(2003) Calling all 2003 babies

Benny was discharged yesterday.. and he's so excited about it that he refused to stay still on bed and finish his lunch in the hospital. He was smiling away when the plug on his left hand was removed. It was swollen as the plug was there for more than 3 days and he cried everytime they put him on antibiotic drip. Supposed to re-insert plug into another vein but didn't as he is going to be discharged. He was running about and bidding goodbye to the nurses when we were going back..

Brought him to the polyclinic to change his dressing this morning. The wound on his neck is still open and they had to push gauze into his wound during every change of dressing as the doc wanted his wound to heal from inside so that remaining pus will be pushed out. He would scream and cry during every change.. even the nurses feels the heart pain. I'll usually hold on to his arms and legs but dare not look at his wound cause I know I'll cry everytime I look at the wound with the gauze stuck into it.

This pic is taken when my uncle visited him in the hospital a few days back. We tried all ways to keep him happy to distract his focus on his neck..



Hopefully he'll heal fast as he'll have to go thru it another time after CNY.. *sigh*
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Joanne...Thank god, it is a successful operation and Benny is very brave to go through all these.

Make sure Benny do not have too much heaty stuff during the CNY and also no prawn and chicken, to aid the wound to recover faster.
 
Dear Jo,

3 cheers for Benny who did well!
3 cheers for the Mommy who was constantly giving care and withheld the tears. You are both extremely strong people.

We thank God for a smooth procedure and Bryan and I will continue to pray with you and Benny.
 
Thanks all mommies for the moral support and prayers.. We'll be staying indoor during CNY to avoid all heaty new year goodies.. (Anyway, he was the one who told me not to eat too much heaty stuff else I'll get a swollen neck!!!) and also to avoid having another infection before his op to remove cyst.

Was quite off track after MIA for a few days.. will chat with you gals after Benny has recovered as I'm seldom online now. But will still keep you all updated on his progress..

Advance Happy New Year and may your family be blessed with good luck and good health..
 
Sarah...I got these cutters (Kai wants to bake) from Japan. I bought some from bulk purchase sometime back but left them in Singapore after collecting from my friend who also orderd as we have only back for a short visit and so much packing.

Try this website: http://www.rakuten.co.jp/sweets/594733/597422/599511/

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/sweets/594733/685033/

You should be able to find the disney cutters and winnie the pooh cutter. I am deciding whether to get Thomas the Tank Engine and Friend though.
 
Hi Joanne,
Glad to know Benny is feeling better now! Good to see him so lively in the pic. He's a real sensible boy.

Hi kristins_mom,
How's Bryan? Hope it's nothing serious.

Hi Pris,
Having two kids can make you tear your hair on some days. But the joy of 2 kids definitely surpasses everything unpleasant. Hope that Kai will get his wish to have a sibling soon!

Hi Ky,
We have only signed Brandon up for JG Edudrama class for the moment. Will see how it goes, may enrol him for some music or gym classes.

Hi moshimoshi,
Is Mel still attending the gym and music classes? Is she doing Suzuki Music?

Hi mommies,
It's Valentine Day tommorrow. Anybody still celebrating it?
 
Serenade...well, that's kids. They will sometimes drive us up the wall.

Over here, they do not take in young children for music classes, the young for music class in 6 yr old that dh and I felt is too late. Kai will start his swimming class probably in April since they are starting a new class then and it is good that parents can swim together with the child.

k's mum...hope everything is fine with Bryan too.

Joanne...I agreed with Serenade, Benny is very sensible for his age. Do rest well too. Will continue to pray for Benny with Kai.

Yes, we are celebrating but with Kai of course haahaa...it will be two day from now since it is now Monday morning.

I am going off now...sending Kai to school and going to pick up some more blank cards for sight words.

Happy Valentine Day to all!
 
Hi sarah,
If you are getting the cutters, let me know. I may want to get them too... hehe, can't resist the temptation. Not that I'll bake, but good to have... Make good presents for my baking friends too.

Hey Pris,
You are very annoying leh... all those pics - can see but cannot eat. :p Just curious, do you know where to get cartoon moulds for making jelly?

