Still, she will turn away from the food if it is another form of jarred food (which somehow I'm proud of :p). She was hesitate on the first feed but resist-no-more after my 2nd attempt. She munched the food one after another while roamed in and out of the kid's restaurant She was not quite acquire the taste of Happy Lamb and My first Beef Curry. But she certainly like Butternut Risotto, Creamy Chicken Penne and Cod Fish, Spinach and Alphabet Pasta.

I guess I am relieved now, cause I have an alternative to feed her good food! I bought home some that I newly learnt about the combination of the food and accepted by Bomber. For Example, there are butternut, tomato, brown rice and cheese in the Butternut Risotto.

Would you like to try some of their food? Here is the good news! Josephine is offering 2 Petit Bowl vouchers (each worth of $25) as giveaways to readers of the blogs of Ruth, Jus and Madeline and mine. All you need to do is just leave your comments in this post by answering the questions below:

Please select which statements are true for you, there's no limit to the number of statements you can choose.

Giveaways will ends next Wednesday, 27 July 2011 @ 12 pm. 2 winners will be randomly picked and I promise I will announce the good news at my fastest pace! Winners are required to collect their vouchers from Petit Bowl within 2 weeks form the announcement of the result.

Meanwhile, feel free to visit Petit Bowl's newly launched e-shop. Josephine and her team would like to know what do you hope the e-shop will offer and what is your comment if you have try Petit Bowl products and services.

One thing for sure, I'll visit United Square more.

HK 2011: Disneyland

2011-07-19T01:08:00.005+08:00

Disneyland Park is open at 10am daily. So we tried to checked-out from Royal Plaza Hotel in Mongkok right after our breakfast in Sea View Congee House. SC booked Disneyland Hotel for staying over 1 night.

One thing Disneyland Hotel pleased me very much is the flexibility they give to the guests, For example:

Allowing us to check-in, store our luggage at the Bell Desk to upon our early arrival and enjoy the Disneyland Park right away.
We came back to hotel for 'check-in' into our room at about 4pm (after indulged into the Flights of Fantasy Parade), my parents also get to rest while Jiejie and SC went on the fun.
Some children programs to continue the Disney fun while they are away from the theme park, like bedtime story, modelling and photographic service (glad my girl didn't ask for this), Mickey Maze and 1 nice activity room mainly for kid to play, to doodle and to craft.
List of Revitalise and Refresh activities can be found here.
Not to mention they have many goodies and surprises for you to bring home, ie the room access card:).
A highlight of Enchanted Garden Restaurant in the Hotel is, there are visits from Disney Characters to delight your meal time. But we drop the idea to go there, since Jiejie get to snap picture with Mickey and Minnie in the Park already. My parents prefer Chinese food, so we ate at Crystal Lotus.
Upon our check-out of the hotel, we also get to store our luggage, again, at the Bell Desk. We went on to have our lunch in Crystal Lotus, some souvenir shopping and let the kids played in the activity room till about 2/3pm. The Bell Desk helped us to call a taxi to airport. Hassle-free and fast arrival of the taxi too. Our flight was in the late afternoon.

Disneyland Park is truly a huge playground for the kids. Jiejie and Ian were so joyful and energetic for the entire visit to the Park until the end of the fireworks which led to closure of the Park. I would think that it is the great success influence of the Disney cartoon in the television to the children. A visit to the Disneyland Park to me was, hmmm... got to see the cartoon characters 'alive', and the hard work (including the investment) and the creativity proudly smiled, walked, spun or swung in front of me.

Well, clearly I'm not a person with childish heart. All I could remember was carrying little Bomber and danced during the Fantasy Parade in Main Street, USA, under the heat ;P. But SC did enjoy the fun with Jiejie. They particularly like "it's a small world". Fantasyland has most attraction and entertainment that are suitable our kids. We had to skip Adventureland as timid Jiejie really got frighten with the "adventurous sound" projected from the jungle even we were just passing by the main entrance. Also, a compliment from my parents about the spectacular musical extravaganza in The Golden Mickeys in the Fantasyland had relieved me as I was afraid the Park would bored them whole day. They are old and really conservative about kids' fun. They probably enjoy the girls' laugh and simple play more than perspiring and watchful to the girls in theme park. A "very nice show" feedback means really NICE and stole their aged heart in the theater. The kids missed the chance to watch the show as there were too many attractions for them and they seemed impatience to queue for the Golden Mickeys.

By the way, there is Disney's FASTPASS service for us to queue for a specific and long waiting queue attraction the Park so that we can leave and enjoy other attraction while waiting. However, it was a weekday and off-peak season, we didn't use any of the FASTPASS at all.

After enjoyed our selves in the Fantasy Parade, we return to Hotel for our check-in. It was a good rest for my parents. We went back to the Park at about 7pm for the firework. We were allowed for re-entry to the Park for our 1-day ticket. We had our dinner and watched the "Disney in the Stars" Fireworks at 8pm. Oh, be prepare to walk, walk and walk for the whole day. It seemed like forever walk for me to return from the park to the bus terminal for taking free shuttle bus service back to the hotels. I was totally drained! [You can see our awful look here.]

It was our intention to keep Disneyland Park as last destination for our trip to Hong Kong, due to the following reasons:

Distance to airport is close, both are situated in Lantau Island. approximately 15 mins taxi ride for us to reach HK airport.
Keep the very last attraction for the kid(s) till the end so that they will 'cooperative' throughout the 1 week urban trip.

"Have fun and do keep an eye on meimei, dear."

"meimei, want to try this?"

"Oh yay! Blue man is a giant sprinkle!!"

"Stupid blue man making me wet, later mama will scold!"

"Where is jiejie? Wasn't it fun?"

By the way, be alert and watchful to your child(ren) while you are in Disneyland. I have hear enough of cases of missing kid(s).

The Park Map is here.

HK 2011: Ocean Park

2011-07-12T21:24:00.008+08:00

After hearing from us mentioning how fun can Ocean Park Hong Kong be, Jiejie was ecstatic to step down form the bus and see Whiskers, the mascot, in front of her.

Kids at Ocean Square.

Games
It was a hot summer day. But it didn't melt the excitement of Ian and Jiejie. Kids are kids, just can't resist the fun that created by any amusement park. They immersed themselves in various kind of Merry-go-round, a trip of Balloon Up-up-and-away, Bouncer House, Frog-hopper, and some skill games. They giggled from ear to ear, wiggled from one end to another.

