New hairband and a 'new' driver? hahaha

Went to Suntec City today, for a little walk cum dinner at Tony Romas(yes, again hahaha, what to do, it's our fav! Besides, it's daddy's b/day yesterday mah and we only went to KFC last evening due to the crowd so, heehee). And oh, this is what she drew at the restaurant :

(It's her favourite - jellyfish! with a face of cos hahaha)

I've been wanting to get one nice hair band for Renee as she's now willing to wear one. But the nice ones have to be ordered from overseas and I'm not sure if we could get them on time for the CNY. Luckily, as we passed by one push-cart stall just now, I saw some hairbands and finally found one!(though not of our choice colour but it's the last few left that's without the hurting 'teeth'). Daddy had wanted to go elsewhere to look for alternatives, but she didn't want us to take it off from her, so..... :

(I think it should be worn with the ornament at the other side but I guess it's versatile hahaha)

When we got back, I told Daddy to let me try driving at the carpark for me to get used to driving again(geez, it's been 8-10years since I last drove!!!) and daddy was saying that I'm still quite ok. *phew*, this, coming from him, is a compliment heeeee But then again, he's switched the vehicle to Auto-gear for me so it's easier lah in a way hahaha, guess I'd still need alot more practices man!

It's Daddy's birthday today!

Had wanted to get him a nice gift much earlier but couldn't think of anything that he'll need after thinking hard for a long time, so didnt....And lately, with all the preparation for Renee's birthday celebration and CNY, I almost forgot about it till I woke up for a drink at 7:30 this morning and I remembered!!!

I had planned to go for my haircut and perhaps a perm today after the cleaners' gone and daddy told me that he's gotta attend a client's 'end of the year' dinner... But we later(more like Renee did) persuaded him to stay at home after our dinner :)
How? Well, whilst on our way back home, she looked sad in the car and I asked her why, she said "because papa is going outside" hahaha and when we arrived at the carpark, she asked him "papa, please don't go..." So, that did it! hahaha... good lah, cos it gave me the opportunity to let her present daddy with the mini birthday cake I've got in a hurry just now :)

Oh, managed to get my hair permed today, and initially, they blew my hair 'straight' (so that the director could check on her cut) and though the style is like a Korean's short slight wavy hairdo u see in the movies, I didn't quite like it. So, I couldn't resist and washed my hair when I got home. But hey, it turned out not bad! - It was the style I used to do to my very short haircut(after I had Renee) with a iron rod/curling tong but now, I get the style without the hassle!!! Another plus point - I get a discount as I had their hair cut package and I was given a free flattening iron rod!

Another thing I did today was - to finally sign up a facial package(my x'mas present actually ^-^) with Leonard Drake group of salons hehehe. It's been a year or so since I last had my facial treatment and now that Renee will be starting pre-school soon, I reckon tt I could go for one, in between after I've sent her to sch and before I go to pick her up. Phew, at least I don't have to go all the way to Orchard hotel for my facial anymore(used to go to Elements Spa there) since there's a Leonard Drake at Compass Pt :D

New Shoes

I've almost forgotten about these shoes that her daddy's got for her dur his last trip earlier this month :

She already 'fell in love' with the shoes on first sight but I told her she can only wear them when she's older 'cos they're too big. However, we've let her wear the white pair last wkend and she loved it sooo much that she's contended to just have them(she declined when I wanted to buy her new shoes for the CNY hahaha) even though we've told her that these are her school shoes hee.

I personally prefer the pink suede pair, perhaps, if it matches her outfit(I guess it does, to a couple sets of outfit), we could let her wear it too, for CNY :) But I think she'll still need another less sporty looking pair of shoes, should she be wearing more girly outfits?

