National day holidays!

I decided I needed a well deserved break from shuttling around the clinics.

Sunday was the National day holiday so that made Monday an official day off. Taking Friday and Saturday just made sense to extend it into a nice 4 day break. ( of course it would happen that patients would suddenly pop up when they refused to the rest of the week! BLAH! )

Anthony is in town too, so that was perfect.

Friday Chris was working so it was Madison's and my day. We went to the Botanic Gardens for brekkie with Chris, and stayed on afterwards. I took her to the Jacob Ballas children's gardens to wander around, and even had an impromptu gathering with a group of mummies who happened to be there for their weekly get together. But in honesty, I found them a little intimidating.. these SAHM who meet and seem to know quite a bit about kiddy type things.. I felt pretty clueless and small around them....

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, went out with Pa to get sashimi for dinner... bought a new swim suit... Madison got brand new goggles. That was a mini drama in itself. Apparently she freaked out when they put a pair of red goggles over her eyes.. and freaked the sales girl out too!

Saturday came too quickly...
Madison had her hua yu class in the morning, daddy had his with her, and I got my cuppa and a good read at Macca's while waiting...

The evening was spent at the club ( again! ). Madison enjoys the playroom and we took her for a dip in the pool when it got cooler in the evening. ( I still turned a shade darker though! ) Alfresco dinner, out door music and freshly cooked satay... how could you beat that!

Sunday heralded HOT weather... PICNIC day... 1st ever at the beach with Madison. It was great, apart from the sweltering heat. Of course I had a 'brilliant' idea to rent a bike, cycle with our gear to the pit stop and have a picnic lunch.

Of course I didn't expect BAD traffic at the beach. And lousy parking which meant a bit of a hike to the shop ( although Madison was great, and 'jogged' that distance too!) So at the end of that it meant we were cycling in the terrible heat and Madison kind of feel asleep at the back of the bike!

But lunch was great. We all enjoyed the meal on the sand, under some coconut trees. We had sand dumped on the food initially but she was good and stopped it when told to do so.

Cycling back was another story, but we made it... and even went to the Carl's Junior drive through...

Busy busy...

This week has been crazy busy...

Started off with the airconditioning breaking down. Then " why not get the window fixed at the same time " ( its been broken years ago now.. !)

So we find the aircon guys after some surfing the net on Sunday, and the Coolserve people sealed the deal just because they followed up our email request. The window was harder to fix. Not many people are intested in small jobs. Well.. thank goodness for the world wide web. Turns out the window fixing guy was actually employed by someone who did carpentry. So that led to the kitchen next for renovation.

1. The airconditioning:

Kaput. Dead. Amazing how stuff changes. In 5 years our model is 'old' and the pipes needed checking for leaks etc...
1 day to check that the compressor was dead. 2 days for the pressure gas test. Another day to get the new airconditioning system put in.
Not cheap either! Pressure test cost us $342, and the new system another two grand or so.

2. Window pane:

Broken by a freak wind accident that led to the window being slammed shut.
Getting it fixed cost us another $140!
Got plastic. Not going to face another broken window. It's in the kitchen facing the airconditioning ledge anyway.

3. Kitchen:

The idea was to shift our humungous double door refrigerator back into the kitchen. Of course it meant tearing apart the cabinets and shifting everything down half a metre. So we elected to install an oven while we were at it. So we got the guy to measure it out, went shopping pronto to find an oven to fit, all in the same hour. That's setting us back another three grand or so.

Hopefully everything turns out well... we're going to get quite a few credit card points this month.

That aside, I think Madison also caught Pa's viral thing and was ( is ) coughing and having somewhat of a runny/itchy nose. Thank goodness for chlormine.

Elizabeth had her first round of vaccinations too, and she did well... getting the full cocktail with pneumococcal and rotaviral vaccines too. Not even a real fever! Lucky gal.

The airconditioners are taking longer than I expected to get put up.. argh...

Fun with Madison

We had a pretty good weekend.

Yesterday was a work day but we managed to salvage it.

Initially I was hoping we'd make it to Casa Verde at the Botanic Gardens for strawberry pancakes in the morning, but turned out that Chris needed to go back to work at 830Am. By the time we were ready to leave the house in the morning there was no time to make it to the gardens and then to the hospital.

So we settled for self service, grumpy service ladies and kaya toast with eggs at Kopi Tiam at SGH. And of all the food courts this one didn't even have a single high chair. Talk about child friendly establishments! We made do and stacked 3 chairs together but Madison was squirming about on the chair and barely made it past 5 minutes. After breakfast Madison and I spent an hour wandering the corridors of the hospital ground floor, the gardens and the pharmacy. Madison scored herself an orange beanbag Carebear.

