Introducing Seth Tan... son of Renee and Allan Tan, brother of Tyler Tan. What a boyish baby.. just like his handsome brother.

Both Tyler and Seth were delivered in Raffles Hospital. Allan and Renee were both very satisfied with the gynae and the service of the hospital. Now, we're thinking if we should change a gynae. Dr Ho's really good and I'm comfortable with him too. But he's quite expensive compared to the other gynaes that my friends go to. Plus, Mt Alvernia is errm... a little not very appealing. Anyway, we still have time to decide.

Seth loves to be carried... he'll cry whenever he's being put back into the craddle and he'll stop the minute he's being carried. His eyes are different from his brother's.. big with single eyelids. But his hair is just like his brother's.. dark, bountiful and soft. And I think his lips are absolutely signature of the Tan's. Cute!

Today, we saw God's special gift for the first time. By measurement, this special gift is slightly under 5 weeks.

I decided to visit the gynae that Jen went to as I remember how much she used to talk about him. She's always full of praises of her gynae AND a major plus point is... he's a Christian too.

We called to make an appointment on 4 June, but he's gonna be away from 4-10 June. The lady on the phone managed to squeeze in an appointment for us at 11.30am today. And since Calvin's on leave today, we decided to go ahead with it.

We got there before 11.30am, registered and waited. The clinic assistants were all very friendly. After taking my particulars, blood pressure, height and weight, the lady handed me a urine test labstick and said that this would be a standard procedure everytime I visit. I'd have to take a pee on the labstick: the yellow box tests my protein level and the blue box tests my sugar level (or is it the other way around?? oops).

I went to the toilet and immediately disliked it. The toilet's small and old... hmmm this is the one part that I didn't like about the place. How to be comfortable when I get bigger? Hmmm... Mt Alvernia is really quite old...

We finally saw Dr Ho at about 12.40pm. He is a very friendly and smiley man. And he really seems very experienced. We did a complex scan and he told me that I have 3 fibroids - one in the front of the womb and two at the back. He said there's nothing to be worried about cos as the baby grows bigger, the fibroids will be relatively small and shouldn't cause any problems.

Well, Calvin and I know for sure the fibroids can't cause any problems because our Father God is taking care of us. We receive His miracle and trust that all is well in His mighty hands! Our pregnancy will be a greatly blessed, healthy, complication-free, morning sickness-free one that will lead us to a natural delivery of a beautiful, blessed, healthy baby who glorifies the name of Jesus!

Amen!

Today's the last day of Calvin's PTI course. YIPPEE!! He has endured through 3 long months of waking up way before the sun did and coming back beaten by the strenuous training designed for NS boys!

But guess what? My handsome hubs emerged as the BEST! He was awarded Best in Physical Training and he was also awarded Best Trainee! These were the only 2 awards for the PTI course and he got them BOTH!! Praise GOD!!! I'm so proud of my man!

All glory be to God! (^__^)

I've always had super accurate "time of the month". That was supposed to be in the middle of my training in BKK. I thought the training had been stressing me out and that's why my P was delayed. By Friday, I was having cramps but not having the flow. And I thought, what's wrong this month, was I that stressed? Then, Rachelle gave me a sneaky smile and said, "Maybe you're..."

Man.. I was shocked! I didn't think of that possibility as it wasn't planned and Calvin's not with me when the possibility struck. The minute I saw him at the airport, I told him about it. He smiled and he said, let's do a test.

We tested faintly positive with a home kit and then we went to the GP and got the same faint results. He suggested testing it again in a week as it's still at a very early stage and the hormones may not be strong enough yet.

Calvin took the news better than I did. He kept reminding me that it's God's plan and His timing can only be the best. For me, I still can't quite believe that this is happening. I'm not prepared for it. I had wanted to get in shape, get healthy and just get ready. I so badly wanna go for our long awaited mega trip to Italy. I had wanted a year end baby. I had wanted to save more money. OMG... not thinking coherently.

Then God spoke to me lovingly.. He said that I just need to trust Him. I can do all sorts of things to get ready - read books, surf the internet, ask for advice, etc etc. But all's well in His hands! He has the final say for He is the Alpha and the Omega! And He loves us unconditionally. All it takes for us is to pray and trust our Daddy God. I feel so loved and comforted.

