31 Dec 2009 - Javier down with fever

I was on half day leave today as Jerlene's childcare centre will be closed at 2pm. Initially I thought of bringing Jerlene to some place where she can enjoy. However, Tracy called me just before I left office saying that Javier was having fever according to my helper. As such, I quickly rushed down to fetch Tracy, and then Jerlene before heading home.

The moment we reached home, the first thing we saw was Javier throwing out his porridge. He must be feeling unwell. We quickly tested his temperature and it was about 38 degree. We then gave Javier some paracetamol and monitored his condition. At the same time, we also applied a cooling pad on his forehead.
An hour later, Javier's temperature seemed to have gone down a bit. But more importantly, he's still quite active, which is a relief to me. According to some doctor, when an infant is still active and eating well although having fever, there should not be a major concern. Just need to continue monitoring and controlling his temperature.

Javier, do get well soon. Daddy, mommy and 姐姐 will always be by your side. I wish that 2010 will be a better year for everyone, especially in terms of health.

Happy New Year to ALL!

28 Dec 2009 - Javier really wants to crawl.....

Javier has been trying very hard to move towards anything that attracts him. First he will sit up, and then slowly "swing" his body forward. And when he successfully bend forward, he will be on all his four limbs, just like the below photo. He can be in that position for quite a while.

I remembered when Jerlene was learning to crawl last time, there was a stage which I called the "rocking horse" phase. Below is what I mean by "rocking horse" if you have not seen the video before.

26 Dec 2009 - Melbourne Trip Video

Everyone who watches movies in cinema should have seen a Visa advertisement that features a man who did a funny dance and claimed that he has no worry of currency exchange because he got a Visa. If you like that, below is a rendition by Jerlene of our recent Melbourne trip, doing the similar dance. So now sit back, relax and enjoy the video....... :-)

25 Dec 2009 - Lots of Christmas presents

First of all, Merry Christmas to everyone.

We attended a Christmas party this evening with our relatives. All the kids, including Jerlene and Javier, had collected many presents from all the aunties........ Everybody loves Christmas!

20 Dec 2009 - Javier is very playful

Javier is getting very playful nowadays. He's especially so whenever he sees 姐姐. When Jerlene is playing with some toys, Javier will push himself up to a sitting position, and slowly.....he will lunge forward and either grab Jerlene or her toys. When that happens, Jerlene will scream and shout for help. Quite funny sometimes when Jerlene suddenlt came to me and said, "弟弟 naughty boy, daddy later scold 弟弟 ok?"
Also, Javier gets excited very easily. And to show his excitement, he will lift up all his four limbs and start shaking......very funny.....will try to take a video of that soon else I will miss that opportunity. All these moments, once you miss it, you will never get it back......

15 Dec 2009 - Javier's smile is mesmerizing

Javier's smile is simply irresistible. No matter whether you are sad, tired or angry.....the moment you see Javier's smile......all your unhappiness will get blown away. Actually not just his smile. His touch on my face, hand, shoulder etc......is so loving. It's such a wonderful feeling. :-)

14 Dec 2009 - Fun at the Playground

I was working today but Tracy took a day leave because Jerlene's childcare centre was closed. They went to the nearby park this morning and I was told that they all enjoyed the session very mcuch.
How I wished that I could be there to see Jerlene and Javier having so much fun.

12 Dec 2009 - We love swimming

It has been quite a while since we last went to the swimming pool. As the weather is good today, I decided to bring my two little angels down to the pool. I had bought a floating board sometimes back and finally got to use it today. Both Jerlene and Javier enjoyed the swim very much. I too thoroughly enjoyed playing with my two little ones. I will try to do this more often.......




After the swim, I thought both Jerlene and Javier will go to sleep early tonight so that I can have some rest. However, both of them were still awake at about 10pm. I wondered is it because they were too stimulated by the swim......heh...... :-)

12 Dec 2009 - Meet the Parents Day

This morning, we went to Jerlene's childcare centre to meet up with her teacher. It's a year end review session for the teachers to inform the parents of their children's progress. Teacher Sharon, Jerlene's form teacher, told us that Jerlene has been progressing very well in all areas, especially in terms of creativity. According to Sharon, Jerlene could use those building blocks and create very complex structure. Her speech, writing, singing and dancing have all improved tremendously since the beginning of the year. However, one thing that Jerlene still needs more time is toilet training. Up till now, she still refuse to use the toilet. And worse, sometimes she does not even tell us when she passes motion. This area will be the main focus for next year when she "promotes" to Nursery 1. Below is an artwork done by Sharon for Jerlene.
Sometimes back, Jerlene and her class had a photo shoot session. We have paid for the photos and today we finally got it. Jerlene's hair was really thick from the photos below.......

11 Dec 2009 - Javier managed to stand with support

Javier has been trying very hard to stand up for the past one month. Finally he managed to stand up all by himself today. He did it by holding onto the wooden bar of his bed and pulling himself up. In terms of such motor skills, he's much slower than his 姐姐. I remembered Jerlene could stand up by herself at month 7.

In the afternoon, we drove into Malaysia for some shopping. Originally, I intended to change my car tyres there but after checking the price, it's actually not much cheaper than in Singapore. We drove to Tebrau City where there are several huge mall. Jusco is huge but the price of items is not as attractive as the next door Tesco. By the time we left, it was almost 10pm.