Whiskers Harbour seems having most games that suitable our kids.

First hop ever for her [photo courtesy of Fong]

Animals
Comparatively, Amazing Asian Animals became less interested to them. Visiting Gait Panda Habitat was eye-opening for the girls. Little Bomber first ever meeting with huge panda bear and beautiful goldfishes. She was extremely happy to roam around the Goldfish Treasures. I bet those goldfishes love to see her too.

[sorry, forgot this is An An or Jia Jia]

"Don't you be naughty and make your mama angry!"

I personally marvel into The Grand Aquarium in the Aqua City, meeting all kinds of sea creatures eye-to-eye by walking through a 13m wide acrylic tunnel. It was awesome, and honestly, it is spacious and much comfortable strolling and watching the sea creatures than in UnderWater World in Sentosa :p.

Ray fish came and said hello:).

But... Jiejie was horrified by the blow hole upon our arrival. It is the power of ocean, so called, welcoming the visitors. Needless to say, timid her hesitated to walk through the darkest depth of the ocean floor. We kept giving her cuddles and pats and at last, she stood and watched fishes swam in front of her. Little Bomber, on the other hand, was "ohhh" and "ahhh" all the way and wanted to "poke" the glass so much. I think she wanted interaction with the fishes beyond the glass.

As usual, she took some time to overcome her fear.

We didn't cover all the attractions in the Park. It is a huge park, obviously. Too much activities for a big group like us. Ian wanted to take a ride on to the helium balloon badly, but time didn't permit us to do so. We didn't step into the Adventure Land and Headland Rides, as our kids are too young for a try.

Beautiful air balloon that we missed to take a ride up.

Shuttles
87 hectares of lands separated by a mountain into two areas: The Summit and The Waterfront. It took us almost 5 hours to enjoy the fun in (half of) The Waterfront before we headed to The Summit for Ocean Theatre (3.30pm show) via the Ocean Express. It was like a submersible train, offering a vivid experience that simulates a journey through the ocean's depths. It was a quick ride compare to cable car.

Probably due to the scorching heat, none of us mentioned about trying the world's second longest outdoor escalator.

The panoramic view of The Waterfront.

Live Show
This is the highlight of our visit: "Sea Dream!" in the Ocean Theatre. It is a aquatic adventure with touching narration (in English, Cantonese and Mandarin), featuring dolphins and sea lions in an inspirational story about the importance of marine conservation.

Unbelievable packed with audiences when we arrived at 3pm

It shocked me when I saw such a huge spectator gallery. It shocked me more when I saw it was fully occupied upon our arrival.

Little Bomber was tucked and napped in the carrier.

The stunning performance by the dolphins, sea lions and the trainers not only conveyed the conversation between a grandpa and his grandchild, sending the message on peaceful co-existence of humans and animals. It is also showcased the effort and passion behind the marine conservation. I was truly moved.

I wasn't realise the whole intention of Ocean Park until I saw this show. It was like a bang to my head that the whole park is not just a amusement park but carrying a very serious mission to operate as observatories, education department and wildlife funds for projects.

You mustn't miss the live show in the Ocean Theatre if you are in Ocean Park.

After "Sea Dream!" ended, we headed to the cable car station. The wait for the cable car was insane! Thank goodness we had some tidbits for the kids to munch.

Yet, we enjoyed the breeze from South China Sea via ten minutes cable car ride from The Summit back to The Waterfront. It was almost 5pm by the time we returned to Ocean Square and took a bus back to Admiralty MTR station, which caused us stuck in traffic jam badly.

Hazy aerial view from cable car.

Little Bomber who had enough nap and was finally allowed to roam at the Ocean Square, while daddy went on to find bus to the nearest MRT Station.

Question always asked, why bother to bring kid for travel. Well, the smile on her face tells why.

It can tell that we had uncountable joy, unforgettable fun and unavoidable tanned skin.

HK 2011: f.o.o.d

2011-06-30T23:13:00.035+08:00

We didn't include breakfast package during our stay in Royal Plaza Hotel. SC thought it would not be too tough to find food around Mong Kok. So, we had been navigating our selves in the array of shops even before breakfast. Some based on Chua Lam's recommendations, some are not.
Sea View Congee House is one of our new discovery that has satisfied Hong Kong style breakfast: Congee, rice noodle roll (cheong fun, 香港猪肠粉), toast bread, spaghetti with minestrone soup, combination of hot dog, egg and bread, HK style fried noodle, soya milk, HK style coffee and tea. Simple yet very good dose and bite to kick start a day that is full of activities. We went there twice as the kids liked it. Best of all, it was between the hotel to Mong Kok MTR Station.

More about 海景 Sea View Congee House.

蓮香樓 Lin Heung Tea House

Obviously, Jiejie didn't like the place when we first stepped into the restaurant and got our table. It was traditional setting, kind of messy, chaotic, old yet full of characters of HK [shown in pic 1 in the scrapbook below]. Everyone there seems just mind their own business: waiters/waitress just push their wheeled cart to sell the dim sum or clean the tables if necessary; the patrons occupied the space not just for their meal, but newspapers, chit-chatting or simply yum-cha (饮茶). They may just had a peek on our arrival and back to their papers or tea-drinking. Technically, it is full ALL the time; and interestingly, these are the culture behind the traditional dim sum. We were lucky that we didn't need to hover around for table and the old waiter willingly to clean the table for us before we sat down. In the end, with some persuade talk and lots of hug, Jiejie opened her mouth and tasted the carrot cake (萝卜糕) and she loved it! The only regret was really we did not try all kind of dimsum, especially siu-mao (烧卖)and ha-kau(虾饺). Having said that, having dimsum in Lin Heung is a steal! It was less that HKD200 for 5 adults and 2 kids.

I tapao (take away) 2 wife biscuits from the counter for a try, HKD5 for each. It was good, very good! Too bad I was told it could only kept for 4 days the most! Otherwise, I would brought back for friends in Sg and KL.

Must say SC made a good choice among so many of Chua Lam's recommendation for dimsum.

Chee Kee (池记)
Contrary, Jiejie preferred the ambience of Chee Kee. Modernly comfortable, I reckon. Though it was as packed as Lin Heung.

