Hi! I am Mikaela and i am 2 weeks old!

So.. it has been about 1.5months since i've blogged, and that is because we were really busy preparing and getting ready for our first child to be delivered to this world! And as of now, she is already 2 weeks old, and healthy too!^^

If i have to summarise our experience from the past 2 weeks, it would be: Excited - Stressful - Scary - Super Duper Happy - Exhausted - Blissful

LoL~ if you follow the words above, it is kinda like a timeline from the moment we were at Mount Alvernia Hospital anticipating our baby's delivery, to the first few days at home fumbling with the milk bottles and how to bath her, and now, seeing her smiling as she sleeps, feeling the blissfulness of having such a healthy and happy baby =)

It all started on 11 Nov when wifey felt uncomfortable and we decided to visit the gynae to confirm whether or not these were the legit symptoms that meant our baby is ready to be delivered. True enough, the gynae told us that our baby is ready for delivery! We admitted to Mount Alvernia Hospital at around 12 midnight (Tip #1: save 1 day of hospitalisation fees) and waited anxiously for what is to come next, the arrival of our baby daughter =)

We immediately went to the labor ward, and wifey donned the hospital gown. For some reason, she was shivering very badly, i guess from the cold, panic and nervousness. The nurse checked in on her and she was 1cm dilated at that point in time. I immediately grabbed like 5 blankets and covered her with it, hopping that it would ease her shivers.

While she rested at the labor ward, i had to go downstairs to settle the administration matters. This kinda sucked, because there was only 2 staff at the counter and i had to wait about an hour before i could settle the administration. During this 1 hour.. time seemed to crawl ever so slowly and i kept thinking how was wifey... was she still shivering very badly? is she in very bad pain?

Finally i settled the admin stuff and it was around 1am+, wifey was feeling a little better now. She wasn't shivering that badly and gotten slightly more accustom to the temperature and ward conditions. at around 3.45am wifey started bleeding and she was in very very bad pain! The nurse checked on her and told us that she was about 3cm dilated. As the pain was really unbearable, we decided to go for the epidural. Can you imagine going through the pain for another... 8hours without epidural??!!?..

After the epidural, the pain subsided and wifey could catch some rest. I, however, couldn't really rest at all.. partly because the couch at the side wasn't that great and because i was worried that she may need my help.

At around 6am, we heard baby cries from the adjacent room. It was a very warmth feeling to know that a life has been brought to this world and while we can't wait for our turn, we were also worried when it comes to our turn. We couldn't go back to sleep and stayed awake until our Gynae arrived at around 8am. Not long later, the midwives and nurses all came to help and prep wifey for the push. The push wasn't easy at all, it lasted for 45mins and the doctor had to assist in the delivery by "vacuuming" the baby out. After one last push, the doctor managed to help us deliver the baby and she was the most adorable thing in the whole world to us.

We teared, we were overjoyed and we will never forget the moment we saw her in our arms. Words can not express how happy we felt, and i can not describe that kinda feeling here in words.. but it was such a magical moment for us when we cuddled Mikaela in our arms =)

*My youtube channel: click https://youtu.be/CkQUfZroEQM if the video doesn't work below



Thankfully both wifey and our little baby are fine and healthy!

Almost everyone who came to visit us told us that our baby looked exactly like me T_T~~~ (Don't think that is a good thing though ahhaha)

Luckily though, Mikaela's jaundice wasn't too high and the PD allowed her to go home with us on the third day^^ and that is also... when the "nightmare" started hahahahhaha

We were too idealistic and simple minded, thinking that all a baby really does is eat - sleep - eat - sleep ... but nnoooooooooooo... at first, my plan when she cries was NOT to immediately run and carry/cuddle her BUT... her cries were just too pitiful that i had no choice but to carry her...

Every time we fed her, she would have that squealing high pitched sound and look like she was choking/gasping for breath, wifey and i felt so lost because we don't know what when wrong and we were severely deprived of sleep!!! can you imagine resting 1hr between her feeding times? And when she looks distressed, uncomfortable or cries, you don't know what to do or what is she like that? omg.. it was really really scary for us.. We literally didn't have any help at all and we were left on our own..

