Daddy is really sweet to send me this information.

Mummies, we can bring our little ones for these shows during the weekends leading up to Christmas so have fun!

Dora Live Musical Show
Date : 23 Nov to 09 Dec
Showtimes : Tue to Fri 1 pm and 7 pm
Sat & Sun 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm
Venue : United Square

Sponge Bob Squarepants & Patrick
Date : 23 Nov to 09 Dec
Showtimes : Tue to Sun 2 pm and 5 pm
Venue : United square

Christmas with Barney & Friends
Date : 24 Nov to 09 Dec
Showtimes : Tue to Thu 2 pm and 7 pm
Fri to Sun 2 pm , 5 pm and 7 pm
Venue : Marina Square

Barbie as the Island Princess live show
Date : 01 to 16 Dec
Showtimes : 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm daily
Venue: Raffles City

Shine this Xmas – Looney Tunes Musical Show
Date : 30 Nov to 16 Dec
Showtimes : 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm
Venue : Suntec (Outside Carrefour)

Power Rangers
Date : 20 Nov to Nov 23 / 24 Nov and 25 Nov
Time: 1 pm and 7 pm / 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm
Venue: IMM Level 3
Date : 4 Dec to 7 Dec/ 8 Dec and 9 Dec
Time: 1 pm and 7 pm / 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm
Venue : Junction 8, Level 3

Pokemon
Date : 11 Dec to 16 Dec
Time : 1pm and 4 pm
Venue: IMM, Level 3
Date: 20 Nov to 25 Nov
Time: 1 pm and 4 pm
Venue : Junction 8 , Level 3

Celebrates Disney Princess Season of Glitter & Sparkle – Disney Princess Pageant
Date: 30 Nov to 2 Dec
Time : 11 am, 1 pm , 3 pm, 5 pm and 7 pm
Venue: Causeway Point
Date: 7 Dec to 9 Dec
Time : 11 am, 1 pm, 3 pm ,5 pm and 7 pm
Venue: Compass Point
Date: Meet & Greet: 3, 5, 6th Dec
Time: 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm
Venue: Centrepoint Mall
(if you want to take photo with Princess must have own camera and have spent a min. of SGD10 at Centrepoint Mall).


Sesame Street Musical Show
Date: 23 Nov to 09 Dec
Time: 1 pm, 4pm and 7 pm ( No show on 2 Dec 1 pm)
Venue : Takashimaya

Noddy Saves Christmas – An interactive musical journey in Toy Town @ Christmas
Date: Sat 24Nov – Sun 9Dec 2007
Time: 1pm & 5pm
Venue: Forum – The Shopping Mall (Basement 1 atrium)

Joy to the World Christmas – Snow fall (bring a change of clothes) – outside Starbucks
Date: 20Nov ’07- 2Jan ‘08
Time: Everyday 7.00-7.30pm & 8.00-8.30pm
Venue: Tanglin Mall

Meet & Greet @ IMM Mall (not shows):
Power Rangers
20-25 Nov ‘07
1pm & 7pm (Tue-Fri)
1pm, 4pm & 7pm (Sat-Sun)

Pokemon
11-16 Dec ‘07
1pm, 4pm & 7pm (daily)

Winx Club
4-9Dec ‘07
1pm & 7pm (Tues & Fri)
1pm, 4pm & 7pm (Sat & Sun)

Power Rangers Mystic Force @ Toys r Us
14/12 – 1pm, 3pm, 5pm VivoCity outlet
15/12 – 1pm, 3pm, 5pm Jurong Point outlet
16/12 – 1pm, 3pm, 5pm Suntec City outlet
18/12 – 3pm, 5pm VivoCity outlet
19/12 – 3pm, 5pm Jurong Point outlet
20/12 – 3pm, 5pm United Square outlet
21/12 – 1pm, 3pm, 5pm Forum outlet
22/12 – 1pm, 3pm, 5pm Paragon outlet
23/12 – 1pm, 3pm, 5pm Tampines outlet

Strawberry Shortcake
Date: 24 Nov
Time: 1, 3, 7pm
Venue: Centrepoint Robinson
Date: 1 Dec
Time: 1, 3, 7pm
Venue: Raffles City Robinson

