Cherylin's 3rd Birthday

It's Cherylin's birthday today. YC bought her a set of blocks as he saw her enjoying herself when she was at his friend's place during CNY. Cherylin was delighted when she saw the gift from daddy and immediately asked daddy to open it up for her to play. Nowadays, she'll keep her toys after she's finished playing. Not sure if it's due to her going to school or becos of an incident where YC threw his temper on Cherylin when she refused to keep her toys despite repeated reminders. Any way, we are glad that she's doing the right thing now.

I bought the Leapfrog Wordlaunch system for Cherylin as her birthday gift. Think she's still too young to play with the system now. Nevertheless, she enjoyed meddling with the alphabets. I shall figure out how the system works and play with her one of these days.

YC bought a cake to celebrate Cherylin's birthday. Thus, we sang a birthday song for her and let her cut the cake. She also distributed goodies pack to her classmate this morning when she went to school. This little darling of mine helped in the packing of the goodies bags. See how engrossed she was when doing so:

Sibling rivalry/jealousy?

Friends/relatives had been telling me to prepare Cherylin for the arrival of her didi. We did tell her that she'll have a didi soon before Shawn was borned. But I suppose no matter how much we prepare her (kids will be kids afterall), she will at some time be difficult to handle.

When she's in good mood, what will she do?

1) gently sayang didi
2) gently talk to him/wanna teach him to read ABCs/wanna him to play toys with her
3) help us when changing bb/bathing (e.g. she'll bring my tissue/handkerchief, bring towel to 外婆, etc)
4) tell us when didi cries (her fav phrase: 妈咪，弟弟哭了，快点去抱他)

When she's in bad mood/cranky (usually when she's sleepy/has lack of sleep)
1) purposely disturb/hit didi
2) wanna 外婆carry her instead of didi
3) says she doesn't like didi

Overall, I would say Cherylin has been quite a good gal since the arrival of didi. That day when YC's aunt visited us and jokingly said she'll bring didi home with her when she carried him, Cherylin was so worried and kept telling me to carry didi back. She's afraid that YC's aunt will really bring didi back. Haha...

Shawn is back home

Shawn had to stay in the nursery for phototherapy. He was sleeping soundly when we visited him before checking out of the hospital. So poor thing to see him stripped naked with only his diaper on. Was glad that he at least he wasn't crying else will be real sim tia.

During his stay in the nursery, we visited him twice a day. Each time, will breastfeed him as well as bring whatever ebm that I've managed to express out.

PD updated me on his development every morning. As the jaundice level had gone down and was stabilised, Shawn was able to go home on Day 6. Yippee! At least he can spend his CNY eve at home. :)

31 Jan 2008 - It's the DAY!

It's the first time at nite that I was woken up a few times since I got pregnant. Woken up not by bb's kicking but by contraction of my tummy. I thot it's false contraction hence just ignore it and went back to sleep.

Was given 2 days' MC hence not going to work today. Before YC left for work, told him my tummy is 'hardened' (meaning there's contraction). Shortly after, the tummy turned soft again. So I still thought it's false alarm and YC proceeded to go to work.

Shortly after he left, I woke up and had my usual morning shower. Took my breakfast and started to do some packing of bb clothes/my stuff. I experienced more and more regular contraction but kept brushing it off. It was only at around 9.50am that I decided to time the interval. I was having contraction at an interval of 10mins! Still trying to keep cool and think it's 'not time yet', I continued with doing my stuff. At 10.30am, I went to the toilet and realised I had show! It was then I finally came face to face with reality that it's really time to go to the hospital. Immediately called YC and told him that. He tried to rush home asap and informed his parents and brother in the meantime.

While waiting, my contraction got worse, the interval got shorter and I was perspiring all over (out of fear i think). I could feel that little baby is pushing down and had the feeling that he's coming out! Told baby to guai guai wait for daddy's return. Did some last min packing of my hospital bag and got myself changed.

My MIL and WR arrived at abt 11.10am. Told them I can't wait till YC's return. Hence we headed to hospital and informed YC to go there directly.

