JahBella’s Top 10 Blog Posts of 2014

Posted in Eating Out with Kids, Holidays, Kids health, Online Shopping, Perth, Photoshoot, Plays/ Theatre, Reviews, Tips with Kids, Travel Planning, Travel with Kids, Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

2014 marks the beginning of our blogging adventure – a decision to document our special family moments and vacation experiences as well as to give a little insight into the everyday lives of two full-time working parents, with two childcare going children. Although we have only been blogging for the last 5 months of 2014, the attempts to note down our experiences and thoughts have truly enrich our lives in more ways than we could imagine.

So to round off and recap our year, here are our Top 10 Blog Posts of 2014.

1) Why a C-Section Doesn’t Make You Less of A Woman/ Mother

A reminder to all c-section mummies that regardless of birth method, we are all precious in the eyes of our little ones and a c-section does not make you any less a mummy.

2) Little Nyonya – Peranakan Outfits for Little Girls

Want to know where to pick out food quality Peranakan outfits for yourself and the little one? Little Nyonya has really authentic and beautiful pieces!

3) The Playhouse @ Rochester – Review

An Outdoor AND Indoor playground for the kids, with yummy brunch food for the whole family

4) Update on Jah’s Head Injury

A life-changing and scary moment for our family this year in fact the entire family + uncles and aunties are still pretty shaken by this event. We thank God that Jah is well and healthy today.

5) 3 Must-Have Items When Flying With Kids

Our family’s must haves when flying with kids and looks like we will be trying these items on Bella in 2015.

6) My Top 4 Kiddy Products of the Moment – (Sep 2014)

While we are no longer using our Double Stroller, the other 3 items still continue to be my favourite parent-life saver of the moment..

7) How to Survive an Eye Test with a 3 year old

We will be attempting our 2nd eye test with Jah in Jan 2015. Perhaps another post soon on how we survived the same test, this time at a private practitioner. In the meantime, this should lend some insight on what goes on during an eye test at a government hospital.

8) Trigg Beach Family Photo Shoot (March 2014)

Our first of many more family photo shoots in Australia (i’m sure). Its really hard to get the whole family to look at the camera together pix especially when attemping wefies so I’m totally for photo shoots during our vacations..at least it guarantees some nice pics to take home with us 😉

9) Hop and Honk (I Theater) – Review

Jah’s introduction to his first full on theater play + an intermission and we survived! In fact keep a look out for more reviews on upcoming I Theatre productions in 2015! Can’t wait!

10) Getting Spectacles for Jah – The Ups and Downs

Finding a place that offers spectacles for kids below primary school going age, is really a tough feat in Singapore.

We are glad we found a place to go to for good quality spectacles that are ‘child resistant’ – a 3 year old is not going to treat his specs with the same care as a 13 year old.

So here are our Top 10 Blog posts from 2014!!

Thank you everyone for your support and we hope to share more of our adventures, tips and activities with you in the new year.

Happy 2015!

JahBella’s Mummy

23Dec2014

The Solution to Internet Blindspots in your own house – TP Link Wifi Range Extender

Posted in Reviews by jahbella

I don’t know how I managed to live with such bad internet connection in my own house all these years and just somehow learnt to put up with it and worked around it! When I say bad, I really mean horrendous and non-existent. The only place that I could get any signal is in my living room (5 steps away from my router). I have no signal in Jah’s room and no signal in my bedroom, both of which are about 10 steps from the router). Yes how is that possible when I live in a standard HDB flat!!

To my defense, I did try to sort out the problem a couple of times. I screamed at my internet provider and insisted they come check on the reception in my house. We attempted to troubleshoot the problem over the phone and we all know how difficult it is to reach any of these service providers over the phone. I upgraded my internet plan to give me better speeds. I changed my router twice! because I was told my router might be ‘too old’. Nothing worked and well I eventually gave up and made do with a mobile wifi device when I needed internet access in the rooms.

I recently found out that I was not the only one with this ‘strange problem’ and that a wifi range extender could potentially solve my problem. So I went in search of it, at the nearest challenger.

