Good Night, Sleep Tight

This is part 2 of my LO's room makeover because we took so many photos and also partially because we are all very proud of it (my son included). Initially, the LO was sleeping on a mattress beside our bed. It would be lined with lots of cushions and plushies to prevent him from knocking on the sides. 

His room is more of a playroom and somehow because we were revamping the house for the baby, it also became a mini storeroom. Fortunately, the LO was not very curious and left all the "potentially dangerous" items alone. 

Here's the bed we chose (you can read all about our selection process here). We didn't put it right beside the window (which would be a better use of space) because we didn't want our LO to climb the window grills. Instead, we placed a beanbag between them so that he can sit around (Our beanav  and check out the cars in the morning and use the beanbag to climb onto his bed. 

The bedsheets which we are using are the Hotel Collection from Robinsons. It was so soft and comfy that our extended family also went to buy some sets for themselves given the sales. We chose a very sweet shade of blue for him and decorated the bed with all his favourite toys. He has been in love with his bed ever since, which is quite a relief for us because we heard of tales which the kid rejected the room. 

My favourite corner was the reading nook for him. Initially, we wanted to collapse that area after the baby arrives. But because he loved the whole room so much. My husband found it cruel to do so. We decided to keep the room as it is. Tiny details include some windows stickers and glow in the dark elements on this cupboard. I have also made the top a mini book shelf featuring his toys (those are not originally book stoppers by the way) haha. 

What you see is not the final product. I got him some deco which hasn't quite arrive. I think he is going to love them. Now he spends a good deal of his time just playing by himself in his room. And it is great because the area is very safe and we managed to cordon a good deal of the kid's stuff into his room under his bed, freeing out more space in the living room and bomb shelter :)

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For our readers only, from now till 10 Nov, quote "HotelFunk" to receive an additional 20% on top of the sales for the Hotel Collection from Robinsons. After 10 Nov, you may still quote "ForFunk10" for 10% off any item at Robinsons. 

Milestone Card: Yay or Nay

Now that I am a second time mum, it is funny how my husband's friends would ask him to consult me on some Mummy's stuff. Am I seen as an expert? I guess I definitely know a little more, thanks to a healthy dose of research done during the previous pregnancy and also I guess from experience. 

Recently, I shared my "updated" hospital packing list (will share here on a later date, but you can refer to the old post here) and my husband's friend asked erm...what is a milestone card. I felt it was still a necessity and left it in my list. Lol!

For fathers especially who are bound to be confused, Milestone Baby Cards are basically beautifully illustrated development cards to help capture all the development milestones of your baby's first year. First time mothers are especially enthusiastic in it and I think most are able to sustain in the first 4 months. I am proud to say, I actually took DIY themed shots for every month for my firstborn. 

Although this is my 2nd born, I intend to apply the same enthusiasm and has amassed clothes for her 12 "photoshoo months". When people ask, why do I need so many clothes for even my 2nd born, do I even have that many occassions to dress her up? This is how I find the occassions. 

This time round, we are using milestone cards from Happy Starts ($15 only!). This series is particularly cute and appropriate because our little one will be a cub princess. I have already packed the welcome baby into the hospital bag. Like the last round, I intend to let her take a photo with "Welcome Baby" and her father will write her birth details, like date, height and weight on it. :)

Given my track record, I foresee myself these 12 cards in the deck. They have other cards too, but some may be harder to catch. Sometimes I do cheat, the first sit may not be the baby's first sit and the same goes for first stand. My previous deck didn't really have holidays version so I am quite excited for them too! Stay tune to catch the cute photos!

How I choose a bed for my Toddler: Four Star Mattress

Now that there is another one on its way, we decided to give the #1 a little more autonomy. By that, we want to give him a room. Eventually the 2 kids will sleep together. We envisioned the room to be like a nursery/ playroom. It is a nice safe space for them to enjoy as siblings. 

When it came to the bed, the husband and I decided that we wanted something that will grow with the child. The mattress in particular had to be comfortable but yet provide good support for his developing spine. 

There are some modular beds in the market which tend to be a bit pricier. We ended up considering an adult sized bed instead because our LO has always been sleeping on adult sized beds at his grandparent's house. We don't think he will be used to a kid's bed. It turned out to be a super good call on our part because to date (almost a month already), he has never fallen off his bed and he has even found a way to climb onto the bed himself, LOL!

