Staccato Trial Class

Brought Adelle & Danelle for a trial class at Staccato on 19th Dec. I called up Staccato in early Dec and found out that they are conducting free trial until end of this year. So i quickly booked a date and the last date that they gave me was 19th Dec cos they will be closed for holiday from christmas onwards till Jan new yr. They are also very kind enough to open up trial classes specially for me based on the timing that i wanted. :P

Danelle is attending Baby Bach(for 6mths and above) and Adelle is attending Beethovan Toddlers. I managed to get abt 8 mummies from SMH June 09 and my fren Karen to join me for Baby Bach session and due to overwhelming response, Staccato open up 2 classes for me instead so that each class has 5 babies and we can enjoy the lesson better. As for Adelle class, none from SMH Jan 08 mum seemed to be interested cos no one responsed to my posting. But nevertheless, i managed to get my fren Janice and my colleagues Meggie and Jean toddlers to attend. However, the funny thing was on the day, only Janice's son Yosher turn up while the other 2 forgotton abt it! :D Luckily, there are other toddlers from somewhere else came for the trial as Adelle so i dont feel so bad to get them open a trial class for me and no kids wor... :P

My 2 darlings seemed to enjoy the class very much especially Adelle cos i left her alone inside the room to dance with the teacher and she doesnt have any more fear attenidng class! Good girl, mummy is proud of u! Anyway, i have yet to decide whether to sign up or not. One thing i like abt the class is the mini piano. It's sooo CUTE but they are selling it for $120 wor... kinda ex! :P

Danelle first food

The usual and safest stuff - Cereal! :) We decided to introduce Danelle semi solid earlier as she seemed to be waking up in the middle of the night as compared to sleep through previously.

The first attempt of cereal is during weekend with Healthy Times cereal. Well, glad that Danelle seemed to take it well and no allergy detected. After the meal of cereal, we still offer Danelle a bottle of EBM as the qty of the cereal is only 1 spoon so don't think that is enough for one meal.

I can still recall during Adelle's time, she simply hates it and we got no choice but to add the cereal into her milk. As for Danelle, she seemed to take spoon feeding well and we all enjoying feeding her!! hahaa...

Childcare centre

Lately I am busy looking at child care center for Adelle to attend in 2010. Initially i thought of putting her at Kids Colorbox Montessori Center(across the street from my parents place) for 2 hrs lesson. But after the saga with my mum and maid, i decided to go for a childcare center instead for contingency plan.

I spent abt 1-2 weeks to search the web for childcare center nearby and there are few relatively near to my house and my parents house. I also went for site visits and spoke to the principals. Sounds like i am looking for a primary school hor? :P

My site visit feedback :

1. PCF Moulmein-Tai Pei ChildCare Centre Just 2 blks away from my parents house and it's a void deck childcare center with non-aircon environment. Look reasonably spacious and clean by peeping through the window. I only spoke to the principal outside the gate and did not get to go in to take a look cos the principal say cannot. Generally the programme, curriculum and menu looks good. Price is super affordable too cos only need to pay $199 after govt subsidy for a full day childcare rates. However, there is no more vacancy until july 2010.

2. YWCA McNair It is a landed property along McNair Road and two storey house with it's own playground. Initially i was very excited becos I like childcare center in a landed house environment (like Pat schoolhouse). Until we stepped inside the building, hubby say it was very messy and stuffs are piled up everywhere. It was very old and kind of run-down. Thus, we didn't go for the open house and decided to drop this as one of the choices. Though the price is also quite affordable ie $299 after govt subsidy.

3. Cherie Hearts Little Angels This center is located along macpherson road. It was a landed property and has it's own playground, simple running tracks and sand pit too. Very well equipped as a center cos they have computer for teaching and very clean and neat place. I was impressed with the principal cos she took my temperature and made me sanitized my hand before going in. I went during the children nap time and they are sleeping soundly. The teacher look nice and committed. I was told that they provide salmon for the children lunch which sounds good! The only thing i dislike is the curriculum cos the principal told me that they don't teach phonics for playgroup as they felt they are too young to learn which i disagree totally. Cos Adelle has been attending zoophonics and has mastered quite a lot of alphabets phonics so far. So i don't think the principal statement is right as other CC are also teaching phonics to playgroup age. Anyway the price is $432 after the special discount and govt subsidy.

4. Creative Star KidsCampus This is another void deck child care center along Bendemeer Road which charges $360 after govt subsidy. Well, relatively high price for non-aircon environment as it is a private CC. I brought Adelle there during their lesson time and it was a small area for the children to sing and dance. Their outdoor activties is to walk along the void deck with 1 teacher holding 2 kids hand and the kids will hold another more few kids hand. Sounds a bit bo-liao rite? I also heard from forum that high turnover rate of teachers and mossies bites are common. So i decided not to go ahead.

