the past is best to be left alone

ayu sent us some old forsaken photos taken when we were back in JC/uni early days.

and my gosh, i LOL at myself. i think i look like shit back then. seriously.

*speechless* LORL.

i've a good mind to post the photo. and i think i will if i figure out how to.

cos ayu scanned the photos (yes taken before any of us has a digital camera!!) and sent to us in pdf format. and im an IT idiot.

showed the husband and he was shocked too. LOL. we had a good laugh over me yesternight.

hmm, doesnt sound right. why were we laughing over ME?

ha.

okie here s the photos. no laughing, pls.

and the rest of the girls, dun get mad ah. we are OLD friends, hor!

NATAS

is here again!!!

the travel bug in me screams "where shall i go this time round?!". no money no time is my nemesis. sigh.

the initial plan is to go HK + macau with the husband come this december. but i dun think the shopping @ HK will sit very well with him. AND, i dun like people to nag me when i shop like there is no tomorrow. and looking back, i realised i've been to HK with him TWICE for the past few years.

SO, im reconsidering places to go with ah long. somewhere new where none of us have been to, yet affordable. and so im thinking very hard about:
1) cambodia
2) and i cant think of other places liao.. ha.

but resistant to changes he is, maybe we will stick back to HK + Macau. aiyah, dun know lah. but all will be confirmed by this weekend! *wee*

atypical sunday

hubbi and me have run out of places to go for today. i've no shopping list on hand (of cos i've one but i want to get those only next weekend) and he as usual has nothing to buy.
so the usual routine to hit orchard/raffles city/vivo/marina sq etc was abandoned. but WHERE can we go?

it was only when we were driving to nowhere that i suggested to go places that we seldom visit!

1st stop: liang seah street
we walked along this street in search of our lunch and settled for crystal jade cafe. lunch was too full, if not would have eaten desserts at ah chew dessert shop along this street too! they serve good mango desserts!

baby likes to 微笑 recently.

2nd stop:purvis street
went there to walk walk since heard that there are many good restaurants there. went recce abit so hubbi can bring me there next time. and we discovered a museum of toy opp. raffles hotel!

decided to take alook since its not usual to see toys from all over the world from different periods! the collection is really not alot and for the entrance price, i find it not very worthwhile. oh well, something different for a lazy sunday.



baby likes popeye!

on the 3rd floor, theres a section of the floor which is entirely see-through. hubbi got cold sweaty palms after walking on it. LOL.
its quite scary, admittedly...

me standing on the see-thru portion. thats the cafe on the 1st floor

they have donald duck! :)

3rd stop: holland V
we went holland V for dinner and the car park was very full despite us reaching early like 6+pm! hmm... wont be going so soon again.
dinner was at Olio which serves decent enough cafe food like pizza/desserts etc.

and then its home sweet home.

much as the weekend is SHORT. i really cherish my time with my family! :)

PG, wine company, durian

and so the little one turns 9 mths old! how time flies, another 3 months time and he'll be a year old! *gulp*

and we started the day by bringing him to the PD for his vaccine. hiaks. apparantly, he didnt know what was awaiting him for he shouted while waiting for his turn in the clinic and even waved to the PD when he saw him. ha.
and so he weighs a healthy 9.9 kg and measuring 77cm now! compared to the newborn him, he has grown taller by 27cm! :)

baby took the jab with minimal fuss. cried when the needle poked him but stopped once i carried him. then its home for his morning nap.

luckily he didnt develope a fever and we were able to go out in the afternoon.

a slightly grouchy baby after his afternoon nap.

this may sound a bit premature, but we went shopping for his 1 year old bday cake! we went AMK pine garden and after tasting their cake on the spot, we were sold! their blackforest and lychee martini taste good! after spending ard 20+ mins, i managed to outline a design with the PG's staff and his order was captured! :)

the pricing is reasonable and most importantly, i think the taste will satisfy my family and relatives. :)

