Rambling

I think I may never get around to updating everything, so I'll just ramble off some of the things that have been happening in the last couple of weeks.

We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary by running some errands and doing Christmas shopping.  Our aim was to finish all our shopping before I deliver.  It may be an everyday thing for a lot of people, but having a whole day to hang out, just the two of us, is something Jon and I don't get to do that often.  It turned out that our anniversary took on an 'old school' theme by accident.  It started with lunch at Wishbone, a restaurant that's been around since I was a little girl.  My Mum had a cooked food stall opposite, and between plucking tao gay and picking tau suan, my brother and I would hop over to buy ice-cream from Happy Kappy, their dessert arm. 

Dinner was at Shashlik, a Russian restaurant at Far East Shopping Centre.  It's a place with special meaning for us cos Jon once brought me there for a surprise dinner.  It was one of those times that he really really managed to surprise me :)  Things haven't changed at all in the intervening nine years.  The place looks the same, and the food was just as good.  The Borsch was heavenly and the Shashlik, of course, was great too.  As for dessert, we just couldn't resist ordering the ever indulgent baked Alaska.  How things have changed for us personally though.  We're now married with one kid, and one more on the way!

Day 2 of our wedding anniversay (our wedding was spread over 2 days, so we have an excuse to celebrate more!), we had lunch at the chicken rice stall on the top floor of Far East Plaza - another old school joint.  Somewhere we both went to as students. 

For me it felt like we were dating all over again, and it was just sweet and romantic in an everyday, ordinary way :)

Now that we're both on leave too, we've been settling stuff in the day while Asher's at school.  We haven't had so many afternoons out together since we were students!  So we caught Narnia, and I'm hoping to catch the sneak of Gulliver's Travels tomorrow.

As for Asher, he's settled very well into his new school.  Although initially he'd protest a bit when I left, now he walks off to join his friends and blows us kisses as we head off :)  He always seems to happy when we pick him up, and I love how he runs to us to greet us with a big big hug :)  Things really took a turn for the better when Jon started dropping off and picking up Asher together with me.  I think that helped him adjust more quickly.  I was worried that if I continued to drop/pick Asher alone, when Baby comes Asher would feel abandoned or neglected if I suddenly stopped sending him to school.  So these last 2 weeks we've been doing it together, and it has come to the point where Asher's ok even if Jon picked him up by himself. 

Jon's been more hands on these last two weeks at home, and that has helped me lots, and is great for Asher.  From helping with laundry to bathing Asher when I need a rest.  Asher's now even closer to Jon, and it's evidenced by requests from Asher for Daddy to read to him, even though storytime is usually done by Mummy.  I'm really happy to see them bonding :)

Asher's also eating SO much better.  I was reading up on picky eating sometime last month, and found that kids who are not pressured to eat end up getting all the nutrients they need anyway.  I think that perhaps in my anxiety about his weight loss and his poor food in-take, I was unconsciously making meal times stressful for him.  I decided to let go, to not press for him to "take another bite", to just offer him a wide variety of healthy options and let him pick when he wants to eat from that selection.  I decided to let him be in charge of his intake, afterall they say breastfed kids know how to regulate their food intake well.  And the results were quick and satisfying.  Within a day or two he was eating more, and he started drinking milk again (yes, he had rejected even that!  At it's worst, he could go an entire day with less than 200ml of milk and just 2 tablespoons of rice!).  He now generally eats heartily, even though there are some meals where he just picks at the food.  But that's ok.  I've come to be very zen about it, especially cos I now adopt the mindset that it's just one of many meals in a week.  He's still more of a vegetarian/fruitarian, not liking to eat meat that much, but I've found a pretty decent list of almost full-proof food that he'll take, some of these he ate even during his picky phase.  Some things are, well, fast-food, but I've also come to think that if he will eat it, let him be.  It's still food afterall.  At home offer him the healthier stuff, outside, close one eye. 

