Batam II Day 1: Baby J's 1st Overseas Trip

During our previous trip to Batam, we were given free room stays at Harris during the off-peak period to be used by the end of April. Hence, together with our friends K & J, we decided to make a trip back to Batam again. This time I decided to bring baby along for 3 main reasons: 1) We've been there before so we know what to expect, 2) I wanted to see how baby adapts to being away from home so we can prepare for our trip to Shenzhen & Hongkong in May, and 3) To enjoy our 1st vacation together as a family.

However, the night before our departure, baby J developed a fever unexpectedly. I can't believe the horrendous timing! She has never gotten a non-injection fever before and the first time she got it, it is one night before our big trip. You seriously can't be luckier than that.

As I was so looking forward to spending time with her and she was feeling better in the morning after two doses of paracetamol, we decided to still bring her along after all.

Mother-daughter matching dresses

I have finally found an occasion for us to wear the matching dresses I bought for us when we went to Phuket last year. After our breakfast at McDonald's at Harborfront Centre, baby started to become more irritable as her temperature started to rise again. Thankfully she managed to get some sleep on the ferry (we went with Batam Fast) and took well to it.

On the ferry ride to Batam

She looked real unhappy in the bottom right picture cos she was terrified of the motor and waves that it caused. Other than that, it was relatively ok. For me not so much. I got tons of mosquito bites on my feet and arms while Baby J was protected from it due to the amount of anti-mozzie solution I applied on every part of her body. Don't know why the hubby didn't get any which was really unfair. I have this theory that people with B+ blood have nicer tasting blood which attracts mozzies to us. Seriously, when I get bitten, I really get bitten! I left the ferry with at least 12 mosquito bites all over my body.. *sigh*

We took a shuttle bus to Harris and baby kept crying as she was starting to get feverish again. I got flustered and accidentally bumped her head on the ceiling of the small mini-bus as we were disembarking from it, which made her cry even more. This was turning out to be a horrible start to our vacation.

The Harris drinks bar with exhorbitant can drinks

To make matters worst, we had to pay a freaking S$5 for a can of Coke Zero from the Harris Bar as I was thirsty and it was the nearest to us at that moment. Definitely killed my mood. Baby was also extremely cranky, hot and demanded to be carried everywhere (refusing to be put down for even a second). It was extremely frustrating and I started to question my decision to bring her.

After getting baby to take another dose of paracetamol (and lots of wiping her body with cold water), she felt better so we headed down to the Harris Cafe to redeem the 2 free main courses that K & J won at the lucky draw of our last trip.

Our free dinner from the Harris Cafe

The hubby and I ate salmon while K & J ate lamb. It was really nice! However, as it wasn't enough to fill our tummies and we were craving for seafood, we decided to continue our dinner at the nearest seafood place. According to the hotel staff, the nearest restaurant is Delimar Restaurant, about 5 minutes away. We paid S$6 (you can choose to pay in Singapore Dollars or Rupiah) to take a cab there. FYI, you often have to negotiate with cab drivers in Batam and agree on a price before you set off.

Seafood at Delimar Restaurant at the Waterfront

The meal was rather expensive and left much to be desired. The large crab was tiny! Seafood lovers J and the hubby were extremely disappointed. And the meal of only five dishes plus drinks costs S$51. Definitely not value for money. Hopefully the seafood at Golden Prawn (which is very famous in Batam) would not disappoint us.

We went back to our hotel rooms and played many rounds of Settlers of Catan while baby slept very soundly (amazingly, my baby prefers to sleep with noise and will wake if the room is too quiet). After an exhausting day battling the fever with her, she finally awoke at 1am feeling refreshed and happy. So much so she was able to play with her daddy:

As you can see, as much as she is trying very hard to crawl to daddy, her efforts haven't been entirely successful. We blame the fat butt *laughs*

I can finally heave a sigh of relief that the worst was over and pray that tomorrow would be better!

Continue to >> Batam II Day 2: Swimming, Shopping & Seafood

P.S: Visit my travel page for more of our travel itineraries! =)

Preparation for Batam II

It's our first trip overseas with baby J. Although the first time she had ever been out of the country was when we brought her to JB Malaysia across the causeway, this is the first time she will be overseas for more than 24 hours. To prepare for the trip, the hubby and I brought baby with us shopping at Parkway Parade last Sunday (also did a review of their nursing room).

