The Apple's Diary!

Read off from the forum that a Dec 2012 mummy gave birth to a healthy little princess today. Though she came earlier than expected, the good news brought plenty of excitement to the group, especially for the 1st time mummies. Eh... I think is really time to get on my feet and quickly finish up whatever I need to complete, that include handing over my job and also getting ready for the arrival of our 2nd prince. a polaroid shot of us - me @ 31 weeks Went over to a colleague place for a play date with her dog and she helped us took this polaroid shot. First thing I noticed was the bulging huge tummy. It really had exponentially grown twice its size once I crossed over to 3rd trimester. Have decided to call off the maternity shoot and arrange for a family shoot instead when XP2 turns 4-6 month. Shall focus on my immediate tasks with my Pte Ltd energy.

Is it expected or is it accidental? Can we prevent it? This poor Jonathan suffered from multiple injuries consecutively for 2 days! First, it was a scrape injury when he was playing with our wardrobe doors. Somehow his right fatty thigh got caught at the bottom sharp corner of the door. Resulted in this 2cm long injury. Before his leg injury got better, he banged his left side head against the metal door frame of the toilet door. Resulting this 1cm head injury. Blood was oozing out for quite some time and of course, he was crying hysterically by then. When he finally calmed down and let us treated his wound, we were totally crumpled at this sight! I'm still monitoring Jonathan to see if there's any impact from this bang. Will probably let Dr Yip have a look at both his injuries since he's scheduled for his MMRV on Monday.

At 29 week check, XP2 was in transverse lie position and I was having complete placenta previa. Yesterday at 30 week 6 days check, XP2 went to head down position but not engaged. Placenta was way up! Thank God! At week 30, I gained a total of 4kg (according to my home scale) and 6kg (according to clinic scale). XP2 was at 1.6kg which made him rather small compared to his peers but on par with Jonathan. Tummy circumference exponentially increased to 92 cm which was a frightening 36". Overall, I'm happy! Thank God for protecting XP2... we have really come a long way together! Time to pack the hospital bag and get ready the long forgotten nursery!

I have been observing the snake queue for Guan Kee's Char Kway Teow. Located at Ghim Moh hawker centre, it is by far the most popular stall there. The short opening hour makes it even more tempting to join in the snake queue for a plate. Finally, I got my chance. Had such a late lunch on Wednesday, I arrived at the hawker centre 2pm. Headed straight to Guan Kee... Happy that it was still opened! But the queue was still there! Mr Darren joined in the queue while I waited patiently for my Char Kway Teow! Finally after 20 minutes or so, my plate of sinful lards, kway teow and cockles was before me. The uncle was really generous with his lards and cockles. I found a total of 5 big pieces of lards and 11 cockles in my $3 plate of char kway teow! Of course, Mr Darren had the honor of eating up all the cockles from my plate. The after taste in my mouth was sweet. In fact the sweetness lingered on for quite some time which really made my Wednesday afternoon so happy!

Had a sudden craving for Ang Ku Kueh (AKK) and wanted to get it from 146 Bukit Merah shop. So I googled for the address and WA to Darren. But I didn't think he will go and get .... all flavors! AKK Loot Personally I still prefer the traditional peanut flavor. 146 Bukit Merah AKK is yummy, I like as the skin is thin and filling is thick! Feels oily on your hand but is not oily when you eat it. My rainbow box of AKK He bought all flavors in stock... which include the green tea, durian, sweet potato, corn, salted bean, green bean, peanut, coffee, coconut and yam. I only managed to taste the green tea and durian, the rest were distributed to all at home. I still like my peanut best! my fave peanut Check out 146 famous Bukit Merah Ang Ku Kueh !

I pop by ABC market for lunch occasionally when Darren is free to lunch with me. We didn't know about this great dessert stall until recently, someone from his training class recommended this dessert stall. I had my 1st try on last Sunday. Ordered Mango Ice for myself, sharing with Darren and grass jelly with nata de co co for the maid. Wow! The price was fantastically low! My Mango Ice was only $2 while the grass jelly was $1.50. I returned again on Thursday for lunch. Ordered Power Chendol and gingko barley. Both at $1.50. If you like a heavy dose of Gula Melaka, then this is for you. Richly flavored with this brown sugar syrup and plenty of coconut milk. You can be sure I will be hanging out ABC market more often now. In fact, I discovered a few great stalls which I must remember to snap a picture. For now... do check out Jin Jin Hot Cold Dessert .

I received a surprised call from Dr Ho's clinic on Monday. Apparently, I failed to turn up for my appointment last week triggered this concern call from his clinic. Well, I would have thought that with so many patients, he might forgot that I actually supposed to return for my fortnightly check up. So when his nurse called and explained the purpose of the call, all I could think of was Dr Ho's a caring doctor. After explaining to his nurse about my switch, she wished me well and said Dr Ho's clinic would welcome me back if I need his expertise again. And the clinic mailed back my OGTT test report. It's an amicable ending for both.

