Crazy for Sushi and Coconuts

When Fuzzy and I are home alone on Sunday afternoons, our favourite lunch is very simply, take-out sushi. And now that Chubbs has jumped on the sushi-bandwagon too, it makes for a very fuss-free meal. Recently, Chubbs has also acquired a taste for fresh coconuts; he drinks almost all of the juice in one, and will even finish all the creamy flesh. Leaving not much for Mommy :(

Toasting with Californian handrolls.

Like I said before, the hubby likes to take very unglamorous shots of me :/

Taking a huge gulp of it first, then offering Daddy some.

Lunches with Shu

My secondary school friend, Shu, and I meet for lunch once in two weeks on average. Some days, she'll ta-pow something for us to have at home, other times, we head out for pizza at La Nonna, which is just around the corner from me. We chat, laugh, reminisce about the good old days of school, voice our frustrations with daily living, etc. But truth is, I put in the effort to maintain a relationship with her because she's a dear friend with a great heart, and I want to be a relevant part of her life, just as much as I like her being a part of mine.

She's been off to Nepal and India on vacation for one month, and I missed her dearly. To relieve her of her recent deprivation of luxury and to celebrate her return to civilisation, we pigged out at La Nonna again. Our order of soup, appetiser, pizza with truffle emulsion, half-cooked egg and asparagus, tiramisu and pannacotta went down very nicely indeed.

The little one loves the fresh bread there, which he normally pairs with a wedge of cheese. This time, slurped up a small portion of Shu's minestrone. For dessert, he ate half of my pannacotta, which he thinks is a less cold form of vanilla ice-cream. Ma ma mia! Bravissimo!

Thinking of what to do/ eat next.

Ah ha! Dip bread in minestrone soup.

Devour bread!

Shu was well tickled by his antics.

Jealous much, Cheryl?

"Happy Birthday to Ah Gu!"

My brother, Niel, turns 23 today. For many years, when people asked my brother age, I'd say he was 18. But he was actually already in adulthood. It's like no matter how old he gets, I can't wrap my head around it. He seems to have frozen in time. And it was only when I was preparing the candles to bring for his cake, that I stopped to literally count the years, and realized that my brother was old. Enough ramble... Happy "18th" Birthday Niel!

Dinner was miso soup and chawanmushi that my mum made, and I made a sushi run and brought handrolls, salmon belly sushi and other assorted sushi to the table. Chubbs had handrolls for the first time and he loved it to bits. Together with the handrolls, he ate two bowls of chawanmushi and a bowl of soup with tofu, and fruit and cake after. He's my little Jap baby!

After dinner, he got to play with a new toy, even though it wasn't his birthday. My mum got him a toy guitar, which he totally enjoyed strumming.

Jamming with my dad, who's playing the real mccoy.

Of course Chubbs got to "huff puff" the candles out and cut the cake too. He even sang the Chinese version of "Happy Birthday" to my brother. Great singing, little darling.

Just Him and I

While my aunt is out setting some personal record for hitting the most European cities for work over the next three weeks, I'm car-sitting for her (i.e. I'm borrowing the car for three weeks).

So on the days that Chubbs doesn't nap, and if the weather holds, I've been thinking of out-doorsy things to do with him. One day, it was the hort park. But the shade-lessness of the playgrounds there, paired with the heat of mid-afternoon sun zapped us of all our energy within an hour or so. Nonetheless, he still had fun because the park was devoid of children and he had the three playgrounds all to himself.

Then a few days later, we took a drive to Dempsey, with plans to hit Go-Go-Bambini. But I got there 45-min to closing (I thought they closed later), and found out that the fee for Chubbs since he turned two, was $17.50. It was previously $6 for toddlers below two years of age. The play plan got aborted because I didn't want to rush him through the place and have to stop him playing just 45-min later.

The next better thing was (I actually think this trumps Go-Go-Bambini) to head next door and have me, oops I mean Chuubs, some Ben and Jerry's. He devoured the entire scoop of vanilla, plus the waffle fan :/

We headed back to Dempsey again soon, this time to give my mum a lift back from work, and also to give Chubbs another look at his school next year, St. James Kindergarten. Yes, my baby is starting pre-nursery. Boo :( My heart is aching just typing this.

He had a ball running in and out of the playhouse they have. He loves playing house.

It's been fun hanging with you, my little Love.

Big Baby, Big Bottle

Fuzzy and I were sorting through some of Chubbs' stuff to pass to my mum's friend's new baby, and we found this giant bottle full of smaller milk bottles. We asked Chubbs if he knew what the bottle was used for, and he said, "Milk-milk". Was very surprised that he knew that, considering he only drank from the bottle a couple of times when he was 2-months old or so. Nonetheless, he had a great time playing with the giant bottle, pretending he was drinking like a giant baby.

Fun in a Little House

Chubbs turns 25-months today. Seems like just yesterday we celebrated his second birthday, no? We met Fuzzy's family at Great World City for dinner at Imperial Treasure (our all-time favourite Chinese restaurant) because it was Fuzzy's aunt's birthday. But before the feast, Chubbs got to play at the best toy/ book/ baby accessories shop there, Mothers Work.

He ran in and out of of the door almost non-stop.

"Peek-a-boo!"

"Ta-da!"

I love how well laid out that shop is, and the large variety of interesting books they have on offer at the shop. We are always so tempted to buy loads of fun toys and books for Chubbs :/

Dinner was excellent. Cold steamed crabs over-flowing with creamy, amber roe, roasted goose and pork belly, poached spinach in stock, shark cartilage soup, steamed chicken with Chinese wine, mushroom noodles with truffle oil, braised lobster noodles, etc. We ate way too much because everything was so delicious! And to think that Fuzzy blames me for his rather prosperous physique :/

The First Day

Today was the first day in almost 25-months that Chubbs didn't nurse all day; he's been too sick to even raise his head. He's been running an above 39-degree fever (highest around 39.8) all day and hasn't the appetite for anything. Not even breast milk.

Fuzzy and I have been sick since a week ago. My throat is still so sore I can hardly drink water and I've been crazy coughing non-stops for days. And Fuzzy's nose has been leaking like a tap; it was inevitable that he catches the bug from us. Moreover, he had just endured a bought of fever and flu a couple of weeks back, and then was plagued with hives for a week. And last night, he vomited all his dinner in the middle of his sleep. My poor son was so out of it, that he didn't do anything today except snuggle against my chest, and read his favourite Elmo book.

We are very worried because Panadol doesn't seem to have any effect on Chubbs. After a dose of Panadol, his fever still stays around the 39.5-degree range. His body's flushed red from the heat, and complains that it hurts when we hug him. It completely breaks my heart.