A Work At Home Mom's Talk

First day at Infant Care

2008-08-25T00:44:00.000-07:00

Back-dated post
After seeking the infant care branch director's advice, we decided to send Rou to the infant care a week earlier before I start work. This is something like an orientation for her and also if anything happens, mommy is ready to pick her up any time.
Mommy has a sleepless night the day before sending Rou to infant care.

7.00 a.m. sharp - wake everyone up ( Yes I am the alarm clock in the family, can never count on hubby as he can switch off the alarm clock and continue his sleep)After checking all items are in the bag ( diapers, clothes, milk bottle, milk powder, pacifier....etc) and off we go...
Apparently we are the first few to arrive at the infant care. According to the teachers the toddlers normally come in after 8.00 am. (O, we the most cruel parent to wake the child up so early in the morning, but when I start work, this will be the actual timing, so we have to act real, right?)
Rou was still a bit blur on what is going on. Not to frighten her, the teacher led us to the infant care room. The room for infants is separated from the toddlers to minimize the risk of the infant catching the germs from the older kids.
At the beginning, Rou was a bit scared and just sit like a stone and observe what I was doing. I tried to amuse her with the toys and pointing her to some of her favourite cartoon features, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet but nothing seems to catch her interest. After a good 10 minutes, she started to explore around and started to play with the toys. Phew! Mommy relief a little...
The caregiver came in at 8.00 am and while we were talking, all of a sudden, Rou stopped playing with the toy and start crying. Was that because we mentioned the word " cry" in our conversation ?
Mommy then carried a crying baby and walked around trying every little trick to cheer her up and finally settled with a pool of balls in the play pen.
The care giver suggested to hand over Rou to her and we have to do it without saying good bye as not to make it too emotional. So I slipped off the room quietly and make a peep from the window. The caregiver fed her milk and she seemed to be quite ok with the caregiver. I can hardly hold my tears anymore and left the centre the moment my tears start rolling down my cheeks.
It was the longest hours in my life waiting to fetch her back from the infant care. Hubby was even worse, he was trying to speed as fast as he could to reach there.
My poor baby, she was wailing when we stepped out off the car and before I could reach her, hubby already "snatched" the baby into his arms...
That was the first day and I think there would be another few more days of crying before she could get use to it.

I've got the job !

2008-08-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

Just as blessed mum asked when will the result be out, I received a call from the HR manager this morning. Yippie ! I got the job. I was too excited and immediately accepted the offer without second thought. Yes, cannot deny the fact that I was too desperate for a job ! Anyway, there will be a long list of to-dos after this.
1. Collect the employment letter and go for medical check-up
2. Find an infant care centre for Rou (Already have a few in mind, just need to confirm if vacancy is available)
3. Shop for work clothes (Haha... thats what I have been waiting for)
4. Open an account ( Otherwise, how to get paid? )
5. Familiarize with driving in Singapore ( Last in the list but top priority)

No. 5 will be the most challenging ones for me as I really dread driving in Singapore. First of all, I have no sense of directions, imagine I can get lost in the wet market which my husband find it ridiculous..haha..thats me. Secondly, my parking skill is horrible. I banged my car to the lamp post once in my faculty where there was no other cars around in the car park. Since then, I have phobia doing reverse parking.
Hope there will still be time to blog a little, read a little and sleep a little...

Job Interview

2008-08-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

(This is an outdated post)

I was called for an interview on 6/8/08. How's the interview ? I was a bit nervous as I have not been attending interviews for a long time ! What's more there were 3 interviewers "interrogating" me which I did not expect so many of them. However, I think the chance of getting the job is high as my past experiences match most of their requirements and most importantly, I like the job very much.
It was fun though because all three were from different countries, i.e. a Singaporean, an American and an Indian. So I believe if I ever got recruited, I would have to learn people from all over as it was a regional office.
Took a quick snap from the meeting room while filing up the form. ( Can you see me in the photo?) I know I should not post this sort of photo in the 7th Month...but I only noticed that today. Just posting it for fun !

I am still alive !

2008-08-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

Have not been updating my blog for some time...sorry folks if you have been worrying if I am still alive ;P. For the past few weeks, life has been extremely busy with job hunting and interviews. Plus all the house-chores and a baby Rou, I have more than enough on my plate. Each time when the phone rings, my heart will pound faster, is it a call from the interviewer ? Or a call from the agency to do profiling with me, or is it a call to tell me, "Sorry we can't offer you the job !" I think I have a very weak heart now. Arrangement for interviews were even tougher as I have to check with both my husband and the interviewer for their schedules and at the same time make sure my husband has enough time to rush home to babysit Rou. I will be posting some out-dated posts which I only managed to edit lately.

Treat you Haagen- Daz ice cream for not deleting my blog from your reading list ! =) muaks !

A happy baby again !

2008-07-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

The prune juice seems to work well for Rou. I have been giving her a tablespoon of prune juice after her first milk feed every day and now she passes motion at least once a day. The stool is not as hard as what she used to strain and push like a laboring mom and yes she is a happy baby again! Thanks for all mommies who has given me advice and suggestions. There is nothing more valuable than hearing from a mom who is always willing to share her own experience.
Here's a happy greeting from happy Rou :

Job hunting

2008-07-29T01:36:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks, I have been busy with updating my resume, contacting some of my former colleagues in Singapore to get them as my referees and of course, started to send in job applications as well. Hopefully I will receive calls for interviews soon !