Change of Formula Milk Powder

Time flies...and now that Renee's 3, it's time to change her milk powder from Gain IQ to GROW(for 3-6 yrs old) and as the tin of Gain IQ has got just that little bit left, I thought I had better start to mix the powders for her to get used to the new taste(ok to mix as they're of the same brand). She seem to realise that it's of a new mixture and didn't finish all the 300ml, but then again, she's just had her lunch not too long ago, so shall see how it goes the next few mixes...

Renee has turned 3 !

Renee is officially 3 years old today! And since her daddy had some time to spare, we went to register her entry to Kinderland Pre-Nursery this morning hehehe. She was sooooo happy when she learnt that she'll be going there today. We arrived there just as the earlier classes were dismissed and there were some children(judging from their uniform, they are older than Renee) at the administrative area/lobby waiting for their parent(s)/caregivers. Immediately, she went to join them. It was quite a cute sight to see her conversing with the older kids and one girl even showed Renee her stuffs lolz, how nice... :)
And when I asked Renee if she's really sure that she wants to attend this school, she nodded and the same girl even answered "oh it's fun, you can play toys" lolz... Seems like the school need not hire any 'promoters' even if need be, as the children's opinions are already the best form of advertisement/assurances lolz.
Oh ya, I guess the children must have thought that Renee is of their age, 'cos when they heard that we're getting the uniforms, they went to show us what they're wearing and said she'll be wearing the same, till the administrator told them no and bring out the T-shirts set, then 1 boy went "Oh, she's pre-nursery ar" hahaha

When it was time for us to leave, Renee did not want to go and even lowered her head and pout as she followed us out..... Well, let's hope she'll REALLY enjoy school as much when the time comes.

We were told to pay the school fees later as we'll only be joining the class after CNY, so instead of going again to get the uniforms, we bought them today as well(hope we don't back out, otherwise, what are we going to do with the 2 sets of uniform hahaha)

Here's how the uniform(for pre-nursery level) would be - we have to pay a little bit for the uniforms, as we're getting them in different size sets : XS for the t-shirts and S for the shorts...

This is the front view

And the back view

(the t-shirt looked crumpled? that's becos we've let her wear it earlier when we were at the place selling wall-paper as she'd perspired soooo much when she napped in the car - should see her 'proud' face when we changed her top to this hahahahaha)

Arrival of our new sofa!

Our new sofa(with the tray tables) :D

Daddy had wanted to put our old sofa to his office but till now he's yet to to find a suitable place(or simply no time, perhaps later...), so his client will come tomorrow evening, to pick it up for his office use.

Birthday Gifts

Just some of the presents she's received yesterday(anyway, most gave her angpaos hehehe):

Dora Laptop - Her absolute favourite! hahaha.

Had wanted the Leapfrog Read and Write system for her, but after the trial at the paragon store, realised it might still be a litle too early for her to have it(for ages 4-8), so I told her aunt Elsie and Li to get this for her instead, since I was unable to get it for her during the New Year(the store was left with only 1 non-working display set and another that was tempered with then). It's a very good 'toy' indeed, with quite a few interesting festures like : alphabets(which is good since she's only exposed to zoo phonics), numbers, music and games like 'matching the other half', 'who's the odd one out', 'find the shapes' etc... :)

Another VCD for her hahaha. They've got 1 of Barney and 1 of Dora for her dur X'mas and the former was not even opened up yet... shall slowly 'release' them to her hehehe

This is what her aunt Elsie has got for her dur her recent official trip and though it's not part of her birthday gifts, it's still one of her favourites :)

My close friend, Vicky, got her these(I guess everyone already knew that 'Dora' is her favourite character lolz):

Renee's 3rd Birthday Celebration!

