Pumping

After our trip to Jakarta, Vio seems to show much more interest in his ride-on toys. One fine day, he can suddenly steer his ride-on car pretty well! (going backward, forward, turn left and right). That's quite an achievement, I should say. That car isn't really easy to steer around, but Vio likes it now, and he can steer it from room to room rather well (and high-spirited), especially if mommy's accompanying him in riding his other ride-on toys (which is a train). I should say that the ride-on toys are quite sturdy ya. I can sit on it and play and it's comfy enough for me! Even daddy can sit on his train ride-on toys. (Sadly, as much as I want to, we can't fit in the car ride-on toys) hahaha..

Now, what does it have to do with pumping, you say? Ah... for few times, Vio has seen daddy pumping his bicycles, and he wanna "help" too. Just that we don't normally let him to. One day, I decided that he can also play with the pump (supervised, of course). But the thing that he should "pump" is his car wheels! (Not that it need to be pumped at all). Ah well, that's why people call it "pretend play" right? :)

[caption id="attachment_1803" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="One.. Two.. One.. Two.."][/caption]

Ah.. doesn't he look like a professional at work? *smile*

Happy 3rd Anniversary!

< to us, that is..>

We've just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. Wow has it just been 3 years? I feel that we've been married for very long already.. (in a good way).

Both of us took leave on that day, but apparently pi had meeting in the morning, so he can only take half day leave.. which is good. Because it gave me ample time to prepare a little something for him: I decided to try baking cupcakes!

I think it's my first time baking cakes in Singapore.. wahahahaha... My oven has been under-utilised for very long, hor? I've bought all the necessities in a cake shop in Toa Payoh which is quite complete, just that I need to walk quite far from my office (about 20-25 mins of walking!). And 1 visit is not enough to buy all the things, since I'm so fickle-minded, especially in choosing the not important but fun stuff, such as: which paper cup design should I choose? What size?? Can you imagine I can spend like 10-15 mins just to decide that? And coupled with walking time and the time I need to have my lunch, you can see why 1 visit is not enough in my (already) extended lunch-hour (1 1/2 hours haha). Oh, must say thank you to a friend who has given me self-raising flour and cranberries to make the cupcake!

So... the baking process begun.. Based on recipe from internet, I wanted to make vanilla cupcake with cranberries, topped with chocolate toppings.

As can be guessed, Vio got scared by the sound of mixer, and he kept tugging me to play with him. So finding a time to make the cake (and the topping) was proven to be quite difficult, as Vio always came to nag me to play with him. Nevertheless, here's the vanilla cupcake, fresh from the oven! (though I'm not sure why the top part is not smooth as in picture.. some cracked up. But that's not a problem lah.. since anyway it will be topped by chocolate topping. And I'm not having high expectations on it anyway...)

[caption id="attachment_1797" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fresh from the Oven"][/caption]

I tried 1 piece, and yummm.. It was not bad... The texture was quite soft :)

As for the chocolate topping, I decided to substitute the required cocoa powder to use chocolate drink that I already have, but reducing the sugar. And.... it's not apparently working well. The topping came out to be reaaaaaaallll sweet. Next time, should follow recipe and use real cocoa powder, or melted chocolate bar instead.. But anyway, it works well as the topping (though the color is not chocola-tey enough). Just that in the end, we didn't eat the topping.

[caption id="attachment_1798" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cupcake with Chocolate Frostings"][/caption]

Oh well, it doesn't look too bad right? (Repeat: I'm not having high expectation. Haha!)

And here's the cupcakes prepared specially for pi...

