Happy 37th birthday Nickypoo!

The hubby is 37 today, I think I will have to stop referring to him as 'the boy' very soon, because he ain't getting any younger!

We went for morning mass, and originally the plan was to have lunch at Applebee's but Nat insisted on going to Suntec to see the water fountain. When we got there, it wasn't turned on and she exclaimed that it was sick!


Had a simple lunch at Qiji, Nick was in a mee siam mood. Thereafter he brought Nat to Toys R Us, while I went to Royal Sporting House with Sasha, who promptly fell asleep in her stroller having missed her morning nap.


Mildred came over in the late afternoon, she helped me collect the birthday cake I ordered from Jin's Cakes. Decided to surprise the boy with a Spitfire plane!


His pressie this year was a Braun Buffel overnight bag and the girls 'gave' him a Star Wars tee from Old Navy.

Ben and Wendy came over, so did Pops, Ma and Aunty Sarda. We waited forever for the Dopes to arrive so Gigi could take part in the cake-cutting, they had been in a family photoshoot prior to coming.



And now the birthday boy is on his way to the airport to catch a flight to Guernsey, via Dubai and Gatwick. It's a Channel Island, and he has to attend a board meeting because his colleague had a medical procedure and could not go. At least he's going on business class, told him to swipe the goodies on board for me!

Longkang fishing at Bottle Tree Park

I've been wanting to visit Bottle Tree Park for a while now and we finally got our chance earlier this evening when Melissa organised a kiddie-friendly outing there that included longkang fishing. But, just as we were reaching, it poured big time!

Actually it's a pretty big area with several ponds but I only saw 1 bottle tree!



It ended up with just Melissa and her boyfriend De Rong prawn-fishing, while the rest of us sought respite from the humidity at the seafood restaurant within the compound.


The kids i.e. Gigi, Nat and Raiden played with the rain and took turns looking at the fish tanks. Nick and I were similarly dressed in navy stripes with khaki shorts but I didn't realise it till we reached!



We decided to adjourn to Monica's place for dinner, me and Nick stopped to takeaway Indian rojak from Jalan Lengkok Sembawang but the coffeeshop appears to have changed owners and the rojak sauce was too sweet. Melissa bought chilli crab from Bottle Tree Park, it was pretty darn good.

The kids had a ball running around the house and playing with Raiden's toys. They played hide and seek with Aunty Rachel and Gigi manja-ed with Uncle Bernard, resting her head on his lap to drink milk. With all the running around, Nat and Gigi fell asleep before we were even halfway home, should tire them out like that more often!

H is for...

...Hawker Fare at Hyatt and Happy Birthday to my Hottie of a Husband. That's 5 Hs!

The boy turns 37 tomorrow and we celebrated on our own a day in advance. He had been wanting to go back to Straits Kitchen ever since we went with Nya Nya a few years ago and so we decided we would make that our H date.


I didn't know one needed to make a reservation a couple of weeks in advance for dinner, but lunch was easier to secure so I booked that instead.

We roped in Mildred to babysit, and when she came, she brought Nick's old passport photo to pass me...can you see the resemblance with Sasha?


The spread was pretty wide at Straits Kitchen but it was all Asian food. I can't say that any dishes stood out, everything was very normal tasting. Didn't manage to try everything, or rather, I decided not to waste space on the chicken rice, rojak and popiah



There was buah keluak in the Malay section but it couldn't hold a candle to Mummy's. The prawn mee was bland, the North Indian food so-so but I was still full by dessert time.



Their orh nee was super sweet and the pulut hitam watery. I enjoyed the sago gula melaka though, and created my own dessert by adding coconut ice cream to a piping hot goreng pisang. Lunch was $44 per head before tax but thanks to my colleague who volunteered to loan me his mum's Club Hyatt card, we got 50% off. So in the end I can't really complain, because I saved $50!

Headed to Vivo after lunch so he could trim his hair (H for Haircut!) and we had to stop by an Esso to fill a front tyre with some air, which got him all hot and bothered!

