E-chew-yee ya

After 17 days delay, Aunt Flo decided to come yesterday evening. I ran out of the bathroom, hugged hubby and gave him the news. It would have been better had it been pregnancy news, but I'm happy because we can start trying again soon! Past 2 weeks have been a rollercoaster ride of emotions, 4 negative HPT, no sign of AF and THE hormonal imbalance diagnosis. 

The downside though, is that AF came with a vengeance this time. It was as if it was bottling up for a finale, and the cramps and backaches were the most intense I felt since giving birth. The bloated-ness did not aid in my discomfort. 

P has been full of energy lately. I just couldn't keep up with her. She laid in bed  yesterday belting out her fav songs, and I was struggling to stay awake. Finally got hubby to take over and he told me this morning that she continued singing until he fell asleep. When he awoke with a start, P had fallen asleep. Now, who was supposed to put who to sleep? 

Over the past few days, P would shout at the top of her voice "E-chew-yee, e-chew-yee, e-chew-yee, ya ya ya!!!!" We had no idea what she was trying to tell us, but her excitement was so hilarious. Hubby finally figured it out yesterday, and its the song that goes "yippee ya ya, yippee yippee ya!" 

How did it get so distorted by P? 

P's Birthday Celebration with Hubby's Family

We hosted a cosy party in the comfort of our house to celebrate P's birthday (for the last time this year). The theme was Care Bears, and I had purchased some party supplies from Party City some months back. Caterer used was Delihub, and the food had great reviews from my in laws. We got her Care Bear cake from Pine Garden. 

A long week

It's P's birthday week. Quite a lot of things have happened so I'm also not sure where to begin.

I guess I'll start with myself. Last Tuesday evening, I went to the Thomson Women Clinic at AMK Hub to see Dr. Wendy Teo for my late menses. I had tested negative again (4th time) the day before, feeling so perplexed. Gynae's diagnosis is hormonal imbalance. Sigh, didn't even know what was that. My thoughts on missed period means pregnancy, didn't know hormonal imbalance could cause that as well. She told me to give it 2 more weeks to test again. If still negative, I will need to take the medicine she prescribed to induce my menses. 

I went online to read up on hormonal imbalance and I'm really experiencing most of the symptoms. Upset, but can't be helped. Gynae will scan me in 3 months' time to check for ovulation. If its not happening, she will need to give me ovulation medicine. My previous fear has come true - fertility issues. 

On a more positive note, we have started transitioning P to the next stage formula milk, Nan Kid 4. I had ever spoken to the Nestlé helpline person and she told me Nan Kid has a slight vanilla taste and is generally sweeter while Nan Ha 3 is bitter. I was worried P can't take it well, but she gulped it down like her usual milk. I've been alternating her feeds, and looking good so far. Once properly transited, it will save us a good $9.30/tin moving forward. 

Another thing worth mentioning is that we have moved P to her own room! We bought a car-shaped bed from Full House Aljunied and have it delivered the day after her birthday. That very night, she slept in her own room while I fretted the whole night in my room. It seems I was experiencing more separation anxiety than her. We left a hall light on in case she decided to venture out and look for us in the middle of the night. True enough, at 2am, I heard her cries and came out to see her standing outside her room. In the end, all she wanted was milk. I put her back on her bed and gave her her milk. It took another 30 min of lying down with her for her to get back to sleep. 

The next day, we deliberately left the hall light off and she slept through. The following day as well! Hubby was really happy with his uninterrupted sleep, and said we should have done it earlier. I think the trick is to really give her a whopper milk before bed. Hubby didn't give any milk to her on the first night.

All that's missing now is a #2. I hope we can still be in time for the horse year. 

P's Birthday Celebration with my Family

Today marks the first round of P's 2nd birthday celebrations. We drove to Defu Lane's Seafood Paradise to meet my family for dinner. Hubby really loves their 金沙螃蟹, and couldn't resist slurping up the gravy after he finished the crab. I, on the other hand, prefer the crab tang hoon. The whole crab dish has the taste and texture of sharks fin. If wedding banquets can replace this dish, it will save a lot of sharks. Their cuttlefish kang kong was unlike those you get at zi char stalls. The veggie is fried such that it is crispy. I found the food just average, but my family really seem to like it, plus P ate a fair bit too. 6 dishes cost $234, which was expensive in my opinion.

