The Internet Never Forgets

Dug this picture out from the internet when I tried to google for "SK-II". It was me, working, when I was 8 months pregnant with Leonitus. I was looking like a fucking WHALE!!

Is there really no way to remove this hideous photo of me from the world wide web?!

The Terrible 2s

My son just turned two, a couple of weeks back.

First, let me tell you a time when he was just a baby; he was simply godsend!

Leonitus was the type of baby that everyone would love to have. He was always smiling, very easy-going and very calm. I could just leave him on a play mat and he would play on his own and then fell asleep on the mat when he was tired. When he woke up, he would simply continue to entertain himself on the play-mat. He would drop off to sleep in the evening on his own, no need endless rocking (btw, I had never allow "sarong" in my home). By midnight, I would give him his last feed by sticking the bottle into his mouth while he was still very much asleep and he would finish off his milk without waking up! Don't have to burp him or change his diaper, he would just sleep throughout the night and then wakes up next morning cheery. Having such a baby was even better than winning 4D!

Two years later... what happen now?

I have got this screaming toddler who bounce himself off the bed, the table, the sofa and almost everywhere! He either crawls under the clothes racks or ran off in the opposite direction when I tried to shop. He checks out every electrical appliances whenever he could lay his hands upon. He howls louder than 10 wolves combined when I dish out punishment.

He is now making us pay for being the perfect baby he was - with interests, lots and lots of interests!! God, when is this going to end....

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Seduced by nature

We passed by this lonely stretch of road along Mandai every weekday, driving to our offices. There is the unusual serenity of the Upper Seletar Reservoir that never fail to captivate us.

Earlier this evening, we were on our way home after dinner, we had to surrender ourselves and be seduced by the beauty of the setting sun against the horizon of the reservoir. Mr Hubby stopped the car and we got everybody out.

We watched strangers fishing by the banks and admired the colors of dusk reflected in the water. It is an epiphany to have this moment with nature.

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My 2012 'Obiang' Count-Down Party

On the last night of 2011, my Mr Hubby organized one of the best count-down party at our place. The theme of the party was 'Obiang' (a Singlish word which describes people who are grossly out of fashion), and all the invited guests (except for one who received special immunity) were expected to come dressed to the theme. We even had best dressed awards and worst dressed penalties for this.

So here we were looking like fools. I couldn't stop laughing at Mr Hubby's outfit. Whatever happened to my handsome husband!! Wahahahaha....

The guests were divided into 3 teams to play and score points in 3 different games prepared for the night. My team was called 'Orbit' and the other two team were 'Fat-tas-tic' and 'Ku Ku Jiao'.

The first game was Uno Stacko. With my steadiness, this game was an absolutely breeze for me and my team.

The second game was Twister, which got everyone twisted up and we had a good time laughing our heads off seeing, each other struggled to be on the mat.

The last game into the night was the most exciting, called 'Fill to the Brim', where we needed to take turns to drop coins into glasses of beverages. There were red wine, beer, JD Coke, JD shot and a big glass of plain water. Any teams that spill the drink while dropping their coin, must then bottom up; never mind that the drink was already disgustingly polluted by the coins deposited inside.

Everybody kind of hold their breathe whenever someone was attempting to cut the coin into the brim-filled glass of beverage.

Intense concentration and steady fingers were the key to this game. Our team lost 2 out of 5 drinks and I had to down the beer which tasted really quite yucky!

The team with the best combined score walked home with a prize - food vouchers worth $120. And team Fat-tas-tic won!

We also sponsored a lucky draw prize of a branded Microwave Oven for Bingo, however I was too lucky and won it back. Eventually, we are still stuck with a brand new Microwave Oven which we wanted to clear from our storage. Anyone wants to buy from us? Guarantee, sell cheap.

Best dressed male and female also each walked away with the $30 food voucher. Look at how seriously 'Obiang' this pair of husband and wife was! They purposely went to Mustafa to buy these outfits; they definitely deserved to win!

It was a great start to my New Year. I hope you enjoyed yours too! Happy 2012!

The night before the eve of New Year

2011 is a good year for me. In short, I lost some weight, got a better silhouette, went on several short trips with my family, intercepted a disease and prevented cancer, started running (something that I never dreamed I could do), deciphered my children's allergies and finally seeing some good progress with their health.

In 2012, my resolution is SIMPLE. I want to complete a 10 km run and study a course to enrich myself.

Meanwhile, here is some post-Christmas pictures, showing off our presents.

I bought Mr Hubby a Hugo Boss tie; I didn't know how to select a tie, so I bought him one in my favorite color - purple.

And my dearest Mr Hubby bought me a LV shawl in, you guess it right, my favorite color - purple.

Happy New Year, in advance!

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Gluten-Free Baking

Some months back, we found ourselves thrown into the world of gluten-free when our two kids were found to have food intolerance (which explained why they were always wheezing and coughing). They were reactive to gluten and dairies, which simply meant that they have to kiss goodbye to cakes, biscuits, cookies, pastries, pizzas, ice-creams, muffins, breads and so much more.