SSC reunion @ Chalk

It had been ages since I saw my ex-colleagues from SSC and we arranged to meet yesterday. Everyone has moved on, except Parames. He's still there and suffering, LOL!

Parames reserved Chalk at Old School, and I managed to hitch a ride with him midway when we found out through SMS we were passing City Hall - me in the bus and he in his car. So I alighted and waited for him to pick me up and didn't have to trudge up the 101 steps next to Cathay Building!

We also picked up Roger on the way, and when we arrived, Michelle, MJ and Evelyn were already seated. MJ was looking good, having lost quite a bit of weight and Jenny joined us not long after and we had a pleasant time catching up and gossiping.

Chalk itself seemed nice, a tad pretentious though it's not a fine dining place, there was a snooty waiter who seemed impatient and hardly smiled. But there was another waiter who was cute and friendly and explained the menu to us. They don't charge GST and service charge but prices are not cheap either.



I had a chicken cacciatore which was priced at $34 and we shared a vegetarian pizza. The pizza was good, lots of zucchini, my favourite!


We didn't linger for dessert, and wanted to go to the Timbre next door for drinks but they were full. So instead we drove down to Clarke Quay and ended up at Forbidden City, where there were some actors dressed as Chinese opera characters standing on the balcony. That's their job apparently, just stand there and pose and chit chat among themselves!


We all ordered their signature cocktails, I regretted mine though. There was manuka honey vodka in it, but it made the drink bitter.



Naturally with the elections coming up, talked was centered around that. We just chilled and chatted and before we knew it, it was past midnight. Called it a night after 1 drink and I hitched a ride back with Parames again. He's practically a neighbour, staying at the Pinnacles.

Even though I was only at the council for five months, and the rest had worked together longer, I didn't feel like an outsider...thanks to Facebook for allowing us to keep in regular contact. Looking forward to the next gathering, am sure we will all meet again soon.

Polka Party!

Finally the day of Sasha’s party arrived and since it was being held in the evening, we didn’t have to rush so much in the day. But we were still late!

The theme was Polka Dots, initially I wanted to do something Greek-related and was hunting high and low for a suitable place. Was gonna call it ‘My Big Fat Greek 1st Birthday’ but alas it was not meant to be. Maybe her second birthday, LOL!


Polka dots was partly inspired by the party décor I ordered online and the dress I had lined up for her months ago. Also, because we’d done flowers and rainbow stripes for Nat already, I wanted something different but still easy to pull off. Here was the invite inspired by her dress.



The venue was Hort Park, same room Nat had her birthday so at least they won’t compare parties when they’re older because I tried to be even to both. I did a slideshow to loop of Sasha’s photos over the past year, and ordered cake from the same freelance baker. Food was from Four Seasons Catering, one of Hort Park’s official caterers. It was alright, much better than Nat’s Care Bear Party and Ma made a couple of dishes to supplement, which was wiped out fast!




We could only take possession of the room at 5.30pm, party started at 6.30pm but I had invited people with kids to come earlier if they wanted to go to the playground. So there were some earlybirds who came in the middle of us setting up, and they landed up lending a hand, like the Pereiras!



Swana arrived not long after and brought the kids to see the fish and go to the playground while the rest of us frantically blew balloons and pasted circles on the wall.

My decorations almost didn’t arrive in time though I had ordered them 3 weeks prior. After chasing and getting Comgateway to check, they finally arrived 2 days before the party, I was getting so edgy!

Made a couple of trips to Middle Road to buy goodie bag stuff and a piñata…took me ages to decide if I even wanted a piñata! Nearly bought a Dalmatian one for its spots, but decided against it because I didn’t want to encourage children to ‘beat’ dogs.

As usual, the party was a blur to me, because I was official photographer and trying to keep track of the programme and at the same time, make sure kids are entertained.

There were lots of polka-dotty guests, it was funny to see. Even Kevin had dots on his shirt and Nick had tiny circles. Trust Germaine to come in pajama pants just because they had dots on them, only she can pull it off!