Finding a job is easy, but finding a job that warrants you job satisfaction is not easy! While browsing through the job opportunities available, I notice there are a lot of IT jobs available in the market. I can see the growing needs of the IT professionals with more and more mega projects coming up in the country. I am lucky in the sense that I have been involved in a lot of IT projects which gave me plenty of learning opportunities.
In my previous job, I had done quite a fair bit of process automation with my self-studied programming language. It was really a job which gave me a lot of excitements and job satisfaction especially when the project has achieved its objective/ target and you were greeted with a heartfelt thanks from the users. All the projects that I have completed it inspired me to learn more about programming and even networking. I really hope I could get a job relating to the IT field. But reality is, I need some qualifications ! Perhaps I should consider getting some online courses like those offered by The Cisco Learning Network and obtain the Cisco certification. I hope it is not too late for me to start off a new chapter for a career in IT!

Updates

2008-07-29T00:49:00.001-07:00

Just got back from KL and it was really a long journey. We went back to KL last Wednesday evening after my husband finished work. Oh Gosh the queue at the Tuas checkpoint was horrible. We were stuck there for an hour plus and by the time we reached home it was already 11.30 p.m. Poor baby Rou had a sleepless night as she slept through the journey home.
As usual, we eat a lot, shop a lot ( btw, the Mega Sale just started. If you are planning a trip to Malaysia, it is a good time now) and do a lot of family visits.
There are a lot of things on my plate now including reading my long list of blog post which I subscribed to, clear my laundries, clean the house, reply to all my mails and catch up with my blog post and tags.So please bear with me ya.

Mom's recipe of sweet and sour pork

2008-07-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

I really missed my mom when I cooked this dish. Believe it or not, tears rolled down my cheeks when I got it done. Yes, I am home sick again !
What is so different with Mom's recipe. Haha..actually the only difference is there is no onion, no capsicum nor pineapple, just pickled cucumber. It goes well with the meat. Me and my two other siblings love this dish. Each time when mom cooked this dish, we will eat more rice as though we have been starving for years. It is very appetizing especially with the pickled cucumber.

Ingredients:
1 packet of sweet and sour pork meat
3 tablespoon of light soya sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoon of corn flour
Sugar and salt to taste

Seasoning:
6 tablespoon of tomato sauce
3 tablespoon of chili sauce
1 tablespoon of white vineger
2 tablespoon of sugar

Steps:
1. Marinate the pork meat for about 15 minutes
2. Heat wok and fry the meat until the colour turned brownish
3. Mix the seasoning well and heat it up for about 3-4 minutes
4. Toss in all the meat and pickled cucumber, quick fry for 3-4 minutes
5. Ready to serve.

Note: Pickle cucumber is very easy to prepare. Just slice cucumber into equal thickness, rub with a bit of salt. Pour some water over it and drain well. Add in vinegar and sugar as per your taste and also some chili. Let it settle for half an hour, and it is ready to serve.

SocialSpark is great for mommy bloggers !

2008-07-21T23:18:00.000-07:00

I started to blog few years back when I was pregnant. I just couldn't wait for another second to share my joy with the whole world the moment I knew I was pregnant and I started a blog in chinese by the name of 寻梦园. My blog grows with Rou and when Rou was almost one year old, I started another blog in English which is what you are reading now. This blog is to share a mother's life, a mother's thought, a mother's joy and tears of bringing up a baby. To-date, I have recorded most of her vital progress in both of my blogs and I really hope one day Rou will read her own growing story.
Blogging has brought me a lot of fun especially when I get to know my fellow blogging mommies in different culture, different race and different ways of parenting their kids. There are lots of sharing among mommies and to a new mommy like me has indeed learned most of the parenting tips from blogging. Those are the true experiences which one will never learn from any parenting books and these are the most valuable knowledge which you will never forget.
With the increasing popularity of BlogAdvertising, most mommy bloggers are getting a chance to work from home by writing sponsored post. If you follow my post closely, you would know that I just signed up for SocialSpark. And I have surprises today. Right after the first opportunity to write about SocialSpark, I was so surprise to receive another opportunity to write something about mommy bloggers. Wow, I really love this ! Unlike some of their competitors where you have to look out for opportunity like a hungry ghost, they did it in a more "civilized" way by putting you in a queue and you will be called when there is a slot for you. This is a great site for mommy bloggers who does not have the luxury of time to sit in front of the PC and wait!

I have signed up for SocialSpark !

2008-07-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

While job-hunting just started off a few weeks ago, I am also grabbing every single opportunity to earn some money to shop for some working attires for job interviews. I still believe that first impression is very important in job interviews. It might not guarantee a job but it surely will help in initiating a relationship. After dressing in T-shirts and hot pants every day for almost half a year, I hope I still have some fashion sense in choosing the right clothes in projecting myself a professional image.

Well, talking about earning money through blogging, I get to know this site called SocialSpark from one my blogging friend. It is quite similar to PPP but it has a big blogging community where you meet more blogging friends and you can even build your social network through this platform, this will eventually helps in driving traffics to your website.
Apart from writing sponsored post, you are also open to accept any blog sponsorship from SocialSpark whereby an advertiser will place an ad in your website for a period of time and pay you a daily fee.
As long as your website could demonstrate the following requirements, you are welcome to join them as a member and start earning through them.
-100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
-100% Transparency
-100% Real Opinions
-100% Search Engine Friendly

Why not give it a try. After all, there is nothing to lose !

