Emma, Cate, Sophie.... & Me...

Halloween Animals

2010-10-31T23:59:00.000+08:00

Here I have a cat, pig and lamb. I know, not quite Halloweenesque but at least they are costumed up! These animal hairbands have proven to be useful! I was dressed as a mummy cow. Mooooo!

I love my little farm...

Labour of Love

2010-10-25T00:44:00.006+08:00

This was the outcome of what started out as an innocent call from Emma's form teacher asking for a favour to put together a keepsake CD of the girls' photos taken throughout the year.

I kindly volunteered Paul being much more skilled than I am in this area. (fact)

Initially, Paul did not appreciate having to come home late from work with homework sorting through literally 700 photos,.... complaining about how obsolete his computer is and how much it was slowing him down. But as the montage started taking shape, we were happy to be creating this for Emma's class. Capturing their childhood memories together.

As I watched Paul hard at work, I started thinking about how to "package" it so that it was atactive to the girls. Also decided to make a little booklet within each of the DVDs so that their friends could write little farewell messages to each other in the last week of their school year together. They have been together since P1, and next year they would be reshuffled into different classes for the first time. :(

A weekend of pretty intensive last minute shopping for supplies and manual labour,...we have:

1. Completed the montage (I use the term "we" loosely but it was really Paul)

2. Burned 30 DVDs

3. Printed on 30 DVDs

4. Created 30 DVD sleeves (packaging)
5. Created 30 Message Booklet inserts

6. Assembled!!! (30!)

Does Emma care? Probably not. She just liked bopping to her favourite tunes when we played through the DVD. Complained a lot that we couldn't take her cycling like we usually do on Sundays.... But I reckon in 5, maybe 10 years, she will really like watching this little production of 8-year-old her with her teachers and friends....

Farewell and God Bless to P2.4 - 2010!!!!

Dozen Years

2010-10-11T23:59:00.000+08:00

Today, we've been married a dozen years.... Paul surprised me with the most beautiful bouquet of flowers ever followed by gifts and dinner at Santi.

Unfortunately I didn't get Paul anything! Oops! I didn't realize we were exchanging gifts! Is my gift of love enough? Surely priceless? :D

Thanks baby for taking the effort. xxxx
Err...Keep it up.... Ahem! :P

OMG - How to not adore them!!!

2010-10-11T21:54:00.001+08:00

Found this pic of my lovelies. This was taken back in June at some airport in Japan I think.

Am so lucky that the three of them really love each other to bits. No matter what happens to us, they will always have each other.

Mum's 63rd Birthday

2010-09-29T21:26:00.000+08:00

This year, mum had several birthday celebrations. This one was on the eve of her birthday. Us kids decided to take her some place she hadn't been - Shinji @ Raffles Hotel. Food wise was just ok for the price, but what was important was the company. I think I speak for all of us when I say we all had a great time chatting, just us, no kids.

In my personal opinion, I have the best mother in the whole wide world.

Happy Birthday Mum!!! Xxxxx

Scoot, Scootier, Scootiest

2010-09-20T21:04:00.000+08:00

Bought the 3 girls their first scooters. Emma and Cate got the cheaper 2 wheelers. Had to get Sophie the slightly pricier 3 wheeler since she won't be able to balance so well yet.

They are all thrilled with their scooters. Sophie less so when she realised hers was different to her 姐姐's!

Also got little bicycle bells for each of their scooters from DAISO. Fab.

They are so much easier and more portable than bikes! Perfect for quick trips to the park.

Pleased....

Sidney Kong (1921-2010) - The Gentleman with an Iron Fist

2010-09-17T10:31:00.009+08:00

15 September 2010 was a sad day in my life. My dear 公公passed away at 1025am. It was not a bad thing as he was feeling very poorly in the last few weeks and it was very painful to watch him suffering....

公公was quite the character. He was very strong, and opinionated, and he didn't care to sugar-coat his words. He just told everything like it was. Nobody would dispute that. Some may not have liked him for that, but to me it was 公公 and I loved every single bit of it. I wouldn't dream to trade that for the more conventional cuddly grandpa.

We had our usual banters - 公公would say something politically incorrect, I would tell him off, he would smack my head (really hard) followed by a smackeroo (that's what he called a kiss). I will forever miss those moments.

Dinners at 公公's were frequent where he would cook my favourite foods and we would talk for several hours late into the night. Again, more smacks and smackaroos....

公公, I will miss you dearly and you will always be in my heart.

From your loving granddaughter, Peng xxxxx

Singapore Biathlon 2010

2010-03-17T00:06:00.000+08:00

Last weekend I did my 2nd biathlon. Last year's biathlon was supposed to prep me up for a full tri but I just got lazy and just never got round to one.

Similar to last year, there wasn't much training. I swam once a week for the month leading up to the race (i.e. 4 times). Each of the swims was about 1.6km followed by a 10km run. Before that, the last time I swam any distance was probably last year's biathlon. I have somehow developed a dislike for swimming in general. It is just painfully boring. Nothing about it appeals to me. There is nothing to see or listen to throughout each long swim. ZZZzzzz.....

I was the 1st wave at 8:30am. This was about an hour later than last year. Not sure of the reason for this but it could be the tide. What this means to me is that it is going to be HOT! I was just worried about getting yet another shade darker. Sigh!

Swim seemed much easier than last year. Throughout the entire swim, I was just really worried that my Garmin watch was going to fall off just like it did in the GE Womens' Run. Luckily not. Finished the swim feeling quite fine, not too tired at all. I was > 10 min faster finishing my swim in about 39min. (Last year it was ~52min. Eek. Backstroke is definitely not the winning formula for me.)

Ran through to transition where I had a Chocolate Gu Gel. Was hoping to feel a serious "hit" like I did during SCM, but somehow that never happened. I felt fine anyway. Somehow my swimming and running stamina are just separate. Sprayed myself with SPF 50 (again) and off I went.... The run was a weird route where there was 2 loops round the lagoon. I hate loops in general but somehow cos each loop was reasonably short (~4km), it didn't feel that bad. I completed the run under the hour in about 59min.

Total time = 1:41:00hr so my guess on the breakdown would be:

Swim - 39 min

Transition - 3 min

Run - 59 min

Paul participated too with a bunch of his army buddies as they do every year. He did great finishing at 1:33:41hr. Woohoo! (S 39:16; T+R 54:25)

All in all, I would say I am pleased with my much improved time (compared to last year's 1:57). After all, I don't have the "I just gave birth" excuse. Next time I will break 1:40. :)

My Lil' Champion Swimmer

2010-03-10T22:53:00.002+08:00

Last weekend Emma participated in a beginner swim meet. She went home with 3 golds and 1 bronze. Yay! Before you all get too impressed, it was a bit of a baby swim meet. The serious swimmers didn't really participate. But what the hell, I am damn proud of her anyway! I don't really have plans for Emma to become a serious swimmer anyway cos who wants a girl to have a swimmer's body.

Below are the events that Emma chose to participate in:
25m freestyle kick (bronze) 3/3
25m backstroke (gold) 1/1
25m breaststroke kick (gold) 1/3
25m breaststroke (gold) 1/3

As you can see from the results above, the only event she truly won was the breaststroke kick since she actually beat other people that were in her event. She beat them by quite a large margin too. To give Emma due credit for the breaststroke and backstroke events - because she was the only person in her event, she got lumped in with the boys and she did beat them too. It was especially a relief for backstroke since earlier that afternoon she couldn't really even do backstroke! I guess it is all relative. :P

Well done Emsky!!!!

Gong Xi Fa Cai from the Chews!!!

2010-02-20T17:32:00.004+08:00

Chews had a fantastic Chinese New Year visiting relatives and catching up with friends. Happy Lunar New Year to you all!!!!

And another New Year wish from the little Kum Kuats....

SSSSSSSSSSssssssssssentosa!

2010-02-18T21:56:00.001+08:00

Took a nice picture with a white python when we went to Sentosa recently. Sophie was asleep in her pram so too bad this isn't a complete family picture.

Check out the girls' faces.... Emma was absolutely thrilled while Cate was so not keen.

I ought to be ashamed of myself but all I could think about was how it would make a lovely wallet! Ack!

Lil' Munja Munchkin...

2010-01-07T14:29:00.004+08:00

Little girls really know how to work their magic on their fathers. Check out Lil' Munja Munchkin face. Can you tell that she is trying not to make eye contact with me. She's normally very sticky to me but sometimes she likes a good old snuggle up to Papa... and as you can see from Papa's smug face, he's loving it. xxxxx.....

Decommissioned....

2010-01-06T13:25:00.003+08:00

There. It is final.

The Chew Cot has been decommissioned and disposed of. It has lasted 7 years through Emma, Cate & Sophie.

The Chew Baby Factory is officially - CLOSED.

* Or I could just buy another cot when the need arises... shhhhh....

Wowzer!!!

2010-01-05T22:28:00.003+08:00

Check out Cate's bangs!!!

I took years to grow out the girls' fringes so that they can pull all their hair back easily and neatly. Just like Emma, I decided to cut a fringe for Cate cos while tying her hair today, I felt like it was receding! I wasn't sure if it was just that she has lots of baby hair or cos she was really balding in front.

Anyway, me thinks it looks rather nice! I can also tell that Cate is liking the new look. :D

StanChart 2009 - Kids' Half...

2009-12-13T10:01:00.003+08:00

Since Paul went through all the trouble to go hom to get this camera. Here are some of the pictures!

2009 StanChart Marathon - my half....

2009-12-07T23:28:00.016+08:00

One year ago, I did my very first half marathon at SCM. Yesterday, I did my 3rd half marathon!

I was apprehensive.

I had trained for the Army half in August, but due to work picking up at the office, I couldn't quite train for the SCM half. As you know, I always want to improve on my previous timing, so with no training, I was considering giving up my race slot.

The running I did leading up to this was basically TNF in Oct and GE 10k in November. In between, not a whole lot of running cos my ankle was just a bit dodgey. I thought it best to just keep off it so that it would heal properly.

2 weeks before SCM, I decided that I might want to give it a try. I decided to cram my half marathon training into the 2 weeks leading up to race day.

Sun, 22 Nov - 10km
Wed, 25 Nov - 15km
Sun, 29 Nov - 17km
Thu, 3 Dec - 4km (taper)

I was told that preparing for a run isn't like exams where you can cram at the last minute,..... but what choice did I have. I needed to just clock enough mileage so that I can at least finish the race.

Race Day - Weather was nice and cool. Flag off time was 6:45am. If I could finish by 9am, I guess I wouldn't be caught in the sun for too long. Armed with my Garmin, I was off. Although I had little training, I was targeting for 2h 06min (i.e. 6min pace), I would have been happy to have just beat my previous time of 2:11 though.

The route was a little demoralising cos it seemed like it was looping all over the place. The atmosphere wasn't great either with just a few scattered ppl with big sponge fingers falling asleep by the road. It didn't really matter - I was on a mission.

At the 10km mark, I was about 58min into the race and feeling ok. Not as fresh as the Army half, but not gasping for air or anything like that. I would say throughout the race, I felt pretty much the same. So-so. Unlike in the Army half where I punctured at various points. I plodded on....

I decided to follow a similar strategy to the last half marathon. I had 3 gels which I took at 7k, 13k, 18k. I have to say that the water points didn't really coincide with my gel consumption plan, so I ended up with a very dry mouth with gunky chocolate Gu gel a lot of the time. I guess I could have been more flexible with when I took my gels, but I needed to "stick with the plan".

By the time I got to the F1 pit, I was tired but still able to pretty much keep at a 5.5 - 6min pace. No punctures this time. By then, I knew that I would be able to make a PB and possibly meet my target time..... I finished the race 2:05:46 (157 / 4892) woohoo!

What I am REALLY puzzled by was how I managed to beat my previous time when I did so much more training previously..... I thought hard about it and I can only think of a few things that could have contributed to this result.