@ PG

and we went AMK hub since we were in the area. once again, i think AMK hub really has NOTHING for me. so wont be revisiting any time soon.

and baby was doing his thing in car - shouting, singing etc. so just take some photos of him.

for dinner, brought hubbi to the wine company at dempsey hill. i miss the fungi pizza there! the last time i was here, i was actually 7 mths preggy with baby. ha.

its weird to not drink when in a wine place but hubbi and i are both not fans of wine. in the end, got the staff to recomment a light red wine for us and we ended up choosing a glass of pinot noir since i remember reading this type of grapes (with its v thin skin) is not easy to grow.

and its not light and tasted v strong! though the after-taste got a nice tangy bitter-sweetness to it.

baby wants a go at the wine too, apparantly.

and i must be tired by the working week for i slept with the baby at 9+pm all the way till today! thanks hubbi for giving the baby his nightfeed at 11+ and hanging out the clothes from the washing machine. :)

oh, and we let baby try durian! and with both ah long and me loving the king of fruits, baby LOVES it naturally! heh. but let him try abit only since heaty.

and the little rascal shouted for more. ha.

what i'm using for..

eye cream: estee lauder advance night recovery
moisturiser (day): estee lauder resilience lift cream
moisturiser (night): shu uemura b-g reinforcing gel cream
toner: shu uemura b-g reinforcing cosmetic water
sunblock: lancome SPF 50
scrub: dermalogica daily microfoliant
mask: origins hydrating
make-up remover: shu uemura cleansing oil
cleanser: simple
body moisturiser: jergen
hand cream: crabtree & evelyn la source

apparantly, i dont stick to a single brand. anyone got recommendations for any skincare products?
i think my current range is not working its wonders. *pui*

a night out

decided to have dinner at ichiban sushi yesterday and told the husband about it.
after feeding the baby his dinner, we set off! :)

sushi food is just nice for me! me with a gap in between my teeth (lower ones) hehehe.
nice n mushy to chew on. *yumyum*
anyway, have a gap bcos i've extracted my crooked teeth and now awaiting for the bridging mould to be done at my dentist side. *toothless grin*
so pls pardon my gap and "lou feng" talking. :P

gave baby YZ 2 mini plates and he proceeded to bang them with GUSTO.

and he loves to SHOUT alot nowadays. making those who-hate-kids in the restaurant hate kids MORE. lol.

mammy + baby YZ!

P/s: no tagging to marriage life for the MIL is with us. bleh. hehe.

how do you spell c-o-u-r-t-e-s-y?

how is it possible that someone can just dont bother to read emails properly, totally ignoring the effort put in by the one who typed the email.
how can someone be so rude, insensitive and take peope for granted?!
and as i said, unless u are the boss and im your godamn secretary, THEN maybe i should be taking this shit from you.
but meantime, this is NOT the case so you better clean up your act!

*grr*
and yes the person im talking about here is who you are thinking.
pui.

the weekend

hort park
finally ng family drove up to hort park to spend the morning there. a mad rush in the morning to prepare baby's breakfast - rice cereal+fruits purees. and then its off to buy the pappy+mammy's breakfast before heading off to the park. :)
very sunny and hot. but i must say the place looks nice and green. and the many themed "gardens" are interesting enough. but gimme air-con anytime! im just not that "green" a person. :P

corduroy cafe
met up with the girls for lunch on sunday. baby YZ was in the limelight for a good half of our time there at least! LOL. and he showed his true self. the suspicious, non-smiling baby he is. hehe.
anyway, finally has the chance to try the food at corduroy cafe and sadly, kinda over-rated. but the ambience is good there. especially on a sunday late morn/early noon. quiet and suitable for family, friends and couples alike.