Constipated Rou

2008-07-20T20:42:00.000-07:00

Poor baby Rou has been very constipated for the past few weeks ! We can see her straining so hard to push the stool out and the stool was really hard and dry. Brought her to the doctor last week. Rou was prescribed with a bottle of Dhactulose. For the past few days, she was on medication to loosen her stool. Initially it helps but after a few times, the stool went hard again. Worse thing is she is now holding back when she has the urge to poo. When she held back for too long, the stool will eventually become even harder and even tougher to push it out.

I have searched for remedies from the forums and some parents shared that prune juice is rich in fiber. So I am giving it a try. Bought a bottle of prune juice yesterday and I have given Rou 2 tablespoon of the juice diluted in 20 ML of water. She seems to like the juice probably because it is something new to her. Hopefully it will help her to poo easily. Mommies out there, do you have such problem before, mind sharing any tips ?

Flash back of Rou's story from birth (Month 5)

2008-07-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Month 5

Rou loves posing for pictures. Whenever she sees us holding camera, she will put up a big smile or giggle, maybe we were just too funny. She began to recognize faces and started to develop stranger's anxiety. Whenever she sees strangers or someone she doesn't like, she will quickly turn away or even cried out loud. She doesn't like to see my brother and sister-in-law, no matter how they tempted her with her favourite food or toys she just don't buy it. Strange thing is, she loves to see my father in law, even though we only see each other like 3 months once or twice.
Sharing some of my favourite shots:

Sweet and Sour Chicken Drumette or 4-3-2-1

2008-07-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

This dish has a funny name given by the recipe owner, Ohbin, it is called "4-3-2-1". Any idea why ? Instead of pork rib, I have changed it to chicken drumette, as both my hubby and I don't have very strong teeth to rip off the meat. Chicken drumette is also very much cheaper than pork rib.

Ingredient:
1 packet of chicken drumette (usually contains 6 chicken drumettes)
4 tablespoon of light soy sauce
3 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoon of white vinegar
1 tablespoon of chinese cooking wine (花雕酒）

Steps:
1. Put chicken drumettes in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain well.
2. Mix all sauces.
3. Use a claypot and put in all chicken drumette and add in the sauces.
4. Cook for 15 minutes with cover on and stir until the gravy is thick enough to stick on the chicken drumette.
5. Ready to serve.

Stylish eye-wear

2008-07-11T07:13:00.000-07:00

I hate wearing spectacles. Many years back when I was in school, I was being called all sorts of funny names and I dread checking my eye sight each year and get back the ugly goggles-like spectacles. It was big, heavy and it really made me an ugly duckling.
Right after I graduated from university,the first thing I did was prescribed myself a pair of contact lenses despite my parents were strongly against it. I have been wearing contact lenses for 5 years, recently I noticed my eyes get irritated easily, especially when I am not wearing contact lenses. I am now thinking of switching back to spectacles again since spectacles has become very stylish nowadays and I noticed some people even collect spectacles as part of their accessories. I was also surprise to know that spectacles can be prescribed online at zennioptical.com. I have checked out some of the designs and the one showed in the picture below really caught my eyes. Think I should get something like this to divert people's attention to the design and not the thickness of the glasses !

Flash back of Rou's story from birth (Month 4)

2008-07-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

Month 4

Things were getting better in month 4 probably because we had already get used to baby Rou's colic problem and accepted the fact that there was nothing else we could do but to cuddle her, put her on tummy, which we believed would reduce her pain. She started to hold her head up and smiled a lot when she heard our voices. She has very strong arms and legs. Whenever we hold her upright, she will attempt to stand .We love to bring her out shopping and our weekly outing with my parents resume.

Life gets back to the normal routine just like what we used to have before I gave birth to Rou.

Flash back of Rou's story from birth (Month 3)

2008-07-09T02:40:00.001-07:00

Month 3
This was the most challenging time throughout my life. Rou's colic problem started to emerge and getting worse day by day. We tried every single method on Rou, some method even make no sense at all like hanging daddy's trousers on the cradle, we consulted 4 pediatricians but nothing seemed to help. In fact when I made a search in the internet, there is nothing to cure as till today, there isn't any facts to support the cause of the problem and the most common advice is, they will grow out of it one day.....It was such an ironic yet sad "solution".
Each day,what we could do were to pray hard , hoping Rou will sleep through that particular period of time when the colic strike her. Most of the time if she was in her deep sleep, she would not feel the pain.
This was really a time which I don't really want to recall..Each time when I think back of the painful cries and helpless parents, I rather be the one who suffers.....

Cola Chicken

2008-07-08T00:16:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe shared by one of my blogger friend, Ohbin, must give credit to her. However, this is a cut down version as hubby doesn't like herbs and spices, so I took away the cinnamon stick and reduced the aniseed.

Ingredient:
2 chicken legs
1/2 bottle of cola
3 tablespoon of light soya sauce
1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce
Sliced ginger
1 aniseed

Steps:
1. Marinate chicken with a bit of cooking wine and some sliced ginger.
2. Put all ingredients into a claypot and cook until boiled.
3. Once boiled, cooked with medium fire for 30 minutes.
4. Ready to serve.

Flash back of Rou's Story from birth (Month 2)

2008-07-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

Month 2

That was the starting point of our nightmare. Both me and my husband were inexperience and we do not stay with parents. We had to figure out what's wrong with Rou each time when she cried. You can imagine 2 headless chicken running around the house. What make thing worst was my husband had to go overseas for 1 week. Though my mother offered to stay with me, but knowing that my mum's health condition was not that good, I insisted that I can handle. I guessed my parents were worried sick as they knew very well that was really the first time I handled a baby. (I have never even held a baby in my arms before.)
And true enough, on the third day after 3 sleepless days and nights when my mother called, I couldn't answer the phone as my mind was totally blank all I could say is "hello........hello....helllo....", I was nearly collapsed. Thank God, Rou was sleeping safely and soundly in her cot not realizing her mother almost made a trip to heaven.
Since then, my mother insisted to stay with me for the rest of the week until my husband returned. Throughout the month, I think I have slept not more than 4 hours per day. But I was lucky that my husband was very supportive and we worked out a shift every night. I would stayed up late and he would take care of the later shift (1.00 am - 5 am). And yes, we survived !

