everyone is counting down to the end of my birthday again!

1) age is catching up. i can't imagine myself pushing elbows with the crowds out there, counting down.
its not about being preggers now.
even if im light and agile, i much rather spend quiet time with my loved ones today.
especially when its a special day for me.
the day that reminds me to eat the humble pie for im getting infinitely further away from sweet 18! pui.
if i go zouk today, the youngsters will gag @ the por por me. eeks.
10 years difference. ok, i need time to reconcile with this fact. *deep breath*
and no, i dont relish the idea of people counting down to the end of my burpday.
its MY day, for goodness sake. bleah.

2) half-day @ work today. went to vivo to meet ex-PSA colls for a short lunch.
its always good to catch up now and then.
though my dry cough was making me grouchy and irritated most of the time.
oh, bakerzin's pumpkin soup aint half bad.

3) met up with the husband @ vivo after lunch.
went to catch "sherlock holmes" and even RDJ cant save this slightly above mediocre film.
hmmm.. will catch the sequel still, i think.
again, im awed by his long lower eyelashes.

4) went to fetch the lil' terror after that and quickly went home, eager to be away from all the countdown madness in town.
spent a quiet evening with him before he slept at 9+pm.
NOW, finally is time to spend with my man.
most prob will veg out with him watching serials. heh.
what a good way to spend my birthday. :)

5) lastly, a very happy new year to all of you!
may 2010 be a great year for all of us!

advanced bday lunch celebration - au petit salut

its the time of the year again.
when i add one more year to my age - BOOHOO!
turning 28 today. *scream*

hubbi brought me out for lunch yesterday as an advanced bday celebration for we will be back with the lil' rascal on my actual birthday. hehe.
venue was at au petit salut restaurant @ dempsey area.



(left) trying to decide what to order
(right) entree: foie gras. the smell is really too strong for my liking. guess its not really my cup of tea

(left): hubbi with his main course- some grilled duck dish..

(right): my very very nice medium well beef tenderloin!

the thing about french cuisine is the portion is always bordering on the little to the "just right" size. so that at the end of the meal, you feel full from satisfaction instead of full-till-i-want-to-puke.
i like!

dessert was some chocolate ice cream log cake. i much prefer hubbi's profiteroles!

in short, it was a really good 2 hours plus lunch with the husband.
we were really chatting hard throughout the lunch. LOL.
really appreciate his efforts to make the reservations and fetching me to and from my workplace for this bday lunch.
felt like a princess on an otherwise boring workday.
albeit a fat one lah. hiaks.

quick updates

was sick for most of the xmas festive season. no thanks to yz passing the virus bug to me.
with my asthma background, i was down for the longest time.
now left with a (very) nagging dry hacking cough.
i think im gonna cough out my 2 lungs very soon.

was grounded at home for almost whole of last week.
almost died of boredom and frustration of being unable to go anywhere.
good thing was, hubbi and i spent a lot of quality time with the lil' terror.
he really drive us nuts with his antics at times. but still, most of the joy in our lives is derived from him as well. :)


an equally happy yz in our company.


a very focused yz doing his animal puzzles. hehe.

anyway, i decided to brave the crowds @ orchard tonight to get some last minute shopping done.
as i will be popping soon, its really better now than later to do the shopping.
luckily the crowd was still manageable in town on a tuesday night.

went to pick up the son from the childcare after work and then the husband from his workplace @ somerset.
from there, we went to get some shopping done.

son & husband posing with the paragon tree.

1st stop: mothercare @ metro paragon. maternity bras & undies. checked.
2nd stop: children department @ taka. baby laundry detergent/softener for peanut, other pigeon products for yz. purchased.
3rd stop: taka department store. bought hubbi a fred perry polo top. a very good deal at 20%+10% off! :)
4th stop: pedder red @ taka. yes, i cant resist sale. especially shoe sale. even if i cant wear the shoes now. but who cares!!
hubbi was "lei diao" by my purchase for "future" wear. *hee*
i really miss heels!
5th stop: kino @ taka. finally got the same baby 1st year journal as yz for peanut.

by the time we reached home, yz and i were totally K.O.ed.
after his milk feed and a quick wipe-down, he was fast asleep by 10pm.
me? i dozed off beside him for awhile before waking up to bath.
fast forward 2 hours later, hubbi and me managed to unpack the shopping, did the laundry and watched 1 episode of Heroes season 3. heh.

time for me to hit the sack! BIG YAWN.

ok, end the post with my newest conquest!
*wee* what a beauty!

