Halloween with the Pumpkin and Munchkin

Today was Halloween and I was alone with the two bubs for almost the whole day…managed to maintain my sanity! But with faces like these, how can anyone go mad? :-)





Nick has been busy the past few days with a flow-riding competition at Sentosa, today was the final…everyday he comes back smelling of alcohol, the owners at Wavehouse like to make him drink. On Friday he even puked after downing a Waterfall! Anyway, he was at Sentosa all day and Wendy was also off and instead of spending the day at Ma’s, I decided to fend for myself.

It wasn’t too bad, things just get a bit hairy at mealtimes and nap times and in between I have to wash the dishes and remind myself to pee and eat! Throughout the whole day, it was just a matter of juggling between Pumpkin’s and Nat’s needs and keeping track of the time while multi-tasking.

As soon as Nick left, I fed Pumpkin, then it was Nat’s turn - Wendy already prepared Nat’s lunch before leaving. In between, I had to entertain Sasha with nursery rhymes so she didn’t get too bored. I got a breather when Ma delivered food, ate in peace while she put Sasha to nap. After she left, it was time for Nat’s milk and I was hoping Sasha remained asleep…but she didn’t, waking up after just 40 mins. Torn between deciding which child to make nap, I decided to focus on Nat and as soon as she fell asleep, I put Pumpkin back to sleep too and snoozed myself.

The little darlings stayed asleep for 2.5hrs! Well-rested, we all snacked in the afternoon. In between cooking Nat’s rice, I fed Pumpkin cereal and washed numerous dishes but almost burnt Nat’s soup after getting distracted on eBay for a bit! Salvaged it by adding hot water and she didn’t notice any blandness. But then, this girl is fine eating plain rice, she loves it.

Before I could feed Nat though, she pooped so I showered her then fed her, then washed up Sasha. Soon it was Pumpkin’s turn to drink milk but she refused to sleep after, so I cheated and turned on the TV so I could heat up my dinner and gobble it down. I hope my daughters grow up with good fashion sense with all the Fashion Police they watch!

Eventually Wendy came home, then I put Pumpkin to bed properly, and showered and continued with Nat’s bedtime routine. As chaotic as it was, I got to spend quality time with my girls, so much so that Nat wanted me to carry and pat her to sleep even when Nick came home. I feel the love!

Yesterday, we all went to Aloha Loyang for Rachael’s 1st birthday. Edwina had an Elmo theme going, down from the banners, cake, goodie bag gifts, jelly and cupcakes. It was Elmo everywhere!





Swana and Gigi left after 10 mins to attend a surprise baby shower for Jeanette, I had already declined because we had committed to Rachael’s party so we stayed on till the cake cutting. At one point, Kimmie was carrying Sasha and rocking her gently that she fell asleep, in the middle of playing with her toy!


In the afternoon, a friend came over and bought some maternity clothes. We went for evening mass at St Teresa’s and bumped into Roger, Joanne’s ex. Dinner was at Sushi Tei near Nick’s office, my shoyu ramen was extremely salty…disappointing. Colin and Debra actually said ‘hi’ through the window, they were on a date night in the neighbourhood and spotted our car in the carpark!

Lazy Sunday

Pretty chill weekend, didn’t do much on Saturday except meet Jeannie for breakfast at Parkway so I could pass her an angpow after missing Gareth’s 1 month celebration. Gareth looks like his daddy and at times his colouring looked a little angmoh. I love the newborn stage!

Sasha is so heavy at 7.3kg in comparison, can hardly remember what she was like as a newborn blob. Everytime I see a newborn, I feel like having another one….ha ha – but this factory’s closed, thank you very much. Unless someone can guarantee me a boy!

After breakfast we dropped Nat at home, and picked up Pumpkin to bring her to the doc. As usual, her paranoid Papa insisted on visiting the doctor when all she had was a slight drippy nose and coughed a little in the morning. There was no fever, no loss of appetite, no shortness of breath, she was smiling and playing and did not appear uncomfortable.

I had already started administrating Iliadin nose drops the night before with Vicks on her feet but Nick insisted on a doctor visit. However he missed the consultation while parking. The doctor must have thought I was one of those hypochondriac-type parents because he didn’t really see anything wrong with the bub.

Nick had to work/entertain the rest of Saturday and Wendy was down with flu so I spent some quality time with the girls. After tucking them into bed, I even had time to read.

On Sunday morning, Nick was out again, this time with footie and a travel fair. Sent Wendy to the market with Ma and when they got back, Nat had her first lesson in prawn cleaning. Soon she'll be pounding rempah!