Had a mini birthday celebration in advance for Renee just now and we would like to thank all whom had came and even those who couldn't come to the 'party', for your pressence and gifts. Thank You!(special thanks to Li, for helping out with some of the snacks :D)

Initially, we planned to invite her friends from the GUG playgroup but was told not to hold too many 'big' birthday celebrations for kids, so we dropped the idea and decided to just make it a small event with the family(errm, only mine though, to be precise hehehe. wanted to invited daddy's family members too but it was soo last min and CNY is around the corner, so didn't want to trouble others since it's not going to be a big celebration anyway) and my close friend Vicky + her bf, Sam. Oh, Vick brought along one of her twin nephews and he too, had quite a bit of fun playing with Renee and cousins :)

Here's her birthday cake and this year, she gets to choose it!(come to think of it, doesn't the dress on 'Dora' looks similar to the one Renee wore juz now? lolz)

Here are some of the stuffs I've got from the party supplies shop yesterday and this, however, is a self-made centrepiece as I couldn't find one that I like, is it nice? heee heee

Banner 1

Banner 2

Presenting...

Our new coffee table! ... hehehe Delivered yesterday - We were shopping when they called me up around 5:30pm to check if they could send the table over right away(delivery time supposedly to be from 6-8pm) but we were shopping at Robinsons! The delivery man asked if we could rush back and so we did :)

Here's it :

(The storage part is made of scratch proof leather)

Audios

Jingle Bells? At this time? lolz... what to do, I've forgotten to put it up and now, as per the many requests, I'm putting it up since I've managed to re-capture the audio par, just for your listening pleasures :)
However, the video was recorded on 20 Dec and it was the first time she sang the song and didn't really catch the phrases right, she sang 'all the all the way"... later she knew and sang 'jingle all the way"...

(only part of it's re-captured k, 'cos e whole version took sooooo long and yet cldn't be uploaded even after I've tried many times...)

Will you use a coaster like this?

Had been packing and tidying up our home since 2 weeks ago and look what I've found!

My interest on Cross-Stitching was suddenly rekindled one day when Renee was a few months old, and when I saw the packages at NTUC then, I bought 2 to make and this is one of them :

As it's not too big, it only took me a short while to complete it. It can be used as a coaster or just a display - I chose the latter cos I can't bear to use it, heeeee.  The other one, which is a face of Winnie the Pooh Bear, 'cos I've lost the momentum along the way, it's still half-done now kekeke.

New clothes for Chinese 'New Year'

Ramsacked the boxes of new clothes(Renee's) yesterday and managed to get these(which I think shld fit her) out for washing so that she can wear them during the CNY period :

Saw this and thought it matches the butterfly fairy wings set and took it out, if it fits her, can let her wear this sat for her 3rd birthday celebration hehehe:

If the weather remains this cool during CNY, then she can only wear these 2 sleep dresses for her day naps, hee hee:

Also got some sweaters out to wash but didn't take any pics of them as they were still not entirely dried yet. I guess these few pieces should be enough for the time being(since I've just took out some for the X'mas festive and she could still wear them after the first few 'big' days :D )

Another Fall?

I remembered the first fall she had, which also resulted in her lip bleeding, was when she was much younger and it was the first time she wore a 'tight' skirt(in woven material) - the the skirts she had worn prior to this piece, were usually in soft stretchable cotton and flare in cut, so more 'mobility'. Thus, I guess she wasn't used to it and she was running happily to hug me when she tripped, fell and cut her lip.

This time round, the cut seemed abit 'deeper' :(

It was around 10:30pm, she stood on the potty chair, moved about whilst waiting for me to get her toothbrush ready and perhaps, being a little tired, she lost her balance, slipped and FELL!!! I was squeezing the toothpaste onto her toothbrush then and couldn't catch her on time and she hit her lip against the basin, OUCH!!!

Though it must have hurt badly, she only cried for a short while and later said that she doesn't want to brush her teeth anymore, heeeee - Of cos not, well, at least for tonight or so. Then she started complaining that she won't be able to eat her porridge, golden pear and green pear(her absolute favourite) and pouted...