36 weeks check-up yesterday evening.
how time flies! another week and i can start counting down to the arrival of peanut!
peanut's est. weight: 2.65kg
mummy's weight: +14 kg still (zero weight gain for the past 2 weeks. no thanks to being sick. pui.)

向日葵的约定

昨晚在优频道看了这部独立电影。
题材新鲜，演员演技自然，蛮有诚意的一部作品。
没有一贯的 happy ending, 看了难免有点心酸。
但现实生活不都这样吗？
爱其实很简单，只不过我们把它复杂化了。。。

avatar!

hubbi and i went to catch "avatar" yesterday before fetching the son home from my mum's place.
Reservations were already done last week for gold class cinema @ great world city!
since this was our 1st time catching a gold class movie, we were decidedly excited! :)
we spent some time at the lounge making orders for our food before the movie started.

when we reached the theatre, we were quite impressed with the comfy reclining chairs as well as the warm blankets provided.
but, both hubbi and me feel that for $36 per pax, the price is a bit steep especially the screen is not really very big.
also, its really not very comfortable trying to eat the food that we ordered (aka pizza, cheese cake, soup etc) in the dark. lol.

nevertheless, the experience was a good one still for we were watching avatar!!

avatar is fantastic!
james cameron really did a superd job creating the wondrous world of pandora planet.
really like stepping into a whole new world with the male lead.
oh, and sam worthington is awesome too! cute with really good acting chops.
hehe.

even the ever-critical husband commented that its one of the best movie for him!
really, the 2hrs 40mins whizzed past before i knew it.
everybody should go watch it!

xmas gathering @ my hse

the gang came my house for a xmas gathering on saturday evening.
we did a potluck and ended up with TOO much food. really feeling the guilt when throwing all the excess food at the end of the night. *gulp*

there were sushi platter, zi char bee hoon & fried rice, home-cooked tofu, shepard's pie, golden pillow and log cake. we just cant finish everything.

after dinner, they all took turns playing with my wii set. good! help me to remove some dust on it. LOL.
gosh, i think my unit was a source of noise pollution last night.
we were soo damn rowdy and loud. but i was really glad all of us had a good time! :)

it was a pity we didnt manage to play MJ earlier on as per scheduled. oh well, there will be a next time i guess..

us! teletubby me sitting at the back.

my poor baby is sick..

though i know that falling sick is part and parcel of growing up.
and its an inevitable route for the young ones to take to build their immunity.
still, really break my heart when yz is sick. :(

the last time he was sick was in august when he was down with a bad flu + cough.
so it has been awhile since then and i was preparing myself for any new sickness to come this year-end with the change in weather and his sensitive nose.
and came it did, but much worse than i thought.

on monday, he developed abit of a sniffles and a mild cough. fever set in on tuesday but i didnt give it much thoughts as i thought its his sensitive nose acting up.
brought him to GP and was prescribed the normal senstive nose and cough meds.
as his fever subsided by wed morn, i sent him to childcare as per normal.
bad move.
when i fetched him after work, his fever has came back and he looked really breathless.
for the 1st time, he sat on the floor panting and asked me to "bao bao" him.
i was scared out of my wits.
i can distinctly hear wheezing sounds from his throat.
so i called hubbi and he rushed down to the childcare from his workplace.
we rushed yz to KK as his PD was closed for the evening for wednesday. :(

it was almost an hour from waiting @ the childcare for hubbi to reaching KK with the bad traffic.
this hour seemed so long to me as helpless me can only hold yz's hand in the car and sponged him continuously while a weak him kept dozing off in the baby car seat. *sob*

luckily, KK was relatively empty and we were attended to immediately when we reached.
as he was running a high fever of 38.8, we were given priority to see the doctor 1st.
after that a whirlwind of procedures.
he was 1st given paracetamol to bring down the fever. after hearing the wheezing in his chest, the doc sent him for an x-ray and ventolin treatment to give him instant relief from the breathing difficulties.