Hi mommies,
Do you have to prepare reunion dinner for your inlaw's side? My friend has to prepare the dinner for the entire family, including the bil and his wife. And I mean prepare dishes, not steamboat. Really kudos to her...
 
Hi Serenade and Pris!

Sorry that the conversation was cut short.
Went to a GP coz my dh didn't want to queue for the PD downstairs.

In the end, the GP didn't want to do anything about it at all. Just administer Vomex for the vomitting and since we already have that at home and have been doing it since this morning, there's nothing more she could help. She thinks it's a virus thing that should come down on its own soon. Well, it's not like he's vomitting continuously and it only happens when we try to put food in him. Anyway, the GP said if he doesn't want anything, it'll be fine too. But he's running a fever now, pretty high, 38.9deg. Dh put in a suppository before tucking him to bed. He didn't want any milk... poor boy, absolutely in no mood to play and exhausted. I suspect he has cramps too. He was so listless the whole day that he willingly laid on the couch - he's usually up and jumping or pestering you with thousands of questions - and occasionally you'd hear some groans from him. We'll see how it goes tomorrow, otherwise i'll have to send him to the PD downstairs.

It's always terrible to have either vomitting or diarrhea...am just waiting for the next symptom to set in... he just can't stomach anything right now...

School's definitely out for him tomorrow... looks like our Valentine's Day project is not gonna take place... sigh... am already feeling disappointed for him for he's gonna miss out loads of fun in school. if only he knew what fun it would have been, don't think he'd want to be sick either.
 
Yeah, Pris, you've got such cute cookie cutters...

We only get those in shapes here... no cartoon figures and no cute mickey faces. maybe i've been looking in the wrong places. Does Toys R Us sell such things???

Ain't no baker here either... but it's certainly fun for Bryan to cut out such cute cookies...
 
Hey all mommies out there!

Here's wishing you a Happy Valentine's!

It's definitely going to be a great day even if it's just sitting around enjoying the company of your sweet little ones...
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hello everyone
bad shoulder yesterday,and i missed so much already! u gals are my motivation man, so much to hear and learn from u!

joanne
benny will recover in no time, continue to shower him with heaps of hugs, kisses and plan simple activities that he enjoys to distract him from the foreign thing on his neck, how abt a CNY CD to liven up the mood, and crazy song n dance and lotsa gongxi gongxi.
 
the gathering at sarah's was a day well spent, we settled nicely around a big table with heaps of yummy food, sarah's fried rice was a hit with mel, she finished a full plate and asked for more! and a ham n cheese sandwich too! now i know what to request for at the next potluck! also found out that sarah's hub is a great baysitter, the kids followed him around the playground for finds, they even built a sandcastle with leaves, how creative! mel can;t stop talking abt the sandcastle at home, and hannah was so sweet to spring a 'i love u' to us before we leave, what a darling!

Thanks apricot and hub for donut factory, yum yum too! Aston has grown and still as handsome ;)

nice meeting meilan and family for the 1st time, JK is one friendly boy! hope to chat more the next time.
 
i decided to be like k'd mom to do many posts instead of a long one in case the laptop fails me again

serenade
i was like u, always thinkg what to teach/introduce to mel but after she starts school, i became totally laidback, only doing some crafts when i feel like it. i am banging more on incidental learning these days, when she shows interest in a particular topic/ area, i will tap on it by following up with a book/impromptu craft or song/imaginary play. when there's interest, there's motivation, then learning will take place. sounds like an excuse of a lazy mom, hee hee , but definitely less stressful for both teacher n student ;)
 
brown bags are from cold storage, a rare find actually, the craft shops may stock them too. can;t remember what food was featured, but the writer sings praises abt the huge portions ion served and presentation style, u know, i am so envious of these travel writers, visiting places and enjoying good food at company's expense! was telling my hub maybe mel should become a journalist or something, hee hee, expectations again. i just hope that she doesn;t tell me she wants to be a vet, she is absolutely crazy over cats, we have all sorts of cats in the house, she even remembers names of the different breeds. i see the day coming when we will have a big fight over keeping a pet cat!
 