1. I did some weights in the gym for the last 2+months (to build core)

2. I am now a pseudo vegetarian (I don't eat meat but I eat fish)

I seriously think that it is due to me being vegetarian. For one, previously when I used to take gels, I never really knew if they were effective. I never felt anything significant, but took them all the same as instructed by Paul. This time, each gel hit was clear. Somehow my body was able to feel the effects.

Do I think I can improve on my timing from here? One would think yes seeing as I went from 2:22 to 2:11 to 2:05. But the truth is, the next step (sub 2hrs) will be quite a leap for me. Simply cos so far, I have not been getting faster as such but just improving on my endurance (i.e. running non-stop) Now that I can achieve 2:05+ without walking, it means that I need to do speed work (i.e. intervals / hills) and I am in 2 minds about that cos I don't want to get big legs! :P

Anyway this is something to mull over while planning next year's race calendar....

Paul was running with me (although he didn't sign up). But he was just doing his usual Sunday run. He did 10km, then drove home to get his camera before coming back to the race. He wanted to have his camera ready to get pics of Emma and Cate doing the Kids' Dash (750m).

There were lots of activities for the kids. Body Art, Gladiators, Bunjee thing, hoops, golf, bouncy castles. Check out the pics below....

Epitome of The Chew Sisters

2009-11-20T12:18:00.001+08:00

Love this pic of my 3 favourite people in the whole world. This single picture captures each of their individual characters to a T.

Monsoon Rain

2009-11-19T22:45:00.002+08:00

If anyone is familiar with the giant monsoon rain between Bukit Timah Road and Dunearn Road.... check out how it was filled to the brim today. There were literally waves - you could go surfing in there! Now this is what we call RAIN.

Shady Soph

2009-11-19T22:34:00.001+08:00

Check out Sophie in pink shades. Where do you get such tiny shades? They actually belong to Emma's stuffed toy. See below doggy with bulging eyes!

Sisters @ GE Womens' 10k - 2009

2009-11-03T10:38:00.007+08:00

On Sunday, we did a "family run" @ the Great Eastern Womens' 10k.

We all met at mine and drove over together with our hubs. We didn't run TOGETHER, but it was fun sharing pre-race and post-race stories before and after!

I was apprehensive about the run having done so badly at TNF just the week before. I wasn't sure if I was just bad on the trail or deproved so much that was just bad all round regardless of terrain. I felt somewhat pressured (by myself) to beat my previous GE 10k time. (See previous race report here).

The weather was PERFECT. Not hot at all. The route was very nice and easy cos it was pretty much flat all the way.

Less than 1km into the run, I bumped into someone and my GARMIN watch FELL OFF!!!! Ack! I looked all over for it but couldn't see it anywhere on the road. I started yelling "Where's my waaaaaaatch!!!!" Luckily, a another runner told me that he saw something fly into the bushes. (on hind sight, what was a guy doing there?...) Anyway I went hunting around the bushes and true enough it was there. Ended up carrying the watch in hand throughout the whole race.

I had to pick up my pace. Wasted a good 0.5 min looking for my watch! It was still the start of the race and there was still a crowd. I kept my breathing steady and tried to keep at roughly 5.5min pace. I would say I was feeling pretty ok through most of the race. Not as fresh as I felt at the Army Half but I guess that is expected seeing as I hadn't been running much lately.

Meng & Paul were not allowed to come into the race area, so they ran outside the barriers - kind of with us. Apparently Paul thought I was much faster than I actually was and was running way ahead looking for me. It wasn't until he spotted Lin when he decided to stop and look for me BEHIND cos it was impossible that I was ahead of Lin. (who btw ran from HOME and still did 49min! Mad.) Paul eventually spotted me at around the 5km mark and pretty much ran along side me the rest of the way.

At the last km, I was beginning to feel tired. I hadn't taken a drink or anything (there just wasn't time). Paul was cheering me on the last few hundred metres. "Comon! Go! You will be able to do it in under an hour!" Man, I wasn't sure if that was meant to be encouraging or discouraging! I was still hopeful at being able to beat 56.5min..... but I guess it was not meant to be..... I came in at 57:10min - about half a minute slower than my last GE run.

I wasn't too disappointed. At least it wasn't too far off.

Elaine and Jasmine did fantastic. Elaine hardly runs and did 1:02hr. She will be able to break 1hr in no time! Jasmine, who only just started running regularly recently, improved her time from the previous week at The Human Race by TEN minutes (1:10hr)! Great job girls!!! Thanks Paul for the support also. xoxo :D

That Thing You Do - Sneak Preview to Cate's Concert (N2)

2009-10-31T09:59:00.000+08:00

Cate will probably not be very happy about me publishing this cos she is SO SHY! She was even too shy to dance in front of Paul. Hopefully she will get over her nerves before the actual concert!!!!

I think we need Kai Ma Ginny (a.k.a. Kai Ma Jukebox) to teach her the right lyrics!!!

Link for those who can't see the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LpaYnNpvok

Team Muddy Gras @ The North Face Race - 50km DUO

2009-10-25T14:59:00.017+08:00

Paul and I were Team Muddy Gras doing the 50km duo at TNF yesterday.

We were far from prepared but weren't going to miss it seeing as my sister was the one organising it. I was excited to see the fruit of her several months of labour.....

Pre-Race shot of Team Muddy Gras - still fresh and unaware of what was to happen to us!!!

Race started at 10am (hot!) but I guess the consolation is that it was in the trail so lots of shade.

By about 6km into the race, I was feeling pretty tired,.... never really found my rhythm (I never really do on trail to be honest) but to this point it was the familiar MacRitchie trails.....

Then we got to the crazy Bukit Timah Hill part. It was so steep that everyone was literally just trying to make it up the hill. I didn't see anyone running,.... I was struggling just walking up. I thought I was going to have an asthma attack! (not that I am asthmatic, but now I know what it might feel if I were!)

As you can see from the pic on left, we did make it up in one piece and managed to get a nice shot by the summit rock. :D This was the u-turn point 12.5km into the race. It took us almost 2 hrs! Yikes! Hopefully we won't miss the cut-off and end up DNF (Did Not Finish). I ain't gonna treck / run / jog / walk 25km to get a DNF! No way!

Going downhill was fun. Wheeee!!! I sure didn't envy the people I saw who were still on their way up!

Spirits were high since we were past the halfway mark, but it got harder and harder... I just wasn't prepared. Paul was with me sometimes but was ahead most of the time and waited at certain junctions. Don't think he found it very fun having to do that. Although I did tell him to go ahead and I could just meet him at the end.

By the 18km mark, my back was crazy aching and I couldn't really see Paul who was somewhere in front. Funnily my twisted ankle wasn't giving me any troubles at all. Well, the only trouble was that I couldn't actually do much training at all prior to the race due to the twisted ankle but during the actual race, it only threatened to buckle once or maybe twice, but in general behaved itself.

Anyway, with my crazy aching back (weak core?).....I suddenly reached enlightenment. I got my phone out and made an appointment for a full body massage for that afternoon (+ foot reflex for Paul). What a great idea....the thought of 1.5 hrs of full body massage after the race kept me smiling for a few more kilometres despite the backache.

I enjoyed the trails, we were introduced to lots of other trails. Check out the picture on the left at about the 19km mark. I felt like we weren't in Singapore.

Paul and I usually do the 10km MR loop every weekend, but now we can explore some of these new routes.

Back to the race,.... the last few kilometres were quite painful for me. I just didn't have much energy. Towards the end of the trail, there was the tunnel of sunlight. "Follow the light....." I ran on towards the light and there was Paul waiting for me so we could finish together as a team. :) The last few hundred metres I was suddenly full of energy. I guess I was just happy to be finishing. Woo hoo! Embarrassingly, I think I took around 3hr 50 min to complete the race, but am so pleased to have finished! My first trail race.

Team Muddy Gras - Post Race

That's not all, after the race, there were Subway sandwiches, and yummy yoghurts and fruit. Not cheap bananas and apples type of fruit, but yummy sweet strawberries and grapes!!!

Team Muddy Gras with Elaine who was looking exhausted after being up all night and she still had to stay on another 10hrs for the 100km solos to come in!

So far, have heard lots of positive feedback from others too, so well done Elaine and her team!

...And am not just saying this cos she is my sister. Trust me, if it was crap, she would know about it from me..... ;)

Bakin' with Emma

2009-10-11T14:39:00.022+08:00

Emma looks forward to her next birthday as soon as her birthday is past. So by the time it came to her 7th birthday this year, she was well excited and ready for it!!!!

She requested for a party at home (rather than outsourced). The trade-off was that she couldn't invite ALL her friends. I was hoping that would change her mind, but Emma was pretty insistent on having a "Home Party"... and so we had "Bakin' with Emma" where only a handful of school mates and her motley crew of cousins were present.

Chocolatté Cupcakes (Emma named the recipe) was on the menu....

Goofing around with her cousins (and "Your-Piano-Is-Out-Of-Tune-Kat")

Homemade Banner - Alright considering this was created the night before!!!

Method Instructions that Emma & I put together the morning of the party!
- Looks simple enough.... but I wasn't quite prepared for the mess and flying mixtures! (all unintentional I'm sure!!!)

And the baking begins....

The outcome -MASTERPIECES!

It was a bit hairy trying to get 70 cupcakes baked in my teeny oven while trying to get the kids fed lunch - but I would say all in all, it went well. I'm not sure if everyone else had fun but I sure did!!! :D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!

And then there were 8.....

2009-09-15T21:41:00.000+08:00

Below is a little collage of all the "Tay" grandkids on their 1st birthdays. All these "1st Birthdays" were celebrated at Nana's. As you can see, Nana kept the same highchair for a good 12 yrs just so that everyone got a picture in it. Straight after Sophie's picture, Nana binned the highchair!

See if you can guess who's who and match up the babies above with the motley crew below.

Am so glad that my kids have lots of cousins. My kids adore their cousins and a simple meal together is just FUN-PACKED. They don't seem to get enough of each other.

Answer key:
Top Pic >> 1st Row - Nicolas; Steph; Ems; Soph; 2nd Row - Myra; Mark; Matt; Cate
Bottom Pic >> Behind - Mark; Nic; Matt; Front - Myra; Ems; Soph; Cate; Steph

Army Half Marathon 2009

2009-08-17T17:23:00.009+08:00

Yesterday I completed my 2nd half marathon.

Paul and I woke at 4am, both of us having attended 2 different weddings separately the night before! I was pretty disciplined..... no drinking, no social smoking,... didn't even stand near ppl who were smoking. Funnily though, I had serious problems finding CARBS at the wedding! It was a western buffet, but there were no fries, mash or anything like that! The best I could find were some bread rolls. There was A LOT of yummy meats though! I ended up eating 2 large plates full of meats. All sorts of meat! I have no idea if that was any good for me, but what the hell.

Anyway, back to the race.... Paul kept telling me that the race would be fine and that "the crowd will carry me". I wasn't sure. I already had 2 failed runs that week. I had an 8km midweek run which I just couldn't finish.... had to walk home after 4km. So you can imagine how I felt about having to run 21km. I was also worried about doing worse than my previous race at SCM cos I do believe in trying to do better with each race if possible. Afterall, SCM was my virgin half marathon, and I also did it 4 months after birthing (Sophie), so surely I could beat my post-pregnancy half marathon timing?

I had a loose goal of 2hrs 15min.

Paul was right,..... the crowd did carry me, .... I was hoping to keep close to about a 6min/km pace as far as possible. I was feeling pretty fresh for about 14km doing 5.5 to 6 min pace. The water points were well spaced out, distance markers were also good (quite unlike SCM), waves of starters well spaced out. I didn't experience any bottlenecks. All in all, I thought the race was really well organised.

