Oh so moist!

Swana had a stall near my office last Friday, we were only seperated by Lau Pa Sat. I had completely forgotten she would be in the neighbourhood until she called asking for lunch. I just so happened to have a spare salad so off I went to Hong Leong Building to check out the KPMG staff bazaar where MINDS had a booth.

I ended up shopping from the small variety of stalls, buying tea, biscuits and cupcakes. The cupcakes caught my eye because they were so prettily decorated and I luuurrve blue icing!

Spotted this snowman looking for an owner and took him home. He was worth my $3 because it was one of the moistest cakes I've had for a while, dense with a subtle lemon flavour. I love citrus-flavoured pound cakes!

The stall was called Jin Cakes and it's managed by a freelance baker, I can foresee ordering something from here in future!

My Little Giraffe (Part 2)

The giraffe hairband is proving to be highly amusing. Next must try my Shrek one and the Stitch ear hairclips! Gigi doesn't look so amused though.

This week was the start of her Spottiswoode adventures, Swana drops her and Ma everyday now enroute to work. We're gonna take turns with the baby-drop every 3 months.

Little Miss Chatterbox

Nat has become a regular Little Miss Chatterbox overnight, having expanded her vocabulary yesterday.

As of Monday night, she could only say, "Ah?", especially as we drove down Orchard to see this year's Christmas light-up. She was enthralled by the lights, colours and trees and stared out the window throughout the trip, commenting, "Ah?" every few metres or so.

But yesterday, she moved on to 'Mmm' sounds, along with 'Bah' and 'Pa' and sometimes she'll string them together and we thought we heard, "mamabahpa'. It's not a deliberate 'mamapapa' so we know she's not addressing us just yet...but soon I hope!

I think her 2nd front lower tooth is about to erupt, can feel it poking under the gums...and that will make it 2.

D-Day

Another batch of DD orders arrived last Friday, thanks to Kevin who had a last minute trip to Ho Chi Minh. After his appointments, he met Joanne to collect my stuff but he and Swana toyed with my emotions before I could receive the goods.

You see, he got home pretty late on Friday and I was already in bed when Swana smsed that Kevin had lost the bag of clothes.

Swana: Er, Kevin left ur bag in the cab

Me: Wat? Call the cab cos! Does he hv the receipt?

Before waiting for a reply, I called their house immediately, demanding to find out what was going on and asking them to call the taxi companies to retrieve the bag.

Ma was in cahoots with them and they put her on the line. She wasn't very forthcoming and her unhurried tone sort of gave it away, because normally she would be a bit more concerned. Plus I heard giggling in the background. Ma got on my nerves because I was getting nowhere with her, so I hung up before smsing Swana again.

Me: He'll have to pay 4 all the dresses, plus compensate joanne for all her customer stuff

Swana: Thought it was pretty funny

Me: It's not funny. He has to tell joanne and incur her wrath.

Swana: As in twas funny to hear ur reaction

Me: I am not amused

Swana: We are! :-) u take clothes so seriously
Me: Its not about my stuff. Other people were looking fwd to their orders, some materials wldn't be available anymore. how to replace pple's samples? My stuff secondary
Swana: U very slow ah
Me: I already told nick i suspected it was a joke b4 calling, Ma was irritating, i hung up on her.
Me: Thanks for giving me a coronary and disrupting my sleep
Swana: But u did bring up a good point which u should highlight to Joanne - wat if her messenger loses their luggage - who's liable?
Me: Well the messenger then...unless airlines loses it
Swana: Messenger already doing a favour
Me: Are my dresses nice?

Anyway, here are my latest dresses... I'm set for Christmas and CNY!

Where did the weekend go?

The weekend just flew, even though it was a long one with a public holiday today for Hari Raya Haji.

Mildred is having a 9-day Novena / Rosary session at home which started last Thursday, and on Friday we were summoned over. Nat managed to stay pretty quiet except for a few moments of gibberish.

On Saturday morning, we brought her to East Coast but Sleepyhead fell asleep in the car and snoozed throughout breakfast. No matter, me and Nick managed to have a quiet breakfast at the hawker centre, which was surprisingly empty as only a handful of stalls were open. If I had known the place was so dead on Saturday morn

ings, I would have gone there much sooner.