Flash back of Rou's Story from birth (Month 1)

2008-07-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

This is a post about Rou from the day she was born.I wanted to do this post long ago but have been delaying it. I think every parent has a story to tell and we are always proud of our children. Don't we ?
Day 1 - Rou was born on 37th weeks and 1 day, when she was born, she weighed 2.9 kg with 46cm in length.

This photo was taken right after she was born and she was kept in the warmer before she was brought to the nursing room.

Month 1

I was lucky enough to have found a good confinement lady by the name Irene. She was very good in handling new born babies. 30 days under her good hands, baby Rou has turned into a chubby baby with 4.9 kg in weight. It was a good confinement for me as I really took a good rest. Apart from milking myself and nursing Rou, I have nothing to worry about. All I have to do is do what I want to do. I finished watching all my favourite HK series during my confinement. I never get to do that when I was working.

This photo was taken after one full month under the good hands of Irene - my confinement lady.
Everyone said they want ed so much to pinch her cheeks when they first met Rou.

I have signed up for PPP !

2008-07-06T00:24:00.001-07:00

Blogging is nothing new today to most people and the blogging community today consist of people from all walks of life at all age. If you read my earlier post, you will not be surprise that I have signed up for PPP ( It stands for PayPerPost if you are wondering what PPP is) to do blog reviews to earn some pocket money. I know there are a lot of such providers in the market now but I am very cautious in selecting them as I know some are them are actually scams. I have selected PayPerPost simply because it has been in the market for quite some time and it is quite reputable in terms of their payment process.
To start my first paid post, I have chosen this topic to write about get paid to blog. For those who are new to paid-posting let me explain the concept in my simple language. In the past, I believe you may have written some reviews, opinions of some websites, products etc which you like and would like to share with others voluntarily in your blog. Did you realize that with your "free advertisement" you made in your blog, you might have helped generated sales for that particular product. In view of the popularity of blogging and the internet as a powerful tool in info sharing, Blog Advertising has been a new model of Advertising. PPP is one of the service provider who bridge advertisers and bloggers. The bloggers helped to spread the good words of the advertisers' products and in return the advertisers pay the blogger with a fee. It is that simple.
Are you interested too ? Just take a tour to the PPP website and it will guide you through the process.

I have made up my mind !

2008-07-06T00:03:00.000-07:00

After much thoughts and considerations, I have made up my mind to discontinue my journey as a full time mommy soon and continue my journey as a working mum. I am glad to have had this opportunity to enjoy every precious moment with my beloved baby Rou ever since I quit my job and do something I always like to do, i.e. blogging, blog hopping, reading...etc.
Why do I made this decision :
a. Realistically, it is hard to support the family with single income in longer term. I believe with the oil price hike, the impact will be felt very soon.
b. It is time for baby Rou to interact with the outside world. She need to start communicate with others rather than staying at home with me all the time.
c. I need some "ME" time to socialize with my friends. I have lost touch with them ever since I gave birth to Rou.
d. I still have my dreams to climb up the corporate ladder.

The reasons above are good enough to support my decision to go back to work. So, job hunting will kick off soon. Meanwhile, I am planning to try my luck doing some sponsored post to earn some pocket money for my working attire. So folks, please don't abandon me if you see me doing sponsored post yeah..I need your support. =)

Double Awards

2008-07-05T01:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks blessed mum for giving me this award. This is my first time receiving an award since I started blogging. Is a big surprise to me because I don't really blog every day...a bit "pai seh" to receive the award. But I am really glad that I get to know more friends here and make me feel more homely now.

Thank you for reading my blog and I will cherish our friendship. I am passing this award to the following:

1. Beverly

2. KK & WS

3. Chinnee

4. Charlotte's mommy

(Names are not in particular order)

What is on my dining table today ?

2008-07-04T07:44:00.000-07:00

Ta...ta....presenting you my new dish - Nestum chicken. I have never cook this before but in my simple mind, it seems to be a dish which is quite easy to prepare. The dish turned up to be quite disappointing because the nestum did not stick to the meat and the meat was a bit dry. Will try again next time.

Stir-fried broccoli

2008-07-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

At times when there is nothing much left in my fridge, I will do simple dish. Most of the time I will end up with broccoli because they have a longest life in my fridge - I only do marketing once a week..=)
Nothing much to share on preparing this dish, what you need is only a clove of garlic, some slices of ginger. To make it taste better, I add in an egg and a teaspoon of anchovy powder.

Stir-fried lady's fingers in Chili

2008-07-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

This is another favourite dish in my "can-do" list. However, it is a cut down version of the ordinary dish with sambal belacan. I am not a fan of sambal belacan, so I only used chili and shallots.

Ingredients:
1 packet of lady's fingers (choose the one with lighter green)
3 red chili
6 shallots
1 clove of garlic (optional)
3 teaspoon of sugar
0.5 teaspoon of salt

Steps:
1. Grind chili, shallots and garlic until texture is fine
2. Heat up wok, put in some oil.
3. Fry the mixture of chili, shallots and garlic until fragrant
4. Add in lady's fingers and add in half a bowl of water
5. Cover the wok for 5 minutes
6. Add in salt and sugar to taste
7. Once the lady's fingers are soft, it is ready to serve.