After dinner, we drove back to my parent's place for the cake cutting. I didn't plan to have a birthday theme for P's birthday celebration with my family, but Breadtalk recently launched the Hello Kitty series of cakes that was really quite cute. On a spur of the moment last Friday, I decided on the Hello Kitty theme, which sent my mom scrambling to Compasspoint to order the cake. I bought a Hello Kitty stick balloon from Gift Greetings at Great World City. With the Hello Kitty toy that we got from MacDonald happy meal sometime back, all these set the backdrop for her cake cutting. 

Round 1 done. We'll be heading to Hello Kitty town + Little Big Club in JB for her actual birthday (21 Aug). In laws side will celebrate with her next weekend. 

The TTC Journey

Hubby and I really wanted a horse year baby, so we started trying in June, expecting that it will be a one shot one kill and that our #2 will be born in March 2014. Haha, of coz that didn't happen. It was tough with P co-sleeping with us. In short, the first month of TTC has failed. 

P was conceived some 1 month after our wedding. I only saw AF for a month before bidding her goodbye for 9 months then. There was no stress and definitely no baby co-sleeping with us at that time, but with #2, I find myself getting super upset at seeing AF last month. Thought that came to mind: 

Oh man! I.have.secondary.infertility.

Well, AF is 10 days late as I wrote this post, and I have 3 negatives on test kits so far. Very demoralising, but I'm telling myself as long as I don't see AF, I stand a chance. The tests were done

1. 5 days before expected time of AF (ya, I know I should slap myself for this one)

2. On day of expected AF

3. 6 days after expected AF

All NEGATIVE. I can think of no other way to describe my feeling. 

P's birthday is coming up this Wednesday, and I'm going to test again if AF hasn't showed up. Wish me luck!

NDP 2013 Preview



Laughing Ger

My Gym Open House

Following my post on signing up for the free trial for My Gym at Djitsun Mall, Ang Mo Kio, the day came for us to attend the trial. We arrived at Djitsun Mall to see that the escalators are not working yet, so you will need to take the lift up to My Gym. The earlier session has yet to leave, but staff were nice enough to let P in to try some of the structures first. They had a ballpit, 2 trampolines, a playground structure and plenty of mats and equipment. I like it that the lesson area is fully carpeted and they had padding in areas where kids could bump into.

While the earlier session sang their goodbye song, P and I sat by the side and watched. She couldn't resist the playground structure after a while and I had to watch her instead. I realized I didn't get a picture of the playground structure, but it's strange because you need to take a step down before you can slide. In my opinion, that's quite dangerous for bubs wearing socks, because they could fall easily. I never really had to 'spot' P when she goes on the slide sat neighborhood playgrounds, but for this one, I have to.

The session began with everyone gathering at the red circle. The teacher sang a welcome song and we have to go round to introduce our bubs and their age. P is somewhat smack in the middle in terms of age. We have a handful of kids that are 2 years old, and the rest at about 18/19 months old. The teacher led us through some songs and patting actions. P didn't do very well with the sit down activities and at one point in time, she even wandered off to their "storeroom" where they kept balloons and a lot of colorful equipment. Yes, I think P was going for their balloons. I had to pull her back and luckily, they started the bubble session. P was jubilant, and really raced all over trying to chase bubbles. After the bubble session, we settled back down for a puppet show. The teacher handling the puppets had to do some dialogue from behind the puppet scene, but we could barely hear her voice. It would be great if they could play some sort of story from the radio instead.

The last part was an active gym session, and the part that P and I really like. There were 3 stations - Handstand, rolling and swinging - and all led by facilitators. For handstand, P had to hold something like a push up bar placed on the floor. The instructor would make sure she holds on, while the role of the parent is to lift up her hips and the other facilitator will help to stretch out her legs. P did 2 really decent handstands, and I'm really proud of her. The rolling station was performed on a gym mat that looks something like a slide. The child needs to roll forward by tucking her chin on her chest. I've done this numerous times on my bed at home, and P never fails to be amused. However, P couldn't seem to get the idea at this station, and I was too self-conscious to be giving a demo with a queue of parents behind, so we just did a flimsy one and left. Last station, swinging like a trapeze! P totally totally enjoyed this. The child has to hold onto a wooden bar (suspended from ceiling), swing 5 times and the parent has to catch her. P was laughing out loud all the way, a look of joy on her face. Parents at the side were all telling me she's super happy. Unfortunately, she didn't get to do a 2nd round on this.