taken before going to the cafe

baby has this “暗笑" look

al dente @ holland V
never know about this restaurant till friday evening. was there for jacQ bday dinner. food wise aint bad but price is a bit steep. had a good late evening with the hall people! its been some times since i last sat down with them to just chat away! they went to wala wala after dinner and me home for baby YZ. a lil' tempted to follow suit but i was missing the lil' pumpkin by then! never mind its home to a sound sleeping baby! most mummies will agree that nuzzling a sleeping baby is about the nicest thing in the world! oh, and thanks to JacQ for the dinner! the hot bday girl shows up with a very nice bob! :)

from left: jo, tresa, jacQ, me

cooking up a storm
company had a healthy lunch box session on friday noon which i attended. applied it most immediately on sat! so the ng family trooped down to bukit merah town centre NTUC to get the necessary ingredients for lunch. and i think i did great, despite having cooked for less than 5 times for the past 1 year.. *ha*
menu is - 1) asparugus with mayo served cold 2) chicken and egg rice (similar to oyakodon).
the husband is an ingrate. prefers chinese food to japanese ones and wanted his stir-fried sliced beef with brocolli. bleh.

losing the patience with the baby
sometimes my worst fear is that im a lousy mummy. for i have the patience of a peanut. or lesser. be it with my own mum, hubby or anyone. esp. when the temper gets the better of me, i lash out. and its not funny to be at the receiving end. and now, i fear that one day baby YZ will get it from me. it happened a few times before and yesterday was yet another time.

ah long had a wedding dinner to attend and its home alone with baby. for the 1stfew hours or so, everything was still fine. we played together or he played alone while i read some magazine. but soon, he became fussy. i cant get out of his sight and he didnt want to be in his play yard so i brought him to the bedroom. there, he didnt want me to carry him yet want to crawl all over the room and its not safe. and im getting tired chasing him here and there and im slowly getting impatient and angry. :(

then he started sucking on things everywhere! his own pillow, my pillow, the mattress and even the floor. worried that its unhygenic, i sat him up and said "no" in a very stern voice. he blinked and stopped but the next minute he laughed and proceeded to do the same thing again. so back n forth , i repeated the same thing few times and him the same. and then i lost my temper, i gave him small slaps on his thighs n palms but maybe not painful enough for him, he ignored and struggled to get away from me to continue looking for things to suck on! and then i decided enough is enough. to stop myself from losing my cool further, i gathered him up and stormed to the living room and put him in his play yard while pacing up and down the living room. he started crying. perhaps he can stand my anger, perhaps he cant stand being in the play yard alone.

in any case, i started thinking. which is good cos it gave me time to think about things. read from books that sometimes when the baby gets to you, its best to leave the room to calm down, ignoring their cries and only returning when u've settled yourself. seems to work for me. i know that he may be getting tired hence, the fussiness. hence, i went to prepare the stuff to wipe him down, new set of PJs and diaper. all the while, he cried till so pitifully in the play-yard. maybe cos he thought i abandoning him. oops.

when i carried him up, he stopped crying immediately and clung on to me. and i felt so guilty. cos im his mummy and the one he depends on the most at this stage of his life. and yet, i fail to see his needs at times and responded impatiently. :(
so i brought him back to our room, wiped him down and changed his clothes for sleeptime. and then its time for me to wash up in the toilet. normally, when im doing this, he'll crawl all over our bed and i will rush in and out of the toilet in case he rolled off from the platform bed. but yesterday, baby shows his smartness by becoming very "guai". perhaps after the crying episode, he knew he better listen to me, in case risk getting "outcast" to the play yard again..

so i was shouting to him from the toilet as usual "baby wait wait.. stop stop. mummy will be done soon" AND to my surprise, he really stopped mid-track, smiled at me and lied down. and so i said "sleep sleep 1st, wait for mummy" and he actually lay his head down on the bed and wait for me patiently. all the time smiling. wah, this little devil-turned-angel!

and that started the guilt for me. so i carried him to sleep yesterday instead of lying next to him, patting him to sleep.