So here's the list: all fruits, veg (esp carrots and corn), my bolognaise sauce, fish fingers, chicken nuggets, egg tofu, rice (esp if he helped to cook it), roti prata, tortillas, eggs (in one form or another - but you must give it to him in the form he wants or he won't eat it), and the KFC breakfast platter (he esp likes the biscuits).  Besides these, the cuisine that seems to work almost all the time is Indian food.  So far, he has without fail (to my memory at least) eaten well whenever we have Indian food.  Roti prata is one case in point.  He will happily munch on egg prata, and sometimes even dips it into the curry.  He loves briyani rice, he eats dahl curry, has munched up palak paneer (a mild spinach and cheese curry) with gusto, likes vegetable korma, eats dosai and apun jala (pancakes which look like spider webs), and enjoys papadum no end.  I think he likes their stronger flavours, and I'm not surprised, given how much Indian and Malay food I ate when I was pregnant and breastfeeding.

So it was a very happy Selena tonight as we left Samy's curry.  He ate very well, eating half a good sized piece of dry curried fish (he actually ate fish without me having to sneak it in!), dahl with briyani, papadum, and a cup of mixed fruit (this is something I didn't know they offered until today!).  I have always liked going to Samy's curry, and we've brought him there before, but tonight I left thinking, "I love Samy's!".  The staff are always so friendly to him, saying hi as they walk by.  He likes having his own banana leaf to eat off, free flow of papadum and dahl, fab lime juice, and now there's  even fruits to end the meal!!  And for the parents - great teh tarik too :) 

We weighed him tonight, and I was very surprised and happy to see that he's finally broken 12!  He's 12.4 kg!!  What a vast improvement from a month ago when he fell back into the 10 range! 

So I'm very very happy to see Asher happy at home, at school, at meals.  He's really been a jolly fellow these few weeks with Mummy and Daddy being available to him.  I hope it keeps up when Baby comes, and when Jon goes back to work. 

Speaking of Baby, we've decided on the name already, but we'll keep it under wraps until he arrives.  Asher's been refering to Baby by his name for the last several months, and I suppose we can't change it now else he'd be so confused when Baby is introduced with a different name.  Anyway, it's a name we like very much, and in fact was the first name we considered many many months ago when I was about 3-4 months pregnant.  We deliberated several others in the last few months, but nothing quite sat as well with us. Anyway, I'll elaborate more on the name when Baby arrives.

Asher's been very sweet though.  He talks about Baby as part of the family.  A few days ago when playing with blocks he built a house for Baby.  He has also in his new school played with a baby doll, and called it by Baby's name.  He carried the doll, brought it for a stroll around the room in a stroller, fed him milk, and included him in storytime :)  (I've some pics, will see if I can upload when I move to a new site.)  He says that Baby loves him, and he loves Baby.  I just hope that this good feeling keeps up! 

I've been getting him prepared for the arrival of the little one.  Asher chose to give a toy to Baby, and he's picked out which toy.  He knows I'm going to be in hospital for two days, and he'll stay with Por Por.  He knows it tiring to deliver and Mummy might be sleeping a lot after.  And the most recent piece of info I've introduced is that Mummy doesn't know when Baby is coming.  Only God/Jesus knows.  I realised I had to tell him this last piece of info too in case Baby comes in the middle of the night and we're not around in the morning when he wakes up!  Right now Asher's not the most reliable predictor of when Baby will come.  Every time I ask him whether Baby is coming before or after Christmas the answer changes :)   

And as for Christmas, I can't wait! :)  Where will I be celebrating it?  At home?  At a friend's house?  In hospital?  Let's just see how it goes!

Bollywood Veggies

To top off our overseas-without-being-overseas weekend, we made a trip to Bollywood Veggies, somewhere we've been wanting to check out.  The restaurant was surprisingly un-farm-ish.  Erm...I guess I didn't expect it to look like a restaurant, rather I thought it'd be more of a shack or a hawker stall.  It was a pleasant surprise :)  We tried their nasi lemak (which interestingly came with banana chips), banana flower curry (which I liked, but wasn't quite to Jon's taste), and a Kandy style curry chicken (which was good).

It was a super hot day plus Asher was overdue for a nap so we didn't walk around as much as we wanted to.  But we'll definitely head back, and hopefully hit the goat farms and some other farms as well.  It isn't a bad idea to stay a night at the D'Kranji Farm Resort so you can check out all the farms without having to drive up repeatedly.  Maybe when the boy(s) are older :)

Home of the gentle warrior...