On the way to hospital, I called Jenny to inform her and that I could feel that bb's coming out anytime. Jenny said Kenneth is at the Woodlands Clinic and would call to inform him.

Reached Mt A. Put on wheel chair and was pushed to the deliver ward immediately. It's 11.42am then. I was already fully dilated but gotta wait for Kenneth's arrival. Hence, I had to 'dong' the intense contraction for another 20 mins. Kenneth reached at about 12.02pm. He broke the waterbag and I was asked to get ready to push when the next contraction comes. Finally, Bb came out at 12.06pm after one push and i was glad that everything was over.

YC and my mum commented that little bb looks exactly like Cherylin when she was born. :)

Checkup on 30 Jan

Went to see Kenneth today as scheduled. Kenneth exclaimed that I'm already 2.5-3cm dilated. Can be admitted on Thu or Fri for delivery! I don't quite believe him and wanted to drag till a later date. Hence, Kenneth suggested next Mon or Tue. Told YC and me to think about which date we prefer and let him know in the evening.

In the end, we decided on next Mon, 4 Feb (i.e. we will go to hospital on Sun midnite). I was thinking to myself, can I wait (or rather can bb wait) till 9 Feb instead? :P

When will bb come out?

Went for checkup on last Sat (26 Jan). Kenneth had been telling us that he will do a VE from week 37 onwards to check for dilation. As it's my second time, Kenneth is more cautious to make sure I'm admitted for delivery when my cervix is already dilated (since 2nd birth can be quite fast and he doesn't want me to garang garbo).

Bb is growing steadily and weigh 2.709kg at week 37. Kenneth checked my cervix and said that it's 1 cm dilated. So I may well pop next week! Gosh, I'm still not mentally prepared for the early arrival of my bb. Still thinking of enjoying CNY first before going on ML :P Will be seeing Kenneth again on Wed, 31 Jan. Believed by then will have a clearer picture of whether I really will pop later the week.

Visit to Alexandra Fire Station (19 Jan 08)

Thanks to Sandy who organized a visit to the fire station for the Feb 05 mummies. The session started at 10am and ended around 11.15am. It was a nice experience for everyone, from the kids to the daddies. YC, especially, enjoyed the visit very much from the way he participated in the activities: spraying of the water nozzle, taking the ride and going up the gondola. Cherylin on the other hand kept saying ‘怕怕’ and sat in her buggy for 90% of the time. She enjoyed watching daddy go up the gondola though. Every kid was given a key chain and a fireman hat as souvenir.

1st Day at Playgroup

YC and I took leave to accompany Cherylin to her playgroup session. Wanted to just 'dump' her there but realised it was impossible to do so as she kept clinging on to me! Hence, I was with her throughout the 2 hours. As there were other parents/caretakers around too, I don't feel that bad staying back with her. It's also an opportunity for me to know what goes on during the 2 hours that Cherylin is in class.

The kids started off with playing with blocks. They were then asked to sort the blocks in colours and put those of the same colour into a container. It's snack time at 10am and all the kids were asked to wash their hands. Cherylin went to the sink, washed her hands and came back to her seats. When all the kids are done, the teacher and assistant distributed the snack (they were having the Want Want Rice Cracker on that day). Cherylin had 3 pieces and wanted more. Told her she had enough for the day. The kids then drank from their water bottle before they were asked to place the water bottles back to the shelves.

Following next were songs and story telling sessions. Somehow, Cherylin preferred to observe from the back instead of participating. Knowing her character, I tried to encourage her to participate but didn't force her to do so. After the lesson had ended, the kids started to wear their own shoes. Cherylin happily put on her shoes, carry her backpack and got ready to go. They were lined up in a straight line before going off. Cherylin waved bye bye to the teacher as we left.

The afternoon was spent in Orchard Road with my mum. We had lunch at Grand Central Restaurant and went shopping thereafter at Robinsons and John Little. Took a break at Ah Mei at Paragon before heading home.

It's a well spent day with Cherylin. Luckily I heeded YC's advice to take a day's leave instead of just half day. :)

Swissotel the Stamford

Yippee! The day that I had been waiting for had finally arrived.