i must remember to remind myself when baby tries my patience next time that he is just a baby. he is still testing his boundaries, not knowing what is acceptable and what is not. im the one he relies on the most and i should live up to that. and not be so harsh to him when he is fussy, cos he may just be tired or not feeling well. i must also learnt to walk away in time to calm myself down and think through things. better him wailing for awhile then i stayed with him and got so upset that i scold or beat him. sigh.

okie, motherhood is definitely not easy. hope i'll get better with time.

some random pixs of baby:

grumpy baby. look how he outgrown this toy, ayu!

this one got an artistic feel to it. like watching the sunset. LOL.

baby's milestones

update on what the baby's developments nowadays:
1) crawl on all 4. if anyone got the time, will just follow him and let him crawl all over the house. but not for long cos the kneecaps get all red after sometimes.
2) pull himself to a standing position and cruise that teeny weeny bit (with the right incentive like wanting you to carry him or reaching out for things).
3) lower himself to a sitting/kneeling position from a standing one. success rate is ard 3.5/5. haha. think with some practice he can get up and down with ease. but its v amusing to see him gingerly lowering himself down. like scaredy cat like that. haha.
4) baby can clap!!! it just happens out of the blue when i've been trying to teach him over the past mth. now he can clap on cue whenever anyone sings "当我们同在一起，在一起，在一起。。。。" and doing the clapping movements. ha.
5) lie on tummy and put his head down by the side when i say "sleep sleep". highly dependent on his mood.
6) lightly bump his head onto my side of the face when i say "kiss mummy".
7) his lower teeth finally cut through! or rather, his lower right tooth. finally saw a white edge ard 2mm. haha. thanks goodness he didn't have some of the teething symptoms common to some other babies.

what i wish he will be able to do soon:
1) point with his index finger! then i can know for sure if he knows what is what. for now when i say objects like clock, slippers, watch, keys, he will look around and his gaze will stop at the object spoken when he found them. but im not sure if its coincidence or what.
2) look at me and say mama bao bao! now he will randomly whine and sprout out these words but still aint sure if they are directed at me.
3) mash food with gums/teeth for sure. uncertain of this at the moment. at times, he seems to be doing so. at others, he just swallow. hmm...

okie, still just want him to grow up healthily and of cos at his own rate. :)

bringing him for his 9mths assessment and last jab of the pneumococal jab this saturday! :) on his 9th mth birthday too. *ouch*

DARK KNIGHT IS GOOD! **spoilers ahead**

not fantastic. not fabulous. just really dark and good.
had harboured the slightest reservations about the 4.5/5 popcorns movie reviews in papers and magazines. not sure if it's influenced by the demise of heath ledger.
but after catching it yesternight, im sold.

im convinced that christoper nolan + christian bale = best movie of the year.
remember "the prestige" in 2007? seems like they did it again for 2008 with this show!
feel that the all the actors/actress delivered their acting chops VERY well. there is no obvious main leads. rather, the show seems to be populated with heavyweight supporting casts.
the time is especially well distributed between batman, harvey dent, joker n james gordon. even alfred, rachel and Lucius got alot of screen time too!

to me a director need not have to shoot the film in an artistic way or anything. to me, he is just a story-teller. an a darn well story teller is christopher nolan.
"the dark knight" is one of the very few shows that really peel away the layers of the characters and plot as the show proceeded.
and nolan did it with an elegant flair. just VERY GOOD.

the joker seems to be meant to return in subsequent sequels, but ledger's departure puts an end to that. i guess it s very hard for anyone to be a more convincing joker than him.
esp. the scene where he related how he got his scars before killing the guy off.
"why so serioussssssss?" *shivers*
read a review that heath ledger spent alot of time improvising on his character and he realised to make a convincing villian, its not enough to look the part. the key is to SOUND the part.
and with that, he nailed the role. to a T.
the way he splatter out his words, the slurping sounds he made, the Sssss he prolonged.
i dont want to meet the joker any day in my life!

