Little white pieces.

  

The dress on the left was handed down to Joelle by a friend. I like the simplicity of that dress very much. When Joelle first wore it, she had much more hair so she looked very pretty in it. Issy ...... still looks pretty in that dress but she would be stunning if she has more hair!

The dress on the right is a baptism gift from Issy's godma who happens to be the same friend who gave Joelle the dress on the left. Joelle likes this piece very much as it has flowers and ribbons and more details. Joelle doesn't go for simplicity. She goes for complexity. 

 My girls have really grown.

My girls...

This is a special entry cos mummy is hardly on the laptop these days. As you can see, this is done at two in the morning while waiting for daddy to come home. Rare occasion. For the past many days, mummy usually falls asleep with joelle as mummy wakes up early and was kept very busy in the kitchen... baking. What was meant to be casual baking for family has turned into a small time business over this festive season. It started with few friends expressing interest and mummy thought "why not since they appreciate my baking", to the orders that kept calling in from my friends and brother's office. It is really flattering and motivating but it has certainly taken up most of my mornings and early afternoons. In fact I can only rest after about 4pm. By then I have to rush out some work for crossroad and catch up on the family's maintenance work. In short... no time for leisure stuff! 

But I'm enjoying myself. I've never been so happy baking the same stuff day in day out. I'm very careful to maintain the standard of my pastries. I do not want to go into mass production so I do not promise what I could not deliver. Everyday I would only knead out a maximum of five bottles. Anything more... I feel is mass production already. I might be tired, oven might be overworked (???) and my taste bud might have gone numb from all the QC done on every batch so the quality might drop. That is what I absolutely NOT want to happen. I really do not want to disappoint the supporters of mummy's kitchen.

As for my girls, joelle is taking this alright. She understands that mummy is busy making stuffs that people likes. While isabelle is enjoying watching mummy don the hairband, the apron, the mask and the gloves when kneading and forming the pastries. I think she finds me comical cos she would really stare and smile. Cute little girl. Oh and cos mummy's mostly busy in the mornings and early afternoons, the girls get their extra dosage of Hi-5 and Barneys. That could be the reason why joelle is not protesting. Hmmm...

Pineapple tarts

 

It took me three tries before I dare to announce "I made it!" The first batch became pineapple cookies. The second batch is rather tasteless. The third batch came out soft and hmmm... fragrant. I'm happy with this batch and I hope to reproduce a few more containers for the coming new year. This time I'm going to decorate them with cloves so they won't look like pineapple balls. Hmmm... if I had started experimenting earlier, I might be able to sell a few tubs and make some money out of this hobby! Well... I guess as long as my family enjoys the treats, I'm happy to do them for free.

   

Water babies.

Ah... wanna see my water babies in action? Its hard not to notice two pinkies in the pool. Yes I mean it. They are always the pool's main attraction. Thanks to my great buys! I did not want them both to be in pink but that was the only colour left in their sizes. Well anyway... they look sweet, super sweet in them and they always bring a smile to people's face so I guess pink is fine.

 Joelle's great with water. She's been a water baby since I started showering her at four months! Yes I was so anxious to get her aquanted with water that the minute she could hold her head upright confidently, I showered with her under running water. Then at six month, we showed her more water! We brought her to the pool and took underwater pictures! Haha! Yes we did and it's true that babies know how to hold their breath! Since then there was no holding back. We can never say "joelle don't go too near the pool" and expect that her feet will be dry. So with this girl, we must always keep an eye on whenever she's near a pool. 

 Isabelle likes the water but it was only after her first year that she genuinely likes the cool dude. She cried and struggled when I showered with her at six months. She tried to climb onto me when I showered her again at ten months. I thought perhaps I started her late or maybe I was not consistent enough. I just felt that she never really had my sole attention besides when we are breastfeeding. The funny thing however was that she enjoyed splashing in the water as early as eight month. Yes we introduce her to the cool dude a little later than joelle but she was cool at the first meet. After the initial "sinking her nails into my arms" bit, she started splashing around and getting her face all wet, though with a serious and focused expression. Ha! 

Budget terminal.

 Daddy is flying back on tiger airline this time and mummy has not been to the budget terminal before so... here we are. Joelle could not join us as she started school already. The budget terminal is... as its name implies... budget. It's big but almost... vacant. The departure hall has a cafeteria which I believe is run by hans. The prices are reasonable compare to those found in terminal 1 and 2. The arrival hall has only this row of vending machines. There is nothing to do or see while waiting. No sight of any planes or even runways. In fact we can't even see beyond those vending machines! It is a boring place. Anyway for the price that they charges, it is acceptable to adopt a "no frills" kind of approach. I guess the budget terminal is just a place to board your budget plane or pick up and go. No hanging around.  

    

    

Cashew nuts cookies

Hmmm... don't ask me how much I bought this for. Because... I made them. Yes, I bought a book recently with recipes of paranakan pastries and deserts. Dave says these cookies look so good but not sweet enough. I thought it was a little overcooked. Anyway, I'm quite happy with this attempt and I will make them better the next time. 

What a charmer!

Looking at her now, I'm so convince she's going to be a charmer. You are smiling now aren't you?

Our manager

  Suddenly I feel the need to pay tribute to our capable housekeeper. She's mary and she's from the Philippines. I appreciate her alot really, though sometimes I do have some complains and grievances. Who doesn't. No one's perfect, me included. Compared to our previous maid, mary is like... god sent. Our previous maid was younger, faster, cleaner but also naughtier. Very much naughtier. She was terribly cunning, she stole, she secretly met her boyfriend outside the apartment and sometimes downstairs with my then very young joelle. She daringly switched off our surveillance camera so she can sneak out of the house. We actually made a police report when we caught her boyfriend outside the house with her. Our daughter was then crying in the house. To think back, that was the most frightful period of our life.