3 Dec 2009 - Jerlene's Artwork for Nov 09

We collected Jerlene's Artwork for Nov 09 today. The theme of the month is Drama. No wonder recently when we came home, she kept singing many different songs. Below are some of the Artwork that she did in childcare.

1 Dec 2009 - She said "STERILIZE"?

As we touched down late last night, I decided to take one more day of leave to stay at home to "recharge". I was actually not feeling too well from morning till afternoon but my two little angels were active as usual. In fact Jerlene was playing the whole day without taking any nap in the afternoon.

In the evening, she was role playing with her Dora doll and wanted to feed Dora using a milk bottle. She suddenly came to me and asked me to wash it. So I pretended to have washed the bottle and passed it back to her. And guess what she said....... "NO, you must S-T-E-R-I-L-I-Z-E first!". I was totally shocked by her saying that. Tracy was in the other room and she also came out to confirm with me if she had heard the same thing. I nodded my head. I would never expect a kid below 3 years old to say such "cheem" word. I think I only knew what sterilize means when I was in secondary school.....maybe I'm slow........ :P

I guess probably kids nowadays are exposed to very different things. I recalled during our Melbourne trip last week, we went to a shopping mall and there was a digital screen showing the mall's directory. When Jerlene saw it, she went over and started using her index finger to touch/drag on the screen. Yes, she thought it was a touchscreen......so funny....... :)

30 Nov 2009 - Returning home from Melbourne

Our airport bus pickup was at 1pm from our hotel. So we still have sometime in the morning to have breakfast at a nearby Mcdonalds.

The entire Melbourne trip was pretty enjoyable. And what was most important is that we all had spent our times together throughout the trip which had greatly strengthen the bonding between us.

The flight back from Melbourne to Singapore was pretty smooth, although I was not feeling too well when we touched down. By the time we reached home, it was about 11pm. It's great to be home as well! Home Sweet Home!

29 Nov 2009 - Day 7 (Part 3): It's night party time

From Lygon street, we slowly walked down to russell street. As it's going to be the last night in Melbourne, we decided to have a party in our hotel room. We went over to Woolworth and Coles and bought quite a number of tidbits, drinks, poppers etc. At about 9pm, we walked back to our hotel and let the party began!

Both my little angels enjoyed the party very much and what a great way to end our Melbourne trip. After they slept, it's time for us to pack our luggage.

29 Nov 2009 - Day 7 (Part 2): Lygon Street, Melbourne's Little Italy

We departed from Shrine of Remembrance and headed towards Lygon Street. On our way, we passed by Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and the National Sports Museum.

Melbourne is very supportive of sports and it actually hosts quite a number of World class tournament including the Australian Open (Grand Slam Tennis). Also, within Melbourne, there are 3 retractable stadiums and there are only about 8 such stadiums in the world.

Lygon street is two stops away from MCG. The moment we alighted the bus, right in front of us is a shop that sells Gelato. Without much consideration, we went in straight and ordered a cup of 4 scoops. It tasted great and we all enjoyed it.

Lygon street in Carlton is the historic heartland of Melbourne's Italian community. Italian restaurants spill on to the footpaths with pasta to savour and cake to devour.
As we walked down the street, we can smell the wonderful coffee and pizza coming from the cafe. If we had more time, we will definitely explore more of Lygon street.

29 Nov 2009 - Day 7 (Part 1): Shrine of Remembrance

Time flies and today is our last full day in Melbourne. So early in the morning, we went over to Queen Victoria Market to buy all our souvenirs for family and friends. As we had quite a few bags of stuff, we decided to put them back in our hotel room before heading out for the day.

Our plan for today was to take the free tourist bus again and alight whenever we feel like it. First we alighted at the Shrine of Remembrance, which is within Melbourne Royal Botanical Garden. Initially, I thought the shrine is just a small landmark but to my surprise, it is a huge structure.

Shrine of remembrance is one of Melbourne's most recognisable landmarks. It is Victoria's memorial to the service and sacrifice of men and women in times of conflict. At that time, both Jerlene and Javier were asleep. So I walked into the shrine myself. It's quite impossible for us to carry the two strollers up the steps.

The interior of the shrine consists of many parts, which includes a hall, a crypt and a balcony. As Tracy and my two little sleeping angels were out in the sun, I quickly took a few photos and went back out.

Actually there are a lot more places to see within the botanical garden, which is considered one of the best in the world, but we are short of time. So we went back to the shuttle stop and went for our next destination, Lygon street.

28 Nov 2009 - Day 6 (Part 2): Our hotel in Melbourne

After we alighted the city circle tram, we quickly went under shelter as it was raining. We had our dinner at a nearby Nandos where the flame grilled chicken was great. Everyone was satisfied with the day outing.

After dinner, we went into Melbourne Central Mall which is just across the road. The moment we stepped in, it started raining again. Since we were trapped in this building, we found a place to sit down and wait for the rain to stop. There was a huge clock in the mall and the ceiling was very beautiful.

After waited for about 20mins, the rain stopped. So we proceed to walk back to our hotel. It was very cold after a whole day of wet weather. Once we stepped into our hotel, we finally got some warmth. Btw, here are some photos of our hotel in case anyone is interested. The room consists of a double and a single bed, with a LCD TV.

The room rates are economical but it only comes with all the basic items. Internet access, safe deposit (just to name a few) are all chargeable separately.