i hope (and im sure) that this is not the last of the series. i cant wait for 2-face to do his stuff.
the thing about nolan is he makes you feel for the baddies. and u got this mixture of fear, sympathy, disgust, sadness and exhilaration emotions all at the same time for them. pretty cool.

the show has some really nice moments when you can ponder about the real nature of humanity. the climatic scene of the showoff between the villians and civillians are especially wonderful.
i believe in the better of human nature, hence the scene stuck a chord in my heart strings.

for i believe the night is darkest before the dawn. but the dawn always come.

really random and none-of-your-business

my office temperature hovers around 22.5 degree celcius. freaking cold if you ask me. *brr*

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oh, i actually brought baby YZ out ALL BY MYSELF on tuesday evening! *proud*
so i reached home by 6 and proceeded to feed him his porridge. and then i load all the essentials like diapers/water/hankie etc into the baby bag and him into quest and then off we go to vivo!
by mrt , no less! :)
the journey there was relatively hiccups-free. didnt have to move up and down any stairs thanks to govt upgrading of the mrt. :)
no strange hands grope the baby and we made it to vivo safely by 715 pm :).


dinner with my ex-colls was nice. just some bantering over (not bad) food at white dog cafe. baby YZ was actually quite willing to sit in the baby high chair for almost throughout the meal! :))
and then my coll send me home by 9+ and im glad for baby was getting a lil' cranky for bed.


i think i can do this more often. in fact, im doing it again this sun! meeting the girls with baby YZ!


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some more pixs of jean's wedding.


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and hubbi and i on a mad durian rampage. we've been to the four seasons durian cafe along still road twice this week (sun + yesterday) to feast on durians! and the results? 1 kg heavier. on me, NOT between us. bah!

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and suddenly i crave for:
-LV neverfull
-chanel 2.55
-TODS whatever

how how how?
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*yawn*

movie, a wedding, durian+desserts

im totally pooped this weekend!

friday
hubbi and me had a rare friday night to ourselves! baby YZ was away at my mum's place for the night as i've to attend jean's wedding on sat as sister! :)
so after dinner at my mum's place, we made our way to bugis junction for a late night movie. we caught "hellboy 2" which is so-so to me only though its much better than its 1st one.
after which we had some supper snack - waffles & hot chocolate milk *yumyum* at a new japanese cafe in the shopping complex.

so by the time we reached home, it was already past midnight and we still have to do some housechores before hitting the bed. *yawn*

saturday
woke up like a zombie at 530am! after much difficulties, managed to bath and wash up to appear bright and cheery enough! hubbi poor thing just managed to wash up and brush teeth before driving me to jean's house..

this is my 1st time as a sister! so exciting! i arrived at the bride's place at 640am and there was already so much energy in the house! morning passes in a flash for we shuttled between the bride's and groom's place for the tea ceremony. before i know it, we were at the church reception already. alot of 1sts for me. 1st time at a church wedding!

found it to be abit lengthy, heh. maybe cos i aint a christian? still can feel the blessings for the newlyweds!

taking some photos at spottiswoode park!
from left: gerry, elynn, jean the pretty bride, jean, me, nelly


by the time we left the church reception, it was already 4+pm! another few hours to go before the dinner at night!
i wanted to catch some sleep but ah long's colleagues were playing MJ at our house when i returned. cant resist the temptation, i ended playing too untill 6+pM!

and then its mad rush to bath and prepare for the dinner!

very happy to be seated with ex-dowers. had a really fun time bantering just about ANYTHING under the sun. i sure miss them! :(

clockwise from left: elynn, gerry, huishan, me, nelly!
everyone shows their teeth!

went to keppal island to chill out at TCC cafe with some of them after the dinner. 1st time there! the ambience is really good and very nice view too!
left at 130am and im not kidding when i said im like DEAD BEAT when i reached home at 2+!!!