Even though we didn't plan for it, we know this is God's special gift to us. It is in His time, not ours.

Dear Daddy God, we pray that Your divine protection be on us and your special gift to us. We pray for a healthy baby who will bring us pride and joy. We pray that our pregnancy will be free of complications, free of morning sickness and be filled with Your love and joy. We pray that we will both enjoy the entire process of becoming parents. We pray for wisdom, favour and grace every second of every day of our new journey. We pray that You will provide for us exceedingly abundantly. And I pray that You'd make me a happy, healthy, pretty and slim mom-to-be.

Amen!

So, there you have it... WE ARE PREGNANT!!

I'm officially a Level 1 Trainer in my company! I've learnt a lot from the amazing trainers in the 4.5 days of training. I'm inspired and totally envious! Every one of the trainers couldn't stop saying how much they love their jobs! I wanna be in that state too... doing what I love and loving what I do.

Thursday: The trainers planned a beautiful group dinner for us at Vertigo. We've heard so much about this place. It's on the top floor of Banyan Tree Bangkok. It serves great food. It has the best ambience and you can have the best view of Bangkok from this place.

We placed our orders the previous night and all bookings were made. So we met at Sukhothai lobby at 8.30pm, ready to stroll over to the restaurant 3 blocks away. When we got up to the restaurant, the host at the restaurant apologised profusely that the restaurant is closed due to the weather. It had rained earlier and was still threatening to rain when we got there. Our trainers were undescribably disappointed. The staff there tried means and ways to make other arrangements for us and it became quite a bit unpleasant. In the end, we all decided that it's the company that counts and we went back to Sukhothai pool bar to have pizzas, salads and drinks. Before we headed back, we went up to Vertigo to take a look and take some photos.

I didn't bring my camera along for the trip. Rahul, who's from Mediacom Singapore, went around helping people take photos with his Nokia handphone. Here's a photo he took.

He took my brief very well. I said I wanted lightning in the photo and he managed to capture it beautifully. :p These are my Filippino teammates - we worked on our project together. On my left is Rachelle who works in GroupM Jakarta now and on my right is Aileen who works in Mediacom Manila.

Vertigo is really really nice! I have to patronise them when I visit Bangkok again.

Friday: Training ended around 2pm. We hugged and bade farewell and set off separately - some rushed for their flight home, others (me inclusive) rushed off for some serious shopping! A few of us headed to Platinum mall together and when we got there, we went our separate ways. I was supposed to meet Allen at 7pm at Siam Square but his meeting ended earlier and he came to look for me at Platinum. I wish I had more time at the mall and I wish I had brought a bigger luggage!!

This is really a great place to stock up for your wardrobe! I bought 2 dresses, 3 shirts, 2 tops for my darling nieces, 5 T-shirts for my handsome hubs, some earrings and 1 pillowcase. I really should have brought a bigger luggage. I had wanted to buy bags and shoes but I decided to stop shopping because I knew I'd have problems stuffing them into the little space I have. Sigh... should have known myself better! haha

Saturday: Home sweet home! So good to be back in my handsome hubs' arms! (^__^)

Train-The-Trainer at Bangkok. That's what it means. That's what I'm here for. Some months back, I got an email to inform me that I'm 1 of 3 nominated to attend this course and it asked if I wanna take it on. I jumped at the opportunity! I wanna be a trainer! I'm excited, honoured and flattered to be given this opportunity!

Only downside, I'll be away for an entire week and I'll be leaving on a public holiday - robbed of a day of rest, a day of quality time with my busy husband.

The hotel that they put us in is beeeautiful... it's called Sukhothai. My colleague who came here sometime back for a conference described it this way, "the whole city may be in a mayhem, but once you step into Sukhothai, you step into a different world, a solitary retreat." And the room is soooo cosy... wish I have more time to spend in the room! haha

When I stepped into the training room this afternoon, I'm amazed at how the trainers have decorated the room and made it really nice with lots of butterflies - every decorative item has butterfly motifs! It symbolises transformation. I'm all ready to be inspired!

