the ups and the downs

The Ups:
- This Brussels-Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris-Brussels holiday
- Taxis rides (dont need to take the metro/subway) LOL!
- The Asian food we ate whenever we felt like it (Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai, Japanese...)
- Joel growing his lower tooth here. So that makes it 2!
- Daddy buying things he likes, Mummy buying things she like, and Baby Joel buying things he might not like but no choice coz Mummy likes.
- Joel seems to have grown more (fatter) and cuter!

And the Downs:
- Always forgetting to ask for our VAT refund (which is about 15-20%!!!) Sob sob... :_(
(MUST remember, MUST remember...)
- Carrying Joel when he doesnt wanna stay in his stroller (which is very often now)
- Packing and unpacking every time we move in/out of a hotel
- Losing my cellphone
- Joel is getting grouchy and whines and screams...
- Joel's face is red and patchy from the cold weather esp in Paris. So he really looks like a China Baby now. LOL!
- ALL the shops are closed on Sundays except LV (coz their cash registers are ringing keching keching by the seconds)
- All the shops close at about 6pm. Many cafes/restaurants close early too.
- Getting a LV bag which has a thread-run in the middle of the fabric! How "lucky"!
- Just realising our return flight has a waiting time of 8 HOURS in transit. That makes it a total of 20 hours home! Joel & my tickets cannot be changed, and to buy another ticket to Amsterdam would cost us another S$1000+ for the 40-mins flight! So, we're gonna wait in transit and find something to do...SHOP! (What else?!) Total from check-in till reach home will be 1 full day! Faint!
- 3 heavy luggages home (which we thought would be much lighter after Joel finishes the milk & diapers). It was 2 suitcases when we came and it's about 60kg for both. Now...i'm not sure. Daddy will have a really hard time.

paris!

Daddy will be free over the weekends (after his meeting today: now), so we've decided to head to Paris! It should take only an hour or two from here. It'll be my 3rd time there, and i'm really excited! Must be sooo romantic with Joel too - if he behaves! Haha! ;p

Eric (the one who invited us to the lovely BBQ dinner) also offered to let us stay in his OTHER house by the beach "somewhere in Belgium"...but we decided to give it a miss. The summer here is too cold anyway.

We booked a hotel last night (i forgot the name)...but i guess one shouldnt expect too much of hotels in Paris...so i guess a clean room at a good location is good enough. Hope it's slightly bigger too coz we have Joel's stroller and stuffs. Keke... ;p

After this, we'll be heading back to Brussels on Sunday...and then back to Shanghai in another week. Looking forward to a good weekend! ;)

1 week of fun

1. Joel's 1 and only tooth while trying to grab our Belgium waffles.
2. Joel's new trick with his pacifier.
3. Joel's Day 1 of shopping with Mummy in Brussels. (Diesel tee and Zara SALE! 3.95 Euros tee and 5.95 Euros sweaters. Mummy didnt buy anything for herself - yet.)
4. Joel in Uncle Eric's huge house in Brussels (a 1 hour ride) where he cooked a really wonderful BBQ/smoked meat dinner. There were 2 really nice Belgium couples and a really beautiful Ashley from US who loved playing with Joel. She is so pretty Joel kept staring at her! Or maybe he's thinking she's a moving doll. Keke...
5. Joel's inflatable tub in a tub.
6. Joel & Mummy in the big white room.
7. Joel is bored while waiting for us to get ready (to go to Amsterdam).
8. Joel holding his bottle for the 1st time when we arrived at the Amsterdam NL Hotel (he's 7.5 months). NL Hotel is really really small...but it's a nice boutique hotel at a good location.

blessing blessing

I forgot to tell you guys about the BLESSING x2 that we got when we flew here. When we checked-in at the counter in Shanghai airport, i asked the lady to "confirm-AND-confirm again" that i'm given the seat for the attached baby crib...and she said OK. After that, i just asked her if the flight is full...and she said, "If you dont mind sitting right at the back, I could give you another seat for the baby." (OF COURSE I WOULDNT MIND!!!) So it's a real BLESSING that Joel paid for his Infant airticket and got a FREE regular-sized seat! To him, it's a Business Class seat coz he could lie down flat when he sleeps (with his legs on my thighs). Keke... ;p