Chris took longer than expected so by the time he was done :1. I was running late for work at Joo Chiat 2. They were running late for Chinese class at Bibinogs. Chris and Madison took a taxi to class while I rushed straight off to work.

By late afternoon, after her nap we decided to go for a bike ride with Madison sitting behind on a child seat. It was amazing! She lasted close to an hour and started to fuss only at the end. My main grouse was the crazy crowds and the blazing hot sun at 5PM!

Today, I had my mind set on replacing our airconditioner in our bedroom. Turns out its not as simple as rocking up to a shop and getting it changed. Long story short, I'm still stuck with our crummy old set that now blows warm air. Disappointing.

This afternoon though, our poor old chum Madison had another bout of tummy trouble. Actually, she had trouble with her bowels. There was blood involved. Fortunately between the 2 of us we managed to sort that all out, but her nap was truncated because of her tummy.

There was also a MP walkabout this afternoon around the Novena house . So Madison got to meet our MP!

Dinner was a family affair . Elizabeth was brought over too and boy is she chubby now! I cooked for a change, and made macaroni olio aglio with seafood, and chicken casserole with kidney beans and brussel sprourts.

Tonight I'm camping in the living room. I think Chris still wants to sleep in our room with the crummy hot airconditioner. I really don't know how he can bury himself under our duvet !

Tomorrow, another week starts... so many things to do already. Anthony arrives Thursday. Aircon needs to be checked. Window pane in kitchen needs replacing. Curtains need replacement. Sigh.

H1N1 scare

I think our family thrives on drama.

Now it's Pa's turn to have his share of excitement.

He started being unwell on the 16th July, initially with a fever. Then he didn't seem to get better, even though he'd started Tamiflu and subsequently Augmentin. The rest of us went into minor panic mode, and Novena became flu zone and was quarantined. Even the maids were sleeping at our tiny apartments, in the hallway while we waited out the quarantine.

Yesterday, he started having a cough on top of his fever. That took the cake. He was packed off to Tan Tock Seng hospital to have tests to see if he'd developed: 1. H1N1 2. Pneumonia. 3.Something else eg dengue?

Good news was, it wasn't H1N1. Bad news? The chest Xray did show some changes. So it was some kind of pneumonia.

So far so good... he seems to have improved today, after starting some clarithromycin that I dug out from the drawer at home. If Geok hadn't called me to call him, he'd even had gone off to work!

Was a bit mad for me this morning too... Chinese class again ( which we'd missed on Saturday as Chris was called back to work for the blast victims from Jakarta ). And a patient turned up at Balestier just before we had to leave .. when it's usually dead as a doornail on Mondays!

Got to go...

$1000 cake

And that's for a single slice at Dempseys!

No... the cake didn't cost that much at the counter. It was the process that cost me that much.

I don't even know how the accident happened. Even after it occurred I had to stop and think " what just happened there???!!! ". I pulled over at the nearest safe junction and stopped to check. And my heart sank. Yes. There was a collision. No it wasn't with a curb.

To my surprise a black SUV drove up and stopped behind me. Who else but the owner of the other car.

So that's how the cake is going to cost $1000 ( I think, hopefully not more but you never know with cars. It's like getting cancer, getting into a collision ) I don't think I can claim insurance on this one, already my premium will have taken a big hit earlier with the one when I was taking Madison to the Botanic Gardens!

Sigh. It's also Chris' fault. He wanted that cake from PS cafe in Dempsey road. I suggested my buckwheat pancakes with Ben and Jerry's (no ), cake from Bakerzin ( at United sq, a whole lot closer and familiar drive for me --no cake too small ) , cake from Cedele ( also nearby ) --no. Ice cream from Udders ( also at United square--no, not that great ) , Ice cream from Ben and Jerry's cafe --no, we have that at home already ..

The dutiful wife in me wanted to give him a break, let him get some reading in before dessert so I volunteered to drive out to get it. What a mistake.

I can only say, "thank goodness I work and earn $$"

Chris goes " there goes your iphone $$$"

And when I finally brought the chocolate brownie cake home he zaps it in the microwave and completely destroys the creation! ( It actually cost $16 including taxes. Minus the ice cream as it was takeout. )

Next time Warni will babysit and we should go there and be served.

And Chris can drive. No more nice wifey. $1000 cake lesson of life.

Meal time with Madison

My goodness. Did they not warn me about meal times with a toddler.

To be fair to Madison, most days she is fine, especially if she is ravenous she will eat most adult looking food served to her.

