New Year's Eve

Well, I spent New Year's Eve at my mum's place for dinner. She cooked up a feast for us! She roasted a whole leg of lamb with herbs. So so yummy even before I stepped into the house as I could smell the roasting from far.



Blur image as its taken by my handphone



There was also seafood paella dish with lobsters and salmon topped with melted cheese. So so good.

This is how it looked before putting into the oven.



Here's the outcome


Everyone loved the seafood paella. While we were eating, I told my mum that it would be nice if there was sangria to go with the rice. So, my mum suddenly remembered that I bought for her a fruit wine which can pass off as Sangria. So, we opened up the bottle and drank finished the wine.

Great dinner! After dinner, we watched '881'- a local production which I found really stupid. I didnt even want to torture myself to sit through the show. I got up many times to cross over to the dining room and watch Terminator 3 on Channel 5 instead as CT was the only faithful viewer of the movie, left sitting at the living room watching the movie while my whole family left to do their own stuff. Ha..Yep, it was that bad. I didnt like the show at all.

After dinner, my family had to go church for watchnight service to count down to the next year. I didnt attend as CT wanted to spend time with me alone reflecting and praying instead. So, we drove home and initially, we wanted to join the countdown party happening in Punggol and to catch Hady Mirza, our Singapore and Asian Idol performing in Punggol. But we became too lazy to walk out but just stayed at home and did our own things.

It was nice waiting for the new year to come and its nice to always think of how great a year it had been and always looking forward to a better year 2008.

snip snip before the new year

Will be starting school soon and because of that, I decided I better cut Caleb's hair AGAIN (yep, this would be his 2nd time within 5 months) since its quite wild already.



I did the same thing- cut a hole in the center of the newspaper and place it over him. Well, THAT was a big mistake...I assumed that if it was ok the last time I cut his hair, I could still adopt the same method. I was wrong because when I placed the newspaper over him this time round, he started grabbing the newspaper, tearing them and putting it in his mouth! Yikes!! Because his hands were all stained with the ink from the newspaper and he actually placed everything in his mouth, including his fingers! Sigh..





It was immediate destruction of the newspaper when I placed it over him. With no hesitation.



So, in the end, I just ripped off the torned newspaper from his mouth and cut his hair without any protection.



Here's the result of my haircut on Caleb...



I have to say I prefer his fuzzy hair as it gives him more character. This hair style just make him look like a goodie and well-behaved boy boy...Nothing wrong with looking like a good boy but I just wished he had that Korean guy look but yet, be a good boy beneath that looks. Haha..



What do you think? You prefer his curls or this? :p

Easily amused

Caleb has been really happy these few days. He can be amused and laughing for quite awhile by just doing simple things to him.

Take a look at what I mean!



Now I dont really let Caleb wear rompers (the ones which is a full suit with buttons at the bottom) as he is not a newborn anymore. To me, rompers are for babies and I treat Caleb as a grown up.He's my boy...growing up real fast and crying less now.

Here's Caleb recently wearing a romper because this one was hand drawn by my sister-in-law,Pam and its personalised. So better wear before he cant fit.



He was at all smiles as I made funny noises to amuse him..



There are times when he can be amused and laugh or chuckle for quite a while.



Just when I am enjoying my time spent with him,I have to start school and spend my time working instead of being at home....IT's tough but I just have to keep focusing on what I do wherever I am to make full use of my time to do well in my work and family.

To East Coast Park

Yesterday, I went to Giant for my weekly supermarketing and at the same time, to help buy 2 lobsters for my mother. Giant was having a promotion on lobster going for only $12.80 each, instead of the usual $20-$30. So since my mum said she wanted to cook Seafood paella on Monday when we go back for dinner, she told me to help her buy.

When I went, there wasnt any. So I asked the guy behind the fish counter and he said I had to order. So today, I went back Giant to collect my lobster as they called me asking me to go down and collect. After collecting the lobsters, I went to my mum's place to pass the lobsters to her and also spent some time there.

At about 5 plus pm, we left my mum's place and drove to East Coast Park lagoon food centre for dinner. I used to go there very often for dinner when I was a kid and I really enjoyed those good old times. But anyway, I always go there for the same old food- duck rice, beef kway teow (soup really good!), satay and to end off with a curry puff.



While we were eating, it started to drizzle. Vicky happened to make friends with the family sitting next to us because they have a filipino maid as well. Vicky told me that she heard the woman singing Christian song to her son. So, Vicky asked their maid if they were Christians and she said yes. So when I came back from ordering food, Vicky told me that they are Christians. So we greeted each other.

