I have to admit I'm a self confessed giftwrapping addict.  One of our good friends and ardent Baby Wishes supporter has been buying things from us.  I'm the kind of person who wouldn't mind working at the Takashimaya gift wrap counter.  Problem is that wouldn't earn enough to feed my family.  So I have Baby Wishes instead!  I was more than happy to wrap up some gifts for V, who bought some toys as a gift.  She was so sweet that she gave us a lovely card from New York along with the cheque!

 Our soft launch is in the works, including our gift wrap function, which we love to provide as a service to our customers.  So stay tuned!

Last night we finally “bite the bullet” & bade farewell to Magdelene, our maid of 4 months.  Having a maid had indeed helped us tremendously in terms of the household chores, however taking care of all the needs of the maid have left us with more headaches than we can ever imagine! I used to hear of many horror stories of maids but I always thought that it happened only to the minority…only until I experienced it myself that I truly believe that hiring a good & trustworthy maid is as good as striking lottery!

I remember the first week when Magdelene came, problems already came streaming in one after another. We received knocks on our door twice from another maid from our neighbourhood, claiming that she was Magdelene’s friend & had seen her from downstairs (btw - we stay on the 5^th floor!); Then her depression started sinking in. Everyday, we would see her staring out of the window blankly & often, her eyes would be filled with tears. We felt sorry for her & tried buying her international phonecards so she could call home. We also granted her an off-day per month, in hope it would help, but the depression still persisted.

Sometimes, I would get her to take care of Isaac. There were occasions where she would breakdown while caring for him & later outwardly confessed that she misses her 2 year old daughter. I started wondering if all her emotional outpour was healthy for Isaac. Afterall, studies have shown that children tend to grow up happy only when the environment around them is a happy one.  I wouldn’t want my son growing up feeling emotionally upset all the time!

The final straw came on Monday when Magdelene approached me & asked in a serious tone, “Mom, have you experienced anything funny eversince you moved into this house?” She then proceeded to describe how she had heard constant knockings on her door at night & even saw a gal sitting at the foot of her bed pleading for help! I was overwhelmed with fear, (not with what she was saying) but more so that her depression had deteriorated to a point where she was now seeing & hearing things! Alternatively, it was her resorting to trickery so as to make us send her home.

Immediately, I rang the maid agency & requested for them to come & the very same night, we sent her back to the Philippines. Feedback from the agent is that such problems were not uncommon as he had seen maids trying all kinds of funny means & ways, just so they can be sent back.

I have learnt that although having a maid lessens your household workload, there is however a price to pay. Hubby & I have thought long & hard and we have decided to ‘rough it out’ ourselves. This would mean lesser time & freedom for us but at least we have a peace of mind, knowing that Isaac & our home are in good hands!

Today marks the second day of me as a full-time DIY mom. Sure, I must admit that it is physically draining but I am sure that with some adjustments & a positive outlook, I will be able to manage!

Here’s some pictures of my well-ironed clothes for a start! J

We finally had lunch at Peter Luger Steakhouse yesterday! Why "finally"? Well, we heard about this place from a friend half a year ago, made a reservation for lunch on a Saturday, excitement & anticipation all built up to try the "best steak in NYC", only to cancel our reservation on the day itself coz BusyHubby had to go back to office that day (what's new?!)! Yesterday was a special occasion for us and we decided to celebrate it at Peter Luger : )

Peter Luger Steakhouse is located in Brooklyn borough in NYC. It has another branch in Long Island, but the Brooklyn location is the original one established in 1887. Peter Luger has been named the "Best Steakhouse in NYC" by Zagat Survey for 24 years in a row!

We did our homework before going... we ordered their famous "USDA Prime Beef - Steak for 2" in medium rare, and Creamed Spinach for starter. We usually have our steaks done medium or medium-well, but online reviewers rave about Peter Luger's "medium rare" steaks so we decided to play it safe.

The Verdict:

The Creamed Spinach was very smooth and creamy, but a tad too salty. The steaks which came pre-cut in a super-hot plate were done just right and were so tender! This meal may have just converted us to "medium rare" steak-lovers! Taste-wise - I think the steaks were not flavourful enough, and their steak-sauce was so-so. For the price we paid (the meal came up to USD120, including tips, NO wine), we probably expected to leave craving for more, but we didn't. SO, I would say Peter Luger is worth a try, but it's probably not gonna be the best steak meal you have ever had or will have.  

If there is one common denominator between parents - its sleep.  How to get more of it and how to make your baby get more of it.  Its a neverending struggle and I swear every parent will agree with me.  Marc is a notorious LOUSY sleeper.  He has been since birth and if I didn't have a good domestic helper, I think I would have gone insane with a lost of sleep.  He didn't inherit my sleepy genes - if anyone knows my family well, you'll know that most of the time, the TV ends up watching my family and not the other way around.  That doesn't happen to Marc.  He struggles to sleep all the time.  Its as if there are just too many other things to do, than sleep.

