Love Messages to Papa

This is what Renee would normally type in her sms to her papa(before she goes to bed, if he's out):

"Papa, sorry to disrupt you, where are you?  Anyway, what time are you coming back?"

"Papa, good night!  See you tomorrow!  Sweet dreams!  I love you!  Please do not reply me.  For, I will be in bed. Kiss kiss hug hug! =>"

Wonder what will she send to me if I'm out without her(which is rather impossible...)

Allergy Trial(Egg)

Following the food allergy test on fish on Monday, I gave Rachel her 1st eggyolk for lunch today.

With the allergic reaction her jie jie's got from eggs, I hadn't dare to let Rachel have her egg allergy test earlier.  As a matter of fact, I had not deliberately tested Renee on her allergic reaction on eggs but she had just reacted from the consumption of some egg biscuits, consecutively for 2 days.

There are 2 schools of belief on how to deal/prevent such allergies, with the latest stating that we should give such allergy reacting prone food to babies earlier/sooner, but I do not want to depend fully on such 'findings' and decided to go with my own instinct and I only want to give Rachel her egg protein test after she's turned 1 - my logic is, since the tested chances of an allergy reaction is higher when 1 or more of the direct family members has an allergy, then I don't see why I should bother to take the risk sooner. 

However, I've consumed quite abit of eggs during my last trimester of pregnancy and I'm not sure if this would help?...

In any case, again, there were some tiny rashes appearing on her chin after the 1st few spoonfuls and under the scrutiny of my layman eyes, I felt they're ok and had continued.  She finished her meal with a full egg yolk today and I will have to continue giving her the same for another 2 days before proceeding with the egg white...

*praying and hoping that Rachel will have no eggs/fish protein, nor even any allergies!

Allergy Trial(Threadfin)

Rachel had her 1st taste of fish today and after a couple of spoonfuls, some tiny rashes started appearing around her chin and above her lips area.  However, as they aren't alot, I continued feeding her til she finished the whole mealful.

Shortly after, patches of rash appeared on each arm(1 patch each arm) and I called her PD for verification.  Although there aren't any raised rashes, he was concerned since there were patches of rash on her arms and told me to stop giving her fish(he asked what fish and was told it's threadfin) for the next 2 weeks.  He re-confirmed again when I asked if I could try egg the next time round after a few days and he said it's alrigh - (he had told me to try eggs soon 'cos the govt has pushed fwd the MMR/MMRV immunisations earlier nowadays and Rachel wld be due for the jab soon...)

*the rashes disappeared awhile later...

The 'GST' Lot

Squeezing some time before Renee's makeup violin lesson today, hubby dropped me at the Post Office(Paya Lebar) to collect my detained parcel which was only released to me after I've paid the GST.

Well, paid un-necessary cost but learnt a good lesson.

A New BB Carrier

Finally, we've got one of our own!

Thanks to my gf, Karen, we got to try out hers(Ergo) for a good few months and proved its convenience that we decided to get a new one.  Hopefully the new one will provide me with an even better support so that I can carry her out for a little while longer and/or when she grows older and 'bigger'(naturally rite?).

The 2nd generation of this Boba carrier cost only S$149.90/S$159.90 and we thought since it's only an additional of S$30/S$40, we might as well get the latest version and we got one, in a simple colour combination of black and light grey('cos most of these carriers don't come in nice colours/prints) in its 3rd generation version.

Next - trying out time!

Unblended Meal

Rachel's been taking bits of rice whenever we dined out and now that she's 1 year old, I think it's time for her to take her porridge unblended.  Renee has had blended porridge(even when her piece of fish wasn't blended) til abit older(when she has more teeth?) but I thought it might be better to start Rachel younger so she won't be too accustomed to eating 'soft' food for too long.

So, down at Li's block yesterday, I bought a small pack of Song He's new rice grains and I cooked some for Rachel's lunch today.  At first she seemed to enjoy the new feel/taste but began to be abit tired just halfway through, hahaha.  She still managed to finish at least 3/4 of what I've prepared for her and that's considered very good since it's her 1st time taking a 'full meal' unblended and I think I've also cooked a little bit more than usual.  Hope she'll continue liking/taking her porridge this way without any 'complain', hahaha

The Birthday Dress

The dress, a  pink long CheongSam(cotton silk?), was bought by her aunts Eileen and Li from HK, with the intention for her to wear during her 1st birthday celebration.  However, we've thought it to be too big for her and thus we chose the Gap piece instead.

