~Mamamie's Thots~

Ro-Box Boy

2012-02-15T11:19:00.000+08:00

Recently we have been so busy packing our stuff at home coz we have to say bye bye to our home sweet home soon (which we have stayed for 8 years). Our house is now sort of in a mess with boxes here & there.

Junior YS self entertained himself at home with a box

Cho-co-late...

2012-02-07T15:38:00.002+08:00

White chocolate used to be my favourite ones...until I started to indulge myself in lots of milk chocolates during my 2nd pregnancy. Ever since then, I started to have a liking with milk & dark chocolates.
I felt better after munching on some dark chocolate today. Seemed like chocolate was able to ease a bit of my not so happy cum emo mood recently. But gotta have some self-control otherwise will gain weight :p

Junior YS @ 19 Months

2012-02-06T14:32:00.000+08:00

Seriously, I'm way too lazy to update about Junior YS's progress. I hardly take any pictures for him too. I guess it's a good excuse for me since I have 3 kids :P

Anyway, Junior YS is progressing very slowly. He loves his pacifier & hanky a lot, cries all the time. He can only say a few words (Three, Ten, Car, Papa, Mum Mum), I'm still waiting for him to call me. He loves to play with his siblings and only Baby TV shows can make him sits down queitly and watch without any noise.

Barber Lim

2012-02-06T14:24:00.000+08:00

This is the outcome for YS by trying to become a "barber" in the school. In the end we have to bring him to the real barber for a haircut *shake head*.

Note to all children: Do not try this yourself at home or anywhere else!

Picture Updates during CNY

2012-01-31T12:25:00.000+08:00

1st reunion dinner at New Ubi Seafood Restaurant, the food was yummylicious.

Reunion dinner @ in law's house

Kiddos playing with mini chamelon

My model posing for me :)

Cousins playing together

Junior YS playing with balloon

Relatives from KL came to Singapore for a visit

At relative's house...

Little Nonya

2012-01-20T08:40:00.001+08:00

YQ was very excited to dress up in her new Nonya costume, she purposely woke up at 4 plus in the morning *faint* & asked me to get her ready for school. This year I decided to dress her up as little Nonya to have a little different feel for her school's CNY celebration.

Wishing all of you a Prosperous Chinese New Year :)

Festive mood is here soon...

2012-01-18T16:18:00.000+08:00

Loved the vibrant colours of the fruit stall that was selling all sorts of fruits & how can we forget the mandarin oranges? Mandarin orange symbolises as a lucky fruit we always use to visit friends & relatives during Chinese New Year. We will usually bring 2 or 6 or 8 mandarin oranges to individual houses & exchange for the other party's mandarin oranges. Have you prepared all the stuff for Chinese New Year already?

Foxysales.com – The Smart Hunt For Brands [Review]

2012-01-13T08:51:00.000+08:00

As a woman, I love SHOPPING & in the past I have plenty of time to do shopping. So when I became a mother of three kids, you can imagine the amount of time I have left to do shopping physically and the thought of bringing 3 kids to go shopping can be quite a nightmare to me at times. Therefore, Internet shopping became one of my most convenience tool to source for my own stuff & my kids’ stuff.

Since Chinese New Year is approaching, I would like to introduce you an online shopping website. Foxysales.com is a website that caters to busy parent like you & me who enjoys shopping during our spare time at the comfort of our home. Foxysales offers brands that are available locally but also overseas brands not available in Singapore, which is good in a way that you won’t be afraid to find too many people wearing or using the same stuff as you while walking along the street. If you are not familiar with the brands, Foxysales even maintains a blog to provide more information on the brands & sale for members.

Furthermore, Foxysales offer huge discounts (up to 80%) exclusively for members & membership is absolutely FREE. All you need to do is just register at their website & you can become a member instantly, no hassle at all! You won’t miss out on their latest sales because Foxysales will send a newsletter out everyday for information on sales and instant updates on the Facebook too.

Guess what? Foxysales is having their 1st Year Anniversary Contest at their facebook page. Simply take part in the contest & you might be the lucky winner :)

After all I have not forgotten to do my own internet shopping at Foxysales & I chose a very nice blue skirt from Periwinkle for my daughter. Hopefully it will be a nice surprise for her!

Happy shopping everyone :)

Market Rates for Wedding Ang Bao

2012-01-10T10:23:00.000+08:00

Saw this very interesting post by a few of my friends on facebook & decided to post it up here too :)

The Mystery Of The Missing Remote Control

2012-01-03T10:18:00.000+08:00

Recently Junior YS has a habit of hiding stuff without our knowledge & our house became the treasure hunt place for all of us. Just when we were enjoying the long holidays over the weekend, our little culprit hid away the remote control & we took almost 2 days to look for it. Of course, the best treasure hunter is none other than hb & he found it inside a very "secretive place"....so secretive that our little culprit actually hid 3 items including the remote control....lols!

Bye 2011 & Hello 2012

2011-12-31T10:43:00.000+08:00

Year 2011 passed so quickly & seemed like I didn't accomplished much this year *guilty*. Beginning of 2012, YS will be going through a new phase of his life (which is entering the Primary school) & YQ will be promoted to Kindergarten 1 & lastly Junior YS will be joining his sister in the childcare in a couple of months later. We will be moving out from our home sweet home too!

Usually I will set a few new year resolutions every year for myself but this time round I don't intend to have any. I'm not trying to be lazy but just hope to go with the flow of what is required of my role at home & at work, do not want to give myself too much pressure and hope to get things done one at a time.

Here's wishing all of you a very very Happy New Year!

PCPS Orientation Day!

2011-12-29T16:51:00.000+08:00

The orientation was finally over...time for YS to face the "real world" starting from next week.

YS getting super excited about the orientation, the new teachers, new friends & new surrounding.

Trial English lesson in class

YS learned how to buy a drink from the stall.

Sat at the designated place reserved for his class in the canteen

Posed with hb in the school compound

Happy Dong Zhi Festival To Everyone

2011-12-22T08:12:00.003+08:00

Today is our chinese DongZhi day, a day where majority of the chinese families who will celebrate by making round glutinous rice balls aka tang yuan (which symbolises family living in harmony). Due to our hectic lifestyles, most families would either buy it straight from the stall or supermarket (which we just need to boil the tang yuan in boiling sweetened water). I went to buy the peanut & black sesame seeds flavoured tang yuan from supermarket at the very last minute after work & just in time to make some for the family to enjoy.

Christmas Carnival cum Graduation 17-12-2011

2011-12-19T16:43:00.000+08:00

Thank you Ms Janice for your care & guidance

K2 children getting ready to go on stage to receive their certificates

YS with his beloved classmates, I'm sure he will miss them a lot..

YS's wish was written on the ball...he loves to travel

YQ's wish is to be a Cinderella (pardon her for her wrong spelling) :)

No More Shaky Tooth

2011-12-15T09:01:00.000+08:00

YS complained to me that he had a shaky tooth a couple of weeks ago. I have tried to convince him that I could help him expedite it to fall out faster by using my hand to pull it out or tie a string on his tooth & slam the door...etc. He was just too terrified to try all these methods that I have suggested.

Yesterday, I brought the kiddos to dine at KFC & they were very happy. While all of us were busy enjoying our yummy chicken meal, YS suddenly freaked out when he saw some blood on his hands. He stopped munching & looked at me, I told him to spit out the food from his mouth & saw that his shaky tooth was still dangling onto his gum. I took a wet tissue & asked him to open his mouth, within seconds I pulled out his tooth gently & placed on the table for him to admire. He was one happy boy at that time and thanked me for bringing him to KFC & he finally got rid of his shaky tooth because I brought him to eat KFC..haha!

December so far...

2011-12-12T11:09:00.000+08:00

Junior YS is 17th months old & his speech development is progressing slow but steady. Hardly take any pictures for him coz he will always try to shun away from the camera or moving non-stop that I can't take a proper pic for him. Anyway, we brought him to Ikea for some window shopping & he was willing to pose a sunshine smile for me to capture..so happy :)

One of the kiddos' favourite past time is to go shopping with mummy & Ah ma. They looked extremely happy when I bought so much clothing for them that day.

