Apple Should Seriously Gimme a Call

I've got a child model that they would wanna use.

Somehow babies know instinctively that the iPhone is better. We did the test at least 10 times and 10 out of 10 times it was the same result. Even if you switched the position, the angle and added the twisting and turning, etc.

See what I mean...

No training required. In-built, cute and ready to wow your consumers.

Apple Store, are you reading this?


P.S. For those of you who find this familiar, you have read something like this before.

The Versatile Blogger Award

I have no idea what this means but I just got awarded The Versatile Blogger Award from Velle at The Yummy Mummy Train.

If I'm not wrong, this is an award that is passed from one blogger to another in order to recognise and appreciate one another for our passion for blogging. So although there is no authority behind it whatsoever, at least you know that people, even strangers, are reading your blog and liking it =)

So as part of accepting this award, I'm required to tell you 7 things about myself:

1) I absolutely adore the colour pink!

2) I'm super-duper Pro-Breastfeeding.
I believe in 'God-made' rather than man-made. Doesn't mean I judge mothers who don't breastfeed for whatever personal reasons as we all know mothers only want the best for their kids. It's just like we still eat non-organic food even though we know organic is better. Sometimes ideal is just not possible in reality. But the bottomline is, if you can, you really really should! =)

3) I love puzzles and detective stuff (so what if I like Tin Tin?)

4) I love collecting stuff!
I have a collection of boardgames, snowglobes, Baby Blues comic books, keychains and pins from all over the world, notebooks, stickers of all the countries I had visited, etc. (Oh goodness, I sound like a hoarder!)

5) I'm a super-duper organised neat freak.
My books are lined alphabetically according to height, type. My comics are arranged numerically. My clothes are arranged by type and colour (of the rainbow that is). Everything has a place. You move/touch my stuff and I will know it! I absolutely can't stand a picture frame that is hung crooked. Sometimes I pack my things so well that I can't even find them. Haha. Drives the hubby crazy but that is just me.

6) I have no other musical talent except for singing (and I can hold a tune pretty well). But musical instruments? God did not gift me in that department. And to be sure I did try every other musical instrument you can name, piano, organ, violin, guitar, drums, trombone and even the harmonica, but it all did not end well. The hubby is the same. I'm now crossing my fingers that my baby won't be!

7) Finally, I love traveling!
We do it at least twice a year as you can see on my travel page :))

Ok now I'm supposed to pass along the award to other bloggers, but I think most of the bloggers I love already have very accomplished blogs so I'm not even sure they would give a damn whether or not I give this award to them. So what I'm going to do instead is just to list them here and let their blog owners decide if they wanna accept the award or not =)

1) Mother, Inc
2) Edunloaded
3) Beadsyy's Diary
4) Mum in the Making
5) Sanses
6) A Dance for Five
7) A Dollop of Me

(Note: If you choose to accept the award, just copy the above image, link me in an original post, write down 7 things about yourself and pass the award along to other deserving blogs)

Go check them out if you can =)

It's My Birthday and I'll Laugh If I Want To!

It's my birthday today! *grinz*

And my 1st birthday celebration started after our Good Friday service at church. We were having dinner and games night at our house again and again my sister did the same thing she did for her bf: hide the cake in the fridge, hope that I would not see it, then light the candles after dinner and sing the birthday song.

And I was surprised! OMG I should have seen it coming but I didn't. I even opened the fridge (as is my habit whenever I'm at home), told myself I shouldn't eat the cookies inside and took the Coke Light out to drink, all the while not seeing the cake which was in plain sight! Seriously, what's wrong with my eyes?!

Blowing out the candles..

And guess who got jealous that mummy got all the attention and lighted candles and not her?

Girlee wants to be in the heart of the action as well

She was fighting for me to carry her and let her hold on to my present.

Present from the Sister & Mr DJ

They got me an O.P.I nail polish set & Urban Decay eyeshadow set

My sis knows I love to do my own pedicures and manicures and have always been too cheapskate to get the best nail polish. I have also been eyeing on the Urban Decay sets since last year, so I was really excited that they bought both for me. Thanks guys!