And, it was freeplay after that! Lesson was shorter than I expected, but staff told me it was only a snippet of their usual lessons. They gave out brochures about lesson pricing and birthday packages. Their promotion for that day was 3 weeks free with 20 weeks sign up. Each lesson will cost $40++, which is quite expensive in my opinion. Hubby wasn't all that keen too, so we didn't sign up in the end.

River Safari

It's hubby's birthday today, happy 29th! We were thinking what to do for the day, and I suggested the zoo because I had plenty of fun there on my birthday. What's more, it's free entrance for me. Hubby said ok, so I started to pack wetsuits, sunblock etc in anticipation of going to the water playground at the zoo. Before I could complete my packing, hubby told me he has yet to recover (runny nose for past few days) and wouldn't be up to playing with water. We changed out minds and decided to check out the River Safari instead.

River Safari is the newest addition to Wildlife Reserves Singapore’s portfolio of award-winning parks. Nestled between Singapore’s two award-winning wildlife parks – Singapore Zoo and Night Safari – River Safari offers an unforgettable adventure inspired by eight of the world’s most iconic rivers. This $160-million attraction features state-of-the-art exhibit design, Southeast Asia's largest panda exhibit as well as the world's largest freshwater aquarium. Housing one of the world’s largest collections of freshwater fauna, the park features over 5,000 specimens representing 300 species. And that includes Singapore’s resident giant pandas, Kai Kai and Jia Jia.

Guess who we saw when we first arrived?

Hubby and P got in free, so I was the only one who needed to pay to enter. They are offering a discounted price of $25 (adult) at the moment because the River Safari boat ride and animal exhibits along this ride will not be available until later this year. Upon entering, the staff sang hubby a "Happy Birthday" song, and helped to take this picture for us.

Paiseh moment for hubby, so he hid his face

The river safari was super easy to navigate. It basically one straight path that you walk through, and view the exhibits along the way. One word of caution is for you to head to the washroom before you start to explore, else the next nearest toilet is at the panda viewing area, which is like halfway through the park. There was too much fishy exhibits at the beginning of the trail, and P was somewhat disappointed, telling me "I want see animals," We pointed out various crocodiles to her and she remained unfazed. She only brightened up when we got to the panda viewing area, and it really does help that the panda area is airconditioned. It might have been the weather on that day, but we endured a breeze-less walk almost all the way (hand held fans might offer some relief).
 

The 3Ps - P, Papa, Panda

After the pandas, we took a bathroom break and found a restaurant right outside. It serves panda pau, how cute! On hindsight, this pau is really expensive and tastes no better than any red bean pau you find outside. Well, one of the touristy things we can do in Singapore :)

 

The River Safari took us about 3 hours to complete, which wasn't too bad. When the River Safari boat ride and animal exhibits open in future, you should defnitely buffer more time. Surprisingly, hubby told me he really liked the tranquil feel of the place and won't mind coming back in future. I will be back when the new attractions open.

eXplorerkid Baby & Junior Race 2013

The eXplorerkid Baby & Junior Race 2013 is back!

It was a memorable event for us last year, when P was still so babyish and took part in the crawling contest. Hubby was surprisingly gamed when I told him about this year's race, but he did comment that a leopard will not change its spots, and that P's reaction will be the same as last year, haha.

When browsing Downtown East's website to find out more about the race, I chanced upon this video which featured myself and P at slightly after the 1 min mark.

Come September 22, P will be hitting the 25 months mark, which puts her in the Toddler category of 25-30 months. Yep, no age advantage. I think they are supposed to complete some tasks before racing to the finishing line.

Due to the loyalty discount, we only paid $12 (inclusive of processing fee and mail) for this year's race. We're all looking forward to it!

