Tuesday, February 20, 2007

CNY - Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3

Eve night, hubby and myself slept rather early.. just after the countdown. So whatever has happened to the 守岁?

Woke up early to get the children ready to go over to PIL's place at 9+am. Since it's too early to give the kiddos their shower, I just gave them a wipe before dressing them up.(fortunately I was a little smart to give them both their 2nd shower quite late the day before)
Here's them playing around first........ And since mummy couldn't scold her.. Athena took the chance to bully her mei-mei

我们两姐妹跟你们拜个年
新年快乐, 恭喜发财


We were the first to arrive in PIL's place, while waiting for hubby's sisters and their families, I kept munching on Bak Kwa and a few pineapple tarts (which were not sweet & very nice); chocolates etc... Yup! That's why I said I'm going on a diet after CNY. So gotta eat as much as I can now.
SILs and their families came, had our meal (early lunch) there and we were the first to leave the place as we had to rush to Marina Mandarin to pick my friend up. I didn't get much photos of them, these are the few I've taken.

In clockwise direction : SIL Jasline, Johnny ; SIL Aveline and Jasline ; MIL ; SIL Aveline (also born in the Year of the Dog)
Didn't have time to grab any cousins' photos together, this is the only one I've got. And..... Athena being the only girl and being shy didn't talk to her cousins at all. It took alot of coaxing to get her to sit on da-gu zhang's lap in the first place.
Picked Richard up a little late, good thing he came down just in time to check out. Since we were around there, we thought we should go over to River Hongbao - something new for Richard & KZ. Stopping over here for a snapshot for Richard and KZ. He's seen the Merlion at the old site before. We wanted to walk over to Fullerton but the ah-pek and ah-soh cannot take the heat. We were melting... if only the sun can melt my fats. Oh boy! I'll be there 72 hours!

When I looked at this photo, I realised he had Athena's smelly bear in his pocket. And then I remembered about this blog.. wish we had taken photos of her smelly bear's travels!
We stopped at the Esplanade for a thirst quenching drink, the weather was superbly hot. Since Richard hasn't had his meal, we stopped at Thai Express. Going into the airconditioned place was... heavenly for us - the roasted pigs. I needed my limeade desperately, ice-cream would have been better but I just had ice-cream the day before. We sat ourselves down instead of the waiter bringing us to the table, sitting near the portable aircon. Stupid weather!!!
Athena was eyeing on the chocolates that Leila gave (apparently she was on a short transit on her way to MNL, and I missed the chance meeting her) her. The Whitmans Chocolate comes with a toy Snoopy, which Athena was clutching to it tightly refusing me to snap a photo of it
As we cooled down and our heartbeat beat at the normal rate, it was time to go. We gave up finding the River Hongbao.. and good thing hubby suggested waiting at the pickup area, the flabby ah-soh wasn't that keen to walk back to Marina Square.

We went back home to let Richard (and us) rest first, Richard was staying with us for the night before he flies off the next day (19th). We rested and entertained him in our small & humble home. I ate again while giving Richard his favourite Bak Kwa. I popped in alot of melon seeds.
Then it's time to go over to my parents' place to 拜年 . My family were looking forward to us visiting them, well.... in actual fact they were looking forward to meeting Richard. Mom last met him in 2002 for his wedding in Palm Springs, while the rests of the family last met him on my wedding day in 2001.

Richard & mom before dinner time
Food! Food! Food! Roasted pig - Richard's favourite

Dinner was good, as usual. Mom always take the extra time to cook her food nicely and she'll take her time to do her presentation nice.

All the 3 grandchildren are in the home. Well, not much noise this year coz' only my 2 loud girls are making noise. And Ignatius was sleeping through while Aricia was screaming in hunger; screaming to be carried. Oh boy! That boy sleeps really well.. and with his mouth opened too!
Little Aricia sleeping on the floor; Iggy with his mouth opened
Dad gave me my favourite Julie's Chocolate rolls + Strawberry rolls. Hubby gasped!
Before picture taking, we were chatting and eating. Umm.. more Bak Kwa and they had a big box of Ferrero Rocher. Tum tum tum...........I wonder who ate so much?!? No prize for guessing. Hubby warned me "you better don't eat so much.... tomorrow must cook liang-shui (herbal tea) already."

