Christmas Pressies!

Merry Christmas! On the day of Christmas, Bella was so eager to open her present that we did just that right after both she and Bevis had their shower in the morning.
Bella received a Leapfrog Tag reading system which she loves so much and is playing/using it every day since she received it.



Bevis received a set of 3 Crayola stamp/chops for her to practice her 1st scribbling skills on paper.

Evening at Changi Airport T3

The girls had a fun time at Changi Airport T3 on Christmas eve. It was not Bella’s 1st trip there (she had been there couple of times to pick me up from my various overseas business trips) but it was definitely Bevis’ 1st (or maybe 2nd) trip there. Nevertheless, both had a lot of fun walking, running and chasing each other around.

Our DAMAGE & loot from trip to States

Only have the chance to post up my loot now. These are really not everything that we’ve lugged back from States, just whatever could fit on the table or on the floor, minus those that have already been put into bags to be given to relatives/friends. Hehe, among those are the numerous Coach bags I’ve bought :P

It’s definitely a 4-digit damage to our pockets but glad that every of our close relative has a gift .

3 weeks away in SFO

It's been a long 3 whole weeks since i last 'saw' my kids in person... I'm so eager to return home (fearing that they will forget me, my face and smell!) and today is the day!

Luckily, for the last 2 wks of the business trip, my dear hubby is here to take a little vacation with me during the ThanksGiving and to wait for me to return back to the hotel while i work.

We spent some days away in Las Vegas, also visiting the Grand Canyon, it's definitely a different experience from San Francisco... Oh, and not forgetting Edy's most wished for place to visit, M&M's World... Here's some photos from the 3 weeks trip, see all back in Singapore ;)

Will post more of our buys (and DAMAGE!) once i get back! ;)

Bevis is EXACTLY 1!

12-Nov is Bevis’ actual birthday. Mummy and Daddy are celebrating it 2nd time round for me! Mummy actually baked a cake and it’s her 1st attempt to frost it! She spent the night before my birthday doing it… And I’ve got a lovely heart-shaped chocolate cake with blueberry toppings. If you notice, the 2 little cup cakes beside it actually belong to Jie-Jie.
Mummy actually forgot that she ran out of containers to store the cake and had to use a plastic container instead! She also forgot about candles! Luckily we managed to find some in Ah-Ma’s house…

Daddy, Mummy, Ah Ma, Ah Gong and Jie-Jie sang birthday song to me… You can see me smiling away while they sang the song :)

Bevis is 1!

Time passes so quickly… I’m almost 1!
My 1st birthday party was held over the weekend (yes, it’s a little early but as Mummy had to go for work trip to the US this coming week, she decided to let me have my party earlier). Mainly relatives and some close friends of Mummy were invited. There was a room for the children to play and goodies and piñata for the kids to have fun with!Here are the photos:

Custard Cream Puffs

My very 1st attempt on this custard cream puff recipe and I’m very happy that it succeeded! The final result was a very lightly sweetened custard cream with a light puff, yummy!

I loved it so much that I even made a batch of the cream puff for Bella to bring to school on teacher’s day, and the teachers loved it! (Forgot to take a picture of the nicely wrapped cream puff though)

A Journey Into A World Without Spectacles

After about 20 years of being be-spectacled, I finally picked up my courage to do LASIK! With the technology these days, having perfect eyesight is a mean feat! It all started with a posting in the papers on a forum for LASIK surgery. Decided to attend the forum and one week after that, I plucked up enough courage to sign myself up for the pre-evaluation check. The pre-evaluation checkup was a series of checks for the eyes with lotsa waiting time in between! All in all, I spent a total of 3+ hours at the clinic. The final result??? My eyes (and cornea) are healthy and I’m suited for LASIK surgery. However, a twist to the whole thing is, with estigmatism as high as what I have (400+), I’ve no choice but to go for the premium option (Wavefront Intralase).

On the day of the surgery (29-Sep-2008), I spent a total of 3+ hours at the clinic too. The surgery took 15mins while the rest were waiting time! I finally went home with an ‘almost’ perfect eyesight.

This is me, with eyes covered in plastic casing, moments after I reach home from surgery.

Where are Daddy's spectacles???