We went to the official opening day of the Johor Premium Outlets. Most of the past season branded stuff were going on sale but we went home empty handed that day, did not manage to find anything nice or suitable to buy. I was quite disappointed that day...

Queued up at the crepes store located at the Johor Premium Outlets.

After waiting for almost half an hour, they finally got their crepes.

Graduation & School Pics

2011-12-08T08:58:00.000+08:00

My big boy is finally going to graduate from K2...love his sweet smile for the pose.

YQ is getting more natural posing infront of the camera :)

Class photo taken with her beloved teachers & classmates...

OMG!!!

2011-11-30T14:36:00.002+08:00

OMG!!!!!!! That was the very thought on my mind, stupid me went to accidentally deleted all my pictures on my blog without even realising it until today..damn! Now I have to try to slowly dig out all my pictures and load it back to my blog *sob-sob*....felt like crying now!

295 blog posts so far & I dunno how many pictures I can retrieve it back from my record. I will try to load back whatever pics I have on hand now...*heartpain*

Kiddos' Progress Report (2nd Half of 2011)

2011-11-24T10:12:00.000+08:00

Finally the year end parent-teacher meetings with YS & YQ's teachers were finally over. Overall, I was quite pleased with their progress reports.

YQ has always been the least worrying student in class, she is able to learn & grasp the concept taught by teachers very fast & she is also very helpful in class. Sometimes she acts as a teacher assistant by teaching her peers. She has improved tremendously overall in class & I'm so proud of her achievement.

YS is also quite well behave in class, eager to learn but still need more practice in his English grammar. Overall, he has improved quite a bit in his reading skills. Teachers did not have much complain about him & he has no problem interacting with his classmates at all. Hopefully, he will has no problem during the transition to P1 next year.

Bad Haircut

2011-11-14T16:28:00.002+08:00

Junior YS's hair was getting way too long for him & becoz he perspired very easily sometimes his hair will become totally wet & smelly after that. The last time he had a haircut was when during one month old. Knowing that he will probably cry during the haircut, I dare not bring him to ordinary malay barber shop for a haircut, fearing that we will be turn away from their shop (the reason I said this is becoz we had experienced before when we brought YS for a haircut a few years ago).

So I purposely brought Junior YS to a hair salon at Parkway that specialised in children haircut. Actually, I was quite heart pained to spend $22 just to get him a haircut done but thought he might like the environment there & probably the hairdresser won't chase us out if anything happened. True enough....our little tiger was not cooperative at all & the hairdresser was trying to speed up her action & the hairstyle turned out to be a disaster. Some parts of the hair looked uneven, sigh! I was not very happy with the haircut & requested them to re-cut his hair again. Of course I could not blame them totally but what's done cannot be undone. Probably next time will try to bring him for the $10 haircut instead.

Weekend of fun & Indulgence

2011-11-08T14:30:00.002+08:00

Since hb was so busy at work, he purposely bought tickets for us to spend the whole Sunday at MBS & we made use of the food vouchers to dine at the the basement of Singapore Flyer. Food was not so fantastic & kiddos were not very keen to learn more about history of Titanic when we went to the ArtScience Museum. The only time they really got so excited was when the Disney show started.

When YQ saw this gigantic high heel shoe at the ArtScience Museum, she loves it!

Kiddos enjoying their ice-cream treat before the show

Finally kiddos were very happy at the end of the day...

Marriage....

2011-10-31T10:15:00.000+08:00

Just over the weekend, YS asked me a very funny question about marriage. Obviously he's not in the right age to marry any girl now but he seemed to be quite concern about my thinking on his future wife. I can't believe when my six years old boy started to ask me about this while I was watching my tv program in the living room & he was swinging on the swing at the same time.

YS: Mummy, do you mind if one day I marry someone who is an ang moh?
Me: Why leh? Why did you ask me this sort of question?
YS: No lah, just wanted to know your reaction only?
Me: Do you really want to know?
YS: Yes....
Me: What if I say I mind?
YS: Oh...then I will tell the girl that I'm sorry I can't marry you, I have to go and find another wife
Me: *FAINT*...hahahaha!

Both of us burst out laughing over his funny answer. Actually I'm not racist & I don't really mind which girl he marries next time as long as she is filial, understanding and able to give him full happiness. I purposely said that just want to know what sort of answer he will give me & am quite surprised that nowadays children really mature too fast as compared to our childhood time. I guess when he is slightly older, he might give me a different answer again :)

Happy Deepavali Everyone!

2011-10-28T08:16:00.001+08:00

Kiddos dressed up in the punjabi costumes to celebrate Deepavali day in their school.

R.E.U.N.I.O.N

2011-10-21T08:19:00.002+08:00

Our monitress (Janet) found most of us through FB & we finally had a REUNION after 21 years...time flies but our friendship is still the same :)

Can you see where am I?

Not all were present there but we will try to locate more friends to join us for the next gathering :)

Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary to my Hub!!!

2011-10-17T08:19:00.001+08:00

13 years together....9 years of marriage plus 3 lovely kiddos.

Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary to Hubby & many more years to come :)

No celebration this year coz hb is so busy but I'm still very happy in my heart that you're still by my side.

My creation with the kiddos, we had fun decorating the cake. After the decor, I realised that I had missed out the wording "wedding" on the cake :P. Anyway it's still a lovely cake filled with all our loves...

Mummy, Are there anymore cockroaches around?

2011-10-14T12:23:00.004+08:00

Yup, that's the question YS will ask me almost everyday before he gets into my car (or should I say company's car). On days when I'm in a rush to send them to school, it's quite frustrating to see my boy opened the car door slowly, looked around the interior of the car for any unusual "suspects". Sometimes he took such a long time that I have to threaten him by saying "If you want to keep on wasting everyone's time, then you have to walk to school by yourself...etc", then he will hop onto the car unwillingly with a sulky face.

Oh well...I dunno when the car started to have cockroaches. When I took over the use of the car from my ex-colleague, I did not really go and scan carefully the whole interior of the car. But I must admit that when I took over it, the car had cigarettes smell, slightly dirty & dusty. I had to spend some time to clean up the mess & remove the smell. As time passed, I started to notice small & medium sized cockroaches "jay-walking" around in the car & my son always freaked out when he saw one. Probably the cockroaches might have been living in the car for ages & laid lots of eggs, or probably these cockroaches might have crawled in from somewhere that I've parked & they crawled in to become "permanent residence".

It came to a point that I could not tolerate it anymore and went to search for ways to kill these creatures, from using my shoes to tissues to my bare hands. In the end, I decided to get these cockroach traps from supermarket & placed it inside the car. True enough, all the ah gong, ah ma, papa, mama and baby cockroaches went into the trap & died. But I think there are still a few survivors hiding somewhere out there so I still change the trap occasionally & I can see a few small mini baby cockroaches in the trap.

Sometimes, YS will ask me "Mummy, why do insects exist in this world? I don't like insects at all." Then I paused & replied to him "I know...not many people like insects & so do I, but I believe every living things exist in this world for a reason. Whether we like it or not, we still have to live with it." Then I tried to avoid this topic & tried to tell him that actually the world has different types of cockroaches & we googled about it. Do you have any good methods to deal with these pests in the car?

Witches in action!!!

2011-10-11T14:47:00.001+08:00

We saw these very cute witch hats @ Daiso, the kiddos were excited to try it on. But I'm not buying it coz we don't celebrate halloween anyway, took a picture for them for remembrance is not such a bad idea too.

Random pics of September

2011-09-29T08:47:00.002+08:00

Who say only hardworking man looks attractive coz hardworking boy looks attractive too :P

YQ is finally promoted to the next level in her ballet class & she is showing off her new ballet uniform.

Junior YS has started to walk everywhere & his hair is quite long too (coz mummy too scared to bring him for a haircut at this moment yet). The perspiration made his hair so wet & we decided to style his hair for a new look :P

Get Well Soon...

2011-09-29T08:35:00.003+08:00

YS was very happy after school & quickly showed me a card made by his teacher (Ms. Janice) & classmates. They had gave him a card compiled with all their loves & concerns for him. I decided to take a picture for him with the card for remembrance.

