2016 in a nut shell

2016 is the most exciting year of my life and therefore I think I should write a recap on this year on this last day of the year.

January

This is the most nerve wrecking month of the entire year. I'm at my 31st -35th week here in this month. Dinos are mostly baked and would be ok if they choose to enter into the world albeit need staycation at NICU.

But of course I would hope they are able to hold till the planned delivery week at 36th where they would bee consider full term babies for twins pregnancy.

It's the longest 1 month of my life. So near yet so far but I'm glad we pulled through.

35weeks 2days

February

I gave birth successfully in this month!! It will always be the most special month & year for me since after waiting for 8 long years then I became a mother.

Welcome to the world, Dinos

March

Mr Love went back to work after spending 1 month with us after the Dinos' birth. I missed having him waiting on me hand and foot as I start to care for the Dinos after my confinement.

This month we also started doing the night duties once my confinement end. It's the start of many sleepless night especially for me who is mostly doing the duties since I am still on maternity leave.

Family photo during their full month

April

Tried bringing the Dinos out for dinner in their super big lorry (pram) and man what a disaster it was. We had to take turns to eat ( there were 3 of us including my mummy) and take turns to bring the Dinos to changing room for diaper change. It would be quite a while later then we attempted to bring them out again.

Dinos in their lorry

May

Its Mr Love's birthday month and we decided to ditch our boys for a short getaway in Taipei. I did regretted a bit though since I missed them tons when we were there and I was told Big Dino was cranky when I was away. He missed mummy too!

However I am also glad we did this trip, to recharge after a long stressful pregnancy and also overwhelmed from being first time parents to twins!

May this year also marks our 15th dating anniversary. Sometimes I cannot believed that we are together for this long for when I look at him, I still find myself very much in love with this man :)

With love of my life

June

June officially marks the end of my long hiatus from work. 7months to be exact. It's also the start of my 24hours work shift. Full time day job and juggling with night time duties.

But I am quite seasoned with night duties by now and surprisingly, I adapt quite well when I went back to work. To think I was still worrying about not coping. I guess every month will step up to any challenge that comes their way.

Back to work

July

We finally get to try the crab feast buffet at Park Royal Beach Road hotel. Previously either I forgot to book and realized the buffet is over or last year because of pregnancy and I couldn't touch crabs.

In any case we had a great time eating the crabs and hit our full year quota. Haha

Full of crabs

August

The Dinos started solid in this month when they turned 6 months. I started them on cereal when they are 5months plus and they seems not ready.

But when we started puree in this month, they are taking it quite well.

This month also saw the beginning of mummy taking extra effort to make puree every 3days and freeze for Dinos' consumption. Sometimes I do feel pretty tired from work but other times I am encourage by their good appetite. So overtime it is!

Dinos' first food

September

We muster all our courage and try bring the Dinos out again this month for a quick dim sum breakie that mummy me is craving for months.

It was a success and we felt more confident to bring them out on short trips after this outing.

To be fair, it is not impossible to bring Dinos out. Just that the logistics part is a bit of a put off. And moreover they rely a lot on the cradle to fall asleep.

We have since trained them to sleep while I baby wear them.

Dim sum brunch success

October

 Following the success of bringing the Dinos out, I went a bit more and try to bring them out for half a day shopping trip with my mummy.

Since there are only 2 of us and my mummy cannot handle prolonged carrying of the Dinos, I took 2 half day leaves on Fridays to bring them out 1 by 1.

Love the individual bonding time we have with the Dinos.

Small Dino meeting Auntie Lena from Taiwan

 Thankfully, the Dinos were generally well behave and cooperative during the trip. They enjoyed themselves too while taking in the sights. This is the first time that I brought them to take long distance bus and train rides into town and both of them were in awe of the surroundings.

Afternoon tea and shopping session with Big Dino

November 


Mr Love and I went to try out Cheese Mookata at the recommendation of his colleagues for our Nov couple date.

Had always wanted to try this Thai steamboat cum BBQ but found no chance.

We felt in love with the heavenly taste of the soup after the fats from BBQ meat flow into it.

Sinful I know but it is just superb. It would be a very long time later before we would come back since we only can try 1 new thing every month now. Haha

Nov 16 couple date

 

 

 

 

We celebrated piggy brother's this month at Yum Cha restaurant. He was overjoyed to have his 2 panda nephews with him though they did not manged to wear his gift of panda suits after Small Dino had an poo explosion.


