Bubba galore

Joanne's back in town with Rayhan so we caught up yesterday while visiting the Babycare Festival at Expo. Her friend Tsolmon and son Alistair joined us, and Yus and Andrea popped by too.



Nat was thrilled to see Rayhan again, he was all smiley with her and she kept wanting to kiss him.



Though we didn't spend much time at the exhibition (Nick was getting grouchy with the crowds and Nat was restless), we still managed to get a fair bit done. Signed up for cord blood banking, stocked up on Pampers, milk powder and massage cream. And I signed up for a post-natal massage package.

Watched the movie 'When in Rome' at night with Nick. Mmmmm, Josh Duhamel.

Today was Sarah's 3rd birthday and Kenny and Felina invited us to Downtown East for her birthday bash at Kids Explorer.

I dressed Nat in a khaki jumpsuit from Old Navy, but it was a tad plain so I added a leopard print scarf of mine that had to go round her waist twice! While clearing my bags today I had found a small leopard print bag as well and Nat had no qualms about matching her outfit. When asked if she would like to wear a watch, she replied, "Sunglasses please". And here was the finished look, Siva calls it 'Paris Hilton goes on safari!".



Nick had to work so I brought Arlyn instead, who helped me bring Nat around the games. She had fun in the ball pit, though at times looked like she was drowning in it! From Downtown East we headed back to Kavi's place to feed the bubbas and have dinner ourselves. Another weekend gone in a flash!

Nesting

In anticipation of the new arrival, the last couple of days we have been clearing and sorting stuff at home, call it the nesting phase.

My purple room is a mess, Nick moved the computer desk out and with no shelves etc, all my documents and books are lying on the floor. We finally converted Nat's cot to a toddler bed, she's quite pleased with it. I had bought her a contoured head pillow as well and she's always requesting for 'new pillow' now when she's trying to fall asleep.


After waiting 2 years, I am also pleased to say that we finally, finally have a proper wardrobe in Nat's room, after putting up with two $99 Carrefour ones since we moved in. Thanks to a recommendation from Jane, our new 8ft cupboard didn't burn too large a hole in the pocket. I had thought we chose a different laminate (i.e. a large chamomile flower, white on white) but somehow we ended up with something that looks like a Hawaiian print shirt. Guess the drawing was not to scale, Nick hates it but for a girly kids' room, I suppose it's alright.



Last evening I met up with the SingTel alumni for dinner and drinks at Timbre. It had taken us ages to arrange, postponed since CNY. Since I stayed seated most of the time, no one could really see the huge tummy but once they came closer, they were amazed at how big it was!



Had lunch with Jane and Rena today as part of advance birthday celebrations for Rena. Never know when I'm going to pop so had to do it early. We had Sushi Tei at Raffles City, in a cozy, tasseled cubicle. Food was alright, liked the nama chocolate ice cream, had 2 rounds of those!



After lunch me and Rena compared baby bumps, hers is wider, mine is pointier.


BTW, meet Dorothy - Nat's pet fish named after Elmo's goldfish. She's survived more than a week with us, originally came with 14 others, who were meant to be arowana fish food but Nick thought he was doing them a favour by buying them...only for the 14 to die within the first 2 days! Our little Dorothy's a survivor!

Early start

Had an early start to the day today. Nick wanted to try going for an 8.30am mass so we dragged ourselves out of bed and headed to St Teresa's. Nat insisted on wearing her bicycle helmet at home and whilst walking to the carpark, she wanted to push her toy supermarket trolley. She looked like a bag lady!



Sat on stools at the back, Nat was relatively well-behaved - wonder if it's because she didn't have a pew in front of her to pull hymn books out from or step on the kneeler? Or maybe the air-con kept her cool?

Once mass was over, made Nick head to Orchard so we could check out the Takashimaya baby fair. For some reason, Taka only opens their B3 carpark after 10am and since we were early, we parked on Level 6. Only to find all the lift lobbies and glass doors to escalators locked. We weren't the only ones stranded, had to wait a few minutes till 10am arrived and the doors were finally opened. Their department store opens at 10am, shouldn't the carpark lobbies open slightly earlier?


