Pineapple Tarts

Last Saturday was spent baking pineapple tarts with my mom. It has been 5 years or more since we last baked for CNY. Pleaded with her until she finally said yes! Unfortunately, Anya was feeling under the weather which disrupted our baking now and then with her Mommy-I-need-more-love whines. Other than that, it all went well and am very pleased with the end products! :D

Here I go, round and round~

It cracked me up, the first few times she did it. I am certain it was purely self-discovery 'cos no one in the family does that!

Out and about

Last Monday, a dear friend (let's call her my Shopping Accomplice or "SA" in short) took leave just to meet up with Anya and I. Most of the friends that I usually hang out with have a full-time career. Thus, to have SA taking leave on a weekday to meet up is a treat that I had looked forward to.

It was on this day that I decided to bring the stroller out without The Husband (and the family car) for the first time in my mommy-hood. A little background here: On normal straight wide paths, I am okay with the strollers. However, when stroller meets escalators, I get hopeless. I have almost NIL confidence about maneuvering the four-wheeler safely up / down the escalators even when the baby is NOT in it. Not the mention the level of risk I am subjecting Anya to if she is in it. At the back of my mind, a nagging thought tells me that the days of relying on the sarong sling are numbered as Anya grows heavier. So, for a trial run with the stroller, having a friend around will be a confidence booster. Frankly, I didn't think SA will be of much help in the stroller-escalator department since she is a swinging bachelorette. Well, she proved me wrong.

We had arranged to meet at Mandarin Gallery's taxi drop-off. She was already there when I alighted the taxi with Anya in sling. Almost immediately, I confided, "I'm terrible with the stroller, especially on escalators". She coolly responded by saying "Let's take the lift then." and took over the reins of the stroller. Thereafter, I dawned on me that  Anya and I were my stroller was in good hands for the day.

Stroller catastrophe being averted aside, it was a day spent in leisure. Long chat and late lunch at Wild Honey where the waiting staff and patrons at the next table helped to keep Anya entertained half the time. Next, we shopped around. What started as a no-agenda window shopping was soon overtaken with fulfillment of respective wish lists. :P When dinner time came, both of us were still stuffed. However, I needed a place to feed Anya her dinner. We ended up in a nice quiet hotel's lounge where we ordered some nice cakes and tea to go with while I fed Anya before calling it a night.

Have you seen this?

I chanced upon this in Raffles City S.C. a few days back. I don't remember seeing this in Singapore before. Or maybe I've never noticed in the past - until I become a mother of a young child myself. While I am certain this facility can only be found in selective ladies' cubicles (not sure about the gents' though I will think the likelihood is remote), I am impressed! Can't help but just promoted Raffles City S.C. up in my list of malls that I can bring Anya to. :)

Genting Highlands: 7-9 Jan 2011

Finally, I settled myself in front of the lappy to do this! The Husband and I aren't big on gambling though our parents do enjoy some roulette and jackpot fun occasionally. Therefore, we organised this trip especially for the old folks could have some fun, do some in-laws bonding, and of course, spend some 60 hours of quality time with their fast-growing granddaughter.

The Planning:

After much debate, we decided to take a coach over driving up. That said, it meant we have to wake up to catch the coach at an ungodly hour, not to mention having a nine-month old in tow. Okay, more about that later.

Now that Anya is on half-milk/half-solids diet, the planning on things to bring part was madness. Usually before a trip, I will do up a things-to-bring list. This time, after writing almost one full page, I sort of lost it. Going by the sheer amount of things (notice I didn't use the word 'volume' cos they are mostly tiny or compact-able things like 4 tablespoon of brown rice, baby's blanket etc) that I needed to bring, I didn't think the list was going to be anymore helpful than relying on my own brain power. So there I was, at every waking available moment at home, I would be striding up and down, fetching things around the house, all the while talking to myself as I go through Anya's daily routine over and over again just to ensure I do not miss out anything. To the dog (Anya's usually asleep or at the in-laws when I'm packing), I must have looked like a nutty!

Taking off after making a mess

Caught red-handed

So up to the night before the trip, The Husband and I were still packing in those items that could only be packed in after the day's use. I was cooking Anya's porridge for the following day before washing the electric slow cooker to be put into the luggage. Up to the very morning, I was still packing the vegetables stock (for her porridge) out from the freezer to store into a cooler bag before putting into the luggage. I tell you, it was really madness! The amount of thought I needed to put in in order to minimize hiccups made planning for Anya's first overseas trip a few months back seemed like a piece of cake.

The Trip:

I was worried that Anya might be grouchy, having to wake up at 530 in the morning. Surprisingly, she wasn't. In fact, she appeared thrilled to be awaken in the darkness to have her diaper changed before being strapped onto Mommy in the sarong. She probably sensed some adventure ahead!

An hour later, we have boarded the coach and Anya's excitement has fused out. The Z bug was overwhelming her, and though she refused to drift back to sleep; it felt as if I was strapping a motionless rock onto me. Heh. Throughout the immigration checkpoints and the entire coach ride, she was quite the darling. When she was napping, she was kept entertained by her toys and her both sets of grandparents. To ease feeding and digestion on a possibly bumpy coach ride, we fed her yogurt and milk instead of her usual cereal.

All geared up for the cold

We stayed in the First World Hotel. On hindsight, it was an unsuitable choice given that we had a baby in tow. The room was cramp, there was no bathtub (only overhead shower). The tour agency that we made the bookings through was not being helpful either since they could not request a baby cot nor upgrade our room in advance. We had to make our room upgrade and baby cot requests only upon check-in. While the bigger rooms with bathtubs were fully booked, we were consoled by the fact that they had a baby cot for us.

Given that temperature was between 22-25 degree Celsius and only overhead shower facility was available, bathing Anya became a hasty process that involved both parents. One had to carry her (floor is too cold for her to sit on) while the other lathered and later dressed her. She did not like having of water pelting down her head and bath-time involved quite a bit of crying in that two days. Seeing her reaction, we abandoned the intention of shampooing her head. We were just thankful that the cool & dry weather helped to curb those pesky eczema from attacking her scalps in those two days.

Hmm... Did I subconsciously packed in matchy socks and PJs?

Out of the hotel room, we had a good time. We made it a point to have all breakfasts and dinners together with our folks. Most of the meals exceeded expectations - given that with The Husband and I set ours really low ones given our limited prior experience with Genting Highlands. One of the afternoons, the in-laws freed us from babysitting duties so we could visit the casino. Me, the mountain-turtle, entered the casino for the second time in my coming 30 years of age and surrendered RM$30 to the jackpot machines.

Home-bound ride was on a nicer luxury coach that has personal entertainment system. The Husband had actually booked it for both to and fro trip but the coach broke down on the morning of our departure, so we stuck to the normal coach. Ironically, the luxury coach ride home was less comfortable. The first two hours was spent in motion sickness (for most of the adults) and Anya was fussy too. Thankfully, we all recovered quickly after sleeping it off. 

Daddy, can I go into the luggage too?

All in all, it was a pleasant trip. The itinerary was simple, at our leisure pace and predictable, which was what we need. Food was good, company was great. The Husband and I got plenty of time for undisturbed talks (and iPhone) games whenever Anya went down for her naps. The Grandparents got to spend some quality time with us, Anya and the jackpot machines. At the end of the trip, both grandmothers pronounced Anya an easy baby on trips. We even talked about the possibilities of making this an annual event on our family calendar, though I am pretty certain we will not be staying in Third First World Hotel in future visits.