December

We have come to last month of the year and this is the most happening month of all.


I slotted in 4 afternoon high tea in this month. Haha. To think I had never been to an afternoon high tea in all my life.

Met up with Partner for a good afternoon chat. I am so glad to have her in my life all these years and more so when we became mothers since she understands my situation and took half day leave just to have some chilling time with me without our children.

Partner and I

Then I also finally met my twin mummies friends whom I have chatted with for the past 7months over group chats. Cannot wait to meet all of them along with our buds. It will be so so interesting to have at least 30 children but only 15sets of parents. Haha

Small Dino solo date with mummy

New friends:)

Then I met up with my secondary school friend and her daughter who is a month younger than my Dinos.

With Alison and our buds

This month also saw me bringing the Dinos out solo to the gatherings. I must say it is pretty smooth sailing and my boys did me proud by being cooperative.

The final couple date of the year saw Mr Love and me sipping afternoon tea at Fullerton Hotel. What a way to sum up our 2016 monthly dates.

Dec 16 Couple date

In conclusion, I had a blast this year. No doubt there are other unhappy things happening but I choose to focus on the happy things instead.

After having my Dinos, I realized nothing in the world can be compared to them. As long as they are healthy and happy, there is nothing that I want to ask for already.

Family photo 2016

May 2017 be as good as 2016 and I look forward to the year witnessing my Dinos' growth and also happiness in my household.

Cheers.

Dec 16 - Month of High Tea

I've never been to high tea since it's usually working hours and on weekends usually we take brunch. But this December saw me having 4 such outings. Haha I think I hit the quota for high tea for the year.

1st High Tea- 8th December 16 -The Marmalade Pantry with my partner

Since we became mothers, it is just impossible for us to have dinner dates like the old times. Usually it's my problem since my hands are full with the Dinos.

Luckily partner was accommodating to take half day leave for a meet up and thus we had a successful babies free chatting session.

Partner and I

Menu

Since we took half day, we will need lunch first before taking their high tea set which will starts at 3pm sharp.

Partner and I each ordered a main and started our chatting session.

My main

 

Partner's main

Before we knew, it's time to order our high tea set. 

We are entitled to a cup cake each and also 1 tea selection. The set will also comes with a 3 tier with scones, sandwiches and jam. It costs SGD 38 for 1 set which serves 2 persons.

Chocolate cupcakes

Since we both love chocolate, we ordered 2 different chocolatey flavour cupcakes and share. Their cup cakes were actually pretty tasty just that we were too caught up in chatting rather than finishing the cupcakes.

Sandwiches and scones

1 with the signage

The sandwiches were also pretty good but I am no fan of scones but still managed to eat 1 with the jam. Always find scone to be dry even jam.

This session is actually to let us catch up and having the high tea set is just to buy extra time to stay there and chat. Haha

2nd High tea session - 9th December 16 - Anti:dote with Dec15-Feb16 Twins& Triplets mummies



So after joined the chat group for Dec15-Feb16 Twins and Triplets mummies, we finally managed a meetup though not with the full members strength.

Being 1st time mummy especially to twins, joining this chat group had been a life saver for me in the initial months. The late nights chat during night feedings, the SOS whenever we have questions on our bubs, the sharing of good finds or mummy's hacks etc. The conversations we have literally keep me sane and also makes me feel assured that there are mummies out there facing same situation as me.

Our pretty set and tea

We actually agreed to be a mummies' date but cause my mummy wanted half day off, so I decided to bring Small Dino along with other mummie's agreement.



A photo before we start feasting

It maybe the first time we seen each other in flesh but it sure feels like we known all for a long time. After all we have each other's facebook and had seen our everyday's life through the updates.

Of course the bonding we created during the multiple chats through the months.

The selection of tea here is much more and my mind couldn't register the words all. Haha I decided to get the Pink Flamingo Tea because of the word "Pink". Haha

Surprisingly the tea tastes pretty good and refreshing. Of course the pretty pink add points to it.

Pink Flamingo tea

There are 2 starters, 1 Oriental and the Anti:dote . For the Oriental version, we get 1 Siew Mai and carrot cake and a piece of deep fried prawn.