Monday Blues....

2011-09-26T23:34:00.001+08:00

This picture reflected my mood on a Monday morning....so so "GREY". For that moment, I felt I was going to lose my precious boy but god was kind enough to let me have him back to my side. I have never felt so helpless & scared in my entire life, seeing my beloved boy suffering from seizure for the very first time in front of my very own eyes & yet I can't do much to help him. I managed to hold him in time before he collapsed. My tears just can't stop flowing & my voice just can't stop calling his name...life is so fragile. Luckily an old auntie (whom YS & YQ always greet her whenever they see her at the void deck) was trying to help me to make YS regain his consciousness. Probably those bite marks on my thumb will be a constant reminder to myself to be more observant on him from now on.

Muffins

2011-09-26T23:16:00.001+08:00

It's one of those baking mood again & this time decided to bake some muffins for the kiddos! Everything was finished within half an hour :)

Happy Toes...

2011-09-24T10:27:00.001+08:00

After resting my toes for a month or so, they are finally not "naked" anymore coz they are finally coated with one of my favourite colours. It's such a wonderful feeling to be able to see some colours back into my life :)

My little ballerina

2011-09-19T10:02:00.001+08:00

It's been a year since YQ took up ballet & all the parents were invited to come for this open house to see all their little darlings to perform some ballet moves & received their certificates for the completion of their pre-school ballet course. Our little girl will be promoted to the pre-primary level from October onwards *beaming with pride*.

I hope YQ will continue in her interest & if possible finish the whole ballet course (which is another 10 more years to go ;P). At least I hope she can fulfill one of my childhood dreams too....hehe!

Posed with her pretty ballet teachers

We are so proud of our little ballerina...good job girl!

Selamat Hari Raya & Happy Mid-Autumn Festival !!!

2011-09-12T09:35:00.001+08:00

Today the kiddos were able to get dressed up in their traditional Malay costumes & brought along their lanterns & mooncakes to school in time to celebrate both Hari Raya & Mid-Autumn Festival with their teachers & friends.

I did not buy any mooncakes this year but I think I'm slightly overdosed by all the free mooncakes given by hb's contractors & my cousin. Love the snow skin mooncakes given by my cousin brother...it's my favourite...thanks cousin!

Baking Craze

2011-09-12T09:27:00.000+08:00

After my 1st attempt of baking scones for the family, I'm in the crazy mood to bake again. This time I tried to bake some peanut cookies & egg drop (I got the egg drop recipe from a mummy blogger site, thanks Pauline ;) ). I went to buy all the ingredients on Friday night & started to do it straight after I came back from work on a Saturday afternoon. By evening time, I was quite tired actually but was glad to see happy faces at home again *smile*. Probably when I'm really really free in the near future, I can bake more cakes...cookies...& other nice food for them.

Ist attempt failed, the cookies came out slightly burnt..but I love it & finished all of it by myself.

Subsequent attempts were much better, able to control the timing & the heat. The outcome is more yummylicious & presentable :)

Egg Drop - My very 1st attempt to do it & the top layer of egg was kinda hard...will try again next time.

Transformer Birthday Party

2011-09-07T09:43:00.002+08:00

Yesterday YS had a day of Transformer party. Transformer is one of his favourite cartoon and I'm totally clueless about transformer until he tell me those characters that exist in the cartoon. Therefore, we ordered a transformer cake for his birthday celebration in school. I ordered angry bird stationery sets for his classmates & they were delighted to see it, hopefully they will make full use of it for the coming primary school education next year.

As hb & Ah Ma & little bro were unable to come for his school celebration, I decided to buy another small cake to celebrate for him again at home. Hb gave him a surprise present (yup! transformer again) & also bought presents for his siblings. He taught him that birthday is not just a day of receiving but also a day of giving...so he has to learn to give presents (bought by hb) to his siblings. End of the day, all the kiddos were happy *smile*

P/S: Happy 6th Birthday to my dearest son! Mummy hope that you will grow up to be a fine young man with an ambition to do what is good for you and to the society. To be able to accomplish what you want in life. To become a decisive person & not blindly follow what other people is doing. To be a kind hearted, brave & helpful person.

Cable Car Ride

2011-09-05T10:58:00.005+08:00

Kiddos finally had their cable car rides during the weekend. I thought I was smart enough to exchange my credit card points for free rides, never did I expected to receive hiccup from the bank side. In the end, I was told by the ticketing counter that my vouchers had already expired & could not be used. There I was calling the bank angrily & demanded an explanation from them. After ding dong for almost 20 minutes, I was left with no answer because no one was working in the promotion department *fuming mad*.

I knew kiddos will be very disappointed if I told them to miss the rides for that day so I walked reluctantly to the ticketing counter & bought the tickets. To my surprised, the ticketing counter staff gave me a special discount :) (probably they saw my frustrated face & thought that I would feel a bit better if I did not need to fork out so much for the full amount..haha!)

Happy Teacher's Day!

2011-09-01T15:44:00.005+08:00

Here wishing all the Teachers, Lao Shi, Cikgu a very Happy Happy Teacher's Day!

This year, no handicraft work done by the kiddos so the fastest & easiest way is to buy pressies :)

Anyway....the kiddos were absent from school today coz they were "sick"...but they still make an effort to pass these little gifts to their teachers.

Outing to Botanic Garden & Kid's Kampong

2011-08-31T10:39:00.002+08:00

Due to public holiday (Hari Raya Puasa), we decided to bring the kiddos to be as close as possible to the nature. Therefore we went to the Singapore Botanic Garden & Pasir Ris Kid's Kampong. The kiddos had fun exploring the different types of trees & plants & got to feed various animals too. Probably next time will try to let them experience the joy of catching "longkang" fishes.

Slightly crowded at the Botanic Garden but the kiddos had fun

First encounter for the kiddos to feed the koi fishes, ducks, chickens & rabbits.

Easy Recipe on Scones

2011-08-31T10:26:00.000+08:00

Thanks to my dear friend (Janet), she gave me such a simple recipe to make yummy scones :)
Suppose to take only 20 minutes to make the scones, but I was taking my own sweet time & took me around 30 minutes to do it. Anyway, the end result was to make sure everyone's tummy was happy! Just nice, I was able to use the new oven toaster that hb won during the lucky draw :)

This recipe only need:
1 cup of pancake mix
1/4 of silken tofu
1 egg
Some butter
Some raisins (you can use chocolate chips or other ingredients to add more flavour to your scones)

Mix the pancake mix with tofu and knead into a dough

Grease the oven pan / aluminium foil with butter

Glaze with beaten egg & add some raisins

Temperature I set to 175 degrees & timer I set to 10-13 minutes

Enough or not enough?

2011-08-29T13:11:00.002+08:00

Ever since my kiddos started their enrichment classes, I've been asking myself the same question over & over again. How do I define "enough"? Personally, I hope they can learn more things out of their school context but at the same time trying not overload them so that they still have the space to breathe and relax. Some people I know can send their kids for various enrichment classes almost 7 days a week, how scary is that? Or should I say the "kiasu" (scared to lose out) nature in our current society is putting too much stress on these kids & parents? *shake head*

So far both of my kiddos are taking 3 different enrichment classes each week & I try to refrain myself from adding more pressure on them. In fact, I hope they will be able to enjoy the process of learning and not think that they are forced to go because they have to. To some parents, the term "enough" is not their dictionary & they felt that children's brain are like sponge. From birth till age 7 is the best time for them to learn as much as possible & absorb as much as possible.

Some parents felt that children are able to learn & absorb more if they are sent to more enrichment classes. Yes, I do agree partially, but we must try to understand whether do they really enjoy the whole process? (which is more important to my perspective). The homework stress from school is quite a bit for them to handle, let alone the additional homework from enrichment centres.

I hope I do not become one of these parents that put on so much stress on the kiddos but at the same time I try to make sure they are able to cope with what they are learning in school or outside of the school. After all, I wish my children have a happy childhood & not a childhood they hate to talk or reminisce about it as they grow older.