When I took it out again after the week after the celebration, I decided to let her try it on physically and found that it actually fit quite ok, aiyah!  Then I wanted to let her wear it on her actual birthday but since there would be more people to appreciate the 'showcasing' of the dress, I changed my mind and put it on for her today, ;)

*will upload a pic of her wearing it 'cos all the pics we took today were in 'vertical' position and can't be rotated to be viewed 'properly' online...

Birthday Ice-Cream

I've never been able to remember to 'claim' our free ice-cream from Swensen's but this year, as it so happened that we wanted to go to Square 2 to look for a new baby carrier, hubby suggested dining at Swensen's where we've only gone to rather recently(haha, it's 1 of Renee's favourite restaurants) and we got the Firehouse for Rachel, :D.   However, hubby had to go for dinner with his clients(yes, again!) and we had to arrange to go look at the carriers anther day, :(.

Slapped With GST!

With the intention to save shipping cost and the trouble of having to place orders frequently, I've placed an larger quantity order of skinscare(from USA) last week.  The parcel should have arrived earlier this week but today, I received a letter in the mail from Singapore Post instead.  It's an notification for payment of GST and/or Duty, aiyoh!...  Suddenly, I recalled those times when I read from the forum that this is the reason why spree-organisers were splitting their orders!

No time to collect the items myself today, hopefully soon, so I can know for sure if it's only the GST that I'd have to pay 'cos based on the purchase amount, it would be more cost effective for me to split the order, pay for the international shipping cost twice as compared to having to pay for the GST.  So, it'd be more 'costly' for me if I'm charged with anything else!  Terrible, why must we be charged with GST on goods purchased from overseas!

Rachel's 1!

Rachel's 1 officially today!

We have scheduled her for her immunisation this morning and because we need to rush back with lunch for jie jie, we only got this set of bibs for her('cos I've been aiming at another set the other actually but found these 2 sweeter, heee):

Back home, a lunch of mee-sua, minus the egg, was quickly prepared/cooked(by moi of 'cos) for Rachel as her 1 year old birthday meal.  Traditionally, I think this should be taken on the lunar birthday? But as we do not follow this practice, I've not done it on that day, :).

Glitter Pens II

I've been thinking the whole of last night, til 2am, on whether I should avoid disrupting Renee's routine and go get her the set of glitter pens in the morning and give it to her as a surprise Or, should I bring her along.  A co-incidental chat at FB and my SIL arranged to meet us up.  With this meet up, I could go buy the pens and Renee gets her lunch out!

However, Renee had came home very happy that her friends had found her work the best and now I wondered, perhaps I shouldn't have bothered about the pens...

She was of 'cos, delighted that we are lunching out('cos we don't normally go out during school days, unless it's for dinner and groceries thereafter), but was unhappy when the meet-up was short.  Although the meetup split 'cos her cousin needed to go to her ballet lesson, but I've told her prior, that we won't be staying out late 'cos she has her homework too.  She knew but as usual, forget about it when she's hving fun. 

We got a lift from my SIL and upon reaching home, she sulked and this time round, I took the cane.  I told her that I have to punish her now(whilst my temper is still under control) or she'd get a severe one later.  I'm not sure if she will remember this 'teaching', I really hope she does 'cos I'm almost depleted of energy already...

This was supposed to be a 'nice' day, for her and even for myself but... haiz.

Glitter Pens

Renee came home in a half crying and half angry state today.  Why?  Because, 1 of her favourite classmates had 'taken back her words' on lending her some of her glitter pens home  :(.

Being upset, she had raised her voice whilst trying to explain the 'scenario' to me and, whilst trying to calm myself(which is pretty hard for me lately), I said to her : "you don't have to shout at mummy, I'm not the one who upset you"

Renee : "but she promised me that she would ask her mummy yesterday and her mummy had said ok, then she didn't want to lend to me, my work cannot be completed!"

Me     : "still, you cannot shout at me, all you have to do is just to tell me that you're very worried abt not being able to complete your work properly since you have started off with the glitter pens and you don't have them to finish off.   Mummy will surely help you find a way"

Renee : "but I don't have glitter pens!"

Me      : "you forgot we've got lots of glitters left?"

Renee : "but they are different!"

Me      : "don't worry, mummy will help you with it ok?"

Renee  : ".............." (sulking away)

Me       : "this should also teach you not to start any work with anything that doesn't belong to you or something that you don't have"

Renee  : "but she said she'd lend the pens to me after asking her mummy and her mummy had said ok!"

