Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I could hold you like this for ever

Happiness!! - Updated with RAK winners!

RAK drawing process:

1. Write down names on small pieces of paper. Separate into 2 groups - Boy and Girl.

2. Attempt to catch Sophie. In the meantime, papers get mixed up by the blowing of the fan.

3. Assess if I can hold a wriggling mouse in one hand while managing the papers in the other. Decide not to even try and get someone's assistance to hold Sophie while holding the papers!

4a.Tell Sophie to pick one.
4b. Yell "No, No, just ONE" repeatedly as she grabs for as many pieces as she can.

5. Pick up pieces from the floor, table, carpet, wherever they have fallen while she was happily throwing them around.

6. Put papers back in hand. Repeat till she happens to pick out ONLY ONE piece at a time.

7. Now, attempt to grab the one piece out of her hand as she refuses to let go. Hope that the piece will still be intact enough to read the name.

8. Realise that you forgot to take pictures of the process! Argh!!

9. Resolve to use a random number generator next time or something. Sigh.

And so finally.. we have:

RAK Winners:
Boy Boy - Khengyan
Girl Girl - Erna


Will send you both emails re pickup =)

____________________________________________

After donkeys years on the old blogskin, I've finally changed it!!

=)

Happiness - let's have a RAK!

Two RAKs! hurhur.
And they are really creatively named.. wait for it..

RAK #1: Boy Boy

RAK #2: Girl Girl

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA sorry couldn't think of any other names.

Since I'm too bushed to figure out how to make comments appear (lol), leave me a tag in my tagbox instead telling me which RAK you would like and why Oh yes.. Pls leave your blog url/email when you tag me too! Will pick the lucky winners on the 30th of June. =)

Friday, June 26, 2009

Three Weeks: Zoe Smile!


Zoe smile!

P.S:
[dons blue top]
M: Does this make me look fat?
G: YES.
[dons black and white top]
M: OK, in terms of fatness, is this better or worse?
G: Worse!
[dons purple top]
M: OK how about this one?
[long glance and silence]
G: The blue one is the best.

In another words, there's nothing I can wear that DOES NOT make me look fat! Argh!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

045: A Good Day





Its always been a running joke that I can't do an LO with lots of negative space. Many times I tried and failed because I've just the tendency to add on more and more things. But I've finally managed to restrict myself to using just 20% of the space on a CS (yes, I measured LOL).

Its a very frustrating experience as there were so many things I wanted to add but told myself CANNOT!! Haha! Alright, it will be back to my normal style after this.. phew!

Paper: DCWV white cardstock
Alphas: Making Memories Felt Alphas in blue
Embellishments: Cutouts from an angpow, Hambly's Frame Wallpaper in white, rubons from Prima Swaney collection (roses, blue ribbons and Love quote) and Fancy Pants Designs Splendid (red and pink flourishes), Fancy Pants Glitter Cuts Hearts, Making Memories Clears in Scrolls, random green ribbon.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

044: Over the Rainbow

My *supposed* white space LO.. it started with the photo in the top right and the title in the bottom right. Then knowing me I add salt add vinegar all the place and here is the result.

Oh well.. will try again for the whitespace tmr.


Papers: Blue cardstock from DCWV
Alphas: Doodlebug Just My Type in ladybug
Embellishments: Crate Paper Lilian Glitter die-cuts, rubons from Basic Grey Wholly Cow (white), Fancy Pants Designs (Free Spirit and Key Lime Pie)

Monday, June 22, 2009

Happy Father's Day / 5 LOs

Well being cooped up like a hen in a pen (wahaha it rhymes!!) there's nothing I can do for Father's Day except scrap!! And so I scrapped with a vengeance. Suffice to say I only completed the last of the 5 LO I wanted to do up at exactly midnight, the last minute of June 21st. And I haven't shown him the last one yet as he's gone to sleep with S. Oh well. At least I made my goal! Sheesh!

a. Two Pieces of My Heart
This one's also done for Laine's 9.90 challenge (scrap an LO with products of less than $9.90).
Lazy to retype, shall just copy and paste my challenge entry:

This is completely made up of recycled packaging materials!! Except the 7Gypsies 97% complete Baby stickers ($4.90) which I added at the end, forgetting I wanted to do all recycled |||-_-\.
Background is from a USPS Flat Rate box (stamped with various Inkadinkadoo, Purple Onion Designs and See-D's stamps in Versafine Deep Lagoon, Crimson Red and Onyx Black, distressed with Old Paper and Walnut Stain Distress Inks), blue paper is backing of Prima Felt DeVines (distressed with Orange Marmalde Distress Ink), photo mat is Making Memories Noteworthy ribbon card (beige) and PageFrames Designs (white). Transparent heart is the backing of Prima Say It With Crystals Swirls (stamped with assorted Unity Stamp Company stamps in Stazon Cherry Pink), title fonts are die cut (QK: Stardust Grand Complete Alphabet) from American Crafts Remarks Accents Clear Stickers Book 1. Large bracket from Fancy Pants Designs Mixed Media Square Book packaging, ribbons saved from gift boxes and red rope from clothing tag. Doodling done on the "2 pieces", "Priority" and outlining of the die-cut letters.