It was convenience to us too. After a long day of roaming around, we took MTR back to Mong Kok, alighted and walked out to Langham Place, traveled to level 4 to look for Chee Kee. We went there twice.

Their are famous with wonton noodle and crab congee (金皇蟹粥) [shown in pic 7 in the scrapbook below]! Their barley water is unique tasty with a some ginger spice! Understand from them that this is only served warm. Fong, our friend, loves the pork rib rice(蘿蔔豬軟骨菜飯), repeatedly order for his 3 visits.

We ordered petite wonton noodle from the menu for Jiejie. [6 in the scrapbook]. SC could not run away from the crab congee... It was simply crabby yummy!

Honeymoon Dessert (满记甜品)
I am a dessert person, so is either Hui Lau Shan (許留山) or Honeymoon Dessert or both. Apparently, I could only tasted the latter.

We went there to indulge the sweetness of their famous Mango Pomelo and Sago Sweet Soup with Ice Cream and Stewed Bird's Nest with Coconut Juice. [shown in 8 in the scrapbook] for the 1st time; then i brought my mum there to try Almond Tea with Sweet Potato and (thick) Sesame Walnut Soup. I'm bias! I was beaming while I had it^^.

I feel like going back there now!

何洪记 (Ho Hung Kee)
This is another recommendation by Chua Lam. Another Shop famous with wanton noodle and Congee. Why? Simply because it would attract Jiejie to eat and eat more without us pushing too hard.

Ho Hung Kee is in Causeway Bay, Sharp Street East, close to Time Square(Exit A at Casuseway Bay MTR). It is easy to find. Like most traditional wonton noodle shops in HK, this shop is small and packed, probably just 10 tables of serving 4. We were lucky again to get a table soon upon our arrival. SC ordered their signature wonton noodle soup and slides fish congee. Congee was well balanced and tasted good.

Understand from the Ding Ding that, "Ho Hung Kee takes seven parts shrimp to three parts pork and a little pepper, grinds the mixture to a paste and spreads it onto a thin wrap. Their dumplings are filled with traditional ingredients including crispy 'wood ear fungus." Basically, the noodle was the sisters' favourite! Oh yes, Bomber had her share too. after I souped in clear water to reduce the taste for her. But somehow we felt that the soup was not fabulous. Or maybe because we are more for dried wonton noodle.

Fuk Kee Restaurant (富记粥品)
This place [shown in pic 5 in the scrapbook], steal my heart for congee! Cheap (breakfast @ HKD100 for 4+2) and simply yummy! I was literally moved by their Pork Kidney and Liver Congee, which my mum belief that they controlled the cooking fire well by not over cook the pig intestines, it was tender and splendor! On top of the congee, we also added you-tiao (油炸鬼), since Jiejie spotted it when we steped into the small and old shop.

Whilst my dad ordered the shrimp cheong fun. The skin was smooth but thick, which we have yet to acquire the taster and enjoy the thick cheong fun.
If you are at 花园街， Mong Kok, don't miss this shop! Highly recommended, if you don't mind the ambience of the old shop. Well, apparently Lady Luck was with us most of the time, we probably went early that day, it was not packed hence Jiejie had no problem with the unhygienic and messy corner of the shop. Perhaps her focus was on her favourite yao-tiao:).

HK 2011: togetherness

2011-06-21T21:48:00.004+08:00

Two days right before the June School Holiday started, we went to Hong Kong for a family trip. Well, not just 2+2, but 2+2+2 and another 2+1 ^^. We invited my parents and we tagged with SC's friend and his family.

So why HK at the first place?

I was as little as HY when I stood with to them.

Hong Kong as one of the Chinese-dominated city didn't really attracted me much. Urbanized, high density, uniquely mix of culture and architecture, fast pace living, disorganized but dynamic in a scarce land, are what I know of about HK. The colonial history of HK does create some sense of familiarity to us. I mean, learning so much about HK since young through the TVB drama series, I like vibrant HK. However, I was hesitate to bring kids to the packed and hazed city. On the other hand, SC finds HK is an easy roaming place for family like us, convenient MTR, no language nor food barrier for us (as well as the kids); best of all, there are marvelous Ocean Park and Disneyland there welcoming us! SC kept telling me the yummy-licious of dim-sum, milk tea, roasted goose and what not. Well, he is a big fan of 蔡瀾 (Chua Lam), who is a food critic and very good in making food recommendations. He also tempted me that I can be shopping queen there and kids will be under his care. I reckon nothing can be too tough for a daddy who wanted to fulfill his daughter's request. Coincidentally, Fong, our good friends from Sg Petani, and his family was also eyeing a holiday trip to HK. [With Fong and family, we visited theme parks and a few rounds of shopping together, other times were on our own program of the day.]

So SC went ahead with flight and hotel booking. Then we invited my parents tagged along. We thought, within our capacity, it would be nice as I have not been traveling with them since graduated and financially independent from them. Well, at least it would be a good idea to have more cares on the kids while exploring the city.

Mum's help to relieve the burden of long hour carrying Bomber from me.

Marry-Go-Round with popo in Ocean Park.

It is a pity that we forgot to take picture with them.
We were overwhelmed with the activities.

The true is, the holiday had passed us by in a blink! We had few agenda for the trip: theme parks for the kids, food hunting for SC, Macau for my parents (special request) and perhaps, shopping for my self. We became part of the dynamic city for that few days, by experiencing extremely lots of walking, from the pram-unfriendly MTR stations to the dizzying array of malls to riding on the humble star ferry and tram to The Peak. Walking is the best travel mode, but walking in the crowds and street after street of places for few days were somehow stressful, not forgetting slung baby Bomber when she took a nap or two in Ocean Park and Disneyland under the scorching hot weather. As my papa was a bit weak in terms of walking (he relies on car very much back home in KL), there was usually 1 highlight of each day following by city discovery. So that he could returned to hotel for resting, if we continued our journey to shopping (Don't you think shopping is the best way to explore HK;p). Mum was tired too, but curious enough to join our exploratory till late night. We had some mother-daughter's chit-chatting along the way, she gave me a sense that, as their age is catching up, she sees it as a rare opportunity for them to join us traveling. [She was referring to my grandma who is now 90 years old and too weak to travel even she is desired coming to S'pore to visit me.]