Joanne and Rayhan were in town again, so we had the pleasure of their company at the party too. Ray is such a pie, just does whatever Joanne tells him to do, including kiss Nat! Real ladies man, this one!


Roped in Rachel and Swana to help conduct the games, mainly the smaller farts played. We did a ‘Stick the candle on the cupcake’, Statue Dance and the piñata. Caitlin had the closest candle on the poster so she won a prize, loved her romper!



Statue Dance was a bit difficult to control and judge, because kids that age cannot stay still for nuts! And I had no heart to kick them out. There was a funny moment when Alistair kept throwing himself at Rachel’s legs and clinging on for dear life!

Ethan was the one who picked the correct string to release the piñata catch, I bet Albert who was helping him had studied it before and knew exactly which string to pull! Heh heh.


Before I knew it, it was time to cut cake! It was a bit tough to cut through the icing, plus it was so tall. Really glad I picked the chocolate from Jin’s Cakes, it was moist and rich, and not overly sweet and there were lots of compliments.




Thank you to all who came and for your generous ang pows and gifts, I’m sorry we were such lousy hosts, but you know how these things are. Wished I could have chatted more but was so distracted. 1000 apologies!

Happy 1st Birthday Pumpkin!

It's April Fools Day and also my little pumpkin's 1st birthday! How time flies!

Have spent the last few days preparing for her party tomorrow and fretting over the delay in arrival of her party decor but everything seems to be falling into place. Phew!

Took leave today to spend with the bubs and Mildred came over with a blackforest cake from Pine Garden. Sasha doesn't yet know how to blow candles but she claps her hands whenever Happy Birthday is sung.



She had another candle blowing session in the evening, with a little Hello Kitty cake Swana bought.



When Nat turned 1, The Studio Loft was having a walk in shoot for V-Day and we got some pictures of her on her actual birthday but no such luck for Sasha. So I took some photos of her on our sofa, in a new romper. Hopefully I can make their Easter walk-in end of this month so she gets some photos at age 1 too.




At 1, Sasha can't walk yet though she can cruise a little. Poor girl is still deprived of attention during the day with everyone focused on Gigi and Nat, she gets chucked in her playpen most of the time.

She likes to flip books and has 4 teeth out, she can't say any proper words yet, but can go 'wow', 'uh-oh' and her 'hi' sounds like 'hey'. She smacks her lips when you say 'kiss' and she has a really cute dance when we ask her to dance. More of a hand movement really, which we have termed the Monster Dance.

She eats 3 meals a day, naps twice a day and sleeps from 8.30 pm to 7 am with a dream feed at midnight but she'll fuss for milk at around 6am. She's really loving, likes to snuggle, a creature of comfort with her bolster and pacifier required for sleeptime.

She's a complain queen, whines or yells at every little thing, especially being left alone in the playpen. She's tickled when I go 'ouch', especially when she keeps hitting my chest and my reaction only spurs her on.

She has a devil may care attitude when climbing down from the bed, sometimes she gets it, most times she doesn't. She can climb up Nat's low bed though and down the balcony step, and experiences the occasional stranger anxiety, but they seem to be directed at certain people like Aunty Mala and Bhaskar.

She cannot sit still and changing her diaper is a chore because she grabs one thing after another from the changing table and puts it in her mouth. She can point to her head and eyes and is fascinated by whatever Nat and Gigi do. But Nat bullies her in a way, by using or taking her toys, or insisting on using Sasha's bolster.

She's at that stage where she throws toys and books on the floor and expects you to pick up, and needs a distraction to sit still in the high chair or stroller.


She weighs about 9.5kg, am sure Nat was at least 2kgs lighter at this age...our backs are suffering! She hates getting out of the tub after her bath, preferring to linger in the warm water. I must try to bring her swimming one of these days, am sure she's going to love the water.

Times like these when they start being less baby-like, it's tempting to contemplate another child to go through that whole newborn process again...but no, not now. Will think about it in 2013, provided I've visited San Francisco and Spain by then! But according to the ring pendulum, I'm stopping at two!