Very late supper

I've just finished 1 whole Sri Lankan black pepper crab by myself.

At least twice every month, Bob will have night golf session at Orchid Country Club with his colleagues and clients. After that, they will always go to a "zhu chao" stall nearby and Bob will ask me if I want supper.

My order is always the same dish, black pepper crab. Taste better than major seafood restaurants.

I don't care that I'm having sinful supper so late at night. And I don't care I will go to bed on a full stomach and risk extra pounds on my waist.

The feeling of licking the pepper bits off my fingers is so satisfying. I'm happy.

Very tired

Tara: *yawn*

Me: Okay darling, let Mummy finished this show and I'll put you to bed alright?

Less than 10 mins later


Lying on the floor, with her round little tummy exposed.

Controversy of MMR Jab

To jab or not to jab?

That's a question that many parents are asking themselves when their child is due for the MMR jab. Yeah, I've asked myself this question too.

I didn't know about the risk of the MMR jab until someone pointed it out to me. I'm not a very updated person, when it comes to issues like this. MMR jab will cause autism, I heard.

My child will be due for her MMR jab in a month's time. And I thought I should find out more information on this controversy.

How did this fear came about? Apparently, a report on a medical journal in 1998 indicated a link between the MMR vaccine with autism and bowel disease. Since then, an increasing number of parents have decide against the vaccine for their child. Some others thought it's better to have it later.

Even though that the claim is not scientically proven. Even though the Singapore government have time and time again said that vaccines in Singapore are safe. Even though statistics have shown that the risk of getting damage (severe allergic reactions or brain damage) due to the vaccine is 1 in a million. There are still parents who prefer to believe the 1998 report. Yeah, it takes a small ripple to cause a wave.

Some facts. After the 1998 report, parents in some European countries did not vaccinate their child and thus, causing a measles outbreak. In 1984, a year before the MMR vaccine was made compulsory, there's also an outbreak in Singapore. 2,000 children infected, resulting in 400 suffered from brain damage and leaving 7 dead.

There's something called herd immunity. A new word I learnt today. The government ensure that the immunisation rate is above 95%, in order to keep outbreaks at bay. The 95% will so call "protect" the 5% who did not get vaccinated, thus have this herd immunity effect.

The risk of not getting the MMR vaccine? Risk of death if the child does get measles is 3 in a thousand. If the child stays in Singapore, he might be safe. Might be, cos travellers to Singapore might be carrying the virus too, and unknowingly infect the child. But if the child travels, risk of exposure to viruses is higher, needless to say. And what happen if the child get measles? Mental retardation, celebral palsy and even death.

Things to note. A child will need to produce vaccination records before they are allowed to be enrolled into primary school. Some parents chose to delay the vaccination till the child is 6 because of this. And if you still refuse to vaccinate your child against measles? Then get prepared to receive a fine of up to $10,000 or jail up to 6 months, under The Infectious Diseases Act. Remember we are named The "Fine" City?

So after all these information I've found, do I want my child to be vaccinated? Obviously I do! Vaccinations are meant to protect the child and as a parent, I do want to protect my little one. Besides, the benefits of getting the vaccine far outweigh the risks.

For those parents who are still considering. It's up to you, cos the child is yours.

You decide.

Blog on Parking Idiots

Chanced upon this blog on Mr Miyagi's site.

We've seen them before, and at times, frustrated by their inconsiderate actions. I'm always appalled by these people and wonder why they don't even bother to ensure their car is IN the lot.

Anyway, if you should see these idiots, snap a picture of their car, preferably with their license plate unmasked and send to this email address. There's even a decal which you can print and paste onto the idiot's car.

I've always complained to my colleague about parking idiots and just recently, we saw just another one and I told this colleague that I should write a BIG note saying "Get more parking lessons if you still don't know how to park your car properly!" and paste on their car.

Self Feeding

Over a week ago, I decided to let Tara learn to feed herself. For a start, I thought I gave her bread spread with cheese. It went pretty well. She didn't throw the bread pieces. And it's a good start.

Knowing that she won't throw her food, I started on something different. I read from other mothers' experiences that self feeding is a very messy affair so I thought I will let her try something not too runny and easy to scoop. I let her feed herself fromage for kids.

She couldn't hold the spoon in the right way despite correcting her several times. This stubborn little toddler simply loved to hold the end of the spoon. This time, I put on a big bib for her, just in case she messed herself. It was surprisingly good, actually. Besides the gooey mess on her bib and a few blobs on the tray, the floor managed to escape any mess and was very clean. And she managed to finish the whole bowl, by herself! When I took the empty bowl to wash, I swear her screams can be heard from the next block.

