Attempts at taking passport photo

Mummy spent sometime trying to capture a proper picture of Leanne in order to apply for the passport (and for herself as well since hers will be expiring in less than a year). She had a little problem trying to keep Leanne's head straight and smile at the same time.

Lleyton had taken his passport photo at almost the same time 2 years back.. which a piece of cloth nappy was used to create the white background (a requirement by ICA).

Just received the approval from ICA after 3 days of application, and Leanne and Mummy will be collecting their passports tomorrow! Time to zoom off to somewhere...

Events over the weekend - Saturday & Sunday

Saturday started with an early morning breakfast at Mcdonalds, where Mummy brought Lleyton and Leanne with the domestic helper, Ayen to the nearby City Square. Daddy had opted out for the event, as he slept in after a late night out celebrating his graduation. In the late morning, Lleyton went swimming...as Daddy had promised Lleyton in his valedictorian speech. Lleyton was taught how to kick to propel himself through the water, and assured that his arm floats (and natural buoyancy) will keep him above water. Lleyton seemed to pick up those lessons fairly quickly and it was heartening to notice him picking himself up and telling himself that he still want to swim despite drinking mouthfuls of water in the process.

Another learning milestone for Lleyton is his demonstration of some bowel control, or notification. He is now beginning to be able to inform Mummy of his intention to "poo poo", such that he can be rushed on to the potty in time. He has successfully done that several times lately.

Sunday...same events, swimming and potty training for Lleyton. In addition, Daddy brought Mummy and Lleyton for Badminton, but Lleyton is really too young for the game, as he could only managed to drag the rackets over the floor, or use them like golf clubs to hit the shuttlecocks lying on the floor. Daddy's assessment: Lleyton is too young for badminton, better to focus on golf and swimming for now.

Events over the weekend - Friday

This has been a very eventful weekend for Lleyton and Leanne. However, Leanne is asleep most of the time, and it will not be a surprise if she does not recall most of the proceedings. One moment she was awake, and the other she had fallen asleep. (Note that the background in the two photos below are identical, for it is actually the exact same scene, except that Leanne had fallen asleep in the second!)

The weekend started on Friday, as Daddy was on leave for his convocation. Hence, Lleyton was well dressed for the event. He was generally well behaved, albeit assisted by Mummy's constant feeding, throughout the ceremony.

After the graduation ceremony, the trio (Leanne was left with Grandma, as it was assessed that she will not be able to sit through the 3hr event) proceeded for dinner at Nan Xiang Steamed Bun, City Square. The setting was nice and food decent, and Lleyton seemed to have a great appetite until he vomited all his food out!

Lleyton had a field day out today, as he was fairly willing to pose for the camera...here are some of his poses.

Some of the more natural shots include...

Lleyton's year-end concert performance

It was the first time Lleyton had a public performance. He performed a total of 3 dances with the rest of his playgroup classmates. It was "entertaining" to see his performance as most of the time he was either fixated at a spot without any actions or walking all over the stage, while his classmates were all doing what they were taught.

Mummy couldn't catch a good view of him initially as he was placed right at the back of the stage. But when she could, Lleyton seemed to have spotted her and was looking at the direction of her camera instead on focusing on the dance.


The next clip showed Lleyton standing at a fixed spot without any actions. Catch the last few seconds of the clip whereby he walked over to the end of the stage to find a good spot to do the "all fall down" action!


Lleyton clapping and stamping to the music:


Lleyton's solo performance! Last one left on stage...

A week without Daddy

Daddy is off to the States for a conference which also coincides with Ah Ma's genting trip during the week.

Meanwhile, Mummy had a pretty uneventful week at home with Lleyton and Leanne. Every morning and evening , Ah Gong will kindly drop by to babysit Leanne while Mummy fetches Lleyton to and from school. At about 7.30pm, Daddy will come on Skype to do a quick 10 min video chat with Mummy and Lleyton / Leanne. The rest of the evening will be spent in the living room, watching TV and playing. At about 9, Mummy and the two kids will proceed to the bedroom while she watches them sleep.

Over in the States, Daddy seemed to have done quite a considerable amount of shopping from the factory outlets.. coach, gymboree, polo ralph, hard rock etc. It's a pity that Desitin Creamy (diaper rash cream) over there is no longer as cheap as it used to be.

Lleyton will be having his school concert tomorrow and he is now sleeping soundly. While he must be dreaming of his dances that he is performing, Mummy is going to dream of her Coach bags which Daddy will bring back from the States. :)

Morning activities for the kids

Early last Saturday morning, Mummy brought Lleyton and Leanne to the garden area for a morning walk. Lleyton also took along his new tricycle he received on his birthday.

He had a few attempts at it but was not able to pedal hard enough to move the tricycle forward. He probably needs a few more training sessions to get the hang of it.

Meanwhile, Leanne was enjoying the scenery and the breeze in the garden for about an hour, while Lleyton gor-gor continued to "work out" in the fitness corner.

6 weeks old!

Apart from feeding and sleeping, Leanne was able to stay awake for a longer period of time and respond to Mummy and Daddy when they speak to her. She will listen intently and attempt to interact with them, occasionally giving a little smile.

Look at how comfortable she is in her car seat and rocking high-chair.

Leanne's funny sleeping poses

So noisy! Don't disturb my beauty rest.

Swaying in the sleep

Dozed off while watching TV?