...who shoots you with a cross bow if you don't turn off your engine...hmmm...

The restaurant

 Mixing drinks for Mummy & Daddy 

 

Plenty to explore

Cat's whiskers flower!  I think the name is so appropriate :)

Blackhearts

But Asher kept correcting me and saying "purple", even though I tried to explain it's just a name :)

One of the ladies working there gave him an organically grown banana, which tasted very different from the usual bananas we get from the market.  Different type I suppose?

Lunch @ Pontini

Had an early Mother's Day dinner with my Mum at Pontini. Actually, the intention was just to meet for lunch to chat, cos it's been a long time since she and I had lunch alone (well, alone means plus Asher :) ), and Mother's Day was as good a reason as any to meet up.

It was really great to just chit-chat and catch up. Often meet-ups are about the little ones nowadays, but I think it's good to catch up with what the grandparents are up to as well :) Life isn't all about the kids anyway!

That said, Asher was charming that day :) He was rather sleepy when we arrived, so we left him in his car seat. He eventually fell quietly and soundly asleep, and slept right through lunch! But my Mum had a good time playing with him after lunch :) He was chuckling away - too bad the photo is blur!

When Emmy met Asher

Met my long-time friend Joce for lunch at Culina to catch up, and for our little ones to meet. Emma @ Emmy is such a sweet and adorable girl, with crazy hair like Asher's, except that hers stands in a different direction from his. Asher's hair is like a fin, hers is like a mane! :) Cute little baby cub.













We both managed to eat undisturbed for most of our meal cos both babies slept after their feed. But they woke in time to eye our desserts. Asher even tried to pull the plate and grab the strawberry on top of the panna cotta! Joce pulled him back just in time to prevent him from pulling the plate off the table, but he still managed to get some of the cream on his hand :)












Lunch was not bad. Between the two of us we tried all the items on the set menu - 2 starters, 2 main courses, and 2 of the same dessert (only 1 choice). I honestly don't really remember what exactly we ate cos I was enjoying our conversation so much. I just know we had a soup, which I thought was pretty bland, except for the ravioli which was ok. The duck pate, on the other hand, was really yummy. Both main courses were well done, flavourful, enjoyable, but not extraordinary. Dessert was panna cotta, but I don't remember what I thought about it, haha. I suppose that means it must have be ordinary as well. But I do remember we were commenting that it was good value for decent sized servings, and fairly good food.

Anyway, I think Asher really likes Emmy! He was super duper chatty that day. Very friendly, and very smilely. He seemed to really want to interact with Emma, and tried to reach out to her. She too, I would like to think, seemed to take to Asher as well. Although, being a very good girl, she was watchful of this strange boy who was trying to lift her blanket at one point...tsk tsk. Asher, no lifting of girls' skirts/blankets, ok!


No, no, Asher! Don't lift her blankie!









Asher looking excited to talk to Emmy. Emmy looks like she's thinking, "Who is this strange boy?"







"Hi! I'm Asher!"










We wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens after lunch, but it was much too hot still, so we adjourned to my house, where the kids had fun sharing the playmat :) It was soooo adorable watching them wave their arms, kick their legs, and roll about together!


Don't they look happy? :)







Ok, actually Joce and I had to wave and make funny faces to try to get them to smile at the same time :) They were smiling, but just not together - you know how it is. Anyway, this is a silly re-enactment of what we were doing :O)










We decided to try to take a picture of all of us, so she and I contorted and squeezed to take this photo :) Haha, all this just reminds me of all the wacky times Joce and I had in Sec Sch and JC :) It's amazing to think we're Mums now!










Before we headed off to the gardens, we managed to grab a shot of Emma resting her arm on Asher - so cute! Actually, at one point when Joce and I were chatting, Emma and Asher were holding hands. But just as we turned our heads to look at them, they let go! So funny! Just like teenagers who are shy to show their parents they're holding hands :)))) I found that endlessly amusing.