We were total noobs and really didn't know how to handle a baby. We thought we knew, after "playing" with our friend's baby and watching a lot of videos from the hospital and YouTube.. but in a real life situation like this, we realised that we knew NUTS! and we were helpless!

This "nightmare" lasted for a week ... we gave in and finally decided to engage a Confinement Lady.

Luckily for us, we managed to engaged a Confinement Lady and after that, smiles can be seen on our faces once again! hahaha! Wifey and I had lots of sleep, and we could spend more time playing with Mikaela^^

Everyone is fresh and happy^^

But wifey and I also know that the Confinement Lady will not be with us forever, so we also took this time to learn from her as much as possible. Taking care of a baby is no easy feat, and it is also probably a never ending journey. But we will cherish this moment and enjoy how to properly carry her, bath her, feed her, change her clothes etc. etc. =)

A few tips for first time parents like us:

1. if your child has that high pitch squealing sound, it is most probably because her larynx isn't strong enough yet and hence it causes a squealing sound. It is quite normal and the baby will outgrow soon enough.

2. If your child has jaundice, take note that sunning them, washing them with chinese herbs such as 金银花，苦瓜干  will only aid in changing the "yellow" appearance of the baby and not exactly reduce the jaundice levels. in fact, it may not be healthy to sun the baby because the UV rays would harm the baby.. The best way is to feed the baby properly and ensure that she pees and poos normally. You would observe that her poo is yellowish in color, and that is because it contain bilirubin. By passing it out, it would greatly reduce the baby's jaundice levels. This is the best way to actually reduce the baby's jaundice level.

3. If your baby is always choking/gasping for breath during feeding, it is because they small little organs take time to digest the milk/food and sometimes the flow is just too fast for them to handle. Therefore you have to make sure that if you are bottle feeding, the teats are the slow flow ones that can better regulate the flow of the milk for the newborn to consume. Direct breast feeding doesn't seem to have this problem though. In addition, you can also communicate to your child and tell her to drink slowly while patting her lightly with a constant tempo. This helped Mikaela and i hope it helps you too! =)

Have fun with your baby and enjoy the process of growing up with them! Just remember that as long as the baby is able to feed and sleep normally, she is fine =)

Just sleeping with Mikaela today, seeing her smiling face, really made us feel very fortunate to have her as our baby.

My first VLog!

The haze is so so bad lately... and i'm falling ill.. hopefully i don't pass the flu bug to wifey T_T

Recently, we finally bought our favourite baby stroller~ the Bugaboo Bee 3!

Pardon the little untidiness at my house haha. We have bought a lot of baby stuff lately and still in the midst of sorting them out~ its gonna seriously take a while haha

Setting the Bugaboo Bee 3 was no easy feat. Check out the parts and all, it feels like i'm building a huge Tamiya Car =X But what really really made me stuck for a very long time was the seat of the stroller. It was quite tricky for me, and therefore i decided to.... come up with my own YouTube Channel, to VLog on this Bugaboo Bee 3 seat demo! So that i can hopefully help others who ain't sure how to install it =)

I am a Chou Chou fanatic!

I am sure many many of you would agree with me that a baby's "chou chou" (baby pillow/bolsters) is a important part of their life and growing up journey. In fact, i find it so important that i actually seek high and low for the perfect "chou chou" for my baby =)

I am very very happy with the "chou chou" that i've ordered from Chubby Chubby , yes it is coincidental that our names are identical, but we are not affiliated in any way and neither is this a sponsored ad.

Do check out their website if you are looking for handmade baby items such as Bean Sprout Husk pillows/bolsters, anti flat-head pillows, blankets, fitted sheets etc etc. And their products would also make great baby gifts for your friends and family too!

So today, i collected the "chou chou" that i've been waiting excitedly for =)

Chubby Chubby's office is a home studio at Burgundy Drive. Although i did not get to meet the boss personally, she was really nice as she pro-actively answers my queries on the status of my order, when and how to collect etc. either via WhatsApp or Email.