K's mum....give him lots of jellos, ice-pop to keep him from dehydration....

As for the cookie mould, I got some from bulk purchase last year through a friend and what you saw I bought in Japan since I forgot to pack along with me when we left Singapore so bought the extra in Japan. You can get from this website:

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/sweets/594733/685033/
http://www.rakuten.co.jp/sweets/594733/597422/599511/

Serenade, jelly mould like making these jelly or pudding like the pictures?

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I got my from Japan too. Think Singapore has alot too, I am asking a friend to help me get the thomas the tank engine if she comes across them. I think Daiso has some too.

I have more pictures for food but dare not put up haahaa....will put in my blog haahaa....dare not temopt all of you. Will just show two or 3 of them later when I am free, I am checking some informations for dh and going to bake beef sheperd pie soon.
 
mel is still doing music at fisherman's. a small sch at thomson area. actually am thinking of stopping cos i find the lessons too technical, they learn notes reading to prepare for instruments. but it's a pity to give up cos she likes her friends and she had already learnt a few notes.
anyone knows music here? what;s your opinion on notes reading at a young age, will this give them a headstart in learning to play an instrument?

On food now
can someone teach me how to make macaroni n cheese, i have this idea of putting cheese over hot pasta, will it work? do i add milk?
my mom;s kitchen is under reno so no dinner for the whole week and i have not stopped whining to my hub how stressful it is to plan both lunch and dinner for mel, so by hook or by crook, we are going out for dinner on valentine's day, hee hee.
please mommies, share with me the simplest decent meal u have done for ur kids, just boil/steam n serve type
 
k's mom
when is ur cultural sharing session? are u doing nian? take pix and tell us how it went.

hi pris
what's ur blog? wana steal recipes, what do u suggest for easy peasy meals?
 
Hi Joanne,
Do rest well and we will continue pray all's well for Benny.

Hi Moshimoshi,
We will not queue that long for these donuts. Will definitely think thrice next time. Two hrs of queuing is crazy but we are really happy the leftover donuts are finished by my BIL. At least efforts are not wasted. This reminded me abt Lawrence queuing for Macdonald's Hello Kitty many many years so I think he is trained from that unbearable queue. Kudos to him !!
Thanks for your compliments on Aston still as handsome. But his whining & crying is something we need to work very very hard. He always whine and cries during our gatherings..

Hi Sarah,
Really very paiseh that day. I am sure you and Dennis are real tired and we stay til 5plus. Aston has fallen in love with your swimming pool and yesterday he ask when can he meet Hannah ? So scared that he ask for Hannah no and ask me to call her...

Hi Pris,
I am a pooh bear lover and I nearly faint when I see your pooh & piglets pastry. I like the cutters !!!!
 
Anyone game for the cute cutters??

Hey Pris,
The website is in Japanese la! Need help to order leh. You saw the jelly mould in Daiso? Now I'm tempted to go Daiso again. Anyone keen? After CNY. Yes, yes, stop tempting us with your food please.
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Hannah loves shepherd pie too. Do you steam/boil the potatoes? I steam. Bil told me to steam with skin intact then peel when done so that potatoes much tastier. Find it too troublesome.
 
Joanne, Thumbs up for you and Benny! True enough, Benny is indeed the little Brave Warrior, Ya, rest well and prepare for next battle.. Well continue to pray for Benny.

Sorry, mummies, been a silent reader..
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for few days more cos am rushing work loads for CNY and busy packing, and will be away for holiday till 26 Feb..

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Wishing all..
HAPPY VALENTINE DAY &
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR..
GONG XI GONG XI
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Apricot,
Don't worry. Hannah has good fun too.

Moshi,
Mel seems to eat more that day as compared to our 1st gathering. Good thing, not much food wasted this time.

We had popiah, soup & noodles for reunion dinner same day. Anyone like popiah? Maybe we can have a popiah party for our next gathering. 3 of us drop dead by the time we reached home.
 
