Roses are Red

As 老夫老妻，we have not been celebrating V’day since the our patoring days. Hence, i wasn’t expecting anything from hubby yesterday. Well, he’s getting ‘smarter’ these days and have mastered the ‘arts of surprises’.

I received this bunch of roses (20 stalks to be exact)delivered to the office from hubby yesterday. It was coincident that the usually-prefer-to-lunch-out me decided to join the majority of the office girls when they said they wanted to dabao.

I was in the midst of having lunch at the pantry with the girls when someone shouted for my name to receive the roses. The next thing i heard was the girls went ‘wah…’ (with hint of envy)… and i went ‘huh’ and was in a bit of shock when I signed for it. Was so embarassed by the attention.

After I took from the roses from the delivery guy, my immediate reaction was “So…EXPENSIVE!” and I quickly placed it on the nearest table when I can find space for and put it there as though it was not for me (*in a mum in guilt mood that money was spent on roses instead of diapers) and continued digging into my food while the girls continuing to wow at the roses.

After 2 spoonfuls of rice, I kinda recovered from the shock and told them jokingly “oh ya, I have not seen who it’s from… ‘skarlly’ it’s not from my hubby..” and the girls laughed! Luckily there’s a card with his words and name on it…:)

Hub already pre-warned me not to expect any flowers next year for V’day as this year’s flowers is accumulated from the past few years when he haven’t been giving me anything.

Anyway, thanks dear. It’s a nice surprise and I appreciate it, really.

A nice birthday present

It’s really rare to receive a birthday present nowadays as I usually only celebrate quietly with Alan. So it’s really nice to receive this present from a very good friend of mine. Although it’s not an iPhone (which was partly given to me as a bday present from Alan), it’s a thoughtful gift.

He downloaded and printed photos of chloe from my facebook and customized a mug for me. I simply love it! Thanks a lot Seth.

Yummy honey

Yummy honey from Tasmania given to me by Geri! Love it with tea!

Birthday Cake from OCBC?

Have you heard of the lady who had insisted on getting a birthday cake from OCBC because that was the type of ‘service’ they have advertised recently?

It came as a surprise to the service crew in the bank when this Singaporean blogger asked for her cake over the counter. The lady had watched the recent OCBC Bank’s commercial which show the bank’s staff surprising their customer with a birthday cake. Read this really amusing post here. I almost fell off my chair rolling with laughter after I read it.

First C.I.M. meal of the year

I have not touched the kitchen since my MIL moved in and take over the apron. Who needs to when u have such a good cook in the house?

I only dare to cook when she’s not in… Keke…

Here’s my very first C.I.M. (Cook-It-Myself) porkchops for the new year.

Alan said it’s yummy!

What colour was your party hat?

Alan had a office party on new year’s eve and he needed to get a party hat for the event (oh no…he’s not vain, everyone was required to wear one or else will get ‘forfeit’). So, together with me, we went to buy a hat.

On New Year Eve, I received an SMS from Alan:

“Yo dear, the party hat is green in colour…GREEN!”

I was trying to figure out what the message means and then it striked me! It’s in GREEN.

He had to “带绿帽” ! ( “wearing a green hat”  is an expression that Chinese use when a woman cheats on her husband or boyfriend because the phrase sounds similar to the word for cuckold. This apparently dates back to the Ming dynasty when the relatives of prostitutes were forced to wear green hats.)

Luckily, Alan discovered before he wore the hat.

Never mind he gets the forfeit, he said.

Chloe’s milestones so far

Just before Chloe steps into the new year 2010, she started to talk!

And her first word is “ma…ma..”!

We have been observing her for the past few days to make sure that she is not just making some other random sound and we verified that she’s speaking her very first word “ma…ma..“!

At the age of 8.5 mths, Chloe has already achieved quite a number of milestones:

5 mth

- First tooth growth (bottom front two teeth)

- started learning to crawl

- started semi-solid food (rice cereal) and fruits

- first time rolled and fell down from the bed

6 mth

- mastered crawling,

- started learning to stand

- started porridge with vegetables

- able to go to sleep by herself when placed on her bed

7 mth

- mastered standing with support

- smile more frequently

8 mth

- Front top two teeth grow

- knows how to high-five and raise her hand when she sees people raising

- when calling out names/relations, knows how to recognise them by looking at the person

- knows how to pass item to people when she is asked to

- enjoy dancing (with support)

- giggle at times when tickled

- Said her first word “ma…ma…”!

Latest update…

- Raise her hands when people raise theirs or say ‘hi’ or ‘bye’

I’m gonna to train her how to say “gong xi, gong xi”!

Not too bad for at 8.5 mths old baby huh?

I’m really proud of her.

1st X’mas pressie

I have been longing to get a new MP3/Radio player since my Zen M Vision died on me a while ago. It suffered from the white screen of death (does anyone has any solution to offer?).

So the other day, I told Alan that I have gotten him a x’mas gift already and asked if I will get one too. He said ok and asked me what I want (believe it or not – he offered ipod and iphone!). As much as I want these fab gifts, I have vowed to spend less money this year since there are not much savings left over from our recent bonuses (morever, this year’s bonuses was pathetic).

Thus, I requested for just a simple gadget which allows me to tune in to my favourite radio station yes933 while I’m working. And that is how I received my very first x’mas pressie – a simple no frill 2 GB Sony Walkman which allows me to tune in to the radio as well as songs/mp3 which costed him $79.

My New Sony Walkman

What impresses me was this mp3 allows me to record songs off the radio! I think this pressie will serve me well till many years later!

A tune for my baby

I didn’t know I can compose until one fine night last week.

It was late at night (to be exact – it’s 1 am).

I was trying to coax Chloe into sleeping but the little monster was still wide awake with her eyes big big and refuses to sleep.

I tried tapping her butt while carrying her.

Neh. That doesn’t work.

I tried singing her lullabies.

Neh. That doesn’t work either.

I think she must be sick of those same “Old macdonald had a farm..” song that I have been singing to her (I swear that she used to love it so much that she will stop crying immediately when I start singing that!).

And then somehow or rather, I started to have this musical inspiration. It was inspired by Alan (who is already in his dreamland, snoring away..zzz).

Haa… and there I was, started composing my new lullaby:

Daddy, Daddy, Daddy is snoring

Chloe, Chloe, Chloe cannot sleep

I ask Chloe why aren’t she sleeping

She said Daddy is noisy

Surprisingly, after a few rounds of my new lullaby, she started to doze off.

Mission completed!

P.S. : Alan made me not to sing that again.

Hitting the 3-0!

I finally have to say bye-bye to the ’20′s and welcome the ’30′s…

This is another chapter of my life. Wow. Time sure flies.

Had a surprise birthday celebration arranged by Alan today and although the turnout was not really good, I was really happy to see my friends and have them celebrating this special day with me! Thank you!