Arrival of Yong Rui Lang Ethan

Sharon was send to the hospital in the early hours of the morning and Yong Rui Lang Ethan was delivered in the morning of 3rd December 2009 at Mt Alvernia Hospital. Ethan was weighted at 3.445kg at birth

I was not as nervous and lost for the birth as compared to Shannon's birth. I was more composed and able to remember on the items that need to be done. Cord blood was collected and the cell count was sufficient to be stored in StemCord.

All was well for Mummy and Ethan during the birth. When Shannon was born, she was playing with her tongue licking her lips. Ethan was playing with his saliva and blowing bubbles.

Here are some photos of the new member of our family.

Yong Rui Lang Ethan first photo

Yong Rui Lang Ethan's birth weight

Yong Rui Lang Ethan playing with his saliva and blowing bubbles.

Yong Rui Lang Ethan sleeping in the baby cot in hospital.

Yong Rui Lang Ethan back home.

Shannon likes to touch her brother eyebrow.

Mid Atumn Festival (03/10/09)

It was Mid Autumn Festival where the moon is supposedly to be the fullest of the year. Shannon made her very 1st lantern in school. Her lantern design was a fish but needed some modification by Daddy in order not to burn her lantern up.

She had fun chasing her cousins with the sparkling sticks. Here are some photos of her having fun.

Shannon taking photo with her cousins.

Shannon taking photo with her cousins Kris and Carol.

Shannon taking photo with her cousins Kris and Carol.

Shannon posing her self made fish lantern.

Shannon taking photo with her cousin Joyce.

Preparing for the Arrival of our 2nd Child

It had been a journey for all of us. Preparing the arrival of our 2nd child and cultivating Shannon on sharing her stuff with her sibling.

Yesterday we were packing the bag for Mummy to be ready for the delivery. I was telling Shannon that Mummy will need to go to the hospital to give birth and that she won't be able to follow. She bursts into tears saying she wants to go to the hospital to accompany Mummy. It was difficult to let her understand and without giving her the impression that baby was snatching her Mummy from her. Promise her that I will bring her to see Mummy and baby once Mummy had given birth.

Now she will call Mummy and ask to bring her to see doctor together. I'll have to need to rush home to pick her up to visit the gynae with Mummy tomorrow evening.

Hi-5 Surprise! Live Tour 2009 Update

Shannon and mummy went for the Hi-5 show on 11/09/09 Friday. It was raining heavily in the early afternoon and we were afraid that it will be quite difficult to access to the Singapore Indoor Stadium as all the car parks are under opened air. Luckily it stops raining 1 hour before the start of the show.

Shannon enjoyed herself and have a packet of strawberry pokey for snacks. There was a few caucasion kids around her age sitting behind her row. 2 of them came asking Shannon whether she can share her pokey with them. She was so protective that she clinch on to her pokey and shake her head. I admired the daringness of the caucasion kids. We need to cultivate Shannon to share her stuffs with her sibling.

Shannon posing before the start of the show

Enjoying her pokey before the start of the show

Hi 5

Zoo Trip for my Company's "Family Day"

My company was organising a "Family Day" on 05/09/09 Saturday at the Singapore Zoo to celebrate 175 years. Shannon's 1st trip to the zoo was last year. This was her 2nd trip to the Zoo for Shannon. This time round Mummy was unable to join us as she can't walk too long due to her pregnancy. She'll be resting and shaking legs at home while I perspire bringing Shannon around.

We reach the zoo around 9.30am after having breakfast with Mummy at Punggol. We had planned out all the routes and timings for the shows and feeding time. The following are all the timings for the morning.

Morning Feeding Trail 1:
Elephant Bathing (9.15am) --> Polar Bear (10.05am) -->Tree Top Walk & Otter (10.30am) --> Primate Kingdom (11am)

Morning Feeding Trail 2:
Giraffe (10.45am) --> Jaguar (11am) --> Island Free Ranging Orang Utan (11.30am)

Animal Shows:
1) Rainforest Fights Back --> 10.30am
2) Splash Safari --> 11am
3) Elephants at Work and Play --> 11.30am

The must visit places for Shannon would be the Australian Outback, the Rainforest KidzWorld and Shannon's favourite animal Elephant. During her first trip, the Rainforest KidzWorld was still under construction so she didn't have the chance to visit the area. Even though we got all the timings and schedule worked out, we didn't catch any feeding at all. The weather was extremely hot and humid that day. We kept on rehydrating ourselves till the water bottles all empty. In the end we only managed to catch the Splash Safari.

