W.A.L.K.

Karyn has made such fantastic progress in a matter of days!

Early last week, she started to walk while we held her by both hands.

Two days later, she managed to do so while we held her by one hand. In fact, she was almost running we could barely catch up with her pace.

Another two days later, she was walking all on her own! Though she managed about 5 steps each time, it was a major achievement to me. My girl can finally walk!

Now she has progressed from 5 steps, to 8 steps to we-lost-count-how-many steps. She's enjoying it so much that she tries to walk everywhere instead of crawl. When she's tired, she will aim for tables, chairs, walls, etc to hold on to for a few steps before letting go and walk on her own again.

It's so funny to watch her. Her arms will be raised in the air as she balances herself and wobbles away.

Will try to take a video sometime soon and post it up. Actually I've taken quite a few since the last time I posted one (which was like months ago), but haven't managed to upload them yet. Don't know why but my laptop always hangs in the middle of my upload to YouTube. Maybe one of you readers can enlighten me.

Final (week) days of leisure

It's my last few days of leisure before I commence my new job next Monday. So, all the more I cherish this last bits of weekday mornings with Karyn. And as usual, out comes my camera snapping away. Decided to bring Karyn and Ah Ma to Goodwood Park hotel for their famous durian desserts this afternoon.

We're going for durian cakes today?


Hehehe... I better eat less for lunch. Save some space for durian cakes later!


Playing my piano while eating lunch

I'm such a good girl, finished my lunch in record time!


I'm sleepy, can I take a nap first, Mummy?


Nah, I'm all ready to go!

We settled down comfortably at the coffee lounge at Goodwood Park Hotel, ready to begin our durian feast. Like a seasoned diner, Karyn started looking at the menu as soon as we sat her down.

Let's see what they have on the menu


Waiter, I'd like to have this... this... this... and this...


Errr... you mean durians taste like this???


We're going shopping after this, yay!

It seemed Karyn doesn't really appreciate durian. Aww... such a pity. Daddy will be so happy since he's never liked durian. In fact, whenever I eat durian at home (which is very rare, by the way), he always tells me to spray the air freshener after I finish. Humph!

After the satisfying feast of durian cakes, crepe, wafer, etc etc, we made a trip to the rest room before heading for our shopping trip. Check out Karyn's antics in there.

Who's that girl?


How come she's wearing the same dress as me?


Let me show you some tricks


Trying to balance on the curved and slippery changing table
and dancing at the same time


Ain't I clever? *clap clap*

Oh so pretty cakes!

It's one month to Karyn's 1st birthday. I've decided to change from the Hello Kitty theme to Disney Princess since Karyn loves the Princesses so much. She has the Disney Princess cup, bowl and even the Tea Party Board Books Set.

For the past weeks, I've been surfing the Internet and oohing and aahing at so many pictures of the princess-themed 3D cakes. 3D cakes are the "in" thing now and many mummies on the forum are getting them for their kids. It seems to me that hardly anyone buys the regular normal round or rectangular cake anymore. Here are some P R E T T Y ones that I've been eyeing... In fact, with the exception of the first one, the rest are all "foreign made", i.e. from US or UK web sites. In any case, I can always get a bakery to customise for me, isn't it? Heehee...

Disney Princess sheet cake

Castle cake

Another castle cake

Disney Princess castle cake

Another Disney Princess castle cake


Tiered castle cake


Tiered cake


Another tiered cake


Tiered Strawberry Shortcake cake


Disney Princess Tiara cake

Another Disney Princess Tiara cake

Gosh, aren't they all sweet and pretty? Just like Karyn!

Well, the thing is... these cakes are a minimum of 2 kg and cost more than a hundred bucks! And since FIL has offered to sponsor Karyn's birthday buffet albeit keeping it small (i.e. immediate family only, i.e. 10 people only), a 2 kg cake will be too much.

What to do??? Don't tell me I have to settle for Sweet Secrets Disney Princess photocake? That's so... B L A H, compared to these!

Shopping for Karyn's birthday outfit

Went shopping with Karyn and Ah Ma today to buy Karyn's birthday outfit. Actually I already had half my mind set on a organza frock that I saw at Kiddy Palace Marina Square. It's a halter neck design in white and a pink organza overlay.

I thought it would be a perfect dress since I have two wedding invitations in the later half of this year. So after her birthday, Karyn can still wear the dress to the weddings. However, I was quite concerned that since it was a halter neck, it means Karyn would have to bare her shoulders and back (ooh, sexy! haha!). Wouldn't she freeze in the air-conditioned wedding venues? Oh my!

Hence, I had been trying to search for another less revealing dress that could keep her warm. Nevertheless, all my effort had been in vain. All the other dresses couldn't match up to the halter neck's standard.

Our first stop was OG Orchard Point. There, I spotted a cardigan that matches the halter neck dress perfectly. But the smallest size was size 4, which was still way too big for Karyn. We let her try it on and she literally disappeared under it. I was so disappointed! There was no way I could find another formal looking cardigan that could match.

With half a mind ready to settle for less, we headed to Marina Square to buy the dress. Enroute to Kiddy Palace, I saw Mothercare. Thinking I should just check it out in case they carry something nice, I went in feeling slightly hopeful. True enough, the sales assistant recommended a pink cardigan with butterfly embroidery. But it cost $39.90! Same price as the dress!

I decided to KIV and proceeded to Kiddy Palace. There, we tried THE dress on Karyn once more and I was determined that it was THE dress. But there were no matching cardigans. At the back of my mind, I was all ready to fork out the same amount of money for the Mothercare cardigan. So we bought THE dress, a pair of white tights and a matching pair of Max-Kool white pumps at Kiddy Palace. My Kiddy Palace membership card slashed 10% off the original price, so I paid around $65 instead of $70+.

Finally, we went into Mothercare again. I took out THE dress and put it together with the pink cardigan that I had seen earlier. It was a perfect match! I must get this cardigan!

And so, we went home happily with the complete outfit ready for Karyn's 1st birthday!

Errr.... not exactly complete because I haven't bought this tiara hair clip that I saw at the PINK push cart at IMM... Haha!

(No pictures for this post as Karyn's outfit will only be revealed during her birthday party. TADA!)