My mum also knows I absolutely love chocolate! Especially dark chocolate.

Guylian Extra Dark Chocolate

Ended the night playing Catan =)

Today we brought Girlee to Expo for the IT and Baby fair.

Girlee in her 'ballerina' outfit

Dressed her up in a really cute Adidas ballerina one piece outfit. When I first got her to wear this when she was 6 months old, she couldn't even fit into the sleeves! But she can now, so I guess she has indeed lost weight (or didn't gain since she still weighs 10.5kg) after all. The hubby brought us to eat crabs at Ghim Moh followed by Mao Shan Wang durian, my favourite fruit in the whole world. Haha.

I sooo need to get my fat ass back on the treadmill. Stat -_-

Thanks to everyone for your well-wishes, especially to my dad who smsed me twice and called me from Shanghai China, to make sure I didn't miss his loving wishes. I had an enjoyable (but fattening) birthday =)

Want to Be My Friend?

Today was a busy day for Girlee. Instead of going to church as was our usual routine (we already went yesterday), we visited the hubby's army friend aka reservist buddy at their house in Sembawang.

His wife is pregnant with baby number 2 and they are of course hoping for a girl as they already have a boy. His son, Little Boy J is about 18 months old now and Girlee was curious yet wary of him as he is bigger than her.

"Hold hands and be friends!" said both daddys

Soon she opened up and wanted to play his toys, which he initially did not share but later did with the prompting and praises he got from his mother. However, Girlee drew the line at sitting in his electronic motor car which had flashing lights, steering wheel and safety belt. I'm not sure why she refused to sit in this one although she rode on Little D's cars during CNY. Not in the mood maybe? I don't know..

Anyway, we enjoyed the fellowship and talked about the usual: kids, general elections and rising housing costs, among other things. It was a nice dinner plus Ben & Jerry's ice-cream for dessert. I busted my diet yet again =(

Later on we met up with the hubby's friends for coffee and finally met Baby N for the first time! Baby N is the son of the hubby's best friend of 18 years (they have been classmates since Secondary 1 and were classmates all the way till university!). He and his wife are both teachers and we can relate to them on so many levels because of our kids.

Girlee & Baby N

I've always wanted to meet Baby N as they seldom bring him out so he has always been like a mystery to us. But after meeting him, I understood why his parents always met us alone. Just minutes after stepping into the coffee place, he started crying very loudly. Something about the lights or something sort of scared him maybe. He is after all only 3 months old. They brought him outside where it was darker and he seemed to prefer it a lot more. I got Girlee to 'play' with him and he actually responded well to her. I guess it's a baby's natural instinct to like other babies like themselves. Girlee too was fascinated by him. Probably because she's an only child and hardly gets the chance to play with other infants and toddlers.

The good thing about Baby N is that he can fall asleep anywhere quite easily and minutes after his fussing he was fast asleep. Girlee, on the other hand, can't sleep unless it was cold enough, which it wasn't as the weather nowadays is approaching summer and is crazily hot. So she didn't sleep till she got home.

Anyway, I was happy for her to meet other children around her age. In just one day, Girlee made two friends: Big friend J and Small friend N. May her little friendships continue to blossom! =)

Our Easter Production, The Centurion

This is the first Good Friday and Easter for Girlee! We brought her to church as usual to watch the first ever drama performance at Suntec Singapore presented by our church's drama team.

The title for this year's Easter drama is The Centurion.
The story revolved around the life of a centurion living in the time of Jesus and how he was betrayed by the one closest to him (style something like Troy or 300).

I must say I'm very impressed by this year's production! The fight scenes were realistic and the story line was great. According to City News, our church got professional people to train the actors in the fight scenes and their acting skills. Their efforts to improve the quality of their performance certainly paid off.

I'm glad I was able to catch the whole performance live in the hall as they had allocated a Parent's Corner (or section) for parents with infants and children. It was a godsend for me! I could enjoy the action with the hubby who took turns with me carrying Girlee throughout the whole service.