At around the 10km mark, I was just under an hour and was feeling pretty fresh which made me review my 2:15 goal time. I decided that a sub 2:10 timing was looking like a possibility and sounded much nicer (and faster) too. I just had to keep going at this pace and still have 3min to spare!

Alas, it was not meant to be….. at around the 14km mark, I started feeling tired and it was up and down for me all the way till the 18km mark where I punctured. I was kiasu again this year and had 3 gels (40min, 1hr20 min, 1h45min) I think the last one didn't really kick in properly though (not to one of the gels was also expired) I was just willing myself to MOVE IT! I was literally DEPENDING on the motivational banners that these kind mascots were carrying!!!

“Pain and failure is the difference between Men and Boys!!!” – Not applicable to me
“Pain is temporary, pride is forever” – Wow! Go Peng GO!!!

I am not sure, but I think the present that Paul got me for my birthday helped me quite a bit - Garmin Forerunner 310xt. It is a little bulky and certainly seems hardcore for a novice runner like me! Paul got it for me cos I kept running the wrong distances for my long runs and had to keep repeating them (waste time!). Anyway he only gave it to me after I was done with ALL my long runs so this was the first long run that I was going to get to use it. I LOVED IT! With it, I could pace myself quite effectively. When my pace was getting to under 5.5min/km (which I knew I would never be able to sustain), I would slow down. If I saw ppl running past me, previously, my instinct would be that I was going too slow and try to catch up but when I checked my pace, and found that I was still running under 6min, I continued on steadily and didn't speed up.... conserving energy.

The 310xt allowed me to extract the data and split out my pace throughout the run which was rather nice. It concurs with where I punctured. :P Below is also a cute little video showing the graph of my speed along side where I am on the map at that time.

As you can see from the table, somehow the race was about 270m longer than 21.1km! Anyway, by the 21km mark, I had missed my revised sub 2:10 target and came in at 2:11.... which I am still happy with. :)

I have already decided that I won’t have the time to go for a full marathon end of the year at SCM, and who knows, I may never have the time,… but since I have this spanking new toy thanks to Paul, I will be doing the half again end of the year for sure…..

** Thanks Shem for the track sessions. Despite me doing pretty crappily during the track sessions, am sure it helped in improving my timing. :) I think it definitely helped me keep stronger for longer...

8:22 ....with pride

2009-08-09T20:22:00.001+08:00

We were fortunate enough to get to watch the National Day Parade practice earlier in July. Not all the props were there and also we didn't get to see the real McCoy ministers that Emma is such a fan of,.... but we had the goodie bags and saw most of the performances in their almost full glory, not to mention the fireworks!

On National Day itself, we watched the parade again on TV. When 8:22pm came, Emma and Cate ran over in front of the TV with their little hands on their hearts, to say the Singapore Pledge with the rest of the Nation. (Well more Emma, cos Cate hasn't learnt the pledge yet).

I am proud to be a Singaporean.

Happy 44th Birthday Singapore!!!!

Sophie is 1!!!!

2009-07-30T22:35:00.001+08:00

Well Sophie is not quite 1 yet but I just couldn't resist posting this picture of the sisters. We celebrated Sophie's birthday a couple of days earlier at Nana's house. I can't believe she is growing up so fast. Well,aving said that, she is 1 with no teeth and can't walk. Hmmm.... I guess me babying her all the time is just making her stay a baby! I'm not complaining.

Sophie is Sleep Trained - NOT....

2009-07-21T09:57:00.004+08:00

Just to update those of you who had been following the whole sleeping training Sophie episode.....

Well, she has settled into a routine that I can live with. It is by no means perfect, but I am not going to traumatise myself nor Sophie at this point in time.

Sophie is able to be put down in her cot when it is time for bed (usually about 10pm). She may cry for a little while but is normally settled in about 5 min or less. Typically she will wake at about 3am for a feed or a cuddle of sorts which exhausting as it may be, I still look forward to. Then she will go back to sleep on the mattress where I will leave her till the morning. She typically wakes about at around 8am but it does range from 7am - 10am.

Would you consider this a success? Well, I think so. My main objective was to be able to get the little madam into bed without too much of a fuss and having to sleep with her. That part has been accomplished. At least after putting her to bed, I will still have some ME time. Part II of sleep training where I try to get her to sleep through the night will be KIV-ed until further notice....

Final score --> 6.9/10

Over and out! ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sophie Sleep Training - for real.... (30th June Update)

2009-06-29T00:16:00.002+08:00

Sophie has picked up some bad habits since the London trip where she has been sleeping literally attached to me. After returning home, she has also decided that she refuses to sleep in her cot. Since Paul is away for the entire month, I thought I would take the opportunity to enjoy her babyhood and just sleep with her and respond to her every whims and cries in the middle of the night. It has been exhausting, but I have enjoyed it cos it is "our time" together in the peaceful quiet of the night. This is very unlike my usual phylosophy where I am quite a nazi about sleeptraining so that us adults get a decent nights sleep,....but what the hell, she is my last baby,.... I will never get these moments back again.

Anyway, I have been letting Sophie behave in this terrible manner all month and Paul is coming home soon (next week) and I am not sure he would be too impressed with me sleeping with Sophie everynight.

Start 22 Jun - this leaves me with about week to do this.

Night 1 - 22nd June
10:30pm Fed to sleep - placed in cot
12:00am Awake. Cuddled and placed back in cot at the following intervals (2min, 5min, 10min, 20min, 30min) Elapsed time ~1.5hrs
6:00am Awake for a feed before sleeping till 8am
Interim Assessment --> Not too bad for the first night - 6/10

Night 2- 23rd June
11:30pm Fed in arms and placed in cot in sleepy state. Sophie cries at the following intervals (2min, 5min) Elapsed time ~10 min
7:00am Wakes for feed and goes back to sleep until 9am
Interim Assessment --> Very good. Fingers crossed that it is not a fluke - 9.5/10

Night 3 - 24th June
10:30pm Rocked to sleep without feed and placed in cot
5:00am Wakes for feed. Placed back in cot after feed. Sophie cries at the following intervals (2min, 2min) Elapsed Time ~ 5 min
8:00am Wakes for feed.
Intermin Assessment --> Not too bad considering was not fed to sleep - 8/10

Night 4 - 25th June
11:30pm Fed in arms and placed in cot in sleepy state. Sophie cries for 2 min and sleeps.
6:00am Wakes for feed where I fall asleep with her on mattress until 8am.
Intermin Assessment --> 8/10

Night 5 - 26th June
11:00pm Fed in arms and placed in cot in sleepy state. Sophie cries for 1 min and sleeps.
5:00am Wakes for feed and placed back in cot without fuss after.
8:00am Wakes for feed and back in cot until 10:30am.
Intermin Assessment --> Undecided if this is considered a success. Going to sleep part was good but not sure I like the 5am feed. I do have to be "reasonable" though. - 7/10

Night 6 - 27th June
11:00pm Fed in arms and placed in cot in sleepy state. Sophie cries for 1 min and sleeps.
3:30am Wakes. I leave her to cry hoping that it would stop
3:50am She doesn't sound like she is settling anytime soon. I go to her and cuddle her before putting her into cot. Note - no feed. (have decided on loose rule not to feed if it is before 5am). Sophie continues crying.... I go to her and cuddle her at intervals of 10min, 20min, 20min, 20min.... It keeps like this until almost 6am after which she sleeps until 10am.
Intermin Assessment --> Apart from fact that she slept quickly, Night #6 was a complete disaster! Tempted to score it with a big fat ZERO but must give credit for quick falling asleep. - 5/10

Night 7 - 28th June
11:00pm Fed in arms and placed in cot asleep.
3:00am Cried for 2 hrs!!! (can't be bothered to even put down at what intervals!)
5:00am Slept and can't remember what time she woke up!
Interim Assessment --> Repeat of the previous night! I am officially TRAUMATISED by this. Sophie crying for 2hrs was just too heart wrenching. I have decided already that if she wakes in the middle of the night, I will feed her. --> 5/10

Night 8 - 29th June (night before Paul is back...)
10:00pm Fed in arms and placed in cot asleep.
10:30pm Awake. Fed and placed in cot again.
4:00am Awake. Fed and placed in cot again. Cried at intervals of 5min, 10min, 10min (Elapsed time ~40min)
8:00am Woke
Interim Assessment --> 6.5/10 I had to feed her but that is much less stressful as compared to having her cry for 2 hrs. Also, I think she was a little harder to put to sleep after feed cos she was also traumatised by the previous 2 night...

Night 9 - 30th June (Paul is back)
10:00pm Fed her to sleep. Placed her in cot where she cried for about 5 min before sleeping.

I think I will continue tracking this for 2 more nights,...

Will keep updating this entry until sleep training is stabilised..... but I think we are almost there!!!

姐妹 - Sisters

2009-05-10T16:34:00.013+08:00

I love having girls..... THREE girls. They are about 3 yrs apart and I am lucky that they just love each other to bits. No doubt they will have their little bickers but that's all part of sisterhood.

二姐 helping 大姐 with her apron as they prepare to play "Chefs & Bakers". As usual 大姐 has to be in her leotard. **roll eyes** I do love these scenes and am happy that the 3 of them will have each other forever....

Here is 二姐 teaching 妹妹 how to crawl. Now Sophie can out crawl any of us! You don't realise it, but is actually quite difficult and painful for an adult to crawl! Strangely though, lil' Soph still can't sit up unassisted at 9 months.... hmmmm....

25th Percentile????

2009-05-04T22:51:00.002+08:00

When the doctor told me that my little Kitty Cate was on the 25th %tile in terms of her size,.... I didn't really think too much of it. Just thought she would be nice and petite.

But last week, I received a picture of Cate with her classmate in preschool and I'm not being funny or anything but we are talking completely DIFFERENT PROPORTIONS here! Check out the picture below,..... it looks like Cate has been artificially superimposed into the picture!

Little precious.... do I need to feed you more????

Training Religiously

2009-04-26T15:33:00.004+08:00

Wow, has it been that long?.... Cate was just done with chicken pox last week and Emma is now down with it. So as you can imagine, I have had my hands full....

Emma, needless to say has been a TV addict through her stint at home and while I am normally quite strict with that, I am not sure what else she should be doing with her time! I do ask her to play with her toys, do some craft, do some assessment papers, read books, play the piano,.... but even after all that, there is A LOT of time left, so that's where the TV steps in... (I know, bad mommy)

Anyway, yesterday, Emma was watching the St Philips's Boy's choir on TV.

I asked her what she was watching. Emma's response (completely seriously), "They are Catholics training to become Christians." :O

I couldn't help myself and just cracked up. I don't know how she got that idea or what she thinks she has done in her short life to to have"graduated" from a Catholic to a Christian...

Anyway before my several Catholic friends and family take offense, I did correct her.

Kids says the darndest things....

2009 Singapore Biathlon

2009-03-14T17:22:00.010+08:00

Singapore Biathlon 2009 - 1.5km Swim, 10km Run

Last weekend, I participated in my very first full distance race. Somewhat a delayed posting but only cos I have been beeezeeeeeee........ :)

It seemed like a natural progression to do this race, so I did. It didn't matter that I hardly trained for it. I think since Corp Tri 2007 (which was my last race that included a swim), I swam less than 10 times. As for running, I haven't been doing a whole lot of running since the half marathon in Dec, but for this year, I've tried to run the 10+km Macritchie Trail with Paul at least once a week. Not a whole lot, but enough to ensure I finish. Paul was perpetually nagging at me to swim cos he was worried that I would drown in open water (bless him), but I assured him that while I may not be a speedy swimmer, I am pretty drown-resilient.

Anyway, the day didn't start off too well with me not getting much sleep cos Sophie had a 40C fever all night. Paul and I headed towards the east with the top down enjoying the cool morning breeze. ;) We got there about 630am for registration and body marking. It was still dark and I found my little transition square to lay out my stuff. (I don't know how slim the organisers think we are, but those transition squares are tiny!)

