1st birthday as a Mummy

Yesterday was the 1st time I celebrated my birthday as a mother. I guess being a mother means giving up the usual birthday celebration that I'd have, which includes shopping to buy myself a present. Was home the whole of yesterday taking care of baby Chloe cos Nic had to go back to the office to work.

Most of the day was uneventful as it was just another daily routine of caring for baby Chloe. But the highlight of the day came in the evening, when I finally made baby Chloe smile & managed to capture it on camera too :D

Below are some of the pix taken yesterday to commenmerate my 1st birthday as a Mummy.

A pix with baby Chloe

X'mas ang pow from maternal grandmother

Baby Chloe's 1st time on the LG playmat that we'd just bought for her

1st glimsp of baby Chloe's smile

Finally managed to capture her looking at the camera & smiling :D

4 weeks old, not a girl, not yet a woman

Baby Chloe is exactly 4 weeks old today. On Sunday, we'll be celebrating her full month. Gosh, time flies, I can't believe I've been a mother for 4 weeks! It'd been very eventful journey, especially the 1st week. I'm slowly geting used to baby Chloe's tantrums & understanding her a little better now. And Nic & myself are building up resources so that we can care for her better.

So far, Chloe sleeps, wakes up, screams for attention or food, we feed her, then, depending on her mood, either she sleeps back on fusses around for up to 5hrs before she sleeps again! And she likes being carried, which is very tiring on us.

Now, we've discovered a couple of ways to make her less reliant on us carrying her. 1 way is to put her on the stroller. I guess a moving stroller does calm her a little and she can sleep in it. Gotta make full use of the stroller, since it's quite a big investment for us.

And yesterday, we bought a rocker chair for her. At least she can join the rest of the family in the living room in the day time, rather than being couped up in her baby cot everyday. Judging from her reaction, she seems to like it, so far, I hope it lasts.

As baby Chloe grows, I've begun to discover many cute traits about her. Such as she's quite a messy sleeper, like me. ie her hands are spread out and she's begun to turn from the original position where we place for her to sleep, almost a 90 degree turn. It's a good thing that the cot is still big enough for her to do her turns. And she'll raise both hands & legs when she's scared, sort of like saying "I surrender".

Below are some pix of her sleeping patterns & other pix taken throughout the past 4 weeks.

A new addition!

Motherhood came 2 weeks early for me. Baby Chloe (who is due today) was born on 31 Oct (yes, she's a halloween baby, & she'd arrived 1 day after our 4th wedding anniversary).
It started with a regular visit to my gynae, realised that I'd lost 100g in a week & I'd commented that baby was a little quiet that morning. Turned out that the umblical cord was around her neck & I'm already 2cm dilated! (Didn't even know that I was in labour!)

I'm one of the fortunate few, labour was fast for me, about 5hrs. My good friend, Maryann, was in labour for abt 12hrs for her first born (who also happens to be my godson). And baby Chloe popped out to see daddy & mummy, weighing 3.02kg, measuring 50cm in length.

It has been almost 2 weeks since Chloe's arrival. The 1st week was very stressful, especially for me as I wasn't prepared for her arrival & had to quickly adjust to attending to her needs. And she was hospitalised for a day for jaundice plus waking up several times at night to feed her but still have her crying. It's a good thing that Nic was with me, else I'd have a nervous breakdown as the addition of sleepless nights took a toll on me.

I'm fortunate to have a caring & supportive hubby and lots of concerned friends & colleagues who spent time helping Nic & me understand more about Chloe's needs.

So, into the 2nd week and I'm less of a basket case and have learnt not to react to her every whimper. Sometimes, it's good to let her cry a little, exercise for her lungs, or so I heard. And we've also managed to settle on Chloe's chinese name so Nic went to register her birth today. Hooray, Chloe has a birth cert now!

It's amazing, the new discoveries I make everyday abt Chloe's behaviour/character/actions, etc. Everytime I look at her, I can't believe that this cute little fella had been in my womb for 38 weeks & is now a part of me. Everyone's telling me that the 1st few months will be tough but it'll get easier so I'll just have to patiently go thru this initial phase. It's a lifetime commitment and I'm partly responsible for her so will do my best to bring up this tiny life.

