Saturday at ViVo

Baby at her Jumper Gym.



After baby class we when to Vivo to hang out before dinner.



The IR at Sentosa is almost done! Jolie looked like a big girl in this photo. :) Ate dinner at this King Louis Grill house or something. Big mistake! It's a Medieval, kings and knights theme, but the waitresses are dressed like a french maid with wings. ??? The whole restaurant is just lame and the food wasn't very good. Please don't go.



When we were leaving, we heard drums! They have this toy solider performance that was funny and very Christmas-sy!



I was wondering why is the picture blurred. The next day I found out it's because there's fingerprints on the lens. -_-

A Long Day

Friday was Hari Raya, which was a public holiday, Cobby took leave on Thursday to bring Jolie to the clinic for her immunization. Had to wake up around 6 plus to cook baby's lunch because we'll be out. Zzz...

Here are her stats:
8.98kg (Good - she put on weight)
77cm (Her height totally exceeded that of a 9 month old! Awesome...)

After her checkup, she went for her shot, (Jolie very brave as usual, didn't even make a sound) and went for her hepatitis B blood test. I was so worried how were they going to draw blood from her. Apparently, for babies, they just prick their little finger and squeeze out the blood drop by drop. I counted 14 times. bleah~ Jolie didn't cry, she just looked at the lab technician, wondering why she keep squeezing her finger. Haha..

We went back to Woodlands Causeway Point for lunch at Crystal Jade. Jolie was captivated by the Sesame Street kiddy ride, so we let her sit it in for the very first time. See how happy she was!



Then we bought her some hairclips at Kiddy Palace...





After dropping Jolie off at my mon's place, Cobby and I went to ION shopping centre to Jalan jalan... We had tea break at this new cafe where they serve delicious muffins and sandwiches! Cobby finished his sandwich before I had the chance to take a photo.



After a while I can tell Cobby was getting bored, so I 'released' him and suggested that he go read magazines at Borders while I shop alone. :( So lonely to shop alone! But better than shopping with a bored partner.

In the evening, met up with Winsome and gang and had a great dinner at Fish & Co. I even got a late birthday present! Very unexpected. Thanks guys! :)







I had to leave early as baby was still with Mom and we had to go pick her up. A pretty long and tiring day but it was fun anyways. :)

New Spectacles II

Jolie's 1st toothbrush

I noticed that Jolie's teeth, though small, was getting a little yellow? Or was my eye deceiving me? Anyway, I came across this baby toothbrush at Kiddy Palace, so I bought it for her. There are 3 different types of toothbrush for different stages, depending on how many teeth your baby already have.



Jolie likes it, well, she's at the stage where she would put just about anything into her mouth, so this rubber stick would be a real treat for her teething gums. Sigh, another one of things that seems so silly that modern parents buy for their little babies. I mean, during our time, do you think that our parents would actually buy a TOOTHBRUSH for a 9 month old baby with 4 teeth? They would probably say, "siao! waste money!"

But I guess, as long as she likes it, we can afford it, and most importantly, it's good for her, then it's worth it. :)

Pasar Malam

Jolie went to her first pasar malam on saturday. But let me digress 1st. Check out my garden! I've been planting several edible plants and so far I've got chili padi, pandan, curry leaves and my latest pet, Cranberry beans! My garden has never been more lively! :D



Anyway, my brother-in-law's family invited us over for dinner that Saturday. After dinner at her super noisy place with 3 playful little boys, we headed to Choa Chu Kang's pasar malam.



They have this little train ride and the other children quickly bought the tickets and boarded. Jolie was a little too small, so I had to go on board with her. Thankfully there's a section that has a open-roof, or else I wouldn't be able to fit in. Well, it was a little embarrassing for such a big adult like me to sit on the little train. I was a little worried that it would lose balance! Luckily it didn't. Hahaha...



OK, even though I was the only adult on board, it was quite fun for me too. Haha. The little train would go round and round the track, the parents and other adults would be standing at the ticketing booth, waving at their children. The kids would squeal in delight, waving at everybody. Jolie just held on to the side, watching and smiling as the train moved.



That was it, she was too little to sit in the other rides, and she don't know how to play the other games, so we walked around the pasar malam for awhile before headed home. Anyway, it's pass her bedtime, Princess needs her beauty sleep. :)

Jinah's Wedding

A friend of Sis and I was getting married on the 18 Nov, so Sis actually flew back to be her bridesmaid. After her bridesmaid duty in the morning, Sis came over to visit Jolie with Mom. My bro-in-law took half day off that day, so he stopped by too and drove us all to lunch at Ampang Yong Tau foo at Upper Thomson Road. Cobby and I always drove pass the stretch of shops there, but we never ate there before, so it's a first for me. Yummy but quite salty really. Don't eat too much.



Anyway, the wedding dinner is at Four Seasons Hotel, which is another first for me. The place is quite nice! But the ballrooms were so close to one another, I nearly walked into the wrong dinner. HAHAHA...

When we arrived, the reception area was already packed with guests. The couple ordered cupcakes for the reception! And they were decorated in bride and groom style. So cute right.



