Photos uploaded for Cruise Trip

Photos uploaded for Cruising with Keira... click here to see them!
http://lonebabe.blogspot.com/2007/08/cruising-with-keira.html

Recipe: Udon Soup

I got inspired to cook Udon Soup for Keira after our Cruise trip. On the last day, we had Japanese for lunch and my bro ordered Udon for Karin (my niece). Then, I thought.. hmm.. let Keira try a bit of the udon. She loves it!

So, my adventure began on Saturday.....

Here’s the recipe for Udon Soup
(Makes 1 – 2 servings, depending on infant’s age)

Ingredients:
· 4-5 udon, boiled and diced
· ½ small carrot, peeled and diced
· 4 - 5 Spinach leaves, washed and chopped
· 200ml water

Method:
1. Wash Udon and boil
2. Place carrot and spinach in a small pot or slow cooker to boil and simmer until carrot is soft
3. Place Udon in and cook for another 10 minutes until boil
5. Serve on bowl

Keira's attempt at swimming after mummy's slipped-incident

(mummy is super busy at work, having to start work right after putting Keira to bed every nite!. Nonetheless, making an effort to update the blog before I call it a nite)

So, if you read about Keira's unfortunate incident on Superstar Virgo swimming session (http://lonebabe.blogspot.com/2007/08/cruising-with-keira.html), here's a sequel to the story...

On Sunday (26/8), we had nothing to do at home and weather looks pretty alright so I suggested bring Keira for a swim. Ofcoz I did thought if Keira's gotten over with the cruise slipping incident... but I don't think I should avoid it just because she had a scare once. Anyway, it had been 4-5 days, and she should have "forgotten" about the incident. Plus, she IS my daughter and she is as strong as I am to challenge the waters again.

So we headed to my bro's house, so my niece can join us too! Look at how "stylo" Keira looks!

Well, Keira was indeed scared of the water when we brought her to the kids pool. For a while, she struggled not to get into the water. After some coaxing and distraction, she got into the pool. We started distracting her with floats and playing with her that she soon forgotten she was once scared of waters... haha... Good Gal!

Edelweiss

Keira loves music/songs, but not the mozart effects of that sorts! I think she doesn't enjoy mozart effects. She loves pop music, she seems to like 五月天 and F.I.R songs lot. Maybe she was influenced by me, I play these types of music while driving everyday ever since I was preggie with her. One particular F.I.R song that Keira will definitely hum along is 天天夜夜. I sing while driving everyday..loudly...and she'll hum louder than me! haha..

Lately, I tried singing Edelweiss to Keira during naptime and bedtime. She seems to love it too. Hmm...maybe it's my singing that she enjoys, and not particularly on any songs?????? I just recalled during my cruise trip with Keira couple of days ago, I sang Edelweiss while patting her to bed. I stopped singing and she turned to look at me, I continued singing and she went back to slumberland.

Anyway, I had problem trying to remember the lyrics for Edelweiss, and for the past weeks, my lyrics goes like this:

Edelweiss, edelweiss,
every morning you greet me.
Small and white, big and bright,
la, la, lalala, la...lala,
la, lalala, lalalala, lala,
lalala....lala, la
Edelweiss, edelweiss,
every morning you greet me

(anyone fainted already?)

Ok, now that I am still up and awake, I just browsed through www and found the lyrics!!!

Edelweiss, edelweiss,
every morning you greet me.
Small and white, clean and bright,
you look happy to meet me.
Blossom of snow, may you bloom and grow,
bloom and grow forever.
Edelweiss, edelweiss,
bless my homeland forever.

----
Psst, I need to practice more kiddy songs. Maybe its time for me to learn from my niece! haha... I was "refreshed" with Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars after hearing Karin sang it... haha...

11 month-old: Another Milestone

This evening, Keira took alot more steps on her own.. 8-9 steps..... haha :-)

Keira takes 3 steps on her own, without support

So... if you've read my blog on "cruising with Keira", you will have read that Keira walked alot and took the stairs quite a fair bit as well. I think that has done her lotsa good... haha coz she is now confident of walking without any support! Yesterday evening and this morning, I witnessed her taking 3 big steps towards me and my mum... yeah yeah yeah! I clapped and she smiled :-)

Way to go, gal.... soon, you'll be cruising all by yourself at home.. haha ... (only more worry on my part for you dear....)

Cruising with Keira

19 - 22 August: Cruise to Penang & Phuket on Superstar Virgo
(photos to be uploaded shortly, come back again to check it out)

Keira's 1st trip overseas, yeah!!! So exciting for her, but stressed out for me! K papa did not go though, I went with Elder Bro, Sis-in-law, Karin my niece, my mum and dad.