Tonight, I didn't think of letting her self feed her porridge, cos it's runny and it's going to be very messy. But it's my wrong, I shouldn't have put the bowl on the tray in front of her, letting her think that it's self feeding time again. She refused to let me feed her. No choice, I told Bob to get prepared for battle. I lined the floor with newspaper, change the normal bowl to her suction bowl, "armoured" her with the long sleeve bib Angela bought for her, and pray.
As expected, she didn't managed to scoop any porridge and put into her mouth successfully The tray got a little messy too. After a while, I thought I should try feeding her, so I took another spoon and feed her while she entertain herself with the scooping.

It's quite successful I should say, as in she managed to finish most of the porridge, with my help though. But by the end of it all, I had porridge on the newspaper, her chair, the tray, all over the bib, her whole face and my hands. I don't mind though, even though the cleaning up was troublesome, at least the little girl ate a lot of her porridge.

Well, it's a nice start.

While Bob was away

Over the weekend, Bob went back to his hometown for qing ming. He left on Friday night. I didn't take arrangement for Mum to care for Tara so I brought her to the office on Saturday. Fortunately, my office is quite okay with bringing kids.

After I knocked off, I didn't know where to go. It's the first time I felt so lost without Bob around. There's nothing to look forward to, nothing to do and nowhere to go. Finally, I decided to bring Tara to Great World, cos it's the nearest decent shopping mall from my office and there's a Cold Storage there and I need to get some groceries for dinner.

Actually I've tightened my purse strings cos it's towards end of the month but I need some "retail therapy" to sooth my lonely heart. So I bought these.

It doesn't matter that I don't need most of the things I've bought. Anyway, Huggies Pull Up Pants 12s were selling at $9.95 for 2 packets and the promoter gave me 4 pcs of sample. I also bought Heinz Baby Biscuit for Tara, Cindy gave Tara 2 to try the other day and she likes it a lot. For all her snacks, I bought lock and lock containers. I love lock and lock containers! Grabbed packet tissues and a pair of ladies' boxers from Watson's and of course, my groceries for dinner. The breadtalk flavoured bread cost me $4 but Tara only managed to try one slice each of the Green Tea and Pineapple bread before it was consumed by an army of ants. I wonder where did all the ants came from!

And before I start shopping, I had lunch at Kenny Rogers while Tara slept. The yummy roast chicken never fail to cheer me up. *slurp* And I realised there's a new book store in Great World! Harris. And it's so nicely done up. I literally had drag myself out of the bookstore man before I started piling books at the cashier for payment.

I had a wonderful movie night too. Watched "Just like Heaven" and "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". Movies that I won't have a chance to watch when Bob's around. Actually, Bob enjoyed watching shows like "Gladiator", "Behind Enemy Line" sort of shows and I enjoy tremendously too, but once in a while, I love to giggle and laugh at romantic comedies. But I can only watch it myself cos Bob think these shows are crappy and meaningless. But he will still buy the DVDs for me whenever he can. The 2nd movie was so hilarious, I laughed myself silly, and almost neglected Tara. She had to do a lot of funny actions to catch my attention. Highly recommended show!

Despite eating alone, I actually bothered to make a decent dinner for myself.

On Sunday morning, I brought Tara to Jurong Point for breakfast and bought some fresh scallops for her porridge. Cindy and Cyrus came over for lunch with us. I cooked porridge with spinach, carrot, fish & scallops for the kids and century eggs with scallop for me and Cindy. I'm glad Cindy love the porridge, even though it's a little too dry and it's my first time cooking it.

Afternoon, we attended Gerald's birthday party. Both Angela and Sis couldn't make it at the last minute, which kind of bothered me a little. But still, we had Evelyn with us and she annouced her wedding dinner will be in July. Ohh, another pink bomb!

Bob was suppose to be back in Singapore at almost 11pm but and he sms me and said he will be taking the 6.50pm flight back from Kuala Lumpur instead. I had intended to drop by Andrew's to fix his specs but due to the rush, I had to fly to the airport.

While walking to the carpark with Cindy & family. I took a few shots of the kids playing at the garden. They were so cute! Chasing each other. Very entertaining. Had wanted to download the video but the file is too big.

While waiting for Bob at the airport. 2 sisters start to play with Tara.

The younger sister on the right tried to carry Tara while she was running and both of them tripped and fell down. Tara hit the back of her head against the edge of the chair and cried so loudly, that everyone turned and look. The little girl, got scared and ran away. Minutes later, the elder sis came over and asked if her sister was responsible for the fall but I just told her Tara was just careless. Well, little kids, what to do right? I had to cajoled Tara with lots of biscuits before she finally hushed up.

Well, I'm monitoring her now. Hope there's no vomitting or stuff.

Birth of Tara

I've finally written the events on Tara's birth but I've written it on Tara's blog instead.

Here's the excerpt:
"I hope I can still remember the events of Tara’s birth. I had wanted to write it down but somehow, I couldn’t find the chance to. Now, after 16 months and 13 days following the birth of the most amazing little human being in my life, I’ve finally had it documented. Darling, this was what had happened when Mummy gave birth to you.