5. Agape Little Uni
This CC is super near to my house. It's located at the multi-storey carpark (level 2) of my house. Read from forum feedback that a lot of Creative star kids left and went to Agape instead. So i went to check out the place last weekend and brought Adelle there too. We were impressed with the cleanliness and super spacious area for playgroup kids. They have toys that are maintained in excellent condition. The curriculum looks interesting as they have gym play on every tuesday and they are using Letterland to teach phonics. I also get to know from one existing mummy that it is a christian CC and i also see bible verses on the CC wall. Overall we kind of like the CC and will put Adelle there! But I need to change Danelle CDA from standard chartered to OCBC bank cos using OCBC CDA has $100 discount for the monthly fees, waiver of registration fees($100) and $50 discount off the products. So quite a bit savings cos the fees comes out to be $500 after govt subsidy and discount for a air-con CC. Hope Adelle will learn to be independent and have a fun time there! :)

While searching for a childcare center, i found out that OCBC CDA offers a lot of discounts and priviledges for quite a lot of childcare center like Agape Little Uni, Cherie Hearts, Little Skool House, etc and also can get discount for places like Go-Go Bambini, The Polliwogs, Peek-A-Boo, etc. So to my dear preggy friends, do consider OCBC CDA when you can't decide which bank to sign up.. I didn't do a thorough research when i chose for Danelle CDA previously and now need to write in to MCYS to ask for transfer of bank a/c. Waste of time! :P

Danelle First Christmas

Last year was Adelle first christmas and this year is Danelle first christmas. So what did the kids received from us? .... For Adelle, it was a pooh piano while Danelle received a F&P drum roller from Mummy & Daddy for xmas. They both loved their presents! :)

While i was doing my xmas shopping @ Metro City Sq in mid Nov, i got to know there was a xmas lighting bus trip organised by Metro. So i quickly queued up for the tickets and got 4 tixs becos i have the Metro credit card! It was a fun and exciting ride cos we hop on a open-top bus and drove down Orchard road to see the xmas lighting. The kids enjoyed it and the weather was cooling that day.

During of the weekend in Dec, we brought the kids to see Mickey Mouse show @ Vivocity and bought a xmas hairband for Adelle at the same time! :)

On xmas day, we bought a xmas log cake and a simple dinner at home. The gals are dressed up in animal costume where Danelle is in her cow costume and Adelle in the pig costume cos they are born in the year of cow and pig! hehehee... :)

After dinner, it was open present time. We received a lot of presents from our friends and family this yr. On behalf of Adelle & Danelle, thank U Aunties and Uncles for the prezzies!

Princess Danelle is 6 months old on 21st Dec

Danelle can sit on her own very well since 22 weeks and she also started her first semi solid 2 weeks back too! Reason being Danelle doesnt seemed like to drink EBM so Mummy decided to start introducing semi-solid earlier. Anyway, we are glad that Danelle is taking the cereal pretty well and seemed enjoying it too! :)

Mummy bought Healthy Time and Nestle cereal for Danelle to try but Danelle prefer Nestle cereal more. In addition, mummy also got a new expensive toy for Danelle! It's the Avent steam and blend machine. Thanks to one of the June mummy who works in Philip, mummy managed to get 40% discount off the retail price($199) for this machine. Making puree is such a breeze with this machine. All i need to do is cut the food/fruits into cube then steam for few minutes and finally blend it! Mummy has been doing fruits puree like apple and pear puree to add into Danelle cereal and of cos Danelle loves it! Other puree that Mummy has done are avocado, potato, sweet potato and carrot puree! Highly recommend this gadget to Mums who want to prepare baby food with minimum time. Previously during Adelle's time, I bought the silly pigeon food maker and that take long time to prepare puree thus Adelle & I never likes puree food. Unlike Adelle, Danelle loves puree food cos it is nicely and fastly done by this new toy! *Thumbs up*

3rd Wedding Anniversary - 16th Dec 2009

It was our 3rd wedding anniversary and we got 2 kids already! :) As 16th Dec is a weekday so hubby & i took leave to spend the day together. We went for spa session in the afternoon and ended up we signed a spa packages! Well guess that is the only thing we both enjoy doing other than eating now... whahahaaaa... :P

As usual, hubby will order flowers from his favourite online florist and this time, it doesn't have bear but chocolates instead. Coincidentally i bought alcohol chocolate for him so ended up our house is full of chocolate in Dec! :)

In the evening time, we brought the family out for dinner at Timbre @ Old school. Hmm.. kinda wrong choice of venue for our dinner cos they doesnt provide proper chairs and we ended up standing to eat. Of cos the kids doesnt have baby chairs too so they are behaving like "monkeys'! Haiz.... we didnt really enjoyed the dinner though the food is nice! We loved the pizza and margarita! So we quickly finished off the meal and headed home.

It was a simple celebration but what matters was we still get some private time together and we still love each other.. hehee.. :P To my dearest hubby, Happy Anniversary & love u deep deep... *Muacks*

Christmas gathering with SMH June 09 mummies @ Serene's condo

It gonna be christmas and the mummies suggest to meet up to celebrate christmas. This time round, the organiser is createjoy and serene host the event at her condo bbq pit. Reason being there is no function room at her Condo @ Regent's Park.