To pamper her, I told her to go pee and to sleep on my lap whilst I watch the TV on the sofa. Trying to sleep, she started to 'press press' her bolster, touch the sofa, stroke my arm - and that's when/where she saw a tiny patch of blood stain(hers) and started asking what it was(I didn't even know it was there). I just told her that it's just chocolate stain, so as not to trigger her 'pain' and she went "huh, chocolate?".

Slowly patting her to sleep, I had a better time to look at her lip and the sight of the wound just made my heart ached sooooo much... but comforting myself, I just listen to what daddy said "it's actually also good that she has these small falls(hopefully not too often), so she'll learn". But still...

Finally she slept and daddy carried her to her bed. I went in with them to help him but the minute he put her down, she started crying/reaching out for me with out-stretched arms and said that she doesnt want to sleep on her bed. To calm her, I quickly sat down on her bed to comfort her and she soon went back to sleep again... Hope she won't wake up crying tonight :(

The pic below will show U the cut on her lip but -WARNING :

I must warn those who love her lots - it'll break your heart to look at it.

(ok, to offer your aching heart a soothing effect, check out what Daddy said : look at her, she even posed with a slightly opened mouth for you to take the pic! hahaha)

oh, and the tiny patch of blood on my arm(can u spot it?)

Kinderland Pre-school / New Potty

Called up Kinderland serangoon this morning and they confirmed that they will not charge any fees for the school holidays period('calendar' as per MOE's guideline). Luckily, otherwise it'll be too expensive to have to pay a good S$500 for a whole month of June - we're ok if it's just for the 1 wk holidays but apparently, they said they wont. *phew* :D

Have also checked and was told that the branch at hougang is indeed a childcare centre(cc) but we could also join them for their 3 hrs sessions, together with the same group of children in the childcare facility and the fees between these 2 isn't great - plus there's subsidy for cc, so it might turn out to be alot 'cheaper'.
But we prefer to stick to our 'just school' option.

But now, the question is - what is Renee going to do during those holiday period? Especially the June and December holidays? hahaha well, maybe let her go to those fun play groups, see how things go first.

Like Kinderland's approach as they're not that pushy academically as well and that's very important as Renee's still very young. They've suggested to start her after CNY in case of separation anxiety after the few days of holiday but Renee has been asking to go to school!
I'm now considering to let her join-in next week or the next term in case we might wanna go for a short trip?(think most likely the latter as just told her that the school said to go after CNY, and she said ok).

Oh, we've changed Renee's potty! Got this in a haste during daddy's absence but find it not so useful as it can't be converted to a stool or chair. The only good thing about it is that the potty is removable.

So, got it exchanged to this(by Safety 1st) :

This is alot better as it can be converted to a chair/a step stool(different height) - which is very good as Renee can stand on it to brush her teeth at the basin or even wash her hands and on those rare occasions when we 're unable to bring her to the toilet seat on time, she could just remove the top purple seat and voila, do her toilet business there :)
The potty is also removable, so cleaning is easier too. Saw some potties that resemble a throne but other than being nice, they're quite redundant as they're pretty bulky and not as useful.

Setting up the new furnitures

Had planned, but eventually, didn't get to go to party supplies shop to get some stuffs for Renee's coming birthday celebration...(guess I'll have to go there myself with Renee - hope it won't rain continuously the whole week leaving me no chance to do that!)

After our breakfast, as daddy was fixing up the Ikea furnitures we bought last evening, I went to tidy up the store room. Woah, it took us the whole morning and afternoon to get everything done! And I have to re mop the floor there after, sooo tired and back's breaking man! Daddy's now napping away and I'm just too shack to bother about it - had to be awake for darling Renee also hehehe.

These are the 'items' which we were busy with today(nothing fantastic, just the common/basic stuffs :P). Ermmm, the shelf looks kinda messy in this pic(they're being placed by daddy after he fixed up the shelf hahaha) but don't worry, I'll soon set it right lolz

Now I'm just looking forward to the delivery of our new coffee table-this coming Friday and sofa!-next Monday (hope there won't be any delay due to the coming CNY...)