after the ventolin treatment, he seems much better and we were asked to wait for an hr for the x-ray results. during this time, his fever subsided and he was back to his normal self.
he actually sang a few songs and entertained a few nurses there. ha.
but i was worried the whole time for this is the 1st time he had wheezing problems.
and the fact that im asthmatic makes me paranoid about him following my footsteps.

the x-ray results came back was not very good. doc said that phlegm has gotten into his lungs and his was actually a mild case of pneumonia!
i was totally shocked. for the onset of the symptoms was really too fast within a few days.
doc comforted me that his case is most prob a baterial type which means he can caught the bug from anywhere, anyone.
and with antibiotics course, he should be on the path of recovery pretty soon though the cough will still persist for a week or so. :(

and so we went home with a cartful of meds. and the next few days hubbi and i took turns to take leave to take care of him.
and believe me, taking care of a sick toddler aint easy.
maybe due to the sickness, yz was extremely cranky, testing my patience all the time.
any restrictions on him will result in him crying, creating more mucus and coughing non-stop. sigh.
and everytime he coughs his chesty cough, i got so upset listening to the thick phlegm rumbling in his chest.
and the wheezing! oh how i hate it! it was consistently there like an irritating bug refusing to go away.
day in night out, i listen intently to his breathing only to find the wheezing lingering softly.
argh!
the good thing is his fever has subsided and he is no longer panting like on wednesday.

took him back to his PD for review this morning and doc said he seems to be recovering though the cough sounded just as bad.
the advice is to finish the antibiotics course and meds and the little tot should be fine in a week or two.
sigh.

now yz is at my mum's place so hubbi and i can rest abit.
waking up a few times at night to monitor his condition is really straining on us (especially me).
hope my patient parents can take better care of him...


hubbi said he is really recovering for he is back to his cheeky self.
i really hope this is true!

weight issues

went for my 34 weeks check up just now.
how time flies. gonna see my peanut in another 3-6 weeks time!
peanut's weight: 2.3kg
mummy's weight: +14kg @_@
its just my genes to be fat when preggy bah. *in denial*
though the gynea did mentioned something about cutting down on chocolates, ice-cream, sweet drinks. *oops*
now the question is: will i gain >18.5kg like the last time round before i pop?
ok. really getting heavier and more tired.
dont recall going into this stage this early when i had yz.
hmm.. age must be catching up.
pui.

an ang bao, ramen & baby gap

its my burpmth this month and the husband has been acting very sweet.
he promises me that he will spring mini surprises now and then during the month.
and true to his words, he did. :)
mini the actions may be, but im really appreciative for them.
there was the nicely cut fruits waiting for me when i went home from work last week.
the "meeting" invitation i received during work for a lunch date on the 30th.

for this weekend, i was feeling under the weather.
abit of runny nose and a very sore throat. :(
no thanks to my recent indulgence of junk food like ice cream, chips + chocolates. sigh.
so yesterday, i was quite determined not to go out after we fetched the son back from my mum's place in the noon.

however, when the husband was back from his IPPT in the late afternoon, he said he has something planned for us in the evening.
feeling slightly better, i decided to go along and i was glad we did! :)

BUT, before we headed out, hubbi asked me to look around for a surprise.
heheh. birthday came early for me and i saw an ang bao sitting inconspicuously on the tv console. :) hiaks.
thanks dear! for helping my savings to grow since i've nothing much to buy nowadays. haha.

so what was his plan for the ng family on a saturday evening?
dinner @ the miharu sapporo ramen restaurant which ive been wanting to try for the longest time and a slow stroll around roberson quay area!
miharu is tucked in a corner at gallery hotel and this is my 1st time trying sapporo ramen instead of the usual hokkaido one.


