Little Beanie goes to Au Jardin 

Yesterday, I had a all-girls lunch with my girlfriends and decided not to bring Beanie along. I really needed a "me-time" where I could sit down and enjoy a proper meal and conversation with my girlfriends without having to worry about feeding a baby, chasing after her or worrying that Beanie would fling her water bottle to the next table.

So Hub was assigned to a "Father-daughter bonding-session" and instead of bonding at home, Hub made a brave call to have brunch at Au Jardin with 2 of his friends.

I was like "Hrmm... I hope that it will not be the first and last father-daughter bonding session. Of all places, Au Jardin??? A fine-dinning place? Not exactly baby-friendly right?"

But of course, Hub must wine and dine in style. With or without Beanie.

So during my all-girls lunch, I was expecting a SOS call from Hub but that call never came. It turned out that Beanie was very well-behaved and set through a 4-course brunch! Hub had fun and enjoyed the attention of being a Hip-and-cool-dad-who-has-a-very-cute-daughter, while Beanie had her usual fun simply by being out of the house.

Well done to both Beanie and Daddy!

This will mean more father-daughter bonding sessions and more "me-time" for me. YEAH!

Beanie's cheeky smile

Hmmm... what naughty things should I do today???

Nothing much to update, just a picture of Beanie and her cheeky smile. She looks a lot like me in this picture, doesn't she?  ;)

Lunch with Beanie 

Are you taking my picture again, mommy?

Cookie is thiiiiiiiiis big, this big!

Hmmm, is this edible...?

Looking at these pictures, it hits me once again that my little girl is growing up so fast! I still cannot believe that just 10 months ago, she was still a little bundle of flesh inside my tummy! 

Ahem... although 10 months later, I still have that bundle of flesh on my tummy... haha.

To the heck with tummies! I should rejoice that I have a healthy, bubbly and giggly little girl to hold and love, instead of worrying about my jiggling bits.

How to loose a jelly belly?

They say a woman takes 10 months to make a baby in her tummy and so she should also take 10 months to loose her tummy fats. Ok, Beanie is 10 months already but I STILL HAVE THESE TUMMY FATS.

My face, arms, legs, ears, toes... have looked more or less how they looked like before I got pregnant, but not my tummy. My tummy seems to have a life and will on its own (even post pregnancy!). No matter how much I wrapped it up with a torturous, suffocating, corset-like equipment, or applied the most expensive extra-extra-extra-lifting-and-tightening cream religiously everyday or even my daily yoga and core strengthening exercises did not manage to regain the taut, firm stomach that I once had. I'm not asking for abs, I'm not seeking for the impossible... I just want my old belly back. *sob*

Although I do have to admit that I simply do not have the time nor chance to return to my previous exercise regime where I gym at least 3 times a week and run outdoor at least twice a week. This jelly belly of mine is making me depressed, and I think it makes the Hub depressed too.

So either I learn to suck in my stomach 24/7 for the rest of my life or I jolly well have to get my act together and start a sustainable exercise regime where I can tone this very stubborn-yet-jelly belly of mine.

Ok... got to start exercising soon!

Beanie's Playdates

Beanie and little Sophie

Beanie's crawl buddy: Kylie!

Beanie's first play-date: Yueyi.

I try to arrange for play dates for Beanie whenever I can and I think Beanie enjoys playing with her little friends too! It's so cute to see these little girls interacting with each other, although they weren't really playing with each other yet, more of like "I check you out and you check me out."

 Meanwhile, Beanie will be celebrating her first birthday in 2 months time! I'm still wondering whether I wana do a little party for her or should I keep it small. She is too small to understand the concept of a "party" anyway, so I'm not keen to go through all the rah-rah and have our birthday girl kicking up a fuss because she missed her nap or have her knocked out in a corner while I blow the candles on her behalf.

Something for me to think about!

Busy mommy

Check out my hat!!!

I have started on my financial advisory job, although currently still on a part-time basis. Now that the maid has arrived, things are a little easier but I still gotta train the maid and Beanie also gotta learn to get used to seeing "auntie Nilda" around.