We stopped by the Hypermart to pick up some baby food. Bought 2 jars of Heinz Baby Porridge and snacks from Baby Bites (didn't buy too many as we intend to buy some more at Batam's supermarket).

Baby Bites snacks for babies 6 months plus

There are 3 flavours: original, vegetable & carrot. Baby loves them all. Haha. A box costs about S$2.40 and contains 12 individual packets (seen in above picture). I also specially bought the plastic container (2 for S$2.30) from Japan Home to store them so that they will not get squashed in my bag and also to preserve their freshness.

Baby J eating her Baby Bites

Baby J loves them! It's now her go-to snack between meals. It had now become a necessity which I take with me everywhere we go.

We were also at Isetan and they were having lots of good deals on baby products. Pigeon was having 20% off so we bought a box of baby snacks and breastpads.

Pigeon Breast Pads: I usually buy the '60 + 12 pcs' at S$13.90 (original price is S$18.90)

Also bought the Safety 1st Nature Next 3-in-1 Potty which was on sale at S$19.90.

Safety 1st Nature Next 3-in-1 Potty
Credits: safety1st.com

It's a potty, trainer seat (the middle portion can be taken out and placed on the toilet seat) and stepping stool/seat all in one (you know how much I love multipurpose stuff). Plus it's eco-friendly. How could we not buy it? *laughs*

Also, see this pretty dress?

Holding the pretty dress that her daddy didn't buy which her mummy totally regretted!


It was also on sale for only S$19.90! But we didn't buy it 'cos her daddy said she would not have any occasion to wear it. I cannot believe I let the hubby talk me out of buying it! Super regret! She would have looked so princess-y in it too.. *argg*

Anyway, back to the shopping for our trip. As we will be doing a lot of swimming at the resort, we decided to buy a float for babies from Kiddy Palace. We already bought the Huggies swimming diapers and sunblock previously so she's all set for pool fun!

I'm so excited for our 1st family vacation! Will update on it when we get back, meanwhile, you can check out my travel page for our past trips :))

P.S. Just so you know, my baby can clap (finally)! And she does it on command rather than imitation. Yay!

P.P.S. Breastmilk is really something else. Read somewhere that it has acne-healing properties so I rubbed some on baby's huge pimple on her right temple and it healed up completely in less than a week! Amazing *laughs*

Downsized From Plus Size

I gained a grand total of 23kg (50.6 lbs) during my pregnancy and lost only 4kg (8.8 lbs), which included the weight of my baby (she weighed 3.4kg (7.5 lbs) at birth) plus placenta and etc, just after giving birth (read my baby girl's birth story). I lost another 12-13kg after that, bringing my total weight loss to date to 17kg (37.4 lbs)!

Before and After

They say it's because I'm young (thank God for that) and it's only my first child so that's why I'm able to lose the weight so fast. But I also believe it's due to my post-natal 'workouts'. Want to know my secret?

1) Breastfeeding

Credits: babyblues.com

My baby was greedy when she was in my tummy (why did you think I gained an astonishing 23kg!?) and she was greedy when she came out. After giving birth to her just one hour before, my doctor asked me if I wanted to try breastfeeding her and I said ok. She started nursing immediately, which amazed my OBGYN who said babies usually don't do that so early.

She used to nurse every 1-2 hours for approximately 12 times a day at about 120ml (4oz) of milk each time. That's 1440ml of milk a day, 43200ml of milk a month. You can imagine how many calories my body is using to manufacture my baby's milk. Plus breastfeeding shrinks your uterus so your tummy will feel flatter.

I'm still breastfeeding her, which probably explains why I'm still losing weight even though I hardly ever exercise. Worked out just great for me :))

2) Post-natal Massage
Recommended by a friend of the hubby, I engaged a masseus from Origins Jamu Massage, which was founded by Rebecca Chan, a mompreneur and blogger. After giving birth to her 2 girls, she experienced typical post-natal pains and engorgement from breastfeeding and decided to give post-natal massage a try. The benefits she experienced convinced her to promote it so that other mothers could enjoy the same benefits.

We decided to go for the 7-sessions package as we didn't know how good it was so didn't want to commit to the 10-sessions package. Honestly, I should have gone for the 10-sessions package as I liked it so much.