Leapfrog
Date: 25 Nov & 9 Dec
Time: 3 & 5pm
Venue: Centrepoint Robinson
Date: 24 Nov & 8 Dec
Time: 3 & 5pm
Venue: Raffles City Robinson

Ryukendo
Date: 24 & 25 Nov
Time: 1 & 4pm
Venue: Raffles City Robinson

Pretty Cure
Date: 15 Dec
Time: 5 & 7pm
Date: 23 Dec
Time: 1,3,5pm
Venue: Centrepoint Robinson
Date : 16 & 22 Dec
Time : 1,3,5pm
Venue: Raffles City Robinson

NO SHOW ON MONDAYS FOR ALL EVENTS unless otherwise stated.

I have been working on this for the past few days. Of course, I was also trying to complete my real work (not that this is fake) and was juggling with the many windows on my laptop.

As you know, I am a complete idiot when it comes to using Photoshop and Fireworks and although I have been playing around with both since my scrapbooking days started, I am still not familiar with the functions.

This was what I came up with initially because I wanted to use our pictures as the header to C's blog but the picture or rather our faces were too small. Moreover, the picture was just ... on the background! You know what I mean? And it looks really awful!

I decided to crop the picture to show more of us but the edges were still very raw and harsh and no matter how much Aunt Linda tried to guide me via Gtalk, I couldn't seem to work the tools right to achieve the desired results.

Aunt Linda knows that I have been working on this forever so she offered to do something about it for me amidst her very busy schedule (thank you!) and came up with so many better variations of the original.

This is the Soft version

This is Blur

This is Luminosity

This is Shadow

Then I suddenly remembered that I have many other things I could use. Actually this brain wave came from a fellow forum-er (Valmon) who is such an expert with scrapbooking. So I used some of the embellishments and viola! I created this!

With the other header templates, there was another problem with the alignment of the words. No matter how I tried to adjust the size of the words or the alignment, they just sprawled across our faces so I used Fireworks and added the description onto the template itself. Now it looks much better.

QC status: PASSED

Aunt Linda passed it! Hey, don't play play! She is a professional!

I used to pride myself as being a patient person. But I find myself eating my own words nowadays. Just yesterday, Daddy lost it and screamed at Cheryl and I understand how he feels at such times because C also pushes my boundaries.

She has this amazing ability of ignoring us when we tell her things and she will go ahead to do the things we tell her not to. We know she does this deliberately because she will be watching us and seeing how we react to her actions.

The other thing that bugs us is Cheryl doesn't like to apologise. She hardly says she is sorry when she does something wrong and at times, we even have to resort to threatening her. But I do realise that scolding her makes things worse; she will ignore us further. And I will have to speak to her in a soft voice and explain to her that what she did was wrong and how her actions has hurt the other party. Then only after this will she apologise. If she is under pressure to apologise, it definitely is a lost cause.

So patience! Something I find myself still lacking, and an area I definitely can improve on.

We started the day with breakfast at MacDonald's at Bukit Panjang Plaza where we would be meeting Daddy's friend, Chris and his family. At 6 am, C was already wide awake and very excited. When she saw Charlotte, C couldn't help but want to play with her.

We boarded the coach soon after and headed for the 2nd Link. C was jumping up and down on her seat and it wasn't till much later where she fell asleep; no wonder as she had been awake since 4-ish in the morning. We even saw the famous Petronas towers along the way.

Judging by the picture, you can tell that it was pretty hazy out there.

We reached Genting Highlands around 2 in the afternoon and it was really like a walk in the clouds. The last time Daddy and I were here was more than a decade ago and a lot has changed since. There are so many hotels here and the indoor theme park totally blows C away! She was mesmerized with the various neon lights and rides that were going on, up in the "sky" and waters.

We didn't take any rides on the first day because it was only half the day left and Daddy and I were quite beat so we went back to the hotel room and dozed off till dinner.

The second day was the more interesting one. We got for ourselves the day passes which allowed us access to all the indoor rides and we went on the ferris wheel where we had a good view of the interior of the theme park, we also went on the carousel for the hundredth time because C couldn't get enough of the horses.

