of Christmas and post-christmas.

So we had our christmas get-to-gather on the 22nd and 24th. :)
Had the usual steamboat lunch on 22nd and bowling on the 24th. Not to forget MJ. :x

Christmas came and went. Ethan received lots of pressies this year.

Then Kaelyn had her jab on the 28th. She's real steady. Not a single whine when the doctor inserted and pulled out the needle for the jab. Kaelyn girl, you have made mommy so proud of you! :)

For the records:
She weighed 7086gm, 67cm length and 38.5cm head circumference on 27-Nov-13.
And weighed 7584gm, 66.5cm (she shrank) and 40cm on 28-Dec-13.
She teethed on her 4th month, and the tooth has now erupted out a lot liao.

of the shows and wedding anniversary. :)

December started with lots of activities for Ethan. Not only did he started school at this new centre, I also brought him out for shows at the mall.

First stop, to City Square Mall on the 3rd Dec 2013 to watch Thomas and Friends show.
Mom came along too and thanks to her, we managed to let Ethan take the free rides on the Uncle Ringo train rides. Ethan was super happy!

Then I brought Ethan out for another show on the 14th, this time to watch Bob the builder and Barney. This time round, with a helpful lady who 'donated' her receipt for me, we managed to redeem a photo pass with Barney. The original plan was for me to reach the shopping mall earlier and make a $50 purchase to redeem the pass but I got there late and have no time for shopping. So I walked into Guardian and asked this lady for help. She gladly agreed.

December is also the month we celebrated our wedding anniversary. We have booked a room at Capella Singapore and planned to bring Ethan along. This means that we have to do an 'exchange' of kids, since it's a weekday and my MIL is out of town. We took Ethan and left Kaelyn under my mom's care.

Stayed a night at Capella Sentosa (17th-18th) and spent some time doing some activities on the island.

Some things also happened after the stay and we spent a few days settling it.

All in all, December is a busy and happy month for celebration!

Xmas lunch with the sweets later! :)

Kaelyn turns 4months old!

On 12 December, Kaelyn turned 4months old (in the lunar calendar) and had her hair shaved.

We also officiated the 'eating' ceremony.
A simple one where we let her taste the chicken head, drumsticks, marie (money) biscuits, some vegetable, longevity noodles, tau gua and mushroom (if i recall correctly).

Not forgetting, to let her seat in her Farrari walker.

Oh, did I also mentioned, on her 4th month, she teethed. The tooth has now erupted out a bit liao.

Kaelyn also did her first assisted flip on the 17th. She can flip but hand is stucked so I assisted her and gave her a push! :)

For the records:
She weighed 7086gm, 67cm length and 38.5cm head circumference on 27-Nov-13.

of Ethan's new school, Kaelyn's progress and my pressies.

So Ethan started class at the new branch and is officially promoted to the playgroup class.
School has been okay for him except that he is still not keen on going to school. I am not sure of the real reason behind but I guess it has to do with the emotional attachment.
Through the 3 half-days at school, I made a few observations on Ethan's temp teachers and promptly made the feedback to his principal. I am not complaining but I just want the principal, who is in a better position to nicely advise the teacher that she has to be more tactful in her interaction with the kids.

I also met a school mate back in the college days. I thought I was rather fast for my age to have 2 kids, but she's even faster, third one coming next March! o.O
I don't know but through our brief conversation I understand that she's doing without a helper and is a little family living on their own. I really admire her energy in taking care of 2 kids, with 1 more on the way!

This December is really a lot of spending.
Plans were made for a Taiwan trip in January. A trip fully paid for and sponsored by hubby lubby.
He wanted to bring me to Hong Kong next week but I thought against it, due to work and other commitments.

Then today, hubby lubby brought me out to shopping and we bought our wedding bands!
Yes, I know, almost 3 years in to the marriage and then we got our bands. We didn't get it then because hubby's aunt made us a pair of rings as wedding pressie but I soon realised that this ring is not quite suitable for everyday wear and it's sometimes a little loose. So I have been wanting to get a pair of bands.
Today's purchase is purely 天时地利人合。
Why do I say so? We went pass Lee Hwa, my favourite Jeweller and hubby spontaneously asked if I wanted to get the bands. So we went in, with no intentions to buy.
I always wanted something simple and not so much bling bling for the bands cos I heard scary stories of the diamonds dropping out due to everyday wear and tear.
Then we were introduced the Destinee range of rings. There were 3 pairs we shortlisted, let's name them A, B and C. I like pair A for the female ring design but find the male ring a little 'guniang'. However I don't like that it's a little hollow within. Pair B looks good on hubby and is a perfect fit (pair A is loose for hubby and fit for me). It is of comfort fit design but it's a little squarish feel on the outer band. Pair C looks too slim on hubby's hand. So in the end, we decided on pair B since I want it to look nice on both hubby and my hands. Got a bit of shocked when we asked for the price because pair A was about 1.6k and we thought it's almost about the same price. But hubby say since we like it, then buy it. Moreover, both rings are of right fit and no alteration or waiting is needed, we can just leave with our purchase! How fated.

After the purchase, I told hubby, we must wear it and not take off... just like his parents. :) It's more than a wedding band to me, it's more of a token for us to keep each other in mind and remind us it's not easy to maintain this marriage. I hope this band holds the same significance to hubby.

Another insider joke: I finally got my 'binoculars'!

So this pair of rings is his wedding present, wedding anniversary and Christmas pressie to me! He wanted to add in birthday and I told him no.
I also got reciprocate. I bought him a watch winder for his Daytona. Then I am bringing him (and Ethan) for a staycation at Capella Singapore on our wedding anniversary. Hopefully he likes it! :)

Looking forward! :)

p/s: Kaelyn has grown up le. From very attached to latching (especially tanking up for the night) to starting bottles for the day... now she is on her own. Helper started today, so she hasn't latch for the whole day since last night. I miss her latching!

She has also accepted pacifiers! She started with rejections, because obviously the thumb is more convenient and probably feels more like the nipple. But when I told her thumb sucking is bad for the thumb and is ugly/unsightly, she took the pacifier immediately. How smart!

I just love her!

p/p/s: Ethan loves his daddy a lot, and he proves it by drinking half his (plain) water bottle within minutes. I told him, Daddy will appear when he's done with drinking up the bottle and he did it! He even repeat after me, "喝完了爸爸就来了hor". so cute! How to not love him! At the same time, he's also scared of his dad. I told him, if he drink a sip of water, I will not complain his bad behaviour to daddy and he drank it. *Ethan doesn't like to drink water, so you can see how much love he has for daddy, by the amount of water he drank on mentioning his daddy.

mentally tired.

I know I shouldn't be complaining because I have got a supportive family (my hubby, my parents' and my in-laws') and a helper at home to lighten all the load. But I am really getting stressed out at work. I know it because my pump output is getting lesser. I am clearly awake at night, mentally going through all the possible scenarios at work. To the extend, I am bringing work home and checking emails on off days! I don't remember doing all these previously.

The year-end is coming and I have got a few milestones to hit. I am terribly behind time and my team members are clearly overloaded with other work. I feel really bad about having them work OT at home. And there is just too much backlog for me to clear. Imagine I have over hundreds of unread emails in my inbox. I have to fight every day I go to work. Fight for resources, fight with nasty suppliers/vendors/working partners and fight for and against time. The new working environment and infrastructure doesn't help any bit. On the other hand, I am really appreciative of the colleagues at work, for helping out as much as possible. All is impossible without them. They don't owe me anything and is really out of goodwill of them to help.

Work aside, Ethan just had his last day at the 331 centre. I took half day leave to pick him up from school and presented some gifts to his 2 teachers. We also took some Polaroid pictures. While Ethan kept falling sick while attending school, I am really appreciative of his teachers. Honestly, he did learn a lot from this school, from singing "abc", "twinkle twinkle", "baa baa black sheep", etc to counting 1 to 12 to wearing his own shoes to so many things! This is why I spent quite a sum on the gifts for his teachers.

I also took leave on Wednesday to bring Kaelyn for her 5-in-1 jab and pneumococcal jab. She's really a brave girl; she just let out a big cry (one cry each for both jabs) and that's it. She only got a little fussy in the evening.

During this PD visit, I also took the chance to ask her PD about Ethan's condition. He kept having low-grade fever and feeling feverish (but not yet fever) every week! The fever comes and goes, sometimes with sticky poo-poo or loose stools... He told me a lot but my overloaded brain only remembered him saying it's alright if the fever come and go, no need to see doctor for this. If I remember correctly, he was saying this is his body's way of fighting and probably is because his intestines/gastric are not too well or something...and it's definitely part&parcel as he is attending childcare.

Because of fever, he was denied entry to school on last Friday and had to be sent home. He is still as active, just that he was having fever. :( In the end, due to 'safety' reasons, I also postponed the CPE girls gathering we planned to hold on last Saturday, over at my place. Now that I know it's nothing serious, I am less worried.
On that same Saturday, upon seeing Ethan is still as active as ever, we followed hubby out as he needed to run some errands. Once he was done, he suggested to pop by MBS to see the 2degree ice art exhibition. You must have thought he is crazy to bring Ethan to the exhibition since Ethan just recovered from fever. No, you should take a look at our attire and the duration we spent at the exhibition. That was crazy! The men were in berms and me in dress (of course they provided cold wear rental which we took up). We paid close to hundred and spent only around 15mins without really scrutinising the exhibits. But we really enjoyed the family outing and I am glad that hubby took us out for this family bonding time.
After that, he drove us to the nearby mall and we did some shopping. I enjoyed the day and I am sure Ethan had enjoyed his day out too, thanks to hubby lubby for showering us with love! :)

upset :(

I do welcome you but I think it's courtesy to call before visiting.
What I'm upset about is, knowing that we are going out today, you came purposely without calling.
Worst, you have planned to stay over for the night and only brought it up after I asked.

Hello, this is my house, and I'm the owner. You don't come and go as you like. I just don't want to upset everyone so I kept quiet.

I wouldn't discount your help but you are more of a distraction for my helper. This is what I'm most upset about.
So today, I told my helper very firmly, "there are things you can do it on your own, if I don't like the arrangement I will tell you. You don't have to rely on her help. She comes here and 'help' you to re-arrange the things, then you must know how the things have been re-arranged, if not, when I want to find and cannot find, you are the one who will get scolding, not her." I hope my helper understands what I am trying to tell her.

I'm so angry why I hasn't insist on sending you home in the morning before I go out! Very angry.

busy year end for me...

I guess I have been blogging a lot less often than previously.
Reason being, now that I have returned to work and my night times are all dedicated to latching my precious girl and by the time she's done, I am all tired and ready for bed.