Girlee was quite entertained by parts of the show. As we were sitting near a screen, she started pointing to it and then tapping her dad and then pointing to it again as if to say, "Look, Daddy, look! Got screen! Big screen!" It was quite a sight really. Later she got tired and wanted to sleep but couldn't due to all the sounds. She finally did when pastor was preaching so that I could pay attention to it, so it worked out really well in the end =)

For those of you who have yet to see it, you really should pop by Suntec Singapore, Hall 601-603 this weekend. You may email me for more enquiries =)

From me to all of my lovely readers:

HAPPY EASTER!

April Birthdays Extravanganza

Somehow April seems to be a hot month to give birth.

My good friend Belle gave birth to her baby girl last year on the same day her own mom gave birth to her (cool eh?) in April. Then it was the sister's bf aka DJ Styluxtakut's birthday, whose birthday we celebrated twice: once at our home with cake followed by games and again at The King Louis at Vivocity.

Meat platter vs. Seafood platter

As there were 8 of us, we thought we'll order two of their King's Platter, one meat only (i.e. beef and chicken) and the other seafood. It was huge! The chicken was delicious but everyone complained about the taste of the beef (I ate all the beef that everyone didn't want as I was really hungry haha). Personally I prefered the seafood platter in general.

However, be prepared to pay as each platter costs about S$100! Also, don't order their 1-for-1 beer, which according to the hubby, was super diluted even though they gave an uber-generous large glass.

The birthday boy

Then the cake came out coupled with three of the restaurant staff singing 'Happy Birthday'. He was so surprised and was initially confused as to whose birthday it was. It was hilarious really. Although it was a tired day for all of us (especially since I was having a headache), we had a really good time fellowshipping with each other =)

Next, it was Soon-to-be-Mrs P's birthday celebration cum bridal party get together at La Villa, which is going to be the location of their wedding in October.

La Villa Italian Grill & Bar at River Valley Road

We were there to discuss the details of their wedding and taste the goodness of the Italian food that Mr & future Mrs P love. Thank you for sponsoring the dinner, we loved it! I think I busted my diet because of it. Sigh.

The bridesmaids (and one flower girl)..

..and the groomsmen

The highlight of the location was this tree, which they intend to say their vows under. Isn't it beautiful? I love their location, it is just so them. I'm so excited for their wedding as it is the first time I'm a bridesmaid! Can you believe I've never been a bridesmaid before till now? Anyway, it is going to be a great wedding I just know it *grin*

And finally, April will end with the birthday of none other than yours truly! Which I will continue in another post since technically it is not my birthday yet =)

To all my friends who are born in April, especially my fellow mummy Belle, my good friend Wei and our cabin crew friend SY with whom I didn't get to celebrate their birthdays with,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ALL of US! ^-^v

My Sister's Water Baptism

Actually, this was the 2nd time the sister was water baptised (three, if you count the time when we were infants, which technically doesn't count as we didn't know what was happening). The first was together with me back in Jan 2005.

Getting water baptised in 2005 (we looked so young!)

But now looking back, Sister said that it didn't count either as she was just doing it for the sake of doing it at time. You see, we grew up in a Christian family so this has been part of most (if not all) of our lives. You get to a point in your life when you start to question your beliefs and while I chose God, my sister went her own way.

But one day she came back to God and turned her life around. She kicked all her previous bad habits such as drinking, clubbing and smoking and even enrolled herself to Bible School to learn more about God! She decided to go through water baptism for real this time as water baptism is a very significant milestone in a Christian's life but in itself means nothing if your heart doesn't believe it. I'm so happy for her! =)

So of course we arrived in full force to support her.

Supporters (top) in full force while water bap candidates (bottom) got ready

This time around Sister was joined by her best pal Am and other members of our cell group: JT, Al and Ju.

We also appointed our brother to be our family's official photographer, seeing as he had the biggest camera.

Official photographer all ready for action

He found a good 'bird's eye view' spot at the top of the playground to get a good shot (I'm not even sure if he's allowed up there...)

Sister getting water baptised as Girlee watched (spot her?)

Following the tradition of our church, we gave them some salt, a candle and an apple each after their water baptism. Salt represented "Salt of the Earth" while the candle symbolised "Light of the World".

