Flowers, flowers, flowers!

Finally a post NOT about Beanie!

My frangipani is flowering! Hurray! For a period of time, I thought the plant was dying. It was a sick plant as most of its leaves were infested with mealy bugs. I sprayed so much white neem oil that all the leaves dropped and I had a completely botah tree for a few weeks.

So much so that I actually started shopping for a new tree until I noticed that there were new shoots sprouting out and before I knew it, I see bunches of flowers!

Such beautiful blooms... makes my day, everyday. ;)

Beanie at Bistro du Vin

We brought little Beanie to Bistro Du Vin for lunch 2 weeks ago and there she was, happily nibbling on a tiny piece of bread.

So far, Beanie has been very well behaved whenever we bring her out for lunch. She enjoys sitting at the table with us, either happily chewing on a piece of bread or watching us eat while she swallows her saliva furiously! I will usually bring her lunch along with us, and then feed her at the table so that all of us will eat together. This is also to introduce to her the concept of dinning together and that meal times are also social events.

So here are some tips on how to bring your little one out for a meal in a chi-chi restaurant (or any restaurant lah):

1) Bring baby out in her "awake" window. Ie: if baby's usual nap time is 11 am, do let baby nap before bringing her out. You do not want a cranky baby in a restaurant.

2) Bring along her favorite biscuit or finger food. That should keep her busy or happy for at least 15 mins.

3) Allow baby to eat at the table with everyone, she will enjoy the company and will most probably finish her portion because everyone else is eating too. Monkeys see, monkeys do.

4) Allow baby to feed herself with a spoon, yes, it will be very messy but she will be so engross in getting food into her mouth that she will leave you alone for at least another 15 mins. Just bring along a really BIG bib.

5) Dress your baby in her cutest. If all things fail and baby is making a racket, at least it is a cute baby and people will tend to be more forgiving! ;)

And Beanie takes after... ... ...?

My little helper at about 5.5 months.

This is a picture of me and my grannie when I was a baby.

And this was Hub when he was a baby... ;)

Beanie really looks a lot like Hub. It's like seeing a mini version of him crawling around the house now. The resemblance is uncanny!

But when my little Beanie smiles, somehow her face kinda changes a bit and she will then look like me.

What do you guys think? ;)

Beanie is having fun in a pool of balls!

"look at my invisible right hand!" *waving frantically*

Ok, now both hands are invisible! Whoopee!

"What? I cannot wave my hands??? Why??"

"Ok, fine. No waving of hands. I'll look at the uncle who is making funny faces then"

"Can I go back to waving my hands, please?????"

Ok... looking at my past few posts. I can declare that I am finally one of those annoying moms who simply cannot stop talking about their kid(s).

I. just.cannot.help.it.

Being a full-time mom means that my life revolves around this little Beanie girl. If I do not talk about her...... hrm, then I have nothing to talk about. It's sad... but true.

Thankfully I have a bunch of girlfriends who have just become new mommies as well, and when get together... we would just keep talking about our kids non-stop. We don't talk about shopping, husbands, fashion, travels, cookings ... anymore. It's now all about kids, kids, kids and kids.

Geez. It is really quite scary. How could we be so totally consumed by these small little beings????

Anyway, we attended a friend's daughter birthday party this afternoon and there was a "ball-pool" for the little ones to have some fun. It was Beanie's first time in a ball-pool and as you can see, she was very excited to be surrounded by colorful balls!

Beanie has been very well-behaved for the past few outings. She was sociable, without any trace of stranger anxiety (yet!) and went around charming the socks off everyone by staring into their eyes... ... *cue Puss in boots*

Ahh... I love my Beanie girl so much!

Little Beanie is drinking beer! Hahahaha...

My little Beanie is growing so fast!

This is Beanie when she was a few days old.

This is Beanie at 6 months

I'm sure all parents find their kids growing up too fast and too furious. Just 6 months ago, I pushed and pushed and pushed out a little Beanie. She was all pink and soft and oh, so fragile... now, she is roaring aloud and attempting to chase Cookie around the house already. To Cookie's dismay, of course...