Went for gynae checkup early in the morning (29 Dec). Bb’s growing well and weight 2.137kg at 33 wks. J

We planned to take MRT to City Hall as the hotel doesn’t provide complimentary parking coupon. It would be too expensive if we were to drive there. Reached City Hall at 12.20pm and we proceeded to The Plaza Market Café for our buffet lunch cum hi-tea. The spread was quite good. Cherylin munched a little here and there as usual. We redeemed a wine using the Feed at Raffles voucher. Cherylin was talking about Christmas tree that she saw earlier. But I had no idea what she was referring too cos I don’t see any Christmas tree around (furthermore Christmas was over). YC took the miniature Santus Claus and Christmas tree for Cherylin from the new log cake that was being served at the buffet table. Only then I realized that Cherylin had earlier saw the Christmas tree on the log cake and was taken away by another kid. :P

At 2pm, YC brought our overnight bag and went to check into the room. After the meal we went to the room. It’s very spacious. The king sized bed was much bigger than ours, must be those super king sized type. Cherylin run around the room, enjoyed the scenery from the balcony. I was rather tired and took a nap. As I was half a sleep, I knew that Cherylin was jumping happily on the bed as I was napping. Gotta tell her constantly not to jump onto mummy. Hee..

We went out of the room in late evening. Went over to Suntec City. Yung Chih bought a grilled chicken from Carrefour for supper. I was still very full so didn’t had any. He and Cherylin shared the chicken. We stayed till quite late. I slept at about 1am while YC stayed on till 2am as he was watching a movie.

The next morning, we lazed around in the hotel room before heading down to the swimming pool for a walk. There were lots of people there and Cherylin enjoyed herself just by people watching. Wanted to stay on watching when we told her that we were leaving. Cherylin was very happy whenever she’s in the room. She can easily entertain herself by running/jumping here and there. Told me next time she wanna stay in hotel room again!

We checked out at 1pm and proceeded to Marina/Suntec. Had lunch at one of the restaurants at the fountain area. Wanted to arrange dinner with my mum and bro/SIL but YC said he’s tired and wanted to go home early to rest (sounded as if he really just came back from a holiday trip :P). Hence, I dropped the idea and we had my long awaited Milo Dinosaur at Coffee & Toast before heading home.

Xmas Day!

We went to Vivocity today as we were planning to visit Sentosa. Decided against the idea when we reached the Sentosa Visitor Centre. The queue for the monorail is so long and the weather looked as if it's gonna rain any time. Hence, we decided to just roam about in Vivocity. Brought Cherylin to Toy r Us to look for the Thomas the Train handphone which she had been asking for. YC bought it for her as a gift though she already had lots of handphones at home.

YC met with his family aXmas t the void deck of the relative's house at abt 6pm. We then proceeded to the venue. Soon after we arrived, Xmas carols were sang, prayers made and the feast then started. The food was good. I especially liked the walnut bread and the curry. Cherylin had her fill of honey baked ham and beehoon. She had a fun time at the playground playing with fireworks and the slides (YC accompanied her). Before we left the place, Cherylin was showered with little Xmas presents. She happily opened up all the present when we reached home before she got changed and went to bed.

Cherylin is beginning to enjoy the festive seasons more as she grows older. She loves the song "Jingle Bell Rock" and kept asking YC to play (repeatedly while in the car). Another few of her favourite xmas songs include: Santas Claus is coming to town and Jingle Bell. :)

Xmas Eve

Part 1

My dept had the Year End Party on Xmas Eve. Brought Cherylin to my office this morning to join in the party. As I had prepped her days before the event, she was ok when we woke her up and changed her (no fuss/resistance, phew!). Took the MRT to work and Cherylin guai guai sat on her buggy.

Cherylin saw the tray of chocolates when she entered my office. Angie kindly brought the tray down so that Cherylin could select the ones she likes. With Cherylin around, I could hardly work. Briefly went thru my emails and before I know, it's party time!

