To the Godma's

Waiting for Godma to fetch us to her house.

This is one outing we always look forward to.

Ryan & my cousins are there and sometimes my sis & aunts will also pop by, hence it's always lively and cheerful when everyone's there.

Swimming

We were all full of antispation when cousin Anna invited Kiki to tryout the pool she's bought for Ryan. First, I managed to squeeze Kiki into that tiny bathing suit that Val bought. The tiny costume was so damn cute but is really very small eventhough it says "6 mths".

She was apprehensive as this was her first experience floating in an upright position.

Her hands clapsed tightly onto the small buckle under the float.

After about 3 minutes of bouncing around, she finally felt save to release her grip and let her arms flatter around freely. That was a very exciting moment for me.

I hope she will get to enjoy the water more the next time.

Daddy's Girl

To The Beach

Sun's so bright

Brendan says she's so engrossed with looking at the buggy driving past.

Buggy, buggy. The daddy quickly said to her.

Birthday Present

Heroic Rendevous Doll $96

As I've promised Her Joo yesterday that I'll buy her a doll for her birthday, I went to get it just now at Central. We parked at Liang Court and walked over to Cental because the carpark at Central has this mind-boggling tight spiral spin and we don't want to get into that again, after having done it once. The doll is very cute and I will get one for Kiki when she's ready to play with one. For Breakfast, Brendan had Curry Katsu-don and I had the Tempura Udon. We eat the same dish everytime, how unadventurous. Before We headed home, we decided to share a bowl of Salmon-don so that we don't have to eat dinner later. That's how easy going we both are.

Talented Her Joo

Her Joo is only 6 and started playing the Violin only quite recently.

But because she took to it so well, her mom sent her to NAFA for an audition which she was selected and became a student in that highly sorted after academy. We are all excited and happy for this little girl. Sure, lots of sweat goes into practicing but I'm sure it all pays well as long as she enjoys the process. She could even come up with her own interpretation of Twinkle-twinkle Little Stars and was so sweet, she said she will give Kiki her Violin when Kiki starts to learn the instrument.

Surfing USA

Surf Shorts!

Mobiles

I have always thought that those hanging mobiles & "gyms" were for babies into 7 or 8 months old but I've seen some parents putting them around infants as young as new borns. I read the instruction and it says for new borns. Kiki is only beginning to learn to reach, she doesn't quite grab consciously but has a better hold on fabric rather than other forms of padded or plastic toys. Sometimes, the hanging mobiles could amuse her for quite a while. I do hope she learns to grip and grab soon. And she hasn't learnt to turn from lying on the back to prop up on the tummy although she can do it with a little help from us. Hummmm... needs more practice.

Cheeky

Yesterday, when I was young.

A Song original by Roy Clark

"Yesterday, when I was young, So many happy songs were waiting to be sung, So many wild pleasures lay in store for me, And so much pain, my dazzled eyes refused to see I ran so fast that time, and youth at last ran out, I never stopped to think, what life, was all about, And every conversation, I can now recall, Concerned itself with me, and nothing else at all.."

***

PW, Val & Allen came over on Saturday evening. Val & Allen have not met PW before, although they are all old friends. It was unplanned. I normally wouldn't mix my friends together because I respect that we have differnt topics & interests and mainly because I am a private person and I would not like it if I go to a small, cosy gathering and there're people I don't know. Hence, I would normally give my friends my personal attention.

Anyway, we all had a great time laughing a lot after dinner plus 3 bottles of wine.

Somewhere in between, there was a feed for Kiki.

She's a cool baby, she just stared at us with a frown, as if asking what the hell we're doing.

It was just so funny. The night, I mean.

So back to how this entry came about...

The kitchen was cramp because I haven't cleared up the 3 luggages lined along the wall.

One of which I finally did it yesterday.

It contained my photographs of yester-years, mostly those from age 14 till now.

I told Bren that I was pretty when I was young. He was so kind he said it is natural to age and that I am still beautiful. (he's always so sweet to my esteem)

I also said I've lived a full life. (Drama mama; as if I was gonna die!)

And then I threw most of the photos away, after one last reminisce.

But seriously, life has been real fun and I can be sure Kiki will enjoy having me as a mom, cos hey, I don't know of any mother would plans to stay at Dinsneyland for the whole week. Yes, I surely look forward to that. We'll eat, dream, sleep, shit, Disney. (oops)

Dozed Off

I know that sometimes toddlers fall asleep while eating but we were surprised when Kiki fell asleep while we were playing with her! Were we that boring?!

Seriously, I think babies just doze off whenever they need the rest.

We were swinging her to and fro, she was giggling etc. After about 15 mins of this, she fell asleep in her daddy's arms. The Thai music at the background was still playing.

Huh hur hur, this is just so amusing.

Sarong

Her new found comfortable position.

A rock climber-in-training.

I always "joke" with Kakak that the baby's always smelling her armpits, hence it is important that she scrubs that area. On several ocassions, there was body odour from Kakak and I've told her to bathe and scrub throughly. I've also given her a set of bath-gloves for this purpose. She claimed that it was because the weather is hot, hence her perspiration. However, I've discovered that I could smell her whenever she has her sleevless tops on. That could only mean it is a semi-permanent thing she's having. No wonder she told me her previous employer did not permit her to wear sleeveless clothings.

In the Cab

Travelling to my Grandpa's place.

At The Hawker

Breakfast at the Hawker on National Day. The crowd only started to stream in after 10am.

