Xavier is getting violent

I was really amazed by Xavier on Friday when he tried to put one of the fan blades into his mouth. He had tore the fan blade right off the fan which we usually clipped on the stroller hood above him. Just the other day, he pulled the whole fan out from the motor, again attempting to put in into his mouth.

Below you can see the damage he has done to the yellow/blue fan. The morale of the story, buy more spare fans.

A check on the "CCTV" would review that he is not afraid of the fan. In fact, he finds it fun to stop the spinning fan with his fingers.
I no longer could clip the fan onto the stroller hood. Instead, I have to hold on to the fans while pushing his stroller so that the fan still blows at him but its out of his reach. Lilian just laughed at me. Xavier would not give up and would still attempt to touch the fan still.

Xavier First Weaning Session

Xavier had a first taste of food other than milk on Saturday (25 July 2009). Lilian started Xavier's weaning session with white rice cereal. This is preferred over brown rice cereal as it is less likely to cause allergy. Lilian mixed a teaspoon of cereal with his milk for this session.

The thought of tasting a new food puts a cheeky grin on Xavier's cheek.
Taking the first few feeds with a spoon. That's a novelty.
So what's Xavier's verdict on this first weaning session?
Actually he enjoyed it. But it was very messy with him trying to blow bubble while eating and doing sneak attacks on the bowl while mummy is feeding. I'm sure he would be looking forward to trying other new food in the coming weeks. Lilian has sweet potato, spinach, pumpkin, apple, banana, and pear in mind.

My Autoart Gallery - Finally "Opened"

I started collecting die-cast car models some years ago. It all started with Peiling gave me an Autoart Die-cast car model as a birthday present. It was the Subaru WRC model.

Though I'm not a fan of Rex (preferring EVOs and GTRs), I can't help but admire the detailing on this model. The metallic blue paintwork, the almost real texture of the materials used on the seat and the carpet, it was a really well made model.

Then on, I've been a fan of Autoart. In fact, other than the Merz SLR McLaren, all the 1:18 die-cast models I have are from Autoart. I had stopped the hobby for sometime already partly because the price of the models have been rising and partly I had no space to keep them and I could not display them the way I wanted. They were kept in boxes for fear of dust.

But that has all changed today (2.5 years after I moved in to my present place). I recently found a vendor who is able to customise Acrylic displays to any dimension. Gave them the measurement and 1 week later my Acrylics are ready. Finally I am able to display my models with fear of them losing their shine to dust.




I love the Initial D series and even bought a toy model 2 years ago as Autoart did not make them. So when I chance upon the news that Autoart will be releasing a Japan exclusive only AutoArt AE86 Initial D ver., I knew I had to get my hands on it. Drop an email to Jacky from Motorsports Model Collectibles and he was able to get me a piece. Now I'm just keeping my fingers cross that they would release a ver. 2 of the AE86. They did make a tuned version of the AE68 but its ain't Initial D ver. 2 if it doesn't have the 4A-GE 20 valve twin cam engine under the bonnet.

For those of you who have no idea what AE86 is, its the 豆腐 (tofu) car from the initial D series (driven by Jay Chow in the Initial D movie). Still have no idea? Its the white car on the extreme left on the last photo.

Xavier is going places

I just discovered today that babies are constantly learning things, even when they are sick. I can no longer put Xavier down in the playmat and go do other stuff as he is beginning to "move".

By move I mean, he is starting to "leopard crawl". Its an army term which means crawling while in a prone position. I left him in the middle of the playmat and he is able to crawl to the edge of the playmat (and attempt to eat the edge of the playmat).

I tried to take a video of it later at night but he wasn't really showing how he moved in it. Rather, you would see him using his knees no move rather than "dry" swimming (kicking air).

Good work my boy.

"Darth Xavier" sums up what a week it has been

If you are wondering how come I haven't been active online recently, well the past week has been one of the worst week for my family.

It all started with Xavier's cough last Friday, then Lilian's got 1 Stye and 2 Chalazion all on her right eye on Friday as well. She needed to go for operation Friday evening and was on MC Friday to Tuesday. Then Xavier's cough worsen and Tuesday/Wednesday was the worse. He was coughing the whole night that neither himself, Lilian or myself got any sleep at all. Add that to his stroller losing one of the wheels without us knowing and our sudden urgency to look for a new infant care added to the week of "interesting" events.