Oh my! Just look at the 2 pictures on the left, C looks exactly like her Daddy!

Cheryl finally mustered enough courage to ride these cars. Initially she was afraid and didn't want to go on it. But in the evening, we asked her again and she agreed. She even rode twice because she saw one which resembled one of Bob's machine (Bob, the Builder!)



This is definitely Cheryl's favourite and she went on it for numerous times. She just loves the horses and her eyes lit up when I told her she will get a carousel cake for her 3rd birthday. You can also see Chloe with Mummy Cassandra and Charlotte with Daddy Chris on the ride too.

We went on many other rides too but they were all very children friendly. Daddy kept eyeing the more adventurous and thrilling outdoor rides but he didn't get to go on any as Cheryl and I couldn't ride them. Next time, Daddy, I promise that you will be able to scream your lungs out! :)

We even took a nice ride on the gondola and here you can see C enjoying herself and making funny faces at the camera. We ended the night at Starbucks, sipping coffee. Then we adjourned to the hotel room where C watched more cartoon before we retired for the night.

Look at this! It is amazing that the coin doesn't flip over and will continue its little journey down into the hole.



Okay, let's talk about the food we had there. On the first day, we went to the Kopitiam there and I had this:

It looks interesting enough and the price was alright (RM$11.90... not) When I paid for it, I realised that there was a service charge tagged to it so in the end it was $13.90. I was wondering what kind of service and no food court in Singapore tops the price that is displayed with service charge.

Daddy and his friends commented that we should have sat further away so that the waiter had to walk further (that was what the service charge was for) to bring me my food. And I had to cook my own food! Haha!

Then we also had buffet at The Resort which was alright. On the 2nd day, we had bak ku tei at a chinese eatery for RM$40 (totally not worth the money). Lunch on the last day was pretty good and it only cost us RM$30. If you are wondering why there is rice in all the pictures, it's because C is a rice-freak. She LOVES rice and every time we ask her what she wanted, she would smile and reply "rice".

And on our journey back, we had this luxurious coach which even had individual tv screens. There were multiple channels to choose from and we were literally spoiled for choices. C slept for a good 2 hours and then it was tv time all the way. She is such a couch potato, I tell you!

Christmas is slightly more than a month away and I have been wondering what to get for Daddy. He has been turning the country upside down looking for this toy and if anyone of you know where I can get this, please leave me a message.

The car is a cute little thing really and it is no bigger than your palm. I got a picture of it to from the toy makers themselves; Takara Tomy and a picture from Our Toys. No wonder Daddy is mesmerized with this little thing. Who wouldn't be? And it really doesn't help that this adorable thing looks exactly like the car we have.

I have already bought Cheryl's X'mas presents and they are with Aunt Linda who is so kind to pick up the toys for me. We will go to her place next weekend to collect the toys but C will not get to play with them till Christmas. I wonder if she can control herself. Hee.

After so long, I finally brought C down to get her ears pierced. I wanted to bring her when she was a baby because I reasoned that she would not be able to resist and tag on her ears but I struggled with the thought that she was a little too young to go through so I procrastinated and before I knew it, she is now almost 28 months old and pain is all too real for her.

I didn't tell her that she was getting her ears pierced. All I said was, we were meeting Yeva, Aunt Angie and Zinnia and of course, C was all joy when she learned that she would be running around with them again.

But when she saw us walked into the goldsmith, she knew instinctively that something was wrong. She turned me down flatly when I told her that she will be getting her ears pierced. I tried many times and even bribed her with fries, and soft drinks. But she wouldn't hear of it. She stuck her fingers into her ears and refused to take them out. No amount of coaxing could do it. It didn't matter that I threatened, sang to her, tried to distract her with dances, or even slapped her across her thighs, she just would not relent.

I could be there for more than an hour and Aunt Angie finally helped me. She did the marking on C's ears and the ladies in the shop took over. I had to hold C down and Angie held on to C's head. And then on the count of 3, both ladies fired the shots and C wailed the house down.

I don't deny it's painless but from her look; tears streaming endlessly, mucus too! and her cries, it did seem like she had been hit by a ton of rocks or something. But at last, the deed was done! Thanks to Aunt Angie and the very patient ladies.

