Visiting Sister-In-Law

About a week ago, sister-in-law had been admitted to hospital after being diagnosed with Cellulitis, which simply put, is bacteria infection underneath the skin. Apparently she had been having fever for days, but had refused to go see a doctor. She kept eating Panadol, which made the fever subside temporarily, but as soon as the medicine wears out, the fever comes back, once even hitting a high of 39 DEGREES, but still, she refused to go see a doctor.

Finally, after almost a week of fever, her left thigh swelled up painfully, and she had to walk with a limp. So, she decided to go see the doctor, only after spending a WHOLE DAY at work. O_o When the GP doctor saw her, he immediately made her go to the A&E at the nearest hospital possible as they did not have the facilities to do blood test. At the A&E, the doctors immediately admitted her as she was having such high fever, they had to quickly do something before it kills her.

The doctor said that the bacteria could have entered her body through her thigh, which explains the swelling. All you need is just a little scratch, she doesn't even know how it happened! The next few days had been a non stop antibiotics for her, and she had to stay there for almost 2 weeks as the bacteria had entered into her bloodstream. The doctor said that if she had delayed any longer, they may even had to cut away the affected leg muscles! Horror!!!

Thankfully, she's on the road of recovery now, and I wanted to bring something to brighten up her day, so I brought Jolie to the hospital to visit her. Both Moms don't want Jolie up in the wards, so we hung around the lobby and waited her them to come down to see us.

MIL haven't seen Jolie for almost 2 weeks too, so she really lit up when she saw her precious grandchild. Naturally, the spoiling begins, so she bought her a balloon just because she wants it.



Jolie was a little shy and withdrawn at first, but after awhile, she's back to her noisy self again, and I can tell that her presence was worth a hundred bunch of flowers to my Sis-in-law. But she was still weak, so she could just watch as Jolie runs around the lobby.

After we said our goodbyes, I brought Jolie to the nearby Bugis Junction and hung out until Cobby joins us there after work. We had yummy dinner at MOF and for the first time, we ordered Jolie her very own kids meal which comes in a cute bear container. I think she liked the food container more than the food itself. -_-



The morale of the story? If you are having fever that last for 3 days or more, go see the bloody doctor lah...

We love waffles!

After dinner at Shabuya at Vivo, we were craving for a little ice cream, so we stopped at Gelare and had ice cream with waffles!

Jolie dancing in anticipation as we waited for our waffles...




It's here! Yummy! What a great way to end a meal!

Jolie's 1st School Art

Today Jolie came home from school with her very 1st artwork!



I don't think she did the whole thing, it's too perfect! But I do see signs of her handiwork, like the crayon scribbles behind the rabbit "fur". And I think she must have stick on some of the stickers.



Tried to get her to take a photo with her artwork, but she was too preoccupied with the TV. Thus resulting in a very forced smile. -_-



Looking forward to seeing more of her artwork!

Sandy Playground

Nowadays almost all the playgrounds uses rubber for their flooring, but one day, while cycling around a different part of the town, I found a park with a playground with sand!



What a treat for Jolie! The only time she gets to play with sand is when we go to the beach, which is quite rare really. So she was quite excited when she got there. After a while, she took off her sandals, and giggled in delight as she wriggled her toes in the soft sand. I almost forgot how wonderful the sensation was until she "instructed" me to take off my slippers too. It was so cooling and soft!



When we were kids, all the playgrounds were covered in sand, and thinking back, they were rough, dirty and unsanitary. Kids back then would even use parts of the playground as a make shift toilet, like the inside of the tunnels. But playgrounds nowadays are much cleaner, with soft, clean sand, with the occasional branch or leaves.

So now we have a new place to go on afternoons when the weather is fine. I'm glad that Jolie still have the opportunity to enjoy herself in a sandbox, I think in future these would become a thing of the past. The only problem now would be to get her to leave the playground when time is up, and get rid of ALL the sand that is on her hair, face and even inside her diaper!

Toddler's Cookbook

Running out of ideas on what to cook for Jolie really, so I went to the library near my home and found myself a cookbook for toddlers!



Hopefully it would give me more inspirations!