My masseus was a Malay lady by the name of Zue and she was very patient and understanding (she has 4 kids herself so she knows how I feel). Her skills were fantastic too. You can't believe the kind of pressure she exerts by just looking at her small frame. She literally kneaded all my cellulite away! But be warned, the massage can be very painful as its purpose is to get rid of all the toxin that is built up in your body and not so much for your comfort.

After the session she will rub your tummy with a special concoction of ginger and other herbs and wrap your tummy with an indonesian cloth binder to tighten your tummy. You have to wear it for at least 6 hours straight or it wouldn't work.

I enjoyed every session and lost about 5-6 kg (11-13.2 lbs), which were mostly from water retention and shrinking of the uterus. I'll definitely recommend it for all new mothers :))

3) Workout Footwear

I'm wearing the classic Walkstar sandal in Fuchsia

Fitflop is the brainchild of Marcia Kilgore. Finding it hard to find time to exercise as a new mother, she wanted to create a product that helped her to exercise while she went about doing her daily activities. And since she walks everyday, it dawned on her, "why not make shoes that can help you to exercise at the same time?"

And so Fitflop was born. It is now the footwear rage that has overtaken Crocs and Birkenstocks in my opinion (I see everyone wearing them). They are comfortable and really work your leg muscles. They're my go-to pair of footwear. I wear my Walkstar everyday. So do my sister, my cousins and my friends. My feet doesn't hurt anymore even from walking long distance. It therefore encourages you to keep walking because your feet doesn't hurt, which also contributes to your workout. I can honestly say I have a toner butt because of it *grinz*

There are only two disadvantages to this product: 1) It's relatively expensive! The cheapest pair costs S$89.90, which may be a lot to pay for a pair of sandals that isn't even Gucci if you know what I mean; 2) Once you own a pair of Fitflops, you won't buy another pair of lousy footwear ever again cos they will all feel really uncomfortable to you. And really good footwear is expensive! Shoe shopping for you will never be the same again (for your feet as well as your pocket).

Good things don't come cheap. As the Chinese saying goes 一分钱一分货 which means that you will get what you pay for. Certainly worth every penny I paid :))

4) Swimming
Let me be clear that I hate jogging. It makes me all sweaty and breathless. But put me in the water and off I go like a mermaid. Ok maybe not exactly like one..

Photo taken by my underwater-friendly Olympus

I can swim laps and not feel tired (not until I reach home that is). Plus you get a great workout without feeling the sticky-ness and sweat you'd normally feel after an hour at the gym. Perfect for me!
Only problem is we live too far away from a swimming pool and I am not motivated to travel all the way for a swim unless I have company. But most people around me prefer jogging (which remember I hate) to swimming. Now I can only pray for my swimming buddy to get back from Shanghai to kick-start our swimming routine again!

5) Lifting Weights
And by weights, I mean my 10.5kg (23 lbs) baby girl.

Baby J was 10.5kg the last time we weighed her

As the only way she can sleep is by me rocking her up and down in my arms, I get a workout on my tummy, thigh and arm muscles. Sometimes I add a little leg lifts to work my inner thighs, some side steps, etc.

Occasionally I lift actual gym weights to tone my arms and do actual sit-ups and crunches to tone my stomach. You gotta work those muscles if you wanna survive taking care of my girl.

And there you have it! I've still got 6kg (13.2 lbs) more to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy body (I can just see it!) and hopefully I will be able to reach my goal in time for my good friends' wedding in October as I will be one of the bridesmaids and their wedding coordinator. Wish me luck!

The Day My iPad Died and Went to EpiCentre

So I was given an iPad Wifi 16GB by the hubby for christmas (and we totally should have waited for iPad 2 but it wouldn't have been a christmas present then would it?).

My iPad

I love using my iPad, especially during my breastmilk pumping sessions every morning. And as I was using it to surf the internet one day, I put it to sleep while I went to the toilet and then when I came back, I could not wake it up again. I tried charging it but to no avail. My iPad was officially unconscious and didn't seem like it would wake up anytime soon *argg*

So the hubby and I brought it down to the "Apple Hospital" at Wheelock Place.

Credits: ssl.apple.com

It so happen that there wasn't a queue or something and they could attend to us right away. I passed my iPad to them and they checked it and realised that it was unable to be charged. In another words, it died.