Marc has always been waking up at odd times, crying.  We decided to move him from the cot to a mattress and it seems to help, but he still wakes up screaming.  We tried letting him cry it out and he lasted an hour - we ended up relenting and when the Husband went into his room he was screaming and curled up in a ball.  The Husband thinks that's not healthy at all and we decided not to let him scream for that long anymore.  So now we are going to bring him to a Sleep Specialist.  A doctor friend of mine recommended a paediatrician specialising in sleep disorders.  Its kind of the last resort and we just want to make sure there's nothing medically wrong with him.  We'll see what she says.  And don't tell me its for a lack of trying - we tried everything!  We have a sleep routine, the same person puts him to sleep every night (which is myself, unless we have something on at nights), we tried music, we tried with the pacifier and without, we tried rocking, we tried ignoring and letting him cry.  Nowadays, my helper rocks him in the stroller for his morning and afternoon nap.  At nights, I feed him his milk in the darkened aircon room, with a lullaby CD playing gently in the background and he flips all over the mattress until he falls asleep.  And you guessed right - I usually fall asleep before he does!  He can flip for an hour and still not be asleep!  I just don't understand why, I LOVE to sleep, but my son hates to???

Marc has also moved from walking to running...just last week we went to Sentosa with some relatives who were visiting from overseas and Marc was so thrilled that he ran at full speed on the beach.  The gear change worked - the braking system didn't.  So he ended up flat on his face and when The Husband carried him back towards me I couldn't tell if his nose was bleeding or his lips.  Turned out to be the lips, the top lip in particular.  He cried because of the fall but mostly because we were trying to wipe the blood off his mouth.  He hates having his face wiped.  He ended up with nice swollen lips - we called him Angelina Jolie!  Here's a shot of him napping after a very tiring day at Sentosa...with his swollen upper lip.

I'd only intended to cook spinach & braised chicken for dinner last night. Not sure why, but the bunch of spinach had alot of little bits & pieces so by the time I finished washing and picking out the bigger leaves, I was left with just a fraction of the original bunch! While frying the spinach and watching it shrink into a tiny little bunch, I decided we need a 3rd dish... FAST!!

Quickly scanned through the fridge, took out 3 eggs, a few sprigs of spring onion and "stole" some mushrooms prepared for the braised chicken... diced the spring onion, scrambled the eggs with oyster sauce and water and in a few minutes, the fried eggs was ready : ) After cooking the braised chicken, we had our yummy 3-dish dinner. BusyHubby loved the fried eggs! I proudly told him that it was a last minute dish.

Here're the recipes for the spinach and eggs... see my posting on 9 Oct for recipe of the Braised Chicken. Have fun!

Spinach with Garlic recipe

Ingredients:

- 1/2 lb spinach, washed (I usually separate my vegetables into leaves and stems)

- 4 medium garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

- 1 tbsp oil

- 1/2 tbsp rice wine

- 1/2 tsp salt

- a pinch of sugar

Steps:

1. Heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and stir-fry for about 2-3 mins until garlic turns slightly brown.

2. Add the stems and stir-fry for 1 min.

3. Add the leaves and stir-fry for 1-2 min.

4. Add wine, sugar & salt and continue to stir-fry until the leaves soften. Add a little water and more salt to taste (if necessary). Serve hot.

Stir-fried Eggs with Spring Onions & Mushrooms

Ingredients:

- 3 egg, beaten

- 3 sprigs of spring onion, diced

- 1-2 Chinese mushrooms, thinly sliced

- 1 tsp oyster sauce

Steps:

1. Add oyster sauce and some water (didn't measure, but probably about 3-4 tsp) to the beaten eggs. Mix well.

2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil. Add beaten eggs and stir-fry on medium heat until egg mixture is just done but still soft. Serve hot. 

It’s been a long time since I have written a blog…for one simple reason! The kiddo did not permit it! The last 3 weeks was the most challenging weeks of my life! It was a test of patience, will-power & endurance! Even more grueling than an iron-man marathon!

Eversince my confinement lady left, hubby & I had to takeover all the tasks of looking after Isaac. Everything went well except for the sleeping bit. We realized that Isaac constantly wanted to be carried especially when he was tired, so this often resulted in us having to carry him in one hand & rocking & patting him with the other. This coaxing process can sometimes take up to an hour before Isaac finally falls asleep. Then came the next challenge – transferring him to the bed. Each time I carefully lift him up to transfer him to his cot, his arms would suddenly ‘fly in the air’ from the startled reflex & he would be shaken to wake up again! What this means is rocking & patting all over again! This would leave me exasperated & my arms would ache from all the carrying!

Finally, I shared this with a friend with a 7month old baby & she relayed that she too had the same problem back then. She read up on numerous infant sleeping books  & consulted many people before she found a method that works – putting her infant on her tummy. I later also realized that my colleague & church friend also did the same thing & they all had the same conclusion that their babies slept much better on their tummies.

However, sleeping on the tummy is often frowned upon as statistics have shown that SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) are often found higher in babies who slept on their tummies. The cause is still unknown. I contemplated whether or not to take this risk & finally decided to give it a try, with much supervision.

