our happy girl!
scribbled at 1:40 pm
.::.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
christmas potluck on boxing day
too much food that day! there was beehoon, chicken curry (with french loaf & even rice!), roasted chicken, baked potato, pizza and ice-cream!
it's too much of a coincidence - there were actually two pairs of santa&santees this year - hj&xp and jack&me actually exchanged presents! i think this is the first time in so many years! jack gave me a parenting book (yay, thanks to my HINT!) - it's a good-read and extremely useful for first time mummies like me, i couldn't resist the temptation and started reading abit once i reached home that night, even though it was already past midnight. :-) i bought jack an adidas tee, kind of retro-styed - well, not a very creative present 'cos there's really not alot of time to shop these days!
well, even little ashley had her share of presents from all her uncles&aunties - a giraffe stuffed toy from daniel&hj, a fisher-price rattle from xp, and an alphabet origami book from lion&jack. thank you, folks!!!
it's little ashley's first christmas! we're very thankful for the joy that she has brought us, and that she is growing well, and is such a happy little baby. merry christmas, our little precious. :-)
scribbled at 9:22 pm
.::.
too much food that day! there was beehoon, chicken curry (with french loaf & even rice!), roasted chicken, baked potato, pizza and ice-cream!
it's too much of a coincidence - there were actually two pairs of santa&santees this year - hj&xp and jack&me actually exchanged presents! i think this is the first time in so many years! jack gave me a parenting book (yay, thanks to my HINT!) - it's a good-read and extremely useful for first time mummies like me, i couldn't resist the temptation and started reading abit once i reached home that night, even though it was already past midnight. :-) i bought jack an adidas tee, kind of retro-styed - well, not a very creative present 'cos there's really not alot of time to shop these days!
well, even little ashley had her share of presents from all her uncles&aunties - a giraffe stuffed toy from daniel&hj, a fisher-price rattle from xp, and an alphabet origami book from lion&jack. thank you, folks!!!
it's little ashley's first christmas! we're very thankful for the joy that she has brought us, and that she is growing well, and is such a happy little baby. merry christmas, our little precious. :-)
Saturday, December 26, 2009
what i got from the hubby...
OAKLEY DART
and the card says... "so that you can be the coolest mummy around!" :-)
... and i didn't get him anything this year, oops!
scribbled at 2:54 pm
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and the card says... "so that you can be the coolest mummy around!" :-)
... and i didn't get him anything this year, oops!
christmas eve
with so many kids in the group, i think there's no way we can have such celebrations outside... maybe till the kids are old enough and we can dump them at home! each couple brought a dish to giles&wen's place (giles made pasta)... there's roasted chicken from us, a mashed potato dish from the liews (hey pauline, remember to let me have the recipe!), strawberry cheesecake from the watts (super sinful but good!) and a huge sushi tray from the tays (now i know where to get good sushi trays for parties - sakuraya!). anyway, it's actually my first attempt at roasting chicken and i really should have thought of making this for parties earlier, 'cos it's super easy - very little preparation required plus you really can't go wrong with the taste! go google for jamie oliver's roasted chicken and you'll find the recipe.
with the kiddos! oh, we're missing josiah here! our first christmas with ashley and vaughn... and that's ashley kicking vaughn! our little girl's not very friendly huh.
christmas exchange!
scribbled at 2:35 pm
.::.
with so many kids in the group, i think there's no way we can have such celebrations outside... maybe till the kids are old enough and we can dump them at home! each couple brought a dish to giles&wen's place (giles made pasta)... there's roasted chicken from us, a mashed potato dish from the liews (hey pauline, remember to let me have the recipe!), strawberry cheesecake from the watts (super sinful but good!) and a huge sushi tray from the tays (now i know where to get good sushi trays for parties - sakuraya!). anyway, it's actually my first attempt at roasting chicken and i really should have thought of making this for parties earlier, 'cos it's super easy - very little preparation required plus you really can't go wrong with the taste! go google for jamie oliver's roasted chicken and you'll find the recipe.
with the kiddos! oh, we're missing josiah here! our first christmas with ashley and vaughn... and that's ashley kicking vaughn! our little girl's not very friendly huh.