What are the things covering daddy’s eyes? He looks like a bee? Housefly? He looks so weird… I can’t seem to take my eyes off him!

I'm Learning Ballet!

After hearing feedback that ballet is good for ensuring good posture, Mummy decided to look around for ballet classes for me. It was fortunate that we recently explored the newly opened Anchorvale Community Center and realized that ballet classes are conducted by DancePointe, located right within the CC!
Mummy finally managed to sign me up for a trial class after enquiries with the school. During the 1st lesson, it was interesting looking at the other little children who are around my age all dressed up in their gear. I was rather scared during the class but Mummy was standing at the back of the class, ensuring me that all is fine. She did step in and out of the classroom to look for Daddy who brought Bevis for a walk. The lesson ended after 45mins and what I can say is that it was fun. Mummy asked if I’m interested to go back again, I immediately said “YES!”.

Now, I’m attending my ballet class on every Saturday and I’m enjoying every minute of it!

My Bakes

For the past few weeks, I’ve revived my passion for baking, all thanks to SMH forum with a group of mummies who are enthusiasts in baking & cooking!

The History
Before the girls came along, I have regular meet-ups with ex-colleagues where we would do baking and cooking stuff. We tried things from making soon-kueh to sushi and mee-siam. On my own, I would bake cakes, chicken & mushroom tarts and biscuits. Edy’s all-time favorite is my American Cheesecake and biscuits! (Well, simply because he has a sweet tooth!)
Just recalled that we attempted to do our own cake and decoration for Vivian’s wedding (Edy’s 2nd sister)! Using the concept of marzipan, we did many trial rounds but decided to give up as we were just too inexperienced to shape it nicely then.
Soon after, Bella came along and I can only manage to bake my favorite American Cheesecake for certain occasions and it’s still very well-liked by Edy’s family. Now, with 2 girls, I barely have time to do proper baking!

Now and Future?
I’ve always like to cook and bake, not so much for the food itself and I definitely don’t enjoy the washing up but it’s the end product that keeps me interested. With the SMH forum, I’ve definitely re-ignited this interest and have started my bakes!
I started off making muffins using pre-mix (ok, I know it’s cheating, but I just wanted to bake muffins!). Bought all my muffin cups and ingredients and did it effortlessly :P one afternoon. The muffins tasted great, which should be because they are pre-mix! Hehe…

The next I did over last weekend was baking mini-donuts. Yes, donuts can be baked and I did not know that until I saw it from the forum. The tray is an interesting one and I did not know it was meant for baking mini ones until I saw how small the tray is. Haha… In fact, was walking around the shop looking for the tray and did not find it until I asked the shop owner for it!
These are my ‘fruits’ of mini-donuts, baked and decorated! Since I made so many of them (about 42 mini-donuts), they were given to both Edy’s mum and siblings as well as my parents and siblings. *Phew* I really dread the fact that I bake and no one wants to eat! Luckily this time round, there are still people who ‘give face’… Kekeke

Well, this definitely prompted me to try out more muffins/cupcakes and do decoration on the cuppies!

The other things I would be trying to bake would be custard cream puff, egg tart (done it before but failed on the custard part), a decorated birthday cake and cuppies with decoration (hoping to do it for my darling Bevis’ 1st birthday). More to come! JOh, forgot to add that in order for my baking to be more successful, it would really be nice to have an electric oven (currently using only microwave oven with convection function) and a Kitchenaid mixer! Hahaha…

My 1st Swim!

I had my first swim at the Anchorvale Swimming Pool last Sunday! It was great fun… I enjoyed ‘swimming’ and kicking in the water… Mummy had me clad in Jie-Jie’s swim suit which she used when she was a year old and it fitted me well! Hehe… *Hmm, when I grow up, I want to have a bikini like Jie-Jie!*

Actually, before I started swimming, I spent the journey (just 5 mins drive) as well as another good 30 minute after we reached the swimming pool, sleeping! Mummy had already changed me into the swimming suit but I slept with it throughout… it was a nice nap… Keke… After I woke up from my nap, Jie-Jie, Vince and Lex Gor-Gor were already playing in the pool, Mummy decided to feed me my porridge first before she take me for the dip in the pool. I only spent like 15-20 mins in the pool, playing with water, taking pictures and after which, it was off to shower! Mummy was scared that the sun is too strong which could burn my skin, so she had actually applied sunscreen for me.