Shannon posing with her favourite animal Elephant

Taking photo with my colleague's daugther. They are both of the same age. Shannon seems to be shorter by half a head.

At the Splash Safari

Shannon managed to touch the pony's head after taking the photo.

Piggy Piggy Bank

We decided to culture Shannon on saving and money management. During our Sunday brunch, we went to Compass Point to shop for Shannon's cousin Kris birthday present which was on Monday. Since we are there we also look for a suitable piggy bank for Shannon to start saving.

The criteria of the piggy bank would be the following:

1) To Shannon's liking

2) Translucent (Shannon can see her money grow physically)

3) Medium size

Shannon's Piggy Piggy Bank

We will be giving Shannon 50 cents per day for her to save into her piggy bank. When the piggy bank is full, the money will banked into her account unless she needs to buy something then she'll have to take from her savings. Hope it will culture her saving and money management skills.

Shannon posing happily with her piggy bank

Shannon accidentally drop her piggy bank last night and it crack opened at the joint. Will need to buy superglue to stick the 2 halves back before it splits into two.

Events that Occur this month....

1) As decided during the last gathering with Sharon's secondary school friend and her family, we brought our kids to Kidz Amaze in Jurong Safra on 10/08/09. The place is a indoor 3 storey playground with obstacles, slides, ball pool, etc.

The trip was fun with the kids climbing up and down. We were feeling really tired at the end of the day. The obstacles in the maze were quite small and tight as compared to eXplorerKidz in Downtown East. The amzing thing was Shannon was daring enough to take the yellow tube slide with me. The enclosed and fast slide was on the 3rd storey all the way down to the 1st storey.

After all the climbing we went for Jack's place for lunch and bid goodbye to go home for afternoon nap. Hahaha.

Shannon posing on the 2nd level of the playground

Shannon posing with the crocodiles on the 3rd storey

Shannon posing on the 3rd storey (Notice the yellow slide on the background)

Shannon trying to invite her friend Emily into the ball pool

Shannon started going down by sitting on the cushion one by one. She became more daring after a few tries and started walking down fast.

2) After a day at Kidz Amaze, we brought Shannon for the 2nd movie "Up" on 11/08/09 in Yishun 10. This time we decided to go for the normal version instead of 3D. Personally I feel tha the cartoon is more suitable for adults other than the cute bird and dogs. Shannon got bored halfway through the movie and started going up and down the aisle. Overall she still enjoy the movie. Let's wait for the next cartoon movie.

Shannon and me posing with the poster of the movie

Blog Been Diverted.

Due to some problem with the Winx club theme, our blog had been diverted to another website. Manage to change the theme back to the normal but need to change the side bar to previous format.

That will need time since I am not a html expert. Nevertheless we will still update our blog while fixing the side bar.

Hi-5 Surprise! Live Tour 2009

We decide to bring Shannon to the Hi-5 Surprise! Live Tour 2009 on 11 September at Singapore Indoor Stadium. She has been requesting to watch the show whenever the advertisement is broadcast on the TV. Seems like kids really know how to ask and shall receive and advertister really know how to sell. The last time she went for such show was the Disney on Ice last year. She had an enjoyable time then. We bought the tickets early hoping to get seats with a better view. In the end miss the discount for National Day where tickets were selling at $44/each.

Think of it she got quite a lot of characters/shows that she like from Dora the Explorer, Hi-5, Winx Club, Barney & Friends, Care Bears, Mickey Mouse & Friends, etc. Hope she will enjoy the show.

Shannon 姐姐

Glad to share that Sharon is into her 2nd trimester of pregnancy. Shannon going to be 姐姐 at the end of the year. We are cultivating Shannon to love and share with her sibling.

Our baby is very active as compared when conceiving Shannon. Baby movement can be felt as early as during the 3rd month of pregnancy. Now that Sharon is into her 5th month, we can feel our baby kicking/elbowing her. She can hardly sleep at night as our baby is hyper during that time.

Sharon had over exerted her lower thighs recently due too much walking around. Thus she got difficulty standing or walking around. She walks like humpty dumpty due to the pain. I had to taken urgent leave recently to take care of her and Shannon.

I will be updating on the progress religiously.

Events that Occur Recently...

1) Not long ago, we had a gathering on Sunday (05/07/09) with our poly friends at AMK MacDonalds. Shannon together with Lex's son Jun Kai were so happy disturbing Melvin. The 2 little fellows were so cheeky and laugh so happily. The gathering was great. We managed to catch up with them. We had also decided to have a similar gathering once every 2 months. Next gathering will be in September. Seems like a long time, I will try to arrange a gathering next month if possible.