Me       :  "even though she's said she'd lend it to you, but there are times when people might change their mind last minute, you should never depend on others"

Actually, Renee has been asking for a glitter pen(she didn't even ask for a few... :< ) after seeing her friends using them at school.  I didn't see any need of her using it/them at school and I don't want her to develop the habit of asking for everything she see that her friend(s) has, so I got her the notebook(re earlier post) and had told her then, that I'd get her not just one but a full pack of glitter pens + anything else she'd like to have(within a given budget - to be set...) if she does well for her violin.  She hasn't asked for the pen since(after she's jotted down in a list what she'd like to hv)...  But now, I feel rather sad for what she had gone through because of this(and it's not like it's of something we can't afford...) and what makes me feel even worse is that she's actually asked her friend to lend the pens to her yesterday! Had I known earlier that she will need them today.........   :*(

*In fact, I've already wanted to get her some of these pens/markers when she was younger, so she's definitely going to get them the next time we get to the mall, she sooo deserved them!  :* )

Rachel's 1st Birthday Cake

As requested by those whom did not make it to her birthday celebration, here's a pic of the cake, :D :

Rachel's 1st Birthday!

Yes, Rachel's turning 1!

Time really flies and today, for the convenience of those whom are working, we are celebrating Rachel's 1st birthday, in advance.

With the help of my sisters, we finally got the clubhouse decorated with balloons and banners on time, but the buffet had arrived earlier than expected/indicated.  Good thing the food still tasted ok(in my opinion) by the time the last batch of guests arrived.

As with most parties where different groups of guests were invited, some were 'neglected' somehow after the first hellos, we don't like it but I guess we have no choice...We hope they'd all had their tummies filled, :).

Based on the experience from Renee's 1st birthday celebration, most guests did not wait for the cake cutting and thus, we had not expected that the guests today would be.  However, seeing that they might be waiting for it afterall, and not to keep them waiting any further, I woke Rachel up from her sleep(she must be sooo tired 'cos she'd fell asleep on aunty Elsie's arms!) for the 'ceremony', hahaha.

With a smaller group invited this time round, Rachel's gifts hadn't been as much as Renee's but they're still more than enough to keep her occupied for a long long while, and we thank everyone for their lovely gifts, angpaos, vouchers(some even arrived in the mail!),  and MOST importantly, for their presssence in the celebration of her 1st birthday, here's a big "THANK YOU" to all of you!(extras to those whom had helped-out, in any/every way) :)

 Goodie bags

haiz, inexperienced with giving out party packs at 'home party'(usually it's 'party packs at school'),
so didn't prepare alot 'cos hadn't anticipated alot of kids.
experience gained from this celebration

Preparation/Decoration in progress... 

Renee playing with her friends whilst our 'ex-neighhours' looked-on, :D 

When the girls hovered around sleeping Rachel,

 Elsie said it was like a 'baby exhibition', hahaha(all e girls had crowded ard her b4 e pic was taken)

Baby Rachel, with all her gifts!

Even Renee has her gifts(from thoughtful aunty Karen)

(from our ex-neighbours of D'Chateau, who adore her, haha)

Fingers Clamped!

OMG!  Most of the times, Renee would wait for us to get the car door for her, only on some occasions will she do it herself(esp. this BM cos its doors r heavier than the V's) and what happened today, was the result of sucy very occasion!

Having woken up early to finish up the birthday card she did for her aunty Elsie, she was very tired and fell asleep on the way to her violin lesson.  Her classmate phoned but papa told me not to wake her to let her recoup some sleep.  However, when we arrived downstairs the teacher's block, unlike most times when she napped in the car, she opened the door herself today(she'd normally wait for us to get the door for her). Probably still feeling sleepy, she might have leaned against the car near the door and the downslope condition of the road could have caused the door to close.  What's worser was that this car is equpped with automatic suction lock catch and as a result, Renee's fingers got clamped by the door!  What was meant as a safety feature(in case doors were not closed properly with children in the car) could also backfire on situations like that...

Papa had carried Rachel up from the car seat and I've gone over to take over since I have to bring both of them up to the teacher's whilst he park, then suddenly I heard Renee screamed "Pa Pa!".  The sight of her hand clamped in the door nearly caused my heart to drop and ached sooo much  when I saw how 'flat' her fingers had become.  Of 'cos she cried and silly her even apologised, aiyoh...  that's just her...  She must have been in such great pain and Papa 'scooped' her up immediately to comfort her, then, he hurried up to inform the teacher of the accident and have the lesson cancelled.

Remembering the AMK community hospital, we drove over but it's changed to a Thye Hua Kwan Hospital and we had to drive over to Khoo Teck Puat hospital where she had an X-ray done.  Luckily, thank goodness, there's no fracture found and we were recommended a lotion by the chinese physician when we went there for their follow-up check up later in the evening.