It was also so much easier for me too when i ate...and changed his diapers - even his "big business". And the lady who sat next to Joel (at the window seat) didnt need to go for toilet breaks! She only went ONCE towards the end of the 12-hour flight...and she drank a lot of water! WOW! ;p

Baby Joel also took to the long flight pretty well. It was almost 14 hours including transit. And with the time difference of 6 hours (behind Spore/Shanghai), we thought that he could be jet-lagged! But he slept well from Day 1 and at his usual (adjusted local) timings. He ate well too - milk & solids. He was a good boy on the 3-hours train ride to/from Amsterdam (sitting on our laps)! So it's blessing after blessing after blessing...

O ya, we also brought along his Bear-Bear which made him smile everytime when he's getting ready for bed. ;)

P.S. I lost my cellphone in Brussels which could be a blessing in disguise too coz it's a 'reason' to buy a new phone! ;p

oo...my!

Baby Joel is getting hard to please these days. He shows us his emotions by whining, crying and screaming! He's also very interested in the food that we eat. He will whine and cry...and even grab at the food on our plates! So we always hope that he's sleeping when we have our meals. (It seems to me that these Caucasian babies seldom cry!)

We also tried to feed him the baby food we bought in Amsterdam and he seems to love it too! Nestle FrisFruitje. It's like pureed mixed fruits - apples, pear, peach - in a yogurt-like cup packaging. Smells very good too! Hmm...just that baby Joel is too greedy to be satisfied with just one small cup! Yes, he will whine after we're done. If we're back in the hotel, i will mix it together with his (fruits flavoured) cereal to ensure that he's really full. My big-eater baby! ;p

hello...

from Amsterdam! We've been away for a week now. Daddy has some free time off work (in Brussels), and we took a train here (a 3-hours ride). We're going back to Brussels later in the afternoon...and should be staying for another 2 weeks. Hope his work will go smoothly (GOT TO PRAY VERY HARD)...and we can all go home on the same flight! I cannot imagine a 12-hour flight alone with baby Joel. Even though Daddy is in Biz Class, at least he comes around to help me out - esp for my toilet breaks! Keke... ;p

Check out this hotel we're staying in Brussels! The White Hotel is a really cool 4* hotel and looks like a boutique hotel. As the name suggests, almost everything is in white! It's looks really really cool! O...and the hotel room (not a suite) is about the size of 4 normal hotel rooms.

(The 1st room we had was on L2. Quite noisy with the traffic just below. The room we got the 2nd time is on L8 which is identical but with a fireplace and balcony...so Daddy dont need to go outside the hotel to smoke! LOL!)

1 week to the Olympics 2008

Counting down.......

heelarious

I couldnt decide if these looked silly or cute! LOL!

But if adult heels could be this comfortable, i would get all 6 pairs! My feet has got so many problems - flat, no "meat", no arch... - which explains why i'm always in sneakers or flip-flops. And my pre-delivery 1-size-up didnt go back to normal. My feet are still 1 size LONGER (from size 35 to 36)! Still "no meat"! ;/

joel likes dark girls

Yes! Every time baby Joel watches his DVDs and a dark-skinned girl appears (African/American Indians), he will smile sooooo sweetly! To the blonde cute girls...he doesnt show such reaction at all! It's so funny!

I told Clara when she came to visit, and she also saw Joel smiling at the dark girl! LOL!

p.s. Aunty Sandra should be very happy to know. ;p

korean wave hit us too

안녕하세요 An nyoung ha seh yo...
Check out this korean label with really really nice clothes! We ordered some stuffs (clothes & bags) a few weeks ago...and they finally arrived today! We waited until our necks damn loong coz it was supposed to take about a week. Nice nice! ;)
for Guys
for Gals

Here's more More MORE:
hotboom
m2m
duluba
bossboy
mersh
smallman
mitoshop
gujelove
buyder
styleboy
zeroback
cokuni
mutnam
npfeel

please bring me

6-8 feeding guide

Taken from here.