Alright, here goes:

9 November 2004
I have taken leave off work since 1 November. Actually my estimated day of delivery was 15 November 2004. But due to the nature of my work, I would prefer that I had everything handed over and not having my mobile ringing halfway while I’m pushing the baby out. Thus, I felt it’s safer to take leave first; at least my clients will be able to get me before I give birth. Besides..."

Read the rest here!

While we were sleeping

On morning these days, I would usually wake up either to the sound of the toddler throwing things around or to find her roaming around.

This morning, in my half asleep state, I saw her walking around the room but I'm too tired and fell asleep again soon after. I was suddenly jolted awake by the thought that she might hurt herself in the hall (door was open) and started shouting her name. I couldn't find my specs where I left them and I couldn't see at all, cos at 800 degrees on each eye, I'm almost blind as a bat. I found Tara sitting at the doorway. Later Bob appeared with my specs and said the little girl brought the specs to him while he was in the kitchen toilet.

Usually, when she woke up, she would start blabbering to wake us up or she would poke our eyes or touch our faces and we'll know that she has awaken. But nowadays, we don't even know she's awake. It's quite worrying as our windows were not fitted with grills. I can't even imagine the consequences should our little girl decides to climb up the windows while Mummy and Daddy were sleeping. Or she might decides to dip her head into the WC for a wash. Or she might fall and knock onto some sharp edges.

All these thoughts struck fear in me. I must be more vigilant from now on.

Home Cooked Dinner

Yesterday night, we decided to cook porridge and a few dishes for dinner. We've been dining out too often and getting sick of it. Don't even know what to eat anymore.

While I was cooking, Cindy popped over with Cyrus to pick up the tin of milk powder which Cindy left in my car couple of days ago. Joe wasn't home so I asked Cindy to stay over for dinner.

Simple dishes; Braised Cabbage, Fried Eggs with Onions, Potato & Luncheon Meat with Tomato Sauce and canned chilli anchovies.

Rather enjoyed the simple fare. Cyrus enjoyed the luncheon meat and potato. I never know that the chilli sauce from the canned anchovies will taste so yummy with porridge and bovril.

After dinner, Cindy and I had Vienetta ice-cream for dessert and I baked a tray of escargots for Cindy to try. Yummy.

Fat, Fat, Fat

I don't mind being teased once in a while. I don't mind that my size is bigger than before cos somehow, in my mentality, I felt that being bigger after giving birth is normal, so I didn't really make much of an effort to slim down.

But being called "fat" in my face more than 3 times a day is too much for me to take. It's not hurting but downright irritating! It's like having a mosquito buzzing around you and all you want to do is give a tight swat and kill it.

The worst part is someone telling you that she's too skinny and need to get some fats from me leh! What the hell is that person trying to do? Degrade me so I will feel small and insignificant? When I bump into something, she said "Wah! Too fat is it?". And the whole night, I kept hearing, "You fat leh." And this someone told a new friend "She used to be slim and pretty one, but now fat liao".

By the way, I'm not fat okay? The definition of fat is overweight and I'm not overweight. I'm just heavier than before.

So please, if you want to say I'm fat, try not to say it more than 3 times. Or I will swat you like an irritating mosquito.

Gathering with Ex Colleagues

Last night, I met up with my ex-colleagues for dinner at Great World City.

We used to meet once a while for KTV and dinner, but now, we will only meet for birthday dinners. This month, Eric and Sally will be celebrating their birthdays. Happy birthday to you guys!

We had a wonderful dinner at Kuriya Restaurant. Steep prices but the food were simply yummylicious! I didn't take any photos cos I'm too busy eating and catching up with the guys. Somehow, I feel that we are drifting apart. The conversation wasn't as interesting as before but still, it's nice to see them.

After dinner, I was supposed to send Sally to Holland Village to meet her other buddy. She was telling me how much this buddy loves to go KTV and I said if they decide to go KTV, I will join them. And we ended up at Partyworld in Clementi.

After the KTV, I sent Sally home. On our way home, she told me about her own problems etc. I didn't get to meet her for quite a while and there's lots of catching up to do. So we continued chatting down her block for another 2 hours. I hope the problems she'd encountered would be solved soon. It's quite sad to see something like that happened.

I reached home at almost 3am. Sleepy. Yawn......

Tara's Own Blog!

I've set up a blog just for Tara, the truly baby/kiddo blog.

My main purpose of setting this blog is, well, I have a really bad memory. And just in case I will miss out the details of her growth when I'm old and senile, this blog can serve it's purpose.

It will be even better once Tara knows how to read and write, she will continue the writing of her own little blog, write about her thoughts, her daily happenings etc.

I adopt a conversation style for this blog. If there's a day Mummy will not be around for her, she will still "hear" me talking to her.