And again, Renee kept telling me "mommy, I want to go school"...

More furniture shopping :)

Went Ikea this afternoon to look for chests of drawers and found one there, *phew*, also bought another file cabinet for daddy's work files(getting too much liao), a wall shelve, boxes, etc... Woah, looks like a mini revamp before the great CNY! hahaha I like it!

Oh, to those whom have enjoyed 'Renee's conversations', here's an addition:
When we arrived at the Ikea's carpark, Renee said : "I don't like this place"
Daddy : "Why"
Renee : "Because I don't like to 'wheeeee'"(we were going up slope and she'll always say "wheeee" when we do so at the carpark)
.....*laughter*.....
Renee : (coming to her main topic) "Mommy, I want to go school"
Mommy : "I know, mommy is still looking, that school's still abit far"
Renee : "Mommy, I want to go far far away"
Mommy : "Har, then you go UK study ok?"
Renee : "Huh?, study? arself?(patting her own chest) - arself = this is her version of herself/myself
PaPa : "Papa go with you?"
Renee : "No...Papa not allowed in new school ar"
Mommy : "Oh, then who?(Hinting heehee)"
Renee : "Only Renee, that's all"
"....."

Everyone's Unwell?

Finally, I'm able to sit infront of my computer to post this up...
Past 2 days, Renee was coughing and had fever. We didn't bring her to the doc, just gave the the balance medication we've got from the doc the previous time and when she's ok, I got sick suddenly yesterday - Super bad throat that progressed to high fever in the evening...(could it be that I've shopped too much? lolz... I've joined 3 sprees online and have made 2 of my own purchases from HK/JPN!)

Heard from my gfs that they were ill the past few weeks and also heard from my sis Li that almost everyone in our family are feeling unwell too...

Climbed out of bed early this morning to check with daddy if he's able to spare some time to accompany me(cos Renee needs someone to tend to her, in case I can't hold-out) to the doc's. After that, we even proceeded to the pre-school where we intended to sign Renee up with. I was wondering how I'm supposed to be asking those questions with a lost voice! This girl must have missed 'school' sooo much that she was sooo happy when she learnt that we're going to bring her to the 'new school' and even cried when we left!!! Geez... hope she'll not also cry when we start her there lolz.

Here's a pic I've got from their webby(on the serangoon branch):

It was terrible when we got home, 'cos me, though so sick, still have to tend to Renee all by myself... I really hated it when I fall sick and it is on these occasions that I will really feel like hiring a maid.

Ok, back to the pre-school matter, my only problem now is the timing of the sessions. They only have 2 sessions currently - 8am to 11am and 11:15am to 2:15am. Though the latter will leave me some time/space to do some of my stuffs if need be and daddy also pointed out that we might have some problem with the traffic in the earlier hour(should he drives her there or I take a cab there) but I would personally prefer the earlier timing - 'cos she still isn't quite 'happy' with the changed routine I've recently started, to get her used to the new timing should we really sign her up for the 11:15 session.
Just discussed with daddy and I told him I'll try to check the hougang branch out to see if they're also a pre-school(not childcare centre) so as to give us an alternative selection.
Thanks for the concern you guys have shown regarding this matter and I'll update further on this, gotta rest abit now...