Oriental Tea set

Starter of Anti:Dote Tea set

The Anti:dote Tea set starter on the other hand is Black Truffle Scramble eggs. Not my kind of thing, so I choose the Oriental set.

But regardless of which set you choose from, the main high tea set consist of the same items.

Top view

The set of drawers that used to serve the sandwiches, petit desserts and scones were really pretty and special. I guess it is the special presentation of their high tea set first draw us to this place. Haha

Sweets and sandwiches

Since we are having the Special Christmas set, the Petit Desserts are all in Xmas theme.

Scones drawer

Like I mentioned earlier, I am no fan of scones which is ironic since it is a permanent resident in all high tea. Here it got worse for me since I don't like the cream, lemon curd or jam that comes with it. At least give me my favourite strawberry jam to go with it.

Jam, cream and Lemon curd

In conclusion, I enjoyed the company but not the food. Maybe because I was too occupied with chatting and tending to small dino and I did not even realised I missed out the sandwiches drawer. But I did finished the Petit desserts, scones, starters and had quite a bit of the tea.

The service provided here was not up to my expectation too given this is a five star hotel. Staff were not friendly and to top it off quite rude. I had to ask twice for the baby chair and no one bothered to update me that they are looking into it while I carried Small Dino for a good 20minutes.

I would not mind if they had told me they are looking into my request but they just left me there hanging after I requested it.

Also the staff who took our orders was pretty rude and pushy in getting us order. Plus when we told him to serve the food for the present mummies first, he kinda refuse saying the each set serves 2 and he wanted to wait for everyone to arrive before serving the food.


1 photo of us with the pretty set

But we had an even number of mummies there already and it should be good enough for him to serve the food while we wait for others to arrive. I think it was after much insistence on our part then he did the serving. And he place the tea (which is hot) right in front of where Small Dino is sitting. Was really not impressed with their staff here.

We paid SGD47 each after a 20% discount from 1 of the mummy's Amex card. It was on the high side but I wouldn't mind too much if the service is good since I'm quite impressed with the presentation of their food.

3rd High Tea: 16th December 16 - With Alison and Baby Valerie.

Was chatting with Alison the other day and we arranged an impromptu Afternoon tea session and bring our bubba along.

She was my secondary friend and I had not met her since graduating. We got back in contact when she learned of my miscarriage back then (to give support) and then subsequently when she realised I am pregnant with the Dinos and her with her baby girl.




Big Dino choosing his high tea set

So we settled at Secret Recipe at Plaza Singapura and today is Big Dino's turn to go out with me. We reached first and went recce at PS. It has been years since I last stepped foot here. Haha

Turns out they have an afternoon tea set at SGD 7.50 with a cake and either coffee or tea. Can also top up SGD 1 for their premium cakes selection. But the cakes selection is subjected to what is available at the outlet not all on the menu is available.

Our cakes

After placing our order, we began to chat. Man it have really been years since we last meet up or even chat. So many changes but yet she felt like the old friend I had back in school.

As mummies, we exchanged pointers on our children too and since she have an older boy she can give me a point or two on what to expect when the Dinos grow up.

Alison with Big Dino

Me with Baby Val

It was a short catch up since I need go home for Big Dino's dinner. Like what Alison said, she don't mind having short meetups now since we are with kids and she understand we need work with our kid's schedules. Beauty of going out with mummy friends, totally can relate to our situation.

It was a short but fruitful catch up. Told her I would bring Small Dino to introduce to her gal the next time we come out. Haha

Group photo

4th High Tea - 16th December 16 - High Tea with Mr Love at Clifford Pier

So the last high tea of the month is with Mr Love for our monthly couple date. Actually this is the first high tea I set for the month with the others following but because of timing, it became the last high tea of the month. Haha.

We went and park our car in Suntec City before taking a bus to Fullerton hotel. Since there is still time, we walked around the mall before taking a bus there which is 2 stops away.

Fullerton hotel doesn't provide complimentary parking for weekday afternoon and the parking rates are rocket high since it is in CBD area therefore the next best location is Suntec City.

Love the colourful balloons!

One More!!

There are 3 buses outside Suntec City (Nicoll Highway) to Fullerton, namely 10,70 & 196. We dropped 2 stops later right outside the hotel.