The swim was a single loop, which was nice. The initial leg out was crowded with too many people and at one point someone was literally hanging on to me from behind and pretty much using me like a kickboard! I stopped, grabbed her arm, twisted around, pulled her out of the water and sternly told her not to use me as a float. I mean WTF! Anyway, after that I swam pretty leisurely on, lots of people passing me by as expected. The toughest part was after the u-turn point on the way back where I think we must’ve been swimming against the current and I felt like I was swimming on the spot. I swam on, fighting the boredom,.... I wasn't tired, but I was painfully bored. I even started swimming backstroke at some point in an attempt to break the monotony…. Then I saw people with different coloured caps swimming by. Oops! The next wave is overtaking me. Man, that sucks.... Then it started to drizzle, making backstroke somewhat uncomfortable with droplets falling on my face. Fine. I flipped over to make a better effort towards the shore. I think it took me about 52min for the swim. Haha....Appalling! But hey, I didn't drown - Yay!

I ran through to transition area, relieved to be done with the swim. Looked out for Ruth (kids' Godma) who was my communication channel to the kids. Got some reassurance that no one has called about Sophie, hence she should be fine. Phew! I packed my things into a trash bag in case the rain got heavier and was on my way…

The run was fun. I have slowly started to enjoy running. So with the nice cool overcast weather, I did a slow and comfortable jog in about 1hr.

My 1st full distance race completed – YAY!

My total time was 1hr 57min. Which kind of means I spent about 5 min in the transition. Oops! Will work on that for next time…. Anyway I managed to keep within my loose target of completing it under 2hrs.

Sophie - Back to NUH... AGAIN :(

2009-03-08T18:23:00.004+08:00

This weekend has been a sleepless one. Sophie has had a pretty high fever up to about 40C that started Friday. I spent the whole of Friday night sponging her to keep her temperature down. At 5am, I had to start getting ready to leave for my race (Singapore Biathlon). Anyway, thank God I did not drown swimming 1.5km in the sea after a night of close to no sleep.

Sophie's temperature seemed in control all Saturday, so it was quite unexpected when I had night #2 of no sleep cos her temperature spiked to about 40C again and refused to go down despite the sponging for literally hours. By the morning, I was exhausted and worried about my poor little baby, so I decided to take her to NUH A&E. NUH was great again. I left NUH with instructions to pretty much do what I had been doing (i.e. keep her temperature down with paracetamol and sponging) but at least I got confirmation that it wasn't UTI or some bacteria infection (after a urine and blood test).

Napping Sunday afternoon was not an option cos we had made plans to take Ems to watch the ballet (Cinderella). Here's Emma with one of her 1st friends ever - Charlotte Chang. Am afraid I can't tell you too much about the ballet,... I was somewhat in and out of sleep for the entire 2.5hrs. Ok, so napping was an option afterall,.... but not SERIOUS napping!

I am looking forward to getting reacquainted with my bed and the ZZzzzzzz-Monster tonight ............. Over and out!

Sophie is 7 months old today

2009-03-01T11:20:00.001+08:00

Doesn't time fly... On solids a month now. Still no teeth as expected. Able to roll, can't crawl but able to move lying on back using head and legs to push upwards. Just about sleep trained i.e. Able to be put down in crib while still awake provided she is tired enough and has spent a little time hanging out with me beforehand. Able to sleep for about 6 to 8 hr stretches.
Sophie is everyone's little precious at home. Xoxo

Twins.....3 years apart

2009-02-05T15:42:00.002+08:00

Our entire family look alike. It starts off with Paul and I having great 夫妻相, which really means that we never know who our kids look like since we all look the same. (The general theme here is smaaaaaall eyes.)

Anyway I can't believe how much Cate and Sophie look alike. It's almost like Sophie is Cate's twin who arrived 3 years later! (So that was what all those extra pounds were, and there I was trying to work out...)

25 Things

2009-02-03T12:51:00.004+08:00

Since I went through the trouble of noting down the 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about myself on FB, thought I would just put it on my blog too.

1. I am sleep training Sophie as I write this so am feeling super stressed out as I wait for her to cry out the next 4 min.

2. I am a movie buff. I love watching movies but strangely seldom really like the movies I watch.

3. I am a night owl who wishes she was a morning person and till today kills herself trying to be a morning person (in vain)

4. I have a very bad temper but for those who are surprised by this, it's either cos you don't know me at all or cos I am really controlling (something I have been working on for a while now)

5. To my dismay, I have a crazy sense of smell. I can smell anything and everything however slight. When I walk in public and I see someone about to walk past me, I make a point to hold my breath in case I catch a whiff of something.

6. I love the smell of the breath that comes out of my babies' noses. I inhale it like I am a drug addict.

7. Paul and I got engaged 4 months after dating and have been married 10 years now.

8. When Paul wakes up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, I wake up a little too to listen if he has turned on the tap to wash his hands. (although I am half convinced that he just turns on and off the tap for my benefit without actually washing his hands )

9. 4 mins is up and am off too cuddle my Soph to reassure her that Mummy still loves her....

10. I am still working at my first place of employment since graduation

11. In a strange way, I kind of like injections (not drugs or anything), and even stranger thing is that Emma has taken after me and looks forward to her vaccinations.

12. I love being pregnant even though it makes you fat and uncomfortable most of the time.

13. I love natural childbirth even though it hurts like a B!+@#.

14. When I was at uni, my staple diet was Coke, profitarolls, ready salted crisps. Luckily I had a high metabolic rate but no such luck now!

15. I am feeling super stressed out with Sleep Training but I know I must persist.

16. My favourite cuisine would be Japanese (Swordfish Sashimi, Chirashi Don, Uni Sushi, Ikura Sushi)

17. I love durians but don't like anything else durian (i.e. durian ice cream, durian cake, durian pudding) I also only eat from the durian stall in Balestier (Combat) and only really like the bitter ones with plenty of durian taste.

18. I am a home body. I like staying home and reallly only go out with close friends.

19. I don't like chatting on the phone much at all. Even to make quick arrangements.

20. I am naturally a very messy person but I cannot stand living in a messy place so I am constantly torn in my own home trying to keep things tidy.

21. I love my 3 girls more than anything in the whole world.

22. I am almost always in black but make a conscious effort to wear other colours.

23. While I am reasonably well traveled, in actual fact I don't really like traveling that much and would be perfectly happy taking weeks of leave and hanging out at home (especially with my favourite little people)

24. I was in the tsunami in Dec 2004

25. I have reached number 25 and Sophie is still screaming her non-existent nuts off. G'night!

人日快乐

2009-02-01T15:54:00.005+08:00

Today is the 7th day of Chinese New Year which means it is everybody's birthday (人日). Today is also when Sophie is exactly 6 months old. :)

Here's wishing everyone a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

New Blog Header Pic

2009-01-14T21:39:00.008+08:00

This is the first time I am changing the header picture of my blog. Really it is cos I need to add Sophie's face in somewhere!

As most of you would know, I am hopeless with photo editing and such, so this is really the best I can do (with the help of fab online photo editing tool - www. picnik.com)! It doesn't look great but it has my favourite little people in the whole world. One may ask, "Where's Paul?". Well he is not little, and I am not his Mummy. ;P Truth is, it is hard enough to get all 3 kids into a picture, let alone Papa who is normally the one behind the camera.

Well, this is it until I get round to getting something else together or skilling myself up on the creative side. At least I don't have to feel guilty about Sophie not being in there. (But now should I feel guilty that Paul isn't there?....)

Sleeping Goddess

2009-01-13T23:49:00.001+08:00

Here is my little Soph fast asleep in bed of pillows. Poor little precious has been ill so not sleeping so well at nights. As with mummy...
Fringe tied back to hopefully keep her cooler. With our austerity drive, she has to sleep without the airconditioning!
Don't you just want to bite this little munchkin!

Emma's 1st day of school

2009-01-03T21:03:00.004+08:00

The day has come..... Emma is in Primary ONE!!!!! She has officially entered the notorious Singapore schooling system.

Kids nowadays are so independent though. I don't think I'd need to really follow her to school for more than 1 day. If I did, it would be for ME rather than her. I need to let go of my little girl. She is going to have to walk to class on her own,.... buy food in the canteen and carry the hot plate of whatever on her own.

The only crying that went on was from Cate when I dropped her off in Pre School. She was sad that her cheh-cheh wasn't coming into school with her..... :(

Baby Birkenstocks

2008-12-17T18:39:00.000+08:00

Check these out. Sophie’s lil' Birkenstocks! They are actually just print on her socks by “Jazzy Toes” from Friven & Co. It was a box set with "sneakers", "mary-janes".... Cute or what!

And we go camping.....!!!

2008-12-14T15:36:00.007+08:00

Since Papa is away, I decided to have some fun with the kids and we decided to camp right here in our own home! Emma and Cate were so please and really it was just a matter of moving their mattresses to the floor, drape a few sheets from the light.... I had to sleep right in between them and with the gap between their 2 mattresses plus the fact that the length was too short for me to lie with my legs straight, I was pretty uncomfortable. Sophie couldn't join us cos I was too worried that one of them were going to squash her. :(

The girls also said their nightly prayers which I managed to record.

Transcript of Cate's part: "And thank you for the dinner, and thank you for the lovely sweet dreams, and thank you it is camp day, and thank you for sweet dreams and thank you for dinner,.... cheh cheh's turn...."

Kids are so easy to please,....who needs expensive Wii and Nintendo games!

My 1st Post-Pregnancy Race

2008-12-09T09:57:00.031+08:00

On Sunday, I did my very first post-pregnancy race – The Standard Chartered Half Marathon. I signed up shortly after having Sophie and thought that 4 months would be more than enough time to at least be ready enough to complete it. Well, I was very shocked to find the state of my fitness when I started running again about a month after delivery. Check out Virgin Run.

Training
For my own records, below is the simple beginner 10wk training program I downloaded from some site. Beneath that is the actual runs that I put in during the 10 weeks leading up to the race. I only ended up runnng 187km out of the planned 315km in the 10 weeks leading up to the race. Pretty pathetic huh? :( To my defence, every run that I put in has to be carefully planned and scheduled into my breastfeeding schedule. I know, I know, sounds like excuses, but it's true! .... ;)

When I got lazy, I took Master Shem's advice and skipped all my runs except for the weekly long ones. (Hee hee,... that's true right Shem? Or did I conveniently distort everything you said.... :P)

Race Day - Rise & Shine
I rose at 4am on race day - I had to express* before the race (ARGH!). We got to Raffles City in good time and found nearby parking by about 5:30am (good considering 50,000 participants!).

* To pump breastmilk out using a machine so that lil’ Soph will have some food while I am away from her.

Paul decided to run with me. I was a bit apprehensive about that cos:
1. I normally run on my own
2. I was worried that he would pressurise me to run faster
3. I was worried that he won’t pressurise me to run faster

The few times I had run with Paul, he would kind of wait for me in that he will be ahead of me, but not very far ahead so I could still see him. That is probably the worse arrangement. If he were so far ahead that I couldn’t see him, then there would be no problem at all,…. But if he is perpetually 50m ahead where I can see him, I perpetually feel like I have to speed up to catch him. Paul on the other hand, would “keep keeping” that distance ahead of me (in his act of waiting), and I end up having to play catch up for the entire 2+ hr run. Not fun! Screws up my pacing too. I never realised that this was what was causing my runs with Paul to be so difficult until like a week before race day.

Anyway on race day, Paul overheard me telling Mel “I am not sure I want Paul to run with me actually…” which led to a mini breakout discussion 5 min to the start of the race. Resolution was that Paul will run with me but not AHEAD of me. Looking back, that worked out beautifully. :)

The Race
The route was nice but there wasn’t very much noise / cheering going on throughout the race unlike some other races. The distance markings were TERRIBLE. Nearly put me off altogether. For those who know me, I need as much information as possible during any run, let alone a race. That is how I pace myself. The distance markers were so completely off that it just made it very demoralising. I don’t think I was the only one who felt it.