Sand Arts

2011-08-29T09:05:00.001+08:00

After the voting on a fine Saturday morning (yes, we were voting for the next president in Singapore), hb decided to play golf with his buddy across the causeway. We decided to spend the whole Saturday across the causeway too to run some errands again. After we were done with our errands, we brought the kiddos to Jusco to do some sand arts. They were happy with their masterpieces :)

YQ chose this picture & finished it with mummy's help

YS chose this dinasour picture & did it all by himself

New Site to Sell Pre-loved / New Stuff

2011-08-19T12:58:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

I'm trying to sell away some of my pre-loved / unused stuff on another blog which I had just created.

Trying to clear away unnecessary stuff in our house.

If you're interested in any of my stuff, feel free to email me yah!

http://mamamiecorner.blogspot.com

Kiddos Development (till August 2011)

2011-08-16T09:28:00.000+08:00

I have been very very slack nowadays...hardly update about the progress & development about the kiddos. Time flies & all of them are growing so fast. Sometimes I wish they can grow up quickly, yet at times I wish time will slow down so that I can still get to be as crazy as them. Life is so contradicting isn't it?
Anyway, back to reality....I have to face the fact that one day my boys will be men someday & my girl will be a lady someday. Mothers will always be mothers....they will forever be my little babies in my heart & the constant worrying will not stop till I leave this world for good!

Junior YS is still crawling with one leg (as he prefers to tuck the other leg under his buttock) but the crawling speed doesn't lose out to any other normal crawling babies. We brought him to see a chiropractic doctor hoping that his spinal alignment won't be affected by his unique crawling behaviour, and now he's learning how to walk already at 14th months. His speech development is not as fast as his sister but able to use some sign languages to communicate with us. His high pitch sound is super irritating to the ears when he shouts and always attract lots of attention when he does that in public & I have to quickly cover his mouth or use food to stuff into his mouth to prevent him from shouting *headache*.

YQ is still very much the lady like girl in our house. Usually she will use her soft spoken tone to talk to us (except when she's throwing a tantrum), she will eat like a lady with a small mouthful each time (except when I am rushing her to eat faster when there is time constraint). She is very much the daddy's girl & hb's heart melts when YQ behaves that way. She is a doting sister to her little bro. When I am busy, she will try to help me to do certain simple tasks or looks after little bro when I asked her to.

YS is practically the joker in the house, he will crack silly jokes to entertain us when he is in his hyper good mood. Sometimes he will act like a big brother by nagging at his sister and is still trying to learn how to be a good role model in front of his sister & brother. He is still trying to overcome his fear in certain things which I'm trying to encourage him to do although I know he doesn't like it at all.

No one is perfect & never will .....sometimes it's good to see those flaws once in a while to remind ourselves to become a better person in the society.

Bags on Wheels...

2011-08-15T16:25:00.002+08:00

Recently, kiddos have been bugging me to get them new school bags...and they specifically requested for trolley school bags. I told them to wait till YS's b'day (which is in September) but the main real reason was to give me more time to look for bags which were reasonable priced. Last weekend, we managed to go into JB to run some errands & I purposely went to look for trolley school bags. In the end, the older kiddos went back to Singapore smiling so happily with they BAGS & I'm $$$ poorer *shake head*.

New Float

2011-08-15T16:16:00.002+08:00

Junior YS has upgraded from the neck float to the seating float. Still in search of a good float that can assist him to learn how to swim in a proper manner but temporarily we will just use this float till I can find a better one.

Junior YS has a splashing good time with Ah Ma :)

Happy Birthday To Singapore

2011-08-08T08:02:00.003+08:00

The kiddos were all dressed up for the pre National Day celebration in school, their dress code must be in red & white (coz that's the colour of the Singapore Flag). I've been telling them that I will give them a "surprise" on Monday morning so they were quite well behaved for the past few days *laughed*.

The surprise I had in store for them were some fake tattoos "I love Singapore" stickers (which I got it free from my purchase at a local pharmacy store last week)...they were pretty excited when I put on the fake tattoo on them but at them same time I was trying to explain to them that only fake tattoos were allowed today and no other days....and of course I told them about no real tattoos in the future.

Family Photoshoot

2011-08-01T15:23:00.006+08:00

"Family Photoshoot 2011"

3 Kiddos + 3 Adults + 2 hours of madness in the studio = Happy Family

My New Gadget....

2011-07-28T15:39:00.003+08:00

Yeah...my new gadget has arrived...so excited to try it out on myself! Heard rave review from my friend who got this & so I decided to get one too (for my own good!), only problem is that this model is not available in Singapore so I have to order it online. Can't stop my internet shopping addiction..hehe! Well...can't blame myself for spending this kind of money coz I don't go for any facial at any beauty salon & hope this investment won't go to any waste :)

Loving my pink Mia Clarisonic...woohoo!

I'm sure hb won't be mad at me when he sees me with glowing beautiful skin...lols!

Kiddo's new toy

2011-07-26T14:01:00.004+08:00

Thanks to hb, the kiddos has a new toy in the house...they were so happy swinging to & fro.At least there is something to keep them active & busy indoor. Swing has some benefits for the children...it helps to relax their mind & they get to develop their sense of balancing.
P/S: Sorry for the blurry images, usually I will use my mobile phone camera to take pictures for the kiddos. Been eyeing at some good digital camera but hb felt it is pointless to spend money on these gadget when I can use my mobile phone to take pictures. *hint..hint* Anyone want to sponsor me a good digital camera? hehe

Happy Multi Racial Harmony Day

2011-07-21T07:23:00.003+08:00

Nature Walk @ Hort Park

2011-07-18T12:40:00.011+08:00

Honestly I'm not a fan of nature coz I'm quite scare of those 6 legged..8 legged or more legged creatures crawling around. I'm so scare that you can hardly notice any ants / cockroaches or lizards crawling in my house. Oh well..once in a blue moon, some unwelcome friends will pay me a visit at home though..haha!

Anyway, hb wanted to bring the kiddos to Hort Park coz he was quite fascinated with the Alexandra Arch located just beside the park. We went to explore the forest walk from Alexandra Arch all the way up to the Mount Faber Hill. I think in total we walked around 5km to & fro that day..I was quite impressed :) The weather was quite windy that day & I did not feel so tiring after the walk. We went to the Hort park straight after the forest walk & the kiddos had their fun at the various playgrounds over there.

Entrance of Hort Park & I took some pictures using my HTC phone :)

It was quite scary if you looked down from the bridge

Managed to capture some 6 legged friends on the hand railing during our forest walk.

Some self-explanatory boards were available to show us the various bird species over there

Playgrounds & more playgrounds....

P1 Registration Finally....

2011-07-11T09:53:00.006+08:00

The Phase 2A(2) Primary 1 registration has finally come & part of my stress is off my load now. The registration process was quite a breeze for me (coz I was a former student there) :)

The exterior structure of Pei Chun Public School had changed quite a bit & they had moved the original front entrance to the other side of the school. I was a little bit lost when I went into the school with hb & YS. Walked past the school canteen reminded me of those days when I had to line up eagerly to get my favourite drink or food during recess time. I did not really have the chance to tour the school entirely as all the students were having lessons. I missed my primary school friends (luckily through facebook network, I've managed to get in touch with 3 of my former classmates..hehe!), my beloved teachers & principal (retired since 2002).

After the registration was over, I was told that the result of the admission will be posted to me a few days later. Not that I want to eavesdropped but the parent before me was so anxious that she asked the staff whether the probability of her child of going in will be high or not? When the staff assured her that it will not be a problem, I can feel her sense of relief :P

Personally, I felt that the Singapore education is good otherwise my mum won't insist I get my education in Singapore since young. The setback now is that the education stress on these kids nowadays is so much more than what we were getting in the past. Even we as parents get to feel the stress with them..sigh! Sad to say, most parents' mentality of education here is like owning a branded car or staying in an expensive house if their children go into prestigious school.

YS bought a can of Milo at the school canteen, he was so shy & excited when hb gave him some coins to buy a drink from the stall. When the stall auntie asked him for $1.10, he just gave the whole bunch of coins to her without realising how much he gave her *shake head*.

