Happy birthday Shourei!

Today is my nephew, Shou Rui’s 5^th birthday. I always have a soft spot for him, possibly because he’s the first grandchild of our family. And, the fact that I was very involved in his childhood, it makes me particularly more attached to him.

The classic "funny face" family foto to marked our every gathering

When I discovered my pregnancy, I always think that I will prefer a boy for my first-born. Just to qualify this statement – it’s not because I have a preference for boys. This is largely influenced by the fact that I have 2 brothers, and I always thought it will be sweet if there is a big brother in the family to protect the younger siblings. I’m glad that Shou Rui is actually very fond of Mei Mei and takes very good care of her. In fact, my brother used to compare that he finds Shou Rui is actually nicer to Mei Mei than his own brother.

Why Gor Gor is so nice to Mei Mei and not me?

We had his pre-birthday celebration over the weekend. This 5-year old boy actually prefers to have a KTV session, so that he can relish this fav Jay Chou “Huo Yuan Jia” song. Of cos, the highlight of the day has to be the unwrapping of birthday presents for him. Nothing beats seeing a kid beamed in joy when he uncovers the mystery of his presents! Shiok ah..so many presents! Can play till i flip!

Mummy..why no present for me?

Shou Cong you must be a tough guy ok! Follow me..hor hor hor hor hor hor hor..

Finally..my turn to sing..

Eh-lo? Why no sound?

Mei Mei finally crashed after a day of fun. For the record, she slept for a straight 3 hours without stirring!

Days without Mei Mei

It's funny how a kid can become one's focal point in life. I always thought and had Rei and myself believe that our marraige should come before anything else. In fact, I was always ranting to my wifey about the importance of having "couple" time together. I preached the notion of starting each conversation after work, talking about one another instead of mei mei. But sub-consciencely, I don't think I had walked the talk.

I checked the photos stored in my iPod touch, a total of 19 photos. Of which, 1 was Charlene, 1 had the 3 of us (Wifey, En Xi & me) and 17 were all single portraits of Mei Mei taken since birth. Truth is Mei Mei is the first thing that comes to my mind whenever I think of home. When I chat with my friends, I talked about my kid most of the times. I can recall myself saying I miss my kid, but not miss having dinner with my wifey.

Is there no couplehood after parenthood?

3 weeks without Daddy

You wanna play with me and my new toy!!

Little En Xi is getting more responsive over the past few weeks. A significant change we noticed is that she is becoming more vocal with her emotions. Especially when she spots the first signs of going out ie prepping her stroller or taking out the keys, she get extremely excited and starts to displayed her excitement by yelling at the top of her voice. She is such a chatterbox too, babbling non-stop from the moment she wakes up, so much so that I don't even need an alarm clock now.

God-Auntie Xiujun came to visit..I want to be as pretty as her when I grow up

The key challenge is also to bring her out of the house single-handedly. Without Edwin around, it has been an arduous task to keep her still within the stroller. Having a peaceful meal without her protesting in her stroller is almost impossible. Funny thing is, my in-laws never have this problem cos she seems to be much more obedient when she is out with them. So double standard!! Obviously, someone is trying to bully Mummy...sob sob...

En Xi's moment of the week

Shou Rui: En Xi, let's pose a really ugly face.
En Xi: Huh? I don't know how to be ugly.....

1st week without Daddy

To prevent Mei Mei from potentially forgetting how Daddy might look, we came up with a brilliant idea to put together a short home video of Daddy. Inspired by "Star Wars", Daddy decided to transform Mei Mei's favorite toy (our remote control) into the light sabre in this context. It's really funny I must say (which unfortunately we can't share at this point in time as it's exclusive to Mei Mei), at least whenever Mei Mei is cranky (esp during the challenging dinner time), it's the sure-laugh antidote that Mummy can rely on.

I also plastered the house with posters of Daddy, so that Mei Mei can see them constantly and be reminded of Daddy whenever she are. It seems to o work. cos we often see Mei Mei gazing and pawing at his pictures, and sometimes uttering "Ba Ba".

Daddy..are you locked inside? Come out pls..this is not funny

The first tooth of Mei Mei has emerged a couple of days back. But her teething woes continue as the 2nd teeth is battling through the ridges. This long weekend seems particularly long, cos it's the first time I had to manage Mei Mei all by myself. It doesn't help that Mei Mei is going through teething, and can be very "schizophrenia".

At one time she can be as sweet as an angel..

















...the next moment she will be a cranky monster if I leave her sight for more than 0.0001 seconds.























I was determined to bring her out today, so that I can take some attention away from this fussy princess. But unfortunately IT HAD TO RAIN BIG TIME!!!


















I want to go out..rain rain go away

We end up stranded in the house cos it was impossible to go anywhere with this weather. I was entertaining her with "peek-a-boo" most of the times (cos this never fails to amuse her, even when she is cranky).





















10, 9, 8 ,7,...Mummy I'm going to catch u soon ya..

She also seems to find great joy in shredding my magazines.

I'm going to be on the cover some day..

Counting down to Daddy's return...3 more weeks to go!!!

Bye bye Daddy..

Daddy had to going away for work for the next 1 month. It's the first time since Mei Mei is born, that Daddy is going to be away for such a long time.

Mei Mei getting all chirpy & excited - probably she thought that she is also going to get on the plane too!

Mei mei getting teary knowing Daddy is leaving (without her) - awwwww.. Daddy heart pain pain!