Time really flies.
Kaelyn has turned 3months old on the 16th, weighing 6.910kg. :)
Unfortunately, she has, also fallen sick during that period and had her first taste of medicine (paracetamol/progesic) 3 days before she turned 3months old.
Just last Tuesday, she had fever out of the blue. No flu, cough or other symptom. Perfectly well but just fever.
Went to her PD on Wednesday morning, got her progesic, and tested her for UTI.

She got okay for that night after seeing her PD and the UTI test results came back negative on the next day. However, the fever came again on Thursday night. Called the doctor and he suggested we bring Kaelyn in for more tests on Friday morning. So I quickly packed the necessary stuff (I guess I am quite experience at this now) and off we went. Admitted her to the hospital on the 15th.

Her PD tried to insert the plug for her, but it didn't work out so we gave up upon drawing enough blood for the tests. Kaelyn was a brave girl cos she only fussed a bit (didn't even cry out loud) when her PD was inserting the plug and drawing blood from her hand. Again, the results came back negative and the fever was gone at night, so we got discharged on Saturday morning.

The fever came on Saturday night again. I realised the pattern is, fever on alternate nights. Feeling helpless, we sought to praying. Went to the temple to pray and indeed she got better and broke the pattern.

For this week, I am a SAHM cos my MIL went overseas and no one is available to look after my girl...
On Monday, I drove Ethan to get his passport.
Today, I bought him and Kaelyn to the Ocean Suite that my sister had booked for her daughter, Summer.

"Swam" at the bath tub today for the 3 kids. Ethan has obviously thinned cos he was able to fit in the swimming costume my sister bought for him when he was a baby!
Honestly, I really enjoyed playing with the kids in the water but due to time constraints we could only "swim" once. Ethan wanted to play with the water so badly. I guess I will bring him to the pool soon. :)

I guess Ethan has reached the age where it's all about 'gai-gai'. Now, he prefers 'gai-gai' over anything!

Think I will take a rest tomorrow and bring Kaelyn over to my mom's place on Thursday. :)

updates

Realised that I haven't been blogging for some time and since I am now at home on sick leave, I shall do some updates.

For the past weeks that I haven't been blogging wasn't very ideal for me. In fact, I would probably say I hit the lowest point of this year.

Celebrated MIL's birthday on the 25th. That day was super rush! I went to TPY Hub to get our Enhanced Home Fire Insurance before picking up Ethan from school. Then we took the public transport home because I knew he would enjoy it. Came home to shower him and pump before my MIL&SIL picked us up. Because of the venue and timing, we decided to leave Kaelyn at home, under the care of my helper. As expected, Kaelyn has the habit of latching at night so she cried to sleep. :( Then as usual, Hubby was drunk and puked until the whole exterior of the car is stained.
After getting hubby and Ethan home around 12midnight, I quickly gave a wash so that it wouldn't be so stinky/smelly/stained the next day.
Returned home and realised Ethan was lying on the bed next to hubby, as if looking after him. I asked, "papa never change you?" He replied "换衣。换衣。" Got him changed and just as I thought I could pump, Kaelyn woke up and so I latched her. While latching, Ethan poo-ed. Changed him and I went to pump, followed by a quick shower and got Ethan to bed. By then, it's already 2plus in the morning.

Since I was starting work on the 1st, I quickly settled some stuff on the week, like collecting my passport, sending Kaelyn's hand&foot print for repair and bring Kaelyn back to my mom's.

I guess I am not destined to start work cos barely a day, I fell sick. Got caught in the rain when I went over to the new office to pump my milk. Think I could have infected Ethan, so he fell sick too. Took leave and brought him to PD on Monday. Returned to work on Tuesday and got fever on Wednesday. So 2 days of MC at home. :x

Honestly, for the past few weeks or so, life hasn't been very generous/good to me. A sudden crisis came up. I am not so sure anymore. Is it pure coincidence or what? I have my reservations but oh well, I am not sure again.

All in all, I am a really simple girl. I need to be loved and feel loved.

clearing up.

After buying so much from online and 'offline', I need to make way for new things...

so am selling away the stuff I don't need. brand new and pre-loved.

请多多捧场 @ http://misse-masche.blogspot.sg/

thanks! :)

kaelyn goes to Orchard Far East Plaza

Bought Kaelyn to FEP this afternoon with MIL and SIL. This is her first time out to Orchard road; dressed in the dress given by my boss&wife to her. :)

Bought 2 pairs of heels and 3 dresses for work. :)

I think my wardrobe is overloaded with many new stuff that I can't wear at the moment; I need to workout on my abs first... the tummy is so flabby, I don't dare to wear any tight fitting blouse/dresses. :(

kaelyn is officially 2months old! :)

Today is October 16th and Kaelyn is officially two months (=8w6d) old!

It was a public holies yesterday and my family came over for a gathering. It does get a little busy with the crowd but I love gatherings!

And I also showed my sister the diaper bag I wanted to get and she says it's quite nice, so I went ahead and got it from Amazon. My first purchase from Amazon, and I hope this bag won't disappoint me because it cost half the price of my Coach diaper bag.

Actually I am a bit hesitant about getting this bag as I have got the Coach diaper bag, the Okiedog diaper bag and a Naraya bag that doubles up as one too... but the reasons that made me decide on getting this bag are...
1. the light weight
2. the stylish design
3. not as bulky as Coach

Both the Timi&Leslie & Coach diaper bags can double up as a stylish/going-out bag, when the kids grow up (presumably it can last till then). I was thinking I can use either one depending on the occasion. The only draw back about the Timi&Leslie diaper bag is, it's magnetic closure so a bit insecure for me... but if I'm going use it for short trips out, and won't need so much items, then it won't be bulky and should be fine.

Amazon has shipped out the item today and I think I will be getting it by early November. :) Can't wait, hopefully it doesn't disappoint me.

又花钱了。

Yes, I did it again!

Went online and bought personalised stickers for Ethan and Kaelyn. I think I got so obsessed with buying I just keep adding everything in to the cart. I almost got a shocked when I saw the total amount. Imagine each set only cost about S$3.50 and I think the cart amounted to 40plus. I then filtered my cart and the final bill came up to 25bucks.

And we finally confirmed the Taiwan trip. Yeah, will be traveling to Taiwan with the MJ gang January next year. *reminder to self, need to find out how the pump is operated using batteries.

Also called up Ethan's teacher to understand from her the HFMD situation since the number of cases is on the high now.

Then I made a trip to Plaza. Got another water jug and 2 bottles to replace those I bought from Daiso previously. Know what, NTUC is now having 20% off Bazaar and Textile items.
Damn it, they are selling Ethan's towels at about 6plus each, meaning, I can buy 3 towels for 18 bucks instead of the price I paid when I got it from Beauty World (2for$18). And also, the sale came a few days after I bought the toilet hand towels and water jug from NTUC. *sian half*

Anyway, riding on this 20%, I got 2 lock&lock bottles, another water jug, one metal cup, 2 assorted sized bowls, ziplock bags, aluminium foils, Avent size 1 teats, bottle holders, brush at 80plus!

Also bought some roasted meat for dinner. Dinner was yummy cos I got helper to cook sunny side up, hong zao chicken (with the hong zao my mom made and the chicken she gave me on Sunday) and xiao bai cai with the roasted meat! :)

Holiday tomorrow but hubby lubby and I still have no plans yet. My sister is planning on a trip to the zoo with Ethan. :)

Love both my boy and girl.

busy & challenging week.

Looking at my blog posts, this past week has been busy and challenging week, yet I really enjoy every moment of having Ethan and Kaelyn around (though Ethan gets a little jealous when I bathe Kaelyn; so the trick is to bathe Kaelyn before he wakes or after my MIL comes over in the morning).

Also appreciate my MIL's help every morning to look after my 2 babies.

Anyway, yesterday evening, my sister prepared dinner and desserts. Timing was good cos Ethan came back right after we are done with our preparation.
However, being a toddler/Chinese, he doesn't appreciate pasta/japanese food... so we cooked macaroni for him. This time round, it's with designs in the shape of Cars.

This morning, I headed out to pick up the Newborn Rocker Chair for Kaelyn while Ethan stays home to make pan cakes with my sister. Then we had macaroni for lunch and I sent them back after showering Ethan.

Spent quite a while at my mom's and I totally forgot to take back my camera and the leftover of Kaelyn's diapers. Headed out to pick hubby lubby from Harbourfront. Due to the time difference, he got the timing wrong and I was early. Nevermind because I have got time to do SHOPPING! Headed to TANGS to get my skincare products and that cost me almost half a grand. Realised TANGS was having some promotion and I got $30 rebate off my purchase! yeah!

Met hubby and we dropped his colleague/friend off Whampoa. The original plan was to have our dinner at Whampoa Market but the carpark's full so we headed to Balestier's Boon Tong Kee instead.
Had dinner and home sweet home.

Oh, and Hubby lubby got us couple tees from Polo and shorts for me. *sweet*

of facial and meet-ups! :)

Went for my facial appointment on Thursday and got my brows trimmed (like finally!). All the 杂草 are growing out... :x Thankfully they are all removed now. :)

Met up with my boss at the new office building for lunch yesterday and discussed some work with him. Don't really fancy the idea of returning to work because I foresee a pile of shit to clear! I have got important milestones for the project coming up and best is, all scheduled to happen in November, December, January period and this is the period where most people go on leave. How to get work done efficiently like that! :(

Yesterday evening, the guys came over for a game of MJ. It's been ages since we last MJ-ed and met-up. I could still remember those days I was pumping at CCK when I had Ethan. Now, it's for Kaelyn and it's already 2 years!

Anyway, I just got back from grocery shopping at Plaza after sending hubby lubby off to his office. He was due to Batam for a night stay after that.

Since huuby lubby will be away for the night, I got my sister to stayover and help me out.

Ethan's towels.

I brought Ethan to Beauty World again, because Ethan's towels ran out and he insisted on using his own! So no choice, I brought him to Beauty World to get "his" towels and some hand towels for the kitchen. Guess what, his towels are quite costly, 2 for $18...

Headed to Lot 1 (Kiddy Palace) again, cos I needed to get new teats for Kaelyn.

Home sweet home thereafter. :)

bringing the little man to work.

Brought the little man to my workplace today as I needed to settle some stuff with my colleagues, so I got MIL to come over and help look after the little Missy while I bring the little man to my workplace.

After settling the work stuff, I took him for a mini bus ride to the MRT station on our company's shuttle service. The plan was to train to Kranji/Lot 1 then bus back but time was running out so we got off Yishun and took a cab back.
Returned back to meet up with my MIL & SIL and all of us (without the little Missy, of cos) headed off to Beauty World to do up our nails.