Shannon and Jun Kai sneaking up to Melvin.

Melvin turn around and the kids start running away.

Laughing loudly after a successful attempt.

2) We also brought Shannon to watch Ice Age 3 in the cinema on Monday (20/07/09). This was the first time she catch a show in the cinema. We went for the 3D version without knowing that there's a non 3D being shown. We paid $10 each for the tickets even though it was a weekday afternoon. Shannon was restless after the first 40min. She started walking around with the 3D glasses. Here's the photo of Shannon with her 3D glasses.

Shannon with her 3D glasses.

3) Another gathering last Thursday (23/07/09) with Sharon's secondary school friend and her family. We had an enjoyable dinner at Bukit Timah road. We went there specially for the salted egg crabs (咸蛋螃蟹) which not as good compared to Malaysia version. The crab was deep fry before cooking with the salted eggs. The crabs are not as meaty. Another gathering is set next mth, we planning to bring both our kids to Kidz Amaze in Jurong Safra.

Dora & Friends Show at Changi Airport Terminal 3

After the last visit, we had went back for the 2nd time. This outing is not purely bringing Shannon to see aeroplanes at the viewing gallery, we were there for one of Shannon's favourite character DORA.

Shannon posing with the event poster.

Shannon posing at the back of the stage with Dora & Boots.

We were there at 10.30am as the information on the brochure stated limited 30 tickets and collection starts at 11am. Well the brochure was very misleading. The 30 tickets are referring to the pirority seatings and are claimable upon spending a minimum of $70 by VISA.

In the end, we took our breakfast at Simply Wang and proceeded to take the skytrain to explore Terminal 2 while waiting for the show to start at 1pm.

Shannon holding tight on the railing as sky train vibrates more than the MRT.

When we got back to Terminal 3 at 12.30pm. The area for free seating was already starting to be fill up. When the show was about to start, the event people opened up the barricade to allow some to enter the pirority area. Everyone was trying to squeeze through the bottom neck to get in. We did manage to get in and find a good seat for Shannon to enjoy the show. Even though the show was in quite a remote place in Changi Airport, the turnout for the show was fully packed.

Shannon posing a cunning smile.

Dora the Explorer performing on the stage.

Shannon concentrating on the show.

Shannon enjoy the show really much but she didn't forget to go to the viewing gallery to look at the aeroplanes before going home. Overall it was an enjoyable trip.

Shannon enjoying her dinner....

It's been long since the last post. A lot had happened since but I not going to input everything as this suppose to be a blog on my family.

I like to cook and try out new recipe that based on trial and error. Well needless to say wifey and Shannon had been my guinea pigs trying out the dishes. But when you see the satisfying look of them makes it worth it.

Today's dinner was mee sua with cai xin, mince meat with fish ball and grilled chicken wings. Shannon was eyeing on the chicken wing even before she finish her mee sua.

Shannon enjoying the chicken wings.

贪吃的小花猫.

Lastly she must show that it's finger licking good.

Tree Top Walk & Hort Park

Park the car at Telok Blangah Park and started to walk from there through the Tree Top Walk towards Horte Park. It's only about half of the trail which starts at Mt Faber and ends at Horte Park. Even though it's only half but the distance travel was 2.7km. Going back and fro was tiring.

After going to Changi Airport Terminal 3, we went to Alexandra and Telok Blangah Park the following Sunday. Pardon for the late entry of absence. Here's the information on the outing.

Here are some of the photos of the outing.

Shannon all eager to proceed with the excursion.

Wifey and Shannon taking a photo on the Tree Top Walk.

Daddy also want to take one photo with Shannon.

Chili padi plant was available at the Hort Park. No need to buy if need only a few.

Dinosaur instead of pony for the kids to ride on.

After the whole excursion, Shannon was tired and I piggy back her back to the car. Look at her cheeky face.

Changi Terminal 3.....

Shannon and wifey posing with Terminal 3 directory

We decided to bring Shannon to Changi Terminal 3 to see aeroplanes as well as have our dinner there. She was pretty amazed by the size of the plane at such a close view. At the viewing gallery, we were also able to see planes landing on the runway. She was busy anticipating for the planes to land.

Shannon trying to pose with the aeroplane being taxi at the background

Waiting patiently for the next plane to land

Posing at the water fountain at Basement 2 after dinner.