I'm at my 29 weeks now and time is running out for us, in term of settling the obstetrician. We regarded Dr Tan Hang Yang highly and when he announced his retirement, we were left in a dazed. So finding another obstetrician as great as Dr Tan is not as easy as ABC. In summary, we visited not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 obstetrician. We started with Dr Seng Shay Way . He practices at Gleneagles. I was being looked after by him in my 1st trimester. But unfortunately, I had 3 spotting episodes which one of the times, he was not in town. His clinic staff was not willing to reveal the standing in obstetrician. So after a few phone calls on the same day, his clinic staff finally made an appointment for me to see the stand in obstetrician, who is Dr John Yam. There's nothing wrong with Dr Seng, but he's not going to be around for my delivery at end of December. This made us reconsider. Dr John Yam delivers at Gleaneagles and Mount Alvernia, if I'm not wrong. He's polite ...

I seldom order food online, except the usual Pizza or Mac. But after hearing so much rave reviews about this melted cheese wrap with beef, I decided to take a gamble. Took the option of meeting the seller at MRT station. The food came nicely packed. It's pre cooked so I used my Happy Call pan to pan fried for a few minutes. Hmm... it tasted good but not enough to make me order a second round. Come to think of it, this could be made at home myself too. Just gotten to get the wrap, minced beef and mozzarella cheese and pan fried it. Maybe one day... I will just test it out myself.

Okay, I admit I'm really a mountain tortoise. If not for the Hard Rock stay cation, I would not have gotten myself a pack of Garrett popcorn. I deliberately chose the smallest package which to me, was still quite a big pack. Purchase the caramel flavor and.. wow.. so sweet. But I must say, the popcorn does taste good.

Saw this for a few months but finally got a chance to try it a few days ago. There was a queue and it moved very slow. With just 9 people in front of me, I could zipped into NTUC to do quick grocery shopping and then, I got my egglet. I chose the original flavor. It came with 24 pieces for $2. Crispy on one side and waffle texture on the other side. Verdict : It's worth the wait.

We finally plucked up the courage to spend a night elsewhere with a toddler. We only packed our luggage on that day itself and needless to say, Jonathan's stuff is way more than us. After some delay, we managed to check in Hard Rock Hotel in the late afternoon. Obviously, the little boy was thrilled with a new environment which we soon learnt that it was not really a good thing. He was so tired yet he couldn't fall asleep. We spend almost an hour plus, trying to coax his sleepy eyes to close. When he was up after his late afternoon nap, he woke up crying because he didn't recognize the room. Bed time was the same thing and by the time, we called it a night. We were totally exhausted. We didn't do much. The only highlight was bringing Jonathan to the swimming pool. He really enjoyed his swim and so reluctant to leave the pool. His one time encounter at the pool left him exhausted and a little tanned. With this swimming experience, we packed up and ...

I guess this is the stage when toddler is in the phrase of being funny to being a terror. For a period, we caught him in this "OMG!" or "I can't believe this!" expression!  OMG! I can't believe it! Is really funny to see him doing this with sound effects! 

After Jonathan turned 1 year old.... my mum set up a new posture for him to drink his milk. She got him to drink his milk on his own in his bed. I don't know how she managed to lure him to do that but I am not too successful at home myself. And ever since he fell from our bed TWICE! we decided he needed another upgrade. Bought King Koil spring mattress, layered with Ikea mattress pad and let him sleep on in during the day. But night time, he snuggles with me on our queen size bed (I take 1/3 while he takes 2/3) while daddy sleeps on the floor. But not sure what will be our sleeping arrangement when XP2 joins us at year end? Hmm...

We retired the Combi Coccoro when toddler Jonathan decided that he's getting too big for a baby car seat. Last check at PD revealed that he's 78cm & 10.5kg @ 13month old which PD said he's a big "baby"... Anyway, we brought him to Mothercare to try the car seat after doing some researches. Initially wanted to get him a Britax but found that it's not practical cos' can't strip and wash. So eventually we decided on Maxi-Cosi. Went to Baby Hyper Mart @ Ubi and when he refused to get out of Maxi-Cosi, we got it for him. Maxi-Cosi Priori XP in Earth Brown (2011 version) We took the 2011 version since there was no difference to the structure or cushion. It was just colour pattern and a happy purchase of $349.

Then... a newborn Hardly filled up the "Shrek" towel Now... a toddler Can hardly squeeze in the "Shrek" towel...

Apologize for no updates recently. Too many things happened at the same time. In a nutshell, we had 1. change maid (again!) 2. gone for a staycation 3. tried a new snack 4. thinking of changing gynae (again!) 5. changed a car seat for Toddler Jonathan When I get down to upload the pix, will talk more.