christmas exchange!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
ashley's baby friends
stole the collage from wen's blog, hehe! it was the first time i'm out with ashley ALONE, but of course i'm not as brave as wen and pauline who took the train to town - mummy has grandpa as the chauffeur especially since it's for the precious granddaughter. :-) wen suggested we do a mummy&baby outing (no daddies, please) since we're all on leave, and as she puts it - before we go back to slavery! we were looking for japanese food (i thought rice was way easier than noodles with ashley in the sling in front of me), but sad to say, the restaurants were either already packed, or were not baby friendly... SOOOooo we actually ended up at the xin wang at ion orchard, argh! just for info, we meet at the kovan xin wang 80% of the time, and i was actually quite sick of the menu at one point of my pregancy. we did some window-shopping and ended up at the coffee club at paragon for dessert and drinks... and mind you, the cafes in orchard were actually packed with tai-tais and the lucky folks who are clearing leave during this festive season! thank god ashley, vaughn and josiah were all pretty well-behaved, so that's hope for future baby outings!
and that's ashley with mummy to help clear her poo!
scribbled at 3:15 pm
.::.
stole the collage from wen's blog, hehe! it was the first time i'm out with ashley ALONE, but of course i'm not as brave as wen and pauline who took the train to town - mummy has grandpa as the chauffeur especially since it's for the precious granddaughter. :-) wen suggested we do a mummy&baby outing (no daddies, please) since we're all on leave, and as she puts it - before we go back to slavery! we were looking for japanese food (i thought rice was way easier than noodles with ashley in the sling in front of me), but sad to say, the restaurants were either already packed, or were not baby friendly... SOOOooo we actually ended up at the xin wang at ion orchard, argh! just for info, we meet at the kovan xin wang 80% of the time, and i was actually quite sick of the menu at one point of my pregancy. we did some window-shopping and ended up at the coffee club at paragon for dessert and drinks... and mind you, the cafes in orchard were actually packed with tai-tais and the lucky folks who are clearing leave during this festive season! thank god ashley, vaughn and josiah were all pretty well-behaved, so that's hope for future baby outings!
and that's ashley with mummy to help clear her poo!
Monday, December 21, 2009
tummy time!
ashley with mr caterpillar during tummy time! do you see daddy in the background rushing to get tissue paper to wipe off her drool? haha!
scribbled at 7:15 pm
.::.
ashley with mr caterpillar during tummy time! do you see daddy in the background rushing to get tissue paper to wipe off her drool? haha!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
happy 1st year!
we celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary at the tavern pub & restaurant (and without little ashley). the restaurant was dim and quiet, with european styled furnishing, making us reminisce about our honeymoon in switzerland one year ago... although we didn't choose to have cheese fondue again, haha! well, the tavern is the first place i've been to that doesn't provide a proper menu... the dishes were all written on a chalkboard which was wheeled to us just after we were seated. we had half a dozen of escargots as an appetiser and a steak each, highly recommended by the waiter serving us - mine was the us prime rib steak while his was the wagyu steak (see i always let the hubby have the better dish since we get to taste both anyway). the waiter actually brought out the beef pieces to show us, before cutting and weighing each slice - it was 200g for him, and 180g for me (a little too much for me). the steak was definitely good - juicy and tender, and the fats within really melted in my mouth, definitely better than lawry's... and it better be for the price we paid! oops, or rather, for what the hubby paid! but if you ask me, i may not choose to go there again... perhaps morton's for a different experience.
scribbled at 11:37 am
.::.
we celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary at the tavern pub & restaurant (and without little ashley). the restaurant was dim and quiet, with european styled furnishing, making us reminisce about our honeymoon in switzerland one year ago... although we didn't choose to have cheese fondue again, haha! well, the tavern is the first place i've been to that doesn't provide a proper menu... the dishes were all written on a chalkboard which was wheeled to us just after we were seated. we had half a dozen of escargots as an appetiser and a steak each, highly recommended by the waiter serving us - mine was the us prime rib steak while his was the wagyu steak (see i always let the hubby have the better dish since we get to taste both anyway). the waiter actually brought out the beef pieces to show us, before cutting and weighing each slice - it was 200g for him, and 180g for me (a little too much for me). the steak was definitely good - juicy and tender, and the fats within really melted in my mouth, definitely better than lawry's... and it better be for the price we paid! oops, or rather, for what the hubby paid! but if you ask me, i may not choose to go there again... perhaps morton's for a different experience.
our brave gal
ashley went for her hepb jab (2nd dose) last friday...
(1) the poor girl sleeping in the car seat again, not knowing what she was up for! she probably thought we're out shopping again, hehe.
(2) she's already 5.1kg at about six weeks - we were quite surprised to know that her weight is at the 97th percentile, and her height (or length) at 55cm is at the 90th percentile. growing well, huh!