Thanks to hb, I managed to take a memorable picture with my boy at the entrance of my former school.

Happy 1st Birthday!

2011-07-06T09:21:00.003+08:00

1st Birthday Bash

2011-07-04T10:49:00.004+08:00

Happy Birthday to my little tiger...

My little tiger is turning 1 soon and we decided to hold a small celebration a few days earlier than the actual date at a restaurant (Watami Casual Restaurant @ Central). I've booked a private room a few days before but apparently the person who took my reservation did not prepare for me, and they had to make the preparation last minute *shake head*. The service was quite slow but overall the food was quite all right.

Little Tiger was not his usual self that day, very moody & grumpy but he still want to thank yeye, nainai, ah ma, gugu, gu zhan, da bo for the pressies!

YQ's 4th Birthday Celebration & Father's Day Celebration

2011-06-20T08:50:00.012+08:00

YQ finally turned 4 years old on Saturday. She celebrated her b'day one day earlier than her actual b'day and this year she chose Winx Girls cake for her party in the school. She was very pleased with my selection of her party goodies for her friends *wink*

Group photo with her classmates (full-day care)

Nai Nai & Ah Ma & little bro came by to celebrate with her in the school. Hb came late, the b'day party was almost coming to an end when he reached here.

Giving out presents to all her classmates...

YQ gave Father's Day present to hb...

We celebrated her actual b'day by bringing her back to JB, she loves to go to the various playgrounds over there (which I dunno why) but glad she had so much fun eating, shopping & playing with all of us.

Newly opened indoor playground in Jusco cost only RM8.00 per child with no time frame. YS chose a frog cupcake & YQ chose a snail cupcake..in the end most of it went into my stomach..haha (guess they don't really fancy the figure icing on top of the cupcakes)

On Father's Day, we went for buffet brunch at Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel.

Mr Magician cum Angel cum Batman trying to be funny on Father's Day....

[Product Review] Cleebo Tweezer

2011-06-07T08:43:00.020+08:00

Thanks to Sophie & Friends (S) Pte Ltd, I was given the opportunity to do a product review on Cleebo tweezers. This tweezers is only suitable to remove solid / semi-solid nasal mucus or some people will call them "bi sai", "bogies" or "boogers"". I was quite attracted by the packaging & material of this product. It comes with a container to hold the tweezers & interchangeable coloured tips in place. The material is safe & soft (made from medical-grade silicone).

To be honest, I bought my 1st plastic nasal tweezers 6 years ago & I simply keep it aside for good. The material is too hard & I don't dare to use due to the fear of injuring my little ones if they start to struggle too much. In the end, I would resort to cotton buds or my finger nails (which I do not encourage). Cotton bud is dangerous too because there will be a possibility that the cotton wool will drop off from the stick & the cotton wool will be stuck inside the nostril together with the mucus. Last resort will be using my fingernails but they will only cry in pain while I try to get the yucky mucus out.

Personally, I was delighted to receive the Cleebo tweezers because the material is really soft at the tip and it is more hygienic as I can use different coloured tips on different kids. It can be clean in steriliser or hot water after using it. Each set of silicone tip has a safety tab to prevent us from inserting too far into their nostrils. It can be used in 3 ways:

Option 1) Use in the same way as conventional tweezers.

Option 2) Close both tips together and use with a 'dragging' action, similar to using a cotton bud.

Option 3) Pull tweezers wide apart and use one side only as noted in 'Option 2' above. This method is very effective for tiny nostrils. Following this process, should the tips remain too wide apart, simply pinch the tweezers immediately above the 'circle' between the thumb and the forefinger and squeeze to reduce the gad as required.

Now I do not have to afraid that my kids will feel the pain while I remove their mucus anymore! If you are interested to get one for yourself or for your friends who is going to have a baby soon, can always go to their website for online order :)

RSAF Open House 29/05/2011

2011-05-31T09:19:00.005+08:00

Totally exhausted after all of us came back from the RSAF Open House. Got myself a bit of sun burnt...only one word to describe my feeling...HOT! The kiddos had fun though, saw a lot of fighter planes, went inside an aircraft to take a look & got themselves quite a lot of freebies from various booths!

Children Updates

2011-05-31T08:54:00.004+08:00

All the kiddos were sick for the past few weeks as the virus had been spreading like mad around the house. At times, they like to fight, squabble, complain about each other. I don't have any siblings so I don't understand why they like to fight so much *faints*. Anyway, sometimes it is such a bliss to see them to play together so happily or whisper secret to each other's ear :)

YS is progressing quite fine in school now...been trying my best to motivate him to learn his spellings well & practice more on his abacus. July is coming soon & it is time for me to prepare for his Primary school enrolment *stress*.

YQ is turning 4 soon in June & kiasu mummy has already prepared the presents for her classmates :). Recently, she has been became quite difficult to handle & became very clingy to her pillow. Complaints from her teachers had made up my mind to put a stop on her from bringing her precious pillow to school. Every morning, she will cry non stop until the teachers drag her into the school compound. I hope this terrible phase will pass over soon.

As for the youngest member of our family, Junior YS is still the same active baby. Constantly cries for attention. He loves swimming but mummy only bring him for a swim if kor kor & jie jie are going for swimming lesson. Recently realised that he tends to grind his teeth when he is not sucking his pacifier. Trying to stop this bad habit of his!

Short Trip to Perth (140511 - 170511)

2011-05-21T08:34:00.007+08:00

At Perth airport early in the morning....

Excited kiddos with hubby & Fil

We had a short getaway holiday to escape the heat from Singapore. Just 3 days of "relaxation" in Perth. The kiddos were very excited 1 month before this trip & had sort of been telling their friends & teachers about it *shake head*.
As for me, I wished the trip can be longer coz the schedule won't be too tight & hectic. I'm sure all the mothers out there will agree with me & they will share the same sentiments as me, haha! *wink*. Overall, I think the kiddos enjoyed the trip more than me.

Due to the time constraint, we only went to visit a few places such as; Chocolate Factory, Perth Zoo & Harbour Town for shopping. All of us were feeling so tired from the overnight flight that we actually missed out on the wildlife park & winery tour. I hope in future, we can stay for at least 5 days if we have a chance to go abroad again. Really hate the feeling of tiredness & discontentment of not being able to visit more places when we have spent $$$ on air tickets. Timing is very important.
P/S: Thanks Brenda & Wayne for the warm hospitality & provided us accommodation at your cosy house :) , & I hope I can go there again SOON :P

Chocolate leftover on YQ's mouth (evidence of our visit to the chocolate factory)

Missed out on the visit to the wildlife park, in the end brought the kiddos to the Perth Zoo :)

Our last dinner before heading to the airport to take our flight back to Singapore

Dooms Day?

2011-05-20T09:53:00.004+08:00

Is the world coming to an end on 21st May 2011?
I hope not....
What would you do if you know the world is coming to an end soon?
Would you forgive & forget all those people who have done wrong in their lives?
Would you spend the whole day with your loved ones & reminisce those cherished moments.
Or would you just sit back & do nothing & let the world end.....
Probably hoping that some of us would or would not meet again in our next lives?

Beads Mosaic

2011-05-07T22:56:00.004+08:00

The kiddos were very excited when I told them that I'm going to teach them how to do art & craft today since today is Polling Day (a public holiday for all Singaporeans in Singapore). I'm actually pretty excited this year as I get to vote for the very 1st time as a Singaporean in Singapore. Anyway, the kiddos were more excited with the art & craft than any other things else :P

Materials to preapre for beads mosaic:

-White glue

-Assorted beads (green beans / red beans / soya bean.....etc)

-Drawing papers or normal papers

Its a very easy task for children to follow, parents can do together with them to enhance the bonding session. Personally I find that it helps to cultivate the patience & creativity from them.