I was initially looking for a particular range extender that needed to placed mid-point between my existing router and the area where the signal is weak. Prior to looking for it, I was abit skeptical and confused on whether this would even work, given that the supposed mid point between my router and weak spot area was well yeah only bridging things by 5 steps away.

In any case I decided to try but was told that the shop did not carry the brand I was looking for. Instead of recommending me a different brand with the same setup, the very kind salesman recommended me something slightly different.

This wifi powerline extender was connected via the ‘power lines’. Therefore I just needed to plug Adaptor 1 to my wall socket and by LAN to my router and plug Adaptor 2 to a wall socket in the room where I needed internet. Hit the PAIR button on both adapters and voila! I get internet in my master bedroom. I was told that I could get an additional adaptor if I wanted to also place one in Jah’s room. However I found that by placing Adaptor 2 on a wall that divided both rooms, it gave me signal in Jah’s room as well!

So yes now I have internet signal in my rooms without me having to carry a mobile wifi device around the house with me! Oh the joys of easily accessible internet in my own house..such irony 🙂 but I’m a happy girl this Christmas.

JahBella’s Mummy

22Dec2014

Fire Station Open House – JahBella’s first visit

Posted in Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

I have always wanted to bring Jah for a fire station visit but figured we will wait till he is a little older to ‘get it’. So when we were looking for a ‘quick morning outing’ this Saturday, we thought why not the fire station. A quick morning outing for us = one that will allow us to be home by 12 noon for a nap and is usually required when we have an early evening commitment planned.

We found out that most fire stations in Singapore conduct Open House tours every Saturday from 9am to 11am. We weren’t sure if this meant that we could go in at 10am? 1030am? So we headed out bright and early and arrived on the dot at 9am. We later noticed that tours were being held as visitors came in, some tours fuller than others and I suppose it also depends on the manpower at the station at that point.

We were given a tour of the station, well more so of the vehicles and equipments which the Firemen use. The highlight for the kids was of course when they were allowed to use the equipment to fight the ‘fire’/orange cones. As always Jah took a while to warm up to new activities and was abit hesistant to fight the fire or to sit in the vehicles for photos. He decided post tour that he would ‘do more’ the next visit.

Bella on the other hand was super eager to get her hands dirty. We really didn’t think to offer her a chance at fighting fire, I mean she is only 19 months old but she actually ‘asked’ to do it. She is well and truly our little no fear fighter.

We didn’t quite know what to expect from the fire station visit but I would say it was a rather educational tour especially for the adults and it was good fun for the kids. Every kid was given a little SCDF plastic fireman helmet which Jah and Bella loved and yes this is definitely an activity that we would do again.

JahBella’s Mummy

19Dec2014

Hard Rock Food – Room Service, Kings Club and Restaurants

Posted in Eating Out with Kids, Holidays, penang by jahbella

Penang is definitely the haven for good food and I am always complaining that there is just never enough days on our Penang trip to eat everything we want to eat. This is made even worse when your hotel also serves fantastic food!! Yes it is a torture to be spoilt for choice. :p

We started our trip on a really good note – awesome Italian food at the Hard Rock. We were rather tired by the time we arrived. After an hour long car ride and kids nearing their nap time, I was very worried that waiting for lunch would be a nightmare. However the food was served really quickly and the good service and bubbly staff were really infectious. You can tell from JahBella’s big smiles that they had forgotten about the long journey here already and a nice nap was awaiting for our full bellies.

We over ordered!!! The portions were huge even for the kids meal!

She doesn’t smile when waiting for her food anymore…:( She screams!

First of many mocktails during the trip

We had the standard buffet breakfast at their main restaurant during the first half of our stay (when we were staying in the Lil Rock Star Suite. Given that the hotel was on full occupancy, there seemed to always be seats available at the main restaurant. The variety of the buffet was also really good – from Asian (Hawker fare) to Cereals to Western to their own ‘pau’ section. Kids were also given their own cutlery which made the experience extremely kiddy friendly.

Appetizer?