Anyway, a little update about me. I've decided to be a financial advisor (FA) and is currently in the process of applying for my license. We have found a nanny a few blocks away who will be looking after Beanie while I am away at work.

Being a FA allows flexible timing and I am basically my own boss. So hopefully, I can still be Beanie main caregiver and at the same time, make a decent living. The ideal scenario will be to put Beanie with the nanny in the morning while I clock into office for training or to get some work done, then pick her up by 2-3 pm. In events when I need to meet clients in the evening, I will then park Beanie back to the nanny again, or the in-laws might babysit if they are available.

I really do hope that this arrangement will work out. As much as I enjoy being a Stay-at-Home-Mom, I do look forward to be financially independent, to put my degree and CFA to good use, as well as to lessen Hub's stress of being the sole breadwinner.

May the force be with me. Wish me luck!

Beanie has started on solids!

I have started Beanie on solids about 3 weeks ago. She was 5 months and 1 week, technically still young to start her on solids. Most of my friends started their babies on solid only after 6 months.

But since Beanie was 5 months old, she was showing a keen interest in food, she would swallow her saliva furiously whenever we were eating in front of her and mimic chewing actions. So her very first meal was rice cereal, followed by steamed and pureed apples, pears, carrots and pumpkins.

She is really into carrots and apples, and will finish her portion eagerly. However, she isn't that into pumpkins. She would clam her mouth shut when I feed her or spit out every bit of pumpkin. O well... ... and I'll most probably introduce steamed green peas, sweet potatoes and bananas in the next few weeks.

Although I am really excited that she is starting on solids, her poo poo is a totally different story. When she was on pure breast milk, her poo was rather pleasant smelling. So washing the cloth diapers were still bearable. But now, her poo poo is sooooo smelly! I have to try very hard not to gag when I'm cleaning the diapers. ;(

Times like these, I do wish that she is on disposable diapers instead!

A day at the beach

Thus, I'm not a florist

Beautiful bouquet of flowers given by a friend as a X'mas gift

Flower arrangement No. 1 for CNY, my virgin attempt at flowers arrangement. Hub said this looked like a turtle.

Flower arrangement No. 2.

During X'mas, a friend gave me a bouquet of flowers as a gift and it was a very much appreciated gift. It was very nicely arranged and I thought that my dinning area looked so much more festive and pleasant with some fresh flowers.

So, for this CNY, I took the trouble to hit the nursery at Thomson and bought some freshly cut flowers, 2 short vases, 1 huge sponge and a lot of enthusiasm to do some flowers jamming.

Hub raised his eyebrows and gave me an incredulous look. "You sure you know how to flower-arrange? It's not as easy as it looks ok.... ...."

"Bleah, how difficult can flowers arrangement be? Just stick the flowers into the sponge lah" I snorted.

Hrm... ... 1 1/2 hours later, I came to a conclusion that arranging flowers was indeed NOT one of my competitive strengths. Half the time, I was swearing under my breath while still trying to pretend that I was enjoying the whole flower-jamming process and at the same time, working very hard to ignore Hub's smug "I-told-you-so" look.

Ugh!

Ok, to all the florists out there, you have my respect!

Beanie says Happy Chinese New Year!

Past few days had been really crazy. Visiting relatives and friends with a baby is not easy. I'm basically running around like a mad woman, packing the diaper bag, cleaning after Beanie, preparing her food (oh, I've started her on solids! I'll update on another post), expressing milk, do housework ... etc.

And I'm still surviving on 5-6 hrs of interrupted sleep (on good days).

Above is Little Beanie doing baby push-ups at a friend's place. So far, she has been rather well-behaved during our visitings. She tends to be shy whenever we are in a new environment. She will sit there quietly to observe the new surroundings, kinda "scan" the new area with her big big eyes. And not much stranger anxiety yet. As long as I'm within her view, she is quite willing to be carried by my friends and relatives.