Actually, it was quite a sight because the shop was empty when we got there and then it was filled with other patrons and these patrons even joined in to encourage C with their clapping and praises. I would have gotten everything down on film if my hands were not tied up.

Yeva, however was not so lucky. She was in fact, first to get her piercing done but one side of the ear rings was defective so it was stuck in the gun and the pressure from the backfire caused a nasty bruise on the side of her cheek. Poor Yeva would have to endure the pain another round next week. But compared to C, Yeva was so brave and she didn't resist at all!

Both the girls chose the colours of their ear rings rather happily initially. And the "guns" used for the piercing. You know what? Things haven't changed much from 26 years ago when I did mine; I had the same kind of studs and it was probably the same kind of guns used too.

Yeva cried but only for a few seconds and she was alright again. See the fear in her face? Here is a kiss to our brave god daughter. It is a real wonder because C has never had any experiences (let alone bad ones) prior to this that she has such adverse reactions to ear piercing. The ladies at the shop was commenting that C is too smart already because she managed to evade all their attempts to even touch her ears.

It also took her a while after the shot for her to cool down but after that, she was all smiles and even said that she is pretty now. She even proudly tilted her head to flash her ear rings at Daddy when he came back.

When Aunt Di learned of what I did, her first question was "Will C hate you?" Ha ha! Judging by the smiles, I don't think so.

I have never dreamt that I would say this but it happened; Cheryl had constipation. For a good 3 days, she did not poo and no amount of coaxing or praises could get her to do it.

She used to only poo in her diapers; she would hide behind the door or under a table (just about anywhere where she is well hidden) or tell us to "go away" so that she can do her business peacefully.

But since she has been without her diapers, she has stopped. Grand Mummy managed to get her to do it though and she told me that I need to constantly praise C to encourage her but I do and yet, C has not been cooperative.

Both Daddy and I are so afraid that she will fall ill because C's bowel movement has always been the last thing on our minds; she used to do it once a day, so I brought her to see a doc finally. Thankfully the doc didn't think the suppositories were necessary and instead gave her some oral meds which were extremely effective. Just 3 minutes after C took it, she complained of a tummyache (for the umpteen time) and finally she pooed! Phew! It was a load of our minds.

C was of course pleased with herself.

This is the highly effective medicine I was talking about.

I didn't go to work today and decided to do some work from home. Actually, it's work from my favourite joint; Starbucks. I come here to do my marking during term time and I am rooted to this place for hours on ends. Even the staff here recognise me and will "advise" me to get the tall Latte.

I sat myself down near noon (C had woken from her nap and she gladly waved goodbye to me because she has her Disney cartoons to watch) and then started working on my Scheme of Work... then I realised I didn't have my books with me. So I did what I could and then I finally got down to doing something I had wanted to do for the longest time.

I tried digital scrap booking! It is always nice and meaningful to tag photographs as there is a story behind every photo. Scrap booking has really evolved... in the past, it was done using real scraps; just about anything and everything you can lay your hands on but scrap booking now has become a "rich man's hobby". If you were to step into a shop selling all these scrap booking materials and embellishments, your jaw will drop because these "scraps" cost as much as $50 or more.

So the cheapo that I am, I guess the way to go is digital scrap booking. It is so so difficult because I am so unfamiliar with the tools and the program. Thankfully there were tutorials online which I could read up and there was Aunt Linda I could ask. Then I played around with the designs and templates and this is what I came up with. Melanie is brilliant to come up with all of these which people can use.

I know this is really amateurish; I just started this afternoon, so go easy on me.

I am still experimenting and hopefully I will be able to come up with better and more sophisticated designs soon. I will show this to Cheryl later and see what she says.

Regular visitors to C's little cove would have realised that I put a little (it's actually rather big and eye-catchy) badge at the side bar.

Yes, this is the one (thank you, Lorelle!)

In this new age, I have come to acknowledge that we can be our own writers and authors and we don't need a publisher to tell us otherwise. We blog about our lives, our friends, our children, our pains and our joys.

Some of us take huge pains and many many hours of sitting in front of the 17" inch, researching on the Internet, uploading pictures, writing and editing our posts, or re-arranging our thoughts and paraphrasing the things we want to say.