During the 2 hours of fun, Cherylin was rather obedient; sat quietly on the chair (as I've told her she can't speak loudly at the party. keke). She ate some food and got a big pooh bear from my colleague (she kept saying she wants the pooh bear when my colleague won the lucky draw prize and my colleague gladly gave it to her!). Lucky star must be shining on me that day (and of cos my little baby and Cherylin must have brought me luck too), I won the 6th prize in the lucky draw, it's a Siemen Digital Cordless Phone. Something which I had been been eyeing for.

Went to meet my mum after knocking off from work (it's half day today!). Cherylin slept while I pushed her to Suntec City in her buggy under the bright hot sun. She woke up upon reaching MacDonald's and had her favourite MacDonald's fries before we left for shopping at John Little.

Part 2
YC came to pick us from Holland after work. We had potluck and gift exchange at YC grandma's house. Cherylin feasted on the turkey slices and honey baked ham, and happily went around distributing candies to the kids in the house. We got ourselves a pooh bear tissue box holder, towel, milo, cup and plastic containers during the gift exchange.

BBQ

The weather had been wet of late. Were telling Cherylin to pray that it won't rain so that we could have a BBQ in the evening. The sky was great in the morning and early afternoon. However, it started to pour in the late evening. We arrived at my brother's place at 615pm. It was pouring then hence we waited in the house. The rain stopped after a while and we thought we could proceed with the BBQ. Who knows, it started to drizzle when the guys were starting to BBQ. The rain started and stopped several times and we ended up going to and froth the BBQ pits numerous time. Nevertheless, Cherylin enjoyed herself playing with the umbrella, sparkles, and running/playing with Jiu Jiu. Jiu Jiu and Jiu Mu bought her a Strawberry Shortcake Trolley bag as her Xmas gift. She already had one such bag previously when we went to Perth in May this year. When I asked "which one do you like?", she replied "Liang ge dou xi huan" :)

Feb 08 MTB Gathering

The Feb 08 MTBs had a gathering yesterday at Vil'age at Heeren. The turnout was good. There's a total of 19 mummies :) A pity I couldn't stay on to join in the group photo as I had to leave early. Nevermind, there'll be chance in future. Only managed to talk to mummies sitting nearby as the crowd was too big. Told YC about the gathering and he was shocked to learn of the big crowd as the last gathering I went to, there were less than 10 mummies. We had gift exchange during the gathering, and this is what I've got.
A very interesting toy. Cherylin happily played with it the moment we showed it to her.

Hotel Stay

I used to think it's a waste of $ to stay in a Singapore hotel. But i suddenly have this urge to have a weekend hotel stay. So YC went to book a room at Swissotel The Stamford during last week of Dec. I was thrilled when I learnt that booking has been made. Really look forward to it, and I'm sure Cherylin will enjoy running around in the hotel room too. At $100+++ for a Harbourview Room (we got a free upgrade to the next room category from the deluxe room), I think it's a steal. Based on check from Asiaroom.com, it costs more than $300 for a 1 night stay w/breakfast (okie, ours come without breakfast). Console myself that I only splurge once in a blue moon on such stuff. Treat it as a Xmas present for the family :P

Playgroup Orientation

We enrolled Cherylin for a 2-hour playgroup that will start from Jan 2008. Yesterday, we brought her to the centre for her 'orientation'. We prep her days before the orientation is going to take place and I think it helped. As usual, she dilly-dallied when we asked her to change her clothes. Thereafter, she happily followed wai po, daddy and mummy to the centre. It's a RC located at a block next to my mum's. When we arrived, Cherylin took off her slippers and followed us in. She found a chair and sat on it, observing the surrounding and other childrens that were around. She tried on the uniforms without any fuss (to our surprise). As the teacher briefed the parents on the details, she guai guai sat on the chair and didn't make any noise at all. After about 45 mins, we left the centre. To reward her for being a good girl, daddy brought her to the nearby playground which she demanded. :)

USA Trip (Day 10 & 11)

San Francisco to Singapore

Today’s is the day for shopping as it’s well known that stores would have very attractive discounts to celebrate the day after Thanksgiving. We woke up very early today and left the hotel at 5.30am. When we reached Civic Centre, the entire place was already filled with people who were there to pick up good bargains. We went to Old Navy store and were surprised that there were already a long queue at the cashier. YC got to know later from the cashier that people started to queue outside the store as early as 3am cos they were giving away MP3 players to the first 200 customers.