(3) our little gal being held by daddy as the needle went into her right thigh, it was just a short (and surprisingly soft) shriek with her whole face turning red - i think i was more afraid than she was! she actually calmed down in a few seconds, and was back to sleep as we waited for a short while in case of any possible immediate reactions. what a brave gal!
(4) relieved parents!
scribbled at 10:51 am
.::.
ashley went for her hepb jab (2nd dose) last friday...
(1) the poor girl sleeping in the car seat again, not knowing what she was up for! she probably thought we're out shopping again, hehe.
(2) she's already 5.1kg at about six weeks - we were quite surprised to know that her weight is at the 97th percentile, and her height (or length) at 55cm is at the 90th percentile. growing well, huh!
(3) our little gal being held by daddy as the needle went into her right thigh, it was just a short (and surprisingly soft) shriek with her whole face turning red - i think i was more afraid than she was! she actually calmed down in a few seconds, and was back to sleep as we waited for a short while in case of any possible immediate reactions. what a brave gal!
(4) relieved parents!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
i can feel the christmas spirit!
we made it to orchard with ashley!
scribbled at 7:32 pm
.::.
we made it to orchard with ashley!
Monday, December 14, 2009
a tiring weekend!
FINALLY a proper family outing to vivocity last friday! however, ashley was rather cranky inside swensens. first of all, it was milk-time so i had to feed her as we placed our orders - can't even flip through the menu in peace! then she refused to be left inside the stroller, started wailing, and only quietened down when we took turns to carry and rock her. we gave up on the stroller half-way through our meal, and decided to put her into the pupsik sling (she was crying her lungs out as we placed her in!)... and eventually, she went into deep sleep - woohoo! i had her in the sling almost the entire evening as we shopped around (rather quickly); gone were the days where we could window-shop for hours! and i guess the sling is a must-bring everytime we take her out.
this was saturday at west coast plaza - this time round, she was totally knocked out and was asleep as we went shopping at the nike factory outlet shop, followed by dinner at sakae sushi. PEACE. :-)
we went back to west coast plaza on sunday (no choice, that's the most decent place near my house) where we had chinese dinner with my dad&mum. i'm not sure of the name of the shop, but the set meal of 5 dishes meant for 4-6 persons at $68.80 was a pretty good deal (no additional service charge/GST, and comes with free drinks!)... no wonder the crowd! other than needing a feed during mealtime (poor daddy got to feed her while we eat, haa!), ashley was pretty well-behaved. :-) guess it's time to explore more challenging places...... like ORCHARD...... TONIGHT!
scribbled at 10:11 am
.::.
FINALLY a proper family outing to vivocity last friday! however, ashley was rather cranky inside swensens. first of all, it was milk-time so i had to feed her as we placed our orders - can't even flip through the menu in peace! then she refused to be left inside the stroller, started wailing, and only quietened down when we took turns to carry and rock her. we gave up on the stroller half-way through our meal, and decided to put her into the pupsik sling (she was crying her lungs out as we placed her in!)... and eventually, she went into deep sleep - woohoo! i had her in the sling almost the entire evening as we shopped around (rather quickly); gone were the days where we could window-shop for hours! and i guess the sling is a must-bring everytime we take her out.
this was saturday at west coast plaza - this time round, she was totally knocked out and was asleep as we went shopping at the nike factory outlet shop, followed by dinner at sakae sushi. PEACE. :-)
we went back to west coast plaza on sunday (no choice, that's the most decent place near my house) where we had chinese dinner with my dad&mum. i'm not sure of the name of the shop, but the set meal of 5 dishes meant for 4-6 persons at $68.80 was a pretty good deal (no additional service charge/GST, and comes with free drinks!)... no wonder the crowd! other than needing a feed during mealtime (poor daddy got to feed her while we eat, haa!), ashley was pretty well-behaved. :-) guess it's time to explore more challenging places...... like ORCHARD...... TONIGHT!