Sarah...I love popiah...can DHL some over haahaa... yes, I steamed the potatoes with skin on and remove after it is tender.

Here's some sharing of what we have for dinner:

Shiitake mushroom, carrot and xiao bai cai
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Sweet and sour prawns
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Sheperd's Pie
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So tempted to add some more here of what I have cooked for the past few weeks haaahaaa...

Black pepper chicken Tortillas
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Black pepper chicken with red and green capsicum
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Seafood, baby corn and snow peas
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Last one, Chicken breast with celery and carrot
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Ok...shan't tempt all with more haahaa....
 
Sarah...the ones that I have I got them from Japan when we were there from October till early January. I have friends told me, can find the moulds in Daiso.

As far as I can understand, they do not deliver outside Japan for the cookies cutter so you have to sign up for Post don't know what in Japan and use their address to order and then get them to send to Singapore for you. And you have to sign up as member to order.
 
Hi Sarah,

I am keen to shop in Daiso..yah, after CNY...shall we shop at VivoCity Daiso ? I am on leave on 21Feb Wed and we can go during morning time or during weekends too.
 
Hi kristins_mom,
Hmm, sounds like what we had last Dec. We were told it's the virus in the air. Just let Bryan rest more. And watch out for everybody too. It could be contagious.

Hi moshimoshi,
Only things I know abt french food are 1. big plate, small qty, great presentation. 2. mostly raw 3. be prepared to take 3 hours to finsih dinner. A typical french course can start at 8pm and end beyond 11pm.

Haha, think I'm also giving excuse for being laidback. But I just found better terms for it - naturalistic and informal learning
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Hi Pris,
Keep those pics coming... I might be motivated to do something one day
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Actually, I'm popping over to my neighbour's house to help with baking pineapple tarts. Hope she doesn't my two kids messing around, hehe...

That's a cute jelly mould. They do have Thomas the tank engine mould? Fabulous! Brandon will definitely love it! Looks like I have lots to learn about Sg.

Any idea how to prepare the black moss (you know, it looks like the hair) for cooking? I always have problem with it. Do I soak it first? How long should I soak?
 
Serenade...soak for a while in hot water...I am using that for cooking on New Year Eve dish. Known as Fa Cai.

I am also waiting for the thomas the tank engine mould haahaa....Kai will be super excited if my friend manage to get for us. He will want more jellies.

I missed making pineapple tarts. Too bad, there is no milk powder here so cannot make haahaa....and also too much work, need to get not so ripe pineapple and then need to remove skin myself and stuff so waiting for my parcel of CNY goodies to arrive from Singapore haahaa. DHL some over if you can haaahaaa....have fun making!
 
Pris... wow! Hungry, leh... any chance of catering service for hungry people like me???

I don't suppose you eat all those dishes at one shot. How much do you cook for each meal, i.e. how many dishes for the three of you? I usually do not cook more than two coz otherwise my husband and i will overeat... the children don't eat that much.

yesterday was good coz we had fried kway teow. Bryan could only take some plain rice and Meimei had some rice with steamed egg, while Daddy and Mommy had yummy dinner... we are bad parents.

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Hi moshi2,

I'll do my version of mac and cheese this way:
pour cream sauce over cold pasta and then cover it with grated cheese and then bake the dish in the oven. Don't really have a detailed recipe there.

It's difficult to get my children to eat vegetables. So this is what I do with my pasta. Mini-penne with bacon and spinach cream sauce:
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and after cooking so much, my daughter only prefers things like this:
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This reminded me of the lunch I had together with ky and Meilan. Can't remember who mentioned this: CHildren who are picky with food is easy to feed... They always love pork floss.
So such are my children... good food is wasted on them. Cooking is always a headache... I wonder why they don't take after Daddy and Mommy. We just love bread and salads... see, easy people. We must always have our vegetables... but the children will never miss it. They are just carbo-lovers. No meat, no veg... just plain white rice or porridge - yummy! Sigh...
 
hi moshi2!

glad you find shorter posts easier to type... hehe, actually easier to read too.

forgot to mention this in my earlier post to you. the sharing on CNY will be on this Friday. haven't done all the preparation yet coz i'm battling viral infection back home.