My Gym at AMK

My Gym was created in 1983 by William Caplin and Yacov & Susi Sherman, who opened their first two My Gyms in Santa Monica and Van Nuys, California. Utilizing their experience in the fields of sports, dance, early childhood development, kinesiology and gymnastics, they developed a program and facility where children actively participate in a variety of structured, weekly physical education classes to gain social skills and self-esteem.

I'm quite excited to know that they will be opening a branch at AMK! We had previously gone for a trial at their Tampines centre, and I think they are quite well equipped with ball pits, climbing structures, attachable swings etc. P must have less than a year old when she went for that trial, so I'm quite keen to see how her motor skills have evolved since then.

I received an SMS on my phone yesterday, and this is what it says.

How can I pass up a chance to explore their new centre? I responded my interest and got a call from the centre shortly to confirm a slot on 14 July. Fast and efficient service.

The AMK branch is situated at the newly constructed Djitsun Mall (don't ask me how to pronounce the name, I'though I suspect it's a silent D, so that makes Jit-soon Mall). You can see it when the mrt is plying AMK - Yio Chu Kang. It's still a fair walk from AMK Hub, but it beats having to go Tampines to attend the classes. The last time we passed by the mall, it looks as if it wasn't going to open anytime soon. They had some banners showing some of the tenants, and it includes Sakae, Khongdon BBQ, Watsons, True Fitness and a few other children educational facilities. When speaking to the My Gym staff to confirm the slot for P, I asked if the mall is already open, and the answer was no. I wonder if My Gym is going to be the first tenant to open on 13 July.

Counting down to 14 July...

14 years of Friendship

Reserved a little time for friends tonight. 

Universal Studios Singapore

Day started early for the Tan family, because we're off to Universal Studios Singapore! We parked our car at Harbourfront Centre and took the link to Vivocity to meet hubby's friends. There was to be 11 people + P going. MasterCard had a promotion on RWS website where you buy 3 tix and get 1 free. It would have been better if we had 12 people, but oh well, can't always have things our way. I purchased 3 sets of that promotion via their website yesterday. Tickets were to be collected at the Guest Services counter.

Breakfast at Coffee Bean, Vivocity. A hot chocolate to start the day right.

We took the monorail and it was only 1 stop away. It was my first time taking the monorail, so I wasn't sure what to do. I learnt I could use an ezlink card to get pass the gantry and it will only cost $3 (I later found out we didn't need to pay when we take the return trip, so it's quite worth it). The monorail is quite like the sky trains we have at Changi Airport, and it was a pretty tight squeeze (think peak hour mrt ride) while heading to Sentosa. 

1 stop later, we arrived at Waterfront station. Boy, was there already a big crowd at USS. I was quite shocked when I saw the queue at the Ticketing counters. Luckily, the Guest Services counter was a separate queue behind the ticketing counters, but it was still a fairly long wait. 

Collection of tickets

Tan Family at USS

Full Group Photo

Because of P's age and height, it helps to do a lot of research on the rides she can go on prior to going to the park. This link is particularly helpful. Here are the only rides that a 22 month old can go on, unless he/she is particularly tall:

• New York - Lights Camera Action
• Sci-Fi City - Accelerator
• Ancient Egypt - Treasure Hunters
• Lost World - Dino Soaring
• Far far away - Magic Potion Spin
• Far far away - Shrek 4D
• Madagascar - King Julien's Beach party-go-round

1st character we bumped into the moment we enter - Kung Fu Panda

From the list, it would make more sense for us to turn left after the main street to go into Madagascar and Far Far Away areas, but it was a group of adults, so right side was the way to go. As P didn't make the height for the Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase, hubby went in with his friends while me and P went into the souvenir store.

Really like this photo of P and Elmo(s)

P raced into this scene while others were taking their pics, so I q-ed and we took this pic. Messy hair for me coz of the breeze

Looking bored. When is papa coming out??

Coming out from the rides, we passed by the Transformers ride next. Waiting time was a whopping 80 min, so they decided to skip it. Next is the Battlestar Galactica rollercoaster with 15 min waiting time. Hubby's friends went in, so we checked out the Accelerator instead - P's 1st ride! It's like a spinning teacup kind of ride, but P didn't take it too well towards the end when the spinning got faster and the lights start flashing above her. She tried to stand and clamber onto me, but we told her she had to sit down. Luckily, she didn't have a meltdown and the ride soon ended.