A Saturday by myself

Cobby had to work today, but that is no reason for me to waste my weekend right? Besides, I spent almost the whole week with Jolie as she was sick, so I really need some "ME" time! So after putting Jolie at my Mom's place as usual, I headed to Vivo City by myself. I was thinking if I should call some friends out, but I was too lazy.

First stop, Page One bookstore. I found this really good book in the library about bread and I really want to own it. Since it's a Chinese and English book, I know Page One is the best place to find it. When I got there, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were having a sale on Jimmy Liao's books! I love Jimmy's works, but I was always hesitant to buy as I found them a little expensive. So after spending some time choosing, I decided on "The Sound of Colours". So happy!



Unfortunately, when I asked the information counter staff on my bread making book, they claimed that they didn't have stock. After wandering the store for awhile, feeling disappointed, a thought suddenly hit me. Having worked several years in retail and also dealing with systems and database, what has that taught me? Systems and database are rarely or never reliable. So I went to the bookshelf with all the cook books and guess what? I FOUND THE BOOK. It's quite amazing, there were so many books! How did I managed to find the book I have no idea. I just browsed for awhile and there it was, right in front of me.

I browsed the book store for awhile more, feeling very smug, before going for my tea break. The cafe was full, so I shared a sofa seat with a man who alone. After I've settled down, he just put on his sunglasses, prop up his feet and fell asleep! Maybe he felt more assured since there's someone here sharing his table. Haha...



Anyway, it's great as I got a comfy seat and a very quiet companion. Haha... It's just very funny as I was trying to open the plastic wrap of my Jimmy book. The stupid bookstore wrapped it up so tight, plus thick sticky tape wrapped around the book TWICE! My god, were they afraid that the pages would fall off or what??? So I was struggling to open the bloody plastic wrap and it was so noisy! SEESHA...SHESHHA... I feeling so frustrated and also stressed as I felt that I was disturbing my snoozing sofa-mate. I think he didn't mind. Haha...

So I just drank coffee, ate cheesecake, read my book and played with my phone until it was late afternoon. What a great way to spend a day out! So relaxing. :)

Salsa!

It's quite unbelievable, but Cobby and I have signed up to learn Salsa! I have always wanted to learn this exotic and sexy dance, but Cobby always complained of having two left feet and I didn't want to dance with some stranger. Even when he agreed to go learn dancing (reluctantly) a few months ago, we didn't actually act on it. One evening during dinner, I was making small talk about the show "Dancing with the stars", when suddenly he said, "let's go learn dancing."

I was stunned by his sudden desire of course, but apparently he was feeling quite bored with the monotonous daily routine of work, home, work, home, work, home. So I happily signed us up for some Salsa Dancing! When we went to the studio to sign up, we saw an ongoing class. The students were SO GOOD! I saw the worried look on Cobby's face and I knew what he was thinking. So I asked the guy at the counter what class was that and he replied that that was the advanced class and they were rehearsing for their performance. Apparently they have been dancing for more than 5 years! I looked back at Cobby and I could tell that he was relieved. Know him too well!

When the day of the 1st class came, which was on a Sunday afternoon, I was feeling a little resistant. As usual, thinking that maybe this was a bad idea, and we should be lazing around at home or something. But we went anyway, and it was fun!

Everybody in our class was around our age, no old foggies. Most people were very friendly and fun, there were even people who came by themselves. I can understand single girls who want to learn how to dance for fun, but I was curious about the single guys who signed up. Did they really wanted to learn how to dance salsa? Or are they here just to pick up girls? Heehee... OK, I'm mean, maybe it's a little of both, nothing wrong with that.

Our instructors were supposed to be June and Jackson, the owners of the studio, but Jackson was away, so it was only June and a replacement teacher. It was quite intimidating as the dance looked difficult, but when they started teaching us, it was actually not too difficult! I looked at Cobby every once in awhile and he looked SO SERIOUS! But I loved it that he was putting so much effort into it.

During class, we had to rotate partners as different people have different styles. It was quite awkward as I have never danced with another man before, I was so SHY! Hahaha... I didn't even dare look into their eyes! But some of them are quite good while most of them were terrible! OK lah, give credit as it was our 1st lesson. One of the guys reminded me of Phillip, but taller.