The nail salon is a new establishment by my SIL's friend. A young and outspoken lady. I am comfortable with their services; for they are not pushy. I don't do nails often so I am not sure if the prices are cheap/reasonable/steep but $100 for Gelish Pedi&Mani. I guess it's all worth it because Ethan stepped on my toes barely 5mins into me getting the nails done and it's still all good. :)
After the pampering session, we headed off to Lot 1 to find food/dinner as I needed to get some daily supplies for Kaelyn.

To the pet (dog) farms.

Hubby lubby made an impromptu decision to bring Ethan and I to Pasir Ris Farmway to see dogs. However, barely 45mins of viewing, Ethan got tired and wants to leave.

So we returned home to meet my parents&sis as they were coming over to my place.

They stayed for a while after my dad came from his work.

Met up with my in laws for dinner for Sembawang. Little man decides to stay over for the night with them again. :x

Day out with the little man. :)

Brought Ethan out today and I didn't know today is Children's Day until I saw the FB posts... I thought Children's Day is on 1st October, no? Or MOE changed it?

Anyway, to 'celebrate' this day, Ethan and I went out to have fun!

As per his request (for gai-gai, take MRT and buy car car), we went on a Bus to HomeTeamNS Bukit Batok for the toy fair (again!), then Taxi to Lot 1 for McD (because the toys are kinda heavy, the bus is not there yet and I need to be home in time for the next pump), then LRT-ed (he calls LRT as MRT too) back to MIL's.

As usual, we had dinner at my MIL's and Ethan wanted to stay over so there he is now, sleeping over at my MIL's.

all within 4 hours.

Due to the 4hourly nebuliser schedule I have to keep to, I also adjusted my pump schedule.
But you know what, I can wake naturally for Ethan's treatment but tend to oversleep for my pump sessions. I also realised I get very little output whenever I fall asleep during the pumping session no matter how long I pumped. 索性的，我就pump了一下，收了收，又会去睡了 and wait till I more awake then attempt to empty my breast.

Through the FB pages, I knew there was going to be this toy fair starting today at Bukit Batok HomeTeamNS. (I hate to pronouce this HomeTeamNS, always tongue-tied) so I was planning to bring Ethan there to buy some toys at discounted price. After his nebuliser treatment at 9am, I quickly pumped, prepared the necessities, then showered Ethan and myself. It wasn't easy because I gotta coax him into shower and out of the shower.

You see, the plan was to take the bus as I have connecting buses right at my doorstep but it was about 1130am when we left the house. So we walked to the bus-stop and hoped to catch a taxi. I am glad we did because it was near to 12noon when we reached and we had curfew to return by 1pm for his next session of treatment. Shopped around and it was about 1235pm when we left. As usual, the taxi came before the bus, so we took the cab. On the cab, I thought I should cook some healthy lunch for Ethan cos I haven't done that in quite a while so we stopped at the nearby supermarket. Bought Macaroni and chicken thigh.

Got home, I quickly administered the treatment while my helper cooked the stock. Can't believed that the showering and shopping was all done within four hours, not forgetting the duration for treatment and my pump session.

But my dear boy got drowsy and fell asleep halfway through lunch. :x

---
I am so looking forward to the day where Kaelyn turns toddler and I can bring them both out on my own. You see, I like bringing Ethan out on my own.. he's quite independent now except for the few times he wants to be carried.

2nd hospitalisation.

This is the second time Ethan gets warded (not including the neonatal jaundice admission).
Again, he was put on nebuliser treatment, but this time not for Bronchitis.

His runny nose & cough worsens to fever and difficulty in breathing over Sunday night. I brought Kaelyn over to my mom and got her to care for Kaelyn while I bring Ethan to the PD as planned.
When Dr Tan saw him, he knew something was wrong. Dr Tan wasn't able to explain the exact cause, only mentioned that it's probably due to viral infection. He quickly got Ethan on the nebuliser treatment but poor boy, he was screaming the crowded clinic down!

After the treatment, his advice was to ward Ethan for a night to receive treatment and soon I found myself making arrangements for Kaelyn and Ethan.
Hubby came over during his lunch time (and I'm glad he did cos he helped to settle all the logistics issues like getting Ethan's & Kaelyn's stuff from my mom's & our house respectively; not forgetting my clothes and pump).

I'm really thankful for all the help rendered, especially hubby lubby, my sisters and my parents for offering to take care of Kaelyn while I stay with Ethan in the hospital. They made me have less worries because I know Kaelyn is in good hands.
And for the first time, Kaelyn gets to stay over at my mom's and was not able to be breast-fed at night... it's like getting her off my breast cold turkey without any warning. I feel sad about it.

As for Ethan, he was quite afraid of the treatment for the first few times. Subsequently, he got used to it or he was sleeping when the treatment was administered on him.

As for me, I had to delay my pumping hours by about 7hours because I need to wait for hubby to come back with the pump. This affected my milk supply in a way but the good thing is, the supply is now sort of building back.

For this one night, I had to discard my expressed milk although steriliser and bottle washing liquid and brush are provided within the ward. This is because the steriliser wasn't working properly and the bottle washing liquid smells like it's not those specially for babies and the brush is used.:(

I am glad that the doctor gave green light for discharge but we have to continue to administer the treatment to him 4-hourly. Because of the complexity of the drugs used, I decided to swop kids; meaning Kaelyn will still stay with my mom and I will bring Ethan home to care and administer the treatment for him. Didn't want to bring both kids home because I know Ethan wants to be near his sister and I don't want to stop him excessively (thinking this might make him confused... like why are we stopping him from sayanging meimei). At the same time, I am worried he might pass on his cold/cough virus to meimei and she's too young to have any drugs to be used on her.

The doctor had ordered home treatment for 2 days before we see him again. So we are returning on Thursday for a review. Till then, Ethan will stay with us and Kaelyn with my parents. I hope she understands why I am leaving her under my parents' care. Baby girl, mommy don't want korkor to pass his virus to you and at the same time, don't wish to hurt korkor's feelings by asking him to stay away because he is sick.

So to sum it up, I have a 4hourly pump and nebuliser schedule to stick strictly to for the next 48hours. :x

visiting lao ma.

This weekend is quite a fulfilling yet tiring one.
Ethan fell sick on Friday and his condition worsen over the weekend. I had to quickly make a trip to Guardian to get medicine for runny nose. Am planning to bring him to his PD tml.

On Saturday, we went to Ethan's & Kaelyn's lao-ma house and spent the afternoon there.
Initially Ethan was reluctant to go but upon hearing cars & balls that lao-ma has got for him, he changed his mind and had a good time there.
As for Kaelyn, she was very well-behaved that day; slept throughout the whole visit, only woke up once for milk. I breastfed her at as I wanted to save the hassle of bringing the pump and frozen EBM around. And the best thing is, she took bottles when she got home. Totally no problem except the usually fussing before submitting to the bottle.

Before the visit, we quickly pop by NTUC to get 2 more Pigeon bottles and a packet of undies for Ethan.

On Sunday, for the first time, we left Kaelyn in the care of our helper alone at home, and we sent Ethan back to my mom's place. Before sending him home, we dropped by Plaza again, went for a car wash, and did our usual Sunday grocery shopping.

fetching Ethan.

Since the delivery of Kaelyn, we always have plans to bring her back to my mom's place once a week (while I am still on leave) to let her familiarize with different places, just like how Ethan travel to & fro my in-laws' and my mom's place when he was a newborn.

So today, I brought Kaelyn home and got my sister to bathe her. The original plan was to return to my workplace for a while after lunch but due to the moving and all, no one is in office so I aborted the plan and stayed through at home with my mom & Kaelyn.

Kaelyn had her feeds done by my mom cos the moment I picked her up, she will want to be breast-fed. Everything went okay and we finally determined that she can do better at bottle-feeding with the Pigeon bottle. I am going buy 2 more Pigeon wide neck bottle for her use and probably switch back to Avent when she's older. The bright side of using a different set of bottles from Ethan is, there is no need to do any marking and no room for mixing up the use of their bottles. :)

Since I am in today, I went to fetch Ethan from his school. I was so eager to fetch him so I got there early. He was almost done with his 'hi-tea' and I saw how rough his teacher was with the kids. Oh well, I am alright with it as long as there is no abuse. :x And I guess that's one of the reasons why Ethan preferred his Chinese teacher to the English teacher.

I was expecting him to cry out loud (like the few times he did previously) when he sees me, but boy, was I wrong! Instead, he smiled and did a big wave to me, signalling "hi".

Then the teacher got his bag for him while he washes his hand in their wash room. He wasn't was ganjiong as previously too. What amazes me is, he is able to wear his own shoes now! I wanted to help him with it but his teacher stopped me in time and told me to watch him do it on his own. It was a pleasant surprise! My lovely sweet boy has another achievement unlocked! I feel like I am missing out so many of his progress... :x

After taking him out from his class, I asked him if he knew the way back to popo house and he said he did. So I told him I don't know the way back and he has to take my hands to bring me home. He gladly did and echo-ed after me 带回婆婆家. What amazes me again is, he actually knew the way back and knew exactly which direction to go when I prompted him. Oh my, little man is he!

On the way back, there is this moment that he looked up to me (while holding my hands) with this smile/contented-happy-looking-face on his face. I will never forget this moment. How I wished I could have more of these days....

Brings back memories of those days where my mom would send me & pick me up from the Kindergarten. Those were the days. I was still a kid then, and now, I am bringing my own kid. How surreal is that?

Ethan boy & Kaelyn girl, mommy loves you! :) I may not know the best way to teach you but I wish both of you can grow up to be healthy and cheerful! :)

bottle feeding kaelyn

So it turns out that we didn't manage to meet Lilian or make the trip down to TMC Parentcraft yesterday.
We got up early, bathed Kaelyn, got things prepared and were all ready to head out around 9.30am but fate has it that we couldn't get a taxi after calling the taxi companies for half an hour!

Decided to call Lilian and turns out that she's only in & available till 10am and seeing that it's already a little over ten, I decided to call off the whole 'outing'.

Later that afternoon, MIL & SIL brought us out to the nearby mall, where I got the waterproof pads (for her diaper changing) and a new pigeon bottle. Decided to try using a new bottle to see if it helps with the bottle feeding.

Anyway, she's better with the bottles though she is still fussing here and there when bottle-feeding. I am grateful for such an improvement. I am now using 2 types of bottles, the pigeon wide neck and avent bottle. It seems that she is less fussy when using pigeon bottle but there is this squeaking sound that she will make with it... whereas, the other way round for the avent bottle. I'm confused, now which one should I use... ;x

day 39.