It was heartening to know that they cherish the moments of holding hands of little Bomber, Marry-go-round with Jiejie and having 3 generations to sit down together and enjoy a nice Hong Kong style breakfast. I believe that they will miss the cheeky smiles of the little ones and the little ones will remember that, once upon a time, they went to Disneyland with gong gong and popo... I think even if consumptive walking, theme parks or shopping malls or food hunting were not their cups of tea, we created a chance of bonding for all.

All were tired, included me. Bomber slept tight in the carrier.

There isn't much pictures to show the lovely moment of ours. SC was also occupied with navigation to search for food for direction, photography (anything but us) and Jiejie. Me? I was keeping the little Bomber and my mum and my dad full accompany! Ha~! I had been nice:). [No complaint heard thus far^^.]

It was a exhausted but hearty trip.

Great sense of achievement

2011-06-17T14:38:00.006+08:00

It is done! Finally.

All by my self.

This is the first thing I have accomplished with my sewing machine (yes, it is new)

in between the quirky moments from the girls.

Great sense of achievement.

It is not perfectly sewed though.

There are few part that needed to be hand-sew to seam the fabric together

There is a square with patterned stitch sewn in the middle of padded seat cover
just to give it more strength.

Sewing, seems to give me a lesson that,
I need to be versatile to overcome an imperfection.
I need to be creative to improve a creation.
I need to be meticulous and patience with little things.

So It is really a good sense of achievement for this piece of work.
Which will be a gratitude from me to Adelene,

who babysits little Bomber and sometime on jiejie.
who given me an opportunity and a task.

I just hope that she likes it!

New Padded Seat for an Old Pram

2011-06-02T14:17:00.026+08:00

The state of a super well-used lightweight pram which is about 13-15 years old.

As we love it soOoo much and SC refuses to change it... due to the following reasons:

1) it is lightweight and super convenience for outing,

2) we may require the use of a stroller when outing with Bomber for just another 1 or 2 years more (no point buying another new stroller);

3) the frame and wheels are in proper condition.

So, I had an idea to re-learn sewing and make a personalized padded seat.

With the help of Yvette through email and Rosie through hands-on, I had just sewn a padded seat cover for the pram. [btw, HY chose the vibrant colour of the fabric]

Both Yvette and Rosie are wonderful ladies. Yvette is very kind, she replied me a long email from what model (of sewing machine) to get as a start to where to head to for lesson. I will definitely fail this task without her kindness. She recommended Rosie if I wanted to start an open-lesson plan. Rosie is the distributor of Bernina in Singapore. She was very patience in guiding me. She advised on the design and she was flexible on the time of the lesson (clumsy hands of mine caused a pro-longed hours of learning). We had a good chat over the lesson. Oh, she speaks Cantonese excellently.

[Rosie's Place can be found here. She has a very good range of fabric to choose and buy.]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

I must confess, I didn't keep my promise on sewing until 2 years (or coming to 3 years) later. Well, I was full of guilt for not proceeding further ever since the lesson with Pauline. The true is, I was not confident, on my clumsy hands when comes to thread and needles. I was afraid that getting the sewing machine, which may means getting a white elephant home. At the same time, I have too little time in handling too many things between kids and work. Or I should say, I'm bad in time management.

Completing that padded seat cover marvels me a lot.

The new padded seat cover attracted Adelene, little Bomber's babysitter. She has a same old pram like mine, which pretty much same torn apart of the padded seat. She still using it, for those babies under her care. But, I can't find a time to shop, measure and sew until our return from HK trip (will blog about it later).

It is very much work-in-progress at the moment.

Anyway, If you have same model of Combi Stroller and have the same problem as ours, I don't mind to work on 3rd piece. Seriously. Just leave a comment here:).

Good Day.

Apr 2011: A Dedication

2011-05-23T17:36:00.029+08:00

Jag, a Nepalese colleague of mine, have just left us, back to her homeland.

She was unable to renew her employment pass. I was sad, we were not expecting it. HR tried to appeal but fail, she had to hand-over her works within two days and have to leave the country in a month's time.

It was kind of provoking to me that, sometime, you may not get what you think or plan for your life, be it next few days or next few years. Some one will "plan" for you, or something will trigger another thing that will affecting your way forward in your life. Of course, most of the time, there is a reason, whether we like it or not. Nothing can be done but to pack (physically and emotionally) and leave the place. Sadly.

For the next 1 whole month before her return, we couldn't do much but organised dinner/lunch/gift(s), ensured that no rumor is spread; I had to take over most part of her works and organised my self in prober manner. I didn't get to clear my mind and sit down to do a scrapbook for her until the day she left on the jet plane... last Friday. I felt gloomy when i woke up from my bed, sensed the parting is heavy inside me in dawn.

Hence, I digi-scrapped. in. the. office. when boss and buddy were out for meeting.

credits: template by Yin; elements by Fei Fei's Stuff.

Knowing that it will be another beginning of a new adventure for her (and hopefully us too, bringing HY and little bomber to visit her in Kathmandu).

I feel happy now. I reckon she is too.

Mar 2011: Wushu Test

2011-04-30T21:37:00.149+08:00

Jiejie had completed another wushu test in March 2011.

She passed it! She then elevated to another class... grade 2, I suppose. I didn't ask much. Just too happy to know that she is elevated:).

Many asked us why Jiejie is attending wushu. Well, she didn't choose it. It was our intention to enroll her, so that the exercise will help to build her confidence level, train her discipline and hopefully, strengthen her health and self-defence.

But as of now, baby steps, for us and for her. It will be a long way for her to learn the techniques and approaches.

The centre conducts the test bi-yearly, just to see the students' proficiency level of wushu. Jiejie had been through the test twice (first test was in 2010), hence she had fun than stress this time.

Besides what is shown below, she also required to do side split, frontal split (both left and right), back arch, vertical jump and shuttle run.

She is attending wushu here.

Mar 2011: Our Happiness

2011-04-28T16:19:00.003+08:00

I am off from work to take care little Bomber today.

She is inflamed, throat inflamed.

Together with flu and fever, enough to make her mad,

enough to make me miserable!

Then I scrapbook this layout in between the tiredness.

Then I realise how adorable is she,

how marvels she is in term of achieving each milestone.

How much baby fat lost since then;

how little time I spend with her.

Hence it is a joy to see every single little things of kids.