In summary, the race was a lot less painful than I expected. The longest run I did prior to the race was 18km and I was really worried that the 21km would be more painful than that. As it turned out, it was AS PAINFUL AS and not more, so that was good. Based on some table that a friend shared with me, my goal time was 2h19m - worked out from my post-pregnancy 5km timing. A more realistic goal based on my long runs leading up to the race where my pace was generally about 7min/km, my estimated timing would have been around 2h27m.

My chip time was 2:22:49. Mixed feelings about it since it is somewhere between my goal time and my expected time. I keep telling myself that I shouldn’t have walked-jogged the last 2km. I just didn’t have the energy despite chowing down 3 gels (40m, 1h15m, 1h50m). I carried 4 with me but by the 3rd one, I was feeling pretty “bao bao” – *burp!*

Having said all that, I am glad that I did the half marathon. Yay! Even more glad that Paul was with me all the way. xoxo

aaa Team Mates

Post-race - physically I am feeling quite fine. Probably more tired from waking at 4am than anything else! Calves ached a little but nothing compared to when I do Core Training with Anne Date! Makes me feel like I definitely shouldn't have walked/jogged the last 2km. Weak!

Kids' Dash (with the family!)

After the race, we waited for Emma and her cousins to come down with Nana, and Paul did the 800m kids’ dash with her.

Emma & Mummy enjoying the pre-Kids' Dash carnival

Stretching with Papa before the DASH!!!

Emma with her cousins after the race
(showing off the most important thing of the race - their medals!!!)

Nana says that next year she is going to attempt the 10km! Woot woot!

Elaine - Next step, a full? :P

The Wall of Fame

2008-12-02T18:32:00.000+08:00

Since Emma and Cate started Art Boot Camp, I have started a little wall of paintings. It is on the wall directly facing my study window that looks out into the corridor so it is effectively the view from my desk. Only paintings on canvas and of a certain standard make it up on "The Wall". They don't actually do canvases all the time so when they do, they are well excited as they may get featured on my Wall. To be honest, all of them have made it up to the wall so far regardless of how good they are. ;) All the below are Emma's except for the cute little one in the middle which is by Cate.

Below is Emma’s latest still life of some stuffed toys. Featuring this cos am somewhat fascinated by the white bunny on the left. Check out how frightened his/her eyes are!

I guess if I had an invisible body, I would be petrified too. Not sure why Emma decided to leave the bunny’s body “blank”. I asked the teacher to make her paint in a shirt but they say they don’t like to interfere with the child’s creativity. Fair enough. I do find the floating head and hands somewhat annoying though….

Once A Poner Time.....

2008-11-29T13:58:00.005+08:00

Below is a "Scary Story" that Emma wrote in her own time. When I read it, I laughed till I cried, then I just wanted to cry.... Hope she is going to be able to cope in Primary 1!....

For those who just can't get it, here's a translation (or at least the gist of it):

"Once upon a time, a monster passed my house and saw a strange thing when I was sleeping and I heard a noisy sound coming out from my door. Then I walked up and peeked outside and saw 10 monsters waiting for me. The monster became bigger and fatter. Some of them were very scary and bigger than the others and stronger than all of the dads and mums and God. It was so scary that I called mummy and daddy and my biggest brother and my biggest sister, then all the sisters."

Garang Guni Bike

2008-11-27T18:40:00.000+08:00

I’m not sure if anyone has ever seen this guy but I know I have definitely caught glimpse of him more than once. It is just a motorbike with all sorts of rubbish you can think of. Stuffed toys, bottles, old tyres, plastic things,…. You name it.

The trademark item is Elmo stuck to a pole.

My Little Companion - Part II

2008-11-26T18:35:00.006+08:00

Cate is really my little companion while I shower. Here she is in my own bathroom this time.

She climbs into the bathtub that is next to my shower and plays with her selected toy.

My Little Companion - Part I

Sophie - Back to NUH :(

2008-11-26T16:05:00.005+08:00

Yesterday morning, Sophie suddenly came down with a temperature of 39C. I rushed her to Dr Ong's where he told me that at her age, I should just take her to the hospital cos they needed to run a host of tests to eliminate all sorts of horrible diseases... Dr Ong mentioned things ranging from UTI to water in her brain (WTF!).

Since we previously had quite a positive experience at NUH with Emma's split head, I decided to go back there again.

Sophie was a real trooper. She was all smiles despite her fever. Charming the doctors, nurses, reception, other patients,..cleaners... you name it! The only time she cried bitterly was when they squeezed 2.5ml of blood from her teeny little thumb DROP BY DROP for a blood test. (Nurse said that it was less traumatising than simply drawing blood with a needle and syringe. I am not too sure about that but anyway...)

NUH was a winner again. There was hardly any wait, the waiting area was small and cosy with comfortable chairs. I got the same nice doctor who attended to Emma last time. Definitely a positive experience. Note that this positive experience was with “Children’s Emergency” which is not the same as the normal A&E for adults. When I walked past the A&E area (for adults), it looked a right mess and saw a sign that said that the waiting time was 4hrs! Everyone just looked miserable!

Anyway, all the tests on Sophie came up negative and they have put it down to something “viral” (the catch all if you can’t find anything else wrong). Sophie seems all brand new again today with no fever. Maybe a little farty but that’s just cute. :P

And we go Gingerbread-Housing...

2008-11-23T06:51:00.009+08:00

Cate and I went to my old friend, Wanli's, to do some Gingerbread House decorating!

It was a little harder than we expected cos the Gingerbread House pieces (that came in a flat box) needed to be "glued" together with melted sugar. Obviously, hot melted sugar wasn't exactly suitable for the kids so the mummies ended up putting together the 5 gingerbread houses assembly line style in the kitchen!

Cate and I deocrating our very own Gingerbread House!

Truth of the matter was, the mummies were having far more fun than the kids! The kids just wanted to stuff as many chocolates, sweets, gummies, marshmellows into their little mouths as possible! I told Cate that she could only eat a few of the sweeties after we were done with the deccrating. She rapidly stuck all the M&Ms on and said, "Ok, done mummy,... can I eat now?"

Proud Home Owners

Thanks Wanli for having us over!

My Longest Run To Date - 15.1km pant pant

2008-11-06T23:31:00.008+08:00

As some of you might already know, I have foolishly signed up to do the 1/2 Marathon in Dec. I downloaded a simple beginners 10 week training program. Unfortunately I have failed miserably in following it. I guess I am even worse than "a beginner". These are probably just excuses but with the baby and all, I am perpetually tired from working, running after Emma & Cate, and also feeding Sophie pretty much round the clock.

Anyway with many missed / failed runs, and what have you, I decided that I have to really get my long runs in quickly before I have to taper*! How can I taper when I haven't even increased my training!

I mapped out a 14km route on gmap and worked out a simple pacing table with estimated goal timings at certain landmarks. Armed with this teeny piece of paper (left - all mucky after the run), a choc gel and a small bottle of water, I was off. Morale was low,.... I wasn't looking forward to it.

I referred to the little piece of paper the whole way. It burned a hole in my hand as I ran... I went slow most of the way cos I was just too worried about not being able to finish. The pacing table did help me a lot. I was slower by some minutes in the end, but it helped me all the same. As I approached the end of the 14km route, I decided to make a minor detour to do a 15.1km route. I figured another 7 min of agony to make a 15km run is better than having to do another whole 15km run on another day from scratch. Managed to finish the 15.1km in about 1hr 47 min. Quite a terrible time at 7min pace but boy am I glad I finished!!!! YAY!

Long run done for this week.... I was in a great mood all evening with the long-run-burden lifted off my shoulder. :) Oh, why can't I love running....

Next week I am supposed to do 18km according to the stupid beginner training plan. Bah!...

* Taper is when you have to slowly decrease the amount of training you do as you approach race day so that your body isn't too tired for the race.

Happy Halloween!!!!

2008-11-02T23:29:00.004+08:00

Emma & Cate, Martin & Charlotte, Taila & Layla

I personally don't know anything about Halloween, nor believe in any of this witchcraft business but how can one resist dressing the kids up in cute little costumes!

Here are the kids at The Changs for a quick Halloween walkabout the houses to "trick-or-treat".

Emma was a princess which was easy enough. Cate was a little mouse! She was just ADORABLE...

My Little Companion

2008-10-25T08:39:00.002+08:00

Whenever I drop the kids off at Nana's for their special bonding time with Nana and their cousins, I often go for a run or some exercise nearby. After which I will go back to Nana's for a shower. Cate always wants to come with me then, so I would place her on a little floor towel with a small toy while I have a quick shower. It is lovely,... we get to chat and make faces at each other through the shower screen.

What would I do without my little companion!!!!

The SistAhood

2008-10-22T14:38:00.001+08:00

Piccie specially for Papa. We miss you Papa!!! Come back soon!!!

xoxoxo

Emma's Show & Tell - SAFETY

2008-10-21T20:39:00.003+08:00

The theme for Emma's "Show & Tell" in school this week was "Safety". Sometime last week, Emma asked me about the flashing yellow lights (indicators) at the back of cars and I explained to her that it is to let other people know that you want to turn. Since this was related to being safe on the roads, Emma asked to create her "Show & Tell" piece on my computer, so I let her have a go on my ASUS.

Below is what she came up with on her own (I helped her with spelling "whether"). It took her a good half hour to type the 3 sentences! I love the drawing, especially the leaves at the bottom. This is for keeps!

My 1st Unfinished Run.... :(

2008-10-20T23:08:00.002+08:00

Today was supposed to be my longish run. Using gmap, I plotted out a route just over 12km from my mum's house since I drop the kids there early evening so that they can play with their cousins and bond with Nana.

I felt tired right from the start, and by the time I got to the 8km mark, I just felt like I couldn't go on anymore!!!! I had an ache in my ankle which I suspect is due to some compensation I am doing with my strides cos of a pain in my knee which is due to my scoliosis where one leg is shorter than the other. I had to do what I hate doing,... I had to start walking. I walked for a good 10-15 min feeling real disappointed in myself and also kicking myself cos does this mean I have to plan for another long run this week since I haven't finished this run? I don't have the time for this!!!! I was thinking of all the possible reasons for this cop out.... could it be that I am not fully recovered from the core training I did LAST Thursday? Could it be cos I hadn't done any exercise at all cos I was aching so much all weekend? Could it be that I just haven't done enough shorter runs in general.... Man, this 5km walk back to Nana's is going to be "Could it be this? Could it be that?"

Anyway, I looked at my watch and realised that if I am going to walk the remaining 5km, I would never make it to dinner at Nana's. Contemplated cabbing it even, but in the end, worked up some will power to jog real slow back towards the hills of Old Holland Road... *pant pant*

To top it all off, I didn't have Paul to go home to for a good moan. Paul would be able to diagnose what happened.... sometimes it makes me feel better, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes a bit of both....

I guess one consolation is that I finished the 12.2km although I walked a good 15min of it.... I think in the end I finished in about 1.5hrs.... I still consider it an unfinished run though. Sigh! Sad sad sad.....

Bye Bye Papa sniff

2008-10-18T23:41:00.004+08:00

This evening, Paul left for Dublin for a week on a study mission. We all went to the airport to send Papa off. Paul gave all his girls kisses at the gate (including me),... Emma played her part of sad daughter sending Papa off, but before Paul even made it through the gate, Emma turned to me excitedly and said (not quite softly enough), "So can I sleep in your bed forever?" She means sleeping in my bed till morning. While she misses Paul when he is away, she also really looks forward to sleeping an entire night in our bed. I am not sure what the big deal is.