Next 4 LO are all in the same style (all done using SL August 2008 Mini kit!) and I am proud to say I've "destroyed" one kit doing this. Hurhur. One down, many more to go LOL.

b. Kopi Kia x2

c. Adored So Absolutely

d. Papa'z Hair

e. My Dream Girl

OMG I am so lazy today.. copy and paste ingredients list again:

Patterned Paper: Making Memories - Addie Noteworthy Pattern Stripe, Addie Noteworthy Die-cut Flower; American Crafts - Moda Bella Sophisticated; GCD Studios - Tinted Medallions; Basic Grey - Euphoria Trance; Daisy D's - Chloe Marie Daffodil

Embellishments: Why not Rubons - Cosmo Cricket (OK I didn't use this yet, darn); Dream Dimensional Flower: Adorn It; Dark Pink Felt Flowers - Heidi Swapp (Neither this, oops); Laugh Together Cardstock Stickers - Adorn Kit; Exclusive Scarlet Lime Barcode Stamps

This and That: 1/2 yard pink eyelet trim; assorted buttons; 1 mini purple flower; 1 polka dot note sheet (assorted colors)

Other additional items used:
Pink lace (forgot from where), ribbon scraps (I think from SEI Aunt Gerti's Garden but can't really remember), twine, Prima's never-ending blue tape, Prima's Elysee flower-ribbon, October Afternoon Cherry Hill cardstock stickers, and alphas from Doodlebug Loopy Love and American Crafts Poolside Vinyl Thickers in Grapefruit.

Two Weeks: Munching Away


Confinement is driving me crazy!!!
Staying at home ALL DAY LONG, eating the same food day in day out (ok the CL tries but how creative can you get with sesame oil, ginger, and 300% of the food I normally enjoy on the off-limits list), freaking fish and more fish, not being able to bathe above once a day in this sweltering weather, forgetting what water even TASTES like because I have to drink that darned longan-red-date tea, gulping down foul-tasting tonics, soups and what have you.

Yuck and I have 2 more weeks to go. OMG!!!

Do NOT smirk and tell me its good for me! I detest being patronized. Argh.

On the upside, Z is still doing her cow thing and being a really good eater and pooper. We measured her this morning and she is now 52cm long.. an increase of 5cm from her birth length! Wahlau. I also want that kind of height gain nia. Weight wise, we cannot really tell as the scale at home is stark raving mad. I mean, it tells me I weigh 30kg, duh!! Thats' probably just the weight of all the excess fats on my body right now. =(

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Chocolate milk, served warm at the poolside lounge.

Zoe suckles from my right without problem, but has been refusing the left boob.. she will scream her head off when offered the left side.
Lesson #1 learnt: Probably the 2 boobies provide different flavours of milk... chocolate from the left and strawberry from the right??

After a few frustrating tries on the left, I switched to side lying position and she happily drank.. gosh.
Lesson #2 learnt: Chocolate milk needs to served while she lounges lying down (maybe she thinks she is at the poolside). Strawberry milk can be served anytime, anyplace.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Sunday, June 14, 2009

June Goals

Personal:
1. Spend time with both Sophie and Zoe, together and individually, every day.
2. Shed another 3kg - to fit into my largest pair of pre-preg jeans.
3. Learn how to Photoscape properly!

Scrap-related:
1. Re-organize scrapping area.
2. Start up scrapping lelong
3. Catch up to Eye For Design Colour Challenge 6.
4. Finish up door gifts for Zoe's first month. Shall I charge my hubby materials and expertise expenses? Hurhur.

Baby-related:
1. Pack baby stuff.
2. Start up baby stuff lelong.
3. Be disciplined to BF / pump every 3 hours (Argh!! No more uninterrupted sleeps!)

Backdated: Diaper Cake



From Aunty Tiffany! =)

Saturday, June 13, 2009

038: Sweet Joy

Baroque, romantic, flowery, fairy-tale.
Pink, pink and more pink.
All (well, all except one) paper products used from one single collection range - K and Company's Que Sera Sera - OMG I love the range!!