The light of the world..

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden." -- Matthew 5:13-14*

..and the apple of God's eyes.

"Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings"
-- Psalm 17:8*

Supporters in full force!

My heartiest congratulations on your baptism! So happy for you guys! =)

*All scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

A Happy Surprise In A Stressful Week

I have been rushing my writing to meet my deadline (which is today! *gasps*) for the past week, writing till 4am every morning (I'm a night owl so that's the best time for me to write). So I woke up this morning feeling a little drained from everything and switched on my computer to continue so that I can hand in later, and you can imagine my surprise when I found out that FTLOB published my feature post!

Many thanks to the gals at FTLOB! You have made my day =)

And if you're new here, my heartiest WELCOME!

I pray that you'll stick around and even leave a comment. I'll definitely return the love (after I meet my deadline that is)! =))

Now, back to my writing (what a buzz-kill -_-").

DJ Styluxtakut

You may know my sister's bf from my previous post on how we volunteered at a children's home and painted a wall, but did you know that he is also a club DJ? He goes by the name Styluxtakut (I have no idea how to pronounce it or what it means!) in the DJ world and has taken part and won many competitions. Oh, and he's also one of Girlee's biggest fans! Haha.

See, what did I tell ya.

So I thought I would do him a favour and broadcast his work for him plus also let my readers have an idea of what DJ-ing is all about (which I myself had no idea up until I saw some of his videos and him spinning live at Blu Jaz).

Here's a video he submitted for the DMC Online DJ Championships:

He's the only Singaporean contestant so far so it should be quite easy to track him.

Please vote for him at the DMC website! Especially if:
1) you're a Singaporean (gotta support our own people man!)
2) you love me or Girlee (thank you, thank you!)
3) you like the video simple as that!

Whatever the reason, please do vote for him! My thanks in advance! =)

UPDATE: For those of you who voted, a big thank you! DJ Styluxtakut was the highest voted DJ in Round 4. Although he did not win top prize, he was still rated at the top 4-6 positions by the judges who are professional, award winning DJs. On behalf of Styluxtakut, thank you for your support! =)

Girlee's Little Corner

So I have these extra large window panels that start from the floor all the way up to the ceiling in my room and it has become Girlee's favourite hobby to look out of this window at cars driving or people walking pass our house.

And since I've also got some alphabet-puzzle mats, which were initially laid out in the living room but were removed as the living room was already too cluttered, it dawned on me to make the corner next to the window her very own play area.

Her own little corner in our room

It was quite challenging trying to lay the puzzle mats as the window panels weren't entirely straight. Then I felt it was a bit bare so I added some more toys in case she might be bored and some cushions, pillows and more soft toys just in case she accidentally fell backwards and hit her head.

"The monkey's bigger than me!"

I love this monkey soft toy we bought from Shenzhen in 2007 for our then future baby girl. It was very cheap at only S$20! You can never buy a soft toy at this price in Singapore. So we bought two, this monkey for our baby girl and a similar-sized Yoshi from Super Mario for our baby boy (yes, that was how long ago we planned for our children, right down to their names!).

After storing it for so long (4 years!) I'm so glad that I can finally present it to her to play with it. Initially Girlee was afraid of it (as it was so much bigger than her!) but now she likes it as it is so warm and cuddly. So happy that I've got a place to put her stuff and she has her own comfortable spot to be her usual 'kaypoh' (hokkien for busybody) self...

Such a great view too..

Of course the bad thing about this corner is that when it is sunny, it is virtually impossible to even be in the room let alone sit near the window.

I'm still in the midst of improving her corner by adding more puzzle squares, pillows and toys.

Anyone got any other ideas on how I can further improve it? =)

P.S. Have decided to call my baby girl by her nickname 'Girlee' because it's just a tiny bit more unique than 'Baby J'. Haha.

The Very Talented City Harvest Children's Church!

This was the very first performance cum praise & worship led by our very own Children's Church band!

They were leading more than 10,000 people at the Indoor Stadium mind you! Aren't they fantastic? Whenever they take the stage, I always feel moved to see that God can use children as young as they are to serve Him.