This time round, it felt different for me, thou it's not the first time Edwin is going away for an overseas stint.Surprisingly, I missed him a lot more that I thought. Perhaps it's times like this that hit me that I may have taken his presence for granted. As someone once said, "Marriage is not a game of scoring", I find this particularly meaningful, cos it's such a simple theory but yet most couples do not appreciate this basic essence of matrimony. Especially when we enter into parenthood - the wife will always be lamenting that the husband is never doing enough. When mothers congregate, we start to compare how we are always the party making the most sacrifices. I think it's because we are so consumed by the additional responsibilities as a mother that we often feel victimised (esp at night, when our husband's snoring is in orchestra with the baby's crying).

I suddenly realised that I probably spend too much time grumbling about how he could have been done more. Yet, I can't even remember when is the last time that I''ve sincerely told him that I appreciated the things that he has done for our family.

Edwin always offer to change and feed Mei Mei, vs a lot of other fathers I know who are still stuck in the conservative mindset that parenting is a women's righful duty. Despite being a "social butterfly", he even sacrificed a large part of his social life so that he can be always there when we needed him (and did not even put up a word of protest when I'm out to catch up with my girlfriends). Did I mention that no matter how challenging it was for him to feed Mei Mei, yet he never once throw his temper? All this may sound like very simple feats that any father can accomplish. But if you have known Edwin long enough, you will agree with me that he's quite a changed man now.

I'm not trying to glorify my husband; but I think everyone should take some time to think of what your partner have done to contribute to the relationship.

Do spare a brief moment today to give him a tight hug and tell him how much he means to you .

Daddy - we will miss you deep deep!

Wedding Anniversary (Day 2)

4th Oct is a special day, not only is it Daddy & Mummy's wedding anniversary, it happens to be Mummy's birthday as well. By now, Mei Mei must be thinking," Oh My Gosh! Daddy is so cheapo! Everything try to combine, so no need to spend extra $$ to celebrate and buy presents" Mei Mei should had guessed it earlier, since Daddy was quite a cheapo to get a Hotel stay in Conrad in the first place. Well, all Daddy could say is that, "If Mei Mei no want a boyfriend like Daddy, bring him home for dinner with Daddy." Mei Mei will then know if the boy is cheapo or not, cos only a real cheapo can identify with another cheapo!

Anyway, enough with Daddy's nonsense. It's time for Mei Mei to show everyone around in our new found home for 2 nights only.

Here's the bed, its a King size, so there's plenty of room for the 3 of us. No more flying kicks to Mummy's face, I promise!

Well, guess what? Daddy thought the bed was too high and was worried that Mei Mei might fall off the bed, so I got to sleep in the cot instead. Hmmm, I wonder if that's the real reason? I thought I saw Daddy drinking milk in bed last night?

Yeah! This TV is even bigger than the one at home, a full 46" LCD TV with full entertainment theatre system. Wow, before you knew it, it's night time, here's a great shot from our room during the night.

I was throwing tantrums throughout the day, so Daddy decided to stay in the room for dinner instead. Poor Daddy gotta buy take away from Carl's Jnr. But I'm an attention seeker, there's no way I'm gonna let Daddy & Mummy spend a quiet dinner together. Besides, I wanna celebrate Mummy's birthday.

I never knew talking this much was gonna make me so hungry, let's see what the hotel chef can come up with.

Yesterday's congee was quite nice and cheap, cost only $2. Daddy is cheapo, so this sounds like a good deal. I shall have the same congee tonight. Maybe I'll add a little more flavour into the congee, chicken sounds nice.

Yesterday's plain congee was $2. Today with some chicken in the congee, a stalk of flower, a plate of soy sauce, a bowl of flour fritters and a glass of ice water, it cost Daddy $25. When Daddy told Mummy about this, she almost blew her head off.

Actually, Mummy wanted to blow the waiter's head off instead. Cos Mummy was the one who wanted the chicken in the congee. I tried to calm Mummy down by offering a cheque.

Well, at least I tried.....

Health Tips from Ong En Xi for the day.

A pear a day, keeps my Daddy & Mummy happy everyday

Wedding Anniversary (Day 1)

Daddy & Mummy has been married for 4 years now & to celebrate Daddy & Mummy's wedding anniversary, Daddy decided to plan for a weekend getaway. Choices were somewhat limited as Mei Mei is too young for a flight out of S'pore. So Daddy opted for a stay at Conrad Centennial Hotel instead. Swimming for Mei Mei and Spa facilities for Daddy & Mummy. Perfect!

How wrong it turned out to be! The pool was under renovation and guests have to take a hike to Ritz Carlton for the swim instead. Wow Lau Eh! So troublesome! Fortunately, Mummy found out about this when she was enquiring on Spa packages, 4 days before the weekend stay. When Mummy broke the news to Daddy, his face started to cramp up and turn green. Mei Mei could hear the tearing of fabric in the background while she was playing.

Anyway, we had the choice to cancel our reservations & look elsewhere, but decided to save on the hassle & be cheapo instead. Where else can you find a 2 night stay in Marina Bay for a little more than $200 per night? Besides, you don't get to swim in a 6 star hotel pool that often right? So, off we go!

Sexy Mei Mei must be wondering why we are taking a cab for a swim. This might sound ridiculous, but this was the arrangment by the Hotel staff.

Daddy wonders if Mei Mei or Mummy is enjoying the swim more?

Mei Mei gets knocked out after a 30 lap practise. You think Tao Li is good? Wait till 16 years later, watch out for Ong En Xi. Daddy thought that he could spend some quality time with Mummy while Mei Mei is asleep. Maybe catch some movies in the room or just plain talking. But the moment Daddy puts Mei Mei down in her cot, she stands up and gives you a look like this...

Heh Heh... Daddy! Mummy! Play with me!

Our room is on the 18th floor, overlooking Pan Pacific, here's a day shot from our room.

Another day shot across Suntec City Mall.

Health Tips from Ong En Xi for the day.

An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.