It's so hard to be different, especially when food intolerance is still kind of an alien to many Asian parents. Many people do not understand why we freaked out when someone insisted that a tiny piece of cake is OK for our kids. It's also very heart wrenching to have our kids watched as other normal children gulped down all those wonderful and sinful goodies made from wheat flour, while they can't touch any of those.

So I decided I don't want to deny my children of their childhood, and no, I am not going to cave in and start 'poisoning' them with commercially-baked products. I am going to be my children's personal baker.

One of the first recipe I tried was Banana and Walnut Muffins from Joy of Baking. I simply substitute the flour and baking powder with gluten-free self-raising flour, and for melted butter, I used rice bran oil in its place. The result was unexpectedly delicious. I went on experiment with blueberries and had such a huge success that boosted my confidence to bake more.

Bite-sized blueberries muffins I made for my kids' school's potluck.

Recently, I found this Betty Crocker's Gluten-Free Cake Mix at Fair Price Finest. I was over the moon! I tried its Devil's Food and was surprised at how much it tasted just like normal cake, if not better, even though I had to swop butter for Planta.

There's more to life than being intolerance towards gluten and dairies and I am loving gluten-free baking!

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We Survived the 5 Days Langkawi Trip

The morning of our trip, my son, Leonitus woke up to a bad cough. I crossed my fingers hard but still I couldn't prevent him from falling sick. So we left on that Friday evening with him at the start of his cold and no helper, not even the kids' grandmother this time. We were all on our own.

I thought I heard Mr Hubby praying for God's mercy...

The kids were well rested and we woke up to a beautiful morning. Leonitus's nose started dripping but he was still good to enjoy the rest of the day.

We were staying in Sunset Beach Resort which was just a stone thrown from the Underworld Water.

The kids liked the penguins feeding but overall this is a place to be missed with you have been to Singapore's Sentosa Underwater World. There is really nothing much here.

We rented a car in the afternoon and drove to Jetty Point. Again this is another place to miss if you do not spend as many days in Langkawi as we do. It is basically a duty-free shopping mall but seriously there was nothing I wanted to buy here.

The next morning, we drove to Wildlife Park; it is place that would only appeal to young children who like lots of birds and animals. The good thing about the place is that you can buy food to feed the animals.

It's really good to rent a car, so we can explore the area on our own without time pressure. Mr Hubby drove past this stretch of beach which was very much forsaken. He stopped the car and brought Laetitia along to take some pictures.

The kids were dying to go to the beach, so we took them to the one next to our resort.

As it was raining earlier, the water was so damn cold, I didn't dare to swim in it, so I just sat on the beach and dug my feet into the mud-like sand.

Look at him. Who can be angry with those innocent 'Puss in Boots' pair of eyes?

Dinner time. I really hate that because Leonitus had been so fussy with food ever since he reached Langkawi with a bad cold. He hardly ate anything except for fries, sweet corns kernels and the gluten-free cookies that I had brought along. He really drove me crazy at mealtimes.

Mangrove Boat Tour at Kilim Geopark was the best and the worst part of our trip. Best, because we truly enjoyed ourselves very much. It was educational and fun for the whole family. We visited a bat cave, a fish farm, our boat went through a limestone cave, we saw sea eagles feeding within meters from us. Pure awesomeness!

The worst, because Leonitus lost one of his shoes just before we board the boat and that was his one and only pair of shoes we brought to Langkawi. He was to go bare-footed throughout the trip or I would have to break my back and carry him until we can find a place to buy him a pair of new shoes. I chose the latter.

The last day of our trip, we finally made it to the Langkawi Cable Car. It was our 4th attempt because the bad weather conditions had prevented the cable car from operation the last three times we were there. Look how glad we were.

The most tiring part of the Cable Car trip was to carry Leonitus and walked down a long flight of stairs from the cable car station to the suspension bridge and then climbed back up again. Luckily, I had started running if not I think my legs would break!

This trip wouldn't be possible if not for my dearest husband, who is the super dad to our children.

One last picture from the viewing point of the cable car station which was 700 m above sea-level before we head back down to the ground.

We had lunch at a totally empty Japanese restaurant. We only knew why when we were placing our order. They ran out of sashimi, fish roes for the sushi and practically anything that spell Japanese!

But guess who threw the wildest tantrum over lunch? Leonitus, and he wasn't even the one eating!

We had a complimentary night at Sheraton Langkawi. The kids loved the swimming pool while I really love their bed!

We were lucky to be given a late check-out at 4pm but our flight was not until 8.40pm, so we just let the kids treat the hotel lobby as our second home.

Before we board the plane home, Leonitus gave us a grand finale and threw up all over himself; I had to rush to buy him a new top because all the clothes had been checked in together with the luggage. Finally, we touched down at Singapore Changi airport just when Leonitus's mucus had turn into an eerie green color.

There is something about travelling with kids. You love it and hate it at the same time, but almost always, you would want to do it again. That's parenthood! More photos here.