The Sees and Gomezs came over after brunch and we watched the Korean Grand Prix together. Nat and Gigi showed off their latest tricks i.e. talking on the phone like adults and a robot dance, which Nya Nya joined in.

Sasha also managed to sit upright without flopping over for a pretty long time...progress!

At night, the in-laws came over for dinner, Ben and Wendy arrived back from their European vacation on Saturday. I was all set to experiment with some dishes but Ma saved me the trouble by taking over and supervising Wendy. We had fried wantons, steamed pomfret, stir-fried veggies and a pork rib peanut soup.

Ben and Wendy bought a number of clothes for the girls mostly from H&M, everything was so cheap…ranging from 1-5 pounds. I got a dress from Accessorize too, love it.

Kamal's Fried Chicken Briyani

While deciding what to eat for lunch, I stumbled upon a briyani restaurant called Kamal's on Stanley Street. My colleague said it was not bad so we ate there.


Their specialty is fried chicken briyani so we each had a plate. Portions were alright, some places give you too much rice, this one was just nice for me. Nick would have found the accompanying gravy not spicy enough, actually all the dishes we tried weren't very spicy. Shared a fish cutlet, quails eggs and lady's fingers and the total bill was just over $18, including 3 drinks.


The fish cutlet actually looked unappetizing but was surprisingly tasty though the crust a bit hard. The quails egg portion was very generous, more than 15 eggs...there goes my cholesterol! The chicken was the highlight though, very tender and not oily at all. I forgot to get papadums but a pleasant meal nonetheless.

Shall have to show it to Nick one day if he hasn't already discovered it.

The bird took my ‘pu-ting’

Gigi has gone almost 2 weeks without the pacifier but is starting to display withdrawal symptoms by putting anything she can get her hands on into her mouth.

It all started last Monday, 11 Oct when I was working from home in the afternoon. She was being naughty by threatening to throw things out the window and I threatened to throw away her pacifier in return. When she actually threw a ball outside the balcony window despite an earlier warning, I dropped her pacifier onto the ledge. She could see it but she couldn’t reach it. When she wasn’t looking, I retrieved the pacifier and hid it in Sasha’s playpen.

The girls then went down to the playground and as soon as she came up, she headed straight for the window and wondered where her pacifier was. Someone suggested that a bird had taken it and so we all stuck with the story that the ‘bird took Gigi’s pu-ting’, making the most of the opportunity to wean her off it. She seemed to believe it and was actually quite alright the next couple of days, asking for it occasionally but managing to sleep without it. She would very matter-of-factly frown and tell everyone, “The bird took my put-ing” thereafter.

On the 3rd day, Nat actually found my hiding place while she was trying to hide my phone. She excitedly brought me the pacifier and exclaimed, “Mummy, the bird put back Gigi’s pu-ting!”. I quickly shut her up before Gigi heard and said that it was the wrong pacifier and belonged to Sasha. She seemed to buy that story and dropped the subject.

So it’s been more than 10 days and Gigi is doing mostly alright, Swana has been disciplined enough not to cave in. Another week and I’ll consider her cured…finally!

Happy 1st Birthday Ray Ray!

Rayhan turns 1 on 20.10.2010 but Joanne and Tarek celebrated his birthday yesterday at Playhouse @ Rochester.




I dressed the girls in matching Gap outfits and coincidentally, me and Nick wore navy stripes. Nat and Sasha had lots of little friends to play with but Nat retreated into shy mode and refused to take part in any of the games organised. I had to hit the piñata on her behalf!

Had to take turns with Nick to eat, he and Albert minded the kids while Jane and I ate first. Germs and Ginny put in an appearance, so did Susan who had pressies for Nat and Sasha as well as some lovely biscottis. (Thanks Susan, those biscuits rock!)




Sasha was ‘kidnapped’ by Joanne’s cousin Cheng, who merrily joined in the kids’ Limbo Rock.







Swana, Kevin and Gigi were supposed to join, but Gigi did a Merlion in the car whilst parking so they headed straight to the car wash. Poor bub! BTW, some of the nicer photos you see here are taken by Jason, Joanne's brother, I can't take the credit!

In the evening, we left the kids at Membina and joined Tarek, Joanne, Jason at Movida, where Germs put in an appearance as well. I got dragged to the dancefloor without any alcohol but that was quickly rectified with a few drinks. 6 to be exact! Joanne got a little tipsy and started doing her armpit dance…charming!

Online retail therapy continues

Nat is in love with her new car seat which arrived last week via EZPZ Express. Bought online from Amazon for US60+ in mid-August and used Desmond's sea freight option, at a flat shipping cost since I knew the box would be bulky and we weren't in a hurry.