We proceeded to Macy’s thereafter. Me and my mum each bought a Liz Claiborne sunglass. The sunglasses were very worthwhile after all the discounts, mine cost less than USD11 while my mum’s cost less than USD9. We also bought lots of baby’s clothings, more for our little boy this time round.

Next we went to Disney outlet and YC bought Cherylin a Princess Go-to-Party set. She had wanted those miniature toy set but we dissuaded her as we knew all miniature stuff will go missing soon after she opens up the box. :P

As we were checking out of the hotel that day we rushed back to hotel at 11am plus to do a final packing. At 12pm, we checked out of our room and deposited our bag with the concierge before heading off for more shopping! Lunch today was at Carl’s Junior. Wanted to try the fries from In N Out burger but we couldn’t find any outlet in sight.

We basically walked around aimlessly (guess we’ve reached our peak for shopping then). Went back to Old Navy for second round (bought another pair of jeans for myself). My mum spotted a fleece jacket which she wanted to get when we were leaving Fisherman’s Wharf yesterday. Hence, I left YC with Cherylin (who was napping then) in a café and headed the Wharf with my mum. I didn’t expect the wait and ride on the Cable Car would take such a long time as compared to yesterday. Hence, the trip to and from took us almost 2 hours! There’s a small episode which caused YC to be hopping mad. Rather not talk about it anymore. :P

We headed back to the hotel at 7pm plus to wait for the driver who will be sending us to the airport. (Gideon flew back to Los Angeles this morning as he had a back-to-back tour group assigned to him. Hence we were left without our tour leader today L)

We left the hotel at 8.30pm. It took about 30 mins before we reached the airport. When I boarded the plane and was settling down, an air stewardess spotted that I was pregnant. I was pleasantly surprised when she offered to look for an empty row of seats after take off so that I can lie down to rest! She did come back to me, showing me where the empty seats were. I felt obliged to accept her offer. Went over with YC and sat for a while. Decided that it’s too embarrassing for me to lie down, I went back to my assigned seat (also becos I didn’t want to leave Cherylin alone with my mum) and left YC there.

The flight back was quite ok for Cherylin. As it’s a midnight flight, Cherylin fell asleep shortly after the take off. She woke up a few hours later and had some inflight meal. We had transit at HKIA. Took the opportunity to grab some HK goodies from Kee Wah shop located in the Airport :P

My brother, SIL and FIL were at the airport to fetch us. This ended our 11 days of fun!n

USA Trip (Day 9)

San Francisco

We had late breakfast today. Only need to gather at 10am. Went to this place called Dong Fang Xiao Chu. Had fried beehoon, porridge, pot sticker among other stuff. Cherylin ate quite a bit. Realised that we had not taken any picture with our tour leader, we had one taken outside the eatery. Proceeded to Civic Centre for the cable car ride and to roam around the place of interest: Lombard Street, Fisherman’s Wharff Chinatown, etc.

We had the famous Ghirardhelli Ice Cream at Fisherman’s Wharf. The queue started to form even before the store was open. Luckily it didn’t take long before it’s our turn. Yum, yum…

We roamed around the wharf area before heading back to Civic Centre. As it’s Thanksgiving Day, either the shops were not opened or closed early for the day. Hence, there’s nothing much for us to shop. Decided to venture into Chinatown. Came across a few Chinese bakery shops and my mum bought some bread, pastries. Had our dinner at a Chinese Restaurant. The set meal for 2 to 3 pax cost USD18 and included chicken, fish, soup and vege. With tax and miscellaneous charges, total bill came up to less than USD30. The servings were huge and we were all stuffed.