Here are the girls waving at Papa as he goes through immigration. We will miss you Papa!!!! xoxoxo

The View on my Lap

2008-10-15T14:28:00.004+08:00

I am very lucky in that I can work from home a lot of the time. I have a pretty good setup where I have a dedicated study with all the office necessities. E.g. Printer, WI-FI, speaker phone, fax, office lighting..... err.... breast pump. Don't get me wrong, I do have to go into the office a lot of the time too when there are face to face meetings and such.

Anyway, one of the great plus-es of working from home is that I have a great view on my lap. That's little Soph lying on my lap as I tap away on my laptop. She even seems like she is trying to see what I am typing. When she feels like it, she can just turn towards me for a little snack. Haha.... ok too much information.

Of course I don't always have her on my lap, especially not during meetings. Although she doesn't necessarily cry, she still likes to make all her clicking, grunting, stretching, farting "noises" which are rather inappropriate for my conference calls!

I LOVE MY LITTLE SOPHIE!!!

Our 10th Anniversary - We made it!

2008-10-11T23:38:00.003+08:00

Over the weekend, 11th October, we celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary! In the recent years, we hadn't really celebrated our anniversaries much since it is also Emma's birthday. Since we made it to "Tin", Paul took me to Au Jardin at Botanic Gardens. He also reminded me that this was where we had dinner at our 1st wedding anniversary!

By coincidence, we were seated at the exact same table as 9 yrs ago. I could remember cos of the view from our table. It was a lovely view of the garden - all woody and full of trees!

What can I say, we made it to the big 1-0 with 3 beautiful girls to show for it. Paul asked me if it has felt like 10 years. My response was that while it doesn't feel that long, I also can't really remember life without him.

I am no expert on marriage but here's a little of what I have learnt in the last decade....

Work - It is hard work all the time. I don't think 2 human beings are really meant to live in perfect harmony all the time. If anyone says they do, they are blatantly lying!
Support - You both need to support each other no matter what (hard as it might be)
Kids - They are just a joy, highly recommended to have some (preferably with your partner) The perfect glue for your marriage.
Respect - Fundamental.
God - Not optimistic that divine intervention is needed, but He plays a big part in all this.

There are ups and downs and at the end of the day if you love each other, it should all pan out.

I look forward to more ups and downs with you baby. Preferably more ups than downs? Love you. xoxoxo

Cool Cucumber Dads

2008-10-09T16:59:00.007+08:00

When I go to a kiddy party, I am busy. You fellow mummies will know what I am talking about. You are running after the kids, keeping a close eye on them,.... making sure they don't overdose on sweets & chocolates,.... it is just hard work...

I am thinking that I must be doing something wrong though. Shortly after birthing, we went to Ian's birthday party and while I was there, I told Paul to take on the role to watch over the kids for a change (since I had to tend to Sophie). Paul and his fellow Daddy pals were VERY RELAXED! Check out below. They were just standing there cool as cucumbers!

Dads - Pat, Mark & Paul

Ok, as you can see behind, there is Emma UNwatched. Emma and Cate were also chowing down crisps and sweets for lunch (not cos there wasn't proper food available, but that's what kids have for lunch if you let them help themselves) Maybe I should just do that next time! :O

My "Good" Babies - Truly Blessed....

2008-10-09T16:35:00.006+08:00

Sophie has been a lovely baby and I pray will continue to be a lovely baby. ;)

I have to say, Paul and I have been very blessed with good baby girls.

Emma was very cheerful from the moment she was born. Beaming at us literally the moment she was out. Slept through the night by 8 weeks. Breastfeeding her was a breeze. She could latch on in any angle or position without fuss.

Cate was a little less cheerful but pretty much an easy baby too. Slept through the night by about 10 weeks and often slept through till midday!!! I had my issues with her when she got a little older when she suddenly decided to wake several times a night but that was easily fixed with a little sleep training. (http://motherofcutiepies.blogspot.com/2006/08/mission_29.html)

Sophie - She is truely lovely. She isn't sleeping through the night in the true sense but she is able to sleep about 6-8hrs at a stretch. I still have to wake at about 4-5am though cos she sleeps at around 10pm. It isnt really her fault that I haven't yet adjusted her sleeping time cos it's not like she can tell the time!

Anyway here is a little videoclip of how easy it is to feed Sophie with a bottle. She is on exclusive breastmilk just like her sisters were. I normally nurse her directly but this particular time I messed up the timing and pumped all my milk out after getting back from work only to find that Sophie was hungry. Ended up having to feed her expressed breastmilk from the bottle. I can do handsfree breastfeeding but handsfree bottle feeding was kind of new to me. Nursing direct I can do all sorts of things.... read a magazine, blogging, surfing, texting.... I am quite a serious multi-tasker. So I kind of got bored holding the bottle after about 2 min. I decided to prop her bottle up and voila.... handsfree bottle feeding! She even spits out the bottle when she is done. Perfect.

A Spot of Handsfree Feeding

Battered Legs

2008-09-30T01:12:00.005+08:00

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

2008-09-20T11:10:00.004+08:00

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

2008-09-19T00:09:00.020+08:00

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

2008-09-17T10:35:00.002+08:00

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

2008-09-17T10:00:00.005+08:00

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....

2008-09-14T22:35:00.003+08:00

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!

2008-09-09T15:36:00.024+08:00

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

2008-09-08T22:33:00.003+08:00

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

2008-09-05T18:30:00.002+08:00

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

2008-09-01T23:59:00.000+08:00

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!

2008-09-01T05:49:00.001+08:00

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!

BFF

2008-08-30T12:18:00.003+08:00

Seems that the new generation is keeping up with the lingo. I saw Emma writing up a list titled 'BFFs'. I asked her what that meant and she told me it means "her very best friends"! I only knew what BFF meant not too long ago from reading gossip magazines on Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and crew!

Then Emma recieved the pretty little shell below from her classmate. Cute!

Claire: BTW - you were on Emma's BFF list too! ;)

Bummed.... SERIOUSLY BUMMED!!!!

2008-08-21T21:30:00.008+08:00

I look forward to the National Day Rally in general cos that's when good ol' Singapore announces all the great handouts they will be giving us. Especially when it is close to the election year! To be honest, I think the government is coddling us, but who's complaining!

Anyway, this year, I was particularly looking forward to the new parenthood packages namely a possible extended maternity leave. Well, as it turned out, the maternity leave in Singapore was extended from 12 weeks to 16 weeks! When I heard, I was overjoyed. Sophie was born on 1 Aug, and when the maternity leave was last extended from 8 to 12 weeks back in 2004, it was enjoyed by all babies born on 1 Aug onwards. I thought the same would apply this time. I was wrong. :( As it turns out, this extension only applies to births from Jan 2009 onwards. I am devastated. 4 extra weeks would mean so much more time that I can spend with Sophie, not to mention Emma and Cate.

What I am confused about is this.... According to MoM (Ministry of Manpower):

"Why is the Government extending paid maternity leave?

This is part of the overall package of measures to support parenthood and make Singapore a more conducive place for families.

A longer period of maternity leave will allow working mothers more time to bond with their newborns and recuperate from childbirth. It also gives mothers additional time to ensure that childcare arrangements are satisfactory, before they return to work."

If the above is in fact true, why don't they effect this extension immediately? Wouldn't I need to bond with my baby and recuperate too? They were also able to effect the previous extension very quickly, so I don't understand the need to delay the effective date this time. I just get the feeling that the reason provided above is just a half truth and it is more to encourage more pregnancies. If you are delivering in 2008, there isn't a need to give you an incentive since you are already pregnant!

Ok, perhaps I am just bitter,.... I am forever wanting more time with my girls. It is challenging being a working mother. Well, in the larger scheme of things, I am so happy that Sophie is here with us now (rather than later - in 2009). With or without the 4 week maternity leave extension.

** 23 Aug update: The government has since announced that the parenthood package will now be applicable to births from 17th Aug onwards. So now I have missed it by 16 days rather than 4.5 months. Bottomline, it still excludes me...

What does Confinement mean to me?

2008-08-17T06:16:00.008+08:00

What does confinement mean to me? Well first, let me introduce you to my Confinement Nanny whom we fondly refer to as Kam Fong. As with most good nannies, she is highly sought after and you have to book her as soon as the blue line shows up on your preggers kit. When I first introduced Emma to Aunty Kam Fong, she looked puzzled and asked, "Why do we need a Kung Fu Aunty?"....

Anyway, I have never had a confinement nanny for my previous 2 deliveries, so why did I decide to enagage one this time? Well, we plan for this to be our last pregnancy and I heard that if you wanted to correct all the "wrongs" that you did to your body from "not doing the right [confinement] things" after your previous pregnancies, you need to ensure that you do do the right things after your last delivery. If you don't, you will have missed your boat... Ok, whether it is true or not, I don't know, but I don't want to have missed no boat and be doomed with aches and pains when I get older. Most people get confinement nannies to care for the baby, but I got her to care for ME ME me!!! I am totally ok with caring for baby myself cos that is what I had always done previously and it is also what I've been looking forward to.

Ok, so back to "What does confinement mean to me?".....

1. Confinement Food - I eat whatever the nanny makes me eat (exceptions discussed upon her arrival barred and these included any intestines or inerts of anything!) Well, Kam Fong is a fabulous cook and I look forward to every single meal. They say that you mustn't diet in the 1st month after delivering, so.... I am not! :) Luckily I haven't put on weight after the delivery despite the 2nds and 3rds I am having! Must be true what they say about exclusive breastfeeding!

2. Confinement Drink - I drink red dates water all the time. I am not supposed to drink much water at all. Red Dates water is fine with me but I still drink water cos I am sure it can' be good for anyone not to drink plain water for a month. The water has to be warm though which is fine with me cos that's what I always have regardless.

3. Confinement Bath - Contrary to what ppl say, I do have a bath everyday (and am not disobeying the nanny either!) The only thing is that the water that I use to bathe has to be "cool boiled water" which means that Kam Fong has to prepare it the day before and let it cool. Prior to me bathing, she would add freshly boiled water to it so that it is nice and hot for bathing. She will also add some herbal confinement stuff in my bath water sometimes which is completely fine cos I still get to use my usual soap hence end up smelling and feeling great after! Oh, the only rule to this is that you can't bathe at night - not a huge deal.

4. Confinement Hair Wash- Ok, this is a bit of a bummer for me cos I am used to washing my hair daily, sometimes even several times a day. Now, I am only allowed to wash my hair about once a week. If I wanted to,I think I could request for more often hair washes, but so far I have been obedient. Luckily I don't really have greasy hair in general anyway. When I do wash my hair, Kam Fong would have to prepare a special concoction of water. (Of course with the infamous "cool boiled water") I also use shampoo and conditioner as usual. The water actually smells lovely and I feel like I have gone for some spa treatment at the end of it!

5. Confinement Feet! - I have to wear bedroom slippers everywhere I go (I mean in the house of course). Not a huge deal except that I do forget cos I am so used to not wearing them but now that I am getting used to wearing them, I think I might even continue after. It feels nice and cosy!!!

6. Confinement Climate - Kam Fong has never told me that I can't have the airconditioning on (probably cos she knows it is impossible in Singapore!), but I know that officially (according to whom?), you are not meant to have any air blowing at you, be it the aircon or the fan. Anyway I am in airconditioning almost all day long. That's what I need in order to be able to follow all the other "rules" that add to you feeling HOT~!

7. Home Confinement - I would say that I have been rather good. I am home almost all the time. There have been a few exceptions (e.g. My Birthday dinner with Paul, taking the girls to watch High School Musical On Ice & NDP fireworks) Each of those outings were also very short. To be honest, after delivery your body is pretty messed up and naturally, you wouldn't really want to go out anyway. I did feel I needed to spend some quality time with the girls though.

I would say that I follow the confinement rules about 90% and am about half-way through. :)

Look out for my blog update in about 20 years time to see if all this has paid off and I am free of the dreaded aches and pains!!!!