2 sides to every coin - Judge for yourself

Is this a case of Lleyton bullying Leanne, making her cry?

Or a case of Lleyton trying to soothe an already crying Leanne?

Guess who?

It's not difficult to guess who needs the long-awaited haircut the most. This activity was number one on the to do list during the one week break before the arrival of Leanne. Due to Leanne's eagerness to see the world, this haircut has to be postponed. In view of the hot weather these days (though it has just been turning cool), it's time to snip the messy bush away!

Grocery shopping list

It's time to stock up on groceries. Given the fact that Mummy has decided to refrain from bringing Baby Leanne out too often, she has to make plans for her own lunch (and domestic helper) and the family's dinner.

Here's the list:
1) Rice
2) Sesame oil
3) Soy Sauce
4) Potatoes
5) Carrots
6) Vegetables
7) Chicken
8) Fishballs
9) Beancurd
10) Fruits
11) Fresh milk
12) Bread and cereals

Noticed that most of these ingredients are mainly to accomodate Lleyton's diet. Recently, he prefers to having rice with soup rather than his usual porridge. Hope the family can find some time on Sunday to make a trip out to get all the groceries to last for the next whole week.

More manageable

Yesterday marked the 2nd day after confinement. It was relatively more manageable, partly due to the nice cooling weather which put Leanne on a sleepy mode the whole day (except that she was wide awake from 11pm to 1am). On top of that, Grandma gave a pleasant surprise visit in the late morning! She helped to coach the domestic helper to cook a few basic dishes and watched her while she cooks. In the afternoon while Leanne was still sleeping, Mummy continued to guide the domestic helper on preparing the dinner. Mummy was pleased when Daddy commented that he was very satisfied that he could have a proper dinner at home after work, a short time to relax before he goes to school.

Today, Mummy already had in mind what to cook for lunch and dinner - Japanese Curry Rice. While carrying Leanne in her arms, she verbally told the domestic helper to prepare the ingredients and the step-by-step instructions on how to cook. Both had a simple version of that for lunch and will whip up more side dishes for Daddy's dinner later in the day.

Mummy will also get her day off to meet up with her girlfriends for dinner. Yay! She will be bringing Lleyton along while Daddy has kindly agreed to babysit Leanne for the evening. Great for Father-and-daughter's bonding.

First day out of confinement

Ok.. the first day of "freedom" was disastrous! Without Grandma around to help, Mummy suddenly felt so lost, no knowing when she should take her shower and her meals. Of course, the timing should revolve around Leanne but she was so unpredictable!

Needing a solution, Mummy decided to put the MIM sling to good use as it could at least freed up her hands to do some simple stuff. After great efforts trying to put Leanne to sleep, this girl finally took a nap in the sling. That was when Mummy managed to take a quick shower and her lunch.

For the rest of the afternoon, Leanne just refused to nap, either requesting to be latched on or be carried. Mummy thought it may be a good idea to stroll to the nearby mall to buy some stuff and also dinner for all. Leanne was probably not used to the spacious stroller that was used for the first time. Upon reaching the mall, she started wailing loudly at the payment counter. A "kind" auntie attempted to touch her. Upon seeing her intention to pacify Leanne, Mummy responded that it was ok and she could handle. This auntie suddenly turned "crazy" and started using vulgarities to scold Mummy, claiming that she should thank her. As the auntie was making a nuisance of herself at the mall, Mummy quickly apologise and "thank her" and make her way out of the shop before things turned unpleasant. After giving Leanne a comfort feed at the nearest nursing room, Leanne was happy and awake when they made their way home. It was indeed a demoralising first attempt for Mummy to bring baby out by herself.

Daddy and Lleyton reached home at around 5.30pm. Mummy quickly took her dinner with them (and Leanne in sling) and settled down for the evening as Daddy left for his class.

Leanne is one month old!

Leanne is one month old! Same as Lleyton's first month, there was no major celebration held except for a simple family dinner over the weekend.

On the actual day, Daddy, Mummy and Leanne went around a few locations to distribute the first month cakes to colleagues and friends.

Here's baby Leanne on her first month!

Recent photos of Baby Leanne

Many have commented that Leanne looks like her brother, Lleyton. Indeed, they do share certain similarities, in terms of facial features and even some habits.

As she is approaching one month old, she started to develop more distinctive "girly" features and characteristics. Some proofs as captured here:

1. Oh.. I love to pose for pictures

2. See my small "cherry" mouth


3. I have chubby cheeks too


4. Don't I have bigger eyes? Let me attempt to give a shy smile here..

Golf pro

Counting his clubs before setting off


Giving his signature smile for the photo


Oops.. the not so correct techniques


Thinking hard which club he should use

Fun on a hot Saturday afternoon

Daddy took Lleyton on a cooling swim on Saturday morning, something which he has not done for a long long time. As usual, Lleyton had great fun in the pool. Surprisingly, he still remembered his "strokes" taught to him and kicked his legs to maintain the floating position in order to move forward.

Next, his cousins made their weekly visit, this time to Lleyton's residence since Mummy is still in confinement. It was all rowdy and hostile between the 2 boys as they loved to "fight" over the new toys. Daddy found a good solution:

After the car pooling initiative, the three kiddos became best of friends again.. squeezing on the beanbag together and had a crazy time together.

Compare this to the photo taken 2 years ago: