Baby is 12 days old

My grand nephew in law is 12 days old, they hold a small gathering for close relatives to annouce the arrival of the new born baby. The occasion was celebrated by cooking pig's trotters in some sweet sauce of black vinegar. The dish helps keep the new mom in keeping warm during this one month confinement period.

Traditional confinement practices are based on the belief that the new mom's body is 'out of balance' after giving birth. The theory is that the new mom is now in a 'cold stage' due to the loss of blood (lochia) and energy from the birth. As such, the confinement period focuses on re-energising the body with the 'warmth' that has been lost.

Chinese, Malay and Indian communities all have their own confinement practices. While different ethnic groups may do things differently, the main aim is to help the mother and her body recover from the intensities of childbirth.

Traditionally, mother or mother-in-law will be the one taking care of the new mom during the confinement period. Many Chinese mothers however, hire a confinement nanny, a pui yuet (Cantonese for 'companion for a month') who will see to the mom and her baby’s needs.

The nanny will cook special confinement dishes for the new mom, bathe her baby, and do the baby's laundry. She will also take over the night feeds so that the mom can rest.

You can view more information about confinement from source

Yummy, my share of the pig's trotters cooked in vinegar and lots of ginger.

I am promoted to be Grand Aunt In Law

Yayyy, at last I am a Grand Aunt In Law, last week hubby's nephew's wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy by Caesarean. Mother and child are doing very well now. Nice to see a new generation born, hope to see more additions to the new generation. We may see a small baby boom during this year being the Dragon year, the most auspicious for birth in the Chinese Zodiac.

This is the KK Women's and Children's Hospital , formerly known as "Kandang Kerbau Hospital", is the largest hospital specialising in healthcare for women and children in Singapore. In 1966, the hospital entered the Guinness Book of Records for delivering the highest number of newborns within a single maternity facility for that year, and it continued to hold on to this record for a full decade, delivering 85% of the population. Fifty two years ago, I was born in Kandang Berbau Hospital too but not in this new, clean looking building, the old hospital was located on the site opposite this new hospital. Back then we were the baby boomers, too many babies and not enough hospital beds.

Singapore, just like many countries is facing a low birth rate problem. To encourage parenthood, the government gives out baby bonuses of up to S$4,000 ($3,200) for each of the first two children, rising to S$6,000 for the third and fourth. It also matches deposits made into a Child Development Account. Mother has a four month maternity leave and there's talk about having paternity leave for the father too to encourage more to have babies. What policies do your country implement to encourage or discourage citizens to have more babies?

epiphyllum or Keng Hua blooms at midnight

As per previous post about the epiphyllum or keng hua plant that grows in my brother's house, my brother used his handphone to take photos of the flowers that only blooms at midnight. They were so pretty but the image a bit blur.

At least now these photos of the blooms can conclude my topic on the flowers, too bad I did not get to view them bloom on site.

A day at my Brother's house

During the weekend, the whole family gathered at my brother's house to pray to our late parents for the seventh month of the year also known as Zhong Yuan Jie or Mid Year Festival or the Hungry Ghost Festival or the feast for the wandering soul. Normally prayers will be held on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month but as 15th day of the seventh lunar month falls on a weekday and most will be working so majority of chinese will celebrate the day praying to their deceased close family members earlier on weekend before the 15th day.

Most might think Ghost Festival sounds eerie but it is actually a joyous affair where the whole family gathered together to pray to our ancestors. I saw this blogwhich is very interesting describing the ghost festival.

As my brother is taoist, food were offered to our late parents as part of the prayers. There were so much yummy food that of course after prayers, we tucked into them and really have a good time. The above photo were the ingredients for making popiah (a kind of not deep fried spring roll), they were cooked by my eldest sister.

We just had to put all the ingredients onto the popiah skin and rolled them up and eat it, very healthy better than the deep fried spring roll.

The above photo of potato patties or begedil prepared and cooked by my sister's indonesian domestic helper. Yummy.

Assorted nonya kueh (cakes)- some in durian flavour - so yummy.

We had other fruits too but I liked these organic strawberries, they were so sweet. At this time, I really drools thinking of the food we ate during the weekend, hahaha.

And what best was the sight of these beautiful keng hua or epiphyllum flowers that grows from the plants in my brother's house. There were about six flowers on one plant and another two blooms on another plant. Wow what a wonderful day it was but too bad none wanted to stay till midnight to take photo of the full bloom of the flowers...lol. These flowers only bloom for a short while at midnight.

For photos on other parts of the world, please visit Our World Tuesday Meme. Thanks to the team of Our World for giving us the opportunity to share my world with the rest of the world.

Skywatch Friday - Sunset

Saw this beautiful sun setting right infront of my window this evening. I just had to take a photo of it.

For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch Blog

Skywatch Friday - Gardens By the Bay - Light Show

I spend almost the entire afternoon at the Gardens By the Bay and after dinner at the Gardens, I decided to wait for the light show at the Gardens By the Bay. The OCBC Garden Rhapsody is a twice nightly performance, at 7:45pm and 8:45pm at Gardens by the Bay’s Supertree Grove. The show is free of charge for all to enjoy.

Two short videos on the Supertrees at different time of the evening.

Sorry for the shaky camera, did not stand in the correct place to video the light show at Gardens By the Bay, think I was too near the trees.

Thought they would have fast or lively music for the light show hahaha, the music and lights were slow in coming and I think I wanted to doze off cause I spend so many hours at the Garden hahaha. Perhaps the next time I would come just in the evening to enjoy the slow music and video the light show at another spot.

For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch Blog

Gardens by the Bay -Video of Flower Dome

Just two short videos to show the interior of Flower Dome in Gardens By the Bay.

My World Tuesday - Flower Dome- Tall Trees.

Lots of baobab Trees and tall palms greeted visitors on entering the flower dome. They are so huge. Fantastic and wondering how they kept the trees survived in here.

The grape tree from South Africa, they looked like huge ginseng.

Interesting to see the bottle trees in here, lots of benches here to rest our tired feet.

Did not manage to find the information for this sculpture showing three women carrying their children.

For photos on other parts of the world, please visit Our World Tuesday Meme. Thanks to the team of Our World for giving us the opportunity to share my world with the rest of the world.

Gardens By The Bay-Flower Dome - Cactus

In one section of the Flower Dome, lived all these desert plants - cactus.

In the Succulent Garden Seascape section there are decorations of fishes, sea urchins or coral reefs in the desert. Strange to have sea creature in the desert hahaha.

These cactus looked as if there were growing furs.

Close up view of the fur looked so scary.

Hahahaha, I was wondering why they display dead leaves in this section till I saw the note accompany the plant.

Gardens By The Bay - Roses

Love all these beautiful roses. Most of them are not suitable for the weather in Singapore but with the air conditioned dome set in weather similar to colder countries, the roses are able to grown in Singapore. Most of these roses are grown and research done in Hort Park's six prototype glasshouses.

A short video showing the roses in the flower dome.