Sophie Chew

2008-08-05T06:44:00.006+08:00

Name: Sophie Tay CHEW Ling (周玲)

Born: 1 August 2008, 1914hrs

Weight: 3.49 kg

Height: 52cm

I am rather happy to have an August baby. Lots of great people in my family are August babies ;) I was even wondering if baby may end up arriving on my birthday (6 Aug), but am glad she didn't. Don't want to not only share our wedding anniversary with Ems but my birthday too!

The actual serious labour was about 3hrs. This time it seemed SO MUCH more painful than when I had Emma and Cate. As with the previous births, I opted not to go for epidural (thought I would save some money - kidding!). Paul said that this time, I was actually screaming in pain while for the previous deliveries, I just gritted my teeth. I have no regrets there besides being slightly traumatised by the pain. The feeling of relief when the baby was out and you hear her cries was quite amazing.

How am I feeling now? Obviously happy cos Sophie is here with us.... Mixed feelings about not being pregnant anymore since we plan for this to be our last child.... A little down sometimes from the fluctuating hormones but hopefully that will settle soon.... So excited about having a newborn to fuss over.... Looking forward to settling into our new family unit of 5.

Thanks for all the prayers, well wishes, thoughts, gifts, visits....

Last but not least, thank you Lord for blessing us with our 3 beautiful girls.

Going into Month 10.... What am I? An Elephant?

2008-07-28T17:43:00.005+08:00

Ok,.... my due date of 25th July has come and gone and surely Baby Sophie is throbbing to be released from the contraints of my tummy!!!

My hospital bag has been packed and now half unpacked cos I just need the stuff in there.

The confinement nanny has arrived in Singapore last week from Malaysia and is waiting for my call...

Emma can't count down to Sophie's arrival anymore cos she doesn't know how to go less than zero.
Everyone is asking me if I have popped - SMSes, Emails, Facebook messages, MSNs..... "Has she arrived?", "Have you popped?", "You birthed?" The answer is NO! :(

Paul is tiring of his standby mode and asking when he can go back to his training for the looming 70.3.
(He hasn't been going on long rides and swims etc cos Cate arrived within 2hrs, so judging from what ppl say where it just gets faster each time, he can't really be that far away from me or away from me for long lengths of time training if he wants to be around for the birth of our child!)

I have started to binge eat cos I am just thinking that baby isn't satisfied with my weight gain. I have managed to put on 2kg just over the weekend as a result.
(Sophie you'd better be taking it all with you when you leave my body!)

What's going on????

Now the question is whether I should induce. I am not hot on that idea as I am keen on going as natural as possible. I have also heard such horror stories of ppl going through 48hrs labour followed by an emergency C-section after inducing!!! That is so not for me. Especially after my 2 very smooth deliveries with Emma & Cate. I would really like to keep my memories of childbirth as glorious as it has been this far. After some discussion with Prof PC Wong, we have concluded that I will just hang in there as long as it is safe for the baby. Maybe she just wants to be an August baby like her mummy...

The waiting game continues....

Reunited with Aunty Lis!

2008-07-27T11:55:00.001+08:00

We had Yum dim sum at Shang Palace with Aunty Lis yesterday. I wasn't sure if i could make lunch expecting to have already delivered. Well fyi, am still very much pregnant so to lunch we went...

Anyway at last poor Cate is reunited with one of her overseas godmas! She was a little shy at first but soon warmed up.

Godma Lis, you'd better get your ass back to singapore for good!

My 3 Girls

2008-07-23T12:16:00.003+08:00

Here are my 3 girls. Was hoping to introduce y'all to baby Sophie but this is the best I can do for now.

I will be 40 weeks along in 2 days and am incredibly uncomfortable. Will keep you all posted!

The Girl with Shades....

2008-07-15T09:48:00.010+08:00

Check out my view of Cate from the vanity mirror. Is she looking cool or what! Shades in the middle of the night. It could catch on... I guess....

Another pic of Cate in her cousin's shades.

She does seem to like her sunglasses ("Sun-necklace" as she calls it despite me correcting her over and over)

Emma's Brainchild of a Game

2008-07-15T09:27:00.006+08:00

Emma and Cate are the best playmates for each other. Emma loves having Cate trailing behind her and eagerly listening to everything she has to say and copying where possible. Cate just adores her che-che and thinks everything Emma does or suggests is fun. For me, it's all good cos they are kept occupied with each other :)

In the weekend, I overheard Emma and Cate playing in my room.

Emma (in usual Bossy tone) - "Come Cate!... Stand inside mummy's cupboard with me! We can play 'let's pretend'.... You be the t-shirt, I be the dress."
Cate stands in cupboard eyes bewildered by what a great game it sounds like. She is thinking "Che Che is so smart!"

Emma and Cate are tickled and giggling for a good minute and I got a picture (see left).

By the 2nd minute, they both seem bored.
Emma (barks with authority)- "Cate! The t-shirt needs to talk to the dress!"
Cate (looks blank and worried,....probably thinking "Wah, this game is hard!")
Emma gives up. (Concluding that this pilot of a game didn't quite work out)

Another one of Emma's brainchild games.

Full Term....

2008-07-05T04:39:00.006+08:00

View of my feet from my perspective

(Trust me, seeing my feet from this angle was no easy feat! [Excuse the pun.] Took quite a bit of skillful leaning to get this shot. Makes my already tiny feet look even tinier!!! In case some of you are wondering, I AM fully clothed here. In fact this picture was taken in my study)

Today I am 37 weeks preggers. This means that my pregnancy is officially "full term". I am a constant insomniac and feel a bit useless. Even the slightest strain (e.g. using a bit of effort to put Cate's water bottle into her bag!) would send my tummy contracting and all hard and uncomfortable. As a result, doing the daily school runs are so much effort! I don't really remember it being like this. Perhaps I wasn't doing any school runs while preggers with Emma and Cate.

Anyway, I am not ready yet though.... I haven't even packed my hospital bag. Keep procrastinating. Have tons of work to finish off still - may be part of the reason for my insomnia. Awake at 4 or 5am daily only to find myself working. I guess it is nice and peaceful with the girls still asleep.

I think Cate is beginning to feel a little displaced. She has somehow regressed to wanting to be a baby all the time. Asking to be rocked and sung "Rock-a-by-baby", she would protest if you call her a "big girl". Her response to that would be "No! I am still a bay-beee..." or "NOoooo,.... Baby Sophie** still in mummy's stomach, I am not a che-che yet." Poor tot, ... I keep telling her that she will always be my baby.

Emma on the other hand can't wait to rule the brood! She looking forward to being the biggest che che of the house. She talks about her new sister all the time in school (according to her teachers), and is literally counting down the days to Baby Sophie**'s arrival.

Ohhh... let me just finish my work so I can enjoy the rest of my wait for baby to arrive.

**I am using this name loosely simply cos it has stuck with the girls. We haven't yet confirmed baby's name. We love the name Sophie but are still thinking. While Paul quite likes it, he doesn't find the name "strong" enough.

"I have never heard of a CEO called Sophie."
- Paul

:O I guess he has high hopes for his girls!!!! I am assuming that he has heard of CEO's named Emma and Cate!

1 more month to go....

2008-06-23T13:01:00.014+08:00

Here I am at 36 weeks (8 months along).... I haven't really blogged much about my 3rd pregnancy cos I am always playing catch up to update on the girls. Anyway, have decided that I should or I'd really regret it in future when I look back...

I know, I know, I am already on my 36th week, but better late than never. Besides, I am now full of complaints, and perhaps an outlet would be nice. I did some research on the internet to check on the survival rate for babies born at 36 weeks. Reason being that I have been so uncomfortable that I have been willing baby to come out, but at the same time feel guilty cos what if it is really bad for baby!!!! Anyway, the stats pretty much show that from 27 weeks onwards, the survival rate is 90%, so I am pretty ok at 36 weeks. Phew! Will away...

Below are some pics of my pregnancy progress. Sorry I missed out Month 8. It just passed me by! Anyway, it is meant to be Paul's responsibility.


Month 6	Month 7	Month 9

I have to say I am feeling pretty uncomfortable now. I feel like I can't breathe all the time cos there just ain't enough room in there. Anyway I am not going to complain cos in the larger scheme of things, I am feeling pretty good and excited about all this. I can't wait to spend quality time with my brand new baby. Can't wait to start nursing. I can't wait to start being all groggy in the middle of the night fussing over this new little person. I just can't wait for the whole family to meet her.

Anyway will try to keep you more updated as we approach D-Day....

Baby Bling

2008-06-16T22:10:00.003+08:00

Was going through the very little bit of jewellery that I have in front of the kids and they kept wanting to try stuff on.

Then I saw the perfect diamond "rings" to let them try... My little diamond hoop earrings! Put both sides on to give them the double band eternity ring effect. :P How cute is that!

Emma and Cate were thrilled to take turns trying on the real diamond "rings" that actually fit them! I guess girls will always be girls! I just love having girls and can't wait to have a suite of three!!!!

The Ridiculous Banana Cake Quest....

2008-06-11T14:47:00.012+08:00

I hadn't made Banana Cake in a while and I really didn't think much of it when I decided to use up some over-ripe bananas to whip up a quick cake. Paul loves it and the girls love baking. I had made this cake a million times..... It's been quite a few years though, and I couldn't quite remember the recipe... but how difficult could it be to just download another recipe off the internet right???

SIGH! Boy was I wrong....

The girls have been making banana cake almost everyday after school this week. They are loving this baking frenzy, but mummy is getting frustrated!

CAKE #1: Cake was like a brick and SALTY too! Not even edible! In the bin it went.... :(

CAKE #2: Cake tasted ok, but was HEAVY! Edible.... Emma brought half the cake to school to feed her classmates for snack time. Apparently they chowed it all down so couldn't have been that bad. The other half of the cake unfortunately had to be binned cos we forgot to put it in tupperware overnight and the ants got to it! :(

CAKE #3: I think we are almost there!!! Cake was soft and fluffy (an achievement for banana cake). I remember my previous banana cakes tasting better and I think there can still be some improvement but I am happy with this as a baseline and I will take a break for now. Cake was almost finished by the household in less than a day! A good sign I suppose....

Check out the girls having a finger lickin' good time making a mess and licking up the mix.

The quest continues but fine tuning is going to take more patience and time which I am not willing to invest at the moment. Next time, I will not depend on my memory and actually keep my recipes in a safe place...

ColdStorage Kids Run - I'm A Winner!!!

2008-06-03T00:01:00.013+08:00

Sunday came, and it was time for Emma to go for her ColdStorage Kids Run!!! 800m!

I just wanted to take a pic of Ems all ready for her race and this was the pose she came up with!! Poser! (Paul's genes)

Papa just did the Sundown Marathon hours before so he was home asleep. Luckily tri-Shengko kindly volunteered to run with Ems! Phew! I was relieved that I didn't have to attempt the run. I think I would have been able to but it would've just been uncomfortable.

Emma with Godpa (by virtue of being married to Godma Gin)

Check out the Swing-Singapore-Like crowds. Apparently there were about 3000 participants for just Emma's category. Each being accompanied by a parent, we have 6000 ppl doing this 800m dash! There was a ridiculous number of ppl there, and I am not sure it was very well organised but it was a fun experience for Emma all the same.

Emma with her pal Abi waiting for the race to start...

I'm so tired....

Ahh.... but as usual,.... the much treasured post race smile.... All 800m of hard work was worth it when Emma received the finisher's medal.

When Emma got home, Papa asked her, "So? How was it? Did you win?"

To which Emma's reply was, "Papa,.... everyone's a winner!"

ColdStorage Run - Last Minute Training

2008-05-27T00:11:00.003+08:00

Emma's ColdStorage Run is this coming weekend and we had been very lazy about taking her out running. With Paul training for SunDown, and me being too pregnant to really take her running anywhere, Emma just didn't get very much of a chance...

