Battered Legs

Last Saturday, I went on my 1st post-natal long ride with AAA. I was tired as hell and can only thank the poor guys who took turns to get stuck at the back with me.... (Thanks Mel, Jem & Derek)

Paul didn't join us this time cos he woke up with a gout attack, ....apparently. (Just kidding. Am sure he really had a gout attack and wasn't just trying to avoid riding at snail pace with me.)

Was pleased that I made it through the 55km but it didn't come without costs though... While cycling back through some busy roads, I toppled over resulting in all these bruises on my legs!!! It was really a gentle topple cos I was going really slow due to the traffic so I don't know how it got so bad... Yikes, at least bruises don't scar!

Have since set up the bike trainer in the living room. Haven't touched it though!!! :O

Bike - Swim Brick

I do feel bad about Paul riding with me cos I am so slow, but to make it half bearable, Paul suggested a bike-swim brick this morning. 30+km ride, 800m swim. Seeing as Paul has signed me up for the Corp Tri, I think I best put in some effort!

We met up with Team Nutri-Tea (:P) at LongHouse knowing that we wouldn't really be cycling with them. True enough, I was dropped almost right from the start. Mentally prepared for that, so no probs there. :)

After the ride, Paul actually said to me, "Wah, I never knew I could ride for 1.5hrs and not sweat at all!" I could only return that comment with a dirty look.

After the swim, Paul said, "Wah, when I was warming down, I was really warming down you know... And yet I was still faster than you." Irrits!!!

Paul, while you were training for 70.3 the past year I was busy bearing you your 3rd child!!!! Grrr.....

Seriously though, thanks for hanging out with me "training" eventhough it is so boring for you. xoxoxo

Sophie Chew's Passport Photo

It is close to impossible to get a passport photo of a baby. After several attempts, this is the closest that I've got.

Difficulties:
- Catching Sophie when she isn't sleeping or eating
- Catching Sophie without zits(!)
- Photographing her on a plain white background without shadow

I hope they won't reject the picture cos it is too orangey and shadowy. :(

Anyway check out the pictures below of my 3 girls all at about 1 - 2 months. You should be able to guess who's who. ;) And no mean comments please!

The Sistahood

Chloe Oon

Check out this picture of my god-daughter. LOVE the way she is smiling so hard that there are dents in her face!

You deserve a BIG smackaroo of a BITE Chloe!!!!

"Special Treat" Assessment Books

I was browsing in Popular Bookshop and decided to buy some Primary 1 assessment books to look through so that I know what to expect when Emma enters Primary 1 next year. I bought them for my reference and figured it would not be wasted since Emma would be able to do them next year.

Anyway Emma found them in my study and asked to see them. My response to her was "No, cos they are only for special treats". Truth was, I didn't want to have to supervise as she does these assessment books (isn't that the school's job?). Emma begged and begged and begged to do them, so in the end I relented. - "OK! But remember, these are only for a SPECIAL TREAT, and you only get to do them if you are a good girl!" Emma's face lit up as she got her pencils out to do the assessment books. Since then, she would beg to do them any pocket of free time we had. (After dinner, before school, before dinner, after nap....)

"Mummy, pleeeease can I do the special treat sesame books,.... I mean assessment books. Pleeeease...."

So now I have taken to pre-fixing everything with the word "special treat" since it seems to work a charm. Somehow "special treat vegetables" haven't gone down so well though....

Let's hope her enthusiasm for doing these special treat assessment books remain!

Virgin Ride....

I'm not going to write too much on this. Just refer to my entry on "Virgin Run", and I basically felt as shite as that but this time, riding. :(

I knew it was going to be hard, but I think the problem is that I forgot how painful "HARD" is!!!

Luckily we did not cycle with the rest of AAA yesterday (due to the rain) cos I totally wouldn't have been able to keep up - EZ ride or not.