Proud Mummy

Last night, Bob was hanging Tara's laundry in the hall. After he was done, Tara carried the empty pail (those big red ones) up and walked around a little. She's pretty small size and looked really funny carrying the big pail.

Casually I said "Tara, can you bring the pail back to the kitchen?". She looked at me and I pointed to the kitchen. Slowly, she walked towards the kitchen. Bob and I looked at each other. Amused, we trailed behind her.

She walked fairly slow to the kitchen, propped the pail onto the stool (where we always put the pail) and used her little tummy to push in the pail carefully. After she was sure that the pail won't topple, she looked at us and started clapping. We gave her a loud applause, big hugs and lots of kisses.

I'm so.. so proud of her.

What a bi-a-tch...

Months back, I was invited to a dinner at my friend's place. It's only when I reached that I realized I'm the only friend she invited. The rest are all her colleagues and husband's relatives. And the other friend wasn't in town then.

Both of us were sitting in the hall chatting, when her SIL asked her something.

SIL: Do you know your son goes around biting people?
MF (My friend): Really? Oh, I'm sorry. (She's genuinely sorry)
SIL: *shakes her head, gave a disgusted look and said loudly* Darling (her own daughter), you don't anyhow bite people one hor? You never bite auntie (SIL's maid) one right?
SIL's maid: Nooooo! Darling don't bite.
SIL: *smugly* Oh! Good girl!!!!

Oh... a total bi-a-tch..... I mean, it's wrong for kids to go around biting people and it's okay to point it out and tell the parents etc. My friend was genuinely sorry that her son was doing that and she apologized. I don't think it's necessary for the SIL to praise her own daughter so smugly and loudly, indirectly belittling my friend's son. What is she trying to prove? That she has a really well-behaved girl? That she knows how to teach her kid? That my friend don't know how to discipline her son? I'm truly surprised my friend didn't mind one bit. I don't know if I can be as calm as her if I were in her shoes.

In any case, it's an action that I truly despised. Besides BI-A-TCH, I couldn't find a better word to describe her.

Bakerzin

I've always love the Strawberry Shortcake and Tiramisu from Bakerzin. Especially the Strawberry Shortcake. It's the most yummy cake in the world!

Last Monday, I had a lunch date with Bob at Milenia Walk. He told me he wanted pasta but said to meet him at Bakerzin. I was like "Huh? Bakerzin for pasta?! You sure?"

It was the first time I had a meal at Bakerzin. Usually I will order takeaways for the cakes. While I was flipping through the menu, did I realised how suaku I am. Not only they have pasta, they also have lamb curry, chicken curry and even escargot!

I ordered the escargot dish and strawberry shortcake while Bob had Clam Pasta. They were SO YUMMY! I'm surprised that a shop specializing in cakes (well, the shop's name is Bakerzin mah) will have such delicious fare. Especially the pasta, it's even better than those so called pasta restaurants.

Since we had such a wonderful meal there, we decided to have a dinner there too. Last Friday, we brought Tara to United Square. This time, we ordered more.

At United Square, Tara enjoying her car ride

I had a pork chop with greenish-vege-coated pasta, while Bob ordered a mushroom pasta and shared a plate of flaky pizza. We ordered pumpkin soup for Tara, which tasted so-so only.

As expected, the pasta was wonderful. The flaky pizza is, well, too flaky for our liking but the toppings are yummylicious. For dessert, I decided to try something new. I had Warm Chocolate Cake and Bob ordered a Mango (yuck!) Mousse Cake.

Bob gave Tara a taste of his Mango cake and I think Tara hate it cos when Bob tried to feed her again, she turned away, with a disgusted look on her face. Well, that's my girl, mango are such smelly stuff.

The chocolate cake came with a vanilla ice-cream shaped as a strawberry on top. I almost went hysterical with happiness when I saw the ice-cream melting down on the cake! I love chocolate, cake and ice-cream. Put them all together and you will see a 27 year old started behaving like a excited kindy kiddo, literally jumping on my seat, well, almost... Then when it came to the centre of the cake, thick creamy chocolate oozed out and mixed with the vanilla ice-cream, oh.... I almost went giddy with glee! To think that a small plate of $9.50 chocolate cake can make such a big impact on a big adult like me.

The guy behind Bakerzin, I think his name is Daniel. Oh, you are the man, you are the man.....

My day as a SAHM

Last Wednesday, I had to take leave from work to look after Tara, which was good, since I've always wanted to spend a day with her alone.

I woke up early, about 8.00am. Tara was sleeping soundly, after her morning milk feed. I called office at 8.30am to take a day off, settle some work issues, did the laundry, and log on to email my buddies.

I sms Cindy and asked if she wants to meet me for breakfast. Tara woke up, I dressed her and decided that we will go for breakfast. Thought of cooking porridge for her and decided to go Jurong Point to get the ingredients.