Today, we learnt about adult learning principles and how to write well-formed outcomes for the training modules that we develop. By the end of the training, we would have (in our teams) crafted training modules, presented them, have them critiqued, and would be ready to roll it out in our own markets. Sounds like hard work in 4.5 days? I think so...

Time to rest and gear up for another 4 long days. And then, it'd be shopping shopping shopping in one night - Friday night! Yippee!

The results of my week-long birthday feasting is showing!! Damn it! I can feel the weight creeping into my body! I HAVE to do something about it! And I sooo need determination.

I seriously think I need to have a plan (and some supervision) in place. Calvin promised that he'll draw up an exercise plan for me after his course. After all, he's supposed to be a PTI (Physical Training Instructor) upon completion of the course... hehe.. Well, I had a good start today. I woke up early for some work out at home. Problem is, I need to keep this going..

Haven't gone for our weekend brisk walking eversince Calvin went on his course. I think those brisk walking sessions really helped! Now I feel that "Mdm W" can find her way to haunt me more easily than when I exercised regularly.

Another agenda for the plan to lose some "Mdm W" is.... I don't wanna be a fat (not even plump) preggy. erm... not that we're planning for a baby now, but I need time to get in shape and I had better start NOW!

I figured one way to force some determination through is to blog about my plan! haha... higher tendency for me to stick to it. I know it's not just about exercising, it's about the diet too (& vice versa). So, I'd need to work on a meal plan too! :p

Cheer me on!

I baked again! This time with Jasmine... and we baked rum & raisin cupcakes! It's a very easy recipe from the 500 cupcakes & muffins recipe book. Esther, I'm putting your wonderful gift to good use, huh? hehe...

I've tagged this page since day 1 cos I know rum & raisin is one of Calvin's favourite flavours. So, as Jas and I were deciding on what to bake, Calvin suggested this.

We made 2 batches and we ended up with 48 mini cupcakes. Each batch that went into the oven, we modified some parts of the recipe. We both preferred the last batch where we stirred in the rum syrup into the batter before baking. That gave a bit more rum taste to the cupcakes and also gave them a bit more moisture. We love our products!! (^__*)

I've been wanting to buy this book since a couple of months ago. I've seen it, took it up and put it back on the shelves 3 times since. Funny how I kept looking at it and wanting to buy it, but never brought it to the counter at all.

On Monday, Chiew Hoon passed me the birthday present she got for me. I tore open the wrappers and I screamed in excitement! hehe.. I didn't get the book, but the book got me! Now I know why the book always end up back in the shelves. God has His amazing ways... Thank You!

I first got attracted to the book because of its cover, and I was excited to read about the Italian part of the story. It'd be great to read about someone's encounters and life in Italy since we're planning a trip there soon.

There's this part where the author explained the beauty of how the Italian language evolved and I'm intrigued by the Italian culture. A German guy in her Italian class said that he's learning Italian because he loves the dolce vita - the sweet life. I can't wait to be there to experience the dolce vita myself. And there's this library in Rome that she went to that has a courtyard garden within it. And within the garden, there's a small fountain that makes a melancholy, lovely sound throughout the whole courtyard. Man... what a picturesque description of the dolce vita that we're about to experience. (^__^)

Synopsis
It's 3am and Elizabeth Gilbert is sobbing on the bathroom floor. She's in her thirties, she has a husband, a house and they're trying for a baby - and she doesn't want any of it. A bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair later, she emerges battered and bewildered and realises it is time to pursue her own journey in search of three things she has been missing: pleasure, devotion and balance. So she travels to Rome, where she learns Italian from handsome, brown-eyed identical twins and gains twenty-five pounds; to an ashram in India, where she finds that enlightenment entails getting up in the middle of the night to scrub the temple floor and to Bali where a toothless medicine man of indeterminate age offers her a new path to peace: simply sit still and smile. And slowly happiness begins to creep up on her.

We had a basketball game today! We had so much fun and we're planning to make this regular. Lilian organised this and booked the court at the former SPE (School of Physical Education). We invited any one from the company to join in, and out of almost 100 people in the office, only 6 of us (Lilian, ChiewHoon, Vyoma, Sonal, Yew Leong and I) participated. Which is just perfect for a 3-on-3 half court game. Not all of us played basketball before and that made the game really fun. We had a great time running around and laughing at ourselves.