On our way back, we went to Walmart again to do some shopping. Can’t resist the Haagen Dazs ice cream promotion and we bought 2 pints again for supper. Keke…

USA Trip (Day 8)

LV to San Francisco

Gideon operated a mini factory this morning. As we had to leave the hotel early to catch our flight to SF, he had to wake up in the wee hours to buy our breakfast, pack them nicely and deliver to our rooms. We had sandwiches (freshly delivered to 7-eleven store on that day), packet juice, biscuits, sweetened fruit for breakfast.

Our flight to SF was at 9.30am so we reached the airport at around 7am plus. While waiting for the flight, my mum had her last round of jackpot at the airport. It took us 1 hour plus to reach SF from LV. Upon arrival, we proceeded with our city tour in SF. The coach took us to Pier 39 where we were left to wander about for about 3 hours +.

Can’t possibly go to SF without trying their Clam Chowder right? So we had ours at Boudin Bakery. Cherylin enjoyed the clam chowder a lot and had it with lots of bread. After lunch, we roam around the place, walked towards Pier 43 where I finally took picture with the Fisherman’s Wharf logo (keke..cos the last time I went to SF, I actually didn’t have any picture of the logo!)

Went over to Ghirardhelli Square, wanted to buy ice cream for Cherylin but she fell asleep. So we left without having any. Along the way back to Pier 39, we bought drinking water from Walmart. Cherylin woke up then and daddy bought her an ice cream lolly pop.

We proceeded to Golden Gate Bridge after gathering to board the Coach. The breeze was very strong and we had fun taking pictures. Gideon brought us to his so called ideal spot for photo taking. I like some of the shots taken there, especially the family photo of YC, myself and Cherylin.

Next we were brought to Coit Tower where we can overlook the entire of SF city. It was very cold there as we were up the hill top. My mum couldn’t take the cold and went back to the coach early, while we stayed on for photo taking. Can see that Cherylin was very cold too as her lips were turning pale.

As we depart, the sun was setting. Quite a nice view down the hill top. Dinner was at a small eatery called Dong Fang Xiao Chu. Chinese food with huge servings of meat, soup, vege. Gideon guided us to Civic Centre after dinner. Briefly told us where we could shop around that area. We left on our own to explore the place. Went to Walmart again and saw Haagen Dazs ice cream going at USD5 for 2 pints! It’s unbelievable cheap and we just grabbed 2 pints to have as supper at the hotel room. Bought the 3 day muni pass (at US$18 per pax) since we’ll be on our own for the next 2 days. Needless to say, we took a bus back to our hotel.

USA Trip (Day 7)

Las Vegas

This morning, we explored the strip and viewed the different hotels with different themes. The sun was very glaring and we had difficulties opening our eyes when taking pictures. At 11am plus, we proceeded to have a buffet lunch at the Treasure Islands (couldn’t decide on which buffet to go so went to this one in the end as recommended by one of the travel guides that I’ve read). At USD17 per pax (inclusive of tax), the spread was quite good. After we had our fill, it was shopping time again. We went to Macy’s and proceeded to the Las Vegas Premium Outlet (that can be reached via buses). We took the Deuce to explore the strip, experiencing its beauty at night. Went almost to the end of the strip before heading back to our hotel.

Had to rest earlier that night as we need to get up early the next day to catch our domestic flight to San Francisco.

USA Trip (Day 6)

Shopping cum en-route to Las Vegas!

We visited another 2 factory outlets (Tanger Factory Oultet & Primm Valley Factory Outlet) before heading down to Las Vegas. Must have overshopped yesterday. All of us seems to have been exhausted by the time we reached Primm Valley Factory Outlet. Before the time was up to meet the tour members, we went to get burger from Carl’s Jr.

Reached Las Vegas at around 7pm. After checking in to our room, we had a simple dinner of cup noodles and burger (yup, we brought cup noodles along in case we get sick of having western food everyday). Had a walk along the strip after our dinner. As Cherylin fell asleep half way through the walk and only wanted to be carried, we made our way back to the hotel instead of going further down the strip. Took the Deuce back to hotel (bought the 24-hour bus ticket at USD5 per pax).

YC had a ‘nap’ before heading down to the casino. He came back about an hour or so later while I was still packing the luggage. Ok, he won USD9. Very small amount but at least he didn’t lose $.