Just thinking about how in future my girl will be joining them in loving and serving God makes me really happy and thankful to God for a great place for her to learn and grow. I wonder if she'll ever be one of those singers on the stage? Well you'll never know =)

I was also recently hooked onto a song sung by the Children's Church (you can listen to it via this video I found on Youtube although it is rather informal but it's the best I could find).

What stretches from the east to west
What’s higher than the heaven’s height
What’s deeper than the oceans wide
What’s greater, What’s greater

It is Your love, It is Your mercy
New every morning, unfailing
It is Your word, It is Your presence
Unfailing are You Lord, Jesus

What brightens up the darkest times
What softens all the wounded hearts
What covers, forgives the greatest sins
What’s greater, What’s greater

So beautiful, ain't it?

"Yes, Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?" -- Matthew 21:16*

*Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Beauty Secrets of a New Mum

Now it's not like I have prefect looks or skin (far from it!) or an expert when it came to beauty (definitely not!). I grew up an ugly duckling whom everyone does not point to when asked, "Who's prettier? Big Sister or Small Sister?" (FYI, Big Sister is referring to me. "Big Sister Big" directly translated into Chinese was my nickname).

But growing up with a sister who's all about the latest fashion, makeup must-haves, most popular diet fad and everything vain and pretty, you kind of get influenced over time. The moment I bought my first dress long time ago, I was hooked to shopping.

However, all that enthusiasm for looking good took a backseat when I went from pre-preggers to preggers:

Before and After

And that was the best photo of me pregnant there is! -_-" All my clothes didn't fit me, didn't feel like putting makeup on as the smell of the liquids and powders made me feel like puking, couldn't trot around in my heels for fear I will trip and hurt my baby and I looked so bloated that if you poked me I think I would actually pop! I envy those of you who enjoyed being pregnant as I sure as hell didn't. After having the baby was worse. I looked like I'm still having baby number 2.. (-_-")

So in the midst of one of my pity parties and crying my eyeballs out that I was fat and ugly (don't pretend like you didn't have one before!), I made a decision to make the most of my situation and take steps to make myself look prettier (even if I didn't feel like it). I managed to downsize myself and got back on my beauty regime I had abandoned.

Here are some of my must-haves if you are a new mother trying your hardest to look and feel better:

1) Stretch Marks Lotion
The jury is out as to whether these actually work or not but I have been using Palmers Stretch Marks Lotion since I was about 4 months pregnant (rubbed some on my tummy every night before I sleep) and am still using it now.

I don't know if it's good genes (apparently stretch marks is genetic so some people are more prone to it than others) or the lotion but I have very few stretch marks on my tummy. My mother has almost no stretch marks on hers too (after three kids, mind you) so I supposed I got lucky. Still, in case genes decided to play a punk on me, I thought I'd better be safe than sorry.

2) Face mask

These are much cheaper in Taiwan and Hongkong so grab them if you're there

Face masks must be applied at least once or twice a week. If you are a beauty fanatic you know the benefits of putting a face mask at night after cleansing your face and before you sleep. My bridal makeup artist told me to put a face mask on the day before you are required to put on heavy makeup so that your makeup would stay on better.

I stopped putting on face masks for the whole time that I was pregnant as I was afraid that the chemicals might affect my baby. When she's out, I resumed my regime of putting it on at least once a week in my aircon room and it really hydrates my skin, which got really dehydrated from all that breastfeeding going on.

You deserve to be pampered, so pamper yourself! One piece only costs just over a dollar so it will not be more than $10 a month! Do it!

3) Sunscreen

Credits: mypinkgloss.blogspot.com

Never, never leave the house without wearing sunscreen on your face. Ever! In the past, the peak period of harmful sunshine was between 10am-2pm but with changing climates nowadays, the effects of the sun can still be felt long after the sun has gone down. That means you should be wearing your sunscreen whether there is direct sunlight or not.

Experts say the minimum Sun Protection Factor (SPF) that you should have on your sunscreen should be SPF 15.