I love the laksa at this hawker centre and was greatly relieved to find it open so early, it's called Roxy Laksa...and it's got standard as affirmed by the numerous news articles and awards stuck to its stallfront.

The gravy has the right amount of lemak and spice, and was not too watery or thick. They give you about 3 medium prawns and for $1 extra, you get a generous serving of cockles, which I don't eat. Anyway I was so tempted to order another bowl after I finished my meal but resisted!

Took away a few packets for the Membina folks though and hung out there for a bit before heading home to prepare for tea with Nick's friends Debra and Colin. Debra's preggers and wanted to look at the maternity clothes I have for sale, she bought 1 dress in the end.

At night, after the munchkin fell asleep, Nick and I headed to St James Powerstation to meet the rest of the cousins for Kaelash's 29th birthday celebrations.

Went to Boiler Room first, followed by Powerhouse before landing up at Movida. Felt sooooo old at Powerhouse, everybody looked 16! Shared a chicken cheese hotdog with Nick from the tapas bar, which was pretty damn good, though at $6 bucks was a tad pricey. Maybe I was just hungry but I'm still drooling just thinking about it. Mmmm...

Went for a later mass on Sunday at St Teresa's, Swana and Kevin brought Gigi to church for the first time. She slept throughout most of the service though and as usual Nat could not keep still, this time she had 5 adults to play musical chairs with.

A woman walked in just as mass started and I got all excited because she was wearing what I recognised to be a Delirious Divas top. I wondered if I might know her and when she turned around, it was none other than Lynette, my ex-colleague from SingTel. She's a big DD fan. Her son is 2 months younger than Nat but way, way bigger!

After mass, me and Nick attended a Melbourne property talk at Conrad, the Aussie dollar is pretty low now but I don't think we'll be making any purchases anytime soon.

Had dinner at AMK and stayed in the room to babysit Nat while the rosary session went on. The munchkin just HAD to poop while we were in there! After AMK, Nick dropped me off at Iguana's where I joined Swana, Vim and Judy for a drink. Had a Kiwi margarita, but it didn't taste anything like kiwis to me.

Just went for a wake, Mr Ho See Beng (who was at our wedding) passed away last Friday at the age of 90. He was one of Uncle Devan's best friends and Pops also used to work for his daughter, Geok Choo at CIAS during my SHATEC days. In the past, Pops also used to help the family bring Mr Ho for walks at East Coast up to 3 times a week, where they would often bump into S R Nathan exercising.

There's been a lot of press coverage on his death, after all he was an ex-MP and the NTUC's first president. The family were very warm, especially his daughters and widow who hugged me and Ma. I nearly teared when his wife hugged me and gripped my hand, even though she probably had no idea who I was. I was introduced as Daya's daughter but I'm not sure it registered.

I tried not to stare at Suzanne Ho, one of his grand-daughters. She was my favourite newscaster on TV, and she looked even better in person, her voice is so soothing.

While we were there, it occured to us that Mr Ho and Uncle Devan died on almost the same date - 5 Dec - albeit 3 years apart. Uncle Devan's time of passing was late night of 5 Dec in Ontario, but it was past midnight so technically it's 6th lah. But still, quite freaky. And what's freakier is that both men were also born on the 5th! 5 August for Uncle Devan, and 5 February for Mr Ho.

In a seperate coincidence, Aunty Dhanam who was born on 18 Jan, died on 18 Apr. 18th and 18th!

Gone too soon

The world changed irrevocably on September 11 2001. That's when terrorism reared its ugly head and ended the lives of over 3000 innocent people. Since then, acts of terror have made frequent headlines in the news worldwide and though Singapore has been largely unaffected and we feel safe here, we should not be lulled into a false sense of security.

There are pockets of extremism but the government has done a fairly good job of staying vigilant. But what happens outside our shores is beyond our control.

And so, innocent lives were lost once again last week when a group of armed gunmen attacked several locations in Mumbai including two 5-star hotels, taking their occupants hostage.

What's different about this attack? For one, it lasted a couple of days because of the hostage situation, and secondly a Singaporean was among the hostages. That was just too close for comfort. What were the odds of a safe return? I was not optimistic but I was hoping against hope. I didn't know who the person was but as a fellow citizen, I was concerned.

Then the news came that the Singaporean didn't make it, the terrorists gunned down everybody either before or during battle with Indian troops. The person's identity was revealed and it turned out to be a young Chinese female lawyer in the prime of her life, Lo Hwei Yen.

