April's Resolutions Review

It's end April! We're nearing mid year. Can't believe it! 

Time to review my progress on my 2015 resolutions:

1. Live a healthy life.

- Not sure why, we stopped preparing our good and yummy ABC juice =( Really slacked on this one. Time to buck up again! 

- I've still been trying to eat healthier lunches at work. Thank goodness I'm still not sick of yong tau fu. It's hard to find healthier choices at the hawker center. I guess I could eat fish soup (without the salty soup) and economical rice with more veges!

- Started taking supplements recently. Figured that maybe I should start Women's multivitamins and calcium (since I don't drink milk). I'm a lil apprehensive actually. I hope these supplements don't have bad side effects.  I started on Blackmore's vits and Biocalth calcium.

- Around march, I injured my knee and decided to stop jogging for a while. It was a difficult decision for me. I finally trained my stamina and didn't want to give that up. I stopped for about 2-3 weeks and I only started jogging again.

My stamina really isn't as good as before! I can only jog about 2km now. Trying to train up again without putting too much pressure on my knees. I got new running shoes from Asics so I hope that helps!

I'm currently around 52.5 to 53kg yay! I just hope to maintain this weight. Not looking to lose more but if I do, it's a bonus! 

2. Be a good wife.

- G and I don't really get to spend alone time on weekday nights. We usually spend time as a family with Leia. 

We still go for occasional date or movie nights but we haven't been able to fix a weeklyday to spend time together. Just seems difficult! 

I'm going to try to see if we can fix it on Friday! 

- I've been trying to buy little things for him whenever I can. This consists mainly of his favorite snacks hehe. 

- To be honest, I find it hard to minimize emotional dumping and blaming. Especially, the latter. There have been various occasions when Leia falls down under his care, and I blame him, although he didn't want it to happen too. 

It's something I find hard to control sigh. Something I really need to look into and work on. 

3. Be a good mummy.

I think I've made good progress on this!

- I try to go through ABC and 123 with Leia when I go home everyday. Trying not to make it a boring exercise! Salute teachers and mummies who can make learning engaging for children.

- Leia now knows how to walk and run! And dance haha. Credit also goes to my helper who guides her everyday.

- My little one has been learning to self feed with her hands and use the spoon. We expose her to this especially when we're out eating. It keeps her busy! 

- I previously found more play activities to enhance her fine motor skills and encourage her curiosity. Need to start doing more of those! Eg. Make play doh, print pictures for her to colour. 

- I notice that I've been taking fewer photos and videos of leia. Partly because she's more mobile and active now, so it's difficult to take photos. And partly because, I've become lazier! -.-  Really want to start taking more. 

(Little Leia) Happy 16 months darling!

Leia just turned 16 months! 2 more months to 1.5 years old hehe. 

1. We've started her with playgroup classes at Genius Tots at Buangkok. She goes for 1.5 hrs of playgroup class every Tuesday and Thursday morning. During the playgroup, she learns to play with others, sing songs, learns different themes, colours and a lot of other interactive activities. 

Leia seems to like her classes and interacts with her teacher and fellow tot friends hehe. Whilst she's the youngest, the teacher told us that she's a fast learner. The teacher seems to adore her!  Leia always listens and plays with her a lot. 

2. Very recently, she started developing a sense of humour and find certain things, actions or expressions funny. She's been laughing a lot more, in response to her or us doing whatever. Sometimes, she'll run around in circles and laugh. Just that day, she did the downward yoga pose and started giggling. She laughs more when we tickle or make funny faces at her.

3. She has learnt to imitate whatever expressions or actions we do! Like pouting or pretending to workship. It's hilarious. 

4. Her new words include 'bag' as in my handbag haha. 'Ba ba', the pacifier. 'Ta ta' for water. 'Five' to highfive. 'Boo' for her books. 

5. Leia loves to feed herself now! She loves to use her spoon and bowl when we're out. It's funny cause she hates it when we help her use the spoon properly. 

6. Our little one is a downward dog master. She recently started doing this pose a lot! Lol. The first time she did it, she kept giggling, watching the world upside down. 

7. She knows how to clean up when I sing our clean up song! I always get her to bring out her toys and put them back when I start singing the song. She gets so excited and sings along whilst cleaning up. 

(Family time) Our first family getaway!

We just had our first family trip on 12th to 14th April! It was amazing. Gerald, Leia, Jo, my in-laws, my mum and I went to Bintan for a short trip. Leia's first time overseas! We stayed at Angsana bintan and we were lucky to have seafacing rooms with awesome views.

The journey:

Our ferry rides to and fro went pretty well! Just a short 45 mins ride one way. Even though we didn't book emerald class, the economy seats were comfortable and the ferry wasn't crowded (Sunday is a good time to travel!)

Leia did well during the ferry rides! She slept through most of it and wasn't very cranky. She barely cried =D

The hotel:

G and I have been to Angsana before so we knew how it was going to be. I love that it's a quiet hotel with good service.

It has a good sized swimming pool with jacuzzi and cool big floats to play with. Beach is awesomeeee. Waters were clear and turquoise. Bintan is really much nicer in April compared to other parts of the year! What was disappointing though, was that there were tar/oil spills on the beach. All of us had our feet and slippers stained! -.-

Lots of greenery and flowers making the place very serene. Nothing beats being surrounded by all this nature.

Angsana's rooms are a bit old I must say. I thought they renovated but they still appear rather shabby. Their walls and furniture look old. Their toilets could be a lot newer and cleaner. I still prefer Nirwana's hotel rooms. But in terms of sea view, Angsana's was awesomeeee. 

What we did:

On the first day, we didn't get to do much. Just checked in, explored the compounds and checked out the beach!

We had 2 highlights at the beach haha. One was having our feet stained by oil spills. The other was discovering that Leia has an immense phobia of sand! She does! Not sure if it's common for toddlers to be so afraid. Basically, after we put her down on the sand, she started crying and clung onto us like a koala bear! She totally hated it lol.

We had dinner at The lotus cafe at Angsana. Food was good but soooo pricey. That's the downside of Angsana compared to Nirwana, meals are so expensive! 

On the second day, we woke up to the most gorgeous sunrise in our hotel room. Our view was breathtaking. 

Our buffet breakfast was good. Filled our bellies before we all went to the swimming pool! It was so exciting because it was Leia's first time swimming! She totally enjoyed sitting in her float and playing with the water. No fear, whatsoever. Lol. My in laws joined in swimming as well and we all had fun in the sun =D 

We headed to D'bintan for a massage whilst Leia took her nap. We weren't very impressed with the massage. There weren't any private rooms for us and the ambience just wasn't enjoyable. We were  all in cubicles, separated by curtains -.- massage was so so only. Lunch at Ole Ole was good though!

After we got back, we hung out at the beach where Gerald and I went into the sea. We let Leia swim again since she loved it so much! 

Our day ended with dinner at the Kelong. Food was surprisingly good and quite affordable. I was quite paranoid at the place because it was surrounded by the sea and the barricades weren't very extensive. Was so afraid Leia would run and fall off -.- But all was good and we enjoyed the dinner very much. Portions were big!

On the last day, we just had a very very full breakfast. Gerald, my mum and I went to have a massage at Angsana spa and it was soooooooo good. Much much better than D'bintan! Pricey but worth it. Loved the ambience, the massage, the tea and fruits swerved. Everything was just perfect. 

I really enjoyed the family trip. We had family and personal time. Really thankful for all the help we had for Leia. So grateful that she stayed safe throughout our trip.