The funny thing was that when it started to drizzle and all of us sat close to each other because the rain was coming in, Caleb started to cry...Guess because it was quite humid and he just got cranky. But guess what? The Christian lady started carrying her son towards Caleb and she started singing Kids Praise songs to amuse Caleb and what do you know? Caleb was silent and listening.

When she finished singing her song, Caleb started crying again and then the lady started singing another song. It was very funny but yet, I feel so much love from a Christian family whom we just met during dinner. She sang and sang to keep Caleb from crying while my family was eating our dinner. I just felt as if we were close friends for her to do such a thing.

We also started chit chatting about the church we attend and all..

Though I didnt get to walk in East Coast Park with Caleb because of the rain, the trip down was still worth it as I got to meet this lady and her family.

Caleb's 1st time to Vivocity!

Today, is Caleb first time to Vivocity. I quite love Vivo because its spacious and it has a wading pool for kids or adults to dip in. But CT doesnt like it because of how expensive the food is...especially the food court price which is ridiculous.

We took a straight train to Vivo. Took us about 40 mins. Here's Caleb sharing ipod with CT in the train. Caleb looked really stoned or attentive when we placed the earphones in his ear. It was quite interesting...



The place was crowded! Probably because of the holiday season sales and all. We went straight to the wading pool and took Caleb on his first adventure in a 'pool'. Initially, we were so excited to let him dip into the pool that we forgot to change him out of his clothes.



Until he got his shorts wet that we remembered that we brought his swimming shorts along. So we quickly went to change him..



I could see he really enjoyed himself in the pool. He seemed rather fascinated by water.



I tend to notice that whenever I do something with him and I enjoy it very much, Caleb would also seem to enjoy himself.



Because I have to admit that at times when I play with him, I just do it because Vicky would be busy doing housework and I am left with Caleb to entertain him. And when I play with him with my mind actually on my computer or my own work, I noticed that Caleb does not enjoy the playtime as well. But when I focus on just amusing him and really enjoying myself by singing and playing with him, he would smile. Its really as if he can sense whether I am genuinely playing with him or not.

How strange, but true...



After a while in the pool, CT told us to get him out as the weather was very sunny.It's so convenient to change him as he can do it in the open since he is still young and not having a sense of shame or not. Hehe..



After that, we went for lunch at Food Republic Food Court. I had beef hor fun and after I bought, I was wondering what CT would buy. I even asked Vicky to guess what he would get. So we both guessed..and to my amazement, out of the numerous stalls there were in the food court, CT came back with the same plate of beef hor fun that I had! Haha..It was funny because he didnt know what I got. Great minds think alike!

After lunch, we went walking around. Went to the playground for Caleb to play the slide..

It was the longest slide he played so far..



Caleb has the habit of doing this to his lips. Its as if he is sucking or chewing his lips..Doesnt he look like an old man!





After about couple of hours at Vivo, we took the train back to Punggol. Caleb was sleeping on the way back and he woke up when we were in the LRT. He was very cranky and kept wailing. Of course, there were plenty of stares and I could sense their sympathy as well...because one of them tried to amuse Caleb just so he can stop crying. I felt embarassed that the passengers had to go through the trip, stuck in the LRT with a wailing baby.

In the evening, went to my mother-in-law's place for dinner. Here's Caleb just after after a good rest...looking so blur as we placed a blanket over him to shield him from the light drizzle. Couldnt help but take this picture cos he looked so dopey.

Had a great fall

Today marks the day where Caleb has his first fall. It happened after dinner when I was in the study room doing my work - coming up with lesson notes for next year while CT was carrying Caleb. After a while, CT decided to put him on the bed in his room.

Moments later, we heard Caleb cry. I continued to do my work because I thought it was normal for him to cry and I didnt want to always rush there whenever he cries to create that habit in him that he would always get what he wants. But after a while, he cries louder and CT got up to check. Guess what?

He was on the floor!! I got a shock when CT told me. I didnt actually see him on the floor as CT carried him up already.

He was crying so badly and my heart really hurt. He probably toss and turn his way off the bed. I asked CT how come he didnt put any 'barriers' on the bed..he said he just placed Caleb in the middle of the two beds and didnt expect him to move so fast to the edge. Sigh...

Anyway, I was sure that CT also felt bad. So I didnt wish to blame him. I quickly went to sayang Caleb as he had a big fright!