I somehow felt sickened. I know thousands of people die every day, but their circumstances are not always so violent or tragic.

She was recently married, had her whole life ahead of her, was pretty and successful. Such a waste, I can't imagine what her husband and family are going through. Maybe I felt an affinity because she was from an interracial marriage, her husband is half Sri Lankan, half Chinese.

Incidentally, we had some colleagues working on Mumbai projects at the time of the attacks, a few were staying at the affected hotels but managed to escape though they got stranded a while because their travel documents were left in their rooms. Again, too close for comfort.

All this is a reminder not to take our youth, health and relationships for granted. Anything can happen at anytime, so don't be complacent. As Oprah says, "Live your best life."

10 months of bliss

Gee, time really does fly. Only 21 days till Christmas and Nat is officially 10 months.

She still only has the one tooth, which is soooo slow in growing. Bought her a toothbrush but she uses it mainly to relieve her sore gums. She prefers my finger though and will guide it along her gums, the expression of relief on her face is so funny, like a junkie high on drugs.

The girl is cheeky too, she knows when the camera is on her and smiles for it, but only when flash is used.


She's small compared to others her age but within the normal range. She has made more progress in some areas, among them:

Clapping - She can clap on demand but still no sound made. It's just the repeat motion of palms together, sometimes it's palms on top of each other as if beating a bongo with overlapping hands.

Twinkling - Finally she can do the effects for her theme song, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Her tiny fingers will open and close as if squeezing on a stress ball whenever she hears 'twinkle'.

Kissing - When we say 'kiss', she will occasionally lean forward and put her face to one of ours...but it's very inconsistent. The only person she does this regularly with though, is Gigi. If we hold her near Gigi and say "Kiss Gigi", she will lean down and put her lips on Gigi's face almost every time. So selective!

Saying no - When she's full, she'll shake her head. And sometimes when asked simple questions on whether she wants milk, she will roll her head from side to side. So I'm sure she understands what 'no' is. Now to get her to nod 'yes'!

Talking - No, she can't talk yet but she sure is getting vocal. Sometimes she'll look at you and go, "Aaah?" and there's a definite questioning tone to her 'aaah'.

Standing - The munchkin has been getting into a standing position unassisted very often the last couple of weeks and gets better everyday. Sometimes she'll hold the sides of the cot or a person on the bed then let go, and she can stand for about 10 seconds. Other times she'll get on her hands and knees and slowly raise herself and try to balance, she looks like she's surfing!

Walking - When we hold her hands, she will walk, one foot in front of the other, very instinctive but she doesn't always put her weight on her feet. I think she will be able to walk a little by her 1st birthday. She gets all excited and bounces up and down, which leads me to dancing...


Dancing - I think my girl is down with R&B! When we hold her upright with her hands and if there's music in the background, Nat will start bopping. Her idea of dancing though is to bend her knees and bounce up and down, but I must admit, the girl's got rhythm! And she will get all pleased with herself and start panting like a happy puppy.

Rolling / Throwing - She loves to play ball. We'll sit at opposite ends and I'll roll a ball to her, her movements are still jerky but she will attempt to push the ball back to me. Or throw it.

Kicking - Nat has a habit of kicking her legs when she's happy or excited, especially when being carried. One of her legs will start swinging, like she's saying, "Giddy up horsey!". She was engrossed in a kickaround we saw at West Coast Park, I think we might have a soccer player on our hands.

On the down side, Nat has been pooping more ever since her 1st bout of diarrhea. Every now and then she'll have loose bowels which then leads to nappy rash and weight loss. How to grow like that?

And she's more selective about who puts her to sleep, I don't think she likes my bony shoulders anymore. When she's tired and cranky, she needs a more well-padded shoulder. Alternatively, she will flop around on the bed, like a beached whale. She'll stumble from pillow to pillow until she finds a comfortable position and rub her hands up and down over the bedsheet, like she's calculating the threadcount. I miss rocking her to sleep...

Gigi is 3 months today and Swana went back to work this week. Kevin just got back from NZ on Monday and hadn't seen his daughter for a few weeks. She's grown a fair bit since he left, got really fleshy arms. Her eyelashes still amaze me, she coos and gurgles now and is starting to laugh. Need to strengthen her neck muscles though, it's tummy time!