Joel has been enjoying his cereal mixed with bananas for a few days. Yippie! ;)

Our coming holiday will disrupt his "solids schedule", so i just bought 2 other FLAVOURED cereal mix for him to try. Hope he'll like it...and our trip will be easier (dont need to cook/grind/mix real food). And if we buy some fruits, it'll be his dessert! LOL! ;p

- Heinz DHA & Vegetable Cereal (green-coloured)
- Heinz Fruit Granule Cereal (with bits of apples & carrots)

nice song

Here's a nice song from a super nice TVB HK series 溏心風暴.

MY LOVE GET YOU HOME (click here)
by Christine Glass

If you wander off too far
My love will get you home
If you follow the wrong star
My love will get you home
If you ever find yourself
Lost and all alone
Get back on your feet and think of me
My love will get you home Boy
My love will get you home

If the bright lights blinds your eyes
My love will get you home
If your troubles break your stride
My love will get you home
If you ever find yourself
Lost and all alone
Get back on your feet and think of me
My love will get you home Boy
My love will get you home

If you ever feel ashame
My love will get you home
If its only you to blame
My love will get you home
If you ever find yourself
Lost and all alone
Get back on your feet and think of me
My love will get you home Boy
My love will get you home
If you ever find yourself
Lost and all alone
Get back on your feet and think of me
My love will get you home Boy
My love will get you home Boy
My love will get you home

moving and moved

I just googled and found this in-house 'Moving' video directed by Aey for their ex-company last year. (I was about to leave Shanghai at that time.) I just love the music and the colours... Everything!

Great work, Aey! I believe you'll make a great director someday! I miss u & Ching Ching. Hope to see u guys again in Bangkok/UK/Shanghai next time! Baby Joel will be able to call u Uncle A by then. ;)

(Aey's real name is Sarawut Hengsawad. Thais always use nicknames.)

baby, what are you eating?

7 months

Joel at 7 months: Weight 8.7kg (an increase of 200grams). Daddy says he looks skinnier (maybe coz he looks a bit longer)...but still fat lah...esp the thighs. He still looks like Ah-Blur except when he smiles. So sweet... ;) He's got a tiny bit of tooth sticking out from his gums (lower left), but i cant get a photo of it coz he's always sticking out his tongue. He's an expert at flipping over now. He's trying to learn how to crawl...but can only shake his butt forward-&-backwards. Haha! ;p
Photo 24 July 2008

aunty's handbag

To my dearest Aunty Sandra,
Are you back from your holiday? Your bag must be sold out in Taipei huh? Last night, Mommy & i rushed to Daddy's office to pick him up for dinner. After we got the number tag for the restaurant queue, Mommy rushed up to get your bag! She's afraid it's sold out here too. You are lucky! It's the LAST PIECE! Daddy made Mommy buy a wallet for his birthday...but wallet no Sale. Haha! So it's almost the price of your handbag!

Mommy will ask Aunty Ag if she can bring the bag to you next week. Your bag is too expensive to snail mail. O ya, the Vivienne Westwood Sales Aunty said that other than Hong Kong, this is the ONLY shop in the whole of China! So, your bag is really really exclusive here - other than the knock-offs lah (but i think your design dont have copy). Keke...

Hope you look even prettier with this bag!
Love,
Baby Joel

P.S. Daddy wanted to buy ME a diaper bag too, but Mommy said dont buy. It is the design Mommy showed u last time...dark blue half patent-half fabric checks, but a size bigger coz (u know lah) I have LOTS of stuff...BUT the dark blue SOLD OUT, only left red & light blue. Daddy likes the red bag coz his wallet he also chose the same red. Yucks!

all sick

Joel is having cough and runny nose.
Mummy is having flu, bodyaches and headache.
Daddy is "feeling" a flu coming up...

It must be the weather. :(

joel likes to cry

Mummy: Why does Joel like to cry so much?
Daddy: Becoz he's your son. ;)

joel at play