The good thing is that they will replace it with a brand new one as the one that died was still on warranty (and was only 3 months old for crying out loud). Unfortunately, all my data will be lost and my screen protector will be gone, which sucks because the damn protector costs S$25. I was really unhappy because I took such good care of it that it didn't even have a scratch on it and yet it still died on me. The people at Apple should have compensated me with a new screen protector since it was their fault in the first place, am I right?! *grr*

Hopefully the revived iPad will work better *cross fingers*

Super Sticky Post-it® Contest

If you have ever used a post-it before, you'll know how important it is for it to stick well. Especially if you were to come up with a brilliant creation (made entirely of Post-its) like this:

Credits: cvrick.com

So the people at 3M decided that they would come up with an improvement to their winning product - the Post-it® Super Sticky Note.

There's a contest right now where you can win S$800 in cash! All you have to do is go to their facebook page and 'like' it. Then come up with creative ideas and share them by uploading either a photo or a video (no more than 1 min) that captures the theme of: "That should have been a Post-it® Super Sticky Note!"

The entry with the most 'likes' in either the photo or video category will win $300 and $500 cash respectively! So what are you waiting for?

Personally, I'm very inspired by the Post-it wall (see above). Might just go make one myself and take part... *creative juices stirring*


Disclosure: Complimentary products were received from 3M via Nuffnang. No monetary compensation was received; all opinions are my own.

A Visit to the Hospital

My dad-in-law fainted last Friday at home. He was sent to the hospital on an ambulance by my worried mum-in-law and brother-in-law. Apparently he claimed that he took a nap, but they were afraid it was a stroke or a heart attack. The doctors took a scan of his brain to be sure and thankfully it was not a stroke. He's actually feeling fine already but the doctors wanna keep him there so that they could be 100% sure.

We knew he would really miss his granddaughter so we brought baby J to visit him even though she was having a slight flu. The hubby said he conducts testing on the air in the hospital all the time (hubby's a microbiologist) and the filter there is pretty good at clearing the air of bacteria so it's fine as long as we don't stay too long.

Baby J & 爷爷 (paternal granddad)

He was obviously uber happy to see her although he kept telling us to bring her home as she was having the flu. He said he would chase the doctors to let him go home earlier so that he could be with her at home. Hopefully he'll be discharged by tomorrow.

P.S. If you want exposure for your products, you should seriously check out what's available and shoot me a mail. You can take it as contributing to a struggling SAHM (Stay At Home Mum) whose entire household of five is dependent on a single income. Or as a contribution to my DSLR fund as I will be using the money to buy a higher resolution camera and improve the quality of pictures that you see in this blog =)

UPDATE: Dad-in-law was discharged yesterday (22nd Mar). Thanks to all for your love and concern! =)

A New Day @ Suntec Singapore

It was A New Day for our church as we moved from our previous worship location at the Singapore Expo to our new premise at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre (SICEC) in the heart of our city.

Hello and welcome to church!

We headed to the 6th floor where the English services were held.

Baby J & I joining in the excitement

As babies were not allowed in the main hall, all the mothers gathered at the nursery. It was kind of disappointing that there weren't any television broadcast of the services live in the room due to URA regulations. Some of us tried to catch the services via 3G on our iphones, but the reception wasn't good so after a while we gave up.

Honestly, I personally felt very left out of all the celebrations and fun that was going on in the main hall. All the mothers there were amazing as each one of us tried to make the most of our situation even though some of our babies were giving us a headache. Thank God Baby J was very well-behaved and slept through for the most part. Thank God for my friend QP too, who kept me company in the nursery.

QP & Baby I

Although we couldn't be in the hall, at least we had each other and spent the time fellowshipping and talking about our kids. We decided that for next week I'll bring my laptop and she'll bring her mobile internet so we can catch the services in the nursery. Hopefully this will be a good arrangement until our kids are old enough to be placed in the care of the dedicated nursery helpers while we attend the services in the main hall.

I'm still keeping positive in the midst of it all and looking forward to greater things to come! =)

UPDATE: They managed to get live TV broadcast in the nursery now so it's a lot better for us!

Confessions of a Confinement Rule Breaker

"If you think pregnancy was tough, the aftermath will be tougher!", so exclaimed many mothers to potential mothers-to-be. I used to get really worried by these comments when I was pregnant as I absolutely hated being pregnant. Like I said before, pregger's glow is soo overrated! I refuse to believe that anything could be worse!