Lego play; cycling at the corridor; phone fun;

even seeing her do homework is a joy to me:).

First Saturday of March, we had a staycation in Mutiara Hotal, JB.

A quiet celebration of little Bomber's 1st birthday;

A very short getaway for us to cari makan (literally look for food)

and jalan-jalan (sightseeing).

It was also

an opportunity for me to relax and watch the kids goofing around,

simple happiness, big contentment.

credit: Shazbutt's Digi-Scrapz; Fei Fei's stuff; Amy Hutchinson

When There is Only Little Bomber and Me

2011-04-03T14:21:00.007+08:00

...Life seems simpler.

I just need to focus on her needs, stick with her accordingly and well, cook bigger pot of baby food (cause I need to eat too) twice today. I reckon I was too much in the role of mum and wife, too nitty gritty in handling the living of the big boy and the little girl. So much so I feel a lighter self today. I don't need to crack my head of what to prepare for lunch and dinner to attract their appetite; I don't need to repeat my self like a broken CD player at them for doing things that annoy me (ha!); I just think of my self what to eat, what to do and what show to watch. It is just me (and bomber), me (and bomber) and me today! It marvels me! They must be having the same feeling too, get to break away from nagging mama for two days.

I probably exhausted before today? Never think how much alright I am without them. How little I would want to check and call how have they been and enjoy.

They are out of town for "Ching Ming" for about 56 hours. Minus off the working Friday, full Saturday of just Bomber and my self is ...peacefully simpler.

Somehow, I am glad that little Bomber is with me. The fact is she isn't really sticky, it was me who can't devote my whole attention to her. She must be very happy that she owns mama fully today! In fact both of us spend quality time together today. We strolled to market and got her sweet pumpkin and fresh fish meat; trimmed her hair before bathing even though she didn't like it. I literally glued to her most of the time, watching her trying to understand my instruction and improving her walking skill, wobbly though. Best of all, I got a part time cleaner to finish up the dirty work for me! So I have whole full day to make her giggling and giggling to me.

Life is simpler with just little Bomber and me. For once in a blue moon.

So I quickly complete a backlog post:). Best of all, I managed to figure out how to enlarge my image here, wuahahaha!

It reminds me that, life can't be just little Bomber and me for too long.

Mar 2011: her first year

2011-03-05T03:41:00.014+08:00

I'm thrilled as my project is up. At the same time, i'm drained with all the day to day mummy's and wife's work (i probably will be silent from here for a while). Nevertheless, It is her first year, it is her big day. She deserved a page of scrapbook to celebrate her happiness.

and mama's joy.

click to view bigger page

credit: Michelle Coleman, FeiFei's and Angelica.

Feb 2011: an ordinary day

2011-03-01T00:29:00.009+08:00

One of our ordinary stay-home weekend... the very last Sunday of February.

Kids are...

admiring the scene and people outside of the window;

exploring the simplest toys and inventing a new way of playing;

decorating their room with wall sticker to enhance the ownership:).

Not forgetting, the big boy tried and error on his photography skill.

Thank God for a beautiful ordinary day.

Credits: Deca Designs, Editorial Inspiration Color Rub-on from Katie Pertiet; Photo Frame from Lindsay Jane Designs.

Feb 2011: C. N. Y.

2011-02-22T09:38:00.012+08:00

Credits: LDD_Michelle Coleman

Inspiration: Pink and Orange Theme from Layla's Party:)

Jan 2011: New Year

2011-02-16T09:13:00.018+08:00

Our first day of 2011, we were in KL:

Kids were having fun while mum was busy with the dinner preparation and I was snapping on them.
Jiejie made gun out of her limited pieces of lego, perhaps it is the simplest way of constructing a toy.
Little Bomber was holding a card from KH, whom we met on the very last day of 2010.
Dinner was ready. The important of having everyone to sit down together for a meal is cultivating slowly toward the younger generation now.
No, it was not anyone birthday. It was overdue celebration from a daughter who stay far apart from her mum and wanted to create a opportunity to blow the candles together with the little ones.
See, their smiles were so beautiful. Immediately after the singing, Jiejie blew the candles without waiting for popo. Everyone stunned a few second then laugh!
Not to mention, mum also prepared little Bomber's puree as her dinner. It was (purple) sweet potato with porridge.
Love her grin, she must be very satisfied with her purple meal.

****************************

My mum taught me about Winter Solstice since i was very young. It's usually on the 21 or 22 of December. "To the common people, the Winter Solstice meant a happy get-together... the making of tangyuan (glutinous rise ball) plays an important part in this festive as it is symbolise reunion." For the past few years my mum kept the glutinous rice flour, waited for my revisit and made for me to enjoy. This time is a bit late, nevertheless it is mum's love and thoughtfulness.

Hy was very enthusiastic when my mum invited her to join the fun of making the glutinous rice balls.

Pandan leave ground for extracting the colouring
Rolling the flour dough into ball.
...to the perfect!
Paying attention to the lesson.
Proud Jiejie enjoying her bowl of glutinous rice balls soup
Grandpa too, could not miss his share:).

Both layouts done separately, in wee hours while the kids and SC were in their dreamland. These are simple layout, but to a mother of two, squeeze a time to sit down in front of the computer is always challenging. So I was exhilarated when I completed the first layout, cause i realise i did something simple to reminisce my happiness. I have working very hard lately in the office which usually a full day of brain cell damaged and hence lethargic by the time i reach home.

The mojo is kicking my butt. The kids' happiness is waking me up.
I hope to journal the joy of life and scrapbook the faces of the kids before i lost it, in a less taxing way though. As Bomber begins to explore the fun of her toys and things around her, she is less clingy to me. Project 365 for me perhaps?

****************************

Little Dreamer Designs is closing effectively from 15th March. Sad to know that Michelle is retiring as she always wow me with her vibrant creations. Do hop over to the store closing sales, you may find something charming.

credits: Click Photo Designs and Michelle Coleman @ LDD

Little Missy at 62 months old

2011-01-19T17:43:00.020+08:00

In a mother's eyes,

she is tiny.

Extra-ordinary "tiny".

If not because of little bomber,

I will not see her transforming into an ordinary child and a caring big sister.

The true is,

size doesn't really bother her.

Life goes on.

ups and downs.

bumpy and funny.

