Rachel.... rachel.... ..... rAchEl....RACHELs!

Its so weird! Rachel is surrounding me everywhere this week! there of cos the little one in me - my very own little Rachel! then there was this girl who answered my spolit credit card enquiry and her name is rachel! Also when I called to enquired the full month menus and i asked who's on the line .... its rAchEl! I wonder how many more RACHELs i will hear from before i get to HEAR my very Own little Rachel's cry!

i am in LOVE with little red flowers!

Friday 29th May, i woke up with excitment as i hope to pull thru this project before giving birth and who knows little one may decide to come along after i finish this project! at 10+am i went down to fetch nesa. she had half day as it was founders day in IJ. had lunch with aunt k and nesa at kfc! last eaten kfc was at the party at our place. nesa head home with me and i showed her the projects i had on hand to try! she was excited! but too bad i forget to get plain flour if not we might have gone on to do another project! just before we got started on our work, the postman brought in the parcel i have been waiting for! The cream Wendy and i ordered arrived! yup more california baby cream to standby!

Still i was glad we made it to finish up with the one project we had on hand! nesa is great help in the kitchen and she is getting very good at following instructions and keen on learning! she is also becoming neater and more careful in handling the utensils and ingredients! we did the jelly cheesecake but this time i chose to do the strawberry flavour. i did it slightly different from the others... i didnt do the cute little fresh strawberry cut outs.

Instead i used my preserved italian strawberries! i chopped them small and threw it into the cheese mixture to blend. so the mixture had bits of strawberries and some were little bite size bits. then i did a 8x8 sq tin and made 3 smaller sqs for testing and for nesa to bring home. so i took out the little hearts sprinkles i had and neas put them onto cheese layer of the smaller sq tins.

somehow or rather i felt that this time i used less time to make comparison to the first try i did with dap, prob becos i freeze the base and the cheese layer! when i poured the jelly over the heart, the heart could hardly been seen! while waiting for the jelly to set using the bottom part of the fridge, to kill time, i watched dvd with nesa and she chosen Nanny McPhee. When the show ended, i asked her about her midyear results and got her to think how she can do better!

the red colour is so alluring! this time round i used exactly the amount of biscuits and i had a nicer and not too thick base! dun know if i should increase the height of the cheese! I used wild strawberry flavour for the jello and its has a tinge of sourness to it. but nesa and i find it refreshing! esp when its straight out of the fridge and eaten cold!

received a call from gx and he said i can join him at dinner with his collegues. so i didnt want to turn up without bringing some jelly cheesecake for them. I decided to try cutting them with my new cookie cutters! chose the little flower shaped and it was successful on my first cut! i personally find it small, cute and pretty! this little red flower with the heart in the middle was kept for my hubby! then with more confidence, i started to punch out 8 more for the dinner! As i punch these flowers out, nesa stood next to me helping me with the paper cups and she held her spoon to me once i scrape away the cakes that surrounds the cutter! she loved this dessert!

then of cos i punch one for this little cousin of mine who helped with a great deal in making this pretty red flowers! she went home with the other 2 little square tins and my aunt k loves it! asked us if it was easy to do and she didnt believe when nesa said it was easy peasy! Gave nesa her present and she liked it! funny thing was, aunt k bought this cupcake maker for Ly's bdae and in turn i got her daughter the same toy! Glad that nesa liked her present!

gx picked me up for dinner at Lor 8. his collegues were there to eat crabs... thou i can't eat crab, i really wanted company and i enjoyed the makan session! think they did like the cheesecake bah, of cos i didnt ask but as one of the collegues didnt eat milk products, when ask who wants the last piece, one of gx's collegue raised her hand and that gave me confidence that at least i know she like it cos she took seconds! had a very good meal tried new dishes at the restaurant and i am gog to order them next time i bring my families there! the tummy is still very tight. gog to gynae tomolo as i am alittle worried but little one still moves to let me know she is doing fine in there!

i like to move it, move it! baby is moving down again!