Fun Day @ Lilliputt & East Coast Park

2011-04-23T08:23:00.017+08:00

On a public holiday, we were cracking our brains where to bring the kiddos to. To the museum? To the cinema?..nah...in the end, we decided to bring the kiddos for some indoor golfing @ Lilliputt. Just a small tip for families of 4, not worth to buy the family ticket (2 adults & 2 children) if you have to coach your kiddos to play. Just buy 2 children tickets is enough for the whole family to enjoy :P

Ater finished the 18 holes golf course @ Lilliputt, we went for a quick lunch. We decided to go for a walk along the beach & the kiddos were bugging us to rent the bicycles for them. As usual, hb gave in to their request & rented 2 kiddy bicycles for them. They had so much fun that day & when it was time to return the bicycles, they were very sad. They even requested to come back again for golfing & cycling another day. Poor me...my right hand was aching the next day coz I used too much strength trying to control YQ's bicycle.

1st Dip in the Pool....

2011-04-15T10:18:00.005+08:00

After 9 months, we decided to let Junior YS had his 1st dip in the pool. He was very co-operative & excited when he was swimming freely with the aid of the neck float. He looked so cute in his bumble bee swimming suit..haha!

Birthday Celebration for Mummy...

2011-04-12T16:35:00.008+08:00

We celebrated my mum's 54th birthday at Starz restaurant located in Hard Rock Hotel. We had international buffet dinner but the food was only average. After dinner, we walked around the area outside Casino...Universal Studio...hotels. Basically we hang around there till very late & the kiddos had so much fun running around. Anyway....simple dinner with your loved ones are the best enjoyment in the world !!!

This time round, I went to google & did my research before preparing the red eggs for my mum. Last time, the red eggs I did turn out to be a disaster but this time was very successful..haha!Woke up at 4am in the morning, prepared 2 little red eggs before I left home for work. Not forgetting a lucky ang bao for her :)

We got her a cake from Pumpkin Bakery, very yummylicious!
~HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA~

March so far...

2011-03-30T09:32:00.003+08:00

For the past 2 weeks, all the kiddos were down with cough & flu one after another. In the end, I also caught the virus from them and had been coughing like mad. Hb used to call me a "cow" simply because I hardly fall sick. But once I'm sick, I'm really really sick. In fact, I hate to get sick because I don't get the privilege to get more rest at home. Hb was also down with mumps for a few days & luckily he managed to get well before he flew off for his business trip. What a month of sickness...haha! Our kitchen was stocked with various coloured bottles of medication prescribed by the doctor. Yucks!!!

Learning ABC...

2011-03-14T08:41:00.004+08:00

A good start for Junior YS to start with Alphabet A

Junior YS Progress @ 8 months...

2011-03-14T08:15:00.007+08:00

Been very very lazy to update about Junior YS's progress *guilty*. Junior YS started to semi-solid foods at 6 months onwards & he tried taking some bread as well. At 7 months, he is able to sit upright without any assistance. At 8 months, he is able to stand up in his playpen. For speech development, he has started calling ah ma (aka grandma)...papa (aka father) once in a while. But recently he has been calling jiejie (aka sister) very frequently *beaming with pride*. I'm still waiting for him to call me "mama"...haha!

A Visit to the Mint Museum of Toys

2011-03-13T08:47:00.001+08:00

Small entrance of the Mint Museum of Toys

Our tickets

We went to the Mint Museum of Toys located at 26 Seah Street. This 5 storey toy museum featured lots of toys from various countries from past generations. Luckily they were having the March promotion and we got ourselves a free adult ticket. Quite an experience after seeing all those toys and the kiddos had fun getting to know more about the history of the toys from all around the world.

Most of the toys were made from metals & I was quite surprised the value of some toys can cost up to thousands or even more that that. If I had kept all my toys last time, probably some them can be quite valuable now..haha! Anyway, I took lots of pictures but am going to share some only...

Posed with Astro Boy...

My favourite TinTin character..

The Beatles...

Took a break....

YS posed with the cartoon characters

Batman & Robin

YQ requested to take picture with this doll..

Green Hornet

Various toys from Japan

Bye Bye Baby Hammock

2011-03-07T08:27:00.005+08:00

I was screaming loudly the moment I came out of the bathroom. I saw Junior YS was doing his gymnastic routine & rolled out of the baby hammock, my heartbeat stopped for 1 second. Luckily his head landed softly on the thick mattress that we have placed below the hammock.

We felt that it's too dangerous for him to sleep inside the hammock anymore so decided to let go of the baby hammock. Anyway, it's time for the hammock to retire already, been serving us for almost 6 years..haha!

Our 1st Gaming Technology

2011-03-05T08:13:00.001+08:00

Woohoo! Our 1st gaming technology officially approved & allowed to buy by me..been procrastinating to buy or not for a long time. From Xbox...to Nintento Wii....to Xbox 360 Kinect. Finally we decided to put a stop to all our worries & we were $$$ poorer now! Well...kiddos were very happy of course and so were the adults...argh...our body were aching all over the next day though!

Day of Fun, Heat & Rain @ Universal Studio

2011-02-22T09:26:00.007+08:00

An impromptu decision to go to Universal Studio last Saturday. Kiddos were excited coz they have been bugging us to go there for a long time since the opening. We went to watch most of the shows & took a few exciting rides with them. YS was quite adventurous that day & got his wish to try out the rock climbing for the 1st time in his life. Weather was not very good as it was drizzling on & off. We decided not to take up the yearly pass as we foresee that we won't be going back there so often. At the end of the day, everyone was so tired & kiddos were whinning non-stop!

I remembered going to the Universal Studio at Osake with dh many years back...and definately the one at Osaka is much bigger & the weather was great coz we went during December. Wish I can go back there once more..haha!

Great Great World

2011-02-14T09:19:00.007+08:00

Entrance of Great World

1 Token = $3

Kiddos so excited.....

F1 racer wannabe...

Yeah...I'm riding a horse!

Finally brought the kiddos to the Great World amusement park nearby Compass Point Shopping Centre & all the rides/ games made me sooooo.....excited! Of course, I managed to take an exciting ride with dh (which almost caused dh to puke but luckily he did not..:P). The only thing that surprised me was the ticket pricing, 1 token ticket cost $3. That night we spent nearly up to $50 but was not feeling very heart pained coz everyone was happy.

Mother-in-law's 60th Birthday

2011-02-11T11:03:00.003+08:00

It's my mil's 60th birthday & we decided to hold the birthday dinner at Changi Airport Terminal 3 coz sil & bil are flying off that night with their families to Perth & Shanghai...so nice! (*envy*). Anyway, we decided to dine at the Crystal Jade Shanghai Restaurant. All I can say that the service was so-so only....food was alright & most importantly we had our own privacy :)

The kiddos got a bouquet of flowers & a b'day card for their nai nai

Happy Birthday Mother! You are the best!

The rest of the grandchildren mucking around at the airport...

Happy Chinese New Year To Everyone!

2011-02-02T09:21:00.004+08:00

Wishing all of you a Happy Chinese New Year...Gong Xi Fa Cai!

January so far....

2011-01-25T15:42:00.005+08:00

Both of them can't stop smilling when they saw the cake in front of them

Junior YS can sit upright on the stroller on 19th Jan 2011

Grandpa had a man to man talk with Junior YS

Kiddos playing Chinese Opera with their dad's shirts

A visit to Chinatown and they had road closure that day...the road looked so empty without the cars zooming around.

Grandchildren & Grandparents Photoshoot (January 2011)

2011-01-18T12:11:00.006+08:00

Miss Camera Shy

Mr Explorer

Ms Cheerful

Miss Sweetie

Grandparents with six little kiddos...

Rare to gather all the grandchildrens for a photoshoot together...nice pose !

My BABY....

2011-01-05T14:05:00.004+08:00

Eh....my long time plan has finalised & I hope this year will be a good start for me to aim towards my new year resolution...Nope, I'm not going to try for another baby anymore. I have started my own mini online business this year. Feel free to hop over to my online store (http://www.sunnybazaar.com) or join my facebook link listed on my website for updates on any new products coming. I will be selling affordable & nice products for men, women & kiddos :) Hope to have all of your support yah!!!

Hello 2011...

2010-12-31T09:49:00.004+08:00

365 days passed in a flash...& its the end of year 2010. So many things have happened & happened for a reason...May all the bad things come to an end & good things come in 2011!