Don't be alarm as to why the pillow is so small hahahaha (i was kinda stunned for 5 seconds when i first received it too =X).

It is basically folded into half so the ease of packing =)

Ta-da~~ Cute right! super duper love the design and fabric used for this pillow! I am sure our little baby will definitely love this pillow (chou chou) as well! I think it's gonna be super cute when i lay this pillow over my baby's stomach heee~~

Ciaoz~

In preparation for our bundle of joy!

This has to be the most exciting period in my life! In approximately 2 months time, wifey and I would be expecting our little baby to arrive in this world^^ We have been pretty hardworking lately, grabbing all the good bargains from baby fairs and expos all around Singapore.

And i have to agree that.... Buying baby's clothes can be rather ADDICTIVE!

I didn't really take a photo of each and every piece of clothing that we've bought simply because we've bought a lot! And we have to really thank our friends too, for passing us so many lovely and cute hand-me-down clothes =)

Just a really sneak peak into what we've bought~ not including the milk bottle sterilizer... baby cot... baby laundry detergent and all the other misc items

Lol some of my friends commented that this bean bag is a waste of time... but it is still one of my favorite buys! I think its pretty comfy and it can act as a mobile bed for baby =) so... ahem ahem.... when i'm playing game.... ahem ahem... i can place her to sleep beside me =X whahahaa

Can you imagine? We even had to debate about which cotton balls to buy! Because i was kinda concerned whether the fibers of the cotton would get stuck on baby when we clean her up with it~ first world issues...

Before we finish doing up our baby's room, we bought these cabinets to store all the stuff that we've bought =) It may not exactly look very 'Atas' but trust me... it's gonna be so handy in storing all our baby items!

A big thanks to my Mother-in-Law and Cindy for buying us all these cute baby rompers and clothes from Taiwan!

~ps. I have another 10,000 baby stuff not yet unpacked ever since the baby fair~ oh well... i guess we hafta enjoy the process of preparing our lovely baby's stuff bit by bit =)

Best ever Japanese Spaghetti at Kabe No Ana!!!

OMG... I fell in love..............

with Japanese style spaghetti!!! It simply taste so much better than the normal Italian kinda spaghetti that is usually tomato sauce based, cream based, minced meat based etc... In Japanese spaghetti you have the same kinda sauces just like the Italian ones, and also Japanese style sauces like Wafu sauce, Wasabi sauce (yea i am not kidding lolx), Cream sauce garlic rice, Mentai cream sauce and you have toppings like Mentaiko and also their signature Japanese onsen tamago (egg)!!!

Just imagine breaking the fabulous Japanese onsen tamago and mixing it into the Mentai cream sauce...

Im so hungry right now......

And if you are dying to try it even though i haven't posted a single photo =X please check out Kabe No Ana that is located at Serangoon NEX #B1-80. They also have another branch at Jurong point but i haven't tried that one yet. http://www.kabenoana.com.sg/locations/

One of the greatest combo sets that they have at Kabe no Ana, is the twin and combo sets! Where you are able to order 2 x Spaghetti/baked rice/pizza (mini) with the soup of the day as well as salad. And it is just about less than $20 per set!

The corn soup was really super creamy and delicious! I literally polished the entire bowl of goodness right there on the spot haha =X

Wifey ordered the combo set where it allows her to order 1 x spaghetti and either 1 x mini baked rice or pizza! So she ordered the Tsukune Baked Rice (beef) and Mentaiko Ebi Spaghetti! It's so freaking nice! and the best part of it is that if you are worried that the creaminess might be too "jer lat", having 2 mini portions like this won't make you feel that way and it will definitely be as feeling as if you ate the normal sized portion!

Now.... please.... check out what i ordered!

The first pasta i ordered (purposely chose a less creamy one) was the "Waka" spaghetti, the name is a little long so i can't remember the exact full term lolx. It is a very simple pasta, but through the springiness of the spaghetti and freshness of the ingredients, you know that Kabe no Ana serves only with the best ingredients and well cooked al dante pastas! This is really a no frills pasta, where you will enjoy eating =)

This is my favourite! MENTAIKO CABONARA!