She becomes like a chirpy chick,

who care less about our response than keeping the conversation goes on.

sometime SC and I feel annoyed;

but some other time miss her badly when she is not with us.

She becomes sensible to our tiredness and busy.

Often offer to help in the kitchen or laundry.

Often, without hesitate to keep an eye on little bomber when ask to.

Often talk like a mummy to me, her mummy,

"Don't read newspaper anymore, I think you are tired, mummy!"

She becomes creative and surprise everyday to me.she begins to argue her wrong-doing and her funny act;she tries to blend in our talks and kids' brag;
she makes queer choice during dressing time;she makes nasty excuses during meal time.

oh well...

She is who she is.

A tiny, chirpy, sensible and creative preschooler.

who cares more about "I love you, mummy!"

and

"I promise I will be good girl"

I can't imagine life goes on without her...

*62 months old as of Nov 2010

our ordinary year - 2010

2011-01-09T23:30:00.032+08:00

Though this is late, better than nothing. It wasn't easy for me to do this... took me a month and a half to flip my scribbles here and there as well as status posted in FB. I see my self so much tardy in recording Little Bomber's growth and development; so lacking in jotting down Jiejie's laughs and chirps. SC almost lose his position in my priority list:(.

So I insist to do this post, 2010 is the year that made us a family of FOUR, a year that i needed to re-prioritise things in my life. I have to admit that I have not consistently do craft or kitchen fun with Jiejie for a long time which I feel bad about it. Our bedtime story or reading has become less demand from her due to diverted attention of mine to little Bomber. Adding a sister into the family does impact her a little, but she constantly show her loves to meimei which really melt my heart and reminded my self to squeeze time or her.

Anyway, we had tough time, breeze time and crazy time, when I look back, life is not as bad as I thought and we move forward.

JAN: Busy month on handing over (before went on maternity leave), at the same time rushing for posting a tender at work. Was preparing and counting down to the delivery day too... was hoping to have a early burst!

Jiejie attended her very first wushu test and she passed!

FEB: CNY time.
Stay in KL to celebrate CNY without hy and SC for the first time after 5 years. Missed them badly on one hand; cherished my family's love and care on the other.

MAR:
Felt rapid contraction on my birthday, dearest meimei then born the very next day.

Underwent the confinement month was like triathlon under a scorching afternoon, not physically but mentally and emotionally painful. At the same time I realised that I have to relearn so many things like nursing and engorgement, baby's jaundice and sleeping patterns, post-natal, managing Jiejie and baby paralleling, managing time and mood... Felt uneasy to my self even though mum and SC's aunt (took turns) to help out.

APR:
Horrified confinement month ended and my very first month as mother of two began. Learnt more about little meimei; geared my self toward a better M.O.T. Met and "interviewed" Adelene, the babysitter for meimei.

MAY:
Jiejie temporary withdrawn from her school and went back with me and meimei to stay in KL for loves and supports. Even though I was so glad to be home again, Jiejie missed her daddy very much; while meimei started to show her true colour, and got her name the titleof little Bomber . I was almost surrendered to her and broke my boundary to her, but mum taught me to reposition my self.

JUN:Resumed work in mid June, struggling badly between work, family and personal life. Digi-scrapbooking in between time relieved my tension.

JUL:
A challenging month when Jiejie had a battle with a very nasty bug.

AUG:
Marked my breastfeeding journey with little Bomber the 5th month. Learn more about breastfeeding while needed to take a full course of antibiotic.

SEP:
Celebrated Jiejie's 5th birthday in her "skool". She learnt her birthday is 24th September! I am grateful for 5 beautiful years of togetherness.

OCT:
With some help from mother in law, full time working mama of two managed well while daddy went to the State for 2 weeks of training. Sometime, I think I need a break from SC and don't mind to be stuck with the girls.

NOV:
Marked Little Bomber's 8 months old and made our first family trip to Perth.

DEC:Enjoyed to see Jiejie's beam to complete her art pieces.

Had a simple lunch with my very old friend in KL on the very last day of the year. She insisted, as we were not seeing each other since my last visit to her when she was in confinement after she gave birth to her son... though we chat regularly online. She was my best friends who i can afford to be stupid with, who is now a super mum herself.
Parenting is the major part of my life and kids may be tricky to handle at times, but I count my blessings:).

Bomber at 10 months old

2011-01-05T23:35:00.028+08:00

January the 5th, 2011 marked her 10 months of babyhood.

Also marked her first attempt to explore the staircases.

A flight of stairs in my mum's house calling her attention loudly...

She crawled toward it wobbly, determinedly.
Marvellously. Fearlessly.

Whole floor of toys became obstacles to her.
Nothing can distract her from the stairs.

No one can stop her moving forward.

Moving one arm with pushing off her opposite knee,

left then right.
Left, then right.

Occasionally tried to pull herself up to the handrail,

up and forth.

Up, and forth.

Every step she reached,
she will turn her head back to me and beam,

as if telling me that,

she conquered the stairs!

just like an explorer did to Mount Everest!

She is our proud, curious cruiser

who loves to surprise us day after day.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

New Year, New Resolution

New Dairy for mama to jot down
your milestones,
jiejie's everyday's quips, and
our happy and blessed moments.

Cheers to 2011!

Perth 2010: Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

2010-12-19T16:46:00.017+08:00

We went to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse right after the Lake Cave.
Considered the distance between both spectacular tourist attractions.
Considered it was the kids nap time, which can be done in the car, conveniently... haa...

It was not hard to find our way to the town of Augusta.
It was harder to find suitable food for the elderly as lunch.
We ended up having sandwiches at the Leeuwin Lighthouse cafe.

It was just A$5 to access the ground. We did not join the tour (A$15) as children like little Jiejie are not permitted to climb the tower... not sure why though.
The historic Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse near Augusta is situated at the most south westerly tip of Australia. It was good enough for me to tell Jiejie about lighthouse, the ocean and the cottages. Obviously she could not digest my "lesson". She probably understand what and why the lighthouse for, but she may not be able to imagine how and why was the living being away from the town.

I simply adore the blue and the white...

Bomber at 8 months, 2 weeks old: on the road

2010-12-14T10:57:00.024+08:00

Dear Meimei,

We, probably, the most inconsiderate parents of all.

Dragged you out from your comfort zone,
took you up to a flight in the middle of the night for so called vacation,
not to mention we mixed up your routine for the rest of the week.

