In and Around Houston

I woke up very early this morning and had a great chat with Chloe and the rest of my family.  Then I did some work.  By the time my conference call ended, it was already 11am.  There was no more breakfast served at the hotel so I decided to head out to the Willowbrook mall for brunch.

Exterior view of Willowbrook Hampton Inn

Willowbrook mall is so near yet separated by a huge carpark.

There are mini cars for the kids to sit in and drive around the mall.

Cute outfit from old navy. Too bad it is not useful in Singapore's weather.

Willowbrook Park within the mall

Seems like Hello Kitty is popular here too. The tutus are so cheap, only USD 6.95!

Hubby says I should get something for myself from VS.

And so I did!

Bought a wristlet from Coach too.

This particular Abercrombie store sells clothes for kids but there is nothing for 1 yr olds. The outfits are mostly for teens.

Lunch was Apple Pecan Chicken salad and lemonade at Wendy's.

This is the Abercrombie store for adults.

Bought a T-shirt each for myself and hubby. No, daddy, this is not your bod.

Cute Minnie outfits @ Disney store.

Cute bookends of Toy Story 2.

I adore these markers. They'd make lovely party favors if Chloe were to have another Minnie theme party.

Does Chloe need panties?

Mickey Doctor set USD 24.50. For age 3 and above.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Ambulance USD 29.50. For age 2 and above.

Board books on opposites, shapes, colors etc. USD 16.50.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Marker and Stamp set. USD 10+.

Mickey mouse plane. Forgot the price.

Rauph Lauren dress for 18month on sale at Macy's. USD 22+.  Which one should I get?

Texus bullshit.

Cute bathropes.

After lunch, I shopped a little and went back to the hotel. I was so tired as it was past midnight in Singapore so I dozed off again. When I woke up, it was 7am Singapore time and Chloe was awake! So we had a video chat again before I headed out for dinner at Chili's located right next to the hotel.

Chili's interior

Pork ribs and loaded marsh potatoes. The ribs were tender but I did not find it very yummy.

Mouton chocolate cake. Qutie disappointing as the chocolate inside did not melt.

Chili's exterior

As I made my way back to the hotel, I noticed there was a sign that says "Toys R us" and " Babies R us".  So I decided to check it out.

It turned out that Toys R Us is opened till 9.30pm CST so I walked around the store to see if there is anything worthy to put my dollars in. There were many!

160 pcs of pampers going for USD 41.99.  Uncle Tan, is it worth it to buy?

I'm glad there is Purified water for babies.

I did not see this in Singapore and I think this is useful when we go out. Considering to buy.

This is so much cheaper than in Singapore.

Cute Pooh bear bath rope. Should I get this for Chloe?

Wendy, this should be useful for Amanda, don't you think so?

The tiger food jar we have is too huge. Considering to get foogo to store homecooked baby food for trips out.

Should I get this Minnie flask for Chloe?

Or should I get these instead?

Minnie plates anyone?

I'm going to get these table toppers! We saw a caucasian used this in Singapore and were wondering where to get it.
This is going to be very useful to keep the eating area in restaurants clean for our little girl.

Cute elmo teethers.

Daddy, please help me check if these are much cheaper than Singapore?

There are so much to see here and I've only finished one lane. I'm coming back tomorrow night!

10,000 miles away from home on 10/10/10

Mama Boo had to fly to Houston for work on 10 Oct 2010. It is the first time I am away from Chloe since her birth :( Chloe and her daddy sent me off at Changi airport for the 6.40am flight. My little girl was still cheerful even though she had to wake up at 4.30am. Her daddy was very sad to see me leave. But Chloe was a strong girl, she grabbed hold of her daddy's index finger and brought him away from the departure hall. She even smiled and waved good bye to me.

I boarded flight UA 846 after I bought tax deducted moisturisers for both myself and hubby. The plane's 3-4-3 configuration gave me sufficient legroom considering that I had 3 seats to myself. In actual fact, the tickets were booked under Continental Airline but apparently it has merged with United Airline since May 2010.

No air steward/stewardess directed me nor help me to put my luggage into the travel compartment nor asked to put my jacket away nor was there any personal inflight entertainment. Well, this is not SIA afterall.  The breakfast was hardly satisfying but I still enjoyed in part the Iron Man 2 movie screening on the shared screen while dozing off.