Friday, December 11, 2009
ashley's first trip to clementi central
well, it may sound pathetic but it's also mummy's first proper trip out of the house (excluding the hospital visit for follow-up checks and the first month party). so far, ashley seems to like being in her stroller and infant car seat (which also serves as a rocker). :-)
scribbled at 3:29 pm
.::.
well, it may sound pathetic but it's also mummy's first proper trip out of the house (excluding the hospital visit for follow-up checks and the first month party). so far, ashley seems to like being in her stroller and infant car seat (which also serves as a rocker). :-)
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
ashley is one month old!
taken from ivillage.com:
By the end of month one a baby typically:
- Lifts head for short periods of time
- Moves head from side to side
- Prefers the human face to other shapes
- Makes jerky, arm movements
- Brings hands to face
- Has strong reflex movements
- Can focus on items 8 to 12 inches away
- May turn towards familiar sounds or voices
- Responds to loud sounds
- Blinks at bright lights
actually, i'm not sure if she can all of the above, but i suppose most of them. i only started her tummy exercise yesterday, and i noticed that she could lift her head momentarily while struggling to move forward. however, she got tired after only a few minutes, started wailing and then dozed off to sleep almost immediately when i carried her! lazy bum, i think she needs more daily exercise! she doesn't have a problem moving her head from side to side; she always tend to lie on her right (preferred side) even when we put her down on her left. i'm also not worried about her arm (and leg) movements since day one - she pushed/kicked away her swaddling blanket till we totally gave up swaddling her, and also used to kick off her pants in the middle of the night 'cos they were still too loose (not anymore with her big tummy). as for her visual development, we were glad when we noticed her gazing at her musical mobile about a week ago and started to be able to track its movements - she finally found interest in it, probably because she can see it clearly! but i'm not sure if she responds to loud sounds though... when daddy burst a balloon accidentally when i was bottle-feeding her, it was me who got startled while she continued sucking, really strange. but since she passed her hearing tests, i guess there's nothing to worry about. well well, there's so much to worry about being parents, sigh!
scribbled at 12:21 pm
.::.
taken from ivillage.com:
By the end of month one a baby typically:
- Lifts head for short periods of time
- Moves head from side to side
- Prefers the human face to other shapes
- Makes jerky, arm movements
- Brings hands to face
- Has strong reflex movements
- Can focus on items 8 to 12 inches away
- May turn towards familiar sounds or voices
- Responds to loud sounds
- Blinks at bright lights
actually, i'm not sure if she can all of the above, but i suppose most of them. i only started her tummy exercise yesterday, and i noticed that she could lift her head momentarily while struggling to move forward. however, she got tired after only a few minutes, started wailing and then dozed off to sleep almost immediately when i carried her! lazy bum, i think she needs more daily exercise! she doesn't have a problem moving her head from side to side; she always tend to lie on her right (preferred side) even when we put her down on her left. i'm also not worried about her arm (and leg) movements since day one - she pushed/kicked away her swaddling blanket till we totally gave up swaddling her, and also used to kick off her pants in the middle of the night 'cos they were still too loose (not anymore with her big tummy). as for her visual development, we were glad when we noticed her gazing at her musical mobile about a week ago and started to be able to track its movements - she finally found interest in it, probably because she can see it clearly! but i'm not sure if she responds to loud sounds though... when daddy burst a balloon accidentally when i was bottle-feeding her, it was me who got startled while she continued sucking, really strange. but since she passed her hearing tests, i guess there's nothing to worry about. well well, there's so much to worry about being parents, sigh!
Monday, December 07, 2009
funny pics!
hahaha, wen just sent over these funny photofunia pics, haha!
& more pics of her and vaughn - vaughn was keeping quiet (apparently typical of him before he poos!), and ashley almost boxed him!
scribbled at 2:33 pm
.::.
hahaha, wen just sent over these funny photofunia pics, haha!
& more pics of her and vaughn - vaughn was keeping quiet (apparently typical of him before he poos!), and ashley almost boxed him!
ashley is one month old...well, almost!
we went back home last weekend for ashley's full month party. (for those of you who don't know, i'm actually doing my confinement at my mum's, and will be staying here most of the time till i go back to work). initially, we were afraid she might not get used to her new cot or the new surroundings... but thankfully, our worries were unfounded, and she adapted pretty well to her cot in our bedroom. that's the picture of her sleeping soundly after her morning bath and before the guests arrived. all while daddy was busy blowing and tying balloons, and decorating the house - good job, daddy!
pictures taken with the family! as you can see, my mum had to carry her almost the entire afternoon, and she actually slept through the noise in grandma's arms, waking up only for her two-hourly feeds. the manja queen title really suits her perfectly - pauline, thanks for custom-making the rompers, it's so cute we had to make her wear it for her party, she might just hate us for that later on, haha! (oh yes, btw, baby vaughn has the matching manja king rompers - see pic below, hee!)
lastly, here are some of the random shots taken at the party... so sorry, i know not EVERYBODY's inside - the biggest regret i guess is that we didn't take enough photos! THANK YOU for coming to the party, and for all the gifts (now she has more clothes and has just started a mini toy collection), and the ang pows (thanks for contributing to ashley's education fund)! well, now that one month is (almost) up, it's time to trim her super long fingernails - daddy, please do your job! ;-)
scribbled at 11:36 am
.::.