[caption id="attachment_1799" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cupcakes for Pi"][/caption]

Though not as pretty as those sold in the shops, it's the thought that counts, isn't it? ;)

Not long after, pi came home with a stalk of pink roses. Thank you, darling! :)

We had our dinner at Ambush, a European restaurant with apparently, rather affordable prices. I ordered German sausage with Rosti; the sausage was real nice! Vio love it a lot (and so does mommy)! Pi ordered paella, which is a Spanish food. The taste was quite unique. The only thing is... the portion was quite small. I didn't really feel full after eating it.. Haha... I think they encourage people to order more side dishes.. :p

Looking back at the last 3 years, overall it was a great. Surely there are some ups and downs, but I'd rather we look at the more "up" side. And since I'm currently pregnant, I can't help but remember the sweet little things pi had done, especially during my first pregnancy. Some of them are listed here (just in case my memory fails me!)

1. He woke up in the middle of many nights whenever I had sudden leg cramps, and massaged my leg until I was feeling better, and of course, willingly without complaint.


2. He didn't let me do any tiring housework during my pregnancy, and took over all of them. These were brooming, mopping, and cleaning the toilet. I was left only with dusting, which was the easiest housework.


3. Despite his dislike of guys who carry their girlfriends' or wives' bags, he was more than willingly carry my bag when I'm pregnant.


4. He has no complain and is very supportive of my pregnancy complaints, which is always the same for many many nights in a row, and always try to help to lessen the discomfort.


5. ... and many other small things that can't all be mentioned here..

All in all, thank you dear for these three great years :)

Vio is GROWING!

Ahem... obviously... Hahahahaaa... (I'd been worried if he's not..)

He has 16 teeth now. Wow, 4 more big molars to go, and his milk teeth will be completed! They all just came so fast one after the other after weeks (or months) of no additional new teeth..

And the last time we measured Vio's height, it's 90cm! Not sure how reliable the measurement is, since Vio kept moving around, wanting to "help" us in the measurement process. But if it's right, by right we should've started paying for his MRT and Bus fare.. and he's not even 2 years old yet! Ah well, I guess I'll just wait until the person in MRT really inform us that Vio need to pay the fare.. hoho..

And.. as part of the growing process... he's finally showing signs of how his long-beloved Crocs shoe is getting too small for him. If he's sitting down in the stroller, or anywhere at all, he'll take off his own shoes. It's like he can't stand wearing the shoes for too long!

We have actually bought a new pair of shoes for him in Jakarta, but being a kiasu parent, we bought it too big. Well, so can use for longer time mah... *blink blink* and somemore it has ball picture on it.. I hope he can start using it soon (and not trip/stumbled coz it's too big for him).

In the meanwhile, suddenly I remember that Vio also has this new sport shoe, a souvenir from Opa and Oma from their last trip to China, and yes, this shoe was biiiiigggg too. Way too big for him, but Vio seems to love it.

[caption id="attachment_1791" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Check Out My New Sport Shoe!"][/caption]

And he was so happy to see Daddy wearing similar kind of shoe as him..

[caption id="attachment_1792" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Look, Daddy! Our shoes look similar!"][/caption]

And.. is it just my feeling or Vio does get a little bit chubbier?? I think so! His appetite seems to increase lately, well at least it's much better than last time (when he only eat 0-5 spoon for each meal). But he sure is getting heavier lately! I'm guessing he's around 12.5 kg (or more) now..

Hot Wheels Craze

Hot Wheels is a new craze now (well, at least in my home).

It all started 1 week back, when we brought Vio to Toys R Us to redeem the vouchers we have. I went there with Thomas train tracks set in mind, since Vio doesn't have a train track set yet. And in the movies, all boys have train track set, yeah? No need to be Thomas, actually. Any nice train track set will do.

Apparently, pi went to see the other tracks, and he fell in love with Hot Wheels tracks (which age guide was printed as 4+). And since he looked like he want it verrry much, we end up going home with 2 box of Hot Wheels tracks: 1 with the loop track, and the other with color changing cars. And not forgetting, while we're choosing the toys, Vio was also busy choosing something by himself: he tear a box of car toy to take out the contents! Dotz... So in the end we must buy the car too... And guess what.. that's the kind of car that he already has a looooooot... and this one in BLACK color.. -_-  oh well... he chose it himself..