Disclosure Policy

2008-07-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

This policy is valid from 01 July 2008

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please send me a comment.

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does contain content which might present a conflict of interest. This content may not always be identified.

To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Should I work or should I not ?

2008-07-01T00:46:00.000-07:00

I quit my job and become a full time mother since we moved to Singapore and it was a very last minute decision that I made. Many of my friends and colleagues were surprised when they found out that I quit.Even more surprise that I moved to SG to start a new life after so many years in KL. Yes, to some extent, I have to admit, I am sick of KL's life, sick of the transportation "system" which I doubt if "system" ever exist ? I dread driving in the city where home seems to be so close yet so far when you are stuck in the traffic jam. The list will go on..lets not talk about it for this moment.
To me nothing is more important than spending time with you family. Between career and family, I have chosen the later. I know there is no right and wrong answer, but after 6 months of being a home-maker, I could hear the devil in me whispering, " Lets get back to work. You need a life and you need some time for yourself......"
It is not an easy task to be a full time mother. Working mothers out there, please think twice if you ever thought of giving up your job to become a full time mother. I really take my hat off to mothers of our days where they don't have a maid/ helper, but can still manage to cope with kids and housework so well. They are great ! I could never be one of them.
Now that I know I belongs to the battlefield out there, should I go back ? Knowing that it could be tougher to juggle work and family.......

New dress for Rou

2008-06-29T08:34:00.001-07:00

The first time I have my eyes fall on this dress, it was at least half a year back before I officially moved to Singapore. I told myself, I am going to buy this dress for Rou's birthday. So I did not buy at that point of time. When it was getting closer to Rou's birthday, I bought another dress for Rou as I did not see the dress anymore in the store. Disappointed though...but today, I see this dress again and guess what, the entire store was offering 15% discount for all items. Without a second thought, I grabbed it before I regret again...it is just so pretty. Don't you think so ?

Pan-fried pork loin

2008-06-24T00:23:00.000-07:00

Don't know what is the actual name for this dish but it is one of my favourite dish as it is simple yet tasty. This is mom's recipe:

Ingredient:
0.5 kg of pork loin
6 tablespoon of rice wine
6 tablespoon of light soy sauce
3 tablespoon of corn starch

Steps:
1. Slice pork loin into smaller pieces ( approx. 0.5 inch each)
2. Tenderize meat
3. Marinate meat with rice wine, light soy sauce and corn starch
4. Leave it in fridge for 1 hour
5. Pre-heat non-sticky pan
6. Put in some oil and pan fry the meat.
7. Once the colour of the meat turn brownish, it is ready to serve.

Sweet corn soup

2008-06-19T01:37:00.000-07:00

I am so into cooking recently. While I can still remember the recipe, I think I better record it some way. Rou is very picky on her food. She no longer likes her baby food. I stop cooking her porridge before she turned one since she would never finish even half a bowl of her porridge. And yes, we have been feeding her adult's food. So whatever served on the dining table she will have a share.
Today, I am going to cook her soup since she loves it so much. I am not sure whether this combination is right. I saw it somewhere in the TV ad. Do tell me if there is anything I should add in. But so far, it tastes quite right and most important, Rou will finish her rice each time she has this soup.
Here's the recipe:

Ingredient
2 sweet corns chopped into 4 pieces each
1 carrot chopped into pieces (1.5 inch)
6 red dates to add the sweetness of the soup
1 chicken leg (peel off the skin so that the soup will not become too oily)
2 bowls of water

Steps
Boil the water. Once water is boiled, put in the chicken leg, wait until it is cooked and add in the rest of the ingredients. Boil for 10-15 minutes and transfered to a slow cooker an cook for another 3 hours.

Curry Chicken Recipe

2008-06-18T01:16:00.001-07:00

I love spicy food. Curry, Tom Yam, Asam Laksa, whatever hot and spicy. After the episode of searching for Nasi Lemak wrapped in banana leaf, I now believe that the best cuisine will only come from my own kitchen. Not that I am a super chef, but seriously, who knows your taste bud apart from your own self ?
So, I decided to cook my own curry chicken. Perhaps you can try it out one day to see if we have the same sort of taste bud, haha....

Ingredient - A:
6 cloves of garlic
5 pieces of shallots
5 pieces of dried chili (soak in water to soften it)
2 Lemon grass stalks ( chopped into small pieces)

Ingredient - B:
0.5 kg chicken meat ( chopped into 1.5 inch each piece)
2 table spoon of curry powder
2 stalk of curry leaves
2 bowls of water
3 potato cut into pieces (not too small)

Ingredient - C :
0.5 small packet of coconut milk, dilute it with some water
1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt to taste

Step by step....
1. Blend ingredient A well.
2. Heat up the wok and pour in 5 table spoons of oil.
3. Fry ingredient A and curry leaves until fragrant and add in chicken meat and curry powder.
4. Once the chicken meat is tender, add in 2 bowls of water, add in potato.
5. Add sugar and salt to taste. Stir well and cook for another 10 -15 minutes.
5. Add in coconut milk and cook for another 15- 20 minutes.
6. Ready to serve

and here goes the end result.....

According to my mom, the secret for good curry chicken lays with the garlic. So never cook curry chicken without garlic. It really makes a difference !

Rice, anyone ?

Rou speaks !