Paul and I decided to ride this morning. It was just the 2 of us. Despite the perfect weather, I was struggling the whole way through the 35km ride going at less than 25kmh!!! At one point when we were going up a slight slope on the bridge leading up to Peirce Reservoir, Paul yelled "Peng, I can't go any slower or I will fall down!!!"..... panting, I looked down at my odo... I was cycling up the slope at 6kmh. I KID YOU NOT!!! I guess even going at that "speed" and not falling over does take some skill, so give me credit for that! ;)

Thanks baby for taking me out on my first ride and being patient with me. xoxoxo

Aviva 70.3 - Well done Papa!

I have blogged about my 5km run, how can I not blog about Paul taking part in the half ironman over the weekend right? :P

Last week, Paul requested for Sophie not to sleep in our room for the 2 nights leading up to 70.3 on 7 Sept. Reluctantly, I agreed. :( I missed her dearly but I had to agree that she does make a lot of noise ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT! I am not even refering to her waking for feeds which is expected. Even when she is not awake, she makes all these cute little noises. They sound like snorts, grunts, stretching, farts, clicks and whistles. You would have thought she was part baby, part gremlin, part dolphin! So instead of Sophie, Paul got to hear my medela electric pump instead. (Yes, for me, not having Sophie sleep with us doesn't mean that I don't have to wake up cos although I don't have to feed her, I still have to set the alarm to wake up to express my milk)

We woke at 4am. Paul to prepare and chow down his breakfast. Me to pump more milk...

Supporting may not be as tough as participating in the race but it is still pretty hard work! Especially with the hot sun and kids.... My plan was to stay till the flag off, take pics through the swim, up till the bike transition, then leg it home to feed Sophie, feed the girls lunch, before heading back (this time with the 2 elder girls) to catch Papa on the run. I would say this was a good plan! Godma Ruth was there too supporting Godpa, so Emma and Cate had Abi to play with. Yay! We settled at a little green strip of grass next to fellow AAA supporters.

Me seeking shelter under Abi's princess umbrella. Good call bringing the brolly Abi!

Cutie Cate mopping her beads of perspiration with wet wipes. She is nicely accessorised cos she was playing dress up at home with Ems before coming out. She can be such a little missy sometimes!

Abi and Ems standing by to cheer on their papas. Looks like they are having a good old gossip there!

Well done Papa in completing your first half ironman! His timing of 8hrs wasn't quite what he had hoped for but it was greatly due to the new carbon wheels that I got him. :( As it turned out, they were not fixed on his bike properly so he rode with his brakes rubbing against the wheels going at 19kmh for a good 12km. Unfortunately, instead of thinking that something was amiss, he was wondering why the new carbon wheels I got him were so crappy! By the time he got off his bike to check it out and fix it, he was completely knackered from the earlier frantic peddling.

The Culprits - Happy Birthday Paul

Team AAA before the race
The people who were there to offer encouragement, advice and laughs through the grueling training

Well done Papa with more races to come!!!!....

Virgin Run

Last night, I decided to get back into it.... I charged my iPod, got my dusty AdiStars out and decided to go for a run with sis who recently started to get into running in the last half a year or so.

I had mixed feelings. Excited cos I could vaguely remember really enjoying my solitude runs round the estate. Worried cos I hadn’t run properly since last year (and my tortoise-paced running during the 1st and 2nd trimesters of my pregnancy doesn’t count!)

We planned a 5km run around Old Holland Rd. It was pretty hilly and probably not a great place for my “Virgin Run”! The boys were joining us too… and so we all set off.

.............. Elaine sped on ahead.

.............. Matt (10yrs) was in consistent. He would be fast on the flats then fall back on the hills, so he was constantly oscillating in front and behind me – but in the end finished way ahead.

.............. Nic (11yrs) was partly walking, partly jogging, partly pretending to be messing about with his laces…. (comon’ Nic!)

Within the first 5 minutes, I was feeling AWFUL. I had to focus really hard to even get to the 2.5km turnaround point. All kinds of thoughts were going through my mind - ….how am I going to be able to finish the StandChart half marathon that I foolishly signed up for?..... Was it ever this painful before?.... Maybe I don’t want to run anymore (long term)….. One would have thought I was running a marathon the way I was getting all mentally beaten down!