Ok, I gotta sleep. I'm so tired!

Failed choco pear cake

I started baking again... yay! The cake above looks good right? Unfortunately it didn't taste good. ;(

I had some friends over for dinner a few weeks back and I happened to have 2 very ripe, soft and juicy pears sitting in the fridge, so i thought of baking a chocolate pear pudding cake. I have done this cake twice before and both times turned out delicious.

However, this time round, I did not have some of the ingredients: self-raising flour, milk ... etc. But I had plain flour. Eh... no milk, but maybe I could put more eggs and melted butter instead?

I thought to myself: how bad could a chocolate cake be? And so I experimented.

Result: Epic fail. The cake did not rise, it was too oily (too much butter!) and dense.

My friends were too polite and nice to reject the cake and all of them ate their portions. I felt so bad to serve my guests a horrible cake. ;(

No more experimenting!

Beanie is 5 months old!

"Hmmm... is this purple too? Just like my t-shirt..."

"Heh Heh, I am finally strong enough to bring down the Baby-Gym! Wahaha..."

"Since I'm at it, I might as well take a bite... nom, nom, nom"

"Sofie the Giraffe's head is so yummy... nibble nibble nibble"

My little Beanie is 5 months old already! She is really cute and playful now, I am so enjoying my time with her. A little update on her milestones:

1) She is a drooling champion. I have to change 5-7 bibs a day... she can soak a bib in about 2 hours. Geez... I wonder whether she gets thirsty from all these drools.

2) She can flip from her back to her stomach on both sides, turn 360 degrees and crawl backwards!

3) She can sit unsupported on her own for 5 seconds ... and then topple over.

4) She can grasp her toys and shove them into her mouth under 3 seconds. Previously, she doesn't seem to know where exactly is her mouth.

5) She knows how to hold her feet when I'm changing her diapers, which is very convenient for me to clean her and apply the diaper cream.

In another month's time, I will introduce solids to her. I can't wait to see her munching away!

3rd wedding anniversary

After all these years, Hub still surprised me with a bunch of flowers on our anniversary. He has gotten the florist to send the flowers to the restaurant. So imagine my surprise when I saw the roses on the table that we were supposed to dine.

The flowers really caught me by surprise and I was really touched. I have known Hub for 17 years (scary right?!) and been together as a couple for 11 years. He isn't exactly the romantic sort and we have gotten so used to each other that, sometimes we kinda take each other for granted.

However, this bunch of roses jolted me awake and I reminded myself that we gotta make an effort to keep the romance alive...

Thanks Hub, Happy Anniversary and I feel very loved!

2011 to 2012

I’ve been thinking about the past 1 year and all that it has brought, and before I hurl myself into the new year, It's time to reflect upon the past 1 year, and what a year it had been!

The arrival of my first child has got to be one of the most eventful times in my life. From the first trimester complications, to the almost miscarriage in Hong Kong and the eventual birth. The whole journey was unforgettable. Sometimes, I still cannot believe that I have a pretty little baby girl in my arms and I'm so overwhelmed by the amount of love I have for her. No one tells you how much your perspective of the world changes when you become a Mother. Well, perhaps they do but it’s also something you just cannot imagine until you’re actually there. And once you become a mom, there's no turning back. Now I simply cannot imagine life without my daughter, to watch her grow and being there for her when she needs me.

Previously I have decided to be a stay-at-home-mom for the next 1 year to look after Beanie on my own, but after weighing the pros and cons, my current decision is to find a job that allows flexible work schedule and yet, be closely related to finance. So, I thinking of being a Financial Advisor and I am currently meeting people and going for recruitment talks to consider my options. Hopefully I can start in March or April this year. The plan is to work from home most of the time, and going to office in the mornings when necessary.

So who is going to take care of Beanie while I am at work? A friend's mother who is staying just a few blocks away, have tentatively agreed to be Beanie's babysitter. We have to sort the schedule after the Chinese New Year. Hopefully it will all work out.