sunday
now that hubbi and me had our fair shares of "us" & "me" time, its time to devote energy and effort back to baby YZ.
wakey up at a not so early time of 10+am, we went NTUC to stock up on baby's food for the coming week. went back and busied ourselves doing up the vegetable stock and fruits purees for the week (yes, its a routine to do this on a weekly basis).

and then by 3pm we were out of the house to fetch baby YZ from my gramps place (mum brought him there..)!


put him in a laudry basket for fun. heh.

after that, i brought ah long to try new things. 1st place 1st, we went to the four seasons durian cafe near koon seng road to buy 2 D24 for ourselves. heh. then its to keppel bay like again! cant wait to share with him this pretty place. this time round, we tried the prive cafe there.
we enjoyed the food and baby YZ was good enought to stay inside his pram without fuss while we ate. :)
after that we took a slow stroll round the whole island (very small by the way) before heading to vivo for grocery shopping at giant.

all in all, very packed and tiring weekend. but that's the whole point, right?

baby YZ not very keen with the Female mag.


my 2 fav. guys in the world!

i miss having bimbo friends as colleagues! *boohoo*
just talking about frivolous stuff all day long.
*sigh*

Czech Republic - Prague

i can understand why prague is easily most people's fav city in east europe. undeniably, its really very picturesque. BUT BUT, i think austria is still my fav for its very clean streets, very efficient public transport and the fact that it uses euros! yes! for czech is still using crown and i can say it has a very lousy exchange rate. the same piece of H&M clothing can be easily 30-40% higher in czech as compared to austria/berlin. hence, prague is not cheap simply bcos of its crazy currency rate.

oh well, having said so, i did enjoyed my stay there still.

we visited the St Vitus cathedral which has the most beautiful stained glasses i've ever seen. a very nice gothic cathedral. we also visited St george church next to it which is very plain and old but one cant expect too much for its a romanesque church. which means - very old. the palace there is nothing much.

st vitus cathedral

beautiful stained glass!

we walked to the city centre by cutting through the Golden Lane - which is actually where the soldiers used to stay in the older times. now its just a quaint narrow street lined with tourists shops.

@ golden lane

we walked a good 30-45 mins before reaching old town square but the walk was very fine since its always nice to walk down a cobbled street, no? and before long, we were at St charles bridge and the old town square just on the other side. :)

on st charles bridge

streets of prague

old town square is what prague is in essence. the astronomical clock is what everyone wants to see there. but to be honest, im kinda disappointed when i see the real thing. no doubt its exquisite and very complicated in mechanism, its just not as big as i imagined! ha.

and then hubbi and me proceeded to the new town square where all the shopping IS. but we didnt get much cos the exchange is really too atrocious. but i still managed to get myself a skirt and a top.

a market place situated between old town sq and new town

went back to old town square to meet up with our group before our dinner cruise along danube river. there is this cathedral there which interior is like completely brand new. very weird to see this. gotten used to the musky smell of old cathedrals and this took me by surprise. ha.
u tell me, new anot??

dinner cruise along danube river is really so-so, if you ask me. the dinner aint very nice and the scenery cant compared to that of budapest for danube river is nothing but a narrow stream here.

on board

still, prague offers some nice scenery. my fav will be st charles bridge which gives you some beautiful view and very nice vendors along it.

Austria - Salzburg

WELCOME TO SALZBURGER! *yummy*

nothing much in salzburg except it gained its popularity as being mozart's birthplace. now we learnt another new thing, dont we? for mozart was an austrian! oh, and not to forget the famous "Sound of music" was filmed here as well.
austrians speaks german, btw.

we visited the mirabell gardens of the palace here. of cos the palace is not at all grand here for the nice ones are all at vienna. remember Schönbrunn Palace?

@ the mirabell gardens

yup, mozart was borne in this building

me lapping up all the action on the street. it was greece vs russia that night. apparantly all the greeks were here! and no russians in sight. :)

oh, so skip slazburg if you are tight on time for east europe trip. ha.