Even the teacher was worried/concerned and phoned us up shortly to check on her condition...  He too, was shocked when he was first informed of the accident and had immediately asked how many fingers were affected and must be disappointed to learn that she's given MC excuse from writting for the next 14days...(If writting is a problem, then playing violin would be tougher, haiz...)

I hope Renee's fingers will recover soon.

(Meantime, mummy's being blamed for not getting the door for her... ^-^" )

Bye Bye Quinny...

Yes, we've gotten another stroller... However, though at a loss, we managed to sell off the Maclaren and Quinny Zapp Extra that we originally have.

Why do we sell them away?  To recoup some of its cost of 'cos!  Why we wanna have them replaced?  Maclaren's 'cos it's a Volo, it can't be reclined to sleeping position and Quinny ZE, 'cos is too bulky!  Although I like the colour, design and super steadiness of the Quinny ZE, I had not wanted to get it initially due to its bulkiness but hubby loves it...

Now that he finally see the 'problem', he finally agreed to getting another which is easier(for me at least) to handle, esp. when I go out alone with the kids, thus the idea to sell them away.

At the Takashimaya baby fair today, we went to look at the Aprica, Combi, Graco, Maclaren and some of the others available there and we finally settled on this.  Though not as light and easy handling as Aprica and Combi's ond-hand handling,  but hubby prefers its steadier feel which might be better when Rachel grows older... :

So, it's bye bye to ... Quinny Zapp Extra:

1st Day of P1 Term 1 Holidays

It's the 1st time when we'd both(more me) forgotten that it's the school holidays!  Good thing I remembered it last Friday/Saturday, else we might have packed Renee off to school this morning, hahaha.

All of the 'school holidays' Renee's had, this is the 1st time I really feel the difference.  And today, out of sheer boredom and since she's already done her practice, I decided to take her out, last minute and she chose Raffles City, mainly 'cos we didn't get to shop properly there yesterday, hahaha.

Renee loves note books we saw at NBC and after having her request for one rejected yesterday, she changed her 'target' to the glittery pens, haha but I got her the note book instead, :).

Mummy's indulgence, heee

(okok, the stickers are for Rachel's hangers - to differiate btwn the 2 girls')

Then, whilst snacking, we text Li to tease her but it turned out that she's at a nearby mall with her friend and we met up, :).   We ended up doing artwork at the mall, ^-^ :

This is sooo easy that I decided to do them as well(the 2 on the left, heeee)

On Renee's instruction, I was made to colour this elephant which I just did 'anyhow'(as u can see...), and in turn I made her cut it out, hahaha. Can't find hers (a doll, which was alot nicer) when we got home

Renee had wanted to do more but as Rachel is getting hungry and papa's arriving soon, we had to forego the rest of the artwork...

Order Finalisation

We've finally settled on the choice of cake and buffet today.

This being the child's 1st birthday celebration, we want the cake to be representative and meaningful, thus, we stucked to the choice of number '1'(as with Renee's 1st birthday) though jie jie had wanted something more 'beauuuuutiful' like a castle, etc, for her mei mei, :).

We couldn't find a design which we really like on the merchant's website and after some discussion with them, we've got them to verbally 'customise' the cake with alteration to this one(not a big one though, just a 2kg) - hope it'll turn out nice!:

Rachel's 1st Choice of Outfit

At 11months old, Rachel has began to choose her own outfit!

Out of fun, I had shown Rachel the dress I had thought to change her to for her cousin's birthday celebration but she showed no great response.  Then, undecided myself, I took out another set of outfit and when it's presented to her, she nodded her consent and I was of 'cos, surprised!  Thinking that it might just be co-incidental, I presented her the other dress that I've shown her earlier and asked her "this one?.  This time round, she shaked her hand('cos she doesn't know how to shake her head to indicate 'no' yet) and made the sound which she normally does when she doesn't want something.  For affirmation, I did the same when it came to her hair accessories - 1st, I took out the newly fixed up headband to show her and again, she nodded, then I showed her the one she's put on yesterday, she shaked her hand to indicate 'no' again, hahaha.