And finally, Hubby will be back home for good! Yay Yay Yay! He will be relocating back to Singapore in a week's time, and I am most relieved and glad. Finally the father and daughter can bond on a daily basis. ;)

I'm entering 2012 with a lot of excitement. I'm looking forward to Beanie growing up and witnessing her milestones, from her first crawl, first tooth and her first steps. A new career awaiting for me, which I hope will work out, and more family time with hubby

Financial Planning for Beanie

Little Beanie in the bumbo chair, happily chewing her toys.

Firstly, I think I forgot to mention that I have passed the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Level 3 exam back in June 2011! To think of it, I was almost 7 months pregnant with Beanie and with that stomach, I sat through a grueling 6 hours exam. My whole body was almost cramping with pain after sitting and scribbling non-stop for that 6 hours.

Thankfully, I passed! So technically, upon application and approval from the CFA Institute, I can then rightfully add the title of "CFA" in my name card. With that qualification, I hope to either negotiate for a higher pay or find a better paying job.

Then I quit my job to become a full-time mom. (0_0")

And after reading Ting's blog about the cost of foreign tertiary education for her sons, I started punching my calculator for the amount that I need to squirrel away for my Beanie's education fund. And the amount is no joke if I were to factor in inflation and the higher cost of living in the future.

So, I assume that Beanie can study at a local university and I aim to set aside $100,000, excluding Hub's contribution. Instead of an endowment plan or saving plan, I intend to invest in equities.

I will buy minimum one lot (1000 shares) of a Singapore blue-chip company for Beanie every year, and so long Singapore prospers, that blue chip should clock in decent capital gains, as well as cumulative dividend income in 18 years time.

Since this is Beanie's education fund, I must pick a stock that has very stable recurring profits to pay recurring dividends, and yet at the same time, has the potential for growth and capital gains.

I personally will pick SPH -> Singapore Press Holdings. Why? Because:

1) To invest in SPH is to invest in Singapore, ie: the country's population growth, and the government's commitment to make Singapore a vibrant city. Thus in turn will spur growth in retail, housing, F&B, cultural activities... etc, which will ultimately increase SPH's advertisements , its main source of income. SPH basically has a monopoly control in the mass media industry in Singapore. Even in times of recession, advertisements usually remain relatively stable, so SPH should remain profitable.

2) SPH owns Paragon and the newly completed Clementi Mall. Both malls are situated in excellent locations and enjoy very good traffic. I believe in time to come, SPH will buy or build another 1 or 2 shopping malls and ultimately sells these malls to a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) to cash out from its investments and hopefully declare a special dividend to its shareholders!

3) SPH is also a property developer, it's newest completed property: Sky@eleven was sold out. However, as this is a non-core unit, I will not be surprise if SPH eventually carve out its property development unit and list it as a subsidiary.

4) High dividend yield. SPH has been paying about $0.25 per share of dividends for the past few years, which translate to about 5-6% yield. Most endowment or saving plans only pay about 2-4% of annual yield, and without any potential for capital gains.

So, if I were to start investing in 1 lot of SPH per year for the next 18 years, assuming a modest annual gain of 4.5% (inclusive of dividends), my 18 lots should eventually net me $99,364.

And remember that Singapore does not tax capital gains nor dividend income. ;)

Current share price of SPH: $3.66. So, by saving about $300-$400 a month, I will be able to buy a lot of SPH after a year. Of course, as the share price increases, I will have to save more in order to buy 1 lot, however the dividend will help to offset the cost.

So hopefully SPH will eventually fund Beanie's education to Harvard! ;p

Nursing Strike

In preparation for my return to office to serve the 1 month notice, I have gotten my confinement nanny back to take care of Beanie, and have also started to give her bottles of expressed breast milk while I am away.

This naughty little girl has now taken a liking to bottles and is now rejecting my boobs!