I think I could get used to this!
But it is darn alot of work.

Presenting 038: Sweet Joy - one of my all time favourite photos of S and me.
I just love the look on her face! So sweet!! And for once in the last 2 years, I do not look hideously fat in a photo.. (well, thats because you can barely see my face anyway =P)

The devil is in the details and boy are there details on this one:
Made my own heart-shaped accent by punching out a heart from QS Tag Pad paper, layering some ribbons above and beneath, and topping off with a QS Grand Adhesion

Stickled the title letters and part of the PP, made liberal use of Robin's Nest Dew Drops and Hambly's.

Another custom-made accent.. Orange flourish cut outs from Basic Grey Romani - Gypsy with stickles and dewdrops, blue rose cut out from the QS background pp, stuck on pink paper roses and white butterflies, a QS Grand Adhesion, and finally a blue satin rose from SL's August 2008 kit.

Strings of pearls, Fancy Pants lace wraps and Hambly's birdcages.

Isn't that just the sweetest glance ever? Heart melting..

Papers: Que Sera Rose Swirls paper, Basic Grey Romani - Gypsy (orange flourishes - stickled in Fruit Punch, Ruby Slippers, Scattered Straw and Turquoise), Que Sera Mat Pad (2 pieces - the brown and the yellow, blue is the inverse side of the yellow), Que Sera Tag Pad (heart punchout)
Alphas: American Crafts Vinyl Thickers in Poolside Grapefruit, stickled in Fruit Punch
Embellies (too many, need to categorize!):
(a) Ribbons - Fancy Pants Lace Wraps (pink), other assorted ribbons (yellow sheer, blue twill, blue ricrac, white lace 1" and 2 different white lace 1/2"), pearl rope from Dorcas' RAK.
(b) Hamblys' - Birdcages red, Frames white, and All Mixed Up teal.
(c) Butterflies - Pink butterfly from Sophia's RAK, white butterflies from Dorcas' RAK, small metallic butterflies from Que Sera Grand Adhesions.
(d) Flowers - Blue and white paper flowers from KaiserCraft, white fabric flower from Imaginisce, pink paper roses from ArtFriend, blue satin roses from Scarlet Lime's August 2008 kit.
(e) Others - Que Sera Grand Adhesions (Time Together on heart tag and Family on blue rose cutout), 7Gypsies 97% Complete Stickers - Baby, American Crafts Sweethouse Chipboard heart (stickled in Coffee Ice), Robin's Nest Dew Drops in Paris (purples) and Hydrangea (red, blue and clear).

One Week: A Rare Moment of Peace


Zoe is one week old today and it is one week since my C-section.

Zoe:
She is a pretty good baby, does not fuss except when she is hungry; but boy, she gets hungry VERY OFTEN! At the age of less than 1 week, she can drain both breasts, drink down 2ounces of EBM, then still squall for FM - all in the space of 2 hours! Gosh! Her intake is about 3oz every 2.5-3 hours and has been since she got home.. Thats alot for a 1week old gal! S only managed 3oz at the age of about 1 month. And she is very serious about drinking.. drains down the milk so fast and sucks so hard that she gets red lines around her mouth at every feed HAHA.
Z is also a very smily baby.. Have been trying to get a picture of her smiling but not succeeded yet.

Me:
My milk supply is in, but boy it is NOT ENOUGH to feed that hungry little cow. Its better than with Sophie though, and increasing by the day. So I hope my ss will be able to peak up at a level that can TBF Zoe, though I am still far from it now. Downing lots of soups, red date tea, and taking fenugreek capsules. Hopefully I will improve! My nipples are also really sore from the vigorous mis-treatment by Zoe.. =(
The incision is also healing pretty well and I can move about with much less pain now than immediately after the section. Its quite amazing how fast the body recovers from major surgery =) I am still a little disappointed that I did not manage to VBAC for Zoe - didn't even get to try. Maybe a VBA2C for the next one? We'll see how things go.. after AT LEAST 1 year break!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Sayang MeiMei

.. is Sophie's new favourite activity.

Well.. maybe slightly behind sayang-ing her Puppy Love.. the huge pink dog we presented to her as her "gift" from Meimei. Its bigger than her and she looks completely hilarious rolling all over the floor with it! Watch for pics!

S has also expanded her vocab a little.. instead of just Papa and Gong-gong, she now also calls Tita (Filipino for Aunty, ie. my helper). No Mama or Por-por yet though =(

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

037: The Word Play

Boredom-relieving technique: SCRAP!