It is super creamy but not too intense that will make you feel 'jer lat', the Mentaiko mixed with the cream sauce, bacon and Japanese style poached eggs is dam awesome! It totally blends with each other with so much synergy that makes it almost heavenly! I don't think i can ever eat another pasta after eating this.....

Wifey and I literally finished every single last drop of sauce and pasta~!

At Kabe no Ana, Wifey and I was totally satisfied and everyone should really go give it a try! All the Mentaiko themed pastas will definitely not let you down!

Cooking with Philips Air Fryer worked for me!!!

So glad that i was able to prepare the dish that i wanted to, using the Philips Air Fryer last Thursday. Apart from the normal nuggets, seaweed chicken etc. I never really used the Air Fryer before =X It is so super underused lolXxXx

But it is still in great condition! And i tested it, it works! =)

So my objective was to use the Philips Air Fryer to make Honey Baked Chicken with Roast Potatoes =) I used Oyster Sauce, Sesame Oil, Salt and Pepper to marinate the chicken (Boneless Chicken Thigh with Skin On by CP).

I dunno if the 'myth' of massaging your chicken will make it more tender or not, but i did it anyway LoLxx^^ 

Thereafter, leave it in the fridge overnight so that the chicken thigh can fully absorb the marinate =)

As for the roasted potatoes, i skinned the potatoes and then cut it into small chunks. I've also added some onion into it because i was hoping to extract the sweetness from the onions itself too!

Yep~ The potatoes are not going into the frying mesh with the chicken. Instead, i placed them onto the tray so that when i air fry the chicken, the juice/sauce/oil from the chicken can drip onto the potatoes and onions. One slight lesson learnt here was, perhaps i could have boiled the potatoes briefly before roasting them. This would prevent the outer layer from getting overcooked as the inner part of the potato will take quite some time to be cooked.

And we are now ready to start roasting! **please heat up the air fryer at 200 degrees for 3mins first**

So where's the Honey? Fret not =)

The chicken will be air fried for 20mins at 200 degrees. I brush both butter and honey on both sides of the chicken at the 10th, 15th, and 18th min. I was a little conservative when choosing the right amount of honey to use, because the fragrance from the honey was quite strong so I was worried that the entire chicken will be too overly sweet and honey. But i was a little wrong though, I could have added more honey without worrying about the taste at all.

But nonetheless! Even though this was the first time that i'm using the Philips Air Fryer to whip up a main course, my Honey Roasted Chicken with Roasted Potatoes turned out perfect!!!

Can't wait to try out my next air fryer recipe^^

Can't wait to work on my Philips Air Fryer again!

I have to admit... i am quite the 'sua ku' type that do not know much things outside of work. It was only recently that i realise that the Philips Air Fryer could do so many things! It can Fry, Grill, Roast and even Bake stuff with it!

Which i believe that most, if not all of you would have already known by now T_T

So anyways, after joining the Philips Air Fryer Singapore Group on Facebook, i decided to pick up a recipe or two and try it out on my trusty old Philips Air Fryer! I haven't used my Air Fryer for quite a long time, in fact i was quite worried as to whether it is still in working condition lolx~ But thankfully it is still working great!

Yep, my Philips Air Fryer is the very first generation model. But from what i understand it works exactly the same as the new version. The only different is that for the old model, the way to adjust the temperature is via a analogue dial, whereas the new model uses digital. And, the new model is also slightly bigger than the old one. But that aside, the functionalities are all the same =)

I decided that for my very first attempt to whip up a meal using the Philips Air Fryer (last time i only used it to fry or heat up readymade food such as nuggets, Mexican drumbeats from CP etc.), i am gonna start off with something simple first.... which..... i will only reveal in my next post =X

Anyways, the meal involves chicken and i have already marinated it with Oyster Sauce, Sesame Oil and Pepper.

I gave the chicken a good massage too hahaha hoping that the meat will turn out more tender! Anyways, i used boneless chicken leg with skin on, so it should be tender nonetheless.

Everything so far so good! Can't wait till tomorrow^^