As createjoy aka Rosalind doesn't drive so i volunteered to help to buy drinks and snacks from Old Chang Kee using the agreed budget of $5 per head to buy curry puff, fish ball, sotong ball, spring rolls, etc and bring on that day. All of us brought our family there and we have some simple games organised by createjoy. The best part was we got pple sponsor the prizes for us. However, the sponsor was at the gathering and want us to listen to their product introduction and well hopefully buy some bb stuff from them. The sponsor is selling bb items like combi weaning bowl, baby walker, knee pad, etc. If i am not wrong, none of us bought anything except Createjoy cos she paiseh that the sponsor gave us 3 prizes ie a combi weaning bowl, cup and a baby walker.

The first quiz was guess who is the baby. We supposed to bring our new born pics and guess who is who. I didn't managed to guess them right cos some of the baby have changed so much since born. Then we suppose to have the next game - change diaper competition but everyone decided that it's too mah fan to change diaper at the bbq pit so we didn't proceed with the game. Then we have christmas present exchange for the baby and finally a lucky dip which is a baby walker. Guess what? I won the baby walker!!! Hahaha.... I was told to pick up a piece of crumpled paper by Createjoy and when she open up, she called "Debbie" and i say "Yes? "Then she told me I am the winner... hahahaha... I picked myself as the winner so funny loh... :)

It was a nice gathering as some new mummies joined in this gathering besides the usual ones like Katty and Regina whom i often met up with. :)

Planet 51 - Adelle first movie @ cinema

Yeah Yeah Yeah! I got free movie tickets, free popcorns, free hotdog buns, free drinks and movie premiums for Planet 51! Brought my nephews, niece and Adelle to watch the movie n 7th Dec at 7.30pm @ Shaw Lido.

Initially the seats that i got are all over the cinema. But i managed to swap some tickets with my colleagues and able to get 1 row of 4 and 2 sets of double seats that are quite near to the row of 4. So we can all sit together and Adelle can choose who she want to sit with too! Ha...

To my surprise, Adelle behaved well throughout the show cos she gets to eat popcorn crumbs and she seemed to enjoy the show too. Good girl! Mummy can bring you go and watch more cartoon movie the nxt time. :)

Ideas for family friendly dining place

Bringing Adelle out for dinner is a challenge sometimes cos she finished her food faster than us. Thus, need to look for ideas where to go for dining. Saw the link and shall explore the recommendation when i am free... hehee... :P

Swim date with SMH June 09 mummies @ Derrica's condo

Received a call from one of my SMH friend last wk that they are organising a private swim date on a weekday so i took leave and went to meet them yesterday. I brought my maid and Danelle to the swim date and we took MRT to Compasspoint condo.

To my surprise, I was one of the few early ones who reached the MRT. Derrica met us at waiting area and brought us to the condo. The security seemed lacking as she only tell the guard that "I stay here" and he let us in without asking for her residence pass?!?! Hmm.. Anyway, we head straight to the pool area and there is another group (some MH gathering) too. So the pool was packed!

I changed Danelle into her swim suit and put her bath robe. One of the mummies Shannon say Danelle look like some hotel guest.. hahaaa... Then we brought the babes into the pool and only Kaley enjoyed it while Danelle and Sermaine were crying and thus, they only get a quick dip and then out of the pool.

Since Danelle and Sermaine don't want to swim so we went up to Derrica house to change them while waiting for the rest to join us. After shower, Danelle doze off as she is used to have morning nap.

Then came Noah,Genieve and Kaley and we put the babies together to take pics. It was funny how they grab things from one another due to the squeezy mat. :) It was a enjoyable gathering as we chit chat and talk about the new pple who joined the thread. When i was on my way to the MRT, i bump into my gynae and he seemed to recognise me and smile at me... ha.... :P

VS Lip Gloss

My colleague came back from USA for holiday last week and just now he pass me a "souvenir". I was very surprised that he show me a paper bag full of Victoria Secrets Lip Gloss and asked me to pick 1... hahaa.... So interesting... And i pick the swirl lip gloss cos i find the colors quite interesting.. :P

It was very nice of him cos these days hard to find single guy who went holiday and buy such stuff for colleagues or friends loh. The usual stuff that pple give are magnets, food or cute little stuffs... so it is something different this time.

The lip gloss comes in useful cos the one that i had was bought in 2006... :D

Zed full month celebration

My uni fren Soon Yeow's son - Zed full month celebration fall on the 5th Dec. She invited us for the celebration and I went over early that day to help to do up the balloon decoration. :)

I love the cup cakes that she gotton from Precious Moment as it is sooo lovely. She also made a customised magnet for Zed as a door gift! Happy full month to Baby Zed. May you grow healthy and happy always! :)

Babies of 2010

Hmm... Just being boliao and doing a stock take of the 2010 babies of friends! Will try to update this posting as there is still a long way to go b4 end of 2010 and know some frens r TTC mah... Good luck to the TTC couples!! :)

Due in Feb - Rykiel
Due in Mar - Julia
Due in Apr - Lifang, Suping & Doreen
Due in May - Janice
Due in June - Karen

Who else do i missed out? Pls tell me k! :)

Danelle can sit!

Yesh! Danelle can sit up on her own @ 22 wks old. A milestone that Danelle achieved earlier than Adelle. I recall Adelle only do so around 6mths old. :)