Bryan seems a lot better this morning... so far so good... but no milk for him since yesterday afternoon. hope he doesn't forget his milk after this episode. so Bryan needs to be fit to be back in school first, otherwise no more CNY stories for the kids.

will try to snap some photos then... hopefully i'll find more time and energy for my blog, finally.

o yes, have you started on your blog yet?
am currently using blogspot, older version. not very good when it comes to uploading of images. have you explored wordpress?

i've been looking for freeware to make photo collages... still need to explore on that...

by the way, how are your shoulders now?
 
hi sarah!

have you done any of your digital SB? care to show and give me some ideas?

this sounds good for keeping since it's virtually no cost compared with SB minus the electricity and discs used... haha
and also better than blogging - coz i wonder what's gonna happen when one fine day they decide to charge all bloggers money or they won't host our blogs anymore... that will mean lost memory forever... actually i started the blog for friends and relatives back home... but i do see it as a journal of sort now that i've written silly things on life in it...
 
hi ky!

was just having a quick browse on your blog...

wow! Ben's got such a nice cake! Lucky boy!

Just realised that Ben shares the same birthdate as Bryan's "rival" in school, Ryan.
They are exactly six months older than Bryan... can't believe that in about 6 months' time Bryan will be four too...

Actually Bryan's supposed to be even younger coz he was due on 3rd Sep 2003. He was four weeks early. Remember Goul Ney? We were together at an antenatal course at Mt Alvernia. I delivered even before we completed the course... no choice coz that was the SARS year and many hospitals cancelled antenatal courses until in jul...
 
hi serenade!

guess what? had to entertain Bryan at home this morning since he's made to miss school coz of the viral infection.

so... we were having loads of fun. basically maths lesson with the magna doodle board, of course, until meimei came and distracted him from the task.

what we did:
use the shapes on magna doodle boards to count. he was supposed to stamp the no. of shapes according to what i drew out on a piece of paper - i have several assignments for him to solve - which he called them questions. Any more questions for me, Mom? He'd ask every time he proudly solved the problem.
I drew out the no. of things I wanted him to stamp, i.e.
3 triangles, 5 flowers, 2 squares and 1 circle.
Since he can't read yet, so triangles etc were drawn out for him. But the numerals remained.

He had so much fun... about 20 minutes on his own, checking at the question paper I handed out to him and then demanding me to check his board when he's done with the solution. In the end at review, we counted everything on the board together.

I thought you could expand and do more maths with Brandon, e.g. addition with the example above, you can even show him the sum of 3+5+2+1=11!

The last attempt he did before meimei came along was 4 triangles, 6 circles, 2 squares, 3 flowers and 1 star. He went, "But Mom, there's no star shape!" So I told him to think what he could do. Actually I've done it before with him, forming a star with two triangles. And he solved it... that was just a test to see if he could still remember... but that was at least a year ago that we formed shapes that way. Am very pleased with what he produces for me now!!!
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now, in order to sustain the interest of any kid at one task, i'm forced to really consider if i should really get another magna doodle board. coz in the course of distracting meimei from our maths lesson, i gave meimei some paper and pen to draw and Bryan got distracted too, thinking that his meimei's got a better deal...

now i can understand why you wanted to get another logico board for Cheryl.
 
Hi!

It's me again... looks like I'm really cluttering the forum now with my posts... :p As you have guessed, the kids are napping right now.

Good news... Bryan hasn't thrown up once from morning till now. But I hope he'll still be alright when he wakes up from his nap coz he just had his milk.

Anyway, was juts gonna ask if anyone has watched the Backyardigans before? We get that on the equivalent of Kids Central here, but it's all in German. I love the music there, sometimes jazzy, sometimes hip hop sometimes a rap, sometimes pop whatever and I see my kids are tuned to it even though they don't understand German.

Can we get the DVD in Sg? It's 25 Euros ++ from amazon.de here. Awfully expensive, isn't it?
 
