Dress me up

I think my new year resolution for 2011 should be to stop buying so many dresses but from now till then, the dress bingeing continues!

Arriving soon are 6 new dresses, don’t know when I’ll ever get to wear all of them, but some are suitable for work. These first 4 were purchased on Overstock.com via Comgateway’s concierge service and the last 2 from eBay.

1) Evan Picone Women’s Tropical Garden Sheath Dress in Mango Multi – US$23.99. Saw it almost a month ago and there was only 1 pc left in my size. Tried to order via Comgateway only for it to be sold out before they proceeded. Been trawling eBay for the past month hoping it would show up to no avail. Just when I was resigned to not ever finding it, it showed up on Overstock.com again and I quickly submitted my concierge request and anxiously waited almost 24 hours to find out it had been successfully ordered. Maybe the previous buyer returned it, but my gain!

2) Jump Apparel Women’s Short Charmeuse Bubble Dress – US$86.99. A bit pricey but loved the colour combination and print.


3) London Times Women’s Sleeveless Belted Dress – US$33.99. Thought it would be good for work, always wanted one of these two-fer colourblock dresses.


4) London Times Women’s Black & White Floral Dress – US$33.99. Drawn to the border in the middle, another great dress for work.


5) Ali Ro Silk Jersey Tunic Dress – US$80. The eBay seller had priced it at US$119 but had the option to make an offer. Silly me, I should have offered lower but submitted US$80 and it was accepted! Saw this on Nordstroms a couple of years back, had saved the image for future dress samples to copy and accidentally found it on eBay during a random search. Like hitting the jackpot, except it looks better on the model than it does on me!


6) Donna Morgan Jersey Silk Dress - US$56. Was determined to win the bid, usually retails at $120 but I got it at half off. Only bought because of contrasting borders...am a sucker for them!

Chinatown finds

Oh woe is me, I just can’t seem to stop buying dresses (there are more on the way from online shopping).

It’s not a need, it’s a want. And when I like a dress and it fits, I just get it, no matter what the price tag says but the threshold is around $120 per dress unless it’s really really nice or a designer one.

Am just enjoying this period of being a dress size down and filling up my wardrobe on the pretext that my old clothes are loose. But it won’t last long, I expect to start piling on the weight in December once it hits the festive season and then I’ll have to go back to my ‘fat’ clothes.

Here are the latest purchases over the last 4 days mostly from Chinatown (yes, Chinatown!) of all places. There are a number of shops at People’s Park that sell factory overrun clothes purportedly from designer labels.

Most have their labels slashed but you can still make out the brands. I am not entirely convinced of authenticity, I think most shops have a mixture of real and fake so it depends on your luck and how much you think a dress is worth. Helps to know what the trends are and collections from your favourite designers.

Some are really good copies, there are so many ‘Karen Millen’ dresses at these shops that look like the real thing, but the workmanship gives it away. Some also use the same materials that the designers use but come up with their own designs so while the fabric may be genuine, the design is not.

1) ‘Prada’ black ruched dress with flutter sleeve – Only 1 piece at R&J Fashion (Level 3, People’s Park near Ocean) and in my size too (European 38). The cutting was really nice and flattering, so real or not, I really liked it and parted with $110. I could do with more little black dresses!


2) ‘DVF’ black and white floral silk boat neck dress – Also from R&J Fashion, it was $100 but I didn’t mind because it was silk. Really doubt it’s DVF, maybe some other brand. Phyllis bought a yellow and grey version that was nice too. I liked the retro-ness of it and they threw in the belt for free.


3) Floral chiffon tunic dress - $39.90 from Nichii Fashion City. Recognised the big bright flower from a DVF maxi dress called the Beach Notre Cover Up in Warhol Daisy, same print, different materials. Thought of using as a long top instead, paired with white capris.



4) Hawaiian floral print halter maxi dress - $59 from Scent Hut @ People’s Park Level 3. Found this shop yesterday, the lady was very nice but kept pushing ugly old ah-lian outfits to me! Still managed to find some nice pieces in the shop though. This one is brandless but I liked the cutting, very forgiving for blubbery stomachs!


5) Laundry by Shelli Segal B&W jersey mock-wrap dress – bargained to $70 from Scent Hut. Am inclined to believe this is real, the workmanship was good, labels intact and sizing accurate. A great dress for work.


6) ‘DVF’ butterfly print silk dress – $95 from Scent Hut. Could tell it was fake and the owner admitted it wasn’t the real thing, which was good of her, but she emphasised it was silk so that’s what I’m paying for. Been looking for this dress actually.


The real dress is from DVF and called the Sybil dress in Black Flying Butterfly print. The original would have been in silk jersey and cost US$345, here’s a runway picture from Spring 2009. You can spot some of the differences to the neckline but the main difference is to the fabric, this one is just printed silk. But I love butterflies…

The little tiger roars

The pumpkin is 7 months today and yay, she can sit. Not on her own, but if placed on the sofa or bed, she doesn’t flop over anymore and stays upright for quite a while. She’s been practicing by sitting up in her rocker instead of lying down and we can carry her without having to support her back anymore. We’ve also taken out the bouncer so she has somewhere to play during the day.


I’ve started encouraging her to crawl, placing toys or her pacifier out of reach. She would roll from side to side and wriggle with determination until she reaches the item. She is also starting to move toys from one hand to the other


She cannot stay still on the changing table at all, always turning to the side to grab things like the diaper rash cream or combs. Changing her diapers can be a struggle when she doesn’t cooperate, have to always give her something to hold and distract her.


I’m doing more action songs with her, she giggles when she’s tickled. For some reason, she’s fascinated with Nat and loves having her sister around and she’s always watching what she does. Sometimes Sasha will tap my palm when she’s excited and kick her legs a lot, soon she’ll be clapping. If I put my hands out, she’ll reach out her arms to be carried so I think she recognises who’s Mummy.


The cereal feeding continues, she still spits out half the stuff, but Wendy manages to make her finish half a small bowl. Will do some veggie purees this weekend.



She likes to screech and ‘growl’, sometimes choking on her own saliva. This tiger likes to roar, her cries can get loud when she’s hungry and spots her milk. If you’re not fast enough, she’ll tear the house down. I’ve added handles to her bottle so she mostly feeds herself her milk these days.

At the last check, she weighs about 7.3kg and still drinks 120ml every 4 hours. I have almost stopped the booby milk, just expressing the last dregs nowadays, should be done in a week.

Occasionally I’ve heard her say something that sounds like ‘ma-mum’, so not long before she sprouts more babblish. She likes to grab the window grilles when standing near the window and she’ll bite down on a bar.


At bedtime, she likes to hug a bolster or stroke a blanket when she’s being put to sleep, sometimes she’ll smush her face into the bolster to get a whiff or suck the pillowcase. Hope she doesn’t get too attached. I’ve noticed her sucking her thumb on occasion, going to nip that habit in the butt!

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!