Christmas Eve dinner

Christmas Eve dinner this year was at Amah's house.

Once again Nat and I wore matching outfits courtesy of Old Navy, and I contributed a prawn and mango salad for our appetizer. Ben and Wendy made beef stew and chicken shepherd's pie and I bought an Amer cake from Bakerzin for dessert.

As usual there was too much food because Mildred prepared some extra dishes like corn soup, chicken sausages and fried fish fillets plus cocktail jelly and fruits.

Nat got a tad bit hyper because I let her try some of my ice cream and she had some of the sponge bits from the chocolate cake. Check out her gleeful smile after some ice cream!

All the fishes are swimming in the water...

Went to Underwater World today with Nat, she was mesmerized by the numerous fish she saw. There was a promotion for locals, so we paid 30% less on the admission but it's not a very big place so we were done within an hour.




It was fun pointing out the marine life she had only seen in flashcards previously, stuff like sharks, sea jellies, seahorses, sea turtles, eels, leafy seadragons, octopus, dolphins and stingrays. Speaking of stingrays, all I could think about was barbecuing one of those suckers with sambal...



Before we left, we went to see the pink dolphins in their new enclosure. There'll be a show from January onwards, but for now they were just swimming around in circles.


Ask Nat now how big were the fish and she'll hold up her hands wide apart and say 'So big!'

Nat's first boat ride

Brought the munchkin out for a river taxi ride this morning, her first time on a boat. Before leaving the house though, my klutzy daughter hit her mouth on the dining table, resulting in a bitten lip. There was a tiny bit of blood, but Nick decided to stop the bleeding with a sugar-coated jelly lollipop! Naturally Nat refused to let go of the thing after getting a taste but I threw it away after letting her have one bite.

We parked at Clarke Quay and paid $6 per adult adult to go from Liang Court to One Fullerton. The ride was about 10 mins or so, and Nat seemed excited.



I was like a tourist snapping away at all the buildings and skyline, plus of Nat too but she would never pose or smile for me!




We paused for a drink and muffin at the Starbucks at One Fullerton, Nat couldn't get enough of my orange juice, kept saying, "I want some more, I want some more."

Soon enough we were taking the boat back to Clarke Quay. A British lady commented she loved Nat's top, especially the print. Nat has the same print as a swimsuit too...thanks to Baby Gap!


From Clarke Quay, we headed to Nick's office for a Christmas party organised by the Insight folks. Nat took a while to warm up but pretty soon was roaming all over the office. She received some pressies, mostly sweets and chocolates - guess who's gonna end up eating them?

Definitely Girl

Went for my 24-week scan today with Nick and the munchkin and Arlyn - who found Dr Siow handsome!

This time Nat didn't cry upon seeing the doctor but instead amused him by saying 'No more monkeys jumping on the bed!', as that's what the doctor says in her current favourite nursery rhyme.

Everything appeared fine on the scan, Nike was sleeping I think but you could make out her face...looks a bit like Gigi! And looks on the chubby side to me! I made the doctor reconfirm the sex after a couple of people told me of scans showing up the wrong sex and it was definitely girl.


I've put on about 4kgs now and can't see my feet when standing anymore. The stomach is definitely bigger than the last time, must be all the brownies I've been consuming in the last couple of weeks! I really should try to eat more healthily, I owe it to Nike.

Joanne gave me a book called 'Skinny Bitch - Bun in the Oven' and it really opened my eyes about all the junk we consume, thanks to the straight-talking authors. I know we shouldn't believe everything we read but there were some arguments raised that seem to make sense and facts and quotes about ingredients shadily approved by the US FDA.

I knew that aspartame was bad but the book put into perspective just how bad. Plus, I'm apparently not missing out on much by not drinking milk, which actually speeds up bone deterioration instead of aiding it. According to the authors, we don't need milk...or rather there are other sources of calcium which are better for us. Humans are the only species that drink the milk of another species, plus other animals don't feed their offspring milk when they're no longer babies so why should we? Think about it.

Went to explore 313 Somerset after the appointment, bought a top and some belts from Forever 21. I like 313!