3 woof woofs
The proud grandparents with their grandchildren
Our family!
Family was sad that Richard is flying back tomorrow, they didn't have time to play host to him. And everyone's wondering when he'll be back again. I said probably at my sister's wedding.. and sister went "oh then.. you'll be here many times, coz' I'll get married; get divorced; get married; get divorced."
(After looking at the messy and chaotic picture, I think we should approach the studio for a proper family photoshoot. Umm... maybe we'll wait till Aricia and Iggy is a little older.)

We were tired.. I was getting a little sniffy. I dunno why I kept sneezing away, it's either dust or I'm coming down with the flu. At home, chatted with Richard while watching HBO and then I couldn't take it and had to excuse myself for bed. I'm such a bad host!
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Day 2 (19th)
Umm... I don't think it's the aircon that's making my throat dry and a little pain. Oh no! It's not the snacks lah! I think I was over exhausted (trying to psycho myself). Told hubby and he gave me the "didn't I warn you, you greedy pig!" look.
Richard had 2 slices of bread and coffee, then we brought him out to Jalan Kayu for Roti Prata.
Oh my! We waited for an hour for our pratas. This is madness! We were hot and feeling rather kan-cheong. Had to leave asap to get him to the airport in time.Well... when asked he said the prata is worth the wait, I don't know if he was just being tactful.But then we had more important thing to do - whisk him off to the airport and get RID OF HIM!! Hahaha!just kidding.

Richard eating pratas

Went back home to pack up his bag and we were out in half an hour. Good thing Punggol isn't that far off from the airport so although he checked in at 1040am for his 1205pm flight, he still had the time to do some shopping inside.
Athena was so happy to send him off at the airport, thinking that he'll be back soon (just like her dad always does)
Goodbye Uncle Richard

I was feeling sweaty although I had my shower before I left home and only went to the airport. Went back home and we all really scrubbed ourselves clean... and being the clean freak hubby and myself couldn't stand the idea of the house not cleaned during CNY, hubby took out the vacumn cleaner and steam-cleaned the flooring of the whole house and he also steam-cleaned the sofa (Athena dirtied the sofa just as we were leaving home). On Day 2! No wonder we're always poor!! I pity my helper, she was given one day rest yesterday and today she has more laundry to do. I kept changing clothes coz' I was perspiring and took many showers. Siao ah.... my luck all gone liao! Late afternoon, it started to rain. Thank God! Throat was getting worst but the tin of chocolate rolls kept telling me "eat me, eat me." I ate two and got scolding from hubby. Then, one hour later was feeling a little hungry I took a slice of bread and put... bak kwa in it. Actually hubby dind't know about it until I had to put my bread down on the coffee table while I carried Aricia and the bread kindda flipped open. "still eat bak kwa?!" and giving me the 'you deserve it!' look Like I said, I'm going on a diet after CNY so must eat as much as I can now right?
Hubby cooked luo han guo, I scooped them up in cups for 5 and had some spare so bottled them. Looks like I need it more than them.

Anyway, it's a good thing that both hubby and myself hated visiting. And we aren't that close to our cousins now that we're all older and gone our own ways. PILs and mom were also born in Malaysia so most relatives are in Malaysia. As for dad, it's only him, aunt and another adopted brother. Ai yah.. better still stay at home and don't hear the nonsense or the stupid relatives always trying to compare this and that with their children and us. I'd rather play with my children and sleep. If not, I sit and munch and grow fat is much better than hearing craps!

In the afternoon, hubby was reading the papers and Aricia was fighting over it.


Click here for video.



The children napped, I wanted to - body's tired but mind still alert.So was drafting blog and hoping to post it in on 19th... no chance obviously!