Baby J just after delivery

But it was. And not because it was tough taking care of a new baby (and believe me it was tough but I had a lot of assistance in that department in the form of my mum-in-law, lucky me I know) but because of the dreaded Asian Confinement that we had to go through! Generally, all Chinese mothers in Singapore have to go through a month-long confinement period after delivery where someone (usually their mother, mother-in-law or confinement lady) would take care of us and make sure that we follow the rules and recover well. While I get that their intentions are good, some of the rules just doesn't make sense to me.

To back up a little for those of you not familiar with Chinese traditions, we Chinese have all sorts of rules and regulations to follow for just about everything, from weddings to the New Year and even funerals. Although I do believe that some traditions are necessary for us to remember our roots and love our heritage, some are just plain weird.

So I confess. I did it. I broke all the rules.

Broken Confinement Rules:

1) No Going Out
I mean like, this was supposed to be intuitive. Like the whole point of calling it 'confinement' was that you weren't supposed to go out. The reasoning behind this was that you are supposed to be giving your body enough rest plus hanging with the public increases the risk that you might catch some horrible illness or worse, pass it to your baby. Although I do see the point in their logic, facing a screaming baby and four walls everyday at home was killing me! I want to shop. I need to shop!

And so I did. Shop I mean. My baby was scheduled to see her pediatrician 5 days after her delivery for her slight jaundice, and I took the opportunity to go shopping at Anchorpoint with the baby, stitches and all. Later I went out at least once every week to go grocery shopping at Great World City or other errands. I refused to be stuck in confinement prison!

2) No Air-Conditioning
The reasoning for this is that it is believed that women after giving birth will get 'cold' easily and this will cause us to be susceptible to rheumatism. Therefore, to avoid getting 'cold' (and rheumatism when we're older) we have to avoid air-condition. For those of you lucky ones who live in colder climates and don't really understand the fuss on this one, please remember that Singapore is summer all-year-round so air-conditioners are a must in our super hot environment. But not having it was a definite no for me! Even after my girl was born, I continued to feel hot flushes in my body. So much so that even in an air-conditioned hospital room, I had to get the nurse to add a fan at my bedside or I can't sleep! Haha.

3) No Cold Drinks
This is of course coming from the belief that we are to abstain from things that will make us 'cold'.

Credits: en.wikipedia.org

This was particularly hard for me as I'm a super coke light addict. Plus I was breastfeeding so I can't be drinking stuff that contained caffeine. But after trying to stick to this rule for a week, I couldn't take it anymore and secretly drank some coke light. Whoops! It was just a sip.. honest! *laughs*

4) Wear Bedroom Slippers

Again the reasoning is that the 'coldness' from the floor will 'travel' into your body through your feet. But in our hot climate, I gave up on it after just a week and made a compromise with my mum-in-law to wear it when the hubby's granddad came over just 'for show' =)

5) Eating Confinement foods

Confinement foods are specially cooked foods containing incredients that will help a new mother regain her health after giving birth. You can read more about confinement foods and rules here. I had to force certain foods down my throat while others were more appealing.

Essence of Chicken

I'm one of those weird people that actually like to drink this =)

6) No Bathing
For at least a week! I'm serious. This was actually the most ridiculous rule of all to me. Plus you have to wipe yourself with water that had Chinese herbs added. The belief is again that this will prevent you from getting 'cold'. But with this super hot climate, how can anyone survive this? I didn't care and went ahead to bathe at the hospital anyway (I'm one of the only ones that do, can you believe it). And to reach a compromise with my mum-in-law, I decided to bathe normally with warm water in the morning and wipe with herbal water at night (since it is colder at night). Best of both worlds if you ask me.

People say I will pay for this decision later when I am old. Probably. But I'm hoping someone will invent some kind of cure for rheumatism for us rule-breakers someday *cross-fingers*

Tasty Tuesday: Cold Japanese Soba

We were at Vivocity recently.

Baby got a balloon for being so cute :)

We decided to shop around at Daiso, which sells everything at S$2.

Baby J in Daiso's shopping cart

I didn't like the shopping cart at all. The seat was too small and baby's head kept hitting the metal bar just directly behind whenever she leaned back. I eventually returned the cart and carried her instead.

Anyway, as the hubby loves to eat cold Soba (which is a type of thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour), he decided that he wanted to make some at home instead of eating it at Japanese restaurants, which were more expensive. Diaso had all the necessary incredients we needed at only S$2 each, which was a real value for money.