tuesday 26th - My little gal didnt come out today and she is sharing her bdae with cousin Ly! i got baby's clothes and put them into her drawer finally... jus one compartment is not enough to house her baby stuff ... mainly clothes! mum popped by cab from work to pick me up to go over for dinner. mum cooked bak kut soup. ate 3 pulps of durian but sadly the quality is not very good, seems not in season. gx came to bring me home and put in even more clothes that i got M to wash for me! FIL was amazed with the number of clothes my little one has!
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wednesday 27th - my energy is low... but it got better when i checked the Peak's balloting result! We got the number 827 and will be in line to pick a unit! then i got busy applying for HLE and didnt manage to get gx to print. so i head to hdb hub to get them to print it out for me after i waited 1 whole hour! during the hour, my baby moved non-stopped and she kept pushing down! i was nervous but stayed as calm and allow my little baby moved all she wanted. I was also curious if it was the 2 dumplings i ate that gave her no space!
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got home and i quickly lie down! she kept moving and there was alittle pain once in awhile when she nudge and move. Non-stop! my baby moved non-stop! i called gx after i got a very sharp long nudge and tell him to prep his work and handover! just in case! called my mum and she say be prepared, never know if its time! when gx got home, he told baby to come out on Saturday... then she stop her movement.... ARGH! my tummy got a little heavier and seems tighter!
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Thursday 28th - ate 1 plain dumpling for breakfast and mil got me fried prawn mee for lunch! i was so filled and baby didnt start pushing till about 12+pm. then i called to see if nesa can come over to pick up her present. i wanted to give nesa her bdae gift earlier cos most likely i will be in confinement then and i wanted her to have the present earlier so that she can play with it during the hols. then aunt told me they were preparing to go CHIJ as its parents-meeting day and nesa wanted to get books at the book fair! i was interested in tagging along to see my Primary school... its has changed and no longer the same as before as they pulled the place down and rebuilt! Hs it been 20 years that i haven't step into my primary school?

the picture on the left is where the secondary school is now. they no longer have a full running track. the running track now has only 3 lanes and they look smaller than actual lanes size somehow. the school now looks brighter as the concept of all the classes has better open-aired concept corridor. also they have decorated the school in a more colourful way. these panels of flowers are the name of the classes. I was in Daisy in Pri 1 and after that i was in Ixora all the way till Pri 6. Nesa was in Ixora for pri 1 & 2 and now she is in Daisy!

This is the primary school canteen! more stalls than before and of cos the table and benches are plastic compared to the wooden ones i had in my time! this is where the morning assembly takes place and the sides are where the primary school classes are. the top of the building is where the school hall / gym is! gota climb all the way up to 5 storey to get to the hall area!

at the book fair, i browsed thru and managed to find these books. i restrained myself from buying too many and i have yet to find my collection that i left at my mum's place... very sad cos i have prob $300+ worth of books or seriuosly could have been more! then i was glad i went over to the chinese books session. called gx at once when i spotted the 36ji and sunzi bingfa books. got both at $10 each. He has finished reading the 3zijing stories to baby and he is now re-reading the book at nite to baby. So with these 2 new collection, he got more to read to baby! He himself is interested in the stories! its pretty interesting that is if i dun fall asleep! i get to hear the stories too! then while nesa and i waited for aunt, i read the voices in the park to her and we went around to view the school. then we sat down to rest and i walked to the chinese books session and then spotted another series of books. when i flipped through these books, it got me interested in getting them! for $3.40 each there were 4 books in all but i only got 3 of it. It has all the Y? questions and answers to it! i find the info interesting and i decided to get the ones on animals, our body and our environment!

with the answers in these books, my little one will learn why penguins can survive the north pole, why fishes never close their eyes, why are rabbit ears so long, why do we close our eyes whenever we sneeze! nesa was interested in borrowing these books after i read her 2 questions! after aunt was done, we headed to BJ8 to have a bite! i was starving! i wanted DTF and nesa second it! so we had quite a bit to share and i was so filled! then we went to take a short walk and i managed to get a top and i love it the colour... turquoise! lucky my aunt had the uob card and that saved me 15%! head home and rested till gx came home and we had dumplings for dinner! then after telly time, he helped me packed my junk (thats what he calls my stuff) i was lying in bed as baby was moving and sometimes it hurts alit.

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did call my gynae for advice as my tummy felt so tight! my mum insisted to be on the safe side just to get my gynae's opionion. He said i should be fine and may be like this for another 2 days before any waterbag bursting or bleeding occurs... but if i dun feel good i can go to the hospital immerdiately or visit him tomolo at the clinic... but if the signs of labour confirm sets in, i should just head to labour ward!

ding ding! starting 38th week!

as i went thru the photos, i cam across some pics that i didnt upload.... has to before Week 37th! got these cherries at Market place. Its 500g and it cost $15.14! while my fren Shanice gets them real cheap in the states itself! no choice the cherries took a plane here! they were not as sweet as the ones i had before but they were still sweet and love the cherry aroma! no extra craving and i only spend my fortune on one indulgence.

also baby is so lucky! gx's 1st aunt (from dad's side) was so nice that she sewn 2 beanie pillows for our little baby! after the dinner on Saturday, gx was like a super human... he went on to meet his frens for drinks. His good fren was back from overseas. Frankly speaking i have never like him to go meet this fren of his... always make me worry... so i didnt sleep... couldnt sleep at all! i was on the net, taking occasional breaks on the bed and when it was 2am, i went to get myself a drink and turn on telly to watch it at a very soft volume as not to disturb my in-laws. then finally i gave up at 3am+ and he told me he was on his way back. he didnt know that i was awake all the time waiting... he tot i had woken up to give him a call...