This is the outfit she's chosen today, I guess she must have liked the bloomers 'cos it's new to her, hahaha :

Another Treat

Despite the little Swensons cone treat on Wednesday, 'cos we have to go to the chinese physician's after Renee's 'brought earlier' violin lesson today, Papa rewarded Renee with another dinner + ice-cream treat at Swensons this evening(when he heard good remarks from the teacher regarding the last MC, *phew*...). Got these balloons from them, :):

We also managed, at the last minute, to get a present from ToysRUs, for her cousin Jiayi whom would be celebrating his birthday tomorrow! :)

Renee put these favorite Angry Birds stickers on the present and drew on it, :)

New Ribbon

I was matching and fixing up the ornaments to the new headbands I've purchased for Rachel and papa suggested that I changed the ribbon on Renee's violin to one which is even more subtle.  We settled on this, but it kept dropping off, I need to improvise again... :

1st P1 Parent-Teacher Session

This is our 1st PT session with Renee's formal schooling educators, although I had almost opt for a telephone conversation last minute, fearing the unknown situation with Rachel around.  Good thing papa was able to join me awhile later(after my session with Renee's form teacher), whilst I was waiting for my turn with the mother-tongue teacher - even longer que as she meets the other graders' parents as well.  Finally, Rachel fell asleep on papa's arms... poor baby, she was woken up from her sleep at 8am(she slept at almost 1am and me 2am this morning!) and made to join us for breakfast at Mac(which she cldn't partake) and waited with us at jie jie's school...

I'm glad I went for the session 'cos I got to meet the teachers in person and at the same time, some of Renee's classmates and their parents, :).  Was glad that they'd came to chat with me.

Co-incidentally, Renee's jiejie buddy was under the same Chinese teacher and I took the opportunity to tell her mum what a nice and responsible girl she is and that she's taken very good care of Renee during that one week.  The mother also shared with us some of her views about the school and so far they're good(she's got 2 older girls whom has graduated from the same school) except that they've gone more into e-learning as with the other schools(per our government), we're still monitoring.  And, good thing that the girl had also reminded us that it's the Annual Sports Meet tomorrow and the lower level(P1 and P2) students are not required to atttend and thus, there's no school tomorrow, *phew*...

After we've met up with both teachers, we went for our groceries shopping and feeling tired, we decided to come home and cooked ourselves instant noodles, hahaha(cos we didn't get the maid to defroze the food as we had thought that we might eat out).

With a couple of things I have yet to tackle, I still didn't manage to get the looooong awaited nap when we got home :( , for days now... and I'm soooooo bashed!

A Nice Catch Up

I've kept my gf, Vicky's visit a surprise to Renee til the very last minute but she was very happy.  Again, Vick's got Renee a belated birthday present and it's a super lovely My Melody lunch box, the original version too, aiyoh it looks sooo nice!  I told Renee that she's not to use it til she's stopped losing her stuffs at school,(usually it's the bottle strap that's came loose and she's not aware though managed to get bk so far, or the tiny little stuffs like pen, pencils, erasers, etc) hahaha.

Rachel, on the other hand, cried again, hahahahahahaha.  But as usual, she soon got over it and wanted to be carried by her, which was the case the whole evening literally, :).

I've 'postponed' the visit to an hour later 'cos I wanted Renee to have at least an hour of practice and although Vicky had stayed til past 11pm, we still didn't seem to have enough time for a proper chat - not forgetting the time we dined out and shopped at Bukit Panjang Plaza where, remembering these chairs Renee had wanted me to buy for Rachel before we moved over to this region(papa said not to buy any more things before we move), we bought 2 of them this evening, hahaha :

Renee's First Swimming Lesson

Although we have only intended to let Renee begin her swimming lessons after May, we thought to give her a treat after the last minute stressful practice on Saturday, in preparation for her Masterclass this morning.  She had been slacking sooo much and papa had not known that she's to play a piece from the Wohlfahrt, had told her to practice the others.  I've told him about it but he didn't realise it til about 2weeks ago, when this was reminded in class, then he 'see it'...  However, he still didn't actually get her to practice Wohlfahrt piece til about a week ago!  I've been telling Renee, "practice your wohlfahrt piece, you have to play that for your Masterclass" but she would tell me "papa told me to do the other one, I like to do the other one also"(why? 'cos she has done the full 1st page already, so she didn't like to have to memorise a new piece, but she has to, whether she likes it or not! Haiz...).

During theory lesson, again, she's busy jotting down notes whilst teacher was explaining and as parents are to sit-in today(papa went in whilst I waited downstairs with Rachel), papa saw, in person for the 2nd time, how she's always not very sure of what's been taught - 'Cos she's been too busy jotting down notes!  AIYOH!  This is a super bad habit and if she doesn't change it, it's going to be a big learning obstacle!

In any case, she was awarded with the treat of a swimming lesson and I brought Rachel down to watch her(and the rest) when she's fed.  I wouldn't say that I fully agree with what the coach had started her with, but since children would normally learn better with 'strangers', I have no choice but to leave the teaching to the coach(though he said that she learns fast).  Shall monitor, if she's still afraid or unable to swim independently, then we may consider changing or stopping the lessons... 

The boy beside her kept asking Renee questions, e.g. like "how old are you?" hahaha