we went back home last weekend for ashley's full month party. (for those of you who don't know, i'm actually doing my confinement at my mum's, and will be staying here most of the time till i go back to work). initially, we were afraid she might not get used to her new cot or the new surroundings... but thankfully, our worries were unfounded, and she adapted pretty well to her cot in our bedroom. that's the picture of her sleeping soundly after her morning bath and before the guests arrived. all while daddy was busy blowing and tying balloons, and decorating the house - good job, daddy!
pictures taken with the family! as you can see, my mum had to carry her almost the entire afternoon, and she actually slept through the noise in grandma's arms, waking up only for her two-hourly feeds. the manja queen title really suits her perfectly - pauline, thanks for custom-making the rompers, it's so cute we had to make her wear it for her party, she might just hate us for that later on, haha! (oh yes, btw, baby vaughn has the matching manja king rompers - see pic below, hee!)
lastly, here are some of the random shots taken at the party... so sorry, i know not EVERYBODY's inside - the biggest regret i guess is that we didn't take enough photos! THANK YOU for coming to the party, and for all the gifts (now she has more clothes and has just started a mini toy collection), and the ang pows (thanks for contributing to ashley's education fund)! well, now that one month is (almost) up, it's time to trim her super long fingernails - daddy, please do your job! ;-)
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
our little fussypot
i'm not sure if it's the growth spurt mentioned in the books, but ashley has been feeding more frequently for the past few days, and that's driving me nuts!
here's daddy trying different positions to coax her to sleep - well, this seemed to work although daddy had a very sore back soon after.
i'm not sure if it's noticeable, but she has definitely gained a fair bit of weight since she came back from the hospital. i'm very sure she's at least 4kg now, and i'm glad she no longer has skinny thighs (nothing like that of a sumo baby, but at least there's some mass now and her pampers/mamypoko diapers are also more fitting). even my arms are starting to ache after carrying her for long... i think i better start training with weights when i'm ready to go to the gym!
scribbled at 4:31 pm
.::.
i'm not sure if it's the growth spurt mentioned in the books, but ashley has been feeding more frequently for the past few days, and that's driving me nuts!
here's daddy trying different positions to coax her to sleep - well, this seemed to work although daddy had a very sore back soon after.
i'm not sure if it's noticeable, but she has definitely gained a fair bit of weight since she came back from the hospital. i'm very sure she's at least 4kg now, and i'm glad she no longer has skinny thighs (nothing like that of a sumo baby, but at least there's some mass now and her pampers/mamypoko diapers are also more fitting). even my arms are starting to ache after carrying her for long... i think i better start training with weights when i'm ready to go to the gym!
hainan kueh
instead of having the usual ang ku kueh, my parents ordered this traditional hainan kueh from purvis street for the full month party on saturday. i think not many of you would have tried this before, and there should be few left who know how to make them really well (even my grandma's version isn't that nice)... so those of you who will be turning up on saturday, be sure to try!
Yi-Bua 薏粑
This snack food is steamed glutinous rice cake with sesame, peanuts and grated / shredded coconut meat as its stuffing.
Hainan island is a tropical island with countless coconut palms in the village and field, by the seashore and on the roadside. "Yi-Bua", made from coconuts are a few of our local Hainanese food. In the old days, this snack is normally eaten at special occasions like weddings and birthday. Relatives are given this snack by parents to announce the first month (as well as first year) of their new born baby. These day, you hardly get the chance to taste this delicious traditional snack in Singapore.
scribbled at 1:31 pm
.::.
instead of having the usual ang ku kueh, my parents ordered this traditional hainan kueh from purvis street for the full month party on saturday. i think not many of you would have tried this before, and there should be few left who know how to make them really well (even my grandma's version isn't that nice)... so those of you who will be turning up on saturday, be sure to try!
Yi-Bua 薏粑
This snack food is steamed glutinous rice cake with sesame, peanuts and grated / shredded coconut meat as its stuffing.
Hainan island is a tropical island with countless coconut palms in the village and field, by the seashore and on the roadside. "Yi-Bua", made from coconuts are a few of our local Hainanese food. In the old days, this snack is normally eaten at special occasions like weddings and birthday. Relatives are given this snack by parents to announce the first month (as well as first year) of their new born baby. These day, you hardly get the chance to taste this delicious traditional snack in Singapore.