It's no wonder we are more cautious with mary and a little less flexible in the beginning. Once bitten, twice shy. We are so afraid to make that same mistake so first thing first, we ban her handphone as we believe that's the cause of all problems with our first maid. Secondly, we refrain ourselves from being too nice. We chose not to eat together unless it's too late or we're outside. We used to let our first maid eat with us and sometimes even let her eat first when we're out. Thirdly, we keep a very close watch on her. My mum was staying with us when she came into the family so it was fine. The interim period when my mum moved out and me quitting my job, I kept a close watch from the surveillance camera. It was stressful I have to say. She is new and homesick, her English is different, our baby is only three months old when she started caring for her, joelle is not keen to befriend her and she is slow, can't really cook, not very clean and often distracted. We almost sent her back but decided to have a talk with her first to understand her difficulties. Her auntie talked to her, she cried, we felt bad, she asked for another chance, we told her our main concern is her distraction. We can't afford that as we have a really young child in her hands. She apologize, we understands and all's history.

 We have a great relationship now. Her English is much understandable (though Dave still finds her incomprehensible), she can cook better and I have to add... it's good. Her improvement is remarkable. Most importantly she has prove worthy of our trust. She likes isabelle alot and we're glad she's part of our life now. We sure can't imagine what will become of us when her contract ends at the end of the year. I'm sure isabelle will wail when mary leaves as they are really close now. Our baby looks for her at times you know. Am I jealous? Not that much actually. In fact I'm glad she's great with mary cos joelle is not and my hands are full with joelle. Anyway, if she ever reads this, I have this to say. Thanks mary! You have been a great companion and a real help to our family. We really appreciate you. We wish you good health and a good heart to continue loving and caring for this family. Have a great 2008 in Singapore! 

     

2008 wishes

2007 had been a great year for our family and I thank God for that. Besides the little fever and common chills, my girls ate well, slept well and played well. My prayers everyday is for the girls to be healthy and happy... above all else. Watching them grow from tiny infants to a toddler and child is the greatest fulfillment for me. I'm happy to be blessed with the opportunity to do so. I thank my sweet hunny for acknowledging my desire to stay home with the girls and finally seeing the good in this arrangement. In fact he is starting to enjoy the fruit of his labour.

For Isabelle, I wish for her the sentiments of a kind and loving heart, the wit and tact of a great mind and the strength and will for a healthy soul. This girl is special in every ways and I love her. Isabelle needs to learn more of the good stuff and less of the naughty stuff. It's understandable that she picks up faster from the direct influence of her sister. Not all that I'm proud of but I can see the desire to imitate and please. She is beginning to develop her personality and I'm praying for the guidance to lead her onto the right path. It's important to me that she understands humanity and learns to be humble and considerate. More than all the intellect know-how of the world. I wish for her to grow up to be a great person... in everyone's heart.

For Joelle, I wish for her more confidence of her strength, more control of her sentiments and more discipline to cultivate her passion. This child of mine has already in her a brilliant mind, a warm and loving heart and the wit and tact to survive. I love my firstborn and in no time she will stop asking to share my bed and hold my hand, so tonight and every night on, I will never refuse my hand or chase her off my bed. She is growing up too fast and I need to cherish every single moment to strengthen our bond. I wish for her the pink of health to continue being the loveliest girl in the world. In my heart, she is already a fantastic little big girl.

For the love of my life, I wish for him a body of steel to withstand the scorching of the sun and the beating of the rain. I wish for him a firm and decisive mind to understand the workings of the business world and the wisdom to differentiate good from bad. I wish for him too a loving heart to embrace his wife and daughters and a love deep enough for forever. He is in fact the sweetest and kindest man I've known, to me or the girls, to his family or friends. Sometimes he gets pretty hurt by his kindness and so I pray... that he continues to be kind but learns to detect deceit and not be a constant prey to the false declaration of brotherhood. Some people just like to take this kind soul for granted. I love this man and come April, we will be celebrating a wonderful six years of marriage. I pray that love will keep us going on and on and on...

For myself, I wish for a better health to enjoy all the wonderful gifts God has gracefully bestowed upon me. And that to me is the single most important gift I need for the year of the good old rat.

Happy 2008!

Hmmm...

 Somehow they do look alike right?

Caricature

There was a fair at the opening of the new SPC in Punggol. It was not crowded cos everyone else were at the kampong days fair next to punggol plaza. Joelle had a caricature done with exactly the same face. She was feeling warm and tired so I couldn't coax her into smiling for the man who drew this. But I think he did a good job. He managed to make a sullen face look good.    

Mummy's birthday

I must blog this... cos it's my birthday celebration. Yes.. yes.. I know... it's January 2008 already and my birthday is in November but I'm a really busy mummy you know. Sometimes I don't even know what I'm busy about. I just don't have enough time to do what I want to do in the day so it's only at times like this ( 1:13 am) that I can sit down in peace to do my OWN stuff!

Tomorrow I'm gonna work out a schedule for Joelle so she doesn't demand for my time all the time. She just started K1 on the 3rd of January and I feel that it's time to start her on a disciplined schedule. Yes! That's what I'm gonna do tomorrow so that by Monday on, she'll have allocated time for everything. That way she won't monopolize my time all the time. Isabelle needs me too you know. She's 15 months now and she surely knows more than I think she does so I ain't gonna take any chance in case she feels neglected.

Christmas Fruitcake

   

This christmas I actually baked fruitcakes for the party. Together with a little notepad-cum-card and a bar of chocolate, it actually made a neat little party pack for the guests. Christmas is a special time for me and I would also like to make it memorable for the girls.