Today, Daddy and Mummy brought us to the Safra Yishun Swimming Pool for a swim again! Today I had my own float to sit on… Hehe, it was so enjoyable!

In my swim suit before the swim!

In Lex gor-gor's float!

Swimming at the new pool

Last week, Daddy and Mummy brought me to the newly opened Anchorvale Swimming Pool. Auntie Amanda, Uncle Cheng Khoon, Vince and Lex di-di went too. The water’s pretty cold even though it’s around 10+ in the morning. My body was shivering from the cold and my mouth was chattering. Mummy said my lips turned a little purplish too! On and off, Mummy brought me up from the pool to be wrapped in the towel to make me warmer…
It was a fun morning although I did not really dare to explore any of the slides… they look too intimidating with all the water pouring down!

Today, since it’s a replacement holiday for National Day, I don’t have to go to school, neither did Mummy and Daddy have to work, so we decided to go to the pool once again… Who knows, the pool is closed on Mondays! *boo hoo* so disappointed! Was looking forward to play there… Since the pool wasn’t open, Mummy and Daddy decided to bring us to Safra Yishun Swimming pool instead… We had lotsa fun there too!

The picture on the right is me sitting on the staircase with Vince di-di...

Bevis also went to the swimming pool on both occasions but she spent half the time sleeping! Hehehe… (see her post).

Updates for past 3 weeks!

Oops... I realized I haven't been updating the blog for a few weeks!
Haiz... Been busy and nowadays with just Bella following us home everyday gives me even lesser time to work on my computer!

Just last week, the whole family (Edy's sibling and their families, together with Edy's cousins. A total of 12 adults, 4 children!) made a trip to KL to visit Edy's granny... We only brought Bella along as we thought that it will be easier to manage... It was a rather fun trip and I think Bella really enjoyed in Genting Indoor Theme Park... Sad to say we did not have much time to spend there before we need to get down the hill... I think when the girls are older, we'll probably make another trip back there! For the entire road trip, we made various stops for food... hehe, at Yong Peng for their egg tarts and 'sao-bao', at Malacca for the assam laksa, chendol and chicken rice... Yummy! It was a rather tiring trip but I think all of us enjoyed it!

Both girls have been sick (running nose, cough, fever) for the past 1 over week... Bevis is still having cough during the day time while Bella is slowly recovering from her sickness...

After dinner just now, Bella had a fall! She was sitting on daddy's leg, while daddy was swinging her around. Daddy had already put her down on the floor but Bella's hand released and she fell face down to the floor! Immediately there's a loud cry and Daddy quickly carried her up. Her lips were bleeding... All the wiping and ho-ha over her started... We realised that her upper lips is swollen while the lower one has a cut... poor girl, hung on to Daddy after the incident, while sobbing away...

Look at the swollen (already 'blue-black') upper lips and the cut on the lower lip...

It's My Birthday! I'm Three Year Old!

Yeah, Mummy has been telling me 4-July is my birthday and that we will be having a bbq to celebrate my birthday. Seems that Mummy and Daddy have been very busy for the past few days to prepare for this big day of mine!

Mummy let me choose my own birthday cake; Daddy also bought my favourite 'bah-kwa' to the bbq; We went several times to the bbq pit location to make sure that the location is ok, lighting is enough, etc...; Oh, Daddy also prepared my favourite balloons, all 30 of them! And a big big pink one! I had fun 'moving' the balloons around... hehe...

Here's some photos to share with all!

See me tugging the balloons? Daddy had arrange them nicely in 3s but I was playing with them and shifted them around, ended up, they all got entangled!

I'm singing the birthday song... and look at me blowing the candles and cutting my birthday cake!

And here's a photo of me with my mei-mei, Bevis!

And last of all, presents!!!

