Sundown Marathon 2009

In less than 3 hour's time, I'll be running the Sundown Marathon 2009. This run is dedicated to Nicole, my wife of 9 months and our soon-to-be-born little girl, Chloe. As I trudged along the paths of Changi, East Coast, Siglap, Bedok Reservoir, Tampines and Pasir Ris, wondering why I signed up for these self-inflicting tortures, I will have to dig deep to visualize the family whom I will embrace in 3 month's time.

Nicole and Chloe, this run is dedicated to the both of you. My lovely angels and even though both of you will not be present at the run, I know deep down that you both will be rooting for me, no better how badly I run. =p

Pre-natal Class 4

This week we learnt all about breast feeding and bottle feeding. Scary to see all those swollen breasts full of pus due to wrong breast feeding methods. Here are some tips for mums-to-be:

1. Recommended to breast feed baby for 15-20 mins on each side of the breast during each feed to avoid swollen breasts. Try cabbage treatment if swelling/engorgement occurs.
2. Start bottle feeding only after baby is at least 1 month old.
3. Straight teats are preferred.
4. It is only necessary to sterilize all the utensils before babies are 6 months old.
5. Using thongs, remove the screw cap from the sterilizer first. Followed by the teat, the cap and the bottle. There is no need to air dry the bottles after they have been sterilized as any water condensation in the bottle is sterile.
6. Turn the teats inside out to wash. As the interior is fragile, use a gentle scrub instead of the brush to wash the teats. Take note to wash the tip as well.
7. Milk bottles typically last for 1 year while teats last up till 6 weeks only.

Hill Top Japanese Restaurant

It was Boo's mum's 63th birthday on Monday. We wanted to bring her to Shangri-la to enjoy the huge discounts based on her age but it was fully booked by the time we called. Then we recalled that there is a nice Teppanyaki restaurant which a client brought us to 6 years ago. So we suggested to go to this Hill Top Japanese Restaurant located close to Jurong Bird Park for dinner on Sunday.

Before dinner, we went to Philips warehouse sale and bought Chloe a room/bath thermometer since we learnt at the Pre-natal class that she should be bathed in water temperature of 37 degree Celsius. Johnson then went for a haircut in preparation of the Sundown Marathon next Sunday. We went home to rest before heading for dinner with the yam cake we bought from Angie.

Dinner was great! Scallops and chicken were tender although it seemed like they were left on the stove for a long time. Garlic fried rice was a let down as the chef was frying the rice in bulk. But the udon was very tasty. We were busy marvelling at how fast the chef can deshell the prawns using the teppanyaki utensils that we forgot to eat. After dinner, we proceeded to a seperate area for complimentary desserts (choice of mango pudding, sago, chin chow, ice creams etc). After singing the birthday song, it was time to dig into the yummy yam cake. Even though the cake looked creamy, it was very light and fluffy. Boo's dad who doesn't take sweet stuff also had a bite!

Sashimi - Boo's Parents' All Time Favourite

It was awsome to watch the chef deshell these King Prawns.

Hilltop View

Pre-natal Class 3

We learnt how to bath, swaddle and put on cloth diapers for babies. Before the class, we thought we would not have a chance to practise cos the class is so big. To our pleasant surprise, each couple get to have a "baby" to "play" with. It was fun! Some tips for bathing:

1. Bath water temperature should be 37 degree Celsius.
2. A drop of non-bubbly baby body wash in the bath water is sufficient for new born.
3. No need to use additional shampoo for babies until they are 3 months old.
4. Sing to the baby while bathing. Teach her to count her toes!
5. Mittens only need to be wore till 6 months old.
6. Mums to be delivering at TMC can sign up for the free breastfeeding and bathing lesson during the hospital stay. For a meagre $10, you get to try out the different breast pumps at Thomson ParentCraft before deciding which pump is the most suitable one for you.