I haven't sent Zoe's photos for developing yet, so still scrapping on Sophie's.. I have got a HUGE backlog man. This is for Eye for Design Tip 1 - yellow, blue, brown and white.

Used something unusual this round, used corrugated cardboard as the backing. Which I stripped from a USPS flat rate box which ships my Scarlet Lime kits over! Hehe!


Journalling is done on the tape strip at the top right.
The word:play defines you, so well. Anything, and I mean anything, can be an object of endless entertainment and joy. 06/09

Papers: Corrugated cardboard, Sassafrass Lass Life Is Beautiful - Woodland Whimsy Rose Thicket (frame), Fancy Pants The Daily Grind 8x8 paper pad (blue), Graphic 45 Playtimes Past - Child's Play, Cosmo Cricket Hello Sunshine - Hopscotch (yellow border).
Alphas: American Crafts Felt Thickers in Leg Warmers Brown, My Little Shoebox tiny alphas (yellow)
Embellishments: Hambly's Screen Prints in Onesies White, Prima Felt DeVines in brown, assorted flowers from Heidi Swapp (large white and yellow), Imaginisce (flocked white, yellow, brown and crochet light blue), Fancy Pants Designs (crochet deep blue and white), Prima (printed text, blue polka dot, yellow paper), Pitter Patter metal-rimmed tags from Joann.com, blue rhinestones in assorted sizes from KaiserCraft, metal page edges in Antique Lace - Silver and fabric brads in Savannah from 7 Gypsies, metal brads from K & Company Que Sera collection, Blissful rubon from Autumn Leaves, blue transparent tape from Prima (SL August 2008 kit - the darn tape is unfinishable man!!), blue journalling tag from RAK from Dorcas.
Effects: Edged the corrugated carboard with White Stazon Opaque and Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress Ink, frame with Tea Dye, and photos with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Zoe is home =)

hooray!

Miss I's ROM

Miss I is getting ROM today. Whoohoo!

Made her a card and a door hanger using LYB Love Letters Range.. Love you I, have a great day and a great new phase of life ahead!

Dominant colours: White, black, charcoal, deep rose. Such Miss I colours!

Backdated: 2nd wedding anniversary

On our actual anniversary, we were stuck at the gynae's clinic for more than 3 hours.. ended up that we did not manage to go for a nice lunch. So we made our way down to Relish on the 4th of June instead.

Relish has a 3-course set lunch for $26+++ or a 2-course set lunch for $22. Of course, I picked the 3-course!! Which woman can resist dessert??

Starters
Me: Spinach polenta with gorgonzola sauce and shitake mushrooms
G: Tomato and red pepper soup

The polenta was nicely done, very smooth, and the gorgonzola sauce and the roasted shitake mushrooms provided a very good balance of flavours. Gorgonzola has a strong but subtle flavour, and the mushrooms were meaty and very intense. Yumms!

The soup was well done too.. smoky red peppers were strongly tasted but not overwhelming. No picture though.. it would just be a sea of.. erm.. red.. LOL.

Mains
Me: Wild Rocket Burger with Sarawak Red Pepper Sauce
G: Seafood burger with lemon mayonnaise
Both burgers came with generous helpings of done-just-right thick fries. Yumms for a kantang-lover like me.

The beef burger was done to medium-well, just nice for me! The wild rocket made a good contrast to the creamy sauce. There were 2 sauces actually, a thick red pepper sauce that was just the right amount of spicy, and a more creamy sauce that I can't quite figure out.

G was not as pleased with his seafood burger though. I didn't try it as I do not take seafood, but he said that he could not taste the individual seafood items in the patty, and the lemon mayo was too overpowering. Ah well.

Dessert
Me: Pandan-infused panna cotta with gula melaka sauce
G: Corn ice-cream with sweet corn
The panna cotta was a very good choice! The pandan flavour infused the entire custard and was well balanced by the gula melaka sauce. G commented it was too sweet but hey, who cares?? Creamy, smooth and flavourful.. enough for any girl to die for.. slurp.
His sweet corn ice cream was rather boring though. No picture too.. it would just have been a mass of yellow lor.. Heh.

The experience was also enhanced by the well-trained wait staff. Upon seeing me waddle in, they immediately offered a larger table (since I obviously can't hold my bag on my lap while eating), asked if I would like warm or cold water, and offered to do my burgers medium well instead of the norm of medium rare.

Overall verdict: Yes, go back again for a nice occasion. =)

Relish

#02-01 Cluny Court (next to Serene Centre)
501 Bukit Timah Road
Singapore 259760

Tel: 67631547

Opening Hours

Mon – Fri 12.00pm – 3.00pm (lunch)
6.30pm – 11.00pm (dinner)

Sat – Sun 10.30am – 4.00pm (brunch)
4.00pm – 11.00pm (dinner)

Suck Thumb

Suck thumb pose:



I think the 2 sisters look very alike in this shot angle!