2008-06-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

Time flies. Rou started to learn how to speak with her broken baby language few weeks ago. Apart from "papa" and "mama", she now learn the word "下雨" - raining. Each time it rains, she will shout "ha yu" in her baby language.

She has now become more independent. She does not like to be carried, she does not like to be held and she does not like us to hold her hand. She just want to walk all by herself. In the house, she will play with her toy while I cook or busy with my house chores.
When i flash back to a year ago when she hits 2 months old, that was really nightmares to us. Rou was a colicky baby, we tried colic drops, we consulted 4 pediatricians, we changed her formula milk to soy-based milk, but nothing seemed to help. Only today I came across this website which introduces 100% natural colic cures. How I wish I would have came across this much earlier. They even show a colic video which is pretty informative for parents who know nothing about colics. When I recalled those days, it was the worst time ever in my life to see my baby in such pain and not being able to help her. Each day, we would just prayed hard that colic would not strike her, otherwise it would be an at least one hour crying session for her. It lasted for a long 3 months and trust me , that 3 months seemed to be 3 years to me.
Seeing her grow out of it was my greatest relief and now I am glad to see her smiley face every night before dozing off to her sweet dreams.

Rou's First haircut

2008-06-07T23:47:00.000-07:00

The weather has been quite hot recently. My poor Rou has been sweating like mad in the afternoon especially during her nap time. With her thick hair, it is getting worst. Every time she wakes up, the pillow is like being soaked in water, sponging in all her smelly sweat, Erkk...

We decided to bring her to the salon at Toy'rus. Both of us were so nervous at first but after seeing a few toddlers went through the process, we were convinced. And yes, Rou did well for the first hair cut. She was very cooperative and teng...teng....this is her new look !

I am Back !

2008-06-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

After 2 weeks of good food and great shopping back in KL,we are back to Singapore. Though it was great going back to our own place, life without broadband and cable TV was a great torture to me!
Since we left KL, we terminated our land line and cable TV. What we can do in the house when we were wide awake was listen to the radio which we never do when we stayed there.
The nearest place I can surf net was my parent's place which was using dial up. Can you imagine loading a page which took you a minute or 2 and worst if you load an image file, that would take you ages......so after few attempts, I gave up ! Surprisingly I still survive without internet. I have been so addicted to it!
Life goes back to my normal routine.Only difference is I now have a toddler. I keep telling Rou, you are no more baby...you are a to....ddler now ...Haha....
Here's how my little toddler toddling in the house with her favourite piggy bag :

Rou's first Birthday

2008-06-01T23:28:00.000-07:00

No grand party, no fanciful birthday cake, just a family of 10 and a simple birthday cake, that was how we celebrate Rou's first birthday!
This little girl was a bit stunt when we light up the candle and sang her Happy Birthday song.
Of all the presents she received, she seemed to appreciate most the hand made birthday card from her beloved cousin brother. Just looked at how sweet she smiled when she hold the card.
Happy Birthday Rou, you have achieved your first milestone and there are many more ahead!

Finally she walks !

2008-05-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

Just three days before Rou turns one, she walked unsupported confidently. Finally, no more garbage into her mouth. Such a great relief to both of us, her paranoid parent. We have been watching her so closely when she crawls. Why ? Just because Rou has the habit of picking up minute things on the floor and put into her mouth. She has been eating a lot of dirts, fallen hair... whatever she found on the floor. Because of her, we have to sweep the floor every few hours just to make sure there isn't anything like coins, buttons which falls out of our shirts or pockets that she can easily get choked.
And finally, she walks ! Here's some shots of Rou walking back and forth. The story goes like this:

Mommy : Rou, give mommy some bread, please
(She understands "give mommy" and "bread")

Walked towards her bowl she used to eat bread

Walked back to mommy with an empty bowl instead of bread.
Rou : (Mommy, Rou Rou finished all the bread, no bread only empty bowl)

Whatever she gives mommy, there is always a big smile in return !

My action items for the next two weeks

2008-05-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

1. Eat a lot of good food. Food in Singapore is just too healthy for me. I really miss my nasi lemak wrapped in real banana leaves from the road side stall, char kuey teow at Pasar Malam, authentic Tom Yam in Kampong Bharu and yes for sure my mom's cooking. How I wish I could delete Thursday off from my calendar. I can't wait to go home.^_^

2. Go shopping. Oh...how i missed my weekend shopping. Back then in KL, shopping used to be one of my favorite activities. I could shop from MidValley to One Utama and ended up in Ikea, all in one stretch. I could dumb my hubby at home ( he would love to be dumbed rather than go shopping with me) send my lovely daughter to my mom's place and enjoy my day hanging in the shopping malls for hours and don't mind to be alone!

3. Watch my cantonese Hong Kong Series in cantonese. I still cannot get use to hearing my favorite Hong Kong Actors speak such fluent mandarin (All Hong Kong shows in Singapore's channel are dubbed in mandarin). It is just too good to be true.

With the above action items, is 2 weeks enough or not ? Haha..lets not be too greedy. Maybe after a week, I will miss Singapore for the serenity, tidiness, and cleanliness which I shall never get in KL.

Rou @ 11 month 3 weeks

2008-05-13T01:12:00.000-07:00

Rou is learning to balance herself this few days. When she attempts to walk, she will make sure it is not too far from her walker. So if she lost balance, she could quickly hold on to her walker. At her age, she already knows how to protect herself. Never under-estimate kids these days.
These are pics taken after an outing to Orchid Garden and the only few shots of Rou in dress. I love to see her in dress as I always want my daughter to look feminine and that is also why she was named "Rou". (Rou in Chinese means Gentle.)
5 more days, Rou will turn one. Wow, time flies...Hope she will have a lovely birthday back in KL.
Looking forward to this Friday.... Mommy is a bit home sick now.....

