What was, What is, What will be....

Chingay Parade at Woodlands.

We were just turning into our car park just now, when the parade came along the main road of our house! They buzzed by so quickly I didn't managed to get a good look, so Hubby turned the car and chased after the parade! We caught them along Drive 70 and had a good look at the floats! It brings back those fond memories when Mum and Dad brought me to watch the Chingay parade in Penang along Gurney Drive every Chinese New Year. I was still very young then, but I could still remember those beautifully lighted floats. They look very much bigger then though, maybe I was much smaller then, or have the floats shrunk? Hmm...
Managed to catch a couple of pictures using Hubby's phone when the parade stopped for a while at the junction. As you can see there were lots of people!

..:::People mountain people sea:::..

..:::An F1 Float:::..

All you need is... support!

Just came back from dinner with the cousins.. Hubby is busy with work projects right now, so here I am, blogging again.

From the day we found out that we were expecting, I realised that it's very important to surround yourself with supportive people! Not only your Hubby, and family but friends as well!
Hubby, bless him, was surprisingly ecstatic about our little one, though we've not plan to start a family so soon. Mum, Dad and Sis were very happy, excited and concerned as well. Mum, is worried, as a Mum always does, about my well being because I'm not staying anywhere near her. You can hear her concern, when talking over the phone. She'll keep reminding me not to lift anything heavy and eat healthy. It's so heartwarming to know that no matter what, you'll always have her to turn to! Sis, is adamant to have a little niece, so she could play dress up with. Dad on the other hand, wants a little boy with nice long hair!
Support from my cousins comes in another form! Cousin Eldon and wife, Edlyn, we've recently learned, is expecting a baby boy who'll join this world about 10 days earlier than our little one. Cousin Ming and wife, MeiLing is also expecting their precious a month after us! We share informations on pregnancy and motherhood as well as supporting each other when there's worries and misgivings. We are all, after all, first time parents!
It's also important to have support from friends around you! It's great when you hear from long time friends, sending regards when they hear of your pregnancy! I'm especially grateful to pretty mummy, Angel, who gave so many valuable advices.. Thanks babe! I can feel your enthusiasm through the sms's!
There are days when I've lots of doubts if I'll ever make a good mother. There are days when I'm unsure if I'll be able to cope when our little one comes along. But having supports from family and friends definitely make it easier and eased those doubts! I still don't know if I'll make a good mother, but I'll definitely try my very best! :)
Enough mushiness.. below are two scans of our little one:

..:::9 weeks old:::..

..:::12 weeks old:::..

You can see the hands covering his/hers eyes at the 2nd scan.. cute huh! The doctor says the baby's shy! Ha! If he/her is anything like the father, I seriously doubt so..
The 2 scans were taken on our 1st and 2nd visit. On the 3rd visit we didn't do any scan, but the doctor let us hear the heartbeat. It was super endearing to hear the heartbeats going thump thump thump.. and it was super fast! This coming week will be the baby's 20th week.. and we pray to see a healthy baby on the scan this Tuesday!

First Kick!

We felt our little darling kicking for the very first time on Friday! I've been feeling fluttery in the tummy the whole day, and at night, after I came back from work, had my dinner, bathe, and settle down to watch Survivor, I put my hands on my tummy.. I've to admit I've been doing that for many weeks, since reading in the forum that some mummies have actually felt their babies moving around.. Suddenly.. 'thud thud thud'! I quickly grabbed Hubby's hands and put them on my tummy! He was so excited when he felt it!! It was amazing! Our baby's moving around!
We'll be seeing baby when we go for the check up this Tuesday.. Hopefully we'll know if baby's a Mickey or a Minnie by then.. Can't wait for Tuesday!
Gotta go, was supposed to go to the Singapore Airshow with a bunch of my cousins today, but we didn't manage to get the tickets. So, instead will just go out for lunch, hang out at my aunt's place and then out again for dinner.. Ciao!

Farewell..

B-E-T-R-A-Y-E-D!