[Comment from baby Chloe: I'm almost 2 weeks old & I've given daddy & mummy quite a few headaches, what with my screams (which they don't seem to understand) & cries and me being a "London baby", cos I'm awake at night. I think the biggest scare that I'd given mummy was my hospitalisation last Thur for my jaundice. Mummy cried at the hospital admission counter. Daddy had to console mummy. Dr Ong, my pediatrician, said that 1 of the reasons I had jaundice was because I wasn't getting enough breastmilk from mummy. And it didn't help that I only liked her right breast!

I hated the cold plastic container that they placed me in for the phototherapy treatment for my jaundice & screamed real loudly. I'm not surprised that made daddy & mummy even sadder but they had to make me go thru it so that I can recover from my jaundice.

Daddy & mummy visited me in the evening and mummy breastfed me and I sucked on her for about 30 mins! Thankfully, it was only a 1 night stay (I heard mummy & daddy were glad to have a break from my night 'activities' so that they can recharge themselves) and I was home by the next afternoon.

Eversince my discharge, daddy & mummy are not taking any chances with underfeeding me, they supplement my meals with formula as well. I'm happy as long as I'm fed. I love sleeping so much that I can even sleep in my own poo! heh heh... ok, yawn.... back to my beauty sleep, I hope mummy doesn't wake me up too soon]

For memory lane....

Today, I started the first of my weekly visits to my gynae. At 37 weeks of pregnancy, my movements have become clumiser as Chloe grows & my tummy expands to it's max. Chloe weighs 3kg now, in fact, she's close to 3.1kg now. A good sized baby & a lot of people can't tell that she's so big by looking at me now.

And at this stage, Chloe is considered fully developed. With her head turned, we should expect her arrival anytime now. What I'm going to miss most when Chloe is born would be her turns & kicks while she's in me. It feels weird to have something growing & moving in me, I feel like a host to a baby alien sometimes (you know, like those Alien movies), but at the same time, it's an amazing feeling & bonding which I have with her that no one else will ever have.

And today, we went to my 1 of my best friend's studio to take pix of me in 'full bloom'. Maryann runs The Studio Loft and 1 of her specialties is taking pix of pregnany mummies, classified under her studio's sub label, Bloom.

Nic, my ever sweet & accomodating husband, accompanied me for the shoot. We started out a little awkward as we had to smile & laugh happily for the photos but it was really fun and we had some good shots that we can keep for memory and share them with Chloe when she's older. Here are some of my fave shots.

35wks & 5 days......

Gosh, it's almost time for Chloe's arrival. In 2 more days, I'll be entering the 36th wk of my pregnancy and Chloe will be almost fully developed. But the panic mode hasn't set in yet. I've not packed my bag for my stay at the hospital and have not sorted out the tons of babywear that my friends have given me + some of my own purchases.....

Yesterday was the 1st time I went to see my gynae without Nic. Nic had to serve the country so I went by myself. It was alright. Chloe has grown yet again, she's a hefty 2.8kg, she has grown 400g in 2 weeks! And Eunice is surprised that Chloe has grown so much as I'm considered small (note: I'm skinny but not petite).

Anyway, I'm just glad that Chloe is growing well, I hope I can deliver her naturally, withouth having to go through C-sect, which takes longer for me to recover back to my normal size. And I need to get back to my normal size after my 12 weeks of maternity leave because I want to wear back my old wardrobe, I must maintain my pre-pregnancy size (quite a big resoultion but I'll still try heh heh)

I didn't include the scan from my gynae visit 2 weeks ago so I'm uploading 2 scans today. The 1st scan is a little difficult for most people to figure out but I think the 2nd scan (taken yesterday) shows Chloe's face & her umblical cord clearly.

My mini getaway before Chloe's arrival

I've been pestering Nic, since the start of my 2nd trimester, to bring me on a short holiday before Chloe is born. Even somewhere nearby like Bintan or Batam was good enough for me. But being the 1st time father & caring hubby, he didn't like the idea of me travelling to a foreign land. So, last month, he finally suggested Sentosa as my 'holiday destination'.

As usual, Nic leaves the planning to me as he doesn't want to plan a holiday which I won't like, very sweet of him as usual. So, after looking through the avaiable hotels in Sentosa, we settled on Siloso Beach Resort as my holiday destination.