One afternoon, as Isaac was fussing around again trying very hard to sleep, I put him down on his cot & flipped him around. I made sure there were no objects around him that might suffocate him & left him there ‘under observation’. As expected, he started to fuss & struggle for about 10 minutes. Then, miraculously, he suddenly stopped & the next moment, he was fast asleep from all the exhaustion! I was naturally delighted & immediately called hubby to share the news! It was the greatest revolution for me. I kept going to the room to have peeps now & then & made sure he was still alright.

Up to today, I have tried putting Isaac on his tummy for all his afternoon naps & it never fails to amaze me how easily he can fall asleep in that position. Each time he sleeps, it would be a good stretch of 2-3 hours & most of the time, I even had to wake him up for his feeds! I am also taking extra precautions to ensure that this sleeping method is safe by purchasing a baby sensory monitor that senses the baby’s breathing movements & would sound an alarm once the baby stops breathing for 20 seconds. At night, we still swaddle him so he is able to sleep on his back. And oh yes…we recently supplement his night feeds & he now only wakes up once a night! (On good days, he sleeps through the night!)

I am finally seeing some light & find that I have more free time to do my own things. And I find that with a good feed, sufficient sleep & some play time makes Isaac a much happier boy!

I always thought fried rice is easy to cook.. at least that's how it seems whenever mum's cooking! After a few not-so-successful experiments, my fried rice is alot nicer now (*wink*) and occasionally I'll cook it as a one-dish meal or when I'm trying to use up leftover luncheon meat, like this afternoon. I also boiled some soup using chicken bones, some fried shallots and cabbage to complete the meal : )

Fried Rice recipe (serves 2)

-     Cooked and cooled rice for 2 persons (proportion of rice & water depends on own rice cooker, but best if the rice is "harder". Overnight rice put in the fridge is perfect. Otherwise, I've tried putting rice cooked same day into the fridge to cool.)

-          2 eggs, beaten and mixed with ½ tsp of light soy sauce, some pepper & 2 tsp of water

-          1 tbsp chopped garlic

-          1 cup of cooked meat (I used luncheon meat)

-     3-4 Chinese mushrooms (soaked and sliced)

-          4-5 stalks of spring onion

-          2 tbsp of oil

-          1 tbsp of rice wine (optional. I used mirin)

-          1-2 tbsp of light soy sauce

-     Pepper

I remember how excited I was the first time we went to New Malaysian Restaurant in Chinatown here.... had a serious craving for laksa and was so happy to see LAKSA on their menu!! My happiness was short-lived... they only serve Penang laksa, which is the sour asam kind with sardine taste... WHERE can I find local-style Laksa in NYC?!

A few months later, I saw a supermarket in Chinatown selling Prima Taste pastes!!! They only carry 3 pastes - Hainanese Chicken Rice, Singapore Curry, and.... Laksa : ) Each pack costs USD4.95.. very small price to pay for the tremendous satisfaction of a taste of home! I had the laksa pack sitting in my kitchen for some months though... can't seem to find the perfect "thick rice noodles" to go with it. FINALLY, last Sat I walked past a store in Chinatown which sells almost everything I needed... rice noodles, tau pok (cute mini ones somemore) and bean sprouts! Next I went in search of fish cake which I found eventually... BusyHubby even wanted to look for "hum" (cockles) but no luck ; p

Check out the laksa lunch we had yesterday! The recipe on the box says to use 145g of rice noodles... DEFINITELY not enough! I used twice of that. The rice noodles I bought was slightly thick, but not too bad. The paste pack (complete with laksa leaves and sambal chilli) was just enough to cook 2 big bowls of laksa for both of us. The soup was VERY YUMMY and authentic! BusyHubby left nothing in his bowl : )

How I wish they also have a Katong Laksa paste pack! 

Mr. Barack Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States!

BusyHubby & I watched Avenue Q at Broadway's Golden Theatre last night, and when we came out of the theatre at about 10pm, the whole Times Square area was swarmed with people who had gathered to watch history unfold in front of them on the huge screens. ABC News constructed an outdoor set for the election night and showed real-time election results on the screens! We soaked in the excitement for awhile before heading home to watch Mr. Obama make his victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park. It was truly a moment of history in the making as America chooses its first Black President!

Since the day I arrived in NY, I'd been drawn into this whole political frenzy of this election year. It started with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's fight to be the Democratic Party's nominee for president. Each time I turned on the TV, I would surely see footages of them, or groups of political analysts talking about them. After Mr. Obama successfully earned his place as the Democratic Party's Presidential Nominee, the media's attention turned towards him and John McCain - the Republican Party's Presidential Nominee (and of course subsequently, Sarah Palin stole alot of attention from McCain... LOL).

Most of the American friends I spoke to over the past few months support Mr. Obama based on their assessment of the various policy changes which Obama and McCain had declared they'll bring to America should they be elected as President... and of course, they're most happy that Obama is now the new President-elect.  Being here in NY during this Presidential Election year allowed BusyHubby & I to witness how involved people here are in deciding who their next leader should be... it also reinforced what we've always felt... that Singapore is very "different" in this political aspect. I shall not elaborate... don't intend for this to become a politics blog ; p