You call this a thinker ? Or a day-dreamer ?

2008-05-12T01:41:00.000-07:00

Since Rou was born, we have been taking her pictures almost every other day. Being a parent, I think the most enjoyable thing to do with our parents is to share with them what Rou has learned today, how happy she is and every pics that I sent back to them is a story that they will share with the neighbours and relatives. While they happy in viewing photos, I also become addicted in shooting photos, guess what ? I now master the skill of taking photos with my hubby DSLR camera.

Just today, I took this photo. Rou always has this pose. She loves to put her hand holding her head as though she is thinking of something or day dreaming. I personally feel this is a funny shot for a baby at her age..Don't you think she looks mature ?

Do you think Rou will be an athlete ?

2008-05-09T01:42:00.000-07:00

Rou was born with big frame. Both me and hubby are above 5' 5" and considered as tall so a lot of my relatives said Rou will grow up be to a tall girl. Perhaps she has inherited our genes. Even before she was born, she has been very active in mommy's tummy and most of the time when we visited the gynae, we saw her moves a lot in the womb. When Rou was born, she has never stop kicking her legs when she is awake. When Rou was 1 month old, she is able to hold her head up and she can slightly flip to the side. She started to stand when she was 4 months old and now she has started to walk.Most of my friends said she has very strong legs and will be an athlete when she grows up. What do you think ?
Below are some shots of how Rou played with her baby basketball.

Living in Singapore - Episod 2

2008-05-09T00:55:00.001-07:00

A lot of my friends asked me what are the major differences between living in Malaysia and living in Singapore. Well, after living here for a few months, let me share with you some of my experiences and some jokes (only if you find it funny).
1. Zebra crossing
In Malaysia, whether there is zebra crossing or not, before we cross the road, we will make sure there is no car / bikes. If we see from far there is one, we will stop and let the car drive through far away then only we cross ? Right ? Well, in Singapore, all vehicles will slow down and stop when they see pedestrian crossing the road. I was such a fool when I first came here. I stop at the zebra crossing was waiting to see the taxi drive off, but he seems to wait for me to cross. We both stared at each other until he has to wave me off. It was such an embarrassing moment.

2. Toll house and ERP
In Malaysia, we have so many tolls but i couldn't find one in Singapore until one day I tell my hubby, "Singapore is such a generous country, they don't build tolls to burden their citizen and my hubby had a good laugh and tell me :"Darling, we just paid one. In Singapore, they don't have space to build it on the road, thats why they build it on top. See... smile at the camera up there..."
So stupid me, just keep quite.....
In case you are wondering how the ERP gantry looks like, here's a pic from Wikipedia :
ERP stands for Electronic Road Pricing. It is an electronic road toll collection system. Each vehicle in Singapore has to install a device call In-vehicle Unit (IU). When a vehicle drives pass the ERP gantry, the sensor will deduct the toll fee from the cashcard installed in the IU device.

We have a new Sofa

2008-05-08T00:48:00.000-07:00

When we first moved in, our living room was empty. The sofa which the landlord left us was old and is not safe for Rou. We then asked the landlord to remove the sofa and we bought a new one. It cost us SGD 450 and yes I do like the sofa. The colour is bright and it really cheers me up when i see some colours in my house. Our daughter likes it as well. See how happy she is when we place her on the sofa.

Living in Singapore - Episod 1

2008-05-05T02:01:00.000-07:00

Well, there isn't any special skills required for one to be qualified to stay in this country, but the moment you started to live in this country, you better be prepared, life is not a bed of roses anymore, for me, I mean !

Have you seen this before ? Do a wild guess. What do you think it is ?

Here in Singapore, most people stay in HDB (Housing Development Board) flat. Due to space constraint, the only way to "sunbath" your clothes is to hang it outside your flat. Each unit has these "bamboo stick holders" mounted on the wall outside the flat and we supposed to insert the bamboo stick and hang our clothes like this :

Don't underestimate this task as it really requires some techniques. Firstly you have to select which are the ones you need to hang under the sun. Each bamboo stick can only hang 3 pieces of clothes. The one shown in the pic definitely has violated the rules. Secondly, you have to make sure the heavier item is being hung inwards otherwise you will loose balance when you put the bamboo stick out.

I got a great shock when I tried to hang the clothes the first time. Nearly thrown myself out from the window..Shhh...don't tell my mom. She will get heart attack.

Updates

2008-04-30T00:05:00.001-07:00

Finally moved in to our new home last Sunday. Hopefully the next move is going to only 2 years later. I jokingly tell everybody who asked me why move so many times, we are hiding from the loan sharks, haha.....
Rou seems to be quite ok with the new environment especially her room. She now has more space to move around and yes more falls as she move around.She now learn new things every day. And today, she learned how to clap hands !

Mommy was so happy when I clapped my hands today.

What about mommy ? Well, apart from the tiredness over the weekend, no complaint as yet. The only thing that annoys me is the weather. Here in Singapore, the humidity is killing me as well. You can easily sweat even if you are not doing anything. I am serious. Almost everyday I have to shower at least 2-3 times just to keep my body temperature down.
Will post more about where I live in the coming post. Stay tune !

Rou has made her first attempt to walk !

2008-04-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

Just today, she made her first attempt to put her leg forward without any support and yes she made it ! Rou has been cruising along the sofa, the wall for the past few months. I think she is trying to explore if she can walk like adults as she is now very good at imitating what we do. A big hand for Rou ! Hopefully she can start to walk soon, as carrying her walking up and down the staircase is really killing my feet these days !