You were barely 9 months old.We thought you are an outgoing babe and eager to see the world as much as your jiejie does.We thought we did the most planning and checking to reduce the impact of the change on you.
We thought more holding and cuddling will soothe your crankiness.
We really prepared beforehand.
But it was far more tricky than we thought.
You become fussy, clingy, grouchy;You developed separation anxiety, you wailed whenever I moved away from you, slightly though.
You saw an opportunity to test mama's boundary.
Mama became mazy, gloomy, numbly.
You were so much persistent than your jiejie in term of testing mama's limit.

I could not remember whether you became easier to handle, or I gave in more and more.

So long I was beside you, you will behave much better.

So long you were not stuck in the car seat and being transported from 1 place to another for too long, you will be more cheery.

You gazed intently to jolly jiejie, to the breezy beach, to the freely birds.

You gurgled, cooed and babbled when you are in good state. "jiejie" was slipping out from your mouth once or twice.

You attempted to crawl forward, but somehow backwards which equally amazed us as we know this is a step closer to your next milestone.

Not forgetting that, your upper central incisor started to pop out from your gum.

It was a sticky business to bring you on a trip... we survived.

It's part of the parenthood, we know.

And we think we should not stop here.

We probably should start travelling to Malaysia more often to orientate you,

As Daddy believes that you will be an exciting little traveller,

just like your sister. "Huh? We are not done?!!"

Perth 2010: Lake Cave

2010-12-13T15:40:00.019+08:00

Lake Cave is believed to be the most beautiful cave of Australia. Jiejie was told about going into a cave, and I prepared her by walking her through the gallery about limestones while waiting for our tour time to be called. She seemed enthused.

While waiting and having a cup of coffee in Lake Cave Tearooms, we were very much welcomed by the bush flies. Jiejie got annoyed totally, almost wanted to fight with them. We had a chat with the waiter (or the boss him self?) from the cafe and being introduced the Australian wave to sway the flies.

She was pleased then... until the tour started. With a walk through a wooden staircase of 350 steps to access to the bottom of the doline, she began to look unpleasant...

Once we were in the doline, the tour guide gave us the history, geology, and the "Do and Don't" about the Cave. Inside the cave is huge cave lake which is crossed on wooden planks with a handrail on one side.

Lake Cave is famous for its treasured formation, the "Suspended Table".

Different lights show different beauties and we gets a taste of sitting in the underground darkness.

What did I learn? Stalactites and Stalagmites.

and straw too

By the end of the tour, timid Jiejie can't wait to get out of the darkness.

It was very cooling inside the doline. I didn't feel too exhausted to climb the staircase up. Little Bomber was dozing away throughout the tour... gave me such a good time to enjoy the tour.

It was great to have a work out and an informative visit at the same time.

Perth 2010: where we stay in MR

2010-12-02T14:40:00.021+08:00

Judging from the pictures, I liked what i saw most in Stayz Holiday... but was really indecisive and spoiled by choices. Knowing that we have 2 elderly (with a special need on sight problem to take care of) and 2 kiddos, the room configuration and the ambient of the house/room became the utmost priority to be considering.

After a long browsing and checking, corresponding and few rounds of discussion with SC, I decided and confirmed on Gnarabup Beach House. As Jane replied my email that, "Downstairs - bedroom one has a queen bed, bedroom 2 has 3 singles ( a bunk and a single); Loft/mezzanine area - this is quite spacious but it shares airspace with the kitchen/lounge area and there is a double bed and a single up there...", I thought, we can just occupy the 2 rooms downstairs and skip the loft area. The location of the house is just 10 km away from the town of Margaret River.

The true is, it was the cheapest among all: A$160 per night per house that can fit comfortably 6 adults. [My second choice, which is very style and characteristic showing in the website, was A$310 per night per house]

Jiejie was super thrilled with the house: the verandah, the double volume of the kitchen/lounge space, and staircase. She was particularly very fond of the bunk bed, offered her self to sleep on the top bed while daddy slept below. The verandah was so inviting and made her willingly ate breakfast with daddy every morning (picture above); Not forgetting the big bathtub in the bathroom allowed both sisters had some water fun together! The wood heater that lightened up by daddy every night was an eye opening to her. You can see more on the house through here.

The neighbourhood seems quiet, I guess most of them like us, ain't local, rented a house there and were out every morning and return to the house around 5 or 6 in the afternoon. We did not get to meet the owner of the house. Perhaps they watched us from far. The house was not big, but is a good size for Jiejie to mingle around. It was like vacant for a long time, webby ceiling when you look up, dusty air when light shine in... imagine you are like powdering the sofa once you get up from the seat.. :p (it bothered me a little). Clean bathroom though. Good thing is that it provided a washing machine and we brought our own linen to make our selves comfortable:).

It would be prefect if the house is cleaner. But... somehow, I'm glad that the house wasn't haunted ;p and we checked-out the house peacefully (and little bomber slept through the nights).

Perth 2010: Gnarabup Beach

2010-11-23T13:43:00.020+08:00

I reckon this is Gnarabup Beach, in Margaret River. Supposedly, 10 minutes away from where we stay. But... I returned with little bomber after 10 minutes of walk as I could not see the beach any close to where I stopped. Despite the terrain, it was too chill for a baby to join the stroll. It was chill for me. Anyway, it is a beautiful shoreline and some long stretches of white sand. Learnt that, this is an ideal playground for surfers.

We ain't surfers. But it doesn't bore them to appreciating the nature. It became a wonderful opportunity for Jiejie and papa to act and to snap with the nature... wonder what was she pretending.

Many of the pictures taken by SC kind of blur to show the beauty of the nature, but it can tell that she can simply turned a beautiful beachside a fun stage for her imaginative-play; that the daddy and daughter had a remarkable "connection" time together.

While I was glued with little bomber cozily in the house, the weather seemed getting cooler and turning dark. It nerved me when I was waiting the return of them, ha!

Blamed SC for causing hy returned with a runny nose, even though I see the beaming face of my girl.

Perth 2010: Busselton

2010-11-22T00:05:00.037+08:00

I didn't snap or record much for the trip. Iphone was idle most of the time. The following pictures are all by SC. I thought that i should enjoying the trip less tense and just attend to my little ones fully. Honestly, this was a good trip for me to learn and survive from a grouchy baby and a curious pre-schooler.

