A melting pot of emotions?

It didn't seem so long ago that I jumped for joy seeing two dark lines on a pee stick test.

The first trimster of discomfort from the queasiness and the worry that came due to cramps and mild spotting, gave way to what I term "honeymoon". The second trimster was a sudden burst of energy (evident w flurry of activities I was willing to embark with the little gal and hubby). Good times don't really last as I'm offically in the last trimster.

At 30 weeks, as the tummy continues to balloon- so did the belly button. This time its 100% "popped". Despite little gal's good intention to "sayang" her little sister, I have to sometimes stop her when her little hands move over my tummy across that swollen belly button as it kind of "hurts".

This pregnancy has been a little harder than the first. There was the queasiness! The "going to vomit" feeling left me with little appetite and resulted in me losing about 2 kg during the 1st trimster. I also felt more pains at the tailbone and pelvic area...

Other than that, the little one also seems to have more activity in the tummy than #1. From flutters to huge thumps to kungfu kicks directly on the bladder (makes me want to run for toilet) to "vibrations" (and I wonder if I swallowed a vibrating mobile phone).

10 more weeks to D-day (Delivery day). The feeling is like a roller coaster!

Anticipation - to meet the little miracle/testament of our life and future together.

Excitment - it's like opening a present! Will she look like an exact mould of #1? Or will she spot bigger eyes and sharper nose? Will she be fiesty like #1?

Anxiety?! - Wonder if she will head down, will I have another delivery without epidurial? Will this one latch? How will little gal react to baby? Will she be easy to care for? Blah blah.

And yet some strange inner-peace and calmness will inject itself when anxiety threatens to ruin everything. I guess the #1 "benchmark" works both ways. As a second time mother, you just hope for better outcome and experiences. ;)

The ultrasound photos are still in hardcopy so got to leave this post with my fully "popped" belly button. LOLZ!

The 2012 graduation concert...

Nope my little gal did not graduate but participated in the school's concert... The song she danced to was called the 加油歌. It seems like her passion for dancing, shaking around is pretty strong. Perhaps it's because of early exposure to music (kindermusik) and this is her 2nd participation in a dance item (her first was in Cherie Hearts).

With the little pompoms, the dance was energetic and high spirited. The kids on stage all enjoyed themselves despite being a little messy in terms of movement and coordination. Can't expect professional cheer leading precision at this age... :p

Some photos taken during the dance, with her classmates and of course a family portrait (can't tell my tummy is there ya?). ;)

Little gal's garden!

I've always recalled fond memories of my very young days at grandma's old landed property which consist of a mini garden. During my pre-school days, my younger sister and I would be disturbing the life of spiders (destroying webs), ants and even the goldfish (by over feeding them) in the fish tank. We would also spy my grandma when she was doing her gardening.

When my sis and i were in Primary school, we started growing green beans on wet cotton wool (i bet many of my peers would remember this). We had the opportunity of growing long beans in the backyard and even harvested the long beans when they grew! Cool isnt it?

I wanted to recreate this for the little gal despite the fact that we were staying in HDB. Hopefully the little morning sun will keep the plant alive and good enough for it to flower and fruit some day. ;)

Planning went well and she picked out the seeds from far east flora (okra/lady fingers & long beans). After that, we took a long break as little gal pestered us daily, shaking the seeds in our faces and asking when she could start. (opps)

One fine day, she finally put her foot down and insisted we got down to it. Little gal counted the seeds and pressed them into the moist wet sand. Then a thin layer of sand by papa and she patted the sand down.

Since it was her little garden, she waters the plants everyday and boy did they grow tremendously within the 3 days!

I decided to do a side project with her: a signage. Decided on a design (arrow pointing to the left) and words. I drew the words with her inputs, she drew the tree and grass and did the colouring all by herself. Super colurful isn't it?

Hopefully the plants will grow well and start growing lady fingers and long beans! (fingers super crossed). ;p

Batik Painting

Finally caught the trend of letting my little girl try "batik painting". It's meant to help children gain control and coordination. ;)

Today papa guided lil gal by helping her pour out the colors and telling her which to mix to get other colors... Midway through, she was so happy she held up the painting and exclaimed "wow so beautiful!". And she did not want papa to do any of the painting for her... Lolz...

Apple Pear Drink

The little girl is down with phelgmy cough and cold. With "bad breath", I was quite sure she was getting "heaty".

Researched online and found a drink suitable for coughing toddlers, so decided to give it a shot. My mum cooks this regularly (minus the pear and almond).

The drink is pretty sweet and the little girl didn't mind drinking it. I used a slow cooker so I don't need to watch over the fire.

Ingredients were adapted from http://food-4tots.com/2009/07/25/apple-soup. Hubby and I agree that it would be wierd to have it as a savory soup, so I omitted the meat and the bitter almond (since pregnant n tods should avoid due to toxicity). Instead of soup, we have a drink.

Ingredients
2 apples (small sized)
1 pear (brown skin, big one)
3 figs (无花果)
3 honey dates (蜜枣）
10grams sweet almonds (南杏）
Enough water to cover the ingredients

I shaved away the skin of the pear and apples (removing the core and slicing them in quarters and halves). Rinse remaining ingeedients. Put all together n slow cook on high (for about 3-4hrs).

The result is a clear yellow sweet liquid... ;)