Hi there

K's mum....we usually have 3 dishes cum 1 soup and we are not the carbo people, Kai does not eat that much rice either he goes for dishes.

Yesterday, we have the first 3 dishes I posted up and Kai just eat the vegetables, sheperd's pie and sweet & sour prawns without rice. So carbo consumption in our household is very low.

The rest of the pictures are what I cooked and compiled for the past week that I think is different from my other dishes so I took photos of them.

Kai also came 3 weeks earlier, he supposed to be a October baby but he came in September.

I am also doing maths addition with him and he is into 2 digits too using marbles and little balls for his counting. It was fun doing with him.


Today for rice, he asked me to make bake cheese pasta with salmon and mixed vegetables for him. Will post the picture later.
 
Oops...think I could not coordinate my typing and thoughts today haahaa....probably need time away from PC for a while.

Telling = thinking
 
Hi ky,
Which gym is Ben attending? I saw the shots on your blog. Hey, it looks fun! Hehe, may want to send Brandon for gym too. He's been doing all sorts of funny tricks at home. Even attempted to "run" on the wall yesterday! Headache...

Hi Apricot,
You queued 2 hours for donuts? Wow, your family is really patient!

Hi moshimoshi,
You mean u can tell the different breeds of cats? Wow, that's cool! And Mel can tell the different breeds at this age too? Smart girl!
 
Hi Kristins_mom,
Wow, do you always make such good presentation when having meals? You gals really awe me. You know, for me, I seldom go for visual stimulation :p Must learn from you gals...

Sounds like you have loads of fun with Bryan yesterday! Can tell you enjoyed the session too. That's an ingenious way of drawing/making a star! Got to show Brandon that too. And 3 cheers for Bryan who can recall it after such a long time!

And thanks for your idea on using the doodle board! I tried it out last night with Brandon and he was enthusiatsic about it, he completed all the questions excitedly. He is doing fine on addition/subtraction with counters/manipulatives. But mommy is a bit greedy - was hoping he can do mental sums soon. Though we have stopped practicing for 2 months, I'm glad he's still doing it on his own. Recently, he's been telling me offhand that 1+1=2 and 2+2=4. Guess he just needs more practices.

Now that Kristin is older, you might want to include her while coaching Bryan. You'll be surprised at the things she can pick up. Try letting Kristin scribble with crayons or sticking stickers when you are busy with Bryan. That'll keep her occupied for a while. Hmm, I have two doodle boards but they are still fighting over them...

How's the weather in Frankfurt? We are having strong winds and rains over here, almost daily. But temp is still manageable, above 5 degrees.

Can't access my blog? Is everything fine now? Haven't been diligent the last few days :p
 
Hi Pris,
Thanks for the tips on the black moss. I might be attempting the same dish too. Is the recipe on your blog too? Am seaching the internet for some suggestions.

Noticed that the readers u mentioned are from America. Have you tried Readers by Canadian publishers? Heard that they are not bad too.

Are there any outdoor swimming pools in Canada? I have only come across indoor swimming pools in France. Brandon's dad will be the kids' swimming coach when we return to Sg. So, we haven't signed him up for any lessons here.
 
serenade and k's mom
i have a wordless blog with yahoo360, the reason i start one with yahoo is that my photos from yahoo album are automatically transferred, and since my pc crashed, i have yet to send it to save the harddisk for pix of my dear mel, so mommies, pl do backup.

k's mom
shoulders are stil aching, i gave up the plasters cos i over-used to the point of red itchy skin. am trying to do more stretching exercises for pain relief.

u get char kway teo from frakfurt? where? or u coooked it yourself? this would be super advanced level dish for me! hey what ur kids eat look a lot like what mel eats, she is also carbo gal, give her rice, bread n potato she's happy, easy to please, the only veg she eats are ladies fingers, brocolli and mushrooms, no leaves at all.
 

moshi,
mel eats lady finger? wow! hey, that's for painting.

i don't cook what i don't eat. so poor daddy & hannah. they don't get to eat seafood except fish.
 

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