Cold weather to come for the next few days

Just watched the news. It was reported that there will be a temperature drop in the next few days. Apparently, there was a snow rain in Brisbane today. Really unusual as it never snow in Brisbane.

Think we are experiencing cold flush these few days. I can feel that some days are very cold especially in the mornings. As I usually bathe Sabrina in the morning, I noticed that it was rather chilly today. Thus I decided against giving her a shower instead I just cleaned her up with some warm water.

By the time Adrian came home around 4plus in the evening after going to Elders to pay for the rent, he told me that it was only 13 degrees in the morning when he left for work. It really explains why it was a little chilly this morning. Anyway after dinner, we went to Stafford to fill the tank with petrol, the temperature was around 15 degrees. Luckily Sabrina and I stayed in the car while Adrian went about filling the tank with petrol.

Guess for the next few days, we just have to make sure that we wear warmer clothes especially Adrian as he is the only onen ot at home most of the time. For Sabrina and me, we are pretty safe as we have heaters at home that turned on once we come downstairs.

Anyway I opened up the ABC's Wooden Puzzle from Imaginarium for Sabrina to play. She happily took out all the alphabets and tried to fit them back. She only succeeded to fit back letters 'O', 'U', 'W', 'Y' and 'Z'. To me, it's a good attempt especially for a first timer like her. I always wanted to get her something like this but never managed to find anything that is suitable. Finally found it in Toys R Us yesterday and it was only Aust$3.99. Meanwhile will have to keep getting her to learn to fit everything into the puzzle.

Off to dreamland to join Sabrina who was already since 9.30pm. Till then.....

Updated Aust Time 10.25pm

Westfield Garden City (Upper Mt Gravatt)

Went out for our weekly weekend shopping. Decided to have breakfast at SunnyBank Oriental as they offer breakfast at a reasonable proce of Aust$7.90 which includes drink as well.

Updated Aust Time 9.00pm

Adrian's colleague's wedding

We attended Adrian's colleague's wedding at New Farm Park today. Adrian's colleague got married today with her China hubby. I will have to figure out how to download pictures from our LG mobile phone as I took a few shots of her and her hubby and not forgetting many shots of our little gal in actions as usual.

Went off for MacDonald's breakfast at Albion before sett1ing off to New Farm Park. WE were not really early as many of Adrian's colleagues from his department were already there. Some came with their family and some with their partners or fiancees. It's really a multi-country or multi-racial group. Some were from Vietnam, England, New Zealand and even Taiwan. Looking at the way they mixed around further assured me that there is not racial issues among this group of people, men and women alike. They just embraced you into their big famil even of this is the first time they met you.

I was happily talking to some of the spouses of Adrian colleagues. They were really nice and honestly they do not look at you as if you were from outer space. We just happily chatted as if we had know one another for some time.

Updated Aust Time 9.28pm

Australia's Biggest Toy Sale at Target

Today marks the start of Australia's biggest toy sale at Target. Target had been advertising the sale since we came over to Brisbane in June. Target's Toy Sale is after the mini toy sale at Kmart and Big W. As we were unable to get the Ultimate BumbleBee for my brother from the toy sale at Kmart and Big W, we were very firm about getting it this time round. It cost Aust$79.99 after a 33% discount.

Anyway after some decision last night, we decided to execute this plan of ours. I will follow Adrian's car where he will send us to Westfield before he goes off to work. I will then bring Sabrina to Target to get the toys we wanted. As Adrian will leave the house around 7am, we will definitely arrive way before Target opens at 8am. But we had some delay having breakfast and getting Sabrina dressed and I only managed to reach Westfield at around 7.45am. I thought I was very early as Westfield looks really deserted as most of the shops open only around 9am. But hold and behold, there was already a huge crowd outside Target by the time we walked there. People with strollers, kids and trolley were waiting for the shutter to be open.

At exactly 8am, the shutters were opened. People just rushed in or should I say some of them basically ran into the store and started grabbing toys from the various shelves. In the end I carried Sabrina up to get the trolley as people were just rushing into the store either with trolley or prams and I think it's so dangerous as Sabrina is so tiny as compared to the adults who basically only have eyes for the toys and not the people walking around them.