But check out meals that she has little appetite for. Like oatmeal. Or a whole host of other things that she used to eat: yoghurt, banana, occasionally papaya, sweet potato.

THE WHINING. And writhing. And head turning/shaking. Enough to drive me bonkers up the wall. Especially if I'd just spent the past hour slaving away, drenched in warm sweat making the meal. And the hour before that planning the meal so that it would have the right balance of protein, fibre and carbohydrate.

I swore before I had kids that I would cook for my family. But after what Madison puts me through some days, I wonder " why bother!! She prefers the maid's cooking!!" Nothing like a kid to MAKE YOU EAT YOUR WORDS!!!

Now I mainly grit my teeth and swear in silence ( not good if her next words turn out to be a "s" or "f" word!). IGNORE IGNORE IGNORE whining. Take her out of high chair calmly and tell her to come back when she wants food. And I still cook ( just for the rest of the family), something really therapeutic about concocting a meal out of ingredients.

Breakfast has to be the hardest. Now she knows what she will or will not eat, I try and let her feed herself as much as possible. Only trouble is she cannot use utensils well yet and she has no molars. I am having some difficulties being innovative in breakfast options that are high in fibre, calcium and/or protein and still be finger foods.

So far, omelette, pancakes and muffins seem to work. I scour supermarket shelves looking for fibre rich cereals for her snacks. And fibre rich recipes to try out. The internet is an amazing place to find gems to try out. Oatmeal raisin muffins are quite easy and successful, as are buckwheat pancakes. Today I found this 5 grain fibre mix that I shall try to incorporate into my next creation. ( I do add chocolate as a cheat to add flavour and to tempt her !) Cost me 10 bucks for a small pack!!

Milk is another challenge. How much do toddlers really need? Some also say too much cow's milk is not good either. Organic? ( way too expensive -- I do draw the line at some things) Soy?
( not as much calcium, too much sugar. Unsweetened soy is an acquired taste ) I have kinda weaned her directly to cow's milk, bypassing formula altogether ( hurrah! anyway I doubt she'd take formula ) That I also cheat sometimes-- what else? Chocolate malt diluted with fresh milk. Or milo with milk.

But thank goodness her meals are pretty simple these days. 3 square meals and 1 snack inbetween. Milk once to twice a day either after the meal or inbetween. I have to remember to keep the snack small is all. Otherwise pay the price of a too-large snack at dinner time.

My hope for Madison of course includes the usual: growing up healthy, having a positive attitude towards food and body image. Most of all, I hope she grows up enjoying food as much as I do!

Chinese class

It's been a few weeks since we started Chinese class at Bibinogs at Serene Centre.

So far she seems to like it. Or so says Chris. Ok.. so she does seem to get excited and is more willing to get dressed for her twice weekly classes.

I am mixed about this. 75 minutes in a confined space with a bunch of other kids and their moms. All running amok and wandering while the 2 teachers are frantically trying to conduct the sessions. And the mothers trying to keep the kids in line and not fight over toys/books/music instruments.

Somehow though, I think the kids do pick stuff up. They participate in the song singing, clapping and jumping around, and when they turn up for the next session they seem to recollect parts of the class. Of course their favourite part is definitely either snack time or project making time. And the stuff they make is really quite cute. I would have never thought of making such simple projects, like a bumble bee from left over cardboard tissue rolls, drums with cardboard, paper balloons stuck onto straws. And the kids do their part by painting or sticking stuff onto the paper.

Mostly, I think Madison no longer looks at me funny when I try to read or speak to her in Mandarin. In fact, she can now say a few words with meaning in Mandarin. " Mao"-cat, "Xing Xing" - star, "an" -for good morning, "xie xie" -thank you.

This week was tough though. I had to go there for Saturday and today's session. Usually Chris does the Saturdays but he was on call this weekend. Thankfully, the mothers who attended the past 2 times have been nice. In fact we started chatting a little, but usually stop because we are supposed to be interacting and participating in the class. And seem terribly interested in the lessons! ( although I think most of us, in our sane past DINK life would've been in town/having brunch/at the gym or still in bed at that hour on a Saturday morning)

Today there were 3 new mother/child pairs. One was Indian too. Their kids were all close to 20 months. They were well behaved bunch, but by the end of the class the kids were all hankering to leave the room and the mothers all probably needed either a glass of wine or some paracetamol.

So I guess this means we should continue the sessions. Chris thinks twice is just right. If this saves her from years of struggling with the language later on, well then, it's a small sacrifice.

Xie Xie, Ni how.Zhai Zian le!