Being a financial advisor does give me the flexibility in my working hours and half the time I can work from home. However, this is a new job and I am currently learning the ropes and getting used to the idea of approaching strangers. Hmmm... that's the tough part.

My motivation is Beanie... I have to constantly tell myself that I gotta earn enough to feed this little girl! So now I have to learn how to be "thick-skinned" in order to sell myself, so that people will engage me to be their financial advisor!

Beanie and me

Nowadays I'm too busy blogging long posts, so I'm taking the easy way out by posting more pictures instead. Heh...

I seldom get a mommy-with-Beanie picture since I'm the one who's taking her pictures most of the time. So here is a picture of both of us, looking right into the camera. ;)

A little update about Beanie:

She is 9+ months now, crawling all over the place, opening drawers and flinging whatever is inside, eating newspapers and Cookie's cat biscuits when I am not looking. She can also pull herself upright and "cruise" around by holding to walls or furniture. She has finally learnt how to sleep on her own and is now able to sleep through the night in her bedroom. From her last checkup 2 weeks ago, she weighed 7.5 kg (~50%) and was 68 cm (25%). Hmmm... Maybe calling her "Beanie" is a mistake because she is as small as a bean?!?!

Look who is throwing a tantrum...

Beanie was supposed to take her morning nap at 11am, but she was being naughty and was resisting her nap time. I left her in the cot and walked away and she started screaming.

And SCREAMED she did. Until she was drenched with perspiration.

What a naughty little girl! UGH.

Beanie 1, Mommy 0. She won this time...

A life vest for Beanie

Ermm... Mommy, I think this life vest is too big.

Yup! This one fits me better. Yay!

Although Beanie has not been swimming much lately, but we came across a kiosk that was selling baby swimwear and decided to get her a life vest. Beanie was quite excited to put the life vest on! Although she had no idea what exactly it was, but she was beaming from ear to ear because everyone who walked past, cooed at her, saying "so cute!"

Mother's Day lunch at Annam (Shaw Center)

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!

Hub and I previously backpacked Vietnam for 10 days when we were still young and silly, where we stayed in hotels that cost $USD 10-15 a night, ate at street-side stalls and sat as pillion riders in the crazy vietnam traffic.

That was one of the best vacations that we had ever, EVER had.

And ever since that trip, we have become extremely picky about Vietnamese food and unfortunately, none of the many Viet restaurants that we have tried in Singapore, can make it. Until we tried Annam at Shaw Centre.

I must say that I am pretty impressed with the quality of food, the fish sauce was top grade, the egg pancake was really delicious (almost as good as the ones in Vietnam) and the BBQ pork was indeed very flavorful. The funny thing was that we did NOT try the Pho.... haha. We wanted to eat everything else except for this classic Viet dish, but from what I could see from neighboring tables, the Pho sure looked good.

My only grouse: it was freaking expensive.

Annam is part of the Le Amis Group... so you can imagine the prices. I guess we could have eaten 10 meals in Vietnam with the bill that we paid in Annam.

O well... at least the food was good. And Beanie liked the place (check out the retro baby chair!), so much so that she ate every bit of her lunch, kept clapping and smiling at the servers and fellow diners.

My daughter is such a social butterfly, I tell you. Love her to bits.

Hopefully I'm not too late, Happy Mother's Day to all mothers!

And we forgot to bring the stroller... ...

No stroller, so luggage trolley gotta make do. (Bangkok Airport)

No baby chair, luggage trolley to the rescue! (Bangkok Airport)


We had cleanly forgotten about the stroller until we were already in the cab, heading towards Changi Airport. Erm... too late. We just gotta make do with a baby carrier.

We also realized that Bangkok isn't very baby friendly. Many restaurants did not have baby chairs and even if they do, those were high chairs without any seat belts, i.e. they were meant for toddlers who are at least 2 years old. Without a seat belt, Beanie could slide off the chair easily!

Out of desperation, we figured out a way to tie the baby carrier to the high chair and Viola, a baby chair for Beanie! If only we had figured that out faster and not on the 2nd last day instead... ... ...