During the second half of our stay, we enjoyed our breakfast at the Kings Club (when we were staying in the Rock Star Suite). The Kings Club breakfast offered a very limited buffet spread with the standard cereals, fruits, muffins and a small selection of hot food. The real star of the Kings Club breakfast is their ala carte buffet menu that you can order from. Having your food served to you is always welcomed when you have kids to take care of. We were so spoilt for choice and we had to stop ourselves from over ordering.

Its almost like he had breakfast in bed…

Hot breakfast served at your table

Breakfast Menu! Hungry yet?

Staying at the Rock Star Suite also allowed us access to the Kings Club to enjoy teatime snacks and evening cocktail. We were there for a quick evening cocktail before heading out for dinner and Jah was extremely happy with the chocolate tarts and mocktails. 😉

Want to share? 😀

While room service is often a last resort, Hard Rock’s Room service is one of the best I’ve had. The kids were too tired after their morning swim to head anywhere so we settled for room service and discovered a gem! Jah loved his Fish & Chips while we were very very pleased with their Nasi Goreng. We were not expected much but found their Asian fare to be pretty authentic. We also tried their lamb with pea mash and I can tell you that I have never tasted such a good pie before. The room service meals were so good that we actually had it for two days.

So if you are concerned about what to eat in Penang (hmmmm..) especially if your kids might be too tired to head out or if like me, you had a little one with a fever on the last 2 days. Then Hard Rock is the perfect place to base yourself out of and enjoy their wonderful yummy treats.

Next Up – Yummy Food Outside of the Hotel!!!! (Fishing Village Seafood, Nonya Breeze, Golden River Zi Char)

JahBella’s Mummy

18Dec2014

Hokey Pokey – Seletar Mall

Posted in Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

JahBella have been to several indoor playgrounds before but they have never visited Hokey Pokey. So when we found out that they had open an outlet near to us and even nearer to our upcoming new place, we were keen to find out if it could become one of our regular spots.

We arrived at the newly opened Seletar Mall at 10am and there was no lack of parking space (although I heard from my sister that the parking gets very full towards the evening). Hokey Pokey is an indoor playground for babies from 6 months old to young kids up to 6 years old. None of the tedious climbing and crawling through tunnels for us old bones but I was worried that the activity level would be too mild for my active 3 year old.

The entry fee on weekends are $26 for 2 hours of play and upon a quick survey of their environment and facilities, we decided to ‘invest’ in a member’s package. The annual package cost $58 and it consists of 2 free sessions (day of purchase and during birthday month). It also included 1 free soft drink per visit (perfect for the thirsty parent) and discounted rates of $16 on weekends for 2 hours of play. We were also given a sibling discount for our 2^nd package at $38! As we signed up during their Christmas promo, we bagged an additional session + a free Christmas goodie bag and a nice box of cupcake and Christmas cookie. It was a really really nice gesture!

JahBella were the first kids there and they were blown away by the variety of toys there! There was a section with huge trucks, cars and Starwars characters which Jah could not tear himself away from. He alternated between that corner and another section with cars and ramps. Bella, on the other hand was all over the place, from the ball pit to the princess corner, from Thomas the train ride on a ramp to the kitchen corner. She played with everything!

Not a huge space but the variety was huge and the toys were so new!

Jah’s favourite area – he picked an orange Porsche from there and it never left his sight until we left

A wonderland of car ramps

His own Star Wars Battle

Boys can play with doll houses too 🙂

Whee!!

Where’s the baby?

Spoilt for choice

There were so many rides available – personally I find this Crayola ride super cute!

For the hungry parent or kids, there is a small café with a few tables and bar counter that overlooked the play area so you are never too far off from your child.

The two hours past really quickly and while the kids were not totally exhausted and thank goodness neither we were, they really enjoyed themselves. The ‘mild’ activity level was not a concerned because they were kept so occupied. The only problem would be prying them away from their newfound favourite toy or finding a way to say no to their request to buy a certain toy.

Jah declared that he would like to come back soon and yes I am pretty sure we will be.

JahBella’s Mummy