Anyway I finally shuffled through the entire 5km in about 37 – 38 min. Honestly,…. I felt far worse than I did running a 5.6min/km pace for 10km. I felt like throwing up, I had a dull ache on the left side of my back, I also had a weird achy feeling on the surface of my tummy (this one was a weird feeling which I can’t describe and have never felt before) Strangely, my leg muscles did not hurt or anything - even the next day.

Luckily I had Elaine who does yoga massages and is also a newly qualified Ironman Masseuse (Not that I am comparing my 5km run to the Ironman, but it REALLY felt like it!!! :P), so she gave my back a good rub.

Conclusion, I am WORSE than when I first started running about 1.5 yrs ago. Although I could only manage about 2km then, I did feel much worse at the 2km mark last night. Also, 1.5yrs ago, I would not have pushed on if I had felt the way I did last night. Honestly, the only reason I didn’t just stop was cos I didn’t want to cut short Elaine and the boys’ run!

Elaine: Seems like your running is coming along nicely! (not that I could really tell with you way ahead of me!) Knowing 1st hand that genetically our family are SO NOT RUNNERS, I know how hard it must’ve been for you to get where you are now. Keep it up!!! :D

Thanks Elaine, Nic and Matt for the run.

Task for the week – Think about whether I really want to get back into running. If I felt this pain running a marathon,… fine….. BUT 5km!!!! Boy oh boy have I got my work cut out for me.....

A Split Head

Last night while playing at her Nana's with all her cousins, Emma got herself a split in her head! She otook a blow from her little cousin Stephan with a toy wooden hockey stick. Why he was waving it around danergously is separate matter altogether.

Anyway when I heard Emma cry, I ran to her cos she almost never cries. And when she does, often the injury must be bad enough to draw blood. True enough, when Aunty Winny attempted to put her palm on her head to rub it, she was shocked to get a hand full of blood. Everyone was in schock! I was just cuddling her trying to sooth my poor little baby. Paul was in a rage and snapped the hockey stick in 2!!! We got some ice on her head, discarded the blood drenched tissues and rushed her to the hospital.

Someone had told me that there is a Children's Emergency at NUH so we decided to go there instead of KKH. It's nearer and also we haven't had great experiences at KKH. As it turned out, it was the right choice. The hosiptal staff and doctors were great. Not much waiting time at all. See picture below which I took while doc was prepping Emma up to get her gash on her head glued back together. She even managed to get Emma all happy and singing while tending to her gash! Emma was so brave and didn't even cry throughout the procedure.

Luckily the gash was not as huge as I feared. All that blood was cos the scalp is a "highly vascular area" as explained by the doc and nurses. The glue stitches were pretty cool. In the old days it would have had to be sticthed up. Now they just use her hair to pull the gash together and glue the hair and skin in place. Emma can't wash her hair for 5 - 7 days though. Icky!

Thank God she is fine and it wasn't anything worse.

Playdate @ The Ee's

We all went to the Ee's for an early morning playdate. They have their own little Gymboree in their attic so Emma was well excited. All in there were 10 kids there! Thanks for having us Ryan and Kaitlyn! Emma & Cate had so much fun! Sophie was there too but she pretty much just did the 3 S's that babies do (Sitting, Sleeping, Staring).

Meanwhile, the mummies had a good ol' natter over breakfast! [I need Mark's Uncle's Banana Cake recipe!]

Let's do this again soon mummies!

Cupcakes to Celebrate My Cupcake's 1 Month!

My confinement has come to an end and Sophie is 1 month!!! Doesn't time fly when you are in confinement. (NOT!)

Tonight, we had a simple dinner at Nana's house with the family. This was the very 1st time Sophie stepped into the "Nana's Clubhouse" where all the cousins meet weekly. There are now 8 cousins ranging from aged 0 - 11 and they all play together (Not Sophie yet)!

We got some lovely cupcakes to celebrate too!!!! Too pretty to eat!