[caption id="attachment_1787" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hot Wheels Car Track"][/caption]

Back at home, daddy was equally excited as Vio he wanted to open both tracks at the same time! Luckily I managed to hold the opening part of the other box to few days later.. Otherwise all will be "finished" in 1 day, and no more new surprises for Vio, right?

The track was quite good. The car can go thru the round track, and then hit some objects we put at the end of it (i.e. bowling pin), and Vio was so excited to play it! Especially when there's a bowling pin to be rolled away by the car.

[caption id="attachment_1788" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Playtime with Daddy"][/caption]

Until now, playing these tracks has been Vio's new fave activity. He can play with it for about 1 hour each time! Wow that can be considered very very good. I hope he'll still love these tracks in the months to come :)

Craft Session - Fish

We had our very own first craft session during the long weekend!

Actually it's pretty simple. The materials used were only paper plates, glue, marker, and crayon.

[caption id="attachment_1783" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fish In Progress"][/caption]

Obviously, Vio was looking at me cutting the paper plates and draw the fish eyes. He then helped me with the gluing of the tails, and of course, the fun part: decorating the fish with his crayons!

He was quite excited to do it, though he seems more interested to continue his work of art in the bigger "canvas": the floor, which is his favorite "canvas" so far.

And here's Vio, proud with his new fish masterpiece:

[caption id="attachment_1784" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Proud with my new fish"][/caption]

West Coast Outing

We had a nice outing to West Coast with our Uni friends. They've never tried the go-kart before, so we recommended it to them. Apparently, weekends are very busy time for the go-kart rental. Sooo many people want to rent the go-kart, we even need to put our name down in the waiting list. Tsk! (But that's maybe coz we want the family go-kart, which I suppose they don't have a lot).

[caption id="attachment_1775" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Looking Cool in the Go-Kart"][/caption]

Oh, don't worry. We didn't let Vio ride the go-kart by himself. His foot can't even reach the pedal yet! We borrow one of the go-kart just for photo-taking.. Hehee :p

First riding the go-kart, pi & I started complaining that the go-kart was smaller than the one we ride on last time. It was soooo squeezy that pi's leg kept brushing one of the go-kart part while pedalling. And Vio & me can't sit comfortably too. It's like we all squeezed in to a kid's go-kart!

[caption id="attachment_1776" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Our Squeezy Go-Kart"][/caption]

Halfway down the road, pi has just realized that apparently the go-kart seat can be adjusted!! Aiyo... and the person never tell us.... So after the seat was adjusted, it was all nice and not-so-squeezy already :p

After the go-kart session, we walked to West Coast Plaza which seems to be near, yet so far. Quite tiring to walk there.. We found an inexpensive restaurant and decided to have our dinner there (though pi&I apparently both thinking to have our dinner at Thai Express)..

[caption id="attachment_1777" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dinner Time!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1778" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Sharing a Straw with Daddy"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1779" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Group Photo"][/caption]

First Kick!

Last night, I felt the first kick!

I just got a feeling that the baby was moving, so I put my hand on the tummy, and true enough, not long after, there was a soft kick from the baby! Feel so happy :)

Actually 2-3 weeks back, there was the same feeling but feel much stronger. It certainly feel that the baby was kicking hard, but then, for that time, by right the baby kick shouldn't be felt yet. So until now I don't know whether that time was really baby kicking, or it's just my imagination? Hmmm.... Or maybe.. the baby was busily somersaulting inside.. Haha..

Oh.. unlike the previous pregnancy, I'm having back-ache for 1 week+ now. Actually it's more of right-buttock-pain. It's ok if I just sit down and do nothing. But if I move or walk around, then can feel the pain. Maybe I sprained a muscle or something. Hope that it will go away very soon... Coz I start to feel old: have to walk slowly and do things slow so that the pain is not too bad.. :(