Sunday 24th May - i was hungry. managed to get gx out of bed and he agreed to bring me to kallang market to eat. prob he was very tired, he didnt ask why i wanted to go there. after lunch, i told him i wanted to check out the baking store and he then knew i came with motive. i was glad to be able to find these small cutters! also i bought some tips for piping cream. my buy cost less than $5. not alot of damage and it was a good buy! then he rest for awhile and went for his massage... as for me it was just telly and sofa. he got dinner for us and we watched the movie on Ch5. A series of unfortunate events? and continued with CJ7 but i didnt finish the 2nd movie! too hot and gx was on fire! he couldnt take the heat! i hid in the cool room and when he got home he hit the showers to cool down! simple sunday...

Monday 25th May = Start of 38th Week!

gynae appointment! now my checkup is shorten to 7 days to closely monitor baby and me. so i checked out the website, i planned to hit the BIY store to get more baking stuff before gog to gynae! i have so many recipes to try! so i made a list of things that i will need to get!

i was thrilled with my buy! i looked forward in doing baking projects with my girl! for her birthdays, as gifts for her teachers, for parties! i think of what i buy is like an investment! love the cutters i got and they are perfect for the projects i want to try! i might just use this recipe found on the wrapper from the cookie cutter set. the fox sweet is an essential item in the upcoming baking project i want to try!

got my 2nd 12muffin baking tray! i wanted 2 as this will help speed up baking! i can't possibly wait for the tray to cool before distributing the papercups and scooping batter into each! so i decided to get one more tray! then i fell in love with these yellow measuring cups! Its come in measurement of 1cup, 3/4 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup and 1/4 cup! i have ever made about 3 terrible measurement mistakes of adding 1and 1/3 cup of sugar when it only needed 1/3 cup of sugar for the recipe! then the vain me had to get the matching measuring spoons... yes i had too.... then how about the old one i have been using? no way am i discarding it as that has measurements for ml on it!

after paying $60+ for my collection, i head to united sq for lunch. i had laska again but i didnt finish my noodles as the weather was too hot and i was perspiring in the outdoor sitting! then i popped into Fox kids and i saw this yellow romper. with 20% i was tempted to get for my baby! then i got 2 more little pants and overall i had 15% further discount as i got 3pcs. spent $30++ for 3 items. mil asked how come i got elephant and bear colour for my girl! i told her it matched pink and purple well! i cannot stand it if everything is PINK!!! i like pink on my girl but not matching everything pink with pink if its 2pc! the clothings that were hand down to us from my aunt m, were mostly white with pink and other colours, pink, purple and luckily there are items that had other colours!

at the gynae, it was a long wait.... from 2pm+ i waited till 4pm+ then i got to see gynae! weight gain was just 300g and doctor say can see my effort. so far i put on about 12kg. then he told me from the scan, baby is moving very slowly... so prob not this week! baby is in good shaped thou! thats what i need to know! so she could be like her daddy! gx stayed till 40th week before my mil was asked to prob induce him to get him out! i was starving after the checkup and i got myself a tuna puff from delifrance, a peanut crisp and a heart-shaped jap red bean with greentea filling minchup kueh before heading home!

i like this combination of green tea filling with jap red bean! just as i was eating this, mil came home with 2 boxes of rojak and 2 boxes of salt-baked chicken! sil was nice to buy me the bakchok mee from her bf's house for dinner but as they were not back yet, hungry me and gx attacked one of the salt-baked chicken 1st and i was already half-full! after dinner, baby nudge me non-stop and with the heat i was really perspiring even i had my shower! so after watching tv till 9pm with my family... i hide in the room!

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i requested a massage from gx ... he was nice to agree but he said i looked like a tiger cos i had very dark stripes on my belly.... my stretched marks are all across my baby belly! i try not to look at it... i take it as a part and parcel of pregnacy. he was sweet to apply the oil on the stretchmarks after massaging my tired body! then he read to baby.