The problem with baby coughing is they dun know how to get the phlegm out. So its heart-breaking hearing him trying to breath through his stuffy nose and hearing the phlegm going up and down his airway. And when he cough, he was trying so hard that it sounded like he was coughing his whole lungs out (like those coughing and choking at the same time).

We took him to see Dr. Anthony again on Thursday. He said he expected the cough to be worse but the medication seems to have control it well. But given Xavier has developed Bronchitis already, he tapped his table with his fingers for a moment (as if in deep thoughts) before saying he is gonna change the method now. Xavier will be on Nebuliser every 6 hours and had to go to Mt Alvernia for Chest Physiotherapy. This would be the most effective way to clear his phlegm.

Receiving all these instructions at 10pm at night was daunting for first-time parents. Add that to Xavier crying till he totally lost his voice (his worst crying I heard so far) when the nurse demonstrated how to use the Nebuliser, I couldn't help feeling lousy again (since Xavier likely to have got the cough from me). Lilian and I were at a lost for a moment as either of us had to take leave to bring him to Mt Alvernia on Friday to do the chest physio and Xavier would not be able to go to his Infant Care Centre up to Tuesday when we go back to Dr. Anthony for a review. After weighting our options, we manage to work out a plan and I thank my colleagues for their understanding (with the urgent leave matter).

The chest physio was very effective, though not the most pleasant for Xavier. The therapist taught us how to "percussion" (clapping Xavier's chest to "loosen" the phlegm in the lungs and the airway) especially after Nebuliser session. She then proceed to suck out the phlegm in the nose and throat area. This is by far the most effective way to remove the phlegm for babies. The coughing reflex from the baby to "bring" the phlegm up from the airway to the throat area so that it could be sucked out. This is where my heart aches again seeing Xavier coughed till his whole face turn purple. But seeing the phlegm being sucked out of the tube, I knew he would feel better after that.

As for why I titled this post Darth Xavier? Well he looked (and the machine sounded) like Darth Vader. I'm just looking at the lighter side of things. But its not always so relaxing, most of the time he would be crying as he hates not being able to put things in his mouth. Joking again. He just cry because he hates that thing.

Its Sunday now and so far his condition has improved. He is getting better sleep, his milk intake is slowly going back to before he fell sick and he is happier. However he still has the phlegm sound when he breaths. And he threw up twice today on our bed (and we are running out of bedsheets to change). But its a happy problem since its the sticky phlegm he is throwing up.

But its been a tiring week and the lack of rest/sleep and with Xavier coughing constantly, Lilian seems to have now caught the cough from Xavier. Let's hope Xavier recovers soon. Nothing warms my heart now than to see his smile and hear his hearty chuckle.

Xavier found the joy of jumping

Xavier picked up a new trick when we went to Rick's place over the weekend. The girls seems to got him so excited that he has been jumping and bouncing non stop since Sunday.

Lilian wanted to record the jumping but somehow she decided to record it "portrait" style and the end result was a video that you had to view with your head tilted 90 degrees. I manage to rotate it in Windows Movie Maker 5.1 but the new file looks like trying to watch standard TV on a wide screen (very flatten, like hamburger).

Nonetheless, hope you enjoy the video. Will try to take another one more proper.

Edit 20 July 09: We took a better video which I have replaced on this post. He even added a Salsa styling near the end.

Back to the doctor

Xavier still has the stuffy nose and phlegm for a month already (since he started infant care) and yesterday, he started coughing. It sounded bad, like those heavily clogged by sticky phlegm. I had a strange feeling he got the cough from me.

He didn't sleep well last night, and neither did I. Every time he coughed, I had to get up and walk to his cot just to make sure he is ok. He was tossing and turning alot when he cough and I didn't want him to end up in a bad position (head facing down) or had stuff over his head.

Got him to see a new PD this morning, recommended by Gabriel and Winney. The clinic is called ABC, stands for Anthony's Baby Clinic and is located at 327 Hougang Ave 5. This clinic has a more "sane" queueing time and the waiting area is definitely more calm. The PD is very good with Xavier and he has also confirmed my suspicion. I thought I did enough to avoid Xavier for 5 days (since Sunday night) and thinking I have recovered yesterday, I went to play with him. The cough still got to him. Sorry Xavier, my bad.

Recall: The +ve one (Second and Third Trimenster)

After the 12th week scan, we were referred back to Dr. Kek Lee Phin. Well we first went to Dr. Kek for advice after trying for sometime. She helped us with the counting of days as well as supplements but after trying for sometime still no result. So she refer us to Prof. Ng to see if he could help us further. I guess we were luckier with Prof Ng. as he only gave us supplements initially as an onset for more invasive methods and the +ve one came.