I saw this group of people having their volleyball training and I'm itching to join them. But I bet I'm rusty at it already... can't even remember when is the last time I played volleyball proper. I miss it!

Took leave today because nobody should work on their birthdays! haha.. Calvin can't be around because of that course that seems to be never-ending!!

I invited some dear friends over and we had a blast trying to whip out yummy lunch for ourselves. Thank God Long came too... he's a chef, you see... haha. So my kitchen turned into a mini restaurant kitchen with a head chef (Long) and many other cooks (Diane, Audrey, Teri, Ben and me). It was great fun!!

So, the day started with me waking up at 7am and getting ready to bake my birthday cake. I decided to bake cheesecakes as I've been thinking about it for quite a while. Used the "baked cheesecake" recipe in the book Esther bought for me last year.

~ Baked Cheesecake ~
Makes 1 dozen (or 28 minis)

Ingredients:
125g digestive biscuit crumbs
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
450g ricotta cheese
450g cream cheese, softened
2 tsp vanilla essence
175g icing sugar, sieved
3 eggs
150g fresh blueberries

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160 deg C. Place 12 paper baking cases in a muffin tin.

Put the digestive biscuit crumbs into a medium bowl and stir in the butter. Spoon tablespoons of the crumb mixture into the cases, pressing firmly into the bottom. Chill until set.

In a large bowl, beat the ricotta cheese until smooth. Add the cream cheese, vanilla and icing sugar, blending until smooth. Slowly add the eggs, blending well. Spoon the mixture into the cases.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove tin from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack. Chill until time to serve. Serve topped with blueberries.

I added some "decor" on my cakes... chocolate swirls.. :p I couldn't find ricotta cheese in both Phoon Huat and NTUC Xtra! So I replaced the ricotta cheese with cream cheese. It didn't turn out too bad. Except that I think the texture shouldn't be like this had I used ricotta cheese. But anyhow, everyone liked my cheese cuppies!! yippee!!

Then met up with the gang at AMK Hub to do grocery shopping. And here's what we whipped out after more than 3 hours in the kitchen...

~ Diane's Baked Potato Salad with her self-made dressing~

~ Cream of Wine & Mussel Soup (this is damn good!) ~

~ Spicy Prawn & Scallop with Aglio Olio Angel Hair (again) ~

And here's my wonderful company for my wonderful day (^__^)

It's my dad's Chinese birthday today and our family met up for a simple dinner - birthday dinner for my dad and me. In fact, we're probably gonna do this again next Mon, cos that's gonna be my dad's ang mo birthday and my deng nang birthday - on the same day!

It's been quite a while since the whole family had a chance to sit down together at the same table to enjoy a meal and one another's company. We met up at AMK S11 for frog legs porridge, BBQ stingray & sotong, satay and BBQ chicken wings. We had a great time chatting about current affairs, MSK, my granny, my relatives, Bro's business, etc etc.

Simple and short, but nothing less than a great family bonding time! (^__^)

Bus Station = where buses stop
Train Station = where trains stop
I have a work station.
So, that's where work stops!

Yes. There again! Haha... This time with Noi, Randy and Jasmine. We were supposed to have nasi padang at Hotel Rendezvous but changed plans cos Calvin needed more time to study and didn't want to travel. Thank God for understanding friends. So Randy suggested eating crabs ! They can't get yummy crabs over in Manila. Over there, chilli crabs are sweet, not spicy... eeeww..

~ Crab Bee Hoon Soup ~

~ Chilli Crab ~

I like his look in caps! (^__^)

I think Noi likes his look while slurping the yummy soup! :p

When we were leaving after our crab feast, we were stunned to see how long the queue was... it stretched across at least 3 shop fronts! And the entire coffeeshop was PACKED! *keching!*

Sometimes, it's a chore to think about what to eat. We didn't really want eat out for lunch and the queue at NTUC Xtra is horrendously long. Thank God we still have some frozen prawns and scallops and some pasta at home. So while Calvin was studying for his test, I cooked lunch for us. It's the 2nd time I cooked pasta aglio-olio-style. I think I've improved substantially! Calvin thought so too! Yippee!!