Bought a few things from the fair, then we headed to 111 Somerset to check out Applebee's, a large family restaurant chain from the States that's come to Singapore. Kept hearing it being mentioned in the movie 'Couples Retreat' so was looking forward to it opening.

Once again, Nat was quite well-behaved, she stayed in her high-chair for her whole meal. The loud music was a good distraction, she was bopping away and looking out the window. The staff provided crayons, an activity sheet and a balloon so she was a happy camper and we could eat in relative peace.



I had chicken quesadillas, Arlyn had a chicken caesar salad and Nick had a combo of mini burgers, dynamite shrimp and a steak fajita. We ordered some garlic mash and fries on the side and the total bill came up to about $60. Service was quite good, the waiter added a personal touch to our bill and takeaway fries box with a message like 'Thank you for dining with us' and drew a smiley face.

Dinner was at AMK, Mildred's hosting one of her 9 night novena sessions again. Tapau-ed food from Chomp Chomp, was disappointed with my carrot cake, I think the stall I used to buy from changed hands. Finally tried satay bee hoon for the first time, it was ok but not something I would go out of my way for.

There's been some major burning going on somewhere in the west, one of the chemical plants I presume. The sky has been glowing the past few nights with some fireball moments, which freaks Nat out. Wonder what they're processing and where? Has to be a pretty big fire if we can see it from our window.

35 weeks and counting

Went to see Dr Siow this morning, foregoing the 'live' Oscar telecast to find out what's happening with Nike instead.

Everything seems fine and normal, head is down, placenta's good, plenty of water etc etc. According to this week's estimate, Nike weighs around 2.5kg...that surprised me, just 2 weeks ago she was at 2kg, at this rate she'll be 3ish by the time she's born. I don't think I want to push anything out bigger than 2.8!

She seemed to be sleeping, caught a glimpse of her profile...the nose looks flat, darn. Doc predicts I will pop in 2 weeks and I exclaimed. "What? I'm not ready yet!!!", he pacified me by saying it might be 3 weeks.



I sure hope I make it till my leave actually commences on 27 March, I have a feeling it will be that weekend, though I would dearly love to hit 4th April. because of Easter etc, plus Nat was also on a 4th. There's still so much to do and clear at work because of my procrastinations, and I have yet to prepare for a handover, nor have they found a temp yet.

Still can't quite agree on a name, Nickypoo and Ma like Natasha, I like Norah which has Greek connotations, as it's shortened from 'Eleonora' which means 'honor'. He's prejudiced against Norah though because of a minority community, and I think Natasha is a bit too common plus not as meaningful since it's actually another form of Natalie and I don't want to be confused with 2 Nats in the house.

So we have sorta compromised and more or less agreed on - wait for it - Nikita. Or Nikita Sonali Lim to be precise and Niki for short.

Nikita still fulfills my requirement to have a name with Greek origin, it means 'unconquered' and is derived from 'Nike' which is what I have been calling her from Day 1 anyway.

Sonali means 'golden', a nod to her godmother Swana whose own name 'Suvarna' means the golden one plus if she's a Fire sign, all the more gold would suit! The bonus is that Nikita also sounds like a combination of Nick and Mita...egotistical right?

So there you have it, Nikita Sonali Lim...but then again, we'll wait till she's out and judge her face and personality for a couple of days before confirming!

The wheels on the bike...

Nick had soccer this morning and dragged us all to East Coast. While he and Kevin played with some folks from the travel trade, Swana and I spent time with the bubbas on the beach, feeding them breakfast before heading over to Burger King to have breakfast ourselves.

Only when the guys had finished playing and we were done with breakfast, did the Jays and Danams arrive for Sarah and Riley to join the fun. The weather was just too hot for staying outdoors so I opted to stay inside BK and keep Nick company while he ate, and the rest decided to rent bicycles with baby seats. Arlyn rode with Nat, Swana with Gigi, Jeanette with Riley and Kenny with Sarah.



Gigi even fell asleep during the ride, lulled by the fresh sea breeze and Swana struggled to keep her from leaning out too far and falling out the seat!

Nat had fun 'cycling', we shall have to do it again sometime when I don't have a 9kg watermelon in front of me. Can't remember the last time I was on a bike!

In the evening we had dinner with Mildred, me and Nick went to Upper Serangoon to takeaway Punggol Nasi Lemak, queue was horrendous...we waited almost 40 mins in line!