Little Beanie doing morning yoga

Hmmm... is that edible?

Ok... time for yoga!

Mommy, I think I see a grasshopper!

Bleah... this yoga thing is boring.


Yup, we made it back to Singapore in one piece! I seriously don't have much time to blog about our trip... Was so busy that I only managed to eat ONE meal today, which was an early dinner at 5 pm. And that meal consisted of instant noodles and a bowl of cornflakes with milk.

All in all, Beanie was quite obedient throughout the whole trip. So, good for her, she will NOT be grounded until she is 18. Heh...

Only grouse was that Beanie still woke up around 7 am everyday, which would be 6 am Bangkok time. So, I brought her to the garden for some fresh air and baby yoga. ;)

Post fever

"Mommy, no more fever! Yay!"

A happy Beanie post fever. ;)

Beanie's high fever subsided on friday and then a scary-looking rash broke out. Started with her neck and within the next day, the rash had spread to her torso, arms and legs.

A helpful friend, who is also a mommy indicated that this is a classic sign of Roseola, as long as the fever has subsided, Beanie should recover soon. And recover, she did.

Now I understand the anxiety a parent faces when the child is sick. Luckily Beanie recovers in time for our first family trip - Bangkok. Cant wait for Friday!

Little Beanie goes swimming

Whenever time and weather permits, we will bring Beanie out for a swim. This little girl is fearless, she absolutely has NO fear of water. She will dive head down to the water and happily start paddling around like a puppy. It is very very cute to watch!

Unfortunately, for the very first time, she is down with high fever and diarrhea. So no swimming for her this weekend. I really hope she can get well soon. To cuddle her burning, little body worries me a lot.

Get well soon Little Beanie! And Mommy will bring you out for a swim once you are well ok?

Nanny Woes

A quick update about Beanie: Her 2nd nanny has just resigned last week, merely 1.5 weeks into the job, the 2nd nanny has also quit on me.

As usual, Beanie's separation anxiety and incessant cryings were too much for the 2nd nanny to bear and she decided to take the easy way out by accepting another couple's offer to take care of a 3mth old baby instead.

Ugh.

So I've decided to place Beanie in an Infantcare instead. I do not have much of a choice. Sigh...

I'm trying to work out a schedule where my in-laws can take care of Beanie from morning to about 1 pm, and then the old folks will then bring Beanie to the Infantcare center for the 2nd half of the day.

I seriously hope that this arrangement will out. Im at my wit's end already. ;(

Beanie says MaMa... ...

Passport photos for Beanie

Good shot! Opps... where is the white background? Ok, retake.

Hmmm... not bad. Let's see whether we can get a better picture.

"ahh... mommy, where are you? where? where? where?"

"Are we done yet, mommy?"

So Hub has a wedding to attend in Bangkok in May and after much discussion, we have decided to bring Beanie along... ... *tremble in fear*

I seriously hope we will not regret our decision to let her tag along. Just the thought of packing her luggage is enough to send shivers down my spine. And the fact that we will be stuck with her in a confined space for a grand total of 3 hours is already making me weak in my stomach.

May the force be with me... and the poor souls who will be taking the same plane with us!

In anycase, we have to make a passport for Beanie, so we spent last Friday trying to get a decent mug shot. Thanks to our dear friend, D who helped to take a few shots for us.

Our very first family trip!

Separation Anxiety Part 2

Sorry for the recent M.I.A (missing in action) as I was busy studying for the licensing exams and of course, my nanny has to quit on me during this crunch time.

Ugh.

To cut the story short, the nanny could not take Beanie's incessant cryings anymore and told me to bring Beanie home, for good. I was panicking for the past few days because I'm supposed to start work soon and yet I do not have a nanny for Beanie!

Out of desperation, I surfed the net and came across this little advert posted on gumtree and by a stroke of sheer luck, I found another nanny within my vicinity! I called the new nanny up and arranged for a meeting on the same day. The new nanny is in her early 40s, has 2 children aged 7 and 9, and seems really nice. I have goooood vibes!