We also considereed a brand starting with I, but in the end we didn't go for it because their beds were slightly off the local sized. We are quite particular about the beddings and I didn't want to be held at the brand's mercy for bedding needs in future.

As we were quite wary that he might reject the bed, we decided to bring the LO along to choose his own bed. Also, we wanted to gain some inspriation from the options available. Like an adult, he explored the area, rolled around a few mattress and even jumped on a few. We finally decided on this bedframe because it looks really cute. The headboard design and fabric could be customised and we ended up designing a bedframe that looks like a mini version of our marital bed. Hahaha!

For the frame, we decided to go for the Hydrolic Bed Frame because we wanted more storage for the baby and in the future NS' stuff. It was really easy to lift up and we sort of regretted not going the same for our marital bed. 

For any of you parents who want a tried and tested option, we went for the Back Support (Super Single) which is valued around S$1,600 (price may differ during sales) and hydrolic bed frame (~S$700). So far, I have been sharing the bed with my boy because he always invite us to his room LOL! And it is super comfy. 

It is not hard like those mattress our parents used to get us back in those days. I feel there is adquate back support even for a pregnant lady. My boy and I always sleep very well and feel rejuvenated in the day. No complaints from us, from delivery to 1 month of usage, everything has been really smooth. We are definitely happy customers!

Jeremy Zucker is in town!

He was in town and guess who was within the crowd. There was only one day he is in town, so we had to make time for him and it was worth it. I mean if you had the chance to listen live someone's music you have always been listening on your buds, I am sure you would definitely make your schedule work even if it was a Monday evening.

Jeremy's voice was definitely more emotive live, just that the acoustic quality of the sound system was not consistent throughout the concert. The crowd was also surprisingly young (maybe to me, since I am no spring chicken) so the fans were super enthusiatic and cheering wildly. 

I think there was nearly a thousand people in attendance. The seated area was fully filled and if you are wondering why I am standing so back in the area, it is because I am quite fearful of jostling crowd. And when you are at my age, you barely have the energy to gyrate/ sing along. We are subdued fans that nod, mouth the lyrics and smile along. (I can't believe I had reach this stage.)

Overall, it was a great Monday spent! The performance was well organised and entertaining and exuberant throughout! I had fun, thanks for chasing away our Monday Blues. Can't wait for your next visit to Singapore!

Staycation at Conrad Centennial

One of the perks of having a child still on formula milk is that he can bring you on staycation. This staycation at Conrad Centennial was kinda of provided by our kid. We thanked him when we stepped in the hotel because this place is gorgeous. As a 5-star hotel, Conrad has this old grand vibe which I dig at. The room had a superb view (heard you can even see national day fireworks and the F1 race if you go at the right period) and was incredibly spacious with a sofa, bathtub, shower area and 2 basins!

Most of their clients are business travellers so I won't exactly catergorise this as a child-friendly hotel. During the pandemic, they did open a Kid's Club but it is no longer there. Still, my kid was very excited about the room. Some momento they provided include a rubber duck and a bear which my kid couldn't get enough of. He insisted on bathing with the rubber duck and fell asleep hugging the tiny bear.

Conrad is so conveniently located in the city centre that we ended up spending most of our time outside the hotel. The husband initially wanted to make a trip to GBTB, but my kid wanted to spend his time in the free playground at the child-friendly mall - Marina Square. I was fine with it because there were quite a lot of shopping centres/ shops for me to pass time. And my husband was happy with food selection and coffee joints. So basically, everyone had their needs met, haha. 

My son was so excited about the bathtub we decided to go to Lush and grab a bath bomb as well to enhance his bath experience. Usually, my husband would have forbid me from splurging on bath bombs but I guess if the user is my son, things are different. We ended up having a soak as a family (fully dressed, we are not as open-minded as the Japs, haha), so I guess that made the bath bomb very value for money!

Good thing I brought a duck float along (the duck float is coincidental, not planned) because the pool is at least 1.1m deep. Initially, the husband was complaining about me packing the swimming gear and floats, which I have no idea why since I do the post-staycation cleaning anyway. But in the end, he conceded it was a good call on my side because our boy asked to go swimming (at least once every day). 

He was so excited to see the float being pumped up that he went to sit in it immediately. LOL! It took quite a while to convince him that we were going swimming and she should get changed. He spent most of his time asking his father to push him in his float or playing at the steps/ sides of the pool. As Conrad was fully occupied, we could only extend late check-out for an hour, but that was sufficient to make swimming possible. 