Phew~ the weekend just flew passed and so many things happened over the past few days...

Kaelyn started rejecting bottles after I latched her on Thursday when she had her blood drawn. And she is back to taking bottles only today. But I am not sure how long this will last so I have made plans to visit Thomson ParentCraft/Lilian to have her bottle-trained. It's going to cost me some money but I guess that's better than letting her cry her lungs out before she submits herself to the bottle.
I am glad I called Lilian this morning cos I learnt that tomorrow will be her last day with TMC Parentcraft.

Brought her out to BPP this afternoon. It was her first time there and first time taking her own pram, or a pram, to be exact.

Barely 48 hours after visiting the PD, we returned again on the Saturday because Ethan was running fever and vomiting. The call-in registration was full so we had to walk in. Waited for about 2 hours before we saw the PD. Was the 2nd last patient. While waiting, he vomited out his milk at the clinic. I swear I almost cried when I saw how 辛苦 he is... whining for help. I told myself I cannot cry and scare him. I had to be brave for him. :x
He's now feeling better but my mom said he was coughing a little here and there~ Sometimes I blame myself for his weak health. :x

On Sunday, while playing ball with his daddy, Ethan missed a step and fell on his head/ear. Poor thing! Another moment I wanted to tear. He barely recovered from the fever and vomiting and there he is, hitting hard on his head.

Didn't manage to start out the new schedule with the helper yet. Will get her started probably on Wednesday since we are going out tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow is Day 40. Another significant milestone. :)

all clear!

yeah! I got the call from the clinic this morning (actually they called yesterday evening but I missed the calls) and they informed that Kaelyn's jaundice level is below 10 (the clinic asst did mention the exact figures but all that could get into my head was below 10, which is within the safe level) and she's probably still yellow because of my breastmilk, the so-called breast-feeding jaundice. :x

The clinic asst went further to assure me that because it is within the safe level, it is okay/safe to continue to breast feed and that it will go away slowly as she grows! hurray!

She also said that if I'm still worried, I can bring her in for another jaundice test when she is 2 months old.
---
plans plans plans... I have got so much plans in my head...

I plan to start 'training' the maid from Monday onwards, which means that I will have to wake up early to 'monitor' how she does her house work and re-plan her time-table.
I plan to bring Kaelyn over to mom's place next week and steal some time to go back to office and to Ethan's school to speak to his teachers.
I plan to transfer Ethan back to the Senja branch when he gets promoted to the playgroup class.
I plan to settle Kaelyn at my MIL's in the daytime when I get back to work in November; I've got about one month to get her used to the idea of using bottles.

Everything is going smoothly, with Kaelyn's bath times within schedule. Just need to reinforce in the idea of bottle-feeding which is hard for me to do it alone cos she smells me and wants latching. And worse is, she doesn't want to be fed by the helper~ :x


Sidetrack, I bought the Iphone 5S... but I still cannot decide to get the black or Gold. I got two (one gold, one black), planning to sell away one of it... so which one...?

of vaccine, kids and apple!

Brought Kaelyn back to her PD this morning, with the intention to check her jaundice level and let her take the jab. I opted for the 5in1 jab so today Kaelyn took the Hep B jab.
Honestly, I thought Ethan also took 5in1 so I wanted to opt for the same for Kaelyn; turns out Ethan actually took the 6in1 jab upon verification with the clinic staff. But everything's too late cos the nurse already prepared the jab and it would be very paiseh to tell them I changed my mind. :x So we went ahead with the 5in1.

Dr Tan also noted that Kaelyn is still 'yellow' so he ordered for some tests to be done. I thought those are simple blood tests but it doesn't seem so "simple". He ordered for 2 tests to be done at SGD60(w/o GST) each and the blood is drawn from the back of the hand. *ouch~*

Kaelyn broke out in tears and wanted to latch to seek comfort. She managed to calm down after I latched her.

At a month (almost 5 weeks old), she's weighing 5.298kg, measuring 57cm and 37cm in length and head circumference respectively.
---
It's been a long time since I cut a toddler's nails, not to mention a month old baby. And I actually cut Kaelyn's nails yesterday (18-sep). I did it while she was napping in the afternoon. But I did 'inform' her that I was going to cut her nails and she's quite cooperative.

For a few hours today, she was off her mittens because she had her nails cut. :)
---
Ethan's a grown up little man now. He's getting more and more sensible yet sensitive to others' opinion of him. His vocab is increasing and he will say things that surprises you out of the blue.
Just like the other day, I was having dinner and Face-Timing him and he suddenly asked (without anyone prompting him), "妈咪，吃什么？" *he still have no concept of 你、我、他*

I love every moment of having him around, cos he will suddenly call out 妈咪... how sweet! :)
---
I am not sure why but my current iphone 4S is getting super laggy. I suspect it's due to the frequent dropping causing the touchscreen to be less sensitive. Just nice, iphone 5S will be released in an hours' time and I guess it's good time I change the phone (after 2 years of usage). :)

level up.

Today, I have unlocked another level of acheivement!

I brought Kaelyn out and took a bus to my MIL's. Though it was just a few stops away, the helper helped to carry all the barang barang to the bus stop and MIL waited for me at the bus stop on her end, it is still not easy to carry up and down the barangs on one hand and hold the baby in another.

Because I needed to run some errands and I thought it would be better to place Kaelyn at my MIL's instead of her coming over to my place, I have to pack the diaper bag, some frozen EBM and the milk warmer over to her place. So imagine the barangs I brought along with me.

After I place Kaelyn in her hands, I quickly refreshed her helper's memory in preparing the EBM and using the warmer before I leave for the bank.
First stop to the bank to set up Kaelyn's bank account. Then back home to express milk (cos I can only be out for 2.5-3hours), have lunch and shower.
Brought my pump along with me to Plaza. Went there to develop some pictures. While waiting for the development which takes about an hour, I went to Daiso, NTUC and Watsons. In all, I spent about 18bucks (including taxi fare back to my MIL's place) but I lugged 60+bucks worth of stuff home! Reason being, I utilized the NTUC vouchers and the POSB Everyday points for my buys in NTUC and Watsons.

In the less than 1.5hours I spent at Plaza, I felt as free as a bird. Finally I can be out to do shopping! and visiting my favourite places at my own sweet time (though I have a time constraint, that is to reach MIL's place to pump by 4.30pm)

A day at my MIL's place, Kaelyn became more receptive to drinking from bottle. At least now she doesn't cry as much, before she finally suckle from the teats.

I am trying to have some routine for Kaelyn so it makes everybody's lives easier.
I will bathe her at 10am every morning and wipe her at 7pm in the evening.
I will use bottle for her feedings from 7am to 7pm and latch her throughout the night.
All these routines will remain unchanged unless we need to bring Kaelyn out or have some other arrangements for the day. :)

of first month & showering the little one.

Kaelyn turns exactly 30days yesterday and we celebrated her first month on the same day too.
The celebration was split into two sessions due to the sheer number of attendees.

We had the afternoon session at my place, inviting guests & relatives from my side; and the evening session with guests and relatives from hubby's side.
Initially I thought there will be a lot of leftover food on my end because I didn't think I invited a lot of people. But it turns out that I'm wrong! The food was clean finished, even the 2 additional dishes my MIL cooked. Sorry 姑娘, I feel bad that Adrian and yourself didn't really get to eat much.

I really like to thank everyone for coming. I am sorry that I have been a bad host. Hubby and I were all so busy that we didn't manage to take any pictures with the kids and we nearly forgot to officiate an ceremonious haircut for Kaelyn. In the end, Hubby did the cut and I was so upset when he threw away the first cut into the toilet bowl and did another snip for my keepsake. Worst is, he didn't snip the hair from another side to keep both ends balance; he snipped at the same area both times! :x

I really appreciate my colleagues' attendance; one of them came from as far as Tampines. Also, my uni-mates' presence but really paiseh because they were entertaining amongst themselves most of the time.
Oh, and all the gifts from all of you.
For this baby shower, other than cash gifts, Kaelyn also received a few presents from my friends and I must say all of them are really thoughtful gifts and not just the generic gift sets that you can get from stores.

Side track a little; I also got my belated housewarming gift from another childhood bestie and I must say I am really touched with the effort she put in to gather those gifts and the notes she wrote. It seemed that we were all young girls in the yesteryear and today, I'm a mother of two and my bestie, about to tie the knot with her love.

The baby shower marks the end of my confinement and it also means that I have to start bathe baby Kaelyn on my own, unless I want the helper to do it for her.
So yea~, I bathed Kaelyn for the first time! In fact, this is my first time showering a full month old baby because I only got to bathe Ethan when he was 3-4months old?
For a first-timer, it was quite manageable except that I forgot to clean her neck and I am not sure if I had thoroughly shampoo-ed and cleaned her hair.
As an 'appreciation' of my effort, she pee-ed when I was carrying her in the towel. :p

In the afternoon, we brought her back to my mom's and took our first month family picture. In between I left her with my mom and went out with hubby to do grocery shopping. Long time since we last done that!

of post-natal massage.

So I have finally completed my 5 consecutive days of post-natal massage with Mdm I.

In case if you are wondering, I had engaged a different masseuse when I delivered Ethan. The massage then was done by Mdm K.

I shall blog about my personal experience with these 2 masseuse.

On the massage skills.
Truth to be told, I couldn't remember much about the massage done by Mdm K but it definitely wasn't as simple as Mdm I's. I feel that Mdm I's massage are really simple and more focused on the face, breast and shoulder/neck area whereas Mdm K's are more focused on the back and body/limbs.
Also, Mdm K's baby massage skills are better than Mdm I's. Again, Mdm I's baby massage is really simple.
But one thing I really appreciate Mdm I, is that she actually checked for my wound before starting the massage. In Mdm K's case, she did not check and assume I was fine to proceed with the massage and it sort of aggravated my wounds/stitches the other time.

On the masseuse, herself.
Mdm I's timing is more consistent than Mdm K's and the former keeps to the one hour massage timing. I realised in my later sessions with Mdm K, she will finish up the session in less than an hour; sometimes short-changing me 5-10mins. And Mdm K's charges varies from customer to customer. She charges me this amount and charges another a different amount, with the same package. Whereas, Mdm I's is standard amount per session.
One thing I didn't really fancy about Mdm I is, she is very gossipy and "dua kang". You see, I can understand she is trying to engage small talk with her customers, but she always end up revolving around the few and same topics... like about my MIL (cos my MIL engaged her massage services before), digging me for Mdm K's bad reviews, etc... In the first and second day, I still entertain her a bit, but on subsequent days, I just totally said "em", "yah", "don't know leh", "forgot liao" as my answers. On her "dua kang-ness", in her first 2 visits, she will promise to treat me this and that when my post-natal massage starts officially... but when it really starts, she tells me, I think you gotta consult your doctor on this yea~. If not, she will say, "eh, your face really slim down alot yea..." but in fact, there wasn't really much difference...
For Mdm K, it was really peaceful and quiet throughout the session, only asking if the pressure was okay or not. That's where I appreciate her for.