The necessary ingredients:

- A packet of soba
- Soba sauce
- Seaweed
- Wasabi

From left: Soba sauce, Soba, soba sauce in a bowl & seaweed strips

We bought everything from Daiso, except for the soba sauce as it was sold out at Daiso. So we had to buy an alternative at Giant Hypermart instead, which cost us S$5.50, more than twice the price. No wonder it was sold out at Daiso (-_-").

Anyway, we also bought a Japanese-style bowl (that was more like a cup) and plate that was specially used for Soba.

To prepare this dish, heat water to a boil and cook the soba for no more than 5 minutes or the noodles will be too soggy. Next, pour away the hot water and add ice cold water. Then put the bowl of soba into the fridge for at least 15 minutes. Next, prepare the soba sauce by adding water to the concentrated sauce from the bottle in the ratio of 2:3 (i.e. 2 parts sauce to 3 parts water). Finally, place the soba on the bamboo plate, top it off with ice cubes and seaweed strips and tada!

Dinner is served!

You may also want to prepare some chopped spring onions and wasabi which can be added to the soba sauce. The way you want to eat this is by picking up some noodles with your chopsticks and dipping them into the sauce before eating it. Soba is usually eaten with other Japanese food like Tonkatsu, Sashimi or Sushi.

This is super easy to do and costs at least three times less than those served in restaurants and they taste the same according to the hubby. For those of you who enjoy Japanese food like me, you should totally try this :)

Linking up with:

Cravin' A Sugar High

Ever since baby got the hang of eating solid foods, her appetite just got better and better. You can say I'm very lucky to have a kid who eats anything you put in her mouth (some food more than others), which also meant that she's always wanting to try adult food as well. Whatever mummy or daddy is eating, baby wants some of it too. She'll start licking her lips and keep staring at me with those mouth-watering eyes. It's exactly like those lions we see on Animal Planet who can't even have a proper meal without vultures hovering around watching them eat.

This happened to me one day when I was eating Kit Kat (one of my absolutely favourite chocolates).

"Can I have a taste of your Kit Kat? Pretty pleeaasssee??"

She was staring at me eating my Kit Kat with such a pathetic 'OMG, I'm so hungry, mummy gimme a taste of that please?!' look that her grandma started to pity her and persuaded me to let her lick it.

Initially I said no of course. My food rule, which I keep repeating to the family, is NO PROCESSED SUGAR, SALT & OIL till baby is 2 years old (I don't know how long this rule will hold but I will still try to impose it)! Everything must be au naturel or organic as much as possible. So unless the food exists naturally in that form, it must not be fed to her. Case in point, sweets are a no no but honey is ok.

My mum said licking the Kit Kat is technically not actually eating it. So I finally relented (she is after all my mother) and here's proof that all she did was lick it.

Don't know why kids get such a rush eating sweet stuff but according to Evolutionary Psychologists, liking sugar was a necessary survival skill for kids in the ancient 'hunter and gatherer' days. Of course now sugar just makes kids fat and causes all sorts of health problems.

Hopefully everyone will cooperate and abide by my food rules. Or else I might have to go all Empress Dowager on them. You know... Do it OR ELSE... Haha. I'm kidding (no I'm not) *smiles*

P.S. Watch baby J grow!

We Got NEXed!

I got baby to put on her new hat (since she already outgrew her old one *gasp*) before we set out

Baby J and I went to meet my mum at NEX at Serangoon to shop around as she has never been there before. It's a really nice shopping centre but the best part about it was this kids playground area at the roof (level 5).

I was so close to jumping under the water and playing in the 'rain'. Haha. But they had this sign that said you're not allowed to have shoes on when playing and there was a security guard watching the place to make sure people didn't abuse the place. So I didn't do it. I did, however, carry my baby and tiptoe around so that she could feel the water. Then at one point the water from the big pail (see above) poured down and made such a huge splash that she got the shock of her life and started crying. Guess she's still too young for this, heh. Made a mental note to bring her back when she's older.

Later we passed NEX's nursing room and I gave it my ratings. We didn't get to use it though because baby wasn't hungry.

Finally, we made a stop at Kitschen, my new found shopping stop.

This shop has been around for a while, but I just recently stumbled on it. I love it for its whole concept and quality clothes at affordable prices. Many of the dresses that caught my eye (and for the record I have a damn good eye seeing as I'm someone who watches Style everyday, buys and reads Gap Press fashion magazines and has a fashionista sister *laughs*) cost only S$39.90-49.90. I like the fit, the style and the quality of the clothes so I half expected to pay a lot more for it. Bought me a nice dress that I managed to zip up even though it was super fitted and I still have my big 'nursing boobs'. Happy!