My driver came to collect a client's file and since I have to walk to the car to get it, I might as well drive to Jurong Point. I thought of strolling there but the weather was so hot, both of us will be cooked by the time we reached there. Did not receive any reply from Cindy, sleeping soundly I guess. I left the house at about 10am.

We had breakfast at Coffee Bean. I ordered Eggs Ben. Not as yummy as before. Hmmz, too much cheese this time. Tara did not like it much either, and would crinkle her nose when I gave her the eggs, but the little tam chiat girl still ate a lot.

Grabbed the groceries at NTUC and drove to the new library. Borrowed 4 books and went home. Oh man, the weather was a killer. I was praying that Tara will not get sick cos we were going in and out of aircon premises and hot sunny outdoors.

The moment I reached home at 12pm, I received an sms from Cindy. Finally! The sleeping beauty. Hehe. We decided to meet for lunch, but I had to let Tara have her afternoon nap first. I bathed her, put her in her sarong, cooked her porridge, and surf net again. 2 hours of peace and quiet, I managed to edit some photos, and did some housekeeping on the folders. Too much clutter.

Tara woke up at 2.30pm and I went down to the coffeeshop to meet Cindy. Coincidentally, both Cyrus and Tara are wearing stripe rompers! Whereas Cindy and me wore Hard Rock tees.

Tara enjoying Cyrus' biscuits

We chit chatted till it was almost 4pm when I saw someone familiar. He was sitting at the table just beside me, and didn't noticed that I was in front of him. My ex-boyfriend! I quickly hid myself behind Tara. Actually I don't mind bumping into him, even though that time when we broke up, it wasn't exactly harmonious. But I was in such a mess! My hair was messy, I look hideous without make-up and not in an exactly presentable garb. I tried to hint Cindy but she was busy chasing after Cyrus and then hiding herself cos she too, saw her ex-schoolmate. Haha, the irony.

After a while, I gave up hiding and just pretend that I didn't see him. From the corner of my eye, I saw that he was looking at me, most probably thinking, "Wah! Is that her?! Fat and ah soh (aunty) leh. Lucky we not together liao." It wasn't easy to feel at ease in his presence. I told Cindy that we should head home, since we would be meeting that night again.

While we were walking back, I told Cindy who I saw and the Miss Kay Poh actually walked back to take a look. She told me he don't look like the kind of person I have described. Actually bumping into him brought back all the unhappy memories, which I will blog about later.

Cindy and I have yet to finished our conversation and decided to go to the garden down our blocks. We continued our chit chat while the kids roam around the garden, plucking leaves.

The cute little tots looking at the neighbour's dog

Acts of vandalism, at such young age. Look at their cheeky faces!

Reached home at around 5pm. Log on again, edit more photos and did more housekeeping and msn-ing, while Tara watched Hi-5.

Met up with the girls in Jurong Point (yup, again) at 7.30pm. Lots of catching up, gossipping and chit chatting over dinner at a pizza place. Finally reached home at around 10.30pm.

Washed up, showered and rest for the day.

End of my SAHM day. Kind of mundane and typical of a SAHM life but I kind of enjoyed it. Being away from the hustle and bustle of working life once in a while is pretty rejuvenating.

Trip to Sim Lim

Yesterday morning, Bob called me and gave me a task. I think I'm becoming his personal assistant or something! And he kind of forgot that his personal assistant is a part-time one who has a full time job.

Anyway, he told me to go Sim Lim Square and get a DVD writer. He decided to get one cos the games he wanted to buy are all DVD roms. As usual, we seek the advice of computer expert, Joe, Cindy's beloved.

Armed with the model and brand, I went to Sim Lim Square. I have problems initially, cos I don't know how the hell do I get to Sim Lim in the first place. After some navigation on my street directory, I managed to reach the side of the road where the EXIT of the carpark is. Fortunately there's public parking, if not, I gotta either make an illegal U turn on the 1 way road or exit ERP and pay the charges to go in again.

Sim Lim sure is a bustling place, even though it's a weekday afternoon. The first shop I went was selling the writer at $88. I sms Cindy and told her that and Joe, who happened to be at home, checked and told me to try another shop selling at only $74.90! Auntie me of course chiong there, only to find that they don't carry the stock. Cindy directed me to another shop, no stock either. And I was about to give up hope and go back to get the $88 one when Cindy told me to try one more. I managed to get the BenQ 1640 at $78. *Thanks Joe & Cindy! Muacks! You guys are the best!*

I've also bought a Logitech EX 111 wireless keyboard at $58 in the same shop. I'm not sure if it's a good buy? Initially, I told Bob I thought of getting a compact one and he wanted wireless, which only comes in the bulky sizes. The first shop I went, prices were ranged above $80. But Bob said he will pay and told me to just get it. Alright, he's the boss right? I'm just the personal assistant. Anyway, I did managed to get a little savings for my boss.