I read some reviews which spoke highly of their breakfast and I agree! Even my husband who scorns hotel breakfast admitted this had standards. I wish I had more stomach because all their food tasted so yummy. There was even waffles and ice-cream! The apple and celery juice though interesting was too healthy for me to down it, haha. 

We only spent 2D1N at Conrad but I had such a great impression of them I told my husband this would be our choiced hotel moving forward so that we can accumulate the max number of points with them. Haha! I will miss you Conrad, but we will be sure to visit your other hotels around the world! 

Interestingly, this luggage was also a free gift from Aptamil! Haha. 

Maternity Goodies - Mama's Choice

I am not sure about other mothers but I am pretty particular about the skincare and oral products I use during pregnancy. And that's because some of the ingredients used in these products may not be pregnancy safe and may pass through our skin and affect the foetus. 

Mama's Choice sent me some of their products and I am quite excited to try them. Their products contain zero harmful chemicals and use mostly natural ingredients. They also hold a huge selection of products, covering all the Mummy's needs from pregnancy to postpartum. There are also products for the baby as well!

1. Stretch Mark Cream ($16.90)

Just to caveat, I already have strech marks from my first pregnancy, so I am basically just trying to reduce the amount of new stretch marks this time round. Honestly, I can't tell whether the product helps to reduce stretch marks. But when I apply the cream onto the reddish/ purplish stretch marks, they do become fainter.

The cream doesn't feel very sticky and is fragrant-free. Tip for new mums: Always apply generously even when your stretchmarks has yet to appear. Also stretchmarks may appear postpartum so do continue to apply even after delivery!

2. Oral Care Bundle ($7.90)

Inclusive of Non-Fluoride Toothpaste ($5.90) and Natural Mouthwash ($3.90)

During my last pregnancy, I have to be honest and admit that I was really bad at keeping my oral hygiene. I would brush my teeth only once a day. There were many mothers in my groupchat which ended up having teeth decay and I was fortunate enough to not be one of them. I received free samples from Mama's Choice previously so I actually used these products before. I would think they are the reason why I kept my pearly whites cavity-free. 

So far, this is the first time I came across oral products targetted for mothers and I was quite amused with the green toothpaste. Basically, both products don't contain alcohol and flouride. For mothers who have bad morning sickness (like me), the products didn't induce nausea. :) Would recommend this!

3. Herbal Oil ($15.90)

This product is insanely good. I have really bad leg cramps during my third trimester and would use this to relieve them. It helps to relax the massage and reduce the frequency of the cramps. The oil is not sticky has a very distinctive scent (fromt the cajuput oil), which is also the secret to treating sore muscles and joints. Never seen a product that works as well as this, strongly recommend all mothers to have a bottle of this at home. 

Updates: I had Mummy's nursing pain in my forearm. It was so painful I considered taking a painkiller. I applied the oil an massage that strained muscle for a month. And voila, within a day, the pain was no longer there!

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Note: We will be reviewing more of Mama's Choice products so do follow that tag if you wish to know more!

Happy Birthday darling!

A while back, it was our little one's birthday. It was a particularly joyous thing for me because it means I won't be having 2 under 2...whee~ I don't know whether it is a parent thing, but I totally overlooked my own birthday being so focused on his, my husband even had to remind me that I should be getting a cake for myself too. Due to a death in the family, our celebration had to be more subdued. 

But he is at a age where all birthdays are exciting days. So I thought I would still get him a banner (tone down from the balloons arch), a simple cake (instead of a customised one) and keep the celebration within the closed family. Interestingly, we ended up spending more cos we spurged on the food and made sure all our guests were very luxuriously fed. 

The little one's birthday fell on a weekday and we decided to proceed on the actual day itself since the husband wanted to eat at Keng Eng Kee, which was really popular. Booking was quite difficult because we wanted the aircon room so I basically called them a few times before I could actually reach them.

It does look like a feast for a wedding banquet instead of a birthday. From right to left,

1. * Claypot Seafood - Fish Maw, Sea Cucumber, Scallop and Prawns (Large - $58.80)
2. Signature Moonlight Horfun (Large - $19.80)
3. * Claypot Pork Liver (Large - $24.80)
4. * Golden Pearl Roll (Large - $24.80)
5. * Coffee Pork Ribs (Large - $32.80)
6. * "Choy Hiang" Beancurd (Large - $26.80)
7. Chinese Spianch with Eggs of 3 Kinds (Large - $22.80)
8. * Salted Egg Squid (Large - $34.80)
9. Crab Meat Broth with Fish Maw and Sea Cucumber (Large - $79.80)
10. Yam Basket - $24.80

I have starred my favourites in the list. 