Since it is my long awaited 'holiday' & our only chance to spend quality time together before our little princess comes along, Nic agreed to spending a little more by booking a Roof Garden Suite. It's a double storey suite with the open air jacuzzi & shower located on the rooftop. The view would have been perfect if the many tankers in the shores of Singapore could be removed.... (But we can't do anything about it since Singapore is the world's busiest port)

Not avid fans of photo taking, we only took pix of our room.

Eventho it was a very short stay, Nic, as awlays accomodated my every whims & fancies and we spent a leisurely stay and tour of the island. I feek truly blessed to have Nic as my husband. Baby (this is most likely the last month that I'll be calling you by this affectionate time), thanks for being by my side always, I love you.

After a 3 weeks absence

It has been a while since I'd posted here. I've been very busy with work as we launched our inaugural business forum last week and I was also involved in some of the hospitality prep work for our overseas guests for the world's first F1 night race.

Anyway, managed to take a little breather this week. Went for my delayed gynae check up on 29 Sep. Chloe (yes, that's the name that we've settled for nanami) has grown a lot. She weighs 2.4kg now. Eunice, my gynae, said that Chloe is big & has asked me to watch my food intake. Took a blood test to check on my sugar & iron level. My sugar level is good but my iron level has gone down so my iron tablet intake has doubled now.

I'm begining to feel the strains of being 34 weeks pregnant. My normal pace of walking is considered too fast for a preggy like me so I've to slow down tremendously when walking. It's harder to turn when I'm sleeping now as Chloe grows heavier. And I'm encountering more nosebleeds now. Just had another nosebleeding incident last night which scared Nic.

But all is well. I don't have any pix today but we're going to my long awaited getaway tomorrow. Not anywhere exotic, it's just Sentosa but at least it's better than nothing since Nic won't allow me to travel outside of Singapore. Hopefully, we'll take some good pix during our stay at the roof garden suite of Siloso Beach Resort so that I can share them here.

A weekend of many Firsts

This is a weekend of many firsts for us:

1. Nanami's pram was delivered on Sat. We'd bought the Pep Perego Pliko P3 classico for her.
2. And on Sat, we also went for our 1st antenatal class conducted by Mrs Wong Boh Boi from TMC. It was an interesting class for us and time flew, it was 2 & a half hrs before we'd noticed it.
3. On Sun, it's my godson's (Kayden) 3rd birthday party, so we went to my 1 of my best friend's house to celebrate her son's birthday. Here's the happy family with their latest addition, Dylan.


4. Also, while at Maryann's place, Nic got to practice carrying a newborn, albeit a very sturdy & strong newborn. He's slowly getting the hang of carrying babies, good preparation when nanami comes along in Nov :) See for yourself in the pix below :)

Tiring week

This week has been especially draining for me, it's all work related. There's a huge event coming up in the end of Sept & I'm heavily involved in it. It'll be difficult for me to have a good rest till Oct, I'm so looking forward to 29 Sep, when all this madness ends.

Anyway, we'd visited the gynae on Monday, it was my 28th week of pregnancy. And nanami is growing real fast, she's now 1.3kg! According to Baby Centre, she's only supposed to be a little over 1kg at this stage. Well, as long as she's growing well & healthy (heartbeat is normal & my gynae said her size is just a little big), I guess this is alright. And I'd only gained 2.1kg since my last visit so everything's under control.

I loved the ultrascan portion of my visit the best, that's when we get to see nanami 'up-close-and-personal'. She was moving her little hand over her face when the ultrascan was done.

We can't see her whole body now as she grows bigger so the scan sheets that we get now only show her face & body. I don't know if it's easy for you to read the scan but it's her side profile, with her head on the right and her right hand over her mouth. Her body and left hand are in shot as well.

Everyone's been asking me if I'm excited about nanami's arrival. I'm not sure if I'm excited yet but Nic & myself have been making preparaions for her. Last Fri, we bought her pram. And today, we just bought a new digital camera, a Casio Exilim Z100. It's been 4 years since we bought our 1st digital camera, a Nikon coolpix, which is 5.1 megapixel. So I thought it's time to upgrade to a 10 megapixel digital camera with wide angle lens and a slimmer body, so we can take shots of nanami easily.