But Beanie thought otherwise. The moment I passed Beanie over to the new nanny to carry, she started to cry. Geez, I was just standing next to her but she wasn't having any of it. Huge tears swelled in her eyes and she kept reaching out her arms for me. The new nanny was like "Woah... she is sooo sticky to mommy!"

"Oei Beanie, please don't scare the new nanny away... " I was thinking secretly to myself. Anyway I told the new nanny that we really gotta work together to allow a stress-free transition. Or else, Beanie will be a difficult baby to handle.

Sigh. She is usually such a happy baby. Bringing her out for meals is usually fuss-free and very enjoyable. We just had a wonderful lunch at Itacho Sushi (Ion) this afternoon with a girlfriend of mine. Beanie was very well behaved, happily munching on her baby biscuits, blowing cute raspberries at strangers and chewing on her fav toy, Sophie the giraffe.

I really hope that this new nanny will work out. I have read up on some materials on how to lessen stranger anxiety in babies, so hopefully those tips will work!

Separation Anxiety

Little Beanie is not taking to the nanny well. Sigh.

Since early this month, I have started to drop Beanie at the nanny's place for half a day, usually from 1 pm to about 530 pm. We started by going over to the nanny's place in the morning and I stayed with her for the whole of 4 hours for 5 consecutive days. On the following week, I followed the new routine and when I said my good byes to a oblivious Beanie, I thought I had skipped the whole separation anxiety episode, until 2mins later Beanie realized that "hey, mommy isn't here anymore" and then she started screaming. And screamed she did. She screamed and screamed and refused to drink milk or water. She kicked away her toys and became inconsolable. My nanny was totally stunned. What happened to the happy baby???

It has already been 2 weeks but Beanie is still refusing milk, water and nap at the nanny's place. And she will cry so pitifully when I leave that it's breaking my heart.

And when she is back home, she will then wallop down a big bowl of porridge, drinks her milk like she has been starved for days and then K.O by 730 pm.

According to my nanny, Beanie will still cry and be cranky for hours. Only to be bribed for a few mins of silence by her favorite snacks or biscuits. But a baby cannot snack for 4 hrs right? She refuses to nap or nap for only 20-30 mins whereas her usually afternoon nap is about 1-1.5 hrs.

My nanny, who is this kind granny in her late 60s is also getting tired of Beanie's incessant cries. She told me subtly that if Beanie con't to be this difficult. she might not want to babysit Beanie anymore.

;( I really hope that Beanie will get used to the nanny soon. Sigh...

Another little yellow bird saved

Almost 10 months ago, I saved a little yellow bird and I called him "little yellow". As I have mentioned before, as much as I love animals, I simply do not have the same love for birds. Even pretty little parrot with rosy cheeks did not melt my heart, so I gave Little Yellow away to a friend and end of story. Or so, I thought...

A few weeks ago, while I was hanging out my laundry to dry, I saw a big, bad and hungry crow trying to peck a small little yellow bird to death at the ground floor car park. Poor little fellow was no match for the crow, which was easily almost 4 times its size. Although I have no love for birds, I could not bring myself to witness Little Little Yellow being pecked to death.

Luckily father-in-law was at home that day, so I gave him a yell that I need to run out to do something and he stayed at home to watch over Beanie, while Mommy ran out like a mad woman to save a little yellow bird.

I shooed the crow away and tried to catch Little Little Yellow, but the little fellow was so traumatized that it tried to fly away too. To cut the story short, 3 Banglah workers saw me trying to catch a bird and I roped them in to help me.

So there we were, 1 chinese woman and 3 Banglah workers chasing after a yellow bird in the car park at 1 pm, under the hot sun.

Thankfully 1 of the workers caught the bird and there, I saved another little yellow bird.

Geez, at this rate, I can run a Bishan Bird Park already! Anyway, I passed Little Little Yellow to the same friend who have adopted Little Yellow. So there, now he has a pair.

After all the trouble, I hope these little birds are happy to be alive!