If you live in the area, you should go check this store out. Apparently they have a store at Vivocity, which I frequent all the time, so I was surprised I didn't see it. Will definitely go check out the Vivo outlet too.

NEX is definitely worth a checking out =)

Tasty Tuesday: Beef Bolognese Pasta

If you look hard enough at the right hand column of my blog, you'll notice that I have joined the For The Love Of Blogs club, who aim to bring bloggers together in one place.


I've decided to join in this week's Tasty Tuesday's link up (which you can join in too by clicking the button), which is my first time ever. Haha. For this week's Tasty Tuesday, we are to share what we're cooking today.

Unlike my friends JK Creations and Soon-to-be-Mrs P, who are really good cooks, I don't have the same interest.

STB-Mrs P's signature dishes especially the Cai Dao Kuey (Chinese fried carrot cake) on the right, which she made out of chuei kuey.

But when I got married and I started watching Take Home Chef and other cooking shows, I decided to pick up some cooking in my bid to be one step closer to Stepford Wives status. Gotta win the man's stomach as well as his heart. Haha.

I don't know why but I prefer cooking Western style dishes like pasta and steak than Chinese style dishes. And since my hubby like beef bolognese pasta, that soon became my signature dish (and one of the only dishes I'm good at).

My beef bolognese pasta (looks a little ugly here though)

Super easy to do.

 

Cook the pasta, add chopped onions, add Leggo's bolognese sauce, add the marinated minced beef, add sliced tomatoes and mushrooms, add cooked pasta, stir and serve. You can see why it's my signature dish. Haha. Easy.

 

And this was what I cooked last Saturday! =)





 

Linking up with:

I Wish You Wouldn't Talk With Your Mouth Full

Baby J with Daddy & Mummy

My girl just turned 8 months and I've noticed an increase in her mumblings and babblings. Sometimes I thought I heard her say 'hi' or 'nai nai' (which is milk or grandmother in Chinese). Sometimes she would shout 'dad dad!' with a loud voice and I'll go, "did you just say daddy?" (It's no fair that mummy is harder to say! -_-) But no matter how I try to get her to repeat the words, she always look at me like I'm out-of-my-mind crazy.

There can be 2 possibilies: 1) She's still just making sounds and not yet making the associations with the meaning of the words, (2) she's really out to drive me crazy.

I highly suspect the latter, as sometimes she'll give me that cheeky smile of hers.

With all the talking, whining, shouting and screaming, all of it also inevitably happens when I'm breastfeeding her. There she is feeding nicely when suddenly, she stops sucking and starts rambling 'yeee ahhhh ooooohhh'. Half way through, she'll also bite down hard on my you-know-what which hurts (thank God she hasn't sprouted a tooth yet) and I will shout out, "Stop it!" and look at her sternly. She will get shocked by my sudden reaction and stop, but might forget later on and do it again (-_-"). Took a while of conditioning her, which includes me saying, "Stop it!" and sometimes biting her fingers or hand (just so she knows how it feels) whenever she bites me, for her to finally get that her biting is causing me pain.

Through it all, I'm constantly reminded of this Baby Blues cartoon, which I love.

Credits: babyblues.com

My sentiments exactly.

Top 10 Horrible Names To Give Your Baby

When I was pregnant and we were thinking of baby names, I stumbled onto a site that advised you on what not to name your baby. That led me to google bad baby names and the lists that I found were just hilarious.

My friends and I were just discussing bad baby names the other day and I thought it would be such a laugh to share it with you. If you're currently pregnant (or will be in the future) and thinking of naming your kid one of the following, please don't. For goodness sake, don't! And you're welcome.

(Note: Photos, which are proof the names are real are courtesy of my friend J who's a neonatal nurse at a local hospital - many thanks!)

#1: Names that Sound Nice but Really Aren't
Names like Desdemona (which means devil) and Jezebel (a character known to lack morality) are infamous what-not-to-call-your-kid names for their negative connotations.