The walk in the Botanic Gardens was calm and relaxing. So relaxing that when we got back into the car, both babies fell asleep without a sound!

Lots of fun, lots of laughter. We must do this again :)

Pastamania Gang

There's bunch of gals I meet up with, and we somehow always meet at Pastamania :) It's now our thing, and we're endeavouring to visit all the Pastamania outlets! (Or least those within our vicinity :) )

Li Wei was pleased as a pie with Asher the day we met for lunch cos he didn't cry when she carried him! She's not had too many good experiences with carrying babies so far because most times they cry when she holds them. But because of her happy experience with Asher, she has declared him guai haha :p Jane was just as enthusiastic about playing with Asher - and pulling his hair when he pulled hers (child abuse!!) ;O) Anyway, Jane's really good with kids cos she's a kid of her own! :) (Jane: They should meet up sometime!)

Anyway, we've also declared Pastamania the place for making important announcements! It was there that they first found out I was pregnant - overwhelming my poor friend Li Wei - and she was overwhelmed again with the most recent announcement! Shan't declare it here since it's not my annoucement to make ;)










Next outing: Plaza Sing Pastamania!

The Men Don't Get It

My Mum, Aunt, Sis-in-law and I went for a ladies-only dim sum outing to Dragon Phoenix - yep, we had another $30 discount voucher!

The men? Well, the men had to work. We ladies of (temporary) leisure were going to enjoy a good meal without them wahahaha ;)

(I don't normally blow up all the pics this big, but I forgot to change the setting from the last post, and am too lazy to re-download :) All the better to see!)


Taking a nap in prep for the day's outing.












Dim Sum, as expected, was good. Had most of the typical dim sum fare (and of course the yam ring again!), but we did try a new dish - some kind of Cantonese beef cutlet thingy. I didn't look at the menu, so don't know what it was called. It was super tender with a sweet-sour sauce drizzled over it, and served with a fried egg on top. It seemed a little out-of-place given it's Western feel and presentation, but it was tasty and surprisingly good.


My mum with Aidan














...and Epoh with Asher :)
















We went walking around Liang Court, but found there was not much there to interest us, so decided to head to Paragon to check out the top floor which has lots of kids stuff. In particular I was looking for a large playpen where I can safely leave Asher for a short while to do laundry, cook lunch, or to bathe for that matter! At times it's difficult to take care of him alone cos I've no extra pair of hands and eyes to watch him. For now he's not that mobile, but even then he's had a terrible fall! So we want somewhere perfectly safe for him to play. But I really don't like those small rectangular playpens cos it's just...so...small! In two crawls he'd be at the other end! So am scouting around for the larger kinds. However, in Bono's words, "But I stillll haven't fooooounnd what I'm lookin' for!"

But Asher did find something at Paragon - a new toy! I was showing him around the shop, when I stopped at the toy shelf. I tell you, those toy people know what they're doing cos babies sure know how to tell a shelf stacked with toys from a shelf stacked with other things! At least this boy does! You could see the intensity in his eyes increase as he surveyed the shelf. I sieved through the toys to see if there was something interesting and nice that I could buy for Asher, and picked up a few to show to him. For most of them he was fairly nonchalent. THEN, there was a toy that I showed him which had lots of brightly coloured spinning parts, made various sounds when shaken, had a black-and-white handle, and could be held as a rattle-like toy or placed on a table as an activity centre of sorts. When I put it in front of him, you should have seen his eyes, how HUGE they were! He opened his eyes wide, he opened his mouth in awe, and reached eagerly for the toy. When he held it he couldn't stop staring at the toy and started flicking some of the moving bits. I thought, this is it! Asher chose his first toy! :O) In the end, my mum (the ever doting grandmother hehe) insisted she buy the toy for him, and got a different toy for Aidan as well (a super cute squeaky bird which can hang from the pram which Aidan absolutely adores!).


Enraptured!