May all of us be bless with good health....good luck....good in everything we do!

Marina Bay Sands Skypark

2010-12-21T10:44:00.005+08:00

At the entrance of the ground floor

The kiddos wanted to take the Singapore flyer again last weekend, but we decided to bring them to the Marina Bay Sands Skypark instead. The tickets were not cheap at all, only slightly cheaper than the ticket sold at Singapore Flyer. Adult ticket cost $20 per pax & children ticket cost $14 per pax, most probably it will be my first & last time going up there. Unless one day, I'm lucky enough to be the hotel guest over there & can go up there for free..haha!

Night view of Singapore (taken from my HTC phone)

DH & YS Junior

Suprisingly, the skypark is not just a place for people to enjoy the nice scenery of Singapore. People can dine at the restaurant on the skypark & there was also a live band playing nice music. Overall not a bad experience but not very fantastic too!

YS got himself a poodle balloon & YQ got herself a flower balloon

Primary 1 Anxiety Attack

2010-12-17T11:08:00.003+08:00

YS is not going to Primary School next year but in 2012, why am I feeling so stress now? I really don't know, probably being a "Singaporean" really has the kiasu feeling in our heart somewhere out there. For the past one year, been trying to tell myself not to worry too much and we will decide when the time comes. But sometime in July 2011, we really has to sit down and discuss about the boy's education.

Since this year, many people has started to ask me "which school is YS going to enrol into?"..."why?"....blah blah blah. Which I really can't be bothered to answer actually. Dh & myself have different views about our kids' education but in the end I still leave the decision up to him. My only wish is to hope that YS can cope with the school work & be happy in what he does in school.

Out of curiosity, I went online to search for some info on the registration exercise in Singapore schools.

Christmas this year....

2010-12-16T08:12:00.015+08:00

Festive season is here again & I would like to wish all of you a Merry Merry Christmas this year. Time flies...and it's December again! Time for reflection on what we did this year and set our new year resolution soon.

It was quite a busy month for me, dh was away to London for a week (thank you hubby for the lovely Burberry bags ;P) & at the same time my relatives came to visit Singapore for a couple of days. The kiddos was sick one after another. Anyway I brought the kiddos to Changi Airport T3 & Orchard Road to experience the "christmas" feel. Sometimes I wished there is a machine that can clone me & I could do different things at the same time.

Happy expressions from the kiddos when daddy bought them toys as x'mas presents

X'mas tree @ Jusco Malaysia (they actually used recycled platic bottles to do this x'mas tree..cool!)

X'mas decor @ Sutera Mall

Kiddos @ Changi Airport T3 - The Magical Teapot that rolled out coloured ping pong balls & you can use the balls to exchange for mystery gifts.

The Christmas Fantasy Castle @ Changi Airport T3 - you can purchase anything from any retail outlets at the airport and one receipt allowed one children to enter for 10 minutes of fun. The kiddos loved it & they were so sad when the 10 minutes allowance was over.

No chance to get the mystery prizes...only managed to exchange for free mint sweets!

Sexy Santa Claus @ Takashimaya Orchard...so hilarious!

Disco balls decor on the x'mas tree @ Ion Orchard, you wanna party?

Okay....it's been a while since I updated about our youngest member of the family, haha! Junior YS is still extremely active & playful. He never stops trying to flip, roll & sit. He is now 5 months old & he is very observant to his surroundings. Sometimes his cry is damn power that mummy has to raise the white flag to surrender to him.

Learning to sit on the high chair

Learning to sit in the walker

Something to share with you....

2010-12-09T15:09:00.009+08:00

Ms. Kathleen Thomas, the Communications Coordinator from Primrose Schools (from the states) wrote an informational & educational article on the importance of an early childhood education. She emailed me this article & wanted to share this information with you guys....

Early Childhood Education - More Than Daycare

If you are a single parent who must hold down a job (or, as is the "uniquely American" case often times, two or three jobs) in order to provide for a family, it goes without saying that when it comes to toddlers and pre-schoolers especially, quality daycare is a necessity. But is it enough?

If you are among the fortunate enough to have family members or a neighbour who is willing to look after your very young child while you are on the job - or are able to hire a babysitter - your child is probably missing some important opportunities for intellectual growth. Yes, his/her physical needs for nourishment and protection are certainly being met, and there may be some socialization that occurs in a typical day care center, but many of them neglect learning activities that can stimulate cognitive function and give the child a firm foundation for furthering his/her education later in life.

It Starts on Day One

What happens to a child between birth and age five has a tremendous impact on their performance in school later on, this is a well known fact that Educators have long realized (even if policymakers refuse to acknowledge it). Sadly, although a recent policy decreed that "every child will enter school ready to learn," lawmakers on Capitol Hill were as usual very vague on how this is supposed to happen.

Research has proven that children may start learning even before birth; during the last trimester, the child may benefit from exposure to certain types of music as well as speech. The human brain undergoes rapid growth throughout the preschool years; it is safe to say that what happens to a child during the first five years of life largely shapes the adult s/he will become. At this stage of a child's life, s/he develops his/her basic language skills, a sense of self, his/her place in the group and the role of culture - all the basic tools required to function in a given society.

In short, the preschool years are those in which an elastic, malleable brain is "hardwired."

The Benefits

It has been clearly demonstrated that even one year of attendance at a certified preschool in which young children have opportunities for cognitive development through age-appropriate learning activities (such as educational games and other forms of constructive play) gives a child a tremendous advantage when they enter kindergarten. Such children have superior skills in reading, writing and speaking and mathematics - which are the foundation of every other subject. Additionally, children with a year or more of academic preschool education will last a lifetime - and make it far more likely that the child will succeed as an adult in a Darwinian economic and social system in which every person is for him or herself and the only rule is "survival of the fittest."

Co-written by Emily Patterson and Kathleen Thomas

Emily and Kathleen are Communications Coordinators for the Atlanta day care facility, a member of the AdvancED accredited family of Primrose Schools (located in 16 states throughout the U.S) and part of the network of day care preschools delivering progressive, early childhood, Balanced Learning curriculum.

Annual School Photos

2010-12-08T08:06:00.004+08:00

Finally the teacher gave me their photos taken in school a few months ago...love their poses!

Sorry Mr. Lizard!

2010-12-06T08:41:00.005+08:00

No, Mr Lizard was not sun-bathing on the floor...he was officially dead (RIP). We suspected Mr Lizard was trying to run away from the enemies & accidently got himself squashed flat by the closed door....a little bit of drama isn't it? haha....

We saw Mr Lizard was lying flat upside down when my mum opened the door. Yup, no broken tail...no screaming....no broom chasing it around the house. It was so dead that YS wasn't even afraid of going near the little creature.

Only for my girl...

2010-12-06T08:18:00.006+08:00

If you are a fan of the "Sex and the City", I'm sure many of the women out there will notice that "Carrie Bradshaw" (the lead character played by Sarah Jessica Parker) wears her signature necklace in the show/movie. I like her fashion style & her sense of humour....but of course I can't afford all that branded killer shoes she wore in the show :P

As usual, my internet shopping addiction came again & I was trying to searching for some accessories online. I came across this website that specialised in handmade name necklaces. As I was placing the order for myself...I suddenly realised that I can order one for my darling daughter and we can have a mother & daughter fashion necklace together. I'm sure she will be so delighted to see her name on the necklace.

Our little Star

2010-11-24T09:15:00.004+08:00

We saw this gigantic newspaper print on SGH wall while walking back to the carpark. Our little star appeared on the Straits Times newspaper sometime this year on Nurses Day (photo was taken with Nurse Ho from KK hospital). I remembered a day after I delivered junior YS, Nurse Ho came to ask dh if she can borrow our baby for a photo shoot. Although I have the original paper version laminated & kept by myself but was so happy to see it again yesterday *beaming with joy*.

Little Artists @ Work

2010-11-01T09:16:00.010+08:00

Recently the kiddos took an interest in drawing when they are bored at home. I realised that YS has very good imagination & creativity when it comes to drawing. He will visualise something he has seen before and draws freely...or he will place his favourite picture by the side and draws exactly the same picture on the drawing paper. Here are some of my favourite pieces drawn by them...