Front view of the hotel

Xmas trees outside the hotel

We had never been here before and therefore is in awe of the posh hotel. But when we were doing our pre wedding photoshoot 9years ago, the main Fullerton hotel was the backdrop of our night shots. Told Mr Love that if we have time later, we should walk along the bridge and take another photo with the same backdrop haha. Didn't managed to as we were rushing for time.

Long hallway leading to the cafe

Big Ass lighting in lobby

We were pretty early and had time to kill before the high tea and therefore took quite a few pictures in the waiting area.

Comfortable couch

There were a few couchs in the waiting area leading to the café and those who are early for the high tea sat there to wait.

Going in for our high tea

We were brought to our seats at exactly 3.30pm and was asked to select our choice of drinks first.

Jam, cream, butter and chilli sauce

Decoration on the table

Menu

We can either select from the selection of tea which comes in a pot or a few coffee selections or even local drinks like The Tarik/ Bandung etc. Quite impressed since other high tea only offers tea but I like coffee for high tea.

Tea selection

Coffee/Local selection

The funny thing is Mr Love choose cuppa for his drink and me Vanilla Bourbon Tea. It's a reverse choice since usually I'm the coffee drinker and him tea.

Sweets



Savoury

My date for the afternoon

Serving of drink is pretty prompt and the food came awhile more after the drinks.

Vanilla Bourbon Tea

My tea has a tinge of Vanilla in it (duh!). Just like Vanilla ice cream but hot. Haha. Love the smell.
I was told we are allow to re-order our drinks any time be it the same one or another choice. Oh, that's nice.

Mr Love's cuppa

I did order another round of tea later on but choose a different flavour - The Fullerton Express. The tea is stronger that the previous selection and I do not really fancy it. Should have just stick to ordering a cuppa but I was too greedy thinking that I can have 1 last cup of cuppa after the 2 tea. But boy I was too full to take in anything else.

Fullerton Express tea

We were one of the first who got served food and I was excited about meeting them! Haha The much raved about high tea set. This is like the highlight of this month's high teas for me.

Our 3 tier high tea set

Mr Love do not fancy sweet stuff so traditional high tea will be boring for him with the sweets and scone. Sandwiches are also not really his things. The reason why I choose to come here is because of the menu. It promises a touch of our local cuisine in the food and the Kong Ba Bao was especially tempting after reading good reviews of it.

Sweets

True enough, Mr Love didn't even touch the sweets plate, leaving all to me. I tried 1 of everything and had another go of the fruit cake, log cake and Macaroon. He was very amazed by my sweet tooth but even more impressed by my appetite since I ate every other thing he eats and then can still pile on the sweets. Win.

Didn't fancy the Christmas cookie cause of the icing. Too sweet even for me.




Savory

The savoury was more well received by Mr Love. We re-ordered the Nonya Chicken wrap once and the fried carrot cake thrice along with Kong Bak Bao & Chilli Crab Bao. We also polished off everything on this first serving.

The Nonya Chicken wrap is just like curry chicken wrap in soft pancake. It isn't spicy at all and you can smell the spices used.

Fried carrot cake was a hit with us because of the Hei Bi Hiam (Dried Shrimp chilli) on top of it, making the carrot cake Oh so tasty. Don't even need chilli to enhance it's taste.

Kong Bak Bao didn't disappoint us. The Braised meat was not too fat, I am able to separate the fats and meat. Haha And the dark soy sauce was not too salty to our liking too. We took 4 of this each.

Lastly is my favourite Chilli Crab bao where you can actually find chunks of crab meat inside!! I initially thought it is dipped in the sauce only but was pleasantly surprised to bite into crab meat. Haha

Love the lights

Reflections

The café was brightly lighted since windows were all around it. Soaking in the afternoon sun in the café and leaning back on the comfy cushions sipping tea makes me feel like a Tai Tai. Hahah.

A bonus treat will be the live Piano session from 3.30-5pm and the pianist have great vocals too.

1 bloated couple

Dec 16 couple date

Overall, I really enjoyed the high tea session here as compared to others. Maybe it's because of the food, maybe it is because of the ambience but I think most importantly it is because of the company since I'm with Mr Love here and it's our monthly dating time.

Sometimes I do miss our old lifestyle of having more freedom but other times I enjoyed our current arrangement where we treasured couple time more.