Really, where did I go wrong? If it was something I said and done then tell me so.. Why take such great effort to avoid seeing me, talking to me.. and when we do meet act as if nothing's wrong? Don't tell me nothing's wrong, because a friendship doesn't come to a standstill just like this. I tried.. making thing's right.. I don't know what to do anymore.. If we could never be as we were, then, I guess that's that..
Thank you for being there when I needed a friend most. If I can't be a part of your life anymore,
I wish you the very best.. You'll always be my friend..

Happy Birthday Hubby!

It's Hubby's birthday today.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!! Me and our little 'darling' celebrated with him at home today.. Here's a little something I did for Hubby for his birthday..

..:::Chocolate coated Strawberries:::..

It's my first try, and I obviously needs more practice. Hubby, being his usual chivalrous self said they looked wonderful and tasted great..

Orange Jello, Anyone?

I saw this in How About Orange and decided to give it a try. Here's a step by step guide:

You'll need:

3 big oranges
One box of orange flavored jelly powder (about 100gm)
400ml of boiling water

I'm supposed to slice the oranges lengthwise, but clever me sliced them horizontally. That's why I had trouble removing the pulps and caused a hole at the bottom of one of the oranges.. Use the kitchen wipe to blot the rinds so that they are kept dry.

Mix in the jelly powder with about 200ml of boiling water. Stir them together then add in the rest of the water. The directions on the box of the jelly powder actually calls for about 500ml of water, but I wanted the jelly to be firmer. I'm not too sure if it makes any difference, but the consistency turns out alright.

Place the rinds on any containers you have around to keep them upright.. I use cupcake cases. It works well.

Fill the jelly as much as possible, as they shrink a little when set. Leave it out to cool then place them in the refrigerator.

After the jello are set (about 3 hours or more), you can remove from the fridge and slice each half into another half.. and you can serve! Easy, and I'd bet it'll be a hit with children.. The big kid in this house certainly loved it! Ha!

Mummy and Daddy Loves You!

Our first purchase for the baby.. Very cute mittens and booties!!

We both can't wait for the arrival of our little darling!!

"Nien Nien You Yu"

Didn't do any CNY baking this year, but we made agar-agar in the shape of fishes to be placed at the alter during the new year..

..:::Step One - Pour in cooked agar agar into mold, add in coloring at desired spots:::..

..:::Step two - Wait of agar agar to set, coloring will spread beautifully:::..

..:::Step three - Once set, remove from mold and viola! Your fish is done!:::..

I just realised that I've yet to wish everybody a Happy Lunar New Year! Here's wishing everybody a wonderful and fruitful year ahead.. May this year be a year of great abundance to everybody! Huat ah!

..:::Fish anyone?:::..

Bling it on!

Sis is really into bling bling nowadays.. She bought packets of crystals to bling up her hp the last time she was here.. While back home for CNY, we thought it would be fun to bling up my mum's pair of Nike with the leftover crystals.. The result:

..:::Before:::..

..:::After:::..

Sis likes it so much, that she's wearing them now.. Lol..
Her pair of Nike is sitting at home waiting for me to buy more crystals to be bling! Ha!

My Valentine..

Didn't do much, I slept the afternoon away, teach at home in the evening, while Hubby prepared dinner... the result:

..:::The centerpiece:::..

..:::Dinner:::..

Hubby made mushroom soup, main course consists of Ratatouille, apple cheese sausage and bacon wrapped tenderloin with mushroom sauce. We substituted the wine with Ribena, because Hubby said I had too much wine during CNY back home.. :( Hubby even bought passion fruit and cream for dessert but I was too full to have them.. Ha!
The utensils were placed that way because I'm left handed.. in case some of you haven't noticed..

After dinner we settled down and watch The Amazing Race Asia and after that it's off to bed! That's how we spend our Valentine's, at home and inexpensively.. thanks to Hubby! Love you sweetie..

I'm Back!

Happy Valentine's Day! I've stepped into my 2nd trimester, and those puking and heartburns have left me in peace (thankfully!)... Hubby just cooked a sumptious and romantic candlelight dinner for two to celebrate our 4th Valentine's together.. I'll update more with the pictures tomorrow (hopefully..), getting ready to go to bed.. I'm becoming a pig.. sleeping early and waking up real late.. Ha!