On the results.
Honestly, because I didn't complete my post-natal massage with Mdm K in 5 consecutive days, so the wrapping also didn't work as effectively as it should. Hence, I wouldn't make a comparison here.
What I can say is, the wrapping done for the past 4 days really flatten my tummy by a bit; but I still have the flabby skin. :x

All in all, I would probably engage Mdm I if I have got engorgement issues, since asking her to come is almost the same price to pay to visit TMC's parentcraft (including the transportation fees) and it's always more convenient to do it at home. :)

But if anyone were to ask for recommendation for post-natal massage from them both, I don't think I will. :)

on the 12th.

Today is one of my sweetie's birthday!
Happy Birthday, Sweets.
You are probably one of the best listener, adviser, MJ kaki, companion, friend, blah blah blah I have! :)

I guess you had a blast celebrating your birthday with your loved ones. So I wish you good health and happy always! :)

---
Supposed to wash my hair tomorrow but change of plans. I decided to wash & blow dry it at home today and tomorrow, I am gonna make a try to the salon after my shower and have the professionals give me a thorough wash!

Have been doing the wrap for the past 3 days, the tummy has flatten a little, but still very protruding.
I guess I will just have to continue wearing the girdle/binder after Friday. :x

Baby K's milestones

Here's a summary of baby K's milestones and this entry will be updated whenever she has new progress. :)

16-Aug-13: Birth
11-Sep-13: Bottle feeding
7/8-Nov-13: 1st Haircut (other than the ceremonious haircut 
           on her baby shower)
12-Dec-13: turns lunar 4th month; shaved hair 
            tasted solids; sat on walker
16-Dec-13: Teething / tooth erupted. :)
17-Dec-13: first assisted flip.
28-Dec-13: saw the budding teeth
11-Jan-14: 2 teeths and 3rd budding(upper&lower incisors;
            lateral came before central incisors)
15-Jan-14: flipping to the right w/o assistance
16-Jan-14: 1st FM feed
7months+: Sits up steadily
8months+: Crawling on fours
10months+: Able to stand without support for a while
13months+: Able to walk without support; sips from 
            strawcup; upper&lower Molars

Just for Records (weight/height/head circumference):
19-Sep-13: 5.298kg, 57cm, 37cm.
16-Nov-13: 6.910kg, -, -.
27-Nov-13: 7.086kg, 67cm, 38.5cm.
28-Dec-13: 7.584kg, 66.5cm, 40cm.
22-Jan-14: 7805/7905gm, -, -.
3-Mar-14: 8.432kg, 74cm, 43cm.
16-Apr-14: 9.030kg, 74cm, 43cm.
25-Jun-14: 9.715kg, -, -.
23-Aug-14: 10.465kg, 78cm, 45cm.
18-Nov-14: 11.6kg, 80cm, 46cm.
27-Dec-14: 12kg, -, -.
26-Feb-15: 12.3kg, 86.5cm, 45.7cm.
10-Mar-15: 12.3kg, -, -.
23-May-15: 13.3kg, -, -.
27-Jul-15: 13.9kg, 90.2cm, 48cm.
20-Aug-15: 14.6kg, , -.
21-Oct-15: 15kg, -, -.
28-Nov-15: 14.8kg, -, -.
29-Feb-16: 16.2kg, - , -.

of bottle feeding. :)

After so many tries, Kaelyn is finally drinking from the bottle.

When I think back, things are such irony:-
When Kaelyn was still a newborn, I insisted no bottle-feeding for the fear of nipple confusion and that I wanted her to latch as much as possible to stimulate my milk production.
It was a record low period for me then and I felt like such a failure, for not producing as much milk as when I delivered Ethan. I even sought to using formula milk. But all feeding was done by cup.

Good luck that my milk production came, with the help of motilium, rest and plenty of fluids. Though not a lot, it is currently sufficient to meet Kaelyn's demand.

I digressed. So when the confinement lady left, we knew it was time to introduce bottle (she's only 2 weeks old and it is recommended to introduce bottle at 3.5weeks old), because no one had the skills/patience or expertise to cup-feed except me. But most of the time I was tired, plus the fact that Kaelyn wouldn't properly feed from the cup when she smells me. :x

When I first tried out the Avent bottle, Kaelyn didn't take it readily. She rejected it.

Out of desperation, we even bought the NUK bottle and teats for her to try out, thinking that she didn't know how to suckle from the Avent teats because it was too big to fit into her tiny mouth.
Again, she didn't seem to know how to drink from the bottle.

It was until last week, when her dear daddy tried bottle feeding her again, with the NUK bottle, we observed that she is able to suckle but keep spitting out the milk. So now we know that she already 'learnt' the bottle drinking technique but is resisting it.

Again, I couldn't be the one bottle-feeding her at the moment, reason being she wouldn't properly feed from bottle when she smells me (she will still prefer latching). So I got my mother-in-law to try again this afternoon.

Like previous attempts, she kept resisting the bottle and crying. Then after much crying, she fell asleep. Woke up again due to the hunger... finally she couldn't take the hunger and relented. She finished the whole 50ml bottle of milk!

Yeah! But you know what, it really pains me to hear her cry and I have to keep repeating to her (actually, is to remind myself)..."妈咪没有喂你的。你要自己学会喝奶瓶。妈咪要狠心一点，你才学得会。" I think at the same time, I could almost feel my MIL was going to ask me to latch her, upon seeing her cry so badly. But because I was chanting the above, she just kept on trying the bottle and soothing Kaelyn at the same time.

Anyway, we tried the bottle again on her in the evening. And she was taking it.

At 3.5weeks old, she's finally taking from bottle and has no problem with latching too (i.e. no nipple confusion)!

The current plan is, for her to be bottle-fed in the day and latching at night. Hopefully we will be in time to prepare/warm her milk before she gets impatient...

counting down...

Confinement will end in another 5 days and I am so looking forward to Friday where I can finally wash my hair! I know this sounds gross and disgusting but yep, in accordance to the Chinese confinement customs (maybe, Malay as well as Indians, I am not too sure...), mothers during their confinement are not supposed to bathe or wash their hair. But rules have been loosen in the way that confinement mothers now can bath, but must be with the herbal water...

Anyway, a few things happened for the past few days since my last post.

1. I met up with another GE representative. Reason being, I don't feel quite right after meeting my current servicing agent, so I texted my cousin, asking her for recommendations. She then introduced this lady to me. She might not be the best agent around but at least she did her homework before meeting me, presented a proposal and is able to answer my queries in detail. So in turn I recommended her to my sister. Will be meeting this new GE rep again, cos I need to do the paperwork for my current policies to be transferred and serviced by her.

2. Had arranged for the Opennet & fiber installation re-appointment.
I guess I hadn't blogged about this previously; long story short - the Singtel people was informed that the open net team could not do the installation on the appointed date days before my appointment. They called my house number but could not get me. And guess what, they did not ensure this message gets to me and I waited half a day at home for nothing.
On the day when they didn't turn up, I called in to enquire and I have got this silly CSO telling me the appointed time is 11am-1pm and it is not 1pm yet (it was already 12ish when I called), so I have to call in after 1pm to check again with them. DUH? I rebutted her, "I thought the appointment time means they will come between 11am-1pm and finish up their job by 1pm?" For a moment she was stunned and finally put me on hold to check with their team internally.
Because I missed the open net installation appointment, the Singtel fiber team could not come in and fix up the fiber connection. I have the CSO calling again and again to ask me to fix up another appointment date when I repeatedly tell them I am not going to do so until I get a closure on the missed appointment. Finally, someone with better IQ&EQ called up and apologised.

3. I FINALLY started on my post-natal massage! Had asked the massage lady to come in 2 weeks ago but she only did breast massage to clear my engorgement on both occasions. Today is the 3rd session I have with her but this is the first session where she officially started massaging my body & did wrapping on my tummy! Hurray! Can't wait to see the results!

Anyway, this week is gonna be a busy week, so is next week when the confinement ends officially! Cos I've got lots of errands to run!

Need to go grocery shopping! Need to use the coupons to develop the photos! Need to exchange the freezer drawer! Need to go shopping! Need to unwind myself!
And most importantly, need to bottle-train Kaelyn! :)

of the confinement. [updated]

I guess writing about the confinement experience now is a little too early but I shall do an update of the happenings today.

You see, I have got my confinement lady contact from my cousin because she had a good experience with her. So I called and confirmed her services.
Right after I confirmed her availability, little hiccups came right after another...

First, I am supposed pay a deposit to book her. So I did a ibanking transfer to her bank and it takes about 3 working days (since we are using different banks). But the branch/account code I entered was of incorrect format so the transaction didn't go through. She called quite a few times to check on this...

Finally the payment got through and there was this one occasion she called and we talked about the charges, if she can lower her charges since I have a helper helping me with the chores, especially hand-washing of baby clothes... much to my astonishment, she told me it's washed using machine and that the amount she's charging me is less than the market rate. :x So we kept to the originally agreed amount.

Then on the day I gave birth, I got hubby to call her and inform her of my birth. I am not sure if it's pure coincidence or what, she told us she couldn't get a train ticket out to Singapore on Sunday (day of my discharge), it's either Saturday or Monday and she's more keen to come on Monday. But my mother-in-law proposed for her to come on Saturday and we will pay for a night stay at the hotel. She keep saying, staying at hotel is very ex, blah blah blah and finally, she called again to say she got a ticket, as she puts it, the last ticket, for Sunday and will arrive in the evening.

The prelude to the storm:

She got along quite well with my helper in her 1st week of stay, even though she doesn't speak English and my helper don't understand Malay/Mandarin. But suddenly, accusations of who uses the MSG flew around. They both turned enemies in a bat of an eyelid. Through confrontation, I managed to resolve the issue but unhappiness within them starts to build up.

Then they have got some other issues, again, over minor issues like helping out, eating habits, etc...

The whole thing finally erupted last evening and it was also the first time the confinement auntie requested to leave. I managed to soothe her...
but the finale came:
The auntie is raising concerns over the cleanliness of Kaelyn's bath towels and the helper got agitated. I guess everything was too much for me to handle and we sought help from my MIL.
She came and meditated both parties but to no avail. The auntie felt she was being wronged and insisted to leave. :x

Well, no choice, we pro-rated her pay and let her go...