At night, I mumbled that I'm like a maid, told to do this and that and he retorted jokingly "You don't use meh? You use more than I do okay?"

Alright, he won again.

Tara's Milestone @ 16 months

The little girl is becoming such a pesky little kid. She has to have everything her way, if not, she will kick up the biggest fuss, until we finally give in. I've told Bob not to let her win everytime, but when we are outside, we just had to let her have her way. It's way better than letting her scream, shout and kick violently. But at home, it's a different scenario, she will be punished if she's naughty and we'll leave her screaming until she's tired.

She's also becoming quite a selfish little person. It's "me and mine" only. The other day, I was feeding her snacks, and decided to pinch a little piece of biscuit. She saw me putting the biscuit into my mouth and started screaming away! What!?! Me, the mother and the person who bought the biscuit, can't even try one!?!! I really don't know what can I do to teach the kid to share. I ever read that it's too young to teach sharing, but I can't stand this kind of behaviour. Mum also told me the same thing, no one can share HER food. And she loves to feed herself, and she MUST hold the food in her hand. Lucky thing is she knows how to nibble the food rather than chomp away, hence we just leave her alone.

She's also quite funny at times. She would take something which she's not suppose to, and when she saw me walking towards her and giving her a reproved look, she would immediately threw the object on the floor and scurried away! It was so funny that sometimes, I will forget to reprimand her!

The little girl is starting to do a lot of mimicking and always bring amused laughter to people who saw her cute actions. A cheery and friendly little girl, she would go around smiling at everyone and would wave goodbye even when we didn't ask her to.

She does not have any new vocabulary recently, but she would repeat words we said when she's in a good mood. So far, I've heard "diaper", "patrick", "tara", "yes", "no", "shower". I simply love it when she repeat "f" after me, she would go "eh..f..f..f".

When my FIL stayed over, Tara would get her daily stroll at the small park down our block. And I think it's from there that she learnt the word "mao" (cat in chinese). But almost every animal we saw, be it birds or dogs or cats, she would go "mer.. mer". She meant to say "mao" but it didn't come out right and most times, pointing at the wrong animal.

Nowadays, she would do heartwarming and lovely gestures. She would walked over to me and hug me, or my leg (when I'm standing). So sweet!!

I think one day when she grows up, I will miss this stage of her growth tremendously. Though pesky, but very entertaining and funny. Haiz... And at times like this, I would have the urge to start Project B II.

Wrong Jab?!

Last Sunday morning, we brought Tara to Kelly's for her jab, which was due since CNY. We haven't been able to bring her there earlier cos there's the CNY, the travels and stuff.

When we finally decided to bring her, we found out that Kelly was on leave when we stepped into his clinic. We decided to go ahead with the jab, cos it's only a jab right?

We went in the room and saw a young doctor on duty. I gave her Tara's health booklet and said she's due for her 6-in-1 jab. He looked at the booklet, took out the vaccine, and went on to jab her. It's the 1st time Tara cried so loud! Think even jab needs skill yah?

While waiting for payment, the clinic assistant, who knew us quite well, told us that Tara should be getting her MMR vaccination and not the 6-in-1, and asked me the doctor didn't check with me? I told her I never keep track on which jab she's due to take as I'm always reliant on Kelly to tell me. Kelly, who's a friend of ours, will usually tell me when to bring her for a jab, and I don't pay attention to which jab she's due, cos I trust Kelly to know. But I didn't expect the young doctor to miss this point cos I showed him the health booklet right? As a doctor, he should know which jab to give.

Then again, I did tell the assistant that I told him Tara's due for the 6-in-1, that's probably why he gave her that. Bob was pissed that the young doctor did not give us the right advice. But I told him it might be my fault too, cos me, the mother of the kid, don't even know which jab is due!

We frantically asked the assistant will there be any problems with the wrong jab. To our relieve, she said Tara will be fine, just that it's too early to take the 6-in-1 jab (due 18 months and Tara is only 16). We will need to bring her back for her MMR jab after one month.

This time round, I will make sure I pay attention to details like this. I wouldn't want to put my little girl in any dangerous situations. I felt so bad. Bad mummy.

My new notebook

After our dinner at Shashlik last Thursday, we went to Borders for a walk. I just loved going to book stores. I was happily browsing through the note books when I came across diaries for 2006 at 50% off!

And it happened to be wire-binded! I have a penchant for wire-binded books. Needless to say, I grabbed one. At $12.50, it's a steal!

What I love most about the diary is, it's a full page for a day. I usually have lots of nonsense to write in my notebooks. My appointments, my pending jobs, my deliveries, and a lot of other personal writings. That's why I need a lot of space. The diary also comes with a plastic sleeve, which is just nice for my stash of paper.

I used to own 2 wire binded note books, 1 for work and 1 for personal. But it's not a diary, just a plain notebook. And I always lost track of where my appointments are written cos there's simply too much rubbish in it.