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when i hid under the quilt and hugged my bolster, my little one push away the bolster! REALLY! she was tickling me on the side where the bolster was and pushing! i took the quilt and bolster away and she stopped. then i cover up again, she did her pushing again! then i stopped gx from reading and told him what our little one did! she is so into listening to daddy's bedtime stories! love to see gx's smile. hope he stay as positive when the little one is out! cos it would be a great difference as baby's only either smile or cry! won't be as easy as it is right now where she is in my belly!

Dinner at Ritz Carlton Summer Pavilion

this is my second time in this restaurant. My very first time in summer pavilion was years ago! my uncle m brought my sis, my cousin A and me for dianxin session with then gf aunt o. I was blown away when i had my first high-class chinese dianxin meal then! i was young and amazed with the setting, the menu, the delicacy, the dianxin was all nicely shaped into animals and gosh, i think there was sharkfins' dumpling! i am very lucky gal.

then years later, his lucky gal, daughter turned 6 and i was even luckier to be able to make it for this party! baby rachel decides that we both with daddy should attend the party, so she is staying in! Loved that the father and daughter wore same colour! Sweet! think gx won't mind dressing like what both us called "Animals". We coined thiss term to mean = wearing the same! he never liked the idea that we both wear the same as he thinks we would look like animals having same skin.... but he tot F&D wearing same colour was nice!

they have 4 private rooms and we had the Song Room. the dishes were mainly individually served. my memory is failing me and more important, i was paying much more attention in getting to know my cousin A's bf. think in the 1st pic was some kind of foi gras? didnt like it and gx had an extra pc. 2nd part of the 1st dish was pork which was nice but i love the 3rd little dish best! they have cut up the prawns into many little pcs and fried they crisp and toss in sort of mayo served on a piece of prawn cracker! most of us love this! the prawn was really crunchy and sweet!

Double-boiled Shark's Fin Soup with Chicken... this was our second dish. as i was eating and drinking this soup... i was beginning to feel.... FULL! OMG! its like endless pit! i voiced out that my soup never seems ending and the rest felt the same! though through the pregnancy, i have skipped sharks' fin soup, cos it might contain mercury... but he allowed me to have the soup as baby is now much bigger... and he can't drink another bowl! thought i had seen the fins in my soup... then surface a HUGE pc! baby cannot stopped moving after i finally finished my soup! my tummy felt so tight! she nudge me quite abit!

we then each had a piece of cod fillet! it was nicely marinated but its so HUGE! i was joking that this pc at home usually shared by 4 pax! i love the light mayo with the fish and i tried my best to finish the dish as cod is good for baby! the abalone, fish maw and veg dish was nicely braised! love the fish maw texture, soft but crunchy! my baby is pretty lucky... she had a chance to eat such delicacy before she comes out!

the smoked duck in tea leaves was great! love the skin as it was very aromatic and cripsy! the meat so tender! i got to skipped the noodles as there is crab in it. i was actually happy about it as it has become impossible for me to move! but when sis exclaimed the noodles was yummy... i took a strand from gx and it was so very tasty! very flavourful! but nope i skipped it. i was waiting for my dessert! i love this! Gx always calls it Toad Saliva! Hasima with red dates. Some say its fats from toad stomach. But i love this!

Such a cute lilo and stitch ice-cream cake from Swensens! but i didnt get to eat this! after the cake was cut, it was time to rush off to the next venue! gx took a shot and made me realised i have grown so much bigger with the shot of my side view! the hotel had very good service! i asked for cashcard topup system and the staff say that they are getting us free carpark tickets. then we got to the our next destination.

Aunt O arranged flyer rides for the family! it was a surprise for the rest of the family. she said it was bdae girl's wish to have the whole family to go for the ride together. i have confirmed with aunt o that gx and i will stay on land and not joining them on the ride. Just in case our little one decides to come along and i won't want to wait for the cycle to end to rush off to hospital! But my nice aunt O gave me 2 tickets before she went in telling me that the expiring date for that 2 tickets ends 31st december this year! she saie that then we can bring our little gal for a ride! after we waited for the family get into the cabin, we waved crazily to the kidos when their cabin pass above us, we both took a short walk around to burn the food in our stomach!

baby moved hard and gx put his hands on her to tell her to move slowly and gently. i took this chance to take a pic of his hands on our gal! i love this pic! so while the rest were high up in the sky, taking this nite shot, i was with gx and both of us were feeling so sweaty from the heat! wanted to get a couple shot but gx was not up to it due to the heat ... but he tried a few modes to get a pic of me with the flyer.

when the ride was over, the rest of the family head to their 3rd destination, Uncle M's house to have the cake. we both head to fetch my in-laws and once home, i hid in the room with my cool air blowing from my air-conditioner! the weather was a killer! but i slept well with a full tummy!