This is our second visit to Perth. Mainly to get away from humid concrete jungle of Singapore as well as to reminisce Jiejie's memories of being far and cold. We have stop travel back to Malaysia by plane ever since SC bought the car. When she knew about our trip to Perth, she once asked, "can we take car to Australia?" Oppss, she has forgotten about aeroplane.

Our destination this time is to visit Margaret River. We stopped half way in Busselton mainly to see the famous Busselton Jetty, even though the Underwater Observatory is closed due to restoration, I just couldn't resist to stop by and have a close look of the picturesque jetty my self. I was intrigued by the simplicity of the blue formed by the sea, skyline and the wooden jetty that stretched nearly up to 2km towards the sea.

When we reached Busselton, it was almost 5pm. We were kind of panic as we know that most business in Australia closed at the dot of 5 (most days). But we were lucky that Sunday, we found Gale Street Motel and Villas which offered a Villa (of 2 bedrooms) at the cost of $170. Ya, I took the risk and did not book the accommodation in advance. It was the 2nd day of the trip, I was a little unconfident that we were able to depart from Perth as kids may need extra time to adjust themselve to the change.

Anyway, we were glad that we drove away from Perth city and reached Busselton, a bit late though. After checked-in, we immediately went to the one and only store which opened until 7pm that day (advised by the Motel receptionist).

While SC's aunt was preparing dinner and I was glued to little bomber, SC took Jiejie to the beach for a stroll and shooting... It was a cold windy evening.

Busselton Jetty is on the doorstep of Gale Street Motel and Villas. We went there after our breakfast and checked-out from the Motel the next morning.

It was breezy, but little Bomber was wearing 4 pieces of clothes, a pair of legging and booties. She was curious but she was tired too... She had a terrible sleepless night, wailed almost every hour without a clear reason. Yeah, very pitiful. So was the mum!

On the other hand, Jiejie was thrilled when she knew that she had another opportunity to have sand play.

She was happily occupied with the white, infinite ground and her limited tools... plus daddy's tripod. She was wearing a pair of long pants and 4 pieces of tops too... But I reckon she had a bit of work out, she took off piece by piece slowly.

It has been so long that I forgotten about the blueish part of the nature, the breezy and calm morning...

witnessing a simple joy of a child.

as well as admiring those lucky birds...

Telling my self that I am a blessed girl to have such relaxing morning hanging out by the beach with the family...

The first 50 meter of the jetty is still permitted, so we went to the Interpretive Centre for some souvenirs.

travel tips

2010-11-10T11:13:00.026+08:00

If you are intend to bring your child(ren) for a trip, do read from Christie.
Childhood101 given a very thorough list of tips and tricks about traveling with kids, which helped very much on my initial planning. Especially the one reminded me to call SQ for requesting a set of baby food for little bomber. After all, my experience was 3 years ago, my memory is fading...

Christie also given a very comprehensive list on things to pack and go. Skipped the "Sleeping" part, the rest of my list were similar to hers:

Essential:
- passport, valid visa and Re-entry Permit for our case
- family travel insurance [I got ours from Tenet]
- brief trip itinerary, include booked accommodation and car rental detail
- baby stroller and car seat
- pacifier for baby!

Feeding:
- a nursing cover for breastfeeding
- a small bag of cereal plus baby biscuit for baby
- few package of HY's favourite Oreo cookies
Out and About:
- a small bag with: sunblock, body lotion & lip gloss
- sunglasses & hat
- water bottle(s)
- nappies and nappy change kit
- extra clothing & socks for kids
- baby blanket
- sling/baby carrier
- entertainment: soft toy for baby and notepad+colour pencil for HY
Basic First Aid Kit:
- paracetamol
- thermometer
- Johnson and Johnson anti mosquito lotion (just in case...)
- Mopiko, anti itching cream
Electrical and Devices:
covered by SC, mainly camera, phone charger, powerpoint adaptor, even included his laptop! He loaned the Garmin GPS from office to read the map that we downloaded from our friend who stay in Perth now.

We brought the bulky car seat for little Bomber. Mainly to save the money from renting it from the car rental agency. We went to Australia 2 times, and car seat has been in a box and on the plane 2 times. Talking about it, I can't believe that we did and we are going to do it again. I guess it is all SC's effort. His credit, absolutely. He usually weight all our luggage (and the car seat in a box as well) before leaving the house to airport. Just to make sure we are not exceeding the limit of luggage weight to check-in.

On top of that, I also included a thermal flask and small slow cooker for the purpose to cook & keep baby's porridge. What I have missed was an immersion hand mixer. Instead, I brought my regular steel sieve to make puree.

Another personal advice for travelling with kiddos is that, travel with others. Friends or family who can help to share the burden on handle travel hiccups (if any) or help to divert kid's anxious or meltdown. Afterall, this is first trip for baby Bomber, I thought, with addition members to join us for travelling, firstly, HY will have companions. Secondly, SC and I would not be octopus parents who juggling among baby's whines, HY's curiosity, navigating and sightseeing or meal time. We were considering Perth because SC's aunt and uncle are staying there. SC's aunt is a very thoughtful elderly who cares for kids. She bought extra clothing to keep them warm and she has the right food and tidbits to keep HY munches most of the time; she also borrow snakes and ladders from her friends to keep HY entertained. By the way, she cooked while we were in Busselton/Margaret River and she brought us the nice Chinese restaurants for food (being old Chinese, they prefer rice) in Perth. I basically just need to attend to the anxious baby Bomber, sticky business though.

Seeing the world with the little ones was priceless. Honestly, HY enjoyed the trip tremendously! I enjoyed seeing her beaming from one place to another:). I will dig time to continue writing like i previously did.

getting set...

2010-11-05T23:50:00.007+08:00

We will be leaving on a jet plane very soon^^. And I have piles of stuff to pack, a long list of things to strike off and tons of reading to do prior to the trip! On top of these, gotto "fix" hy's asthma which was triggered by the haze 3 weeks ago and xy's sudden fever yesterday.

too many things; too little time. I wonder how do other travel parents plan and execute their itinerary.

Anyway, I guess nothing is impossible if we are so exhilarate and determine. Come to think about the previous trip, it was remarkably fun; it is unforgettable bliss.

So, i continue my last part of preparation...

And getting set to see the world through the eyes of the little ones:).