New Furnitures

Needed a new coffee table and a cupboard but as daddy has been 'complaining' about our current sofa, we end up buying one too! Went to a few places on Sunday and had spent almost a whole day searching in vain til we got to the International Furniture Centre and finally found both a sofa(Uvonna) and a coffee table(Lorenzo) there. But... still no cupboard :(

We didn't take any pic of the items(not sure if it's even allowed hehe) but the sofa which we've bought was found featured in the table calendars we've been given :)

Daddy had wanted to change our sofa to one of a stronger colour and I've always told him not to as I can't bear to throw our current Melandes piece away...But now, I am just as pleased with the selection of these 2 new additions though, with the sofa being nice(in our opinion-has to be right? otherwise, wldn't buy it hahaha) and comfy and the coffee table being 'unique'(partially in scratch-proof leather but cost almost half of the sofa's price, geez!) hee hee

The pic here does not depict the sofa in our choice colour. Actually, the one that caught our eye at the showroom was in White but after some visualising and analysing, daddy finally decided on 'Light Beige' colour! - a colour which is even lighter than our existing one hahaha(now now, who ever said that women are fickle-minded?)

Shall update with pics of the actual pieces when they're delivered(the sofa's supposed to be delivered on the 19th but we called to change the date as we might be having a small birthday celebration for Renee on that Saturday :D )

Dental Care

I've been brushing Renee's teeth since the day I found out that dental care should begin when their 1st tooth is out, to prevent tooth decay later!(but I realised only much later lolz).
Used to just clean her teeth with a finger brush with a toothpaste that's specially formulated with milk enzymes instead of flouride(for young children who are unable to rinse their mouth) but have switched to using a kid's toothbrush when I find that her full set of teeth is almost complete(or already complete? cant remember hehehe).

Usually, she'll drink her milk the minute she wakes up in the morning and recently, I thought it is about time that she started rinsing her mouth after brushing her teeth since she can already do a little brushing(in the correct way) herself(She hasnt fully mastered the skills yet, so most of the time, I will still brush her teeth for her first before handing the toothbrush over to her to continue).
So, during the few days when her daddy's on biz trip over the New Year holiday season, I took the opportunity to 'train' her on this. She was receptive the first day, but wasn't that keen anymore the next day.

However, now she knows and will also automatically/willingly brush her teeth and rinse her mouth before her afternoon nap and bedtime. Well, that alone at least comforts me abit, for having to put up with her fusses in those mornings when she refused to brush her teeth :)

A New Year :)

A Happy New Year(2008) to all!

No updates for the past few days, as I'd been busy entertaining Renee(daddy's on biz trip) and though I've got a quite few invitations, we didn't manage to join everyone. However, I'm still glad that we've got them as it showed that our friends still care about our friendships :)

Managed to meet up with one of my ex-colleagues last Sunday and had a great time catching up. She bought Renee this(it makes a 'moo-moo' sound when a coin goes in) :

and when we went back to Mothercare where I'd bought some ankle socks(with anti-slip soles) for Renee earlier, my friend decided to buy Renee another present!:

We met up again on New Year's eve and I managed to give her a brunch treat *phew*, as she didn't allow me to pay for our dinner the evening before(and I felt bad cos she's got 2 presents for Renee and I've only got her one pressie - Elizabeth Arden cosmetics...). Also passed her these 3 pairs of socks, aren't they lovely? Renee doesn't really look good in crew socks(she looks lovelier in ankle socks) and since they were only worn once, it'll really be a waste if I just keep them in the cupboard...

We got home late, ard 5pm and I had planned to let Renee sleep early ard 9 that night since she's only had a very short nap but instead, I decided last minute to meet up with her aunt Lili and uncle Rick at the Punggol Plaza where there's countdown activities(didn't join my gf and her family at her bf's condo for their countdown party cos I find it too far and it'll be too late for Renee, by the time it ends). By the time we got home and Renee fell asleep, she must have been reaaally tired 'cos she even slept through when the Fireworks started and it was booming loud!(I tried waking her up to watch from our windows but she didn't even stirr lolz)

Now that daddy's back, hope we'll find time soon, to viewe the school premise(oh, he's bought some shoes for Renee and me. Though I like the pair he's got for me but I can't wear it cos too big by an inch! He's phoned me up for my shoes size but it's always best to buy shoes with the person trying them on personally-even Renee's too big as well, but it's alright cos she's still growing, I'm not-better not! lolz)