The bottom line is : a lot of effort goes into each and every entry, a lot of time is spent researching on the layout and designs (granted that many of us also use pre-done layouts from the Net, but we all acknowledge the Source) of our blogs, a lot of thought goes into what we write and how we write them.

I have seen really and truly gorgeous blogs on the Internet and I can completely understand why they tag just about everything on it! I mean, that's ownership and these bloggers must be really proud of their work to have this sense of ownership! Isn't this what we have been telling ourselves, "Have ownership of your work, Don't let others take the credit for it!"

How the world has evolved! We no longer need to be in a shop physically to steal things! I googled and found out that there are many of such thieves around; "they come, they see, they like, and they steal" and within seconds, they can close the screen and the crime is done. The power of TECHNOLOGY! Ha!

For those whose blogs have been hijacked or brutally abused, you have my sympathies. This is a little article you can refer to for help: Tips for New Bloggers (and Old alike)

You know, even C knows the pain of losing her stuff to others and she will sulk big time. In her desperate tone of voice, she will sigh, "Cheryl doesn't have any more! How Cheryl do?" So what more for conscious-minded adults?

Fellow mummy bloggers, don't fall victims to such unscrupulous, unethical and immoral thieves. Protect yourselves.

Nowadays, when we go groceries shopping, I make a conscious effort to bring along a carrier to put the stuff and I am also trying to inculcate this in Cheryl. So she knows that small stuff can go into her diaper bag instead of putting them in a plastic bag.

We also try to use both sides of the paper before we decide to dispose them. C is also not using as many disposable diapers now! Hippee! And when we turned on the air condition when we have to, we keep it at a constant temperature of 26 degree celcius where it is not freezing but cool. (Sigh... at work, the air con is always at full blast and Aunt Rina and me are always freezing and wrapped up in our sweaters and only after minutes after we bring up the temperature, someone will immediately tune the temperature down again.)

And yesterday, while we were at Grand Mummy's place, Aunt Di was surfing and she came across some Disney Sing-alongs and this particular one strikes a chord in me because we are into saving Gaia.

Listen to the song (wonderful with the melodious Vanessa Williams) but pay attention to the lyrics more because it is really meaningful especially these days where we think we are the king of the world and masters of the universe.

So here it is, Enjoy!

Think this is cute? Think again...

Honestly, I don't think there should even be vacation trips to the North and South poles even for the super duper rich. Leave these places alone! As much of a cynic that I am, I still wish that C will go on to have her own family and that her children will get to see what snow and penguins look like.

This will really come in handy if I can win it:

Daddy and I absolutely want a new phone already!!

You can click here for more information on the phone and the wonders it can perform!

The only Motorola thing I owned was a pager from so so long ago and this cool looking gadget caught my eye.

With this, I can blog and surf the World Wide Web anywhere and anytime, upload pictures instantaneously and what's important, it is small and handy; size is of absolute importance for a petite lady like me.

It can also my mobile Assistant because I spend a lot of time travelling between home and work (1.5 hrs to be exact per trip) so instead of listening to my iPod, I can plan lessons for class! Ha! And start organizing my life too!

This is getting too exciting already! "The world's my oyster" Hmm.. how about "The world's my MotoQ

Dunearnite 2007 finally came to a close with a bang!

All the hard work and late nights and endless rehearsals for the final show on Saturday. Zinnia, Yeva together with Cheryl and Daddy and C's Uncle Cheese and his family came down for the performance.

I have to apologise because I didn't manage many pictures as I was "working" and running around a lot.

The kids had fun and Zinnia was telling me that the concert was good. Thank you dear!

Here are some of the few shots I managed:

We had to do our own make up and hair. But we have set aside some budget to get professional help next year!

My pal, Asrina and me! We thought we should dress up for the final show! It was all her work! (picture taken from Danya)

During the interval, our girls couldn't resist themselves and posed with some zithers.

Cheryl made a new friend, Alden. He is so adorable. Many of my colleagues brought their little ones for the concert too. C looks so sweet here but she was nothing but that evening. She was running around and very excited. Not at all, like the lady you see here.

Remember what the Doc said about C when I brought her down for her pox jab?