So for the next 2 weeks, I am going to survive with the help of my MIL, mom, sisters, helper and the husband.
fingers-crossed that everything will go smoothly...

updates:
I abruptly ended the post days back cos the hubby is complaining I am spending too much time in the cyber world...
so just let me end off this post nicely...


But to be honest, the confinement lady has been a great help, in terms of taking care of the mommy (that's me) and the baby.

When she's around, I have no worries, and I can just sleep till I wake cos she will patiently cup-feed Kaelyn. (Kaelyn doesn't know how to be bottle-fed.) And she is very routined with baby's bathe and wipe times. I totally entrusted Kaelyn in her hands.

She also takes great care of my stomach... always cooking nice things and asking me if I am hungry and preparing stuff for me to eat...

Last night, it was raining heavily and it reminded me of the recent TMC visit for my post-natal check up. It was raining heavily on our way and the taxi wasn't allowed into TMC's premise, so the taxi driver could only alight us at the taxi stand. Though there is a shelter but between the vehicle and shelter, there is still some gap. The auntie actually insisted the driver to get me an umbrella cos she said I'm still under confinement, cannot be caught in the rain... After much persistence, the driver got out of the vehicle, bracing the rain and got me an umbrella. :x

The same thing happened yet again when we were on our way home.
Truth to be told, I think for the 2 weeks she's with me, she has been doing a great job, letting me have the much needed rest. :)

I would still recommend it to my friends if they need contacts for confinement lady. :)

Oops, I did it again!

As the title suggests, I couldn't really stop my itchy fingers and I made online purchases again!

I am making at least one purchase each day since last Sunday. :( And as of this moment, my total expenditure is 800+.
I told hubby lubby and he was astonished at the rate I was making the purchases.

The parcel from Klarra.com came and I'm a little disappointed with the color of the skirt I got. The color didn't look as bright as pictured. I guess this is what they say, colors might differ a little due to screen resolutions & lightings. Again, it's nicely kept together with the other loots received. Till I shed the extra fats....

Met with the GE rep. Had a short discussion before I had to let her go cos I was feeling the engorgement. Hope she doesn't get offended. :x

Got my helper to open the letter box; my wet bags are here! Yeah! The romper from Love, Bonito too! I really regret not buying size L... Now size M looks really small for me... I doubt I can wear it even if I slim down (if ever). But the quality is good, and as pictured!

Conclusion, can still continue to buy from LB. :)

Just as I typed, the door bell rang and my ASOS.com parcel is here too! Hurray! Opened up and I'm pretty satisfied with my purchase from ASOS, except for the length of the jumper strap, being a little short (but I still like it!) & the nursing bra which I added to the cart to qualify for free express shipping (actually it's quite comfy wearing it!). Yeah, now I know I can buy from ASOS too (though this isn't exactly my first purchase, bought 2 belts from ASOS before. They didn't have the service to ship internationally then... had to use vpost). Now I just hope it's not too big for me after I shed the kilos cos I bought size UK14 for the jumper & dress. Contradictory, I know. :x

My loots & updates~

My loots from the online purchases are slowly arriving one by one.
First the wipes from Qoo10.sg. It was selling at S$1.49 per packet of 80pcs, excluding shipping fees by Qxpress and it comes in a box of ten. It's a Korean brand and said to be anti-bacterial. However, I'm not really going to use it on the baby/toddler cos I bought 3 cartons of Pigeon wipes for the young ones already; this is more for daily in&out uses to wipe here&there.
Because I have not had a place to store it, it's tucked right in a corner within the storeroom.

Then the parcel from Agneselle came. Honestly, their designs are nice but I don't buy AE cos the cutting seems like a little small for me. And I don't know what got into me, I bought 6pcs of clothes from them. True enough, even the largest size available cannot seem to fit me (pre-pregnancy) but I am already eyeing on a piece from their upcoming collection! *Slaps forehead!* What I am hoping here is, I can fit in all of them this time round, after I get rid of all the pregnancy fats! For now, the clothes are also silently tucked one side in the storeroom.

Within 3-4days, I spent close to 500+ (or was it 600+, I lost count) on the purchases. I can even remember my credit card number by heart now.

Coming up next, I'm expecting my parcel for the wet bags and from the following vendors:
1. ASOS.com
2. Love, Bonito
3. Klarra.com
4. Qoo10.sg - pants for hubby lubby, leggings for myself, portable urinal, tops&dresses&sets for myself again!
5. My Medela pump parts (my massage lady says my current shield are too small for me and advised me to get a bigger size. I still have a brand new unopened pair, size 24mm. Any takers? Letting go at $21.50, inclusive postage.)

Really looking forward to the day I get rid of the extra skin&fats!

Meeting the insurance agent from GE tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, by then I can decide between GE and AIA.

Btw, had my first massage session yesterday afternoon. I didn't do the body massage though, cos my wounds are still healing, so the massage lady helped me with my lumpy breasts. Definitely felt much better. It's like having the lactation consultant help me clearing the breasts, without me stepping out of the house / returning to TMC's ParentCraft.

Brought Kaelyn for her jaundice blood test this morning at Mt A. Results shows an increase in the jaundice level so the nurses informed us to return on Saturday to do another test. In the meantime, just keep sunning her... :(
Pains me to see her being poked. :x

post-natal check.

went for my post natal check today and the doctor says my wounds are only 80% healed and that it will take longer than usual to heal due to the scarred skin from previous birth.


Came back home and refused to on the PC... was browsing on the ipad and god knows, I spend another 100+ on online purchases. I can't believe it.

I think I am going to faint when I see my bills next month, with the online purchases and medical bills... :x
oh, did I mention, the electrical bills as well... cos the confinement lady says it's better to on the air-con rather than the fan; so there I'm, 24/7 in air-con room. :x

just a few clicks...

... and I burnt a hole in my pocket...

Did some online purchases for new clothes. Not entirely sure about the sizes since I have not slimmed down yet but yeah, I went ahead with the 'agaration' of the sizing charts provided.

Made purchases from ASOS.com since they are now providing free express shipping to Singapore (for purchases above S$175) and Agneselle. This is my first time buying from Agneselle, and I hopefully the sizes will fit me nicely and not let the 100+ dollars go down the drain... :)

Just to update a bit on my confinement.
So far so good; I'm happy and satisfied with the services, knowledge (of baby-care & mother-care) and culinary skills of the confinement auntie. :)

Baby Kaelyn's turn to go Hawaii. :)

As per the normal routine, we brought Kaelyn for her first checkup upon discharge on yesterday.
Did the blood test for Jaundice level and the level was above the safety level (level 10).

So we took the option of admitting her to the hospital (Mt A) cos we feel that it's more effective and with the care of the professionals, Kaelyn will recover faster.

Kaelyn started her 3d2n 'vacation' in Hawaii suntanning, right after the doctor's appointment. Her brother teared & fussed a little, asking for mei mei when he realised kaelyn wasn't going home with us. How sweet is this brotherly love for the mei mei.

I'm going to be more hardworking, building up the EBM reserve. :)

Dr Tan called hubby earlier and informed that Kaelyn is doing very well with the phototherapy. If all goes well, she should be able to return home tomorrow! :D

As for Ethan, he was all cleared for his nasal problem and got his last jab (for up to 2 years old) & jab certification. If I remember correctly, his next jab will be in another 8 years' time when he's ten years old.

But he seems to be having a small cold now...:(

Arrival of Baby Kaelyn! :)

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our new bundle of joy & love, Kaelyn Goh on 16th August 2013, weighing 4.220kg. :)

And this is her Birth Story :)

Prelude:
Usually we will have our antenatal check on Friday and the next scheduled appointment was supposed to be 16th Aug. But the nurses informed that the gynae's appointment is full on that day, so I took chance and opted for a day earlier, instead of the suggested Saturday. *I was secretly thinking about delivering her on the 16th if possible... hehe.*

15th August:
10am: Dr Tham did the scan and said Kaelyn is about 3.5kg. So we asked if we could get an induction... He did a VE and told me 2-3cm dilated and I should be ready. He even told me he can induce on the 15th if I want. Told him that I would prefer 16th and then was instructed to return to the labour ward around 11.30pm that night.

As usual, we headed to the Guan Yin Temple @Bugis to offer prayers. Then we went to peep at Ethan in his class, but he saw us. So we took him off his class after his shower. Went to Causeway Point, had lunch and bought some plates suitable for steaming stuff...

Sent Ethan back to my mom's, went home, set up Kaelyn's bed and informed the helper that I am going away for labour and got her to prepare my stuff.

Had my last coconut juice. :)

7+pm: Went over to my in-law's place for dinner and waited till 11pm, before heading over to TMC.

11.15pm: Got to TMC and headed to the Labour Ward.
The nurse got me changed and asked hubby to do the admission.

16th August:
12mn: The nurse came, put me on CTG and the pill for induction. Still ~2cm dilated.

4am: Still ~2cm dilated, inserted the second pill. After inserting the 2nd pill, I did feel more intense contraction but still bearable...

6+am: Nurse shaved me and inserted the enema to poo. Still ~2cm dilated. Got wheeled into the labour ward cos of the contractions.

In between I poo-ed again.. cos earlier on, when I was pooping, the contractions came and I couldn't concentrate...

7.30am - Doc came and burst my waterbag.

around 9plus I guess, I was 4cm dilated.

Used the laughing gas and took the pethidine jab.
The nurses in the delivery ward are quite nice, they kept putting me to 'sleep' but in me, I can still hear them talk and sniff the gas when my contractions came.

by around 10+am, I was 6.5cm dilated.

around 11am I was 9cm! :)

And shortly, the nurses told me I am ready to push and Dr Tham came in.

After a few cycles of push, the nurses got hubby to see the crowning (hair).

But I still couldn't get her out so the nurses suggested vacuum and I agreed. After a few cycles of struggles and pushes and help from the delivery team & hubby... the baby's head got out but the body still inside.. gynae decided to let me do it on my own. Good luck that Kaelyn also did her best. After a few twists & turns & pushes (as described by hubby), Kaelyn came out! :)

The nurse asked the hubby to guess the weight and everyone was wrong... she weighed 4.220kg! Faints.

Again, this is how I did it without epidural for a normal assisted vacuum delivery. :)

Lucky we could induce week38+, otherwise, can't imagine what happens if I wait till week40. :)

p/s: Kaelyn's chinese name is 禹萱, and when it came to deciding Kaelyn's chinese name, hubby and I made the same choice cos this name combination is the nicest among all. :)

D-day..