Another move soon !

2008-04-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

We have been here for almost 2 months and we are expecting another move pretty soon as we have got a place on our own. 2 moves in 2 months time...I can't believe it ! But yes it is true and we will have another challenge to get our sweetie to adapt to another new place. Hope Rou will like it.
I am now doing my inventory listing to make sure everything come in goes into our new place. This is the first time I really put my ISO documentation skill into my real life. Always a controlled listing of all assets and inventory and make sure it is the latest version !
Folks stay tune with another updates of my new home soon !
No pics of my new place yet as we have not collected the key, but just a sneak preview of the kitchen which was taken during the viewing of the house.

Rou can stand and cruise along with her walker

2008-04-04T01:42:00.000-07:00

Rou has achieved another milestone this week. We bought her a walker which she can hold and push the walker. This walker is quite different from the previous walker that we bought her. The previous walker is a conventional walker which would prevent her from falling but it also deters her from standing on her own putting her steps forward. This walker requires her to hold on to the handle and stand up on her own and push forward to make her baby steps. I would strongly suggest this walker if your baby can already hold on to something and cruise along. Only thing is you have to watch closely to make sure she push forward and not backward as the wheel might hurt baby's feet.

Guess what is Rou doing ?

2008-03-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

The weather has been quite hot recently. Our dear baby has been very creative in keeping herself cool. Apparently she has been sleeping in this pose for a while and with her back facing up , guess it will not accumulate the heat and keep her cool all time.
Mmm... maybe I should also try this out. Who knows it might help me bend my body easier in doing some Yoga pose.

Rou eating on her own

2008-03-14T02:51:00.000-07:00

Today, I make the first attempt for Rou to eat her finger food from her own bowl. I teared a slice of bread into small pieces and put in her bowl. At first she was a bit clumsy, she just grabbed the bread and hold it tight and a few times,she just grabbed and threw. I made a demo showing her to put the bread into her mouth and tried helping her. She then tried on her own and managed to put it into her big mouth.

She was so happy and finished everything in the bowl and in fact I was even happier than her. I really want to thank a friend of mine who actually told me, "Baby is like a piece of blank paper when they are born. They need time and opportunity to learn and explore. Why bother to spend some time to let them played around and explore on their own. The happiness or experience they gained is priceless and what you need is just a few minutes to clean up the mess."
I really felt it and I really want to share with all mothers and mothers-to-bes.

Finally moved in !

2008-03-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

This is a stressful experience of moving and it is the first time in my life moving a house across the border to a totally new environment ! I had a few sleepless nights prior to the move as my mind just couldn't stop running through the checklist again and again just to make sure we don't leave any necessaries behind 300km away and for those nights that I managed to catch some sleep, it was not peaceful either, I had night mares of leaving out passports, forgot to switch off the power.... etc.. Now, I am relief...at least for now. Everything has been moved in to our new home and our dear baby is adapting well to the new environment. Just look at how she climbed up the coffee table, and showed her funny face.

I m going to miss you, my beloved nest !

2008-03-04T01:10:00.000-08:00

I moved into this house in 2005 when I got married and both me and my hubby are so attached to this house. I love my home. Every single item in this house was carefully selected, even the floor mat.I am picky and I would never buy anything just because I need it. Because of my stubbornness, I earned the privilege of choosing most of the furniture.
Heres some shots of my favourites.....good bye...I will miss you...

Moving Out Soon !

2008-02-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

Today is the 2nd last day blogging my day in this house. We will be moving out. Packing and un-packing is my greatest fear when come to moving house. Not to mention we have a baby who has the most things to pack, i.e. Sterilizer, play pen, toys, clothes, diapers, milk powder, bath tub, potty......etc. Leaving anything behind you will see 2 paranoid headless chicken stunned and stared at each other not knowing what to do.

I still remember the last time when we went for shopping at One Utama. We have everything nicely packed and when come to meal time, we started to prepare milk for Ah B, and guess what, we have hot water in the flask, we have milk bottle ready but we totally forgot about the milk powder ! Both of us panicked for a few minutes. Luckily we were not picnicking at some "ulu' place and there was a Giant Supermarket right downstairs and daddy run all the way down to buy a new packet of milk powder. Phew !
Yes, things are totally different with the young ones. Not to scare you, those in the photo is only 30% of what we need to bring along, there are 70% still in the packing process.....

My new life !

2008-02-27T18:35:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is the first post that I am writing for this blog, so better introduce myself. I am a Work At Home Mommy ( was puzzling whether to use WAHM or SAHM, after considering the work I am doing at home, I think I deserved to be called Work At Home Mom) Guys out there, please acknowledge this : Even your wife does not go on a 9-5, this does not mean she stay at home and shake leg ok ? There are plenty of house chores which you guys will never do...or never think of doing it ,i.e. wash dishes, mop floor, laundry, vacuum the house etc....... and many more. So before you say, " Hey darling, I work so hard today and what have you done at home today ?" be sure you use the right tone....
I have been in the insurance industry for the last 6 years doing process management. So anything to do with service standards and process improvement, it used to be my job !
If you asked me, don't you feel bored in the same field for 6 years ? Yes, I think I am and thats why I quit and venture myself into a more challenging role, a WAHM.
I just managed to slip through the first month of a WAHM and please wish me luck for the coming months with more challenges ahead with a 10 month old baby who has her ever-ready battery charged all the time.

Here she comes......

Hi mommy, are you saying something bad about me ?