There was a free photo-taking session with Santa Claus sponsored by Canon and Nat said she wanted to meet Santa, but froze when presented to him! We took a photo nonetheless and then had lunch at Food Republic. Recognised some SingTel folks at the food court and we bumped into Stephen Tan from SES. He's aged...but then again, so have we!

Nat meets Elmo

The bubbas have been so into Elmo of late so on Friday we brought them to the Sesame Street show at Centrepoint.


Nat loved it but unfortunately she didn't really have a good view but it didn't matter because the next day, she was back there again, this time with Ben and Wendy. They had offered to babysit her for us, while we fulfilled a dim sum lunch appointment Nick had with an industry colleague.

Lunch was at Wah Lok at Carlton Hotel, it was my first time there but I must say the food was good. Loved the charsiew polo buns and our host was kind enough to order a box for us to take away. Suffice it to say, will be back there for dim sum soon!

Met up with Ben and Wendy after our lunch and we had tea at Robertson Walk. Nat missed her afternoon nap and was super hyper all evening, talking gibberish and roaming all over the house like an Energizer bunny. She crashed 1 hour earlier than her regular bedtime and was still lethargic today.

Went for mass at the cathedral, think we will be there more often now after the mass timings at St Joseph's changed. Saw the archbishop, it was like seeing a celebrity. The choir was pretty grand too, and the music arrangements transported me to different countries each time a hymn was sung. There was a hula-sounding hymn, a tango-y one and another that sounded very National Day-ish.

After mass we ended up at Suntec. Shopped at Carrefour a bit before having lunch at Qiji, it was so nice and quiet and you can depend on the food being nice.

Dinner was at AMK again, where my clumsy daughter slipped and hit her eye on the wooden arm of the old-fashioned sofa. She wailed of course and Mildred panicked and started giving her pinches of sugar. If I hadn't insisted on stopping after the second pinch, I think Nat could have very well ended up with a teaspoonful of sugar in her system!

We iced her eye to reduce the swelling but there's definitely going to be a bruise either above or below her eyelid. Sigh, it was a close call - she could have seriously damaged her eye. I shudder to think about it!

Countdown to Xmas

Today was the start of my leave, don't have to work till after Christmas...yay!

Went to Vivo in the morning with Nat and Arlyn but we didn't have time to walk around much before it was time to meet Nick for lunch. Took a cab to his office and showed Nat off to some of his colleagues before we had lunch at Han's.

She loves wearing her sunglasses now even though they're too big for her!




In the evening I met some of my colleagues for a pre-Christmas dinner at The White Rabbit in Dempsey. We never socialize outside of work so the get-together was a good step towards changing the culture in the office.

I had a white sangria, it was yum and for my appetiser, I tried the lobster chowder (a tad salty, but love the crunch). Main course was the wild mushroom risotto, which was nice too but I was actually already full before it arrived, having helped myself to generous portions of their mac and cheese and mashed potato which we ordered as sides, plus 2 bread rolls! Still managed to finish everything though and try a little of the 3 desserts we shared - warm chocolate cake, creme brulee and carrot cake.



Towards the end, my colleague's sister and her husband joined us. They were down from Paris and coincidentally she is friends with a guy who tried to pick me up once in bar ages ago - saw him on my colleague's friends list on Facebook! Small world!

A Wendy's downstairs

There was a surprise in store when I went back to work on Monday. A Wendy's had opened at Lau Pa Sat, making it the nearest fast food outlet to the office, just cross 1 traffic light and I'm there. I remember we had Wendy's here a long, long time ago, it must be over 20 years since I had eaten there.


Couldn't resist trying them out after work, but ended up waiting 30 mins to queue and order, it being the first day of operations and there being lots of operational hiccups. Took away some quarter pounders and a cup of chilli. The chilli was not bad, the burgers were alright too (the meat patties were square) but I think I prefer BK's Whopper!

Will probably be eating there on a regular basis from now on, but I think it's going to be perpetually crowded at lunch time.

Saw this funny ad today on the back of a cab, sure gets your attention!