Once I got the trolley, I went straight to get the Tickle Me Cookie Monster. It was going at Aust$29.99. If I do not remember wrongly, it cost around SG$90plus. Then off to grab BumbleBee. With all these items in my trolley, I walked around slowly round the store. As I passed by shoppers, some of their trolleys were already filled with toys and toys, some of them mountain high. I must say when ang mohs shop, they really shop.

Then I was eyeing this Sesame Street Piano since I lay eyes on them on catalogue. Initially I wanted to get it maybe later just before Adrian come to meet us for lunch but after talking to Adrian on the phone, I went to the shelf to get it, all the while trying to arrange the piano, Bumblebee and Cookie MOnster into the trolley with Sabrina sitting in it. Luckily I took the piano around 8plus. by 9plus close to 10plus, I made another round the store and found that the shelves filled with pianos, Tickle Me Elmo and Cookie Monster were totally bare. So I told Adrian that I will definitely not put any of the items that I had in my trolley back to the shelf as there were partically none in stock.

Here are some of our loot today.

The wooden Sesame Street Piano going at Aust$39.99 (Usual price Aust$49.99)

The Ultimate BumbleBee that we got for my brother at Aust$79.99 after a 33% discount. Real huge.

The Tickle Me Cookie Monster going at Aust$29.99(Usual is Aust$59.99) Think this is the one going at SG$90plus

Elmo and Thomas the Train Dinner set for both Sabrina and Baby boy. (To be fair must buy for 2 of them) Each set at Aust$12.95

Something for my little boy. The nursery having a 25% off on nursey items so I happily grab. Hahaha

This drum set is something that Sabrina had been eyeing back in SG. It was going at Aust$14.99 after a 50% discount. We just bought it for her.

Another Elmo toy that Sabrina spotted while I pushed her round the store. It's going at Aust$14.99. Not too expensive for a Sesame Street item.

Updated Aust Time 2.24pm

2nd trip to Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital at ButterField Road

Went off for my 2nd appointment at Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital for my routine checkup with Adrian and Sabrina.

Today the hospital is very crowded. There were so many pregnant women around. And for most of the pregnant ladies around, this is not their first pregnancy. Many came with their kids. SOme of their elder kids are much more older than Sabrina by a few years I guess. However there are also a few with kids that could be just a year apart and they are pregnant with their 2nd or 3rd child. We really took our hats off them. How in the world can they manage 2 kids who are one year apart and pregnant with their 3rd kid at the same time? For me, with Sabrina, it's already enough as she is such a handful. But one thing to note, these ang mohs' ways of bringing up their kids are very very different from Asians. They do not believe in hitting a child as that is considered a form of abuse.

Anyway since the hospital is so crowded today, there were many kids around. So Sabrina happily played at the playground area alongside with some kids her age. There was this very sweet looking ang moh girl. She looks very rosy and chubby and very well behaved. I think she should be around 1.5years old. Her mother is pregnant with a 2nd child most likely in her 5th or 6th month. This girl was so cute. She just stood there and watched the other kids play. No fuss no nothing. Sabrina was very funny too. She went to her and tried to carry her from the back a few times. Our worry was more if she drops the girl but the mother was very sweet and kept telling us it was alright. After a while, we gave Sabrina some biscuit and this girl happened to be nearby so we gave her a piece and she gave us the sweetest smile and winked at us. That really melted our hearts. Adrian was commenting if our 2nd kid is so well behaved, he would not mind having a 3rd child. I told him dream on. Hahaha. I am very happy with 2 kids.

Updated Aust Time 7pm

Rain Rain go away and Car servicing

It has been rainning for the past few days. The weather can be rather cold on some nights and most morning when Adrian goes off for work. As both Sabrina and I are at home most of the time, it was not so bad. We just switched on the heater in the living room when we are downstairs and definitely switch on another heater that is in our room at night.

Sabrina's flu is back again. Maybe it was the cold weather. Might have to go to the pharmacy to get her some medicine. The medicine that we brought over from SG is almost to the last drop. Let's monitor her for a few days and see how things go.

Adrian sent his car for servicing today. John from Sci-Fleet whom I said is Adrian's good friend arranged for him to drive another car while his company serviced Adrian's car. John is the salesperson who sold Adrian his current Toyota Camry which is only a year old car. John has been very nice and she loves Sabrina to bits. As usual, our attitude girl will just ignore people and do things her way. Hai.....