It's a Sunday morning :)

Good morning... oops... Mummy caught me sticking my finger into my mouth again... hehe... and look at all the pillows and bolsters in my cot... My cot is always in a big mess when I wake up in the morning... So you can imagine how much I flip and turn and toss all night! Mummy is always having to wake up in the middle of the night putting my pacifier in my mouth when I cry... Sometimes I cry when I realised that I lost my pacifier because I turn too much! Keke...

Look here, Mummy is prying open my mouth to take a peek at my two tiny teeth that are popping up through my gums...

She has been trying to catch a sight of these two tiny teeth for the past few days but I have been refusing to open my mouth... My gum feels sore with these teeth popping up, so hey, beware that I'll bite your fingers if they come close ok??!!

4th July!

Mummy's Notes:

4 July... What does it remind you of? America's Independence Day?

You are partially right! However, to us, it's an important day... It's Bella's birthday!

We are actually running out of time planning for a mini party for her... Daddy is busy helping out in wrapping the presents for Bella (had to do this when she's away, otherwise it will be impossible to wrap!)... while I'm busy listing down the food items to prepare for Friday. It's gonna be a lot of preparation and planning these few days until Friday!

Look out for details in the next few days!

Sit Straight!

See, I'm sitting very straight, posing for Mummy... I can finally sit by myself without any support for at least 5 mins...

Just few days ago, Mummy had to be very careful when she made me sit, by sitting right behind me...

Besides sitting by myself on the bed, Daddy also witnessed me sitting also on the floor (without support) earlier... Yeah! I'm gonna practise more!

I love Fridays!

Yipee! I love Fridays!

Can you see how happy I am? I'm getting ready to go to school and today is Friday...

Fridays are always special as I can get to go for outings or do something special in school, like cooking/baking or art & craft...

I wonder what's it going to be for today???

Purees Galore!

Take a look at the purees that mummy has prepared for me!

From clockwise, the orange color puree is pumpkin (boy, I do love these sweet thingy!), next in the ice cube trays are zucchini (fresh from blender!), it's the first time Mummy is making it for me and I can't wait to try it! Can you guess what those green things in the little containers are? They are peas puree... and I think they do taste a bit weird on its own... and lastly, my dessert, APPLES! yummy!

Mummy made an effort to puree my food in the weekdays so that she can feed me those in the weekends. She will also make sure that she brings half of it to Grandma's house so that Grandma can feed me on weekdays.

So far, the purees I have tried are all of the above (except for zucchini), broccoli, potato, banana, hmm, what else... That's it??? Mummy obviously haven't given me enough variety! Hope she gets the time to make more for me... Thanks Mummy!

My First Puree ~ Carrots

It was Mummy's 1st attempt (19 May 08) to feed me purees (apart from the watery cereal that i started on days ago) and you see that I'm NOT quite enjoying it!

It's carrots and although it's sweet, I still dun quite like the feeling of it in my mouth... Am I supposed to swallow it like I do with milk or what?? Yucks!

Mummy's Notes: Doesn't she look funny with that look on her face? I was laughing away when she gave me that face! There's always a 1st time and dear Bevis, there'll be more purees to come ;)

Fun @ Barney Let's Imagine! Live Show

Hey, look here! I'm at Barney Let's Imagine! Live Show.

Mummy and Daddy knows that I love Barney and they specially brought me here on a Friday night. I'm posing right in front of this poster to capture this moment before we enter the hall for the show. I'm so excited!

Besides getting the chance to watch Barney Live, Mummy also bought me a Barney T-shirt and you can see me wearing it every other day... Hehehe...

Hieeeee

This is me, Bevis Tan!

I'm 6 months 7 days old when this picture was taken. If you look close enough, you'll see a little tear drop on my cheek... I was crying but mummy managed to pacify me by taking my picture and I was happily smiling away for my picture to be taken ;)

Our Family or rather... Our Two Lovely Princesses

These are our two lovely princesses, Bella and Bevis.

Bella arrived on 04-July-2005 (America's Independence Day!).

The latest addition to our family is Bevis who arrived on 12-November-2007.

Many have commented that the 2 gals look alike and i think they do... sometimes... sometimes not...

The gals when they were:

A day old:


At 3 months:

At 6 months:

However, as time passes, both hubby and myself think that they have each developed their own personality and looks... they don't look as alike as we thought they did! What do you think? ;)