I've also bought a new address book, which I love so much. I had thought of writing down my clients' addresses and stuff but now I can't bear to write anything on it.

Since I'm an fanatic of notebooks, I guess I might just put it into my collection. Hmmz.

About Tara

Tara turned 16 months on Saturday. I tried to make it a point to take a few shots of her every month on the 11th. This one's taken at the coffeeshop near our house. A nice breakfast before Mummy goes to work.

She decided that sitting like this is the best way to enjoy her breakfast.

That night, I brought her along to a wedding dinner. The dinner was at a Chinese restaurant in Miramar Hotel. The food was yummy! Some hitches on the wedding video though, guess the bride was jumping mad then.

Bob started giving her fish oil a couple of months back. He's really convinced now that it's the fish oil that kept the harmful bugs away. Well, I guess so.... We didn't start her on the orange flavoured ones cos edgy me was worried that it might trigger her phlegmy cough. Until now, we can still hear her noisy breathing. Guess the cos-she's-still-young-that's-why-her-airway-not-developed reason no longer sounds convincing. It's time I bring her back to the paeds. Doctor said on her last hospital stay that she would need to see him after 6 months to check on the noisy breathing. It's way overdue cos I could not bear to let her go through the scope down her throat procedure. Anyway, back to the fish oil. This morning, I fed her the fish oil myself, for the first time. I'm truly surprised that she's not put off by the taste! Bravo, my young lady.. Even smelling her breath after that was enough to make me run miles away, less to say put the yucky stuff into my mouth. *puke*

I've been thinking of setting up an activity corner ever since she turned 1. It's mostly on arts & crafts. The forever procrastinating me, well, procrastinated. Until one day, about a month ago, someone stepped into my office and tried to sell me this.

Cost me $25. It comes with a mahjong box lookalike which I think would have cost $15 already? And a month after I bought that, that is a few days ago, did I finally bought a drawing block for her. A strawberry shortcake one which I had to get. It's so sweet, it's hard to resist. 2 books of 18 pcs each cost me $4.90. I got it at the Popular Bookshop in Compass Point.

Okay, once I got the activity corner done up, we'll start doodling! Yeah! But that might be another month, I reckon. Hmmz..

Accessories Box

I needed an accessories box. I wanted those with divided compartments. Some time back, I bought a plastic one but Bob's using it for his watches and stuff and there isn't any stock at Daiso anymore.

Yesterday, I tried to tidy up my dresser and the sight of my necklaces hanging on the corners of my mirror irked me. I simply could not go on (with tidying) any further until I find a solution. I walked around the whole house, in search of a suitable box that I can keep those necklaces.

After a while, I gave up. I guess the only way is to do one myself.

I used one of the many empty product boxes that are doing it's best at cluttering the house. Might as well make it useful.

Some taping, stapling, wrapping, pasting (and 2 hours) later....

Voila! My DIY accessories box! I'm glad I kept a nice supply of wrapping and coloured paper at home.

It may not be the coolest or classiest looking accessories box, but it does it's job. I'm happy. Now my next project will be a box each for my watches, my earrings and my beaded belt. I might need another accessories box though, cos my collection is growing pretty fast!

4th ROM Anniversary

Bob reserved a table for 2 + 1 at Shaslik tonight. Yum yum, love the Borsch Soup man. *Slurp*

Holo Pa-twig

This morning, I helped Tara put on her shoes, got her ready to leave the house. In a rush, I gently shoved Patrick (a red dog soft toy her aunt bought for her during our KL trip) into her arms and said "Darling, can you please hold Patrick?"

Tara held on to Patrick tightly and said: "Holo Pa-twig".

I looked at her, surprised, stumped and went "Huh?!". Although I clearly heard what she said, I just couldn't believe my ears! She talked! She talked! Oh..... She talked.....

For the rest of today, "Holo Pa-twig" kept ringing in my ears. Melodious.

Short Weekend in KL

We are going Kuala Lumpur by train tonight. YBIL (Younger BIL) has finally got his new house after 3 years of waiting and he wanted us to have a preview of his condo.

It's the second time we are travelling by train to KL. The first time wasn't much of a problem, Tara was only 6 months and all she did was sleep and sleep throughout the 8 hour night train travel. I'm crossing my fingers that there won't be any problems this time too. The inquisitive little-tottering kid might not behave as well as the first trip, I guess.

And I hope that there won't be backpackers on the top bunk this time. Backpackers with smelly shoes are no fun.

I'm gonna have the very yummy "har-lok" (prawn dish) and steamed fish head. It's gonna be a food trip this time. No more shopping, I've had enough on my last trip to Bangkok.

We will be staying at Sunway Lagoon Hotel. The last time I stayed there, Bob was on business trip and working most of the time. And I spent my time enjoying the lagoon view in the comfort of the hotel room, ordering room service and sleeping.