Pre-trip Planning:
Plenty of things to bring for a 11-month old baby! Can you imagine??? not unless you are already a parent! There were so many things on my mind on what to bring for Keira, countless! I had to make a checklist of what to bring on an excel spreadsheet, and had to have my fren littlepony to vet it for me! Just imagine, diapers alone... how much space would that occur in my luggage already!?!?!?! ha... littlepony told me not to forget myself & my stuff with my mind preoccuppied with Keira's stuff..haha! TRUE!

So, for a 4D3N trip on a cruise, I had:
1) A trolley luggage - my clothes only occupy 1/4, the rest are full of her stuff! Oh.. mum told me to bring her pillow, bolster and blanket - which I did -> lucky I did! haha....
2) A big backpack with food/milk/equipment etc etc supplies to last for 4D3N

Day 1 - 19/8:
Arrived at Harbourfront checkin and boarded cruise by noon. Fed Keira her porridge before boarding the ship, coz she's not going to have any home-cooked porridge for the next few days. Had lunch on ship, followed by walk around the ship. Keira uncovered her hidden flair for climbing stairs.....Didn't want to stop after she tried, and for about 30 mins, we took turns to support her up and down aarrgghhh.....Finally, we managed to get her to sit down for a pic with Karin...

By about 3pm, dear Keira was yawning - big time! Had a hard time putting her to bed, coz she was sleepy yet playful!!! Finally, ship departed Harbourfront at 4pm, and Keira woke up slightly from her 'shakened' bed.. haaa...
I was quite tired out by Keira, and Zzzz by 9pm!! ha... gone was my first day. Oh.. I have to show this pic.. coz we were so amused by what we saw when we got back to the room after the beds (including the sofabed) were made....

(Apparently, the service crew member who made our beds probably saw Keira's little pooh bear, pillow and bolster... kindly make their positions to amuse little Keira... haha... CUTE! ... this scene repeated for all 3Nites...wonderful!!! thumbs up to the service crew!!!)

Day 2 - 20/8:
Had Breakfast, fed some porridge to Keira taken from the buffet spread. Sis-in-law was amazed how much Keira eats...non-stop! Never seems to be enough was her comments.. haa..
After lunch we disembarked in Penang. Had to take a boat ride from cruise to shore... very hot and stuffy! Poor Keira was perspiring! It was also very challenging getting taxi to get to the shopping area. We made it anyway... shopped for couple hours and Keira ZZZZzz in my arms while we shopped. While Keira was ZZzzz, I managed to buy 2 pairs of shoes for her. Glad I was able to find shoes for her size coz I could never find nice design in her size for Keira. They are cheap too, about SGD10 for each pair. Yeah... felt like mission accomplished for me... ;-)

(At Penang Port)

Day 3 - 21/8:
Phuket for one day! Disembarked after breakfast. We joined the free&easy land tour to get to Patong beach for shopping. Bad weather! It rained for 15 mins, stopped for 15 mins, and rain in that sequence throughout the day! My goodness!!! Bought Keira a Ripcurl set for SGD7. Looked and bargained high and low for an England Jersey set for her, but to no avail. :-(
Got back on cruise by about 4 plus pm. Rested before dinner. Keira slept early... by 8 plus pm, she was in slumberland with little pooh bear... (oh.. i brought it along for her)

Day 4 - 22/8:
(Extremely "Exciting Day" for both Keira and I - read about this!)
Last day on board the ship. We've not had a chance to swim, and decided we should after breakfast. So excited was I, got changed into my bikini, and put on Keira's sweatsuit (coz it was windy so I did not want her to wear too little..hehe). Prepared everything, and headed for the pool... kids pool... yeah!
Headed for the first bb pool, very low level, no issue... Keira played excitedly! Bro suggested going to the jacuzzi for the bb... oh.. great idea!!!! ha... i was carrying Keira and heading towards it... took the steps up, and was mentally telling myself... slowly.... be careful... dun trip...blar blar blar...
Guess what...!! have you guessed it already???

I TRIPPED in that stupid jaccuzi, and dropped Keira into the jaccuzi!!!!!!!! Shocking!!!!!!! where is Keira!!!!????!!!! her whole head and body submerged into the water, faced down!!!!!! I grabbed her up immediately, her head emerged and for few seconds, she was in shocked. Then in couple seconds, she wailed in her loudest every cry! Her face, eye brows, cheeks all turned read, and tear couldn't stopped rolling! My god, what I have done!???!??! But the stupid jaccuzi steps were really slippery!!!! After that, Keira cried for good 15-20 mins, and refused to get into the water anymore! So that was both our 5 mins dipped for the whole cruise trip... :-(
My fault! Poor Keira, she's got a butter-finger & butter-feet mum!

