The First Intelligible Sound

Young Eric

Don't i look like daddy? I even know how to call PA PA!

Recently, baby has developed a somewhat "crying cycle": she would fuss and cry before going to sleep, cry suddenly during her sleep, and cry upon waking up. She always needs someone to pacify her and sayang her before she can calm down.

This morning, as usual, she woke up around 7am and started crying again. She made a lot of noise as if telling us she was frustrated about something. Just when eric and i seem totally helpless, baby said "PA PA"?!?! Loud and clear, both of us looked at each other and laughed despite the poor crying baby.

Ok, the verdict is out - her first words, even though she may not make sense of it. Woahaha ~~

Crisis

Lord Jesus, i pray that i'll like the bottle!

Maternity leave is going to end in a month so it's time to start transitioning baby to a post start work routine.

First of all, we must get baby to the bottle so the helper can feed baby the expressed milk while i bury my head in work. we have been feeding baby by the bottle on/off in the first 2 months and she had no problems taking it.

I just tried giving baby the bottle last week and to my horror, she rejected it and cried so hard and bitterly! Gave me a fright and upon regaining some sanity i think i have a real crisis. We have been treating her to the bottle every day for the past week and each time a big crying battle begins and of course the winner is NOT ME :(

I thus have this advice for new mothers: you may want to express your milk and feed baby once a day so baby can get used to both direct and bottle feeding. I have been pretty faithful in this practice until 2 months but got lazy and went onto complete direct feeding in the past month.

Really praying hard for her relectance to wear off quickly. It's heart wrenching to see her cry, but it would be a more terrible ordeal during weaning if she doesn't take bottles. Let me know if you have any great way to manage this situation.

Cooking on Mondays

Apple soup - tastes very refreshing and i love to eat the apple!

Hubby loves bean sprouts!

Of course there's ALWAYS my fav chic :)

Pork rib with bean paste ... i'm getting quite good at this already ^_^

Steamed pomfret with salted veg - tasty and nutritious!

Eric is off on Monday, thus i usually will cook when the whole family comes together to eat (haha whole family = eric + me + maid). It's a good time for me to practice my so so culinary skills, and also to explore new recipes because hubby aka guinea pig is here! Woahaha ~~~

I'll always plan for a chicken, fish, meat, veg and soup. For soup, my guru neighbour taught me this apple soup. Initially i was quite puzzled: huh fruits can also cook soup meh?? But after adding some herbs, it did turn out very refreshing! It's very nutritious too!

For a long time we hadn't eaten bean sprout with salted fish. The first time i cooked this it was such a big flop: the sprouts turned out very soggy, i think i cooked it too long :( This time was better, and the taste of the salted fish was really fragrant! i must put in more spring onion next time as the dish would look better :) YAY!

I must say i'm getting quite an expert preparing the chicken wings and bean paste pork ribs. Have been doing this for quite a while so at least now i have something in my drawer in case anyone does a surprise visit haha.

Ok friends, visit me on Mondays. You'll get to do a good deed becoming my guinea pig. Cheers! :)

Latest Passion

Mmmm ... delicious .... ^_^

My fingers taste like french fries! Yum Yum ~~

My friend advised me to start removing the mittens for baby at about 2 months because at this time baby will start to explore touch. Indeed how true, because in addition to touch baby is also exploring taste!

She would always put her fingers to the mouth and lick them with her tongue. Seems to enjoy it very much because she can do that for a looooong looooong time!

Another friend told me not to let baby suck her fingers because there are cases where one thumb becomes longer than another!! Scary ~~~

Do you have similar experience with your baby?

Fidel Comes to Town

Daddy Joeseph, Mummy Liana and Prince Fidel

My dear sister Liana brought Prince Fidel to Singapore and i was so thrilled that we made time to meet up!

Fidel is such a darling. He's got big eyes and small nose & mouth! Very smiley baby who chuckles when you play with him! Mummy says he's such a great boy to bring out: he usually is asleep once they step out the door, or before the car reach the first junction around the house! How nice!

We had a great time exchanging baby tips. It's really a great joy watching our babies grow. I know that in another 2 months baby Charis will be like Fidel! Cheers to motherhood! :)

Baby Passport

Hehe this is my 大头照. A bit look like boy huh?!

We intend to bring baby back to penang some time this year, and so in preparation we need to apply passport for baby. In the past, baby had to share passport with mother, but now they have one passport on their own!

The challenge is we need to take a photo of baby against plain white background. How neh?? Baby cannot even sit upright yet. So we borrowed a plain white bedsheet and lay baby on the mattress. After taking the 大头照 we have to resize it to <60KB.

Passport application can be done online on the ICA website. Cost is $70. Approval can be obtained within 3 working days, and then you make an appointment to collect the passport with baby at ICA.

Yup very simple. So try to make the passport for your baby as early as you can when you have some time, then you can travel with baby in tow, even during your 16 week maternity!!

Vittles @ Sembawang Part II

Free flow of popcorn ... great draw for me as always!

Pan fried dory fish ... melts in your mouth!!

Hubby enjoying huge portion of chicken in BBQ sauce

Here's the sleepy baby :)

I love the weekend! We all take a break and get to indulge in some couple time :) We went to Vittles last sunday as i was craving for some popcorn. As always, the food was great, there wasn't a crowd, and there was enough space to fit in the stroller.

Not a fish lover, i ordered a pan-fried dory because fish is good for breastmilk, or so i was told ^_^ It must be one of the tastiest fish dish i have ever eaten! You must try that the next time, no regrets definitely! Hubby had chicken which was also nice, but i find the chicken skin quite thick and oily.

Baby was super cooperative and just snoozed away the whole time we were gorging ourselves. What a wonderful day!

If you're out wanting to look for good western food, try Vittles 369 Sembawang Road! Cheers! ~

女人是嬗变的

Smile one moment, irritated the next. See how quickly the frown follows!!

Makes My Day

Feast @ Seng Kang

Ta-Da! ~ Feasting begins! ~

Yummy cold tofu with pork floss ... an all time favourite!

Just learnt how to cook prawns ... it came out just right! YAY! ~

My favourite .. how can a meal be complete without CHICKEN??


Pork in bean sauce ... tasty yum yum! ~

Broccoli with scallop ... we need the greens!

It was a great pleasure to have (ex) colleagues over for a CNY home feast :) i was really excited planning the menu and doing the actual cooking.

This is not the first time i've cooked for about 10 persons, but i'm really happy with the result this time, cos the presentation of the foods looked great and they tasted good too! Credits to my super neigbour who gave me great coaching and cooking tips!

Of course, the highlight of the day was catching up with my friends. Great to know Kev and Jen are doing well in their new jobs and PC is still the happy super mom with 3 kids and a full time job! Cheers also to Cass and Mitch, my forever domestic kakis whom inspired me much about improving my cooking skills!

Certainly looking forward to more gatherings. Cheers to parties, parties and more parties!