To The East

An Evening Walk at the Coast

Weekend 8th & 9th August

Aunt Lily invited us to join an informal gathering at my Grandpa's place on National Day.
Initially, I wanted to decline as I was feeling lazy. I would much prefer to stay at gome and do my ususal stuff. But after giving it some thought, I decided that I shouldn't be lazy and should make an effort to bring Kiki out for visitings. Hence, with Kiki & Kakak (a common term for a child to address the maid as "elder sister") in tow, I took a taxi to my grandpa's place. Brendan wanted to stay at home to do area cleaning, and he wasn't into such gathering too, hence we left him alone.

Kiki has high endurance for noise. The TV was blasting at vol 35 notches and everyone was shouting, that was the way we communicate at my grandpa's place. My grandpa has a nickname-- "thunder-voice" and he speaks as though he was in a confrontation. Kiki did well, except for later into the night, she became restless and was crying more than normal. Well, at least she socialized with many of my cousins, including Aunt Serene's sisters & one from Japan. All twenty of us sang the National Athem at the closing of the NDP.

Monday was a holiday-in-lieu and we had a day off. Harjit came over with Arakah and we went for vegetarian lunch. I was so sleepy I fell asleep while Harjit was chatting with Brendan in the kitchen. It must have been the body massage I had the day before. Sometimes, my body detoxifies a day after a massage and it simply shuts down and doze off. Well, it is a good sign that my body responds to this form of healing and I plan to have massages more often.

Kiki was very restless last night. She is rubbing her gums with her mittens so much that the side of her lower lips are slightly bruised. She still doesn't know how to hold the teething toys to her mouth and I can see she is getting edgy and frustrated. I saw that her lower gums are "whittish" and I suspect that she's teething. I think the teething toys are the best bet now and we could only give her extra TLC. She is also refusing the pacifier as well as not finishing her milk. I hope my maid can give her extra care at this time. Meanwhile, I've briefed my mom to keep a lookout on them.

Where's Wally

The crowd getting onto the bus.

The crowd unable to board a double-deckered bus.

The crowd moving toward the MRT.

Commuting in Singapore has become more and more of a hassle.

And still, we are talking about increasing population.

During peak hours, the buses are so packed, you may have to give a few misses before you can board. This is especially frustrating if it is an every day affair. You either wait to rush or rush to wait. Either way, you've got to wait.

Bubbles & Sarong

Recently, she's sucking her hands so much that her mittens are drenched.

I let her wear the mittens at night as her nails are very sharp no matter how short they've been cut or filed. She had scratches on her face with blood as tiny specks of the skin came off. Although the scratches heal quickly, I still find it too painful and hope that she will outgrow scratching of her face soon. There was one scratch that was so damn close to her eyes, the scar was just next to the eye duct. Oh baby, you really mustn't do that!

Playground

On Wednesday, I took leave as I am clearing some of my annual leave from 2008. The off day is very valuable now that I have a baby and could spend some time with her. Or else there is barely an hour each night that I have with her cos babies have little attention span for you. I am very grateful that she smiles when she sees me. On Wednesday, I also had to bring Wasi for the 6-monthly check up as required by Ministry of Manpower. They have to ensure that foreign workers do not have a baby bred here. The tight control is necessary or our country's population profile may go hay-wire. Kiki was very restless without her nanny as she is too used to being carried in a Sarong. I could sitmulate the resemblance by putting her in a Sarong but when I was out of the house, my mom couldn't handle Kiki by herself. She panicked and gave me an SOS call. Well, at least now I know for sure that my mom really is not equiped to care for my baby independently. She can remain as a supervisor and I am grateful for that already. To be fair, I've told my mom to go for a job if she finds something suitable. As she is still healthy and mobile, she should be out socializing and having a gainful employment since I am unable to give her an allowance that would come close to a monthly salary. As for me, returning to work was supposedly something to look forward to but the dynamics of my office has changed and I am pretty upset about the outlook. Nevertheless, I trust that as long as I give my best performance and keep a positive outlook, the Universe will reward me with goodness.

Sometimes

At some weddings, there are nano-seconds the heart is touched and I feel a burst of emotion.

A wedding banquet does not have to be an elaborate affair.

Well, I'm no authority in this but really, it is the people you share the moment with that is more important than where you hold the function and who gave how much for the ang bow.

Because when love is in the air, it is so dense it's almost tangible. And that is all that counts.

Juicy

Juicy.



If you're thinking that this holding position seemed awkward, it is not.
I had learnt it from a book that teaches baby massage. This is one good position to hold your baby & calm him down. But I guess to do it in public does seem a little funny.

今天还好, KIKI 还蛮合作，
她OBSERVED AROUND, 喝牛奶，SLEPT & OBSERVED AGAIN。
改次可以带她出门去！

Sunday 2nd August

It's a happy day cos my pal; Val is finally married.
We were so excited, we reached there before the bride & groom did.

公公九十大寿

Cake cutting along with the great-grand children. Kiki being the newest addition.

Have milk, will travel.

Her pants are so stylish but too high waisted. Must not match with rompers next time. Must go with a tug-out Tee.

Concentrating in doing her poo-poo.

To root her, we let her squeeze our fingers sometimes.

Kiki, 加油!

My Gong Gong is 90.

Wow, I always say I wanna live till 90.

Well, that is as long as I'm healthy and mobile (oh ya, and have lot's of money to spend).