1st stopover was at Hong Kong.  There is no way I can miss HK milk tea and wanton mee.  So I bought tender pork cartilage from Cui Hwa to go with its milk tea for lunch. 


  

Then I ordered takeaway for the wanton mee from Tasty Congee and Noodle shop before I headed to the HK disney store in search of something for my precious little girl. There were many winter vests and jackets but as we did not plan to go anywhere cold this year, I decided to get Chloe a Mickey computer instead.





Chloe's 1st Computer

After I made the purchase, I had to literally dash to the boarding gate only to discover that I can't bring the soup in.  Darn... I should have finished the soup.  But still, I was glad that I bought the wanton mee when the airline served instant noodle in the middle of the night.

One of the most presentable and edible meal during the flight from HK to Chicago.

It was a long flight from Hong Kong to Chicago with some rough turbulences.  I watched Toy Story 2 and The Karate Kid while working on my presentation due on Tuesday before trying to sleep in between the many meals served.  My second stopover was at Chicago Airport. I had to go through the immigration before I can get onboard the next flight.  At the immigration, there was a police beagle sniffing out tourists' luggages.

Chicago Airport

Domestic flight from Chicago to Houston

I finally reached the destination, Houston, after 24 hours.  The time was 6pm CST.

On my way to the hotel



View on the way to the hotel



This is the town car I took. Cost USD 56.50 to get from airport to hotel.



The dining area at Willowbrook Hampton Inn by Hilton

There is an indoor swimming pool.

There is also an indoor heated whirlpool.

My room

 

The view from my room

By the time I reached the hotel room, I was too tired and took a bath before drifting off to dreamland.  Dearest Chloe and hubby, see you in a week's time!  Miss you already!

Mid-autumn festival - celebrating 2 years together

It is the mid-autumn festival today. Mama boo and I have been married for 2 lunar years already! How time flies! In that space of 2 years, we had a new addition to the house, Chloe!

In similar fashion to our wedding dinner 2 years ago, the day started out warm and humid with late afternoon showers. We were planning to have an outdoor cocktail reception following our solemnization but the showers washed away our plans.

This evening, we planned to allow Chloe to play with her Hello Kitty battery-operated lantern which plays musical notes from "London Bridge is Falling Down", "Old Macdonald Had A Farm" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars". These cheap contraptions rarely work beyond a month. We bought the lantern on the first few days of the 8th lunar month for Chloe. Today is the 15th day and the lantern can only play "London Bridge is Falling Down". Before it can play the next tune, a loose connection meant that power is cut to the device and it plays "London Bridge" again.

Nevertheless, the lantern was of secondary importance if the weather does not cooperate. A heavy late afternoon shower that kept at it till the evening meant the ground was very damp. There were not many kids out at Chloe's grand-parent's estate by 8pm. We thus aborted our plans and decided to head home.

As we drove the car into the basement carpark, I saw a boy carrying a lantern while being accompanied by someone who is probably her mother. Chloe was less than 2 months old when she celebrated the mid-autumn festival last year. Now that she is walking, she had a chance to receive a lantern as a gift. We definitely wanted Chloe to experience the joy of carrying a lantern and walking around the estate. It was a good thing we decided upon that because Chloe eventually had a good time walking around the estate with her part-malfunctioning Hello Kitty lantern. She even had a chance to play and interact with our neighbours' kids who were carrying lanterns lit by candles. The kids patted each other on their heads as they exchanged envious glances upon each other's lanterns.

Finally, like the skies 2 years ago, the full moon was ever present in the clear dark sky, allowing us to enjoy the full moon in its full glory.

Happy 2nd lunar anniversary to us!

不要

Chloe's latest favourite word after "Minnie" is "不要". I was so happy when the first word she spoke at 6.5 months old was "MAMA". Then she learnt how to say "Bear" before she said "Daddy" etc. Well, I knew how much she loved her bedtime bear but I never knew it will come to this. It all started on my birthday when both Chloe and her daddy were down with fever, cough and running nose. What luck!