We highly recommend Dr. Kek as we find her calm, composed, confident, very knowledgable and very motherly. Anyway is the 16th week scan. He is about 11.6cm then.

Lilian felt uncomfortable one morning on the 18th and decided to see Dr. Kek just to be sure. As it was without appointment, the nurse were not that friendly. But this is the frustrating part. When you are anxious and worried, remarks like "we are full today, very packed already" and "you didn't have appointment so you have to wait lor" doesn't help the situation. Here is him at about 13cm long.

The 20th week scan at 16.3cm. He was playing hide and seek with Dr. Kek, not showing a clear view of whether its a boy or girl but Dr. Kek guess its probably a boy.

And the 24th week scan confirmed he is a boy. In fact he was happy to show it to the whole world.

Here is him at the 24th week scan. He has became too large to measure his body length so we got a closeup of his face.

Here is the 28th week scan. He seems to be looking at us and smiling.

30th week scan. By now its a fortnightly scan to monitor the baby as we get closer to the due date.

33th week scan.

35th week scan. Below shows the head circumference. and the scan after is the face scan.

And he is ready to see the world on the 39th week, 8th Feb 2009.

Recall: The +ve One (First Trimester)

As of 4th July 09, Xavier's official weight and height is 9kg and 68cm respectivaly. That puts him in the 97th percentile in terms of weight and 90th percentile in terms of height.

As I started the blog on Xavier 3 months late, I am gonna start a series of posts under "Recall" which will highlight the major events to date, starting from "The +ve one".

Trying for a baby didn't come easy for us. It took one and a half years of trying, many hard work, some tearful moments and a few holidays before the positive one came. In fact when the pregnancy test kit showed positive, Lilian couldn't believe it that she had to test 5 times with 5 different kits before it sinked in. Four kits were the normal +/- kit or the "double line" kit (of which one was done at her company GP) and wanting to be absolutely sure, she tested the 5th time on a digital kit that would show the word "Pregnant".

I was of course overjoy. Below are the series of ultrasound scans. The first was done roughly when he was 8 weeks old. He looked just like a kidney bean on the right of the black circle. BTW the black circle is the womb. This scan is basically to confirm he is well settled in the womb and not anywhere else (like the fallopian tube). Then when Prof. Ng measured his heartbeat, hearing the heartbeat of the fetus for the first time, the feeling was indescribable.

The second scan three weeks later showed the growing fetus and the placenta. His heartbeat was 171bpm then. Must be excited about us checking him out.

Then came the 12th week scan which is a detailed scan. This scan try to pick up any abnormalities early. You can see the head and the tummy in the scan below, as well as the little fist above the chin and the nose. This scan is also pretty scary for us cos they also test of possibility of Down's syndrome. The nurse took the reading on the nuchal skin fold thickness but didn't say much. Then she called a doctor in to take another reading. The doctor can only say should be ok, will await the blood test to be more conclusive. I sense its probably borderline but also feel the nurse reading might not be accurate (since 1/2 mm makes a difference and the way she measure like measure abit extra). They got us worried for a few days till the blood test result confirmed the possibility is very minimal.

I suddenly felt like a huge rock lifted off my chest. It was at this very moment that I became enlighten about what it means when people say it doesn't matter if your baby is handsome, smart, look like Brad Pitt or have double eyelids, as long as the baby is healthy. Having a healthy baby is all that matters.

To be continued...

Apollo Fresh Cockle Fried Kway Teow

Houston, we have a problem. The Apollo Fried Kway Teow is too irresistible. I'm sure most Singaporeans staying in the East side, particularly Marine Parade area would know this stall. Located at the back of the hawker center at Marine Parade, it serve the only wet Fried Kway Teow in Singapore.

The way I would describe the "wet" part would be its like Fried Kway Teow with the wetness of Satay Beehoon. The stall even has its own specially designed spoon for you to enjoy the wetness. Cooked with heaps of pork lard and juicy cockles, its full of flavour and oh so tasty. But not all people like this wet version so its a love it or hate it relationship, no sitting on the fence.

So if you prefer something lighter, the porridge stall in the same hawker center is also worth mentioning. Its full of generous ingredient and the texture of the porridge (not sure if I used the right word) is just nice. And I give extra points for the you tiao.