We picked the Fruit Charlotte (around $50) from Rive Gauche, partially because we had a discount voucher and I ever bought one for my father's birthday and it was pretty good. To be honest, normally I would have gone for the cakes with the icing and all, no thanks IG for making us mothers feel that there should be the way birthday cakes for our children should be. 

My son really enjoyed this cake because he love fruits. He was caught in numerous photos pinching some fruits of the cake. His mouth was always moving, LOL! Not only did the cake looked really unique, it tasted good as well. Special thanks to the staff for advising on a slightly smaller cake because we were all so stuffed, we could only eat a tiny slice after the meal. 

A year back, I bought a birthday set (S$115) from A Tea Box Tale for myself in advance. I don't know why I am crazy like that. But I ended up struggling to use it this year because the husband was not into such stuff and I spent my birthday at a staycation. So I decided that this would be the entree for my son's birthday. We had to break the meal into 2 days cos there was too much.

My son really enjoyed the tea set (est. $30), nuts and cheese platter (est. $35), Petite Mango Passionfruit cake from Twelve Cupcakes, which was super good by the way ($23.80) and a bouquet of flower (est. $25). Initially the flowers were supposed to be balloons, but they didn't survive the trip and the vendor replaced them with flowers, LOL. They probably thought our LO was a young lady, but luckily this chap loves flowers. I am not sure how the vendor even broke even cos I tried to allocate a cost to each item and somehow it doesn't seems she is profitting from my order. 

The guests did ask us what to get for him, don't get me wrong I don't want to sound entitled, but this boy has a lot of things already. And I am also at a stage I enjoy presence more than presents. The husband and I got him a water dispenser which we knew he would adore (and make a mess, sigh) and colouring pens because I wanted to expose him more tot the arts. 

The other folks got him bubble solutions (at my request cos he was into bubbles and it slipped my mind to get it for him), a nice little tux (from my bro) and my father got him some clothes too. The rest gave him ang paos. I also made special effort to wrap the presents despite my green efforts because I think kids still enjoy the surprise element. I didn't want my personal causes to deprive him of the simple joys in life. 

Thank you for sharing in our joy, remember birthday celebrations don't have to be elaborated. It is celebrating together that matters. 

Busy Book for Little Fingers: Hi Buy Mama

By now a lot of you may know that our little one is homeschooled. Many people have always been asking how we keep our little one "advanced", you can follow us on this series and take some reference on some of the toys, books and stimulation we use so that you can add on to your own curriculum as well. 

I have heard about busy books for the longest time and frankly I couldn't really quite understand the appeal it would have on a child. After watching my son tinkle around with them, I was like wow this thing works. He actually sat for a good 30 mins, ignoring Cocomelon (Well done!) and was just focused on interacting with some of the pages. 

Our Busy Book is from Hi Buy Mama, they basically have 2 versions. One was the Friendly Hedgehog Toddler Busy Toddler ($59.90) which was for the younger kids and the other was the Otterly Fun Busy Book ($76.90). We decided that the Busy Book was more appropriate for him even though he was not even 3 years old because he has pretty much grasped most of the key skills in the hedgehog book.

At about the 22 months old mark, I was planning to inculcate in him a teeth brushing routine, ease him into toilet training, identify colours and emotions effectively. And I felt the Otter Book could help me achieve these aims better. Tip: As parents, I feel we should take the recommended age as a guide and not a firm rule. We need to know what is the current development level of our child and find resources that suits them. 

Our LO definitely had preference on some pages over the others. His favourite include the fishing, teeth brushing and the zipper. If you are training your kid to brush your teeth, I would strongly recommend an interactive book like this. Our LO got so excited about brushing the Hippo's teeth that it was quite effortless to re-start him to brush his own. (Yes, I lost momentum once when I was in first trimester.)

The fishing page with the magnets intrigued him the most. To date, he would still be fishing and "feeding" us his catch. He still haven't quite understand the like and unlike poles of the magnet and would occassionally be frustrated how come he can't catch the fish at times. We have also mastered 2 colours - pink and orange (both in English and Mandarin) and have figured out emotions (this was mainly to reenacting more than the book). Overall, we are pretty pleased with the book and would deemed this as a value for money "enrichment programme".

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Note: For our readers only, Quote "FORFUNK8" and you can can get 8% off!