Who says Bubs can't cook? (Babes' first entry!)

For my birthday, Bubs decided to treat me to a surprise romantic home cooked dinner. As most of you know, cooking isn't on the top of his list of fun things to do but knowing how much I love a good home cooked meal, he took on the challenge. Boy, were my tastebuds in for a culinary treat! It was a 6 course seafood extravaganza - Oysters to start followed by a prawn and crayfish cocktail (Pic1), lightly pan fried scallops sprinkled with blackened coriander/ginger/garlic (Pic2), succulent salmon sashimi, steam salmon smothered with a mango dressing topped with macadamia nuts (Pic3) and lastly, Sara Lee's sticky date pudding. Bubs was completely exhausted from the fine effort (Pic4). I was and still am in awe of the fine feast. I hope I don't have to wait another 2 years for Bubs to cook me another meal. And where was Kyla Rose in all this? On her bouncer watching her dad and mum enjoy their romantic dinner! (Pic5)

Super Kyla Rose

Here's the lovely KRW being hoisted in mid-air by her mum (who insisted on being cropped out of the pictures). Kyla loves it, as most babies seem to do. I've also posted a couple of shots of her in one of her favourite poses, and on her favourite chair. Meanwhile, she seems to have gotten over a grizzly, grumbly couple of weeks, and is giving us more smiles again. They were hard to come by for a while there...

Kyla's new stroller

Here's KRW's new wheels, the Micralite Toro. Presume it's called the Toro because of the shape of the handlebars. Whatever the case may be, it's light (8.5kg) and easy to manoeuvre. More importantly, Kyla seems to enjoy being in it!

New additions to Babes' vast repertoire

My lovely and talented wife finally agreed to attempt making 'siew yoke' after many, many requests. You'll see the end-result below, an excellent effort considering it's her first time, very pro lah. She also made nasi lemak, inspired by my dad when he was here recently. Another excellent effort. Love you, Babes!

Kyla's first stroller

KRW's first mode of transport was the Valco Trimode Runabout, which her godmother Wei kindly lent us. I had my heart set on a new Phil & Teds model which was meant to be somewhat lighter than the existing one (the Sport), as the stroller weight (or lack thereof) was one of Babes' chief criteria. However, the Phil & Teds Vibe took absolutely ages to launch, and now that's it finally out, the reviews so far have been rather underwhelming. Also, it's only 1kg lighter than before. So we've decided on the Micralite Toro, purchased on Saturday from Parenthood in Richmond. Pictures of Kyla in the Toro to come later in the week...

KRW hits the gym. The baby gym, that is.

Babes took Kyla Rose to the baby gym in East Kew yesterday. Our budding athlete went through a gruelling 45-minute session involving a Swiss Ball, lots of stretching, massages, sing-along sessions (not sure who was doing the singing though, certainly not KRW) and lots more. The little girl did really well, but conked out big-time after, falling into a deep sleep. Which is a pretty good reason for Babes to keep taking her back there! Wait till we get her on the treadmill and the cross-trainer...

Tummy time!

Lil' Kyla Rose is getting better and better at spending time on her tummy, whether on her mat or on mummy's lap. She's starting to roll around, but not quite getting there yet. Won't be long now! Then we'll have to be more vigilant in strapping her down when she's on her change table or her bouncer...

Kyla's favourite toy, Part 2

Our little girl's motor skills are improving; she's started transferring her lil' bluebird from one hand to another. Not exactly endless hours of entertainment, but hey. She also seems to enjoy it when Babes gets her to 'model' clothes, as in the last picture below. Starting young!

Kyla's favourite toy

Our dearest Kyla Rose Wong seems particularly fond of this cute lil' soft toy, a blue bird with a yellow beak that came with a play mat. She's been grabbing stuff, but it's one of the few things she actually holds on to. In other news, that second picture is one of the rejected ones from her Aussie passport application. We could of course have tried to get a passport photo professionally taken, but who knows what kind of face she might pull at that time, and besides, why pay good money when we can do it ourselves? You can take Bubs out of Asia, but you can't take Asia out of Bubs...

The Beach House in Elwood

We spent a leisurely Sunday afternoon at the Elwood Beach House, enjoying the food and company while enduring the, well, shall we say 'indifferent' service there. I won't go into any details, but suffice to say they've got a fair bit to learn in terms of customer service. We had a good time anyway, and Bubs took dear Kyla Rose for a quick walk in the sun along the beach.
Of course, Babes (as mums do) spent a fair bit of time before we left the house finding the right outfit for Kyla, and getting Aunty Manda to 'style' KRW's hair. That last shot there is a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to get our lovely daughter ready for a day out. Looks like pre-outing prep time is going to take even longer from now on... just kidding, Babes!

Mum's photos

Kyla's mum has been snapping a few photos of our lovely daughter, including these shots of Kyla Rose in beautiful PJs given by her Aunty Joose. Babes describes that second shot as KRW's 'caught in the act' pose. That may well be, but we certainly hope there won't be too many of those in the future. After all, what could our little angel possibly be looking guilty about? Wishful thinking, I'm sure...
In other news, dear Kyla doesn't seem to be eating as much as she used to, but fortunately she's still growing. She's now 57.5cm long (tall?) and weighs 4.875kg, an improvement of 3cm and 0.565kg respectively compared to a month ago.
Also, congrats to Irvin and Sharon on the birth of Christian Heng, as well as Kenneth and Jennifer on the birth of Mia Chieng! Well done, guys!

Kyla Rose Wong - three new developments

Bubs received a progress report from Kyla's proud mum today: KRW is now: 1) touching her toes, 2) able to turn herself around (on her back, pivoting around using her hands like the hand of a clock), and 3) attempting to turn over. Unfortunately we only have photographic evidence of one of these. Anyway, not long now till her first Wimbledon...