Blk 84 Marine Marine Parade Central
#01-174, Marine Parade Market and Food Centre
Singapore 440084




Blk 84 Marine Marine Parade Central
#01-165, Marine Parade Market and Food Centre
Singapore 440084

Homemade Popiah Party

I have received a number of encouraging comments for my food photos, most of them saying it made them hungry. That put a grin on my face as the photos had to be reasonably good to make you hungry right?

My mother's side of the family are quite closely knit and almost every Saturday would be a mini gathering. I remember going to my Grandmother's place at Queensway almost every Saturday to catch up with all the uncle aunties and of course to be treated to great food.

The venue has now changed to my big uncle's house but one thing never change, the presence of good food and great company. Though Lilian and I have not been going as often for the "weekly gathering", Popiah Party is never to be missed.

Good popiah party are hard to come by due to the huge amount of preparation work needed to prepare the ingredients. These includes lettuce leaves, grated carrot (by far the hardest to prepare), shredded omelette, bean spouts, prawns, hot chilli (sometimes makes or breaks a popiah), sweet dark sauce and grounded peanut. And when these are homemade, the popiah would often be so filled with ingredients that wrapping it becomes a challenge.

Different people have different ways of making their popiah and there is no right or wrong. I usually do mine on two Popiah skin (slightly apart so I can create a bigger popiah). I then put the lettuce on one end and start piling on the other ingredient starting with the grated carrot and ending with peanut over the sweet sauce.

Wrapping also requires speed and skill, expecially when I usually filled it like its gonna explode on first bite. Sometimes I even leave one end open while holding it vertical so I can pile more ingredients thru the opening. Greedy.

Below are some of the other stuff present at the table. The homemade wu xiang on the right and the tuna on the left were so good they were all gone before the end of the dinner. There were also yummy apple crumble bought by Rachel. Hope they made you hungry as well.

The Last Kampong of (Mainland) Singapore

Until 20 Jun 09, I did not know there was a kampong hidden right behind my backyard (well not exactly but its like a 5 mins drive from my place). Julia, my classmate from my Objectifs photography class presented her project on Kampong Lor Buangkok and it was only then did I came to know of this hidden gem.

Eager to go have a look and shoot some photos, I pitch the idea to Johnson. He readily agreed as he too wanted to hone his skills on his new Canon 500D. The morning got off to an embarrassing start for me. Johnson suppose to pick me up at 6.45am for some prata before we go shooting. But I woke up at 7.30am only to realise I set my alarm to ring at 6pm! My wife said I literally jumped out of bed. Thankfully Johnson was still downstairs waiting for me, while shooting flowers to hone his skills. What a buddy!

Situated off Yio Chu Kang Road, the entrance to the Kampong could be easily missed if not for this sign near the side road. We were attacked by army of hungry mosquitoes close to the entrance and the mosquitoes(or the itchy bites) got both of us "dancing" while trying to take some decent photos. But further into the kampong, the mosquitoes were non-existence.

After seeing Julie's photos on the kampong, I found myself unknowingly shooting the same photo objects as she did for her project. Below are some letterbox photos.

Another distinct sight is the overhead electricity cables. And of course that retro lamp post.

The houses are made of almost entirely from wood, some with zinc. Even caught someone reading newspaper by the window.

Understand that the authorities have intention to take back this land so the last kampong might disappear soon. If you wish to see all other photos taken that day, do visit my Flickr.

Blogger = Fail?

Its been a few days and yet not a solution is in sight. What am I talking about? It inability to post images on my blog using the "Add Image" icon.

Well, after selecting the image and doing the settings, I click "Upload image" button and the upload starts. When its done, I see a picture of the image I uploaded and the message, "After clicking 'Done' you can change your post and publish to your blog." And click 'Done' I did, except the image does not appear on my blog. Strange thing is, I can see the photo on my Pizacaweb album, meaning it was indeed uploaded successfully.

While I could embed link the images and it will appear on my blog, why should I go thru the trouble? Obviously something is broken...

Clearing the cache, disabling all browser addons, resetting my PC and still it does not work. Goggle and suddenly realise the whole blogger community is facing the same issue, for days. No indication when it will be fixed, the problem is also not listed in the "Known Issues" of Blogger Help Center.

Makes we wonder if Blogger = Fail, and if I should just switch to Wordpress?

Update 03 July 09: Its been almost a week and Blogger has done nothing. Apparently it doesn't affect all blogger (since Johnson can upload images as per normal) so I guess to them its not critical. Guess have to roll up my sleeves and do some html coding...