Tomorrow is the D-day!!! :)

Went for my usual antenatal check today and we actually told the doctor of our wish to deliver Kaelyn tomorrow.
After checking my cervix, he gave the green light! He says I'm about 2.5-3cm dilated!
Just like the day before I delivered Ethan, I was also about 2cm dilated but the only difference is, right now I don't feel so much pain as compared to the time when Dr Ang did VE on me.

We will be admitting tonight around 11.30pm to TMC.

I'm all set. A little nervous cos I am not sure if I can 'dong' through all the pain like I did previously. Cos for Ethan, it was the first time so no experience... now I sorta know what's expected of me.. so hmmm... :x

So today, right after the checkup, we went to Bugis to pray, then pick up Ethan from school (the plan was to go peek at him but he saw us).
Went to CWP for lunch and metro to buy the plates that I can use for steaming and microwave. Metro is having a promotion of 12pcs of dishes for $79 but is outta stock. I bought 3 individual pcs instead.. and that cost me $45. I was thinking might as well top up another $35 for 9pcs... the Metro saleslady advised that the stocks will be in next week and she could call me and I can bring these 3 unused pcs back to exchange and top up (within a week). So I said okay. Informed my mom and sis, just in case they need to help me with the exchange.

Then we brought Ethan to the outdoor playground and Kiddy Palace. At KP, Ethan said he wanted to buy a Minnie for mei mei. I asked is it Kaelyn mei mei, he said yes!
Without hesitance, I paid and left. I am glad he's starting to want to interact and show concern for Kaelyn. :)

the long weekend.

Okay, so Kaelyn is still inside me after the long weekend. We so much wanted her to pop but I think she's getting comfy within.

Anyway, we had a long weekend due to the Hari Raya Puasa and National Day holies falling on Thurs and Fri respectively.

On Thursday, we brought Ethan to the park. One of the largest park in Singapore, the West Coast Park, together with my sweetie and her lil' family.
We started the day with MacD lunch and then a walk on the sandy playground. Initially Ethan is very annoyed by the sand getting into his sandals but got used to it after our constant encouragement that it is okay to have sand on his toes.

I would say the park is more for other kids, so we left the place for West Coast Plaza shortly.
Went to the Playful Elves playpad again. Stayed there for about an hour or so. This time round I can see Ethan enjoying himself more but I would still prefer Hokey Pokey.

After the playpad, sweetie & her hubby came over to our place and made dinner for us. Delicious! I think my helper also picked up a few tips from Edwin. Then hui came over for a game of MJ.

On Friday, Ethan went out with his grans to the airport and to his yi-po house. Came back in the evening cos of the curfew he has to observe for this 7th lunar month.

On Saturday, he woke up to realised his daddy left for work and was crying over it. Poor thing. I quickly pacified him and off he went with my parents, to nearby for breakie. My dad and mom had planned to have breakie at Teck Whye before dropping by my place to help me fix Ethan's car and the yaolan.

Just as they were done, the freezer delivery guy came. Good luck that dad was around to help fix up everything. :)

Then they left with Ethan. :x

On Sunday, we woke up really late, around 12 plus... then I requested hubby lubby to bring me out. So I gave him 2 options, IMM or CWP. He chose the former.
Had lunch at IMM and walked around. I was planning to get a Allerhand diaperbag and guess what, my man got me a Coach diaper bag. He says can use for Kaelyn and Ethan and the current one Ethan is using, is too small for two; which I agree but Coach is really a luxury.

But I still feel sweet cos I know it's something he wants for his kids and me. :)
Then we went Giant, got the cooler box and a inflatable sofa seat. With the cooler box, we can use for Kaelyn's baby shower party and I am secretly hoping that we can go picnic often after Kaelyn's birth!
I think now I can officially say, in our house, 什么最多。 椅子和tupperware/containers最多！ We have our sofa, bean bags and pull-out console seat plus this new addition! :x

That's about it for the long weekend.
Now it's just anticipating the arrival of Kaelyn.

a trip to Tampines.

Just returned from the trip to Tampines. This time round, we went to Giant and Courts.

Due to the lack of space in the freezer so we decided to get another freezer just to store my EBM.
Had originally intended to get one when we had Ethan but just nice my parents' in law wanted to get another fridge so there were enough space then. Now that we have moved out, so our plan is to get one to store the EBM and sell away this freezer once I stopped breastfeeding.

Then we went to Courts. Hubby got a bed for Ethan. I am not for it cos I think he's still too young but Hubby insisted. So I just let him be... :x

ENT specialist visit for Ethan.

Since newborn, Ethan has always this snorting sound when sleeping. We attributed it to sensitive nose that he was having since the daddy also has it.
Then recently, about a month or 2 ago... he started runny nose. It was during the peak of the haze period so again, we attributed that to the sensitive nose + haze.
Apparently the haze is gone, antibiotics and steriods prescribed but the runny nose hasn't gone away. The condition has improved until last weekend, it worsen again.
Brought him to the PD and we both agreed that Ethan should see a ENT specialist to identify the root cause.

Today, the specialist, Dr Leong said that he couldn't really see the ear cos there's too much ear wax within (and he prescribed medicine to reduce the ear wax).
As for the nose, all mucus are dried up cos I fed Ethan with Zyrtec prior to the visit. But he is sure, there is a inflammation.
He also mentioned that Ethan's tonsils are big.

So to cure the runny nose, phlegm, swell and infection, etc... the doctor prescribed 2 weeks worth of medicine. And we will 'rest' for a week before seeing him. So that's 3 weeks later.
I guess by then I would have given birth and hubby will be the one to bring him.

I hope he gets cured after the 2 weeks of medicine.
Poor boy. Once he's cleared, he will have to take his 2 year old jab (which has been delayed due to all the runny nose...)

2 knocks in a day.

While I feel that kids experiencing knocking here and there are okay, I still feel bad when I witness it first hand.

Ethan fell and hit his nose yesterday afternoon. We didn't see what happened though but it sure was painful cos he was crying out loud.

Then yesterday evening while we were at hubby's aunt's place, he was coming down the stairs. At the last step, he slipped on the floor and flew across, hitting his forehead onto the wooden arm chair leg. I saw it & felt really helpless for not being able to stop him in time. He was a brave boy and didn't cry this time.

Sometimes I really feel that despite having congested nose, sensitive skin/habitual scratching... he was never really affected. Still a happy & cheerful boy. I really applaud him for his resilience.

This boy is getting more & more adorable each day. :)

side note; got the thermal flask & herbs for bathing from mom today.
Also got the NTUC trolley today. Not the best or what I have been looking for but good enough to relieve the helper's load when we do our weekly grocery shopping. :)

Also experience discomfort & pain at the pelvic bone area today. Too bad I have an important week coming up so I can't go to my gynae and request any form of leave... :(

Ethan's first dental visit.

As I mentioned earlier, Ethan has been complaining about ache at the back of his mouth. We didn't spot any erupting tooth so I thought the safest is to bring him to a dentist.

Initially I was thinking of bringing him to a PD dentist I found online (recommended by a mommy blogger) but later I got another recommendation from my PD. So I thought, okay, let's take the PD's recommendation.

We went right after my routine ante-natal check on Friday.
Though we were on time (in fact, 15mins earlier), we waited past our appointment time to see the dentist.

The dentist revealed that Ethan was teething and also having cavities. She then taught her how to get rid of it...
Initially I thought she would also clean Ethan's teeth for him but she only demo-ed to us how to clean and that's it.
For cleaning 3 milk teeth, and getting a free tooth brush for kids, we paid close to $130.

I don't mind paying the money but it probably is not within my expectation that the dentist didn't do cleaning for Ethan's full set of teeth before sending us away.

I am scheduled for another appointment with this dentist in half a year's time but I might consider other dentists.

Side track; Kaelyn gained another 500gm in 3 weeks, making her 2.7kg now. Scheduled to see the gynae in 2 weeks' time. It will be my 37th week then. :)

busy at work.

Work has been really busy these days, especially this week.

I hope to clear as much as possible before I go on leave... but there is so much that I can do only.

Looking forward to this week's ante-natal check. :)

the wafer maker. :)

Have been wanting to try and make waffles for the longest time... and today I finally got down to making it using the waffles maker (Merina & Weilin got for us as housewarming gift).

Glad that I have all the ingredients required at home so preparing the batter was easy. :)

The waffles turned out pretty good, vanilla favoured due to the essence.

I think the recipe that came with the waffles maker can make about 5-6 pieces but we were all full after 3 pieces, so I kept the rest of the batter for tomorrow morning's breakfast. :)

Shall modify the quantity on the recipe next time so that I won't have leftovers. ;p

first try with the egg maker.

Remember I wrote about getting the egg maker and my mom got me one.

I tried to use it yesterday morning and wasted 2 eggs before I finally get it right...

oh well, I attribute it to the following factors:
1. the eggs are bigger than the usual ones we get from Supermarkets
2. the eggs are taken out from the fridge
3. our boiling water is at 90degC.

I also noticed the egg maker was draining away the water at a faster rate than the one my mom had before.
So what I did was, I took the eggs out from the fridge, let it 'cool' for a while and put the eggs into the bottom holder for 5mins after the water has been drained away from the top.

prepping for arrival of Kaelyn. [Updated]

I guess I am almost done with the laundry for Kaelyn and my post-natal clothes...

Refreshing the list here and here:
I am left with...

1. buying/finding the Travel changing mat
2. buy extra sanitary pads for confinement
3. buy extra 2 packs of disposable underwear
4. buy disposable breast pads
5. buy milkbags
6. buy starch powder
7. borrow Thermo flask from mom
8. get the herbs (for bathing) from mom
9. black beans (for drinks) from mom
10. bean sprout pillows from mom

11. Pack into hospital delivery bag:
a. Bank passbook
b. Disposable breast pads
c. Camera & charger
d. Handphone and charger (to spread the happy news!)

On a side note, I have finally gotten the half-boiled egg maker! I visited quite a few stores before mom found it!
Actually those stores I visited sells the maker but they have this metal piece within which I didn't like... Then yesterday mom found it in Bugis. I supposed to have seen this in one of the shops I visited today but I didn't buy cos the staff didn't allow me to open the packaging to check... lucky I didn't buy as well cos I called mom after leaving the shop and she told me she has already gotten it for me. *yeah* :)

This evening, I was thinking of the 鸡蛋肉 (a dish mom cooks). To make this, I must first get a glassware for steaming cos all the bowls/plates at home are plastic. Need to make a note in case I forget... my memory is getting worse...