Another interesting idea. They invite the guests to write their well wishes on a black board and take a photo of them. Cute idea.



Oh yah, remember the dress I just bought? Here's how it looks.



The photo didn't do it justice... -_- Personally, I think it looks great on me. But the reception area is strangely freezing! The Ballroom is fine, the hotel lobby is fine, but the reception area is just COLD! Luckily I brought a jacket along, or I would have freeze to death.



There's a gorgeous chandelier just outside the ballrooms. Unfortunately the bright background cast a shadow on me!



Heres the lovely couple, she looked so thin and beautiful and happy. Sigh~ I love weddings! For once, I hardly noticed the food because I was having such a good time. I was catching up with old friends, taking pictures, Sis was there, I wine and dine without having to look after baby... Oh, on top of that, that night was the VERY FIRST TIME in months that Cobby and I got to go out at night without baby in tow.

Old friends...



My lovely Sis...



I had a really good time, but Mom is at home taking care of baby for me, so we couldn't stay too late. Besides, Cobby had to work tomorrow, so we bid our farewell before the dinner ended. What a great night!

Observation

This morning I saw an 'ang mo' coming out of the lift at our block carrying a big bunch of shirts and jackets in his arms which I presumed belong to him. The 1st thought I had was, either he had a fight with his girlfriend and she kicked him out of the house, or he's just a guy bringing his laundry to be dry cleaned. Either way, couldn't he at least put the clothes in a bag or something? He looks kind of unhappy.

Baby's 1st snacks

During Jolie's baby class, we noticed that every baby has their own little snack jar that their parents would whip out whenever they get a little cranky. So Jolie was the only baby in class that didn't have any snacks to munch on. HOW CAN???

So I bought Jolie Gerber Graduates Puffs in Peach flavour. And she absolutely loved it!!! Of course I've tried it. I try everything that Jolie eats, and it tasted quite nice really! It's very light, melts in your mouth with a slight peachy flavour. YUMS~!



What's even better is that giving Jolie these little snacks really helps her work on her fine motor skills of her fingers and hands. It's really fun watching her trying to pick up the little puff with her two fingers and slowly find her way into her mouth.



Sounds easy, but for someone who has never done that before in her life, it's quite challenging. She would concentrate so hard on her task!



And when she gets it in, I would cheer very loud and she would be very pleased with the praise as well as the yummy treat in her mouth.

(she can stand by herself for a good few seconds now...)

She really likes those puffs... :)

Jolie's Update

Just took some photos the other day, so thought I post it as random update on how baby has grown.

Jolie's 9 months old now, so far has 4 teeth, 5th one coming out soon I think. Many times I would look at her in amazement. When did my little baby grew up to be so big? She’s grown very tall, taller than most babies her age, but not as chubby.



We've lowered her cot all the way to the lowest deck as she can easily stand up now. Here the railing is lowered. If pulled up, it will be at her chest.

Her hair is a mess! It's not very thick, because we didn't shave her head when she was an infant, but now it's quite long and irregular in length. Everybody kept nagging me to give her a haircut, but I wanted to wait awhile more, till it's longer before trimming it.

She doesn't like to wear things on her head, which explains why there aren't any photos of her in hats or hairbands. This is just for taking photo, she pulled it off a few minutes later. But doesn't she look more girlie? Plus it keeps her hair off her face and ears. :P



Right now she's in her "pointing" stage.



She points at everything, anything and everyone. When we go for a stroll, she would point up and down, and I would address anything she points. Tree, bush, leaves, etc. She's fascinated by animals, she gets real excited when she spots birds and cats. She'll make excited Mmm! Mmm! noises, flap her arms and points.

She reminds me of those plants that trap insects. She would look all innocent and adorable, pointing out her finger at you. You would be drawn into pointing back at her too, some unexplainable force making you want to make a connection with her, to touch her fingertip. But the moment you do that, she'll grab your finger and before you know it, pull your finger into her mouth and sink her little teeth into it!



Yah sounds scary, but I'm used to it. She's always biting me! Worse is when she bites and pull, like she's trying to tear out my flesh. I think my T-shirt is bound to tear one day. Our sofa's not so lucky, she bit a hole on it!



Other than that, she's an angel, making people smile everywhere she goes. She still wakes up a few times at night, not a very sound sleeper like most babies are. So technically I haven't slept through the night for about 8 months. Yah.

Now we are all waiting for her to say her 1st word. Most of the time she's just making noises like "Buuu..." or her current favourite, "Bua, Bua, bua, bua". Hope that she says MaMa 1st!



She's also very mobile now. She can crawl, stand up for a few seconds unaided and very slowly move around by supporting herself using the sofa, table, railing, etc. Soon she'll be walking and that would mean more exciting days ahead for baby and Mommy! :S

To Orchard Central again

Cobby was so impressed with Orchard Central that we decided to go there again on Saturday, after Jolie's lesson. We drove there for the 1st time and it was a real stomach churning experience as we circled 10 storeys up to the carpark. *Dizzy*

It was a rainy day and it was quite cold in the air-conditioned shopping mall, so we hopped over to Centre Point to buy her a jacket or cardigan or something. When we were crossing street Jolie was so excited to see all the people, the Christmas decorations dangling everywhere and music playing. Her eyes were like O_O, and her finger was so busy pointing everywhere. But as excited as she was, I guess all the stimulation made her a little nervous as she was grabbing my neck quite tightly as I held her in my arms.

