The Apple's Diary!

I must say after visiting 3 preschools, Learning Vision @ Fusionapolis impressed me the most. After I had emailed them, requesting for a visit on one of the April Saturdays, they called me back the next business day and informed me about their open house which was last Saturday 21 April. One day before the open house, I received an sms to remind me of the open house and the program starting at 10.30am. But on that Saturday, it rained heavily in the morning and Jonathan as usual needed his morning nap around 9am. So we were stuck at home, waiting for the rain to stop and waiting for Jonathan to wake up from his nap. Jonathan eventually woke up at 11.30am and it was then I realized I had 2 missed calls from Learning Vision. They were polite and not pushy when I returned their call and they said it is still not too late to visit them. So we went down and reached the centre at 12pm. There were still a handful of parents around when we arrived. We were greeted and l...

We had a quick visit of Agape Little Uni today. Actually I find their website very cute with many teddy bears, take a look at this - Agape Little Uni .  Anyway, Agape Little Uni uses story based concept to teach the kids. When we were there, the playground just got back from their morning walk. What I like about them 1. Location - near to home 2. Assembly - this is the first time I see a childcare that does this. I like it as this is a good way to reinforce discipline in the children before entering primary school. 3. Affordable fees 4. Children get to go outdoor What I don't like 1. Meal - teachers giving the playgroup children cordial fruits after their outdoor activities.

After 1 year and 3 months, our door step is finally back to normal and we gain a new lift right outside our doorstep. Best part is the lift serves 2 units per floor only. I'm really glad the enclosed area was finally opened to us and we could arrange our new shoe rack neatly, tuck at a corner. New door mat to welcome us home. From top to bottom: Mosquito plant, Parsley, Mint Our new potted plants from Far East Flora. Can't wait to try out dishes with my new herb plants.

My new toys came just at the right time.  Zojirushi - 3L airpot My new 3L Zojirushi airpot will reduce the number of times I need to boil water in the day. Electrolux - ultrasilencer the whole set up Finally, I got a quieter vacuum cleaner. The previous set from Karcher was very powerful but the noise level was deafening. The new set from Electrolux is so much milder and vacuum well. The best part, I don't have to keep changing my plug. The cable is long enough for me to go round the whole house. Great!

I have given her enough chances. I have stated my expectations very clearly, even to the extent of making her countercheck her own language dictionary she fully understood me. At 5months 26 days, she has crossed my threshold of patience. Finally, I sent her back TODAY!!! To me, I feel liberated! I feel and smell my freedom though my house might be messier and dusty... aha.. for 2 weeks. New replacement coming then. This time round, I chose someone Ex-Sin (with experience). Doesn't matter if she wants a day off and wants a hp. Her price tag is $50 more than the previous one. I really pray hard that my (good?) helper will come one day. Wish me luck! ( I need plenty of it!)

7 month old Jonathan has a new bag of tricks.  Look at this little acrobatic and his stunt. He managed to grab his foot and stuck into his foot which immediately brought a horde of "Nnnooooo!" Jonathan has finally crawled forward, though along the way he left a trail of saliva on my bed sheet and with quite a bit of sound effect from the little baby. He is also starting to want to pull himself to a stand position.  And just this afternoon, I spotted his lower jaw with 2 little pearlies inching their way out of the gum. My on my! My little boy is really growing up fast! We have also been practicing the flash cards we got from Glenn Doman. Although we got it only end March and we didn't really do it daily, I was so amazed at the result. Just into 2nd week of flash cards, Jonathan could differentiate the words "toothbrush" and "bathtub", recognize the shape of "Star" and "Triangle...

Espresso "Rocky Mountain" Salted Caramel Banana Strawberry Chocolate Okay, I gave up! This will be my last installment for the Twelve Cupcakes series. I guess I have been over indulging myself and the novelty has worn off. These were my last 4 cupcakes and I don't think I will have them for a long time.

with MacBook Pro @ TCC on Good Friday

Got my Happycall pan in Dec last year. It was kinda bad timing as I had already went back to work. The maid and my mum don't really like my HCP so it has been sitting quietly in the cabinet. One fine morning, I decided I should reunite with my HCP. I woke up early on Wednesday morning and decided to make chicken burger for breakfast. With HCP, I feel the effort was minimal and there was no oil spluttering around. I could turn down the fire and do my other stuff and returned to find my chicken patties cooked. The only grouse was that HCP produced lots of steam and water condensed once you opened the lid. So I guess the full potential of HCP should be used for cooking food with gravy. Anyway, everyone was happy with the special breakfast. Oops... my tomato was missing Another one fine day, I should do something special again with HCP. Maybe BBQ chicken wings?

Apple Cinnamon Black Forest Lemon Aha... got myself another 3 new flavours to try on Monday. Of all these 3 flavours, my favourite was the Black Forest cos' it was really like eating the cake itself. My least was Lemon. It reminded me of Kong Guan biscuit - the lemon cream biscuit, so no no. You may have this question which my mum also asked me. "You are not scared of putting on weight with so much cupcakes?" Answer (which I told my mum) : Haha... that's why I'm sharing with you (mum). Heez... it saved me from putting on weight but my mum put on a few kilos since she started full time with Jonathan. Is this supposed to be a good news then?

I couldn't find the purple type of sweet potato or organic sweet potato, so I went for this. There was no more promotion so each packet was selling at $2.55 at FairPrice Finest. Well, what's the verdict? I guess he was okay with sweet potato.

We finally upgraded Jonathan to a proper playmat. Bought this Parklon playmat from Minitoons. Cost us $144 after discount and it was not even the best quality in the market. But for now, it serves its purpose well. At least my mum does not have to worry about him falling off from bed when she needs to step away.

Did I mention that Philips finally called us to collect our sterilizer replacement after 2 weeks long? Though it was the new model, nonetheless, we were still not satisfied with their customer service. For the moment, we are just keeping the new sterilizer in the storeroom till further notice.

Look at this! Isn't this lovely! Looks like I have found my answer for the birthday cake. Cake Avenue to the rescue, that's if the price is right too.  Seriously, Jonathan has no preference for any cartoon character as we did not expose him to any, so I thought this Precious Moment figurine with this blue theme is awesome. Cake Avenue does cake and cupcakes combo which is perfect for people who would like to take the (cup)cake home. I'm excited and I hope Jonathan will squeal in delight when he sees his birthday cake!

4 months. I left 4 months to plan, to decide and to execute JONATHAN's FIRST ever BIRTHDAY PARTY! (Throw some confettie, please!) Yet, I have no idea what to do, where to source... etc I know I need a cake... what design? Should I get the traditional "1" or the trendy fondue cake or a cartoon charactor cake? Do I need a big cake or a small one to symbolize the event (note the daddy is not fond of cake and the birthday boy won't be having his cake too)? Venue... think think think. For how many guests? Big party or relatives only? All adults? No kids? The only condition I know is that we must have air con. Decoration? Helium balloons will do? Theme? Do I even need a theme? What about entertainment? From the little research I have done, it was always recommending a small party with close relatives and family. No scary balloons that will pop (could scare the baby easily) and best to keep the party within 1hour cos' the birthday baby will be tired. The O...