In the Accelerator (before it starts spinning of coz)

Hubby's friends took way longer than 15 min to return from the blue roller coaster. Upon coming out, they were raring to go for the red one and told me and hubby to join while 2 of hubby's friends babysit her. I was worried about leaving P behind (and also not very keen on the red one as I remembered it as being quite scary compared to the blue). They were insistent, and I found myself joining the q and worrying about P throughout.When our turn came, I was quite surprised the seats were different from 2 years ago. I recalled they only had a safety barrier to clamp down our thighs in the past, but it has since been upgraded to having a vest-like structure. Ok, didn't feel so scared upon seeing the vest thing, but man, the 1st drop was bad. My heart was 2cm from leaping out of my body, haha. Nonetheless, it was a great adrenaline rush! Exited the ride to find P perched on hubby's friends' shoulder, sucking her thumb (sign of sleepiness).

Hubby and friends went in for The Mummy Ride. I skipped that intending to put P to sleep, but I found a stall selling bubble guns and bought 1 for P. The moment the bubbles come shooting out, sleep was beyond her. She chased bubbles till hubby came out.

The proud bubble gunner

Group decision was to head to the Malaysian food street just outside USS for lunch. It was super crowded and we had to wait quite long for seats. Even so, we couldn't get seats for the whole group and ended up sitting separately. By this time, P had conked out, leaving me free to guard the table while hubby went in search for food. Knowing his dislike for long queues, I asked him to go for the shortest one, and this is what he came back with.

Lor Mee, tasted better than it looked

Didn't come cheap at $5 per bowl

Hubby's friends had also kindly helped to buy chendol and a fruit platter for us to share. Great to have lots of people tackling different queues, and we got to eat a variety of food. P woke up towards the end of our meal and we didn't have anything for her to eat except fruits and chendol. She usually don't have much of an appetite upon waking, so it wasn't too bad. Her diaper, however, is in need of a change. We sought out an information counter and got directions to the nearest diaper changing room. 

Went back to USS and went left this time round. Hubby's friends went for the Madagascar Crate ride while hubby and I brought P to the merry go round. I asked P which animal she wanted to go for, and she told me lion. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to get the lion both times - 1st with me, then later with hubby. She took to this much better than the Accelerator, and we felt happy seeing she had fun.

We went in for the Shrek 4D show, and P refused to put on the 4D glasses. I think some of the scenes were quite scary for her, so most of the time she was watching garbled images on the screen directly. Then all of a sudden, I felt a warm gush of liquid all over my shorts. You guessed it, diaper leak, omg!! We hurried out of the theater when the show ends, told hubby's friends to go ahead 1st while we went in search of a diaper changing room (again). I had brought a change of clothes for P, but not for myself. Lesson learnt :(

After her change of clothes, we went back to the Shrek souvenir stall where the mini ferris wheel is located. They told us each "wheel" can only fit 2 adults, so we thought hubby and myself could go with P, but no, they meant only either of us can go with P. Hubby was happy to escape, so I went with P. It was a boring ride, and somewhat dark. P just sat there wondering what was going on. She was more happy to run around the souvenir shop touching Gingerbread Man, magnets etc.

In the ferris wheel cabin. Too dark for pics, so I on the flash. Unfortunately, it can only capture her squinting.

Jurassic World was the final destination. It contained only 1 ride that P can go on, and was the ride that I think P will enjoy the most. Waiting time was 30 mins and I stayed in the queue line while hubby and P waited at the side. P is getting sleepy again, and by the time we reached out turn, her face has turned to stone. This was the best kiddy ride in my opinion, but we caught it at the wrong time.

En route the way to leave the park, we saw a mega bubble gun that can churn out gigantic bubbles. P was totally excited (you can probably tell by now she's crazy about bubbles). We spent the last few minutes  watching her chase and burst those fragile bubbles, and that ended our day at USS. Of the 7 rides she could go on, we managed to cover 5, not too bad if you ask me :) Hopefully the next time we come back, she will be able to go on more rides.

Chasing bubbles and dreams