Btw, Sabrina is 29 months old today. She has grown taller as her dresses are getting rather short. But my in laws kept commenting that she had lost weight. I beg to dffer as I think she has put on weight. Her face is still very chubby. I gave up on my in laws' comments. Instead of saying that Adrian has lost weight, they asked if Adrian had put on weight. I was like "can't you see it properly?" It's as if they are saying that I am not treating Sabrina well enough that's why she lost weight and I really dislike that. Ignore them.

Updated Aust Time 12.22pm

A month in Brisbane

Time really flies. We have been in Brisbane for the past month. So far things look pretty good and we are all adapting well to the time and environment here. My worries for my gal is really unfounded as she adapted so quickly to the time and weather here faster than Adrian and me.

Updated Aust Time 2.02pm

Sabrina's Haircut and afternoon out

We trimmed Sabrina’s fringe today. As usual, she struggled and screamed at us. But in the end we managed to cut it somehow. Of course it will not look as if it is professionally done but at least it does not cover her eyes.

Then we went off to Baby Co. Baby Co is near to Stafford. It sells lots of baby related products. Our main purpose there was to look for another pram for our son. The one that Sabrina had been using for the past 2 years plus is already rather torn out and we both feel that it’s time to get a replacement. We were actually torn between buying a single seat pram versa a double seat one where Sabrina can sit in front while the baby sits at the back. But after considering the fact that Sabrina might be getting too old and too heavy for the front seater pram, we decided to look for a single seat pram. The one that we like and think it really suit our purpose is at Aust$187 for cash and carry. If we were to get them to send over, it will cost us slight above 200 dollars. We will most probably get that pram nearer my EDD date, maybe in late August.

Shortly after that, we went off to Stafford Central to have our lunch and grocery shopping. It’s not really big but at least it consist big supermarket like Woolsworth and Supa IGA and Big W as well. Sabrina dozed off while we were grocery shopping which is good. If she had been awake, she would have made a ruckus.

Sabrina playing DS?

Right after her shower in the morning, she picks up the DS and started to explore.

Tired of squatting, so here she is sitting on our mattress.

This is what she likes to do in the morning if she spots Adrian's DS lying on the floor near the switches. Usually we will charge it at night before we go to bed on days when it's low in battery life. The best part is that she knows that we need to use the pointer. She will open the cover and start to use the pen and moves it in cicular movements to indicate that she is using it. I guess she must have seen us playing using that method and she improvises. So much so for an intelligent young lady. Luckily she does not know to switch it on. Hahaha

Deep Slumber

Here's a shot of Sabrina in la la land at around Aust time 9.12pm which is around SG 7.12pm. Just look at how she sleeps. She must have been really tired. Must be the running around the house everyday that makes her so tired. Or could it be this? Playing with the basket and Daddy's socks in the afternoon that tire her out? Hehehe.

Tuesday Nights = Pizzas' Nights

It has been raining for the past few days. Thus I have been using the dryer to dry all our clothes after washing them. I guess these rainy days might go on a few more days. At lease we are at home so we could not feel the coldness outside. We will be having Pizzas on every Tuesday from now on as it is so much cheaper than cooking. Domino’s Pizza is only going at A$4.95 per pizza on Tuesday and if we need extra toppings it would cost us another A$2.50. It’s less than A$10 for a large pizza. Adrian decided that Tuesday nights will be Pizza night where we will have pizza for dinner. It will save me some time as I do not need to prepare dinner.

Dragging my bag from upstairs

Here is a shot of our little gal dragging my bag from the master bedroom upstairs as she wanted me to give her some biscuits that I kept in a container in my bag when we go out. I think my bag is not very light as there are still other items in there. Imagine her strength. What to do? Let her be.

Sunny Bank adventure

Today is the first day it rained since we touched down in Australia. Everyday for the past few weeks had just been cooling and breezy. It is just colder at night and early in the morning. Officially today, it rained for the whole day.