After all that toy shopping (where I think I had more fun than Asher pressing all the buttons, spinning all the movable bits within reach, etc etc., basically being a kid myself), we hung around in the corridor area while Aidan had a feed. Paragon is great in that there's a common area with low tables and toys for parents and children alike to feed their babies, or just rest for a while. I like how they even decorate the ceilings with bright, furry flowers. Asher had fun looking at them as I lifted him high. He also had a chance to go on a slide for the first time! Assisted of course. He seemed to enjoy it, and gamely let me slide him down many many times :)















As my mum went shopping for a gift for my niece, Anya, the third of the baby cousins, the two boys had some bonding time :) (at least, I think they are starting to recognise each other more. maybe?)


Lets have a hug!













Babies and Mummies!













Just the two of us :) (To get them looking in the same direction my Mum had to wave a red plastic bag in front of them haha)









Me and Asher =p Seldom have shots of him with me, cos I'm usually behind the camera :) Got to be deliberate about this! Don't want Asher only having photos of Daddy and everyone else but not Mummy! :O)



We had to head off cos my Mum had to be somewhere later that evening, so we called it a day. Headed home where Asher got to carry on playing with his new toy :)

Dim Sum @ Dragon Phoenix

We had a $30 discount voucher for Dragon Phoenix restaurant, so we decided to head over there for Sunday Dim Sum lunch with the Moks.

Food was good, and company was even better! We had the usual dim sum suspects (har gao, siew mai, etc), along with Dragon Phoenix's signature Yam Ring (ohhh yummy yummy yummy yummy!). The Char Siew Bao was also particularly good - the bread was very light and fluffy, and the meat filling flavourful.

The fun discovery we made was that Asher is now able to sit in a high chair unassisted! :) We don't actually have one at home so we have never tried putting him in one. But now, we're planning to get one from IKEA so he can sit with us for meals at home :) He was really good! He sat quietly throughout the meal, alternating between observing us eat and 'reading' his book.


Big boy now! Ready of the big table! :)



















Post lunch saw us chilling out at a Vietnamese coffee joint for a couple of hours just chatting and munching on cakes. Jon and I were so stuffed after that! So we went home for a simple dinner before settling Asher to bed, and settling ourselves in front of the telly :)

Akira Jap Buffet

I felt like eating Jap food and have been thinking of going to Akira cos it's nearby, and the food is quite decent. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the price of the lunch buffet was slashed to just $22++ per person (originally $35), and they also expanded the variety of dishes offered.

I thought of Akira cos it's not super crowded, and they have semi-tatami type tables (the kind that you put your legs in a hole under the table) where we could use Asher's Bumbo seat so that he could join us at the low table :)

It was adorable to have Asher sit together with us :) He was happily chatting with his pal Henry Hippo while Jon and I had lunch. It was a leisurely meal, and we just took our time ordering and eating. A great way to spend a lazy Saturday.



Asher & Henry









What is this thing Mummy keeps putting in my face?










Halfway through the meal Asher fell asleep, and when he woke up he had this look that said, "What are we still doing here? You mean you guys are still eating? *roll eyes*"


zzzZZZ...









(40mins later) Alamak! Still here??!







Anyway, it's definitely a family-friendly place we can visit again!


Going home full on Jap-food flavoured milk

Sunday Lunch @ House

Someone suggested checking out the (fairly) new place House for a late lunch. Went there with Curfee, Bernie and Reuben. The place has quite a deconstructed look, with stripped down pillars, and bare concrete floors and ceilings. But I really liked their lighting. Each bulb was connected to a long black wire, and the bulbs were hung around in clusters with the hanging excess wires contributing to the artsy look of the place.










Food was quite good, though could be more hearty. I think the main draw is that it's fairly quiet and provides a nice atmosphere to just hang out and chat the afternoon away. I was busying myself with colouring in the paper placemat, which if you submitted, gave you the chance of winning a free spa treatment. Thought I made a decent effort on it. You can see the uncoloured placemats in next to my coloured-in one.










Anyway we felt like doing something else after hanging there for several hours, and decided on borrowing a movie to watch. We ended up back at our house to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks! Hee hee. Very cute and adorable! Just some fun Sunday entertainment :) Interesting little bit of trivia though, throughout the show they never played that famous tune "Alvin, Simon, Theodore, doo, doo, doo-doo-doo-doo"! How can!