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Current Colour Craze

- cobalt blue
- fire engine red
- ivory cream

I should be american.. lol.

Hello Zoe

6/6/09, Saturday

5.30am - We check into Mt Alvernia hospital for the C-section. Argh!! I am already hungry - no food since dinner of 5/6/09. =(

7.00am - Prepping for op commences. I did not have these procedures last round because it was emergency C-section.. straight from labour ward to OT. Need to bathe with a pre-op disinfectant(?) solution, have my stomach shaved, an enema administered (yucks!), change into hospital gown and wear a cap over my hair. I'm then wheeled to the "waiting room" outside the OT.

7.30am - Anesthetist arrives and starts to insert the spinal. He is really a champion of crap.. gosh.. told me he is the best in Batam and JB somemore after the nurses praised him! Ha.. no wonder my doc requested for him.. they have both the same crappy sense of humour LOL. He is supposedly a very good anethetist, all the nurses praised him. Once the spinal went in, my legs immediately started feeling numb. Scarily, the OT lights are reflective and I can see my lower body, including the stomach area, in the reflection!! Erps!! I resolve not to open my eyes AT ALL throughout.. urgh..

8.00am - Gynae arrives and commences the op. G is allowed into the OT and from his vantage point next to my head, apparently he can see a LOT of what's going on. Yucks!

8.14am - Z is pulled out! G's first comment is that she has a LOT more hair than S. And yes, she does indeed! She is much larger than we all expected at 3.475kg. Chubby little bubby.. who can wail her head off when offended, just like her Jiejie. I opened my eyes to take a look at her and caught a glimpse of RED stuff in the reflective overhead lights.. EEEKKKK..

Big backside!! Haha!

For the next half-hour, I am sewn up while the gynaecologist and anesthetist banter. Gosh.. They are really Crap Kings. I'm told that I am promoted to "Aunty Plus" as the mum of 2 kids, rather than just an "Aunty" with the one. Kwa kwa..

By about 9.30am, I am returned to the ward. Same ward and same room as with Sophie! Just the other bed in the 2-bedder room.

How? Does she look like S?

Visitors start to stream in but I am still suffering the after-effects of the anesthetic. Drowsy and dizzy and feeling nauseous =( No wonder they don't let patients eat for 24 hours after op.. but boy am I hungry!! Argh!!

7/6/09, Sunday
Still no food allowed in the morning as my gynae came on his rounds past breakfast time. Argh!! Why must it be Sunday when he dun open his clinic and thus does rounds later.. damn.. any other day and he would have seen me at 7+ am so I could have had breakfast! Chey! Anyway, I am certified fit to eat, but only nuah food like porridge and mee sua. Totally not filling at all! I immediately start plotting to get more food and sms G to da bao some for me. Wahaha..

Daddy and his gal

More visitors and I am in a much better state to receive them. Of course, the dreaded get-down-the-bed-and-go-to-toilet ritual has to be completed too. This requires CAREFUL maneuvering and VERY SLOW movements. Still, it does not feel as painful as the first C-section I had.

We managed to get in some shots of S and Z together today, though not very good ones.. Either the big or the small was wriggling out of position ALL the time. Oh well..

Today, Z is much more interested in feeding and proceeds to suck my nipples sore. Ouch!! S was nowhere near such a strong feeder. And best, after 2 breastfeeds in 2 hours, she can still take a full feed of formula. Gulp!! Big eater!

8/6/09, Monday
More visitors!! The gifts have piled up on the floor, table, shelf above the table, and we have even stuffed some of them into the cupboard. Most people are very practical (thanks for reading my blog guys!) and bring diapers, wipes or vouchers. Hooray! We didn't take a picture through. =(

We note that Z seems a bit yellow and ask for a jaundice test. PD thinks she is not very yellow yet and does not order one today.. instead, the test is set for Tuesday morning.

9/6/09, Tuesday
The day we are supposed to go home! However, at 10am, Z's report comes back and her jaundice levels are too high to be let out of the hospital. They are 14.4 when the threshold level is 10 or below. Sigh.. =( We decide to discharge first and leave Z at the hospital, and I will go to hospital to feed her in the daytime and pump breastmilk at night. 14.4 is not very severe, but the nurses say that jaundice level tends to drop about 1-2 units per day, so she might not be able to completely resolve after just 1 day on phototherapy. We will see how it goes..