When we reached Centre Point, they were selling Chocolates at the event hall. As I peered at the chocolates, one of the staff gave Jolie a big pink balloon. She was all excited, but I had to go around apologising to everyone as she happily hit anybody nearby on the head with her big pink balloon. After browsing around, we ended up spending S$57.00 (AFTER discount from UOB) worth of chocolates from Chocolat Factory. OMG. This is like the highest amount of money spent on chocolate in my life, but it's SO worth it! It's so yummy~

After that, we went to Robinson's children's department and bought her a white pajamas top to wear as a cardigan. She already have 3 jackets at home, so I don't wanna buy another one. When we were about to leave we spotted bears playing music!



Jolie was all excited to see the teddy bears move and made her excited Mmm! Mmm! noises. It's almost dinner time when we left, so we headed back to Orchard Central. We went to the lovely place called Grill-Out! for a steak dinner. It has a nice outdoor seating on the 7th floor, so it's nice and cooling. Unfortunately, that's all there is.



They had this dinner special for 2 thingy on their menu. They just list 3 different types of meat, one price. We thought that we can choose one of the meat, but it turned out that for that price, it's a combo of three different meat, but sliced VERY thin (slightly thicker than a piece of ham), season it heavily till you can't really taste the meat, overcook them (one of them is tougher than my crocs sandals), and charge you S$68.00 for it.

Mind you, these 3 meats are Wagyu, Kurobuta and another one which I can't remember. These are very prime meat that doesn't need much seasoning to make them delicious! So we were SORELY DISAPPOINTED. I felt like slapping the so called chef for murdering the meat. We complained to the captain who offered to change it for us. But the 2nd plate came back about the same standard. Maybe their ala carte dishes tasted better, I don't know. But I know that we won't be going back anytime soon. Waste money. :P

"Papa, don't pay them!"


Cobby could sense my utmost disgust at our dinner, so he suggested that we go to Ben and Jerry's for dessert to perk me up!



It's just one floor up (8th floor) and it's next to this place called Heaven's Loft where they serve pizza and other good looking food. -_- Should have eaten here instead!!! There were many other restaurants there, so many we'll try them next time. Meanwhile it was nearing Jolie's bedtime. Next time bah!

This was Jolie's 1st Christmas at Orchard. I wonder if she'll dream of dancing bears and pretty Christmas light in her dreams! :)

New Spectacles

My old glasses was busted for awhile now, I just don't have the time to go get a new one! I even tried using super glue to try to extend it's life, but it was no use, it's time was up. :(



I finally found time to go fix up a new pair of glasses today. Actually, I didn't know what design I wanted, but the salesperson was quite helpful. Well, initially he got me some real outrageous designs, with funky frames and crazy bright colours. But we toned it down and we found something in the middle, simple but not boring! :D

When I arrived at the store, there was a teenager girl trying on contact lens for the very first time. Throughout my whole stay there, the girl was whining and struggling to get the lens on her eye while the poor salesgirl tried to help and her friends sat around looking bored from all the waiting.

While waiting for my stuff, I caught the eye of the poor salesgirl and we shared a smile. It was painful to watch! I wished that I could just walk over there, pry open her eye and just stuff the stupid lens into her eye and end the whining. Haha I'm so mean right. I remember my very 1st time putting the lens on. Yah, it's uncomfortable but it's normal! Get over it! Argh!

Luckily my salesperson was quite efficient and I was done within an hour! Haha so fast! And better yet, it was way below my budget. I thought that I was gonna pay $300 plus, but in the end it only cost $190! Happy! Anyway, my new glasses would be ready this weekend and I'm really looking forward to wearing them. I only hope that the degree is correct and I'll be comfortable wearing them. If not, even if it looks great, no point! Fingers crossed.

Pretty Christmas deco at Causeway Point Shopping Centre.

An outing to Orchard Central

We had tea break at Fruit Paradise



Took their super long, super scary escalator up to their rooftop garden. You can see the whole Orchard Road from here! Cool!



OK, not so cool. It's SO HOT that Cobby can't open his eyes.



My turn to take picture!



Sounds abit 'sua ku' but I like the child seat in the toilet! Then I can bring baby into toilet together with me.



Also, I finally found a dress to wear to the wedding dinner! It's quite sexy and different from my usual choice of dresses. 卖个关子, show you all the dress when I wear it to the wedding dinner! :)

I like Orchard Central! Many shops, crazy maze-like structure inside the shopping centre. The escalators go everywhere, like the game snakes & ladders. I also like the restaurants on the upper floors. How nice to dine with such great views! Definitely will go back again. :)

Reindeer

The other night, I found a cute little baby reindeer in our study room, looking all adorable and innocent.





Gnawing on carrots...



"Does my diaper make my butt look big?"



Wanted to keep these photos for Christmas, but I think she'll probably look different then. So I wanted to share these with everybody, spreading a little early festive cheer. :)