Personally I've been using Ettusais' medicated acne whitening UV EX as a makeup base for many years now. Not only does it shield my face from the harmful effects of the sun, it reduces the amount of acne on my face and lightens my skin tone. People have commented that I look fairer over the years.

You should definitely try this product especially if you have very oily and acne-fied skin like mine.

4) Concealer from Ettusais

Credits: ettusais.sg

Speaking of acne-fied skin, many people ask me how I tackle my skin problems. I tell you I tried many different products and all of it didn't really work for me till I stumbled upon Ettusais' skin care and makeup products. The best thing about their products is that they serve dual functions.

Their most successful product so far in my opinion is their concealer. The whole point of a concealer is to cover your spots, dots and other ugly stuff on your face right? But what if your concealer could heal your spots/acne while it is covering them? Kills two birds with one stone right?! That's what this concealer does!

5) Good Nursing Bra
Ok this is a bit embarassing to talk about but seriously, if you are nursing like I am, please get a good nursing bra. Get one that gives you the lift you need (and we know how ahem big they can get). You can get cheap ones like I did from CK at Chinatown but I suggest getting better quality ones as they give you better support and last longer. I got both and let's just say my CK ones are gone for good haha.

If you have a bigger budget, get those from Mothercare, which will probably set you back by more than S$50. They are nice and comfortable but I suggest not investing into them unless you are sure that you'll be breastfeeding your baby for at least 6 months or you'll find it a waste of your money.


I think the most important thing we as new mums need to know is that it's absolutely ok to take care of ourselves first before taking care of our baby! A happy mum means a happy baby!

So don't neglect your appearance, take time and some money to look good and feel good. As my favourite pastor always say, "It takes a lot of money to look this good!"

And spending that money to improve yourself is the best investment you can make =)

The Hawk-Lion-Shark Girl

She watches you like a hawk. You (in this case daddy) pick up some chips to eat, she abandons her mummy and her usual breastmilk and flips her entire body around to reach out for it (which made her mummy shout to her daddy to stop distracting her!). You pick up a cup to drink, she stares. The kind of stare a lion does when it spots a prey and haven't eaten in days (but she has just drunk her milk/eaten her porridge!).

Like a shark, she can smell food even if she's in deep sleep and wakes up to see her mummy eating noodles. Then pats her mummy repeatedly in a bid to get her to give her some. And you just can't get away from the stare. Sometimes a pitiful lick of the lips accompany it and you're gone. You give in and feed her whatever is in your hand (true story).

Anyway my ever adventurous baby is into drinking or eating anything adult-style. If you won't drink it, you can bet she won't either. But if she sees you drinking or eating it, then she'll want to get in on the action as well.

Even if she isn't really up to it yet. Ah well.

The Day We Dedicated Baby to God

It is Family Day Services at church this weekend where children were allowed to join their parents for service together for the first time. It was also the weekend for Baby Dedication and we decided to dedicate Baby J to God.

We got Baby J to wear this pair of cute shoes we bought from Batam for approximately S$7.

Shoes from Batam's Matahari

The soles and material of the shoes were soft and fitted snuggly around baby's feet so that it didn't fall out when baby J kicked. Very nice and cheap.

Next, I got her to wear her OshKosh B'Gosh pink overall dress that my friend G bought from the US.

OshKosh B'Gosh Dress

Pretty ain't it? She looks so grown up! My baby's not a baby anymore *cries*

With the hubby & my pretty baby girl

Our friends SL & QP were also dedicating their baby boy together with us.

Baby I & Baby J while waiting to go onstage

So nice to have another family in the same cell group as us =)

Then it came time to go onstage for the Baby Dedication.

Babies getting dedicated together

Baby J getting prayed for by Pastor

Pastor prayed that she will be intelligent. She even tried to snatch his microphone, which made him ask her if she would like to preach. I think if she babbled then and there, it would have been really funny but she was so serious. Haha.