This is VERY bad news to a stay-home mom who has no help in the house. I simply do not have the time to wash, sterilize, pump and then feed her via a bottle. So now, I have to train Beanie to latch all over again.

Feeding time is now a battle of wits. Instead of letting her cry it out, I have to try all sorts of tactics to "seduce" Beanie to latch again...

Plan A

Let Beanie suckle when she is in a drowsy state, which means that I have to watch Beanie like a hawk. As soon as she is waking up from her nap, I have to immediately stuff my boob into her mouth before she realizes what exactly is going on. The challenge comes when she is hungry AND sleepy, then she will be extremely fussy and will cry and scream for the bottle. That will bring me to Plan B.

Plan B

Try to latch her while both of us are lying on the bed. I've to pretend that I'm playing peek-a-boo with her, and while she is happily laughing away, I'll stuff my boob into her mouth. Unfortunately, the success rate of Plan B is only about 15%.

Plan C

When Plan B fails, then Plan C is to fish out my iPhone, play nurseries or songs and place the phone in my bra. With the phone in my bra, Beanie will at least face my boobs and I'll then try to sneak my boob into her mouth. Once again, Plan C only works like 2% so far.

Plan D

By now, Beanie is usually VERY angry, fussy, sleepy and hungry and it is now a contest of who blinks first. I will rock her vigorously until she stops crying and most probably giddy from motion sickness until she either fall asleep and then I can proceed to Plan A, or I cave in and give her a bottle of 40 ml of breast milk (she usually drinks at least 140 ml) to pacify her.

To exercise Plan A - Plan D, 4 times a day is no joke. Yes, I am seriously considering the InfantCare 2 blocks away now! Argh!

A mother's dilemma

Ok... I take it all back. In my earlier post, I asked how do full time working moms bear to leave their babies at homes with maids or at Infantcare. Just into the first day in office, I was already re-considering the Infantcare a few blocks away, and the notion of being away from Beanie for a few hours at a time, is becoming more and more appealing... ... ...

Taking care of Beanie full time is actually much harder than my current job. Now that I'm back in office, I enjoy dressing up in the morning, chit-chatting with fellow colleagues (you can only coo at a baby for so long without feeling stupid) and shopping during lunch.

I am really enjoying my new found freedom, and that's because I have a reliable caregiver at home now. I do not have to worry about Beanie because I know that she is in good hands.

Sigh, as much as I love Beanie. I enjoy working too. Previously, I've always thought that being a SAHM is a privilege. Now I understand why being a SAHM is considered a "sacrifice" instead.

Anyway, I've already tendered and my last day will be on this friday! Woohoo!

Beanie's "Ah Goo" moments

Just when Beanie is becoming really cute and fun to play with, my 4 months of maternity leave is up and I'll be heading back to office on Monday! But as I have decided to be a SAHM (Stay-At-Home-Mom) for the next 1 year, I'll be tendering my resignation on the very first day back in office. Hmmm... I wonder how my boss and the HR department will react to that. Unless I can take a no-pay leave for the next 1 year, my resignation will be final.

Currently, I've gotten my confinement nanny back for the next 4 weeks to take care of Beanie while I'm back to work. The thought of leaving cute little Beanie at home is already making me sad. How do those full-time working moms do it? How do they bear to leave their little ones at home with maids? Even if it's my own mother taking care of Beanie, I'll also be very sad with the idea of being away from my little pumpkin for 8-10 hours a day.

Although Beanie does drive me crazy with her fussiness and cries most of the time, but as long as she flashes me her giggling smiles and "ah goos", I'll be filled with love for this little moving bug and wana drown her with kisses and protect her forever. Well.... at least until her next bouts of fussiness that drive me crazy all over again.

Dear little Beanie, you must remember that Mommy loves you very much ok?

Beanie's Closet

I made a headband and some clips for my friend's baby girl, but I can't resist getting Beanie to model for me. Haha... but my model needs more hair!

If I were to start a blogshop selling headbands and hair clips, I will brand the shop "Beanie's Closet". ;)

Something to think about!