He had a big red bump on his forehead and his right side of the face was red. He probably fell face flat on the floor. My heart felt as if a sword pierced right in as I can feel the pain he is going through as he is too young to break the fall.

It took us a while before we could calm him down...



Hope this would be last time it would happen to him. But like what CT said, this is only the beginning as when he learns how to walk, he would surely run and injure himself somehow since he is so active! I really hope not....

But then again, when I was as young as him, I always get blue blacks all over as mentioned by my mum. She also told me I fell from the supermarket trolley and hit my head on the floor because I was climbing all over. Yep, Caleb has my genes. Sigh...:p

Staff meetings

These 2 days, have been having staff meetings for the whole day. Actually the staff meetings were 26th, 27th and 28th. But because I took child care leave on 26th to bring Caleb for vaccination, I only went on Thurs and Fri.

I presented to the staff on Thursday regarding my Staff Well Being Committee Action Plan for 2008 and the new initiatives. I have been having sleepless nights regarding this presentation not because I am nervous or whatsoever, but because I have big dreams and plans for next year that I cant sleep. Oh boy...

Anyway, the presentation went alright. Did a staff survey after that for me to know about their interests and abilities as well as whether they are interested in certain activities or not for me to plan for next year.

Having meetings whole day is a killer as you just have to sit in one spot for almost 10 hours. Thats cruelty!

Here's something to help us pass the time..



Lots of snacks, sweets, water...

I also brought my laptop up to do some work..Yep..this is my laptop provided by the school. My own personalised wallpaper of a beach which I took in Tasmania and personalised it with a bible verse at the bottom, using Adobe Photoshop, to motivate me as I work.



Here's me and my colleague, Sabrina during the meeting. Yep..that's what bored people do.



Anyway, on friday, we had department meetings. So I had my Math meeting as well as SWC meeting which was my first time chairing. I was a little disappointed as I only have 6 people in my committee, 2 of whom are advisors which means they wont really be participating. So, in reality, I only have 4 people in my committee (including myself). With big plans for next year, I really dunno how to carry out and run my activities. But nevertheless, I shall try my best and make use of whatever I have and do what I can.

Christmas Morning...

I finally retrieved my camera from my mother and so, I can post pictures that was stored in my camera.

Here are pictures during Christmas Day morning when I was so excited to open up the presents under my Christmas tree. Yup...I still get excited as an adult.



Caleb was already in his Christmas mood when he don on his party mask early in the morning waiting for us to open up the prezzies



And what you know, when we placed him next to the presents, he started ripping the wrapping paper!



Think he was so enthusiastic about tearing the wrappers apart just so he can put it in his mouth.



It took him a while to open up his presents as he was busy putting in his mouth. So we just sat around him to wait for him to open his presents before we opened ours.



Here's Caleb presents..









And here are a few of my presents I got from Christmas..

A wallet from my parents


A Baby G from CT



And a book which I requested, from Marianne


Here's a short video of Caleb opening his presents for the sole purpose of having a taste of the wrapper.



And here are pictures of my Christmas dinner at my mum's place. The main courses like a huge turkey, roast beef, etc..was given by our family friend, Edwin (President of Chinese Swimming Club).He sends it every year without fail.



I enjoyed the beef best...not because I am a beef-fanatic but that it is really juicy and tender.



It was a huge piece of roast beef we had!


So I ate about 3 big slices! Could have eaten more if not for the rest of the yummy food which I couldnt help but indulged in as well...

There was kway pai tee (my aunt's specialty food which we always look forward to)



There were also 3 different kinds of salad. The garden salad with red and yellow bell peppers, lettuces, tomatoes, etc.., thai mango salad, as well as guava salad. All very different in taste and unique.

Also had log cake to top it off, brought by my other aunt who is always in charge of cakes.



Thanks mum for organising such a wonderful and meaningful Christmas party. I guess the downside was that Caleb was quite cranky during the party as he couldnt sleep properly due to the noise. Oh well...I'm used to it

Papaya puree

Today is Caleb's 5 month jab. So, I brought him to the clinic for the jab.



He was a good boy. Didnt cry too much. Just that his fever lasted for a day...

After the jab, went cold storage to see if there's anything to buy. In the end, I bought papaya and butternut squash for Caleb's food puree!



Came home and made papaya puree for him to taste. He doesnt seem to like it as much.



But nevertheless, he tried his best to finish as much.


His first time wearing a plastic bib which my friend, Esther got for him from US. Its really useful since it can be washed easily and its big enough to 'catch' his food.