Updated 9-Jul-13:
Dropped by Watsons earlier and got the sanitary pads & disposable undies.. yeah, I'm a step closer to completing this list.
Right now, I'm waiting for the samples of the disposable breast pads & milkbags to come in... before I decide which to buy & order in bulk. :)

Updated 13-Jul-13:
The samples for milkbags came. Have placed the orders. Now waiting for the arrival and sample of another brand's breast pads.
Most likely to buy another 2-3boxes of breast pads. :)

I am almost done with packing the hospital bag with the camera&HP and chargers... which I think can only put into the bag on the very day itself! :) So yup, I'm done! :)

Strike-d off buying the travel changing mat cos I recalled that in the TMC bag that they provide us with upon discharge, there will be a changing mat. Plus, by the time Kaelyn grows up, Ethan won't be using his, so no need to buy.. but still, I think I have one changing free changing mat lying some where in Mom's place... or did she already pass it to me? Need to go find out... :x

to the PD, parent-teacher-conference and sweeties meetup! :)

It's really a busy day for me.
Good luck that hubby had his shift changed last minute so he could accompany us to Ethan's PD.
Ethan hasn't recover from the blocked nose yet.

His PD didn't charge us any consultation fees cos we are seeing him for the second time (3rd time to clinic cos the 1st time he on leave).
Well, the conclusion we drawn from the consultation is that, if Ethan still continues to have this symptom, his PD may have to refer him to the ENT specialist. :x

After the consultation, we headed to Bishan for lunch. I wanted to go Pazzion to get my shoes too. The last pair I got was in January and it lasted me for almost half a year... Changed into the new shoes immediately as the old one is really old&torn.

Headed over to Ethan's childcare for the parent-teacher conference. Understood more on what he has been doing in class and some of his behaviour.

Then we sent him over to my MIL cos he didn't nap the whole afternoon, before heading out again for steamboat dinner with the sweets.

It's been a long long time since we last gathered! :) This time is almost full attendance except for the absence of Freddie. :)
Then the usual kakis came over for MJ after dinner. :)

Just packed up and now heading to my MIL's to pick up Ethan.

p/s: just found out yesterday that my neighbour has given birth last weekend/Sunday. I didn't even notice cos her tummy was so small. happy for her. she seems to be doing fine for confinement. :)

checklist for baby delivery.

Am glad I actually made the list when I had Ethan.
Now I can pack accordingly. :)

Hospital Delivery Bag:
Documents
1. Gynae’s letter
2. Hospital Admission Form
3. My NRIC
4. MrGoh's NRIC
5. Receipts of your outpatient visits to gynae (to claim Medisave)
6. Original Marriage certificate to register name of baby*
7. Bank passbook for baby bonus! :)

For Mummy
1. Toiletries - toothbrush & facial wash
2. Nursing bras x3
3. Disposable breast pads (just in case)
4. Two sets of nightgown (opens in the front for breastfeeding)
5. 4-5 sets disposable underwear
6. 1 extra pack of pads (maternity or heavy flow)
7. Waterproof sheets
8. One set of clothing for happy trip home (something loose and comfy)
9. 1 pair of socks
*10. Breast pump to help stimulate milk production
11. Camera & charger
12. Handphone and charger (to spread the happy news!)
13. Polythene bags (for soiled linen)

Things required post-delivery:
1. Nursing Tops (front opening for breastfeeding)
2. Nursing bras
3. Disposable breast pads
4. Maternity pads
5. Disposable underwear
6. Waterproof sheets
7. Slippers - home use

Am almost done with packing.. now just left with buying the breast pads and sterile gauze & wools. :)

*might not bring the breast pump cos I didn't have it when I gave birth to Ethan too... :p

Dental care.

Recently Ethan has been complaining of toothache/gum-ache and I suspect it's might be due to the erupting molar tooth.

However, since he has turned 2 and with most of the teeth out, I am considering bringing him to a dentist.

Looked around, shortlisted 2... not sure which to go... will decide again this weekend since we only have time to bring him to dental next weekend.

long weekend for me.

This week has been a pretty short working week.

Wasn't feeling well on Monday so I stayed at my mom's to look after Ethan and rest at the same time.
Returned to work and thought everything was okay, until the full blow sore throat made me surrender on Thursday.

Actually I think it was partially due to the fries I had.
Met up with the CPE girls on Wednesday night to do some catch-ups. We had actually planned for it, but cancelled it due to the haze... and turns out the weather got better so there we are again, meeting up! :)
Had a great time with them... never seems to run out of topics to say...

Saw a doctor on Thursday morning and brought Ethan back to his PD in the afternoon.

Then had my ante-natal check on Friday afternoon with Ethan. Gynae said that the normal weight for a 32-weeker is ~1.5-1.8kg and Kaelyn is about 2.2kg. Opps but I already cut down on sweet stuff.. :(

Looking back at Ethan's record, he was also 1.2kg at 28weeks... so I guess it's in the genes.

Anw, the gynae added he might induce me when Kaelyn hits 3.5kg, for easy birth. I have started to wash Kaelyn's clothes... Will start packing for my hospital bag probably tml and start ordering the pump accessories and milk bags within these few weeks. :)

I am hoping to deliver in first week of August too, cos Dr Tan (the PD) is away from 10-17Aug and I hope he becomes Kaelyn's PD as well. :)

Went to Snow City today! Though short visit, it was a fun experience for the 3 of us. Visited hubby's ah ma thereafter... then grocery shopping and home sweet home. :)

Another weekend passes like that. :)

it's getting better...

the haze condition is finally getting better since last Saturday... So far we have been enjoying clearer skies and cleaner air (but still, with slight haziness)...

and I think for the first time in Singapore's history, it HAILED! But too bad, I didn't witness it first hand. Learn it from a colleague and subsequently from news and FB updates..

Anyway, Ethan has returned to school today and we are going to have our first parent-teacher meeting next Saturday! So looking forward to it! :)

life after Ethan's birthday...

The life of all Singaporeans practically start on a new chapter after Ethan's birthday celebration on Sunday.
That's because of the haze!

Needless to say, Ethan's affected too.
He went to school on Monday and came back with a blocked nose. So I kept him at home. Brought him to the PD on Wednesday and had to cancel the attendance for the Father's Day celebration in school.

I am sorry to have cancelled the event (his first cupcake decorating opportunity with his daddy) but the weather/air pollution is so bad I just had to keep him at home.

The usual PD Ethan consults is on leave so we saw another PD. This doctor, other than diagnosing Ethan's blocked nose condition, also tested some of his speech and differentiation abilities. I am glad to have came to the PD, rather than visiting a GP. I guess we will be seeing a PD for Ethan probably until he turns 3... cos I just couldn't trust a normal GP to treat my young boy. And I realised the PD's medicine tastes better than that of a normal GP's.

Anyway, the PD advised us to keep Ethan in-door, preferably, with windows shut, fan/aircon on, due to the haze.:x

As for us, the haze is making the weather extremely unbearable too. We also kept the windows shut and fan on to the max but I'm still sweating. So for the past few days, we have been hiding in the aircon room as early at 8pm. I can foresee the electrical bills will rocket to sky high for this month. To avoid the haze during lunch, I am also packing lunch from home. Got my helper to cook fried rice today with the ingredients left over from our pan-grill BBQ steamboat on Tuesday night.

Oh yes, we have officiated the pan-grill BBQ steamboat set on Tuesday night, with hubby's friend. And another session tonight, eating just the pan-grill stuff, no steamboat. hehe.

~~~
While showering just now, I realised my legs are slowly swelling up. Bad sign. I hope Kaelyn can stay within my tummy for another 6 weeks, cos I haven't prepared anything~ just starting to wash Kaelyn's clothes and still another bag to go... and my post-maternity clothes...

The dilemma is, I am hoping to delay the washing due to the haze but I am not sure when will it be gone plus I am scared by the time the haze is gone, will it be too late...

While I was blogging this entry, the hubby came and typed the below:

i love annie,ethan and kaelyn very much :)

Ethan's Terrific Two starts today!

After 2 rounds of celebration and having fun, Ethan is finally celebrating his actual birthday today!

And I must say, he's quite well behaved except minor crying for bath time.

Hubby went out for his usual basketball session in the morning. And this little man woke up around 8, even before his daddy wakes up. After sending his daddy out, we watched a bit of Mickey and played with his car.
Also tested my new toaster, I had toasted bread while he ate the white bread.
Then I showered him since he poo-pooed. Bath time is one of his favourite cos he gets to play bubble... but he doesn't like to wash his hair cos of the shampoo/water getting into his eyes and he cries a big time.
But on the other hand, that's how I get him out of the tub... boohoo~
Dressed him and played with him in his room.

Then suddenly he did this cute little thing.
He found his camera toy phone and starting taking pictures of me. So I quickly took my phone and said to him, "you take me, I take you, okay?" *okay, pardon the broken English but that's toddlers talk.*
We started taking pictures of each other, then he came to sit beside me, so I told him, let's take pictures together. Eventually he even lean against my stomach and we managed to capture some cute pictures. Still, in some pictures, my hair is quite messy... hehe...

For the second time, he fell asleep on our sofa. He was lying there, playing with his toy car, and I could see his eyelids closing on him...
I stroke him and pat him on his buttock and slowly he fell asleep.

He napped for a good 1.45hours before waking up to receiving his ah yis, popo and favourite Summer mei mei.

During this 1.45hours, we had lunch and I even went to the supermarket to top up our supplies. :)

Of course, during the few hours to dinner, he had a fun time, receiving and unwrapping pressies from mei mei and ah yis. And kids being kids, he doesn't appreciate angbaos at all.. :x

As usual, we ordered tze-char from the coffee shop nearby. Had dinner and then the candle blowing & cake cutting.

The cake I have ordered via a June mommy's recommendation came on time, as specified. The outlook is okay but if we were to take a closer look at the 'workmanship', it's not really that fantastic cos some parts of the fondant was broken or split.

The taste is also far from expectation. I chose chocolate mango favour as it's one of the hot-favourites and recommended ones. The cake is a little too hard and sweet; far from the ones we had from Bengawansolo.

The only comfort I find in ordering this cake, is the Mickey & toy car figurines which cost $40. Ethan likes the Mickey toy figurine and toy car very much! :)

Though simple (yet extensive; over 3 days of celebration!), I think Ethan has enjoyed himself alot. Firstly, giving out pressies to his classmates, then out to the mall&playpad with all of us as his companions and finally, getting pressies, singing birthday songs and so many sessions of candles blowing! :)

Ethan boy, thank you for bringing joy, laughter and tears into our lives. You have been one of mommy's great pillar of strength & support in tough times. Daddy and mommy wishes you good health and stay happy always! :)