Verdict:
Overall, I enjoyed the trip - more the chance to spend close/personal time with Keira and enjoying sweet moments with her. Though she was very much in her naughty-self throughout the trip, I still treasured the time spent with her. During this trip, Keira walked alot, and wanted to walk alot too! When she saw the stairways at the lobby area, she pulled me/dad to walk up and down the stairs with her! I must say, that was extreme sports to both my dad and I!

Anyway....I think Keira enjoyed herself... she was super hyped up!

Tagging... and Tagged

Ok, I have absolutely no idea what this tagging thing is all about either! I was puzzled for a while, then I figured it's just a series of questions asked to someone/few people, and they just tag along and ask more people.

I've been tagged by a friend by the nick Domestic Goddess, and I am supposed to answer the following in my blog and tag 4 other blogging friends. I should not break the tag, so here's mine...

Four jobs I have had in my life: --> "have had" means I should not include current job...!?!
1) Project Manager
2) Systems/Process Readiness Manager
3) Sales Systems Coach
4) Sales Manager

(1 - 3 jobs within the same company :) )

Four places I have lived: --> "have lived" means I should not include current place...!?!
1) Beijing, China
2) Hougang, Singapore
3) Upper Serangoon Road, Singapore
4) My Mother's Womb!

Four Countries I have been to on vacation:
1) Korea
2) England
3) Switzerland
4) France

Four places I would rather be right now:
1) Lying beside Keira, kissing her cheeks
2) Lying on my bed, Zzzzz for at least 8 hours straight with no disturbance
3) On the cruise (so looking forward to this Sunday!)
4) Can't think of one now....

Four mums I’m going to tag:
1) Wey & Wen's mum
2) Wayne's mum
3) Rachel's mum
4) Shermaine's mum (ehh... I wanna tag her but she doesn't have a blog eh...????)

Recipe: Millet with Fish & Veggie

Here’s the recipe for Millet with Fish & Veggie.
(Makes 1 – 2 servings, depending on infant’s age)

Ingredients:
· 1/4 small cup of Millet (小黄米)
· 100 gram of fish – ‘Ghor Hee’, skin removed, deboned if any and sliced
· 1 potato, peeled and diced
· ½ small carrot, peeled and diced
· 2 cherry tomatoes, skinned and seeded
· 4 - 5 Spinach leaves, washed and chopped
· 200ml water

Method:
1. Wash Millet
2. Place all ingredients (except fish) in a small pot or slow cooker to boil
3. Once boiling, cover pot and simmer until millet is cooked and vegetables are soft
4. Place fish in and cook for another 5 minutes until boil
5. Serve on bowl

Note:
- Millet can be used as a replacement for rice as it carries more nutritional value. Brown rice can also be added with millet too.
- If infant not ready for finely chopped carrots/potatoes, please puree them. Likely for fish, puree before serve.

Keira Rocks !?!

Nice sunday morning...I proposed to have Mcdonalds at West Coast Park. Got changed, and zoomed we went....

We had our big breakfast sets while Keira had her soft meal bread. Right after, we took a pink Mcdonalds' balloon and went for a walk at the park. Lotsa babies, kids and dogs today... and Keira simply enjoyed looking around!

We chanced upon a 'rocker' at one of the playgrounds, and put Keira on it... immediately, she started rocking with it by herself!

Here's an pic of her....seems like she doesn't quite like to smile at the camera...umm....

Nevermind then, I captured her rocking on it!

Keira and Karin - The Cousins Shoot

T---im---ber.....

Hah, what a cute cousins they make! How about getting our 10.5 mths old Keira sit still with her 2.5 yrs old cousin Karin for a photo shoot? ya?? ... Get---set---- Ready.....GO!.....

Of course they are going to fall! ... and they fell.....

Mum Can Cook!

My letter to Mother & Baby Magazine appeared on the August issue! They named my letter "Mum Can Cook" ... haha....

Indeed, I was never a Cook! The most I'll ever do for cooking - instant noodles! Ya, I don't really wanna venture too far from there because I hate clearing up the mess and washing up! But, Keira changed me.... I started cooking porridge when she was about 7 months. And yes... I never really venture further than porridge, except to change the ingredients in there... you may have read it from my previous blog.

So, when I read a coverage on Mother & Baby in their April issue on 'Feeding & Weaning Special', I was impressed and motivated!!! Yes, motivated after I read about the Chicken Stew!!! Hey, I never really though of making stew for my gal, but that was such an inspiration for me to try it on Keira since stew = something soft enough for her at her age to 'chew' and swallow. So, I went to buy a slow cooker... and ventured into the world of COOKING!

Oh, the best thing is... hubby has never praised me on cooking ... but my stew attempts... his indirect comments after tasting the left overs from Keira was... "next time cook more la, so I can eat too" ... ;-O