Before this episode, Chloe is seldom ill (other than jaundice at birth, food-triggered eczema at 7 months and slight fever twice occurring after vaccinations). As a baby, she was also not fussy with food. She just shove everything into her mouth (regardless of edible or not, including her fingers and toes).

But her flu must have made it hard for her to swallow so much so that she said NO to all food. Unbelievable! We had just started her on milk powder (even though she refused to latch on at 9 months old, I was still giving her expressed breastmilk till she turns 1) so it could have caused her "heatiness". At times, she became frustrated at us for repeatedly asking her if she wants to eat this, eat that and she'd repeat "不要,不要,不要,不要,不要"!

We were so worried especially her grandparents who like their grandchild chubby. Thankfully after a week of ordeal, Chloe is pretty much back to normal and was able to enjoy the end-of-term party at the playgroup although the word "不要" still sprout out from her mouth every now and then.

Cotton, Paper or China?

It was a memorable wedding that took place 2 years ago. The couple had painstakingly planned the entire wedding without a wedding planner. 2 years later, they have a 1 year old daughter and their lives were never the same again.

According to either U.S or U.K or Modern traditions, the anniversary gifts would be cotton, paper or china while the flower would be Lily of the Valley.

Today, we had lunch at Waterfront Indochine where we had vietnamese rice paper served on fine china. That's probably as far as the paper and china would be used to represent the 2nd anniversary of our wedding.

On the way home, I stopped by the florist and asked for Lily of the Valley. It seems like this is not a popular flower that flower shops will stock up on. Instead, I had to settle for carnations. Carnation was defined as the flower for the 1st anniversary so they would make up for last year's flowers.

Searching around for royalty-free photos of Lily of the Valley, I found the following:



An interesting fact about Lily of the Valley is that it is fairly poisonous and must be kept safely around the house. Well, just as well we did not get to find any Lily of the Valley. At least we'll know that Chloe is safe and sound with a bunch of Carnations. :)

Happy Birthday to Mama Boo

Happy Birthday to Mama Boo! I hope you will enjoy celebrating your second birthday with Chloe. As I sat in the living room admiring the brilliant handiwork of Mama Boo, so much has changed since we sat in the living room with a birthday cake. There were you, me and little Chloe who was barely 3 days old!

So much have changed over the years and I am sure more changes will be in store. One thing that'll never change is my feelings towards you. You are the love of my life and for as long as we both shall live, you shall always be the woman I hold dearest.

Happy Birthday!

Chloe is 1!

We had a great party at home a day before Chloe and my lunar birthday. It was also Chloe's god-grandma's lunar birthday. Many of our relatives and friends came and joined in the fun. Thank you Chloe for being such a wonderful girl. Mummy loves you! *Muaks*

Happy Birthday Chloe

The time was 0:01:30 and I had just stepped out of the bathroom. I had intentionally reduced the length of my run so that I would be able to return home earlier, take a shower, and be the first to wish Chloe happy birthday. The shower took longer than usual because I included an extra task to shave. We will be bringing Chloe to Universal Studios Singapore in the morning and I wanted to make sure that I will look good on every photo with Chloe at the theme park.

I walked stealthily to Chloe's cot and watched her sleeping. Her head was tucked at a corner of her crib and her right hand was holding on to her Bedtime bear. It was difficult to lower the drop-side to her cot so I gave up the idea of giving her a peck on her forehead. I placed my index finger and middle finger to my lips, gave them a kiss and planted both fingers on her cheeks. "Happy Birthday Chloe" I whispered, trying very hard not to wake Chloe up from her sweet slumber.

Slowly, I made my way to Mama Boo's bedside. Mama Boo was sleeping on her sides so I gave her a peck on her temple. "Thank you dear for giving us such a sweet little girl."

Today marks 365 days of existence of Chloe in this world. She has blossomed healthily from an infant into a toddler. Thank you for being my daughter.

This home-made video clip on Chloe's first years was supposed to be shown to guests at Chloe's birthday bash. Thank you to all guests for attending the Mickey & Minnie mouse themed party. I am sure she loved it a lot. That's why I had used one of the track from Jim Brickman's The Disney Songbook entitled "When You Wish Upon A Star" to make the video.