Calvin kept me away from him for a while on May Day as he was making some calls and didn't want me to hear his conversations. He was making plans and reservations for my birthday dinner tonight. (^__^) He couldn't take leave on the 6th so we've decided to go on a date in advance.

I bought myself a sweet purple babydoll dress for my birthday and Calvin asked me to wear it today. I also got him a pink polo Tee which he wore for our date too. Both are from Springfield... I'm beginning to like the apparels from this label.
* * *

We rode in the nice evening weather towards Bt Timah. I guessed he was bringing me to some restaurants in the area. But when he turned into PIE, I decided not to make any more guesses. So I just enjoyed the safe breezy ride behind my man. He then turned into Fairways Drive, where the Saddle Club is. It's like turning into a place that's out of Singapore. We had to slow down the ride as the signs say "Dead Slow. Horses Crossing." We were riding alongside a horse that was being brought out for a walk by its young owner. Damn cool!!!
* * *

We were very early and we walked around to take some pictures. We really felt like we've just left Singapore. There were ang mos all around... stuck up ang mos to be exact! These ang mo ladies actually spoke loudly amongst themselves when I was taking this shot, saying, "Ask her to stop taking photos!" I was in a beautifully fabulous mood and I wasn't gonna let these brown-haired, fair-skinned foreigners affect me.
* * *

Calvin brought me to this place called Mimolette. I've never heard of it so I was really pleasantly surprised when we got here. The decor and ambience are just mesmerizing.
* * *

Colonial-styled hanging lamps give the restaurant a very warm and cosy atmosphere.
* * *

Cushioned armchairs give a sense of grandness to the restaurant.
* * *

My handsome date completes the beautiful evening.
* * *

A waitress came up to me before any of our orders were served to tell me this, "Sorry mdm, it's our company policy that you can't take photos of the food served." Fine. So this was closest we got to getting some food snaps.

The food is really really good! Every dish is just almost perfect. Kudos to the chef! We had Asparagus Soup and Oxtail Fettucini as appetisers, Pan-seared Tenderloin and Pan-seared Cod Fish for mains and shared an Angel Food Cake for dessert. Think we'll be back soon for their Sunday brunch! yums!
* * *

We adjourned to the bar area to chill out with wine and beer and enjoyed the rest of the evening in each other's company.

We love almost everything about this place (but it's still 2nd to Senso..), except for the service. Not that it was bad service, but it just didn't match up to the warm, cosy feeling of the ambience in the restaurant. Still, we'll be back. (^__*)

Xifen came to pick me up after work to go for dinner. We haven't gone out on our own to catch up with each other's life in detail for a long time. She brought me to Tapas Tree in Clarke Quay and we had a fantastic time catching up.

I love old friends... with old friends, you know you'd pick up from wherever you left off easily, comfortably and heart-warmingly. Thanks pal!

[BD = Birthday Dinner]
Celebrations of me turning 32 started today... with Dennis and Eunice. I suggested eating chilli crab at Mellben (AMK Blk 232) as I've been craving for it. So Eunice obliged, but I think she's excited about it too. Cos it's one of her favourites! haha..

We decided to meet at 5pm just so we that can get a seat and not have to wait too long for our food. Mellben is quite irritatingly "organised". You have to queue up and take your order and then wait for them to assign a table for you... depending on what you order. They claim that it's because they need to assign you to a table that is "big enough" to lay out all the food that you order. In other words, you have to be "profitable" enough to get a bigger table. *roll eyes*

We ordered Chilli Crab (with man tou of course) and Crab Bee Hoon Soup. It was soooooo yummy!!! This is the first time I tried their crab bee hoon soup. It's really marvelicious.. I just kept drinking the soup.. *slurp slurp*

~ Chilli Crab ~
[didn't get to take a snap of the crab bee hoon soup as we've already dug into the chilli crab when the bee hoon soup arrived]

~ Chilling out at McD's @ AMK Garden ~
[we really needed to chill out after the meal in such hot weather]

~ Pressie 1 ~
[a stylo black vase - flowers included (*__^)]

~ Pressie 2 ~
[my 4th red crumpler]