That she is a little overweight?

Today, I weighed our little Spark and she has lost 1.5 kg! As for me, the scale read 39 kg. But it's my scale and the real test should be the electronic one at the clinic which will have to wait till I bring her down for her flu jab.

Not bad for 1 week's of effort: I cut her milk intake down from 210 to 150 ml and Grand Mummy was able to give her sufficient food during lunch and dinner so she doesn't ask for milk unnecessary. In fact, she only drank milk once during the day and one more time just before she goes to bed.

And for the past few nights, she was able to sleep through the night till 6 am which is really an achievement. I have been complaining how I can't get a good sleep, well I spoke too soon because I would still wake up and look at her and half expecting her to whisper "Mummy, make milk" in my ears.

Guess I have to learn to take things easy.

I received this in the mail today:


"Hi Natalie


Congratulations!
An advertiser has chosen to advertise on Our Little Precious.
The advertisement details are as follows:


KINDLY IGNORE PREVIOUS EMAIL. THERE WAS A MISTAKE WITH CAMPAIGN DATE. CAMPAIGN STARTS THIS SUNDAY, AND ENDS NEXT SATURDAY.


Campaign:
Nike Plus Charity Run (Paid Campaign)


Week(s):
1. 18 Nov 2007 to 24 Nov 2007


Ad Unit:
Skyscraper (Top)

Please do not remove the Ad Unit from your blog during the period(s) of time above or you will not be paid the full amount for the ad.

If you have a Skyscraper Ad Unit, please ensure that it is placed high up in the sidebar or the advertiser may choose to withdraw the ad.

Thank you."


Hmm, what started out as just a noting down of daily happenings has morphed into something else... I can now say, Cheryl is capable of earning her own keeps now! Ha ha!

Cheryl has always been an Avent fan (actually, it's me) until I found an article warning us about the chemicals found in plastic bottles.

Actually it is found in all plastic products and when I came across B free bottles which is free from Bisphenol-A, I immediately changed all of Cheryl's bottles. Like many other kinds of brands, they also boost that B free bottles can prevent colic in babies. But I became truly convinced when C drank from them. There was no sound and I did not see any bubbles in the bottle when she was furiously downing her milk.

The 2 pictures on the top: they came in the original package. But cleaning can be a little tedious because of the many little spaces. By the way, there is a little brush given so that these difficult spaces can be cleaned thoroughly.

And 2 pictures below, they are the newly improved version. Cleaning is so much easier :)

You can do the comparison yourself and see how many "extra" parts there are to wash and dry. Initially, I didn't know that the blue little thingy can be removed and when I finally found out, I received a rude shock because of the built up of milk.

So when I wanted to get replacement vents and I saw the white ones, I decided to get them instead. One point to note, these bottles are rather pricey (1 300 ml bottle can cost $20, 260 ml costs $18) but I feel its worth the money. :)

C has a love-hate relationship with Smoochie and Twistee. She loves to play with them but when they come closer to her, she will worm behind us, run a distance away and then shout at the top of her lungs, "Smoochie, Twistee!"

But she finally got around her fear and gave them hugs!

This little tricycle is from Aunt Rina. Both she and her husband even tried to steam clean this little thing before giving it to Cheryl. I am so grateful because all these while, Aunt Rina has been showering C with clothes, food, toys and she also gave C her first Barney videos.

Cheryl will be coming to pick me up from work later with Daddy. I will knock off at 9 today and tomorrow and Saturday. (It's just been rehearsals after rehearsals and my colleagues and I are really looking forward to this Friday and Saturday where it is the actual performance. And thereafter, I will have to come to work still to clear real work!) But C will be happy to see the tricycle later! :)

update:
Aunt Di told me that C had cornered Twistee literally and that poor dog had to run and hide under the dining table which did not give him much cover because C ran after him and crawled under the table with him.

You know what? She is beginning to remind me of someone... .

Remember this:

She looks really sweet, doesn't she? She is someone from long ago and if these 2 pictures do not ring any bells, maybe the next ones will!

Looks familiar?

Presenting Elmyra and her infamous lines...

I hope C will not become like Elmyra, she loves her animals to death! (literally)