Although later things didn't go as smoothly, I thank God that His protection was upon us. Baby J is indeed God's blessing to us :))

Thanks to all for your prayers, love and gifts ^-^

Batam II Day 2: Swimming, Shopping & Seafood

Baby J slept amazingly well through the night which allowed me to sleep well too. After a bad start to our trip the day before, I was hoping to make up for lost enjoyment today. Since the sun was nice and hot in the late morning, we thought we would go swimming in the pool.

This was baby's 1st time in a swimming pool! And well, she didn't take too well to it. She started crying and yelling like crazy.

She was so scared she clung to us for dear life!

With a kid you kind of learn to tune out their cries after a while. I just kept assuring her that it was ok and she's safe in mummy's arms.

As the hubby and K wanted to play water basketball, we decided to migrate to the adult pool.

They had loads of fun with the hoop which I think suffered a lot of abuse from people like the hubby who continually hung onto it despite the huge sign above that said, 'No hanging'.

Anyway, since I didn't trust myself to be able to hold onto baby in the adult pool, I got her into the yellow baby float that we bought for her from Kiddy Palace for S$14.90.

Baby J in her yellow baby float

As you can see, the float brought no comfort or security for baby J as she still clung to me like glue. I persevered and eventually she was floating around solo (with me hovering at the side watching her like a hawk of course).

Feeling more at ease in the pool

After much persistence and patience, she finally got used to the water and started to have some fun with it. Her paternal grandmother taught her how to 'pat' the water recently so we got her to do it in the pool and captured it on video for her granny to see:

I thought it was a pretty successful first swim, albeit the initial reluntance.

Later in the afternoon we met up with the same cab driver from the day before as he promised to charge us a good price of S$40 (from the usual S$50) if we took his cab. The cost covered our journey to Mega Mall at Batam Center, from Mega Mall to Golden Prawn Restaurant and from Golden Prawn back to Harris. Seemed reasonable to us plus he had a great attitude and was reliable so we decided to hire him for the rest of our trip to drive us around.

First stop was Mega Mall located next to the Batam Center Ferry Terminal.

Maga Mall, Batam Center

This was a relatively large shopping mall. Of course we couldn't resist eating at A&W, which is no longer available in Singapore since 2004.

Mega Mall's A&W

Many of us grew up eating their curly fries and drinking their root beer float, so for us to be able to eat this was a throw back to our growing up years. So happy that they had curly fries this time unlike the previous trip where the outlet at Nagoya Hill ran out of curly fries.

Fun stuff for kids at Mega Mall

If your kids are older, you may also consider allowing them some fun in the Kid's maze or a train ride inside the mall. Although the scenery isn't exactly exciting, but it is innovative and interesting to see a train roaming the second floor of the mall.

At Godiva Bistro Coffee

We had some drinks at Godiva Coffee on the 2nd floor and it was lovely. They had free wifi so we were able to feed our facebook addiction.

At 6pm the cabby came to drive us to the famous Golden Prawn Restaurant where we had more seafood.

Live seafood at Golden Prawn

It was live seafood that you can pick and choose. The hubby was in heaven (to say he is a seafood fanatic is an understatement).

However, be warned that there are a gazillion (and I'm not even joking) mosquitoes lurking in every corner ready to launch their attack on every exposed (and even unexposed) part of your body as long as they are able to reach it. We managed to (miraculously) defend ourselves against them thanks to J's anti-mosquito lemongrass oil (as apparently mosquitoes hate the smell). Baby was also once again protected by her anti-mozzie solution. This time, it was the hubby who was attacked and I suspect it's because he didn't apply enough lemongrass oil. Defending against mosquitoes is the most important skill you must have to survive in Batam.

Eating our seafood at Golden Prawn

But the food was so worth the fight against the mosquitoes. It was delicious and much cheaper than the seafood we had yesterday. We ordered a total of eight dishes and the entire meal only costs approximately S$85. You will never get live seafood at that price in Singapore. We were all so full but very satisfied.

Back at the hotel, we played Catan till very late and prepared for the early morning ferry the next day to take us back home and in time for Baby J's Baby Dedication at church.

All in all, although the trip started out really badly, I'm glad God answered my prayers and we returned with a healthy baby, lovely memories and a great time of bonding with K & J. Looking forward to more overseas trips together =)

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