Before we know it, 1 hour have passed and class was over! We were having so much fun! Can't wait for the next class to come! Unfortunately Cobby couldn't join me next week as he would be working. :( Also, my heels were too tall! Very hard to turn. Think have to get another pair. Shopping time! :)

Didn't take any photos in class for obvious reasons, so we posed for the camera when we got home that night. :)

My side profile looked so fat! Jolie photobombed us!

Seeing us dance, Jolie got into the mood and started dancing too!





Another fun day in our home. :)

New Scooter!

It's Tuesday, so after playgroup, I brought Jolie to my Mom's place. I really liked Jolie's outfit that day. Very Summer!



When we got there, Jolie was surprised with a gift. My Dad bought her a brand new red scooter!



She was SO HAPPY! She previously have a 2nd hand scooter, but this was so much prettier and fits her better, size-wise. It was lunch time by the time we got there, so Mom asked Jolie to sit down and take her lunch. I said that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to separate her from her new scooter now, and I was right. She loved it so much she wouldn't leave it alone the whole day. She placed her feet on the scooter and slowly but surely pushed herself around the house. She ringed the bell the whole day, telling everybody about it. The only time she's not playing with it was when she too her afternoon nap, exhausted.

Later that afternoon, Mom couldn't take it anymore and decided to make Jolie's uniform a little more fitting.



So far, EVERYBODY said that her uniform is ugly and I find it so funny that Mom finally decided to take action and do something about it. I know it's a little big, but she grows so fast! Why bother to change into a smaller size? (anyway, not much difference after alteration)

That night, even as we left for home, Jolie insist that she rides her scooter to the car. I had to take it away from her by force as it was too dangerous to ride in the carpark. Sigh...



I was quite surprised that Dad would fork out over $40 to buy her the scooter. He explained that the sales staff was very helpful and friendly. I agree with him. Sometimes people don't understand that good service made all the difference. Even if I wasn't planning to buy anything, with the right attitude, the sales staff can make a difference. But still, I think it's very sweet of Dad, who's usually quite thrifty, to buy a gift for Jolie. Does she know how much everybody loved her? :)

Picnic at Botanical Garden

Our time every weekend seemed to be fully occupied. On Saturdays, we'll put Jolie at my Mom's place while Cobby and I go "pak tor". On Sundays, Jolie goes to Cobby's Mom's place. So I was feeling a little guilty. Many young families I know would usually spend their weekends out with their kids, are we spending too little time with our little Princess, as a family? So one Saturday, after Jolie woke up from her nap, we headed out to Singapore Botanical Gardens for a little family day out.

It was freaking hot, so I was worried that maybe this was a bad idea. But we were stuck in a traffic jam for so long that when we finally did get there, it was already late afternoon and the sun was reduced to a beautiful golden hue over the trees. It's been so long since we've been there, I forgot how beautiful the place was!









We found a nice spot at grassy clearing and opened our picnic mat. It was such a picturesque scene! Families with children all around the grassy hills. Some parents lazed on their picnic mats while others played with ther kids or blew bubbles.



There was this beautiful tree next to where we were sitting, I loved how the giant branch hung low enough to sit on. The pattern on the bark was so gorgeous!



But we got off after taking the photo, as there were so many ants near the roots, so not romantic!

We bought some chicken wings and sweet pears for our picnic, so we settled down to munch 1st. I was feeling so relaxed that I laid down on the mat as I ate. Jolie saw and mimicked me by lying down next to me while she ate too. Hahaha... that girl!



After she had her fill, Jolie was off! We bought a ball along and she had a great time playing with her dad. The place was great as there was so much open space for her to just run around without us worrying. I actually bought a brand new bubble gun along, but I didn't realise that it needed batteries, so we couldn't play with it, DUH!



As I have said, it wasn't too hot as the sun was setting over the trees, but it also meant that it wasn't long before the sky started to darken and it was time to go for our dinner before heading home. Interestingly even as the sky was getting dark, there was still quite alot of people coming into the park. Anyway, eventhough it was short, it has been great fun. What a fun and economical way to spend an afternoon with your family, not forgetting healthier too! There were also a few young couples there, so romantic! Definitely better than wandering around aimlessly in a shopping centre too.

We should definitely do this again! :)