Here's a true Singapore story that I heard from my lawyer friend RTS who swore he was telling the truth. He said he had ever handled a case where the couple was going through a bitter divorce so they named their twins 'Disaster' and 'Calamity'. They might as well have named them Desdemona and Jezebel, which at least sounds nicer. I can just imagine her mother going, "Come here Disaster! You remind me daily of the pure crap I had to go through because of your dumbass father!"

The poor twins have my deepest sympathy.

#2: Names that are Too Good to be True
Haven't you heard of the saying, "If it's too good to be true, it probably isn't"?

Imagine the irony when 'Pure' does something not so pure. I'm of course also assuming these are names of girls. I shudder to think if any of these names are for a boy, stereotypical or not.

I can just picture it in my mind... "I, Princess Heart, take you, Prince Spade, to be my lawfully wedded husband..."

Not a good idea to name your kid after a preschool song either. Sounds real cute when she is a baby but can you imagine her grand kids calling her Grandma Twinkle Star? Didn't think so.

"Yo Golden, whatsup!" does have a nice ring to it.. not.

#3: Names that Do Not Fit with Their Siblings
I read a true story of a couple who had triplets. The girls were called 'Faith', 'Hope' and... wait for it... 'Ashley'. Yup, and you wonder why Ashley thought she was adopted.

Another true story I read was a strong warning from a mother to consider names carefully as she named her youngest daughter 'Ella' and her eldest son 'Sam'. Very ordinary don't you think? Until she started calling out to them together. "Sam and Ella!!" sounds suspiciously like... yup you got it. The food-poisoning inducing batteria.

#4: Names that Sound Like Something Else
My nurse friend J said recently a 'Benis' checked into the nursery a few days ago. Erm... right.

And I don't think I would be happy to meet a nurse called 'Constance Payne', which is the real name of a nurse in America. I don't know if it was on purpose or not, but 'Barb Dwyer' and 'Stan Still' also had to endure lots of teasing from ruthless classmates at school.

#5: Names that are Impossible to Pronounce Correctly
Names like 'Siobhan' (pronounced 'sher-bonne') and 'Isla' (pronounced 'eye-ler') will never get pronounced correctly in our Asian society.

My hubby wanted to name our girl 'Siobhan' (after the American Idol finalist) but I was against it because nurses at the hospital would probably pronounce it as 'Seoh-bhan' (can you blame them?) which sounds like roast meat in Hokkien. Let's face it, we all have met a nurse at the hospital who can't pronounce our names right. There is no way that you wanna make the situation even worse.

#6: Names that, Together with the Surname, Form Very Bad Initials
You don't want to be so happy with the name 'Irene Lillian' that you forgot your surname is Li, which makes your child's initials to be I.L.L. Not good. Similarly, if your surname is Sim, please don't call your child 'Alison Sim Sulin' or 'Aiden Samuel Sim'. I think you get why.

#7: Names that are Also a Verb
If I can use the word as an action, probably not a good idea to use that as a name for your kid.

Whatever possessed their parents to name them these is beyond me.

#8: Names that are Also a Place
To name your child after a road name is still somewhat acceptable, after all most roads are named after actual people. But I have to draw the line at naming your kid these..

'Ocean Sun'? Seriously?!

#9: Celebrity Names/ Nicknames

Even if you're her biggest fan, it doesn't mean your girl is. That is, assuming you are not naming her after an adjective, which is even worse.

#10: Names that are Just Plain Weird!
I know you don't wanna go with common names like 'Jayden' but you don't wanna go with a name that is so out of this world that it is just plain bizarre!

"Yo Ninja, how ya doing?"
"I'm fine Chemical Element, how about you, female version of Richie?"

Ok, I take it all back. With names like these, weird is an understatement.

P.S. If your name happened to be any of these, my condolences. If you're sick and tired of all the jokes, RTS can hook you up with a good lawyer to change it. If you are the parent who named your kid any one of these, well, you should be paying for your kid's lawyer fees. Just saying...

Pledging My Support For The Breast Cancer Foundation

Taking my cue from Mother, Inc, I've decided to pledge my support for the "It's Great to be a Woman" pledge campaign organised by Great Eastern in partnership with the Breast Cancer Foundation.

You can vote for my pledge and/or write your own pledge and stand to win attractive prizes like an iPad. More importantly, Great Eastern will donate a dollar for every pledge made to the Breast Cancer Foundation. You don't have to spend a lot of time on it, whatever is from your heart will do.

They are still in need of A LOT of pledges. Plus voting and pledging ends on March 8 so hurry, pledge your support now!