Evening time, my engine is running flat.. I was getting more sickly. Hubby and Athena went out to get a cake for Aricia. Came back from Compass Point with a plain cheesecake as her cake. Well... better than none at all. The children enjoyed it, Athena had fun poking the cake with the candles; shifting it one side to another and moved again. And she helped to cut the cake... well it's a good thing it's only eaten by the family and KZ didn't mind the horribly cut cake.

Happy 5th month, Aricia
Aricia kept looking at hubby when he stopped feeding her. She was enjoying the cheesecake, makes it easier since the cheesecake melts in her mouth.
Athena giving the thumbs up too!

I wanted to give Athena her music lesson but I'm dead tired. After eating that small slice of cheesecake I headed to bed. I'm going to sleep in Athena's room alone, hubby will have the two kiddos in our room.

I tried the Panadol Cold & Flu Hot Remedy for the first time. Well, at least now that I've stopped breastfeeding I don't have to worry when I need to pop anything in my mouth.
Peace at last! I didn't care... I heard some commotions my girl made; I knew she was learning how to spell some words and kept asking my helper and then she did some Math with hubby, I heard everything but I was lazy to move. I wonder if a person is semi-conscious.. if that's how they feel?
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Day 3 (20th)
Felt slightly better, wanted to blog but hubby suggested bringing the children out for a movie. At first I was quite apprehensive but then, I thought that since hubby's flying off again better to spend some time together. And moreover, it's not like we go gai-gai on all our weekends.

Snapshots of them in the morning



In the car, Athena asked me "mummy, when is Uncle Richard coming back from his holiday?"
Me : Holiday? He had his holiday in Singapore
Ath: No.. he holiday somewhere. He take aeroplane go holiday. Uncle holiday in USA?
Me : Yes, but that's where he stays.
Ath: Huh?? (eyes opened bigger)

Photos in Aricia's blog (didn't take any photos of Athena outside)

Basically, we had our lunch in Country Manna - haven't had that for a very very long time. Had our nice meal and then just outside Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao, the Lion Dance troupe was there. I managed to get two separate (not so good) videos. Wanted to continue recording it too see what the lion formed on the plate but the children were getting scared.
Click here. video 1
Click here. video 2
Walked around and then went for the show. Hilarious show that mimicks what happened in my ex-company too, I felt I was acting inside the show. (Except the ball was passed from SBS to SMRT to LTA to PTC. Wahaha!) and things like "we need black and white. You cc to this and that person and whatever shit." I'm glad I'm out of the shit and I don't need any 'black and white' to bring up my children - I just scold and smack them when they're naughty; praise them when they're good.
Aricia was a good girl inside the cinema. She watched a little; slept and watched; ate Kueh Bolu. She was so quiet when I offered her, simply opening her little mouth for me to feed her.

After the show, we went shopping in Carrefour. Was tempted to buy my Opera cake but decided against it. (umm... for the time being) Athena had been bugging hubby for her popcorn in the cinema so hubby had no choice but to buy it for her in the supermarket.
We wanted to have our dinner there, but then hubby decided he's still full so we made our way back to Punggol Plaza for our meal. Well, I'm glad that even for that short 15 minutes in Food Mall, I got these two videos. See how greedy she is; grabbing KZ's hand into her mouth. She puts the popcorn inside her mouth; starts laughing; eyes darting about as if she knows the camera's on her.
Click here. video 1
Click here. video 2

Our day is coming to an end, it's back to working day tomorrow for hubby, and for me... my crazy days start again.
Took another sachet of the Panadol Cold & Flu Remedy and then I started to read what I had been drinking. 750mg of paracetamol? Isn't that alot as opposed to the normal 250mg x 2 tablets we take each time? Phenylephrine Hydrochloride works as a nasal decongestant. Although I do agree that it doesn't make me drowsy (which explains why I'm still writing at this time) but I may not want to take it anymore.

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