Little Miss-cross-my-arms

Little Beanie's latest obsession: crossing her arms. She seems to find this arm-crossing action very amusing and she is crossing her arms all the time?!

She is turning one year old this coming sunday. Geez, I can't believe that my little beanie girl is turning into a toddler soon.

Time flies!

My exercise regime

Let me tell you a secret... I daydream about being a yummy mummy where I can carry Beanie with my toned arms and wear a bikini on a beach, without sucking in my stomach, and enjoy "I-hate-you" stares from fellow mothers.

THAT. HAS. NEVER. HAPPENED.

At least not yet.

Sigh.

Nearly 12 months has past since Beanie popped out and I am still struggling with my self esteem. Technically I am back to my pre-pregancy weight but why is my stomach still soft and saggy? Arms are not toned either and my face still looks kinda..... bloated???

To get back into shape, I have to work so darn hard. An ideal regime will be:

- jog at least 3 times a week
- weight trainings twice a week
- Pilates or yoga twice a week

As for diet, a low-carb high protein diet with lots of green usually works for me. But I am still breastfeeding Beanie and a low carb diet will affect my milk supply. Thus, I do need to eat my rice.

Argh.  To be a yummy mummy sucks.

Beanie goes to the Beach!

Mommy... I don't like sand...

Ewww,,, it feels weird!

Hmm, that little boy has more toys than me.

Ok, this is getting quite fun!

We brought Beanie to the beach once again! This time round, she was more comfortable with sand play although it took her about 10 mins to get comfortable with the grainy feeling of sand. 

For the first few minutes, she was frowning like a little old lady and kept giving me the "Ewww... this is gross, mommy" look. I had to show her how to dig a hole, how to bury her feet with sand before she finally got the idea that sand play could be fun.

I took her to the sea to feel the waves but it seemed that the moving waves scared her and she clung to my legs like a little koala and refused to even touch the water. Very weird because she is such a water baby and usually play with water with such gusto.

Nonetheless, I think she did enjoy herself and I look forward to the day where she will run towards the sea and chase after the waves, just like I did when I was a little girl. ;)

Honey Chcken vs Sweet & Sour Pork

Sometime last week, I was in a coffee shop, standing in a queue to buy "veggie rice". A very well-dressed old lady, who looked to be in her 70s was in front of me and she spoke in impecable Engilsh to the man behind the stall.

Old Lady pointed to a plate of meat: is that sweet and sour pork?

Man behind the stall in a thick Malaysian accent: no. No "pok" Honey chicken.

Lady: Oh. I want Sweet and sour pork. Can I have sweet & sour pork?

Man: Today no pok. Honey chicken. Bery nice. Bery good to eat. You take ok?

Lady: Ok, I will take the sweet and sour pork. (She pointed at the Honey Chicken)

Man: Aunty! No pok already! HONEY CHICKEN! Aiyoh.... no pok no pok!

Lady: oh. Ok then. Can I have the green vegetables instead? (she pointed at a tub of greens)

Man piled green vegetables onto a plate.

Lady pointed at the Honey Chicken and in a striaght face: I want this Sweet and Sour pork.

Man went nuts and yelled at the lady: AUNTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SAID NO POK! NO POK!!! HONEY CHICKEN!!!! AIYOH!!!!!! CHICKEN!!!!! 鸡肉!!! 鸡肉!!! 鸡肉!!!





Lady: ok, don't need to shout at me. (looked offended, looked away for 3 seconds, composed herself and pointed at the tub of Honey chicken again) I want this sweet and sour pork.

By this moment, everyone who was in the queue couldnt take it anymore and everyone burst out laughing.

Man at the stall rolled his eyes and simply put some Honey Chicken onto the plate.

Sigh. It was a funny but yet heartbreaking scene. The old lady most probably have dementia. But from her dressing and good command of English. She must have been very well educated. But the disease does not discriminate.

All of us will be old one day... and I wonder will I ever be in the same situation as this old lady...?

A little gathering

I met up with 3 blog friends last friday and it was so nice to finally meet these amazing ladies in person.

PetuniaLee: She is avid gardener who provides sincere and genuine advice at a local forum. In fact, it was at the forum where I first got to know Petunia. And from her blog, I got to learn wonderful tips on cooking, gardening, parenting... etc. She writes very well and reading her blog is always a treat. In fact, she has just published a book and I'm in the midst of reading it. Before I met her, I imagined her to be a little bit of a hippy... you know, long hair, slim, wears a long skirt and goes around bare-footed in her garden. A little dreamy, but yet full of good old common sense, very kind to children and animals... and guess what. Petunia looks just like that! Heh Heh.

Ting: This is a Super-cool mum with 2 teenage sons and seriously, you would never have guessed! She looks very well for her age and  she has such a zest for life. I felt very energetic already just by talking to her. Ting not only has green thumbs and fingers, but green toes as well. Whatever she grows will just flourish! From flowering plants, to edibles to ferns...Just looking at her balcony makes me go green with envy.

OKC: She is a mom-to-be and I'm so excited for her! She was radiant and glowing, pregnancy works very well for her! Her blog is the prettiest, with beautiful pictures of food, restaurants and countries that she has visited. A very stylish lifestyle blog that I follow regularly.

Thanks ladies for inviting me and Beanie. We had fun and hope to see 3 of you again soon!

Play Date with Little Silvia

"Hi Mummy, let me introduce my new BFF, Beanie" *puts hand on shoulder*

"I'm your new BFF?? Really? Ok, you can read my Princess book then"

"why are these people taking our pictures? We are just reading books. What is the big deal?"

It was just so cute to see these 2 little baby girls hanging out together!

Over the weekend, Little Silvia came over for a play-date with Beanie. It was so adorable to see both of them hanging out together, doing girly things like reading picture books, snatching each other's toys and the occasional pull of each other's hair... ... ;)

And this would be the last play-date for the year because Little Silvia will be relocating to Italy with her daddy and mummy real soon. 

So, take care Little Silvia and I really hope Beanie can go over to visit you soon!

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?