yz sitting on a raised platform waiting for our dinner to be served

yz self-feeding himself part 1 of his dinner: food jar

a very happy yz looking at our ramen!

personally, i much perfer the ramen tried elsewhere. sapporo ramen seems to be a tad too saltish for my liking. and the char siew hardly melt in my mouth (abit tough).
still, the corn was crunchy enough and the ramen has a good QQ quality to it.

after our early dinner, we took a walk around robertson quaay area.

feeling not too satisfied with our dinner, we went TCC for our desserts fix!

yes, even with my sore throat. @_@

pappy feeding the son chocolate cake. yummy.

happy yz

it was a short and quiet evening for us. and i was really glad hubbi took us out. :)

reached home around 8+pm and it was time to settle the lil' one to sleep.
bought 2 sets of babygap PJs for yz last week and let him wear one of them yesterday.

i think he looks very good and cute in them. heheh.

reading before bedtime

i love mom!

still, i was totally tired and went to bed early with the little tot at 9+pm...

*yawn*

yz attending his first wedding dinner!

and so, yesterday was the correct day for hubbi's best friend's wedding.
both of us left work early (just like last week, duh) to fetch the son from childcare.
we bathed, fed yz some food, packed his baby bag and the ng family was good to go by 730pm! :)
venue was at grand corpthorne so we managed to reach by 8pm and dinner was quite prompt at 815pm.

for a 1st timer, yz was very well-behaved.
even hubbi's friends commented on his willingness to be seated throughout the night.
*thumbs up for the little tot*
he enjoyed the bits n pieces of food that were served and was smiling alot during the whole time.
must be the exhilaration of staying way past his bedtime and seeing all the gor gors and jie jies. :)
oh, except for the time when everyone stood up and went yummmmm seng!
hehe, yz kept asking me to ask them to stop. lol.

still, my little son cant keep his heavy lids open near the end of the dinner.
asked for his milk at 10+pm and after that, fell promptly asleep in his pram by 1030pm. hiaks.
good lah, let pappy and mummy enjoyed the last dish - desserts!

was super tired by the time we all reached home at 11+pm.
lucky this wedding is yesterday. any later, i may not be able to make it liao.
been feeling so heavy and tired come evening time nowadays. tsk tsk.


yz (suspicious expression as usual!) and hubbi!

recap of 2009

time to do stocktake again!
again, pls skip if you not interested ok!