Parents - guilty as charged. Emma being 5 yrs old couldn't be blamed for the lack of training. It's not like she could just go out for a jog on her own. Ok, I won't be too hard on myself, cos in more than 1 occasion, Emma did display moments of a lack of motivation which did not exactly entice me to take her out running.

Anyway, the Sunday evening before the ColdStorage Run, I started to really worry that Emma wouldn't be able to even complete the run (be it 800m). Paul was out on his long run,... it was just me. Last resort, I took the girls to the gym. Emma was going on the treadmill! She was SO EXCITED. Cate was cheering her on....

Well, as it turned out, Emma running on a treadmill proved to be a whole set of other challenges! Forget trying to finish 800m! I had to watch her like a hawk to make sure she ran forward in a straight line (else risk falling off the side), make sure she didn't trip over her own feet. On the side, make sure that Cate didn't touch the treadmill (which she did try to do with her little hands! :O)

Anyway, Emma managed to complete 1.8km pretty much non-stop. Only a very quick stop to get a drink of water (no way she could have drunk and run on the treadmill at the same time). It was at a pretty slow pace, but I thought she did great. :)

Emma on the treadmill, perpetually watching the distance counter for when she can stop!
This behaviour seems to be apparent for all age groups!

After Emma was done with her run, I thought to get on the treadmill real quick too seeing as I would be running alongside her for her run next weekend. I was shocked to find that I was struggling!!! My back was aching, my stomach was contracting. I didn't even do the 800m. I managed just 500m!!!!! @_@ I am worried about whether I could ever get back into running again even after Sophie arrives.... Sigh! One step at a time...

Bowling - The Rose among the thorns... Again

2008-05-13T23:22:00.001+08:00

Emma bowling with her cousins and having a ball. Childhood is no fun without your cousins!!!

My Lunch Hour Well Spent

2008-04-21T19:08:00.006+08:00

Emma & Cate have had a lingering cough / cold on and off for the past few weeks now and they didn't really seem to be getting better. It was also partly my fault as I was home medicating them with off the shelf medication mainly cos I'd been so swamped with work. Friday last week, despite my undiminishing pile of work, I decided enough was enough and decided to take them to the doc's. Between the 2 of them, I spent almost $500 on medication! :O (I told you I should have been a pediatrician)

Anyway despite them being MUCH better today, I decided to keep them home anyway. In fact, to anyone else who saw them, they would be considered perfectly healthy. I was not going to be fooled though. I had let them go back to school after all the symptons had disappeared only to find that they would come home poorly again. This time, I was going to keep them home JUST IN CASE. This way I can also personally ensure long afternoon naps.

During my lunch hour, I decided to take them out to lunch. McD's. I know,.... what am I doing taking my sick children to eat fried, transfat,.... but like I said,... they were really well, PLUS I was craving some McDonald's which I hadn't had in a while.

They had SO MUCH FUN, I felt almost guilty taking them out of school. Check out the happy faces below. Cate with her very rare Apple Juice, Ems with her Hello Kitty Happy Meal toy.

My lunch hour well spent.

The Girls Dormitory

2008-04-17T23:10:00.000+08:00

I have been dreaming of how to fit all 3 girls into one room in our little apartment. I am no architect but during some spare time (yeah right), I drew up a little dormitory for my girls.

Each bed will have a little storage area below and there is a pull-out desk for each bed so that you can still push it in and have some play area in the room. It looks like such fun... Emma will be the "Bed Head" of course (but mummy the house mistress will still make the rules. ;P)

Unfotunately, this setup isn't going to be possible cos we need to knock down a wall to join 2 rooms to have a room big enough to fit all this in... Well, it was fun dreaming this up all the same. :)

Emma is feeling the HEAT!!!!

2008-04-14T11:27:00.004+08:00

As per my previous post, http://mummy-onthego.blogspot.com/2008/04/my-baby-is-growing-up.html, Cate started on training pants. Well at the same time, we have been trying to get Emma off diapers at nights. (I know, I told you I am crap at potty training)

What I have for Emma is a "Diaper Chart" where if she doesn't pee in her diaper that night, she can put a star on her diaper chart. See below. She needs to collect 7 CONSECUTIVE stars and she will be allowed to wear panties to sleep.

Last night, the most amazing thing happened..... CATE (note, Cate and not Emma) woke up at 2am and took herself to the potty! Emma woke up too and we all woke up to watch in amazement seeing as Emma still can't do it. Cate took her bottoms and pampers off, climbed on the toilet bowl to pee, but couldn't get it all back on again, so we did need to help her.

Anyway TODAY, Emma achieved her "7 consecutive days" and is well excited about wearing panties to sleep tonight... But she was feeling the HEAT as she quickly added "Cate needs to do 7 days on the diaper chart before she can wear panties OK!!???" I think she would hate it SO MUCH if Cate was completely off the diapers before her!!! :O

I can't wait to be saving all this $$$ as both of them go completely off diapers!!! Ok Peng, stop getting ahead of yourself. Let's see it happen first! KERCHING!!!!

My Baby is Growing Up!

2008-04-11T16:15:00.000+08:00

For the longest time, Cate has been asking for panties, and we have always just put them over her diapers. Of course she looked funny and extra bulky but it kept her happy and made her feel like a big girl like her big sister, Ems.

Today while changing her, she said, "Wear panties...." and I was like "Ok" and was just going to put on her panties over her diapers as usual. But Cate persisted, "No! Wear panties. No diapers. Big girl!" .... So here she is! Presenting Cate in her training pants! They have a thicker bit of fabric in the middle so that if she were to have an accident, hopefully the fabric will absorb most of it. It is by no means waterproof, so we now have to be on our toes and bring her to the toilet very regularly. Of course we tell her they are panties and judging from her smile below, she is well pleased about that!

I have lots of techniques and tricks to train the kids to do all sorts of things (e.g. sleeping through the night, weaning from breastfeeding, transitioning from a bottle, moving from a cot to a bed, sleeping in a room unaccompanied etc)..... but when it comes to potty training, I am RUBBISH! I think part of it is being scared of the filthy toilets outside. A couple of times while we were out, Cate had asked me to take her to the toilet to "pee pee" and I actually told her to do it in her pampers! The thought of her having her hands all over the public loo just makes me want to faint! Bad mummy!

Emma (Jr AAA) @ NIE Track

2008-04-09T13:01:00.008+08:00

We have been planning on signing Emma up for the ColdStorage Kids Run on 1 June. Emma is keen but I'd been hesitating simply cos I am not sure she can run continuously for 800m! Last time I took her to the track for fun many months back, she only knew how to sprint and would be completely knackered in less than 200m!

For her age group it is an 800m run! That is like 2 times round the track! Isn't that quite a distance for a 5 year old???? And the category is for 3 - 6 yrs olds! Imagine Cate running even half a loop!

Anyway last night we took Emma to the NIE track and she had so much fun! She jogged round the track about 6 times in total (with breaks in between) - accompanying the various AAA uncles and aunties on their warm up rounds. It's funny cos her thighs were REALLY ITCHY which is exactly what happened to me when I hadn't run for a long while.

Emma and Papa's gear at the track. CUTE! :)

Emma with Uncle d2.

Well, in conclusion, I think we should be able to sign her up for the Coldstorage Kid's Fun Run, and I think she should be able to finish it. Can't wait to cheer her on!

Quote of the night:

Emma: "Uncle Colin is faster than Uncle Shem you know...."
Aunty Mel (the shit stirrer): "Come Emma, Uncle Shem is just there. Let's go tell Uncle Shem what you just said...."

My Cooooozy Study

2008-04-08T14:48:00.006+08:00

This is where I spend most of my time at home (provided the kids haven't accosted me some place else). Working, blogging, surfing,... here's my place.

During lunch today, I decided that it was high time I worked on a "me" purchase. Hadn't had one in ages. So I traipsed down to the lighting centre of Singapore (Balestier) and swiftly bought a lovely Artemide - Dioscuri copy (for half the price of the original of course). I think this might have snuffed out the handbags and jewels "me" purchases for the meantime. Phew!

Ahhh..... what a lovely cosy study I have now....

Well Done Ballerina Emsky!

2008-04-07T22:56:00.002+08:00

I am the mother, so I am allowed to be shamelessly proud..... :P

Emma just got her results for her recent ballet exam and she passed with HONOURS!!!! I kept telling her how proud I was of her, and she actually just gave me a little frown as she told me that she actually forgot the "folding blanket part" of one of her solo routines. It was almost like she was trying to come clean cos she was feeling bad that my pride in her was unjust. In response I said, "Wow! You forgot a whole part and you still got HONOURS! You must have done really well on your other parts!"

I was clueless about the grading but it goes like this:

Pass
Pass Plus
Commended
Highly Commended
Honours
Honours Plus

So there is another level that is better than Honours which is Honours Plus, but hey I am happy! :)

Well done my little ballerina!

Ballerina for real!!!!

2008-03-20T17:34:00.003+08:00

Last weekend, Emma had her very first ballet exam. It was serious stuff, they bunned up her hair with a ton of hair gel and pinned on a tiara and all. I thought she looked like an old grandma with her hair all bunned up. Haha....

We weren't actually allowed into the ballet exam so the video below was the practice just before the actual exam. Emma is on the far right. I personally thought her balancing exercise leg-lift thingy-me-jig was rather good! I think it is actually much harder than it looks! This is coming from a doting mum of course but I thought she was the best! I hope she doesn't fail after all that bragging from me. Results are out 3 weeks after the exam. Anyway what kind of examiner would fail a 5 yr old on her ballet exam anyway!

If You're Happy and You Know It...

2008-03-17T23:08:00.005+08:00

I haven't really been online nor blogged much lately. Last week I was really swamped at work and over most of the weekend I was feeling pretty terrible with food poisoning but after Cate's little performance I felt MUCH better and well..... HAPPY :)

I have a transcript of what she was singing below cos she still can't really pronounce her words properly! We've decided to give her till she is 3 before we start to worry. :O

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands (x3)
If you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you're happy and you know it, do your face
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands,
If you're happy and you know it and you really want to show it
If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet.

What now....

2008-03-08T23:42:00.002+08:00

After my 7km run on Monday earlier this week, I decided that this would be my last run until after Paul Jr arrives. It wasn't cos I felt bad during the run, or tired (not at that speed anyway!) or any pain at all,.... but I knew my body was telling me something. I could feel some pressure at my pelvic floor like my womb was weighing down or something. I put it own to this being the 3rd pregnancy. I have found that with each pregnancy, I would feel this pressure sensation more as if my muscles / ligaments (?) are just not holding up my womb as well anymore. I didn't have this feeling with Emma. With Cate a little,... and now more.

Anyway, this morning I woke up, surprisingly a little down at having decided not to run anymore. I didn't expect that my pregnancy 2nd trimester running stint was going to be quite this short. So I decided swimming would have to be my thing moving forward..... boring as it is. Managed to swim 1km during Emma's swimming lesson. Hopefully I will grow to like it more...

Vain Pot Ballerina!

2008-03-03T14:46:00.000+08:00

Check out the pose! I just told her "Ems, you look so cute in your ballet clothes, let me take a picture!".....

Voila, that was the pose she came up with! I think I may have serious worrying to do when Emma turns into a teenager..... Sigh! Perhaps I will let Paul handle it.

Terrorism at Home

2008-02-29T23:35:00.005+08:00

With the latest escape of the JI Leader, I heard that the police came by Emma's school to give them a picture of him or something. The teachers must have explained the news to the kids at school.

The whole evening after coming back from school, she looked perplexed, listening to the news, asking us questions about "the fierce man". When it was time for bed, she again was asking us what if "the fierce man" came to look for her. I assured her that she would be fine and sent her along to bed.

Later that night when I went to do my usual checks on the girls, I found Emma had crept into Cate's bed and was fast asleep.

I guess she got comfort being close to her 妹妹. How exactly she thought Cate was going to protect her from "the fierce man", I have no idea....