Drawn by YS, his version of mummy, papa, meimei, didi, himself & Ah Ma

Drawn by YS, his own version of Strawberry Shortcake

Drawn by YQ, she's still learning how to draw....

Happy 8th Year Anniversary!

2010-10-17T10:37:00.000+08:00

Time flies, this is our 8 years anniversary. 8 years ago, we exchanged our marriage vows...promised to be with each other till death do us apart. As couple we do have our ups & downs but we still managed to overcome it. Our 3 adorable children are our source of mental motivation to strive for a better future.

No fancy celebration or gifts this year, just a simple zhi char takeaway to dine at home with our children was enough to make us happy. Happy anniversary Hubby!

A visit to Sentosa 16-10-10

2010-10-16T08:14:00.001+08:00

We decided to bring the family out for a night of fun at Sentosa island. We went for a simple dinner & to check out the musical fountain show (Song of the Sea). I remembered when I was still a child, musical fountain show was suppose to be free for everyone. Anyway the kids were so excited & happy when they saw the big Sentosa logo at the entrance of the island. We drove in, paid for the entrance fee & parked our car near the destination we wanted to go.

The place was jam packed with people. When I went to the tickets counter to exchange for ticket, they had put up the sign to inform people that the tickets were all sold out for the Song of the Sea shows. Lucky us, we got our tickets through online booking (which cost us $10/per person, children below 3 years old is FOC). I went to get the tickets & we had a quick dinner at the nearby restaurant, the food was so-so only & very expensive *heartpain*. Overall, the 25 minutes show was not too bad & the kids enjoyed themselves very much. Of course, the kids wanted to come again & we promised them we will bring them there again.

Our dearest YS was dancing happily towards the end of the show, I didn't know our boy has the potential to become the "wu wang"! *beaming*

Junior YS aka Ji Za Gong

2010-10-14T08:15:00.003+08:00

弟子规 recited by YS...

2010-10-14T07:44:00.005+08:00

YanSan Development (1-3 months)

2010-10-06T08:01:00.006+08:00

Our dear little didi is growing up well...now he is 4.85kg & 58cm tall. Although his growing percentile is not on the high side but he's progressing slow & well. Little YS is starting to get used to his bed routine now...usually he will be asleep by 10-11pm. He is quite an attention seeker baby and constantly wants someone to communicate with him, otherwise his thunderous voice will bug you until you surrender...haha! He is starting to smile, laugh & babbles some baby language to us when we play with him. Jie Jie & Kor Kor loves him very much & always sayang him.

Anyway...back to reality! Time flies, 3 months of rest at home is finishing soon & time to go back to workforce *sianz*. My dream of becoming SAHM is still a faraway dream for me. Hopefully, my wish will come true one day...if not now but later on! Hopefully god will give me the strength to let me fulfill what I have to do now!

Together We Grow...

2010-09-20T09:51:00.005+08:00

Together we adore each other....

Together we brush our teeths...

Together we sing our favourite songs...

Together we play & learn....

Having 3 kids is no joke, at least this applies to me. Probably to others is a piece of cake!
The noise level in the house is definately much worse than before with a wailing baby and 2 noisy toddlers & an angry mother screaming at the kids at times...

Oh well...sometimes I do feel the bliss in me when the kids are playing happily or joke with each other. I hope the kids understand that mummy is trying her best to be more patient & understanding as time passes by each day!

September Birthdays....

2010-09-10T13:48:00.006+08:00

This year we celebrated my fil's 60th b'day at SWA Garden Restaurant, the nostalgic ambience & the restaurant settings was something which can't be found in most places nowadays. The traditional Teochew foods they served was definately yummylicious!

Bought a scooter for YS as b'day present, in the end YQ also wants one too!

Batman cake

YS & part of his classmates

As for YS, he chose a Batman cake from Bengawan Solo for his 5th b'day celebration in school. This year I decided not to prepare any goodies bags filled with tidbits & sweets, I went to buy fruits flavoured coloured markers for his classmates instead. After that, I brought him to Pizza Hut for a pizza feast!

Ballerina Girl

2010-08-22T09:55:00.003+08:00

YQ 1st ballet dance with kor kor at home!

Trying to strike a ballet pose!

Saturday Night Fever cum Ballet pose!

B-O-T-A-K Lim

2010-08-10T14:37:00.006+08:00

Full month haircut is a traditional practice in our Chinese culture. Some parents like to shave the hair on the head & eyebrows believing that the hair will grow thicker. I'm not that adventurous as a parent so therefore I only requested the barber to shave off the hair on the head. In order to give something memorable as a gift to my kids, I engaged the service from this place to use their shaved hair and made into a hairbrush (tai-mao-bi). All of them has one hairbrush of their own & I will give it to them one day when they are old enough to treasure & keep it properly.

Botak Lim posed with Ah ma

Full Month Party

2010-08-10T12:56:00.007+08:00

Junior YS has finally turned 1 month old, we decided to celebrate his special day at my in law's place. Of course not forgetting the full month cakes to give away to relatives & the sumptuous lunch was prepared by my in law. Junior YS would like to thank all aunties, uncles, grand- parents, grand-aunties & grand-uncles for all the ang baos & presents!

July Updates

2010-07-30T11:37:00.007+08:00

July is a month where we welcome the arrival of Junior YS into our family, a month where I have known 2 new friends from KK hospital which we promised to try to keep in touch with each other after we were discharged from the hospital.

Due to some reason, YQ is terminating her music class at the end of July too & I have decided to enrol her for the toddler's ballet class at dancepointe nearby our house. She is very excited and can't wait to wear her pink ballet uniform & shoes. I have known another new friend who is the mother of YQ's classmate. It's a great feeling to widen my circle of friends & great to be able to keep in touch with these mothers to talk about motherhood.

YS is still progressing quite well in his phonics class & her teacher has gave the green light to let him to proceed to the next level. He is still quite hesitant whenever he has to go for his swimming lesson, I think he missed more lessons than he is suppose to coz he falls sick quite frequently.

Besides trying to adjust myself during this confinement month, can't wait to start my post-natal massage & try to slim down as much as possible. I'm very lucky to have my mum & mil to help out for my confinement meals. Initially, I tried the confinement catering food for a week, the food was not that fantastic & I find it's not really worth spending that sort of pricing for the food they deliver. Probably I'm too picky, who knows!

It's a month where I finally can renounce my M'sia citizenship at the M'sia High Comm & was very surprised that they managed to get my processing done within 3 days. Initially I thought the processing takes around 5-8 months (according to the various Internet info) to get my renounce citizenship done. In case you are going to renounce your citizenship done at M'sia High Comm, remember to get ready these documents before you go:

When you reach there in the morning, tell the security guard at the guard house that you are going to the consular office, they will issue a different pass from those people who are processing their passports. When you reach the consular office, go and get the form K application forms and fill in all the relevant details. Make sure to bring the original copy & 2 photocopies:

1) Blue Singapore PR I/C
2) Malaysia I/C
3) Current Passport & Old Passport
4) Birth Certificate (must be laminated or else they will ask you to get it done before submission)
5) 2 passport sized photographs with white background
6) Prepare SGD$10 for the processing fee

After submission, they will ask you to come back 3 days later to get the "renunciation letter" & your passports & I/C are non-refundable to you. They will post a letter one year later to you for the collection of birth certificate & original Form K. Using the renunciation letter, you are able to book an appointment with ICA to take the Oath of Renunciation. Appointment dates can only be change up to 3 times. After that you are able to process your Singapore pink I/C & passport.

Colouring Contest

2010-07-19T14:31:00.004+08:00

YS received an enrolment form from his phonics teacher to join the colouring contest @ Anchorvale CC two weeks ago. He was so enthusiastic about it and told us he wanted to join the contest. Ah ma brought him there last Sunday morning for registration and he finished his colouring within half an hour *shake head*. Although he went back empty handed but it was a good exposure for him to see other childrens' master pieces and I'm sure he will do much better next time round.