Chubby bubby

Nat is now 25 months and a real chatterbox. She's always asking questions and repeating after us, starting to also try her hand at dressing herself - pulling shorts or tees on.



She sings at the top of her lungs at night when trying to falling asleep - from 'Twinkle Twinkle' to 'Tommy Thumb' or 'London Bridge'. And I mean really loud!

She remembers people and actions from weeks ago, repeating that she touched Baby Rayhan's fan before and that Aunty Puni gave her a magnetic drawing board. She also loves playing with bubble wrap. I had some giant ones at work and have been bringing her a small sheet a day.



For some reason, insects love her. The past few days she has been getting bitten but Gigi and the rest of us have nothing. Must be the Chinese blood and thin skin making her more prone!

She likes to hop, only getting a few inches off the ground. I still brush her teeth for her because on her own, she'll just lick and eat the toothpaste.

She's starting to fill out nicely, not as skinny as before. She loves carbo, always asking for rice when we're having dinner, even though she's eaten! Current weight is about 10.5kg yet she complains her L diaper is 'too tight'.



Her routine these days is to have a milk feed (15oml) around 5.30 or 6am where she'll sit up in her cot and ask for milk, but only wake up proper at about 7.30 am - 8 am, have breakfast, play till lunch at 12ish, have a bath, then drink another 150ml of milk before napping for about 2-2.5hrs. She might have some biscuits at 4pm, then it's dinner at 6pm before another wash-up and finally bed at around 9.30pm if we're lucky.

Gigi at 18 months doesn't really follow any schedule, more like own time, own target...to each his own! She calls me 'Bita', sometimes 'Mummy Bita'. She can name some colours, shapes and animals like star, red, cat, dog, bear etc. She likes to spout gibberish and is a little Miss Independent, able to play and entertain herself.

She still whines when anyone leaves the house and has a case of eczema on her neck that just won't go away and bothers her no end. She gets very 'geram' when she's teething, trying to bite others, hopefully more teeth appear soon.

She was sick over the CNY period and lost some of her baby fat but it's slowing coming back on. She's a bit of a klutz, knocking over water jugs and glasses, must keep an eye on her.

She's also oblivious to danger, last week at Nya Nya's house, she took out a pair of scissors from a kitchen drawer and proudly walked out to the living room with it, much to our horror! And she still disturbs switches and power outlets despite constant warnings and periods of facing the wall!

7th Heaven

Have been Mrs Lim for seven years now, according to tradition it would be our copper anniversary. I didn't get the boy anything copper-related, opting instead for a very practical deluxe health screening package at Raffles Medical. Times are still hard, so it's also doubling up as his birthday present in advance! My pressie was the red Kate Spade handbag which you already know.

Was on leave today to take maternity shots at The Studio Loft. I didn't think my stomach was that big till I saw the photos...must be the angles! This is me at 34 weeks...











Dinner this year was at Restaurant Ember at Hotel 1929, had been meaning to try it for quite a while and managed to get reservations at short notice...guess Mondays are easier. Nick wasn't too impressed by the other patrons, they were of the Channel 8 variety and the restaurant was noisy...snob.

Food-wise, the sundried tomato bread they served was delish. He had a glass of riesling and I had a sparkling strawberry wine. I opted for pan-seared scallops for my appetizer, it came with a pumpkin puree which was quite nice, while he had mushroom soup and commented it tasted like Campbell's. It was better than that, more like the Marche kind, except 3 times the price!


We both had fish mains, I had the miso cod, he had a pan seared Chilean sea bass. Based on reviews, everyone had been raving about the cod, but I wasn't impressed. It was a bit overdone and there was too much miso methinks. I much preferred Nickypoo's sea bass which came with a mushroom and bacon ragout.



We shared a coconut panna cotta with gula melaka for dessert. That was yums, the panna cotta was rich and creamy and I love gula melaka...Kevin would so dig this dessert!


Because the restaurant was nearby, we didn't drive to save on valet and ERP. He walked there from work, and Kevin dropped me off at Everton. Felt like tourists walking along Keong Saik, lots of interesting shops and restaurants. It's so near home, one of these days we should explore during the daytime, along with Bukit Pasoh and Ann Siang...