Yay! We're Expecting!

Yay! But I'm in misery.. I've been plague with never-ending puking, heartburn, bloated-ness.. Am praying all this (the morning sickness) will end soon.. Sob!

I'll update when I'm more up to it..

Rockapella and Deepavali..

We went to the Rockapella concert at the Esplanade a fortnight ago.. I've loved their work since I first heard their Christmas compilation 3-4 years ago.. So, it was my greatest pleasure to be able to watch them live.. After the show, me and Anna queued up for autograph from these 5 man band..

We had lots of fun! Rockapella, please come again soon! Ha~!

We spent Deepavali roasting Tandoori drumlets for dinner..

We made a lot~!~! Because we included Anna and Dave.. but they didn't come back that day... and in the end Hubby and me finished everything!!! LOL!!

The irony..

"So engrossed were Donald and Daisy into each other and their newfound hobby... all Minnie could do was an utter of sigh.."

Is Minnie expecting too much?

Flower Power!

I vamped up Hubby's computer area with some flowers..

Hubby hated them.. Ha!

Happy Halloween!

Hubby and I decided to do some pumpkin carving today... As it's halloween, most places have already ran out of pumpkins for sale. So, we made a few phone calls to Cold Storages around our area and later found out that King Albert Park's branch have some pumpkins left for sale. We made a quick trip there.. When we arrived there, there's still a number of giant pumpkins, a couple of medium pumpkins and a few small ones.. They also have really tiny ones with printed face and feather on them.. really cute. The good news was all pumpkins were on 25% off the original prices.. Guess it was a good idea to do pumpkin shopping last minute.

..:::The giant pumpkins and the tiny one:::..

We went home with a medium sized pumpkin and a small one. This was the first time we ever carved a pumpkin, so, we weren't sure that it'll work.. I've printed the stencils for the pumpkins earlier on. After dinner, we started work. Here's our results:

..:::The small one's a bat and the big one's a looney pumpkin:::..

..:::The lights off:::..

It's much easier to clean and carve a larger pumpkin.. the small one is really difficult to clean.. Needless to say we were both happy with our work.. It's really easy, but time consuming.. but we both had loads of fun..

Next year, we'll do it earlier so that we can decorate the front part of the house..

..:::Arghh! Hear me roar!:::..

Happy Halloween!

Fancy yourself an artist?

Wanna create a great work of art like Picasso? Try this - Mr. PicassoHead. Great.. if you have nothing better to do..

Check out my work - Happy Family.. lol..

The Kids..

The small one is my student, after lesson, waiting for his mum. The big one, well... you know who.. both so engrossed in an online game on my laptop... so kiddy... I mean the big one.. Ha!!

Seafood Herbal Wine Steamboat

I read about this place from molemole's blog, which I linked from 9. Hubby and me, decided to give it a try yesterday. We reached at about 5.30pm, because we wanted to catch a movie after that, and already it was rather packed..

..:::Nomin Seafood Restaurant, 31/33 Teck Chye Terrace:::..

..:::The menu:::..

..:::The wine and liquor used in the steamboat:::..

We ordered the steamboat ($30) that comes with a platter of seafood (which includes fish, squid, fishballs, prawns, crabs, frog legs, scallops, sea cucumbers, vegetables and straw mushrooms). Hubby was worry it's not enough for the both of us.. since we declined having rice.

..:::The seafood platter:::..

The soup was delicious!!! I loved herbal soup.. and with the wine, it's yummy! Even Hubby says so.. Midway through dinner, both our faces were red, though we didn't really feel the effect from the wine. I guess it's because of the heat as well..

..:::Hubby's face was really red in this picture, but he's too dark to see.. ha!:::..

..:::We finished nearly all the soup!:::..

At the end of dinner, we were both very full! Maybe because we finished the soup till the very last drop.. haha! The steamboat, together with 2 drinks came up to $34. All in all it was really worth trying..

We went to watch a sneak preview of 'Stardust' after that. It was really nice! Light hearted and funny.. Do go and watch!