Tung Lok Classics @ Chinese Swimming Club

Johnson just bought a new Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens last Friday and was honing his photography skills when we went to Tung Lok Classics for late dim sum lunch on Sunday with Johnson's family. The restaurant is located in the newly rebuilt Chinese Swimming Club 2 blocks away from Johnson's cousin, Michael's place. Here are some snapshots of what he had taken with the new lens:

Egg tarts were nice and fluffy.

Can you believe this is tofu?

Complimentary special fruit juice concoction served as a good end to the meal.

Pre-natal Class 2

We got a shock when we stepped into the class yesterday. On the screen was a stream of videos on women giving birth in their Sunday suits using different techniques eg. water birth, c-section etc. Chloe's daddy thought we'd gone to a porn show hahahah.... Well, guess that is one of the added incentives for going to childbirth course :)

Vesak Day

It was a busy weekend for us. Last Saturday was Vesak Day. As a yearly regime, Johnson will go to Buddhist Union to chant on Friday night till midnight. On Vesak Day itself, we went to the temple together to pray and have vegetarian food. Johnson also helped with the distribution of the vegetarian food to the visitors just like previous years. Ah boy, Boo's younger brother, was nice enough to watch over our house while the part time house cleaner finished up her weekly chores. We packed him a huge packet of vegetarian food and let him play PS3 & the newly upgraded Wii as a token of appreciation.

Sunday was Mother's Day. So we bought Boo's mum and family to dim sum @ Red Star Restuarant. Johnson feels the standard of the food has dropped but it could have been attributed to the fact that we were there @ 8am and not all the staff were working yet. Dinner was @ Long Beach Main Seafood Restaurant with Johnson's large extended family and cost a whopping SGD500. Mama Boo thought the food was not that fantastic for the price esp since she could not have any of those crabs which everyone else was raving about :P.

We also installed a Biometric digital lock at half the usual price on Sunday afternoon. It was such a good bargain. No more worries about forgetting to lock the door and no need to bring keys out from now on. Just need to swipe with our fingers and we can get into our house! Those who are interested can get the contact from us.

Monday was the replacement holiday for Vesak Day. We went for the 6th checkup and baby Chloe has grown to 768g while Mama Boo has ballooned by almost 10kg since pregnancy. We had healthy yong tau foo @ Chinatown for lunch. It was already long queue when we reached there @ 11am.


After lunch we went to Julia Gabriel to find out how many months in advance do we need to enroll Chloe in their enrichment classes as Mike told us that his friend had to wait a year on the waiting list. Their classes are popular as they teach the kids to build up confidence to speak up (which is much lacking in Asian kids) through drama and play. We got their schedule and fees before heading back home for a much needed afternoon swim.

Mama Boo went clad in the Billabong bikini hubby gave as birthday present last year since she can no longer fit in her usual tankini. Swimming was Boo's favourite sport but it has been a long time since we last swam (during early pregnancy) as it was not advisable to engage in strenous physical activities after the amnio. It was very relaxing despite panting due to "additional weight load". We should swim again more often :)

Yesterday's dinner was Ichiban Sushi @ Bt Panjang Plaza (BPP for short). The reason why we went there was so that Papa Bear could get the Guitar Hero from the game shop there. The entire set includes a drum set, an electric guitar and a mic. We spent the entire night jamming music till wee hours in the morning. It was an enjoyable weekend and how Mama Boo wished she didn't have to go to work :P

Pre-natal Class 1

Yesterday was the first time we attended the Childbirth Education Course organized by Thomson ParentCraft Centre. Papa Bear was very anxious to sign up for the course as he is a clueless first time dad. The above pic shows the anxious daddy-to-be taking a leak at the Little Skool House where our class was conducted :P

It was a pretty enjoyable session with the instructor, Mrs Wong Boh Boi, cracking jokes and mummies trying out the breathing and pelvic floor exercises while daddies learnt massage techniques to ease mummies pain during childbirth.

The class was too overcrowded though. Apparently her class is very popular due to the many positive comments in the forum. There were even couples from Mt E and Gleaneagles joining the class. It took a while for us to get used to Mrs Wong's accent. But it was a very informative session nonetheless. Looking forward to the next lesson...