We went off to SunnyBank this morning. Adrian heard from his friend that there are lots of Asian products at SunnyBank and we decided to go today to take a look. Upon reaching SunnyBank, it was raining cats and dogs. We did have a bit of problem searching for a parking lot as there were many cars around that day. I guess it could be due to the fact that it’s a weekend and people just flock to get their weekly groceries.

Finally we managed to get ourselves a lot and we went to the supermarket that was situated just at the car park. The first thing I noticed was that the crowd mostly consisted of Asian. From their speech among themselves, I think the shop is run by a group of China nationalists. The patrons are mostly Asian and they conversed in Chinese, Cantonese and some in English.

So off we went to shop round the supermarket. There is truly a place for us, Asian to go to buy things if we want stuff from our country of origin. Sesame oil, light and dark soy sauce, kalian, lotus. Imagine our joy when we see the lotus roots. We have not been able to find any while grocery shopping at Westfields. Adrian loves it especially in soups. However it is also very expensive. It is going at A$7.50 per kilogram. Anyway we just bought it since it is only available here. Bought more things like kalian (again another vegetable not available at “Ang Mo” supermarkets), Caixin, Yan Yan (Chocolate biscuit sticks).

Next, we went off to SunnyBank Plaza which is just beside the car park. Again the majority in the crowd is the Asian community. As we entered the plaza, we were greeted with a big fish tank filled marine fishes. Sabrina was so happy at seeing that. She just loves watching fishes swimming in tanks.

SunnyBank Plaza is much smaller in size as compared to Westfields near our place at Chermside although they do have Coles, Big W and Kmart. Anyway by now, we were a little hungry so we went in search of food. Finally we decided on having roasted meat and curry rice at a shop run by some Hongkee. This is the first time we have taken Chinese food since we came to Australia on the 17th. Basically, we feel that Chinese food is not really nice and extremely expensive especially at ang mo countries and moreover I can cook Chinese food at home. Luckily the food at this shop was pretty nice as compared to the Chinese food that we took few years back when we came for our honeymoon.

After a sumptuous meal, we went walking round the plaza. I found another Asian supermarket at the mall that sells slightly cheaper things as compared to the shop at the car park. Adrian saw fishballs and asked me to buy for our little girl. We saw Pokka drinks and bought them as well. Just then, Sandy called and informed us about their flight details. We had around an hour plus to go before we need to go to the airport to fetch them so we continued walking round the plaza till Sabrina fell asleep in her pram.

Off we went to the airport to pick up the 2 big kids. Then we went off to Hungry Jack at Kedron for their lunch or dinner at around 4plus in the evening. Sabrina was so tired that she went off to bed at around 8pm. Meanwhile the 2 kids tested the entire DVD that they bought on their trip at Sydney. Basically, they really spent their money unwisely buying things that are so expensive and not worth buying especially in Australia. It would have cost so much cheaper in Singapore. Anyway, they are not my kids. If they had been my kids, I think they would have got it from Adrian. Hahaha…Off to bed now and to a brighter tomorrow.

Getting ready to go out

Here's our little girl in the carseat (actually more like a booster seat) that we bought from Toys R Us at Mount Gravatt. Quite reasonably priced at less than $80 and it comes with the harness as well. If not, we would need to fork out another 30-40 bucks for the harness. Nowadays, she will insist that she wants her bloster and her cloth when she sits in the carseat. We just let her be as long as she sits in there. Australia is stricter when it comes to safety in cars for children. All children must be in a carseat till they are big enough to just use the normal safety belt installed in most car. Anyway it's good as I will not be able to hold on to her for long as she can be a worm at times wiggling here and there. Moreover with No 2 coming, I think it's better for me as I can sit back and relax.

Early in the morning

Here's some pictures of our little girl in the morning. She wakes up real early in the morning everyday. She will be up around 6plus or nearly 7am Aust time which is around SG time 4-5am. Usually I will already be up in the kitchen preparing Adrian's lunch that he brings to work everyday. She will be upstairs crying for me as only the daddy is with her. But there are also days where she does not know that I am not around and thought that the person sleeping with the blanket covered up is me. It can be real funny at times.

Sabrina trying to pull our quilt away.

Sabrina showing her favourite Hi-5 sign.

Sabrina with her smelly bloster and nappy cloth that she uses when she sleeps.

Another shot of her on her tricyce after her afternoon nap.