It's a Cosco highback booster, suitable from 9kg onwards and has a purple floral print and grey border. There aren't a lot of high back boosters here and they are mostly over $250 but we paid less than $150 in total. The seat is still in the house and every time someone new comes over, Nat invites them to check out her new car seat! She's so proud of it!



Some other purchases arrived earlier today...

1) Karin Stevens ITY Sheath dress - US 17.97. Liked the contrasting print, as usual am a sucker for things with border prints. Found a small run though, decided to give to Aunty Sarda instead!


2) London Times Floral Halter - US 19.97. Too cheap to pass up on, not sure whether the cutting will suit me but liked the purple floral on white.


3) Premonition Cold Shoulder dress - US 24.97. Finally something plain, but not that plain with the pleats at the shoulder...everyone needs a little black dress!


4) Marc by Marc Jacobs Pretty Nylon Hobo - US 119. Been eyeing for a bit and there was a 25% sale on PiperLime, too good to resist, retail price here is S$300. Fits everything!


5) Neti pots - I don't have sinus issues but thought these would help Nick and Swana. Let's see if they work!

10.10.10 Wedding

My colleague and friend Phyllis finally wed her boyfriend of five years last night, on what has been called the Perfect 10 date which comes about every 100 years. 10th October 2010 or 10.10.10.

Dinner was at Furama Riverfront and Lay Chin kindly picked me up. She used to live in Spottiswoode herself so was familiar with the neighbourhood.



Phyllis' gown was non-traditional, trust this clothes horse to don something different. She wore a minidress with a tulle train and a feathery hat instead of a veil. I wore my new Suzi Chin floral sheath dress that Anju brought back from the States along with my other purchases, it was a perfect fit.


Food was so-so, sound system was bad though, no one paid attention to the emcees or groom when they spoke into the mikes.

Phyllis' evening gown was a red backless number, and when she came round to take photos, I saw the back of another colleague's dress which was also red and backless!



Coincidentally, the groom's sister is an ex-classmate of mine and I managed to say hi to her after the dinner...small world!

The bubbas are 32 and 25 months

Only 4 more months till Nat turns 3, yikes, how time flies.

Off and on this past month, she continues to be pretty clingy and cranky, I put it down to teething because she’s got her fingers in her mouth each time she cries and whines.




Since Gigi came back from Australia, she’s been wanting to go herself. I asked her one weekend where she would like to go that day. Expecting the usual “Vivocity’ or ‘Suntec’, she actually requested for ‘Australia!’. Also, I asked her what she would like to be when she grows up.

Me: Nat, do you want to be a doctor?
Nat: No.
Me: A teacher?
Nat: Noooo…
Me: A pilot?
Nat: No. I want to be Natalie.

And then another day, when we were talking about trips, I offered to buy her a bag. Nick told her, “Tell Mummy you don’t need a bag and not to waste money.” She turned to me and waved her finger and said, “You cannot waste money OK?”.

Kids these days!


Nat is really into her Hi-5, imitating their actions all the time. She’s been pirouetting around the house, rolling towels and singing, “Sushi Roll” and balancing on one foot. She also jumps around a lot, making progress and actually covering some distance.


She doesn’t wake up very often for milk in the middle of the night, well, not with me anyway but with Nick she will still manja. We’ve settled into a bedtime routine of milk, brushing teeth, followed by 2 stories and lights out.


She negotiates how many stories, will ask for 5 and I will say 1 and we’ll agree on 2. She associates the number of stories with her age, saying, “I am 2 years old, so 2 stories!”. And it’s the same old stories every night, especially The Gingerbread Man or Teddy Small Behave Yourself.

She’s decided her favourite colour is blue, while Gigi’s is yellow. The two of them play masak masak all the time, making us ‘coffee’. They are better at feeding themselves and Sasha loves it when Nat plays with her and makes her laugh.



Since turning 2, Gigi has changed a little bit, turning into a little ‘yahya papaya’. Think she’s chuffed she’s a big girl now, and behaving like it, cleaning up her toys when asked etc. She got even sassier after her haircut!



She can jump off the ground and parrots Nat occasionally. She has so many teeth now, all coming out at the same time. Still facing pooping issues, holding it in for 2-3 days out of fear.



She terrorizes Nat by waving toys in her face and saying, "Mosquito, mosquito". I have no idea why Nat is scared of that, especially when sometimes Gigi is waving a stuffed dolphin! When they fight or she pinches Nat, Nat will try to control her tears while telling Gigi to go face the wall.

I wish they could remain this age forever!