We will be back on Sunday night, by plane.

I regret

When I first shifted into this house, I never thought I would have so many issues after I have a baby. When my friends came over to view my new house, they would always ask the same thing "Eh? Where's the baby's room?" Baby's room? I never thought that I will need a baby room then. And I just conveniently pointed to the guest room, which is across the hall to my master bedroom and said that's going to be the baby's room.

I do have another bedroom, which I converted for other purposes. Half of it is my study and the other half is my walk-in wardrobe, which I'm so damn happy about. I have sealed the original door of this room, and hacked a door each for my study and my wardrobe.

I've never had major problems with this arrangement, until after I gave birth to my little girl.

Actually, it's not immediately after I gave birth. You see, I'm not comfortable with my girl sleeping all by herself in another room so she has been bunking in with me and Bob in our cosy little bedroom. She had her own playpen cum bed. My PILs started staying over. They stayed in the suppose-to-be baby's room and it has since become their room, or so, they thought. They would stay for a month or so and would go back to Malaysia for a month and come back again. Though I'm not comfortable with others in the house, I didn't have a choice. Everything was fine and everyone (almost) was happy, so there weren't any big issues.

Now my girl has grown, her barang barang, i.e. her toys and clothes, has grown too. There's no place for me to keep her stuff. I pestered Bob, telling him I need to convert the only spare bedroom into Tara's room soon cos I simply could not find any other way to do this. Bob agreed, he understand that his little girl will need to sleep in her own room one day. I started packing Tara's toys, and planned on how I wanted to decor the room. I shifted all the barang in the hall into the room.

Then PILs came over for their one month stay, and I gotta shift those barang out into the hall again. And I thought, Tara will never get her own room if PILs are going to come over often. Now I'm stuck. I wanted to create not only a bedroom but also an activity room for Tara, a place where she can play and maybe do some drawings and stuff and I'm gonna need a whole bedroom.

So now, the only place I can target the study room, although it's a 1.5m x 3m space, I thought a toys and activity room is better than nothing. I told Bob we gotta shift the computer to our bedroom. He refused at first, cos he felt that computers don't belong to bedrooms and our room is quite small already. But it didn't take me long to convince him. And he told me to do whatever I want.

Now the big headache is, how do I do it? The study room has a lot of OUR barang which I could not find a place to keep. It also has a big frosted glass door which is very child-unfriendly. I've also got low no door bookshelves with lots of books. And I'm now faced with another big headache. Every night, I would go home and look around the house, looking for some inspiration, for some ideas which can save me lots of trouble and money.

I'm gonna drop by Ikea, hope that I can get a really nice and affordable small computer table. Guess I'm gonna take little steps at a time now.

Big headache. I should have converted the baby's room much much earlier. *sulk*

Scam?

This afternoon, I was driving into a carpark at Bukit Merah, while I was queueing to get in, I noticed a couple standing in the centre of the entrance, together with an old lady on a wheelchair. When it's my turn to go into the carpark, the man blocked my way with the old lady on the wheelchair and the woman spoke to me.

The conversation:

Woman: Miss, can you help this old lady (pointing to old lady on wheelchair)? We are her neighbours and we brought her here to see HDB regarding her house (shows me HDB documents). She very poor thing, she has problems with her house and has lots of unpaid bills, and now she had no money to go home. She stays in Clementi. Can you spare her $10 to take a taxi home?

I looked at the old lady, and I thought I saw her turn away in embarrassment.

Me: (open my purse and saw no small notes) sorry, but I don't have any small change.

Woman: Please, can you help her? (showed me another stack of HDB bills). We are her neighbours and we brought her here to see HDB. We staying in Pasir Ris, brought her all the way here leh.

Wait a minute. The woman said she lives in Pasir Ris and the old lady lives in Clementi but they are neighbours?? And I thought HDB shifted to Toa Payoh?

Me: Since you already helped her so much, why can't you give her another $10 for the taxi ride?

Woman: We already helped her with a lot of our savings. And I'm not working now, was retrenched recently.

Me: Sorry, I really want to help, but I've got no small change.

I drove away.

In fact, I wanted to offer sending the old lady home. But when I parked my car, the couple and the old lady was gone. Maybe to find other good samatarians for help. Initially, I thought that the couple wanted a free ride but they actually asked for money.

But the more I thought about it, the more I found it fishy. Firstly, the old lady should be going to either the HDB at Clementi, where she lives or the the HDB Hub at Toa Payoh right? Second, the couple look like they can afford $10 but they chose to ask for it? And third, how come they can come all the way from Pasir Ris to Bukit Merah but can't go the extra mile of sending the old lady to Clementi, and instead, chose to ask for money for the taxi ride?

I should have offered the ride and see how the couple react. If this is a scam, I pity the old lady, for being used by the couple.