jan:
CNY 2009= yz's 2nd CNY since his birth.
feb:
went to yoga's concert! he's really cute like a button leh! hehe.
talking about button, caught benjamin button in the same month and got upset after the show.
i dont want my love ones to forget about me! *wail*
7 years anniversary with the husband! my youth all wasted on this guy! :P
yz joined hubbi and me for the 1st time for V-day. went to east coast park for a wholesome family day out. heh.
mar:
finally visited my dream destination from dont-know-since-when: SPAIN!! + south france.
the 2 weeks trip was awesome though we missed the baby like mad when hubbi and i were over in europe.
in summary: good hospitality from kn @ south france, police scam in barcelona, 2.55 loot from paris, soup de poisson for the 1st time and of cos the beautiful south france scenery and gaudi! *woot*
apr:
yz collecting bruises like nobody's business. stressful period of watching over him like a hawk.
still suffering withdrawal sypmtoms from the last trip. @_@
may:
learnt that im preggy for the 2nd time.
maternal grandmum passed away in the same month. was a tough week for me and i had to be the pillar of support for my mum. :(
jun:
yz started childcare and it was a traumatising 2 weeks of heartaches and tears before he settled into the routine.
and then he started falling sick. :(
paternal grandmum passed away. also a tough week for me as i'm not so close to that side of the family.
Jul:
yz continued to fall sick every other week. kinda unsure if childcare is the right way to go.
however, i do relish the idea of having my own house back to ourselves again! :P
bought wii set after playing it @ shirley's house. mistake.
been collecting dust since and the husband never fail to make a dig at me when the opportunity arises. bah!
set up baby room (in guest room) and transited yz to sleep in it (with us in the same room for the 1st few weeks)
Aug:
feeling energetic in my 2nd tri, hubbi treated me to a free & easy trip to taipei! :)
it was a good eat, eat, walk, rest 4D3N short getaway.
Sept:
yz down with bad flu and kena prescribed tamiflu!
i KENA H1N1 and put on tamiflu course as well. a difficult and tiring 2 weeks before both of us recovered from the nasty viruses. BOO!
got myself a new hp - SE C905 and is still very happy with it now.
attended oct babies 2nd bday bash @ polliwogs and had a blast there. :)
3 years wedding anniversary with the husband!
Oct:
went for a 3D2N stay @ changi village hotel to celebrate both our wedding anniversary and yz's 2nd bday!
1 night without the baby allowed us to spend some nice quality time together.
the other night with the baby was tiring but fulfilling. can see that yz really really enjoy his time @ the hotel.
till now, he will still ask if we are going to "hotel". lol.
bought a LV wallet for the husband, just because. :)
went to ronald chengxwilliam so concert and it was such a let-down. pui.
Nov:
been a unsettling and tiring month for me. feeling more tired and experiencing more cramps than the 1st pregnancy greatly unsettled me.
rest more at home and made some decisions with the husband with regards to the relocation-back-to-east plan. really hope everything can fall in nicely in 2010!
went for parent-teacher conference with yz's teachers at his childcare and gained some insights into his development and time spent there.
finally completed his jabs and getting his vaccine cert.
Dec:
currently in the last lap of the pregnancy. wanted time to pass by faster at times for i really dislike this late stage of fatigue and insecurity.
but still want more time to give my undivided time and attention to the son before his didi arrive. hmm...
and of cos, my burpday mth lor.
going to be 28 in 21 days time. eeks.

ok, as usual ending with a wishlist for 2010:
1) my love ones to be happy and healthy
2) to keep my sanity with the upcoming childcare arrangement *sigh*
3) to move back to the east smoothly
4) drink more water and have a healthy lifestyle to keep the skin glowing and body trim. hiaks.
5) fun overseas trip(s) with yz! :)

老豆摆乌龙

since last week, pappy has been telling mummy that we need to attend a wedding of his close friend this wednesday.
arrangements will need to be made for the son to be deposited at my mum's place.
however, mammy has other plans. at 25mths old, she thought its a good time to bring yz along to a wedding dinner for the 1st time!
we've never bring him to one as his bedtime is always strictly before 10.
of cos for pappy, he is always afraid of the hassle of dealing with a cranky, sleepy toddler when outside.

ANYWAY, finally persuaded the husband to bring the son along and he called up the groom for a baby chair to be included for our table during the weekend.
so on wednesday night, the ng family rushed home after work to feed yz some food before preparing for the dinner.


mammy and baby ready to go out!

cheeky baby

at the carpark before moving out, mammy (being the diligent one) asked pappy to call his friend up to confirm the venue.
guess what?!?!
the venue is correct at grand copthorne as we perceived BUT BUT BUT the dinner was not on 02.12.09 but 10.12.09!!
its next thursday instead of this wednesday!
DUH!

wah, this husband is really blur to the core leh.

in the end, we decided to still go out since we are already dressed up and prepared all the necessary baby stuff.
so off to keppel bay marina for us!

we had a late dinner @ the TCC there and yz had fun sharing our food and staying up wayyy past his normal bedtime at 9+pm. hehe.
after the full *burp* dinner, we went for a slow walk around the small island, with yz being the decidedly excited one.

@ TCC

and for the 1st time, the son crawled into his bed with minimal prompting and fell asleep in 5 mins flat after his milk feed and wiping down.

tee hee hee.

so, blessings in disguise over pappy's screw up lah.

小大人

黄勇智小朋友又屁股痒痒，坏坏了。
于是，爸爸和妈妈说：“我们去买藤条回来, Ok？"
黄勇智小朋友:"ok (!?)."
妈妈惊讶问：“你懂买回来是打谁的吗？"
黄勇智小朋友:"打baby弟弟hor!"

@___@

still can say the "hor" till very confirmed like that.