Grounded no more :)

Yeah! Finally going to travel. Book our tour packages over the weekend. Lots of roadshows by travel agencies and it's usually the trend when NATAS is approaching. Now just hoping that the min size for the tour group will be hit. Pray hard.

Mar
Going to Taiwan for 8 days. It will be my second visit to Taiwan (went for 4 days when i was expecting Cherylin in Nov 2004 - was around 5.5 mths preggie then. didn't dare stay too long since it's my first pregnancy. Became more gungho when i was expecting Shawn. keke.. 敢敢 went USA for 11 days when i was 6.5mths preggie :P)

Apr/May
Going to Europe for 11 days + 2 days (extending in London. not sure how many days until flight is confirmed - Oh, i opted to travel in A380 for the return flight. Hope can get it.) Now must do homework for free day in Paris and London. Paris should be easy since it's only 1 day. Probably can spend the whole day shopping. keke. Will need to do research for London though. Anyone has got suggestions please let me know k?

My pocket will have a super duper big whole after going for the above trips. Must start saving up again to build up my reserves for future holidays. I told YC: "You donate all your money to the gaming industry while I donate mine to the travel industry." ;)

Holiday Trips in 2009

I've been grounded in Singapore for more than a year since my last trip to USA in Nov 07 (when i was expecting Shawn). I'm so deprived that I intend to go for 2 to 3 trips this year. Initially was planning to visit Japan. But the soaring Yen puts me off. It's simply too costly (when things in Japan are already very expensive) to go to Japan when the exchange rate went from 1.3 to 1.7. And with a group of 3 adults and 2 kids, the extra expenses due to increase in Yen can be quite substantial. Hence, i've put off the idea. Visit the country again when the rate is more favourable.

So now, what are the countries i have in mind and the tentative dates?

• Mar 09 - taiwan, korea, hongkong, shanghai/beijing (still not decided, depends on the date too because the main idea is to help YC clears his leaves - so may or may not materialise)
• May 09 - Europe (confirmed going just that we've not booked the package yet! with the attractive rates for Euro and Pound, it's a good time to go)
• Sep 09 - Melbourne (going with J and W. we planned to go as a group with our family. yeah, looking forward to it and it must materialise k? J and W if you are reading, it's a reminder hoh.)

I told YC all the above will eat into my savings by a lot. Who ask that I like travelling so much that i'll just slog and build up my reserves again. :)

Shawn's milestone updates

Just like his sister, Shawn can walk when he's 1 year 1 week old. Nowadays he walks most of the time when he's home (except during weekend when we are outside). He enjoys walking it seems, though he may take longer to reach a destination compared to crawling.

What can he say now? He can:

1) call jie jie. his favourite word, can hear him saying that almost everyday. repeated times so more
2) mum mum - when he wants to eat/drink milk. 2 nites ago, when he cried for milk in early morning. when i carried him in the craddle position, he took off his pacifier and utter "mum mum" before i fed him.
3) wai po - it's true that my mum and I heard him mouthing these 2 words.
4) Ohh - when he drops something on the floor and when something goes wrong.

Other than the above, the usual baby talk of 'ma ma', 'ba ba', 'ehh' comes out from his mouth.

What can he do now? He can:

1. wave bye bye (he does this by clenching and opening his fist. must have learnt from me cos i did that to him every morning when i goes to work)
2. do the 'sayang' action (he'll stroke our face from top to bottom, though sometimes used too much strength)
3. do the "pa pa" sign (pat his chest with his hand)
4. point to things he wants with his finger
5. feed himself baby snacks, fruits (banana, orange, apple, strawberry - he loves the korean strawberry)
6. hold his bottle with two hands (am surprised with this because he hates to be bottle fed)
7. do the "from sit to stand position" effortlessly\
8. do the "gong xi gong xi" sign (only do this when he's in the mood)\
9. listen to instruction (e.g. when we ask him to pass something to us, he's able to understand and do the task correctly; whenever he asked for food that i'm eating, i'll tell him to sit down first which he always follows)
10. take things out from a container and put them in again
11. clap his hands
12. cry when we (me, YC, my mum, Cherylin) scold him (find it very cute - he'll first blink his eyes, then give the pityful look, blink his eyes again and look at us, if we continue to look angry, he'll pout and cry. haha)

Super busy at work!

Since last quarter of last year, work has been more and more hectic. And it's not going to end anytime soon. More news of helping Singaporeans to stay competitive and employable in the papers means more work for me. Sometimes have to console myself that at this time, it's better to have work and be busy then to be without work. Should count my blessing. Such positive thinking helps. Ohh, this is also the reason why it takes ages for me to update my blog. Simply no time to 'eat snake' while at work. :P

Diaper Free Days :)

Cherylin is now fully off diapers. Yeah! This happened like end of 2008 (see... i can't remember the date. getting old). She was off diaper for the day when she was abt 2.5 years old. We didn't train her for sleeping without diaper in the night because of the possible mess (i.e. if she wee wee in the middle of the night, imagine the hassles of changing bedsheet, wiping the mattress, etc).

I think her success is partly due to us saying "you are going to be 4 years old next year, if you are still wearing diaper to bed, the air stewardess will not let you onto the plane (haha...white lies). Then daddy and mummy can't bring you for holiday." She took it seriously, i think cos she likes to travel. So the day when she finally succeeded in not wearing diaper (actually my mum was the one telling me that Cherylin need not wear diaper anymore. As her diapers were dry in the morning in consecutive days), she was very happy and declare that she can now take the aeroplane!

Shawn's 1st bday celebration - 17 Jan

We celebrated Shawn's 1st birthday 2 weeks in advance. A couple of reasons: 31st is the 6th day of CNY, based on last year's understanding, some cake shops may not be opened then. 24th is not suitable either cos it's a day be eve of CNY. Everyone will be busy preparing for CNY. Hence, decided that 17th is the best. It's also close to his lunar birthday which was on 19 Jan.

Collected Shawn's cake from SO at abt 330pm, picking mum up at the same time. We chose a TTT theme, thinking that he can keep the toy train as remembrance (though he probably can't remember a thing. At least can show him the pictures).

Food arrived at 6pm, and most guests (mainly YC's relatives) had their food at 7pm plus. Planned to cut the cake at 845pm. Shawn was very tired and fell alseep at abt 820pm. We thought it's easy to wake him up for the cake cutting (he's usually a light sleeper). Who knows he's soooo tired that no matter how we disturb him, he continued to sleep. It's so funny that people around started to laugh. Shawn finally woke up after all the disturbance.