And, of course, I couldn't resist buying some clothes for nanami from the web as there were some good sales taking place ;p I've received 1 of my orders, I'm eagerly waiting for my order from the US now, the package should arrive by the middle of next week. I've to control myself from buying too much now as babies grow real fast and it'll be a waste if she can't wear all the clothes that I've bought for her.

It's time for me to rest now, need to recuperate myself for the exhausting month ahead. Hopefully, I can keep up my weekly updates in the month of Sep.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away?

The subject heading might be a little misleading but there are 2 parts to this. Yes, I do take an apple everyday, every morning in fact, it's been my routine for the past 4 years. I'd read somewhere that if u take an apple half an hr before ur meal, it'll help with digestion. Of cos, I'll take the red apples as I'm not a fan of sour stuff. I take it in the morning, before I take my breakfast and it has been doing well for me. BUT does it really keep the doc away? It's hard to say cos I'm not prone to falling ill easily but hey, it's still a cheap way to keep ur body healthy isn't it?

Ok, back to my true intention of this post. I wanted to talk about the launch of iphone here in Singapore. I work for the 1st telco company which brought in the revoluntionary 3G iphone to Singapore. Although I'm not working in the Consumer dept, which is the division that's bringing in the iphone, it's still quite an experience for me to see the developments of this launch.

When iphone was first launched by Apple last year and only AT&T (in USA) had the exclusive rights to sell it in the world, I've had friends, vendors & customers asking me if my company is planning to bring it in since we're the incumbment in Singapore. And when it was announced that we'll be the 1st to bring in iphone to Singapore mid this year, my friends, vendors and customers started asking me if I knew about the exact launch date and price plans.

Sad to say, I'm not in the privileged group so I don't have access to such info and it's also one of the best kept secrets in the company! No one knew about the exact date of the launch but we'd seen preparations intensify 2 weeks before the 22 Aug launch date. And on this launch week, there was even more mayhem, with preparations going on overdrive mode.

On the day of the launch (well, it was launched at 12.01am on 22 Aug), we saw queue barricades being set up and lots of hired security guards on standby, to ensure that the launch is done in an orderly manner. I'd left the office late on launch date and had wanted to soak in the excitment (although I'm not an iphone fan) but due to my current pregnant stage, it's quite challenging for me.

When I left the office, I didn't see a crowd at the launch area and was worried that ours was going to be a lackluster launch but it turned out that the crowd was controlled at another part of the building and we had a good size turn out for the iphone launch. So, phew, it went well. And iphone fans who've pre-ordered their phones have been turning up in throngs to be the first few to get their hands on the much talked about gadget.

How long will this craze continue? Judging from the response in other countries, it seems that the demand is still high, depsite complains on the lack of standard 3G functions and software glitches. So.... to overcome these negative feedback, should Apple consider a new ad? An (Apple) iphone a day keeps the pessimists away?

Sneaky sales

I've been on the look out for some baby stuff recently, from prams & car seats to clothes and other daily necessities. Trying to do my homework early so that I can be prepared nanami is close to her arrival date. So 1 of the forums that I've been surfing recently is Singapore Motherhood Forum, which has mothers from Singapore logging in to talk about anything under the sun about babies and more.

And yesterday, Nic's colleague, who also surfs the forum, sent him a couple of interesting links, 1 of them being a mummy who's giving away baby girls' clothes, from 0-3mths. So, naturally, I'm curious why someone would be willing to put up such a thread in the forum, since it's quite unusual for someone to give out free stuff to strangers.

Then I decided to send an email to this person to indicate my interest, I mean, who wouldn't want free stuff right? And since it's for the baby and they grow so fast, I don't mind accepting hand-me-downs, they're good for homewear in Singapore's hot & humid climate. My email was sent about 2hrs after this person posted this thread.

I got a reply 1 day later, ie today. And this person said that the clothes have been given away but she's got new and second hand clothes to sell and gave me a list of items that she's selling! It got me pissed off, this person is obviously not keen on selling but is using underhanded means to generate leads and then sell her stuff! So irritating! Anyway, I got so angry, I wrote back and said "In that case, then I don't need anything since my friends are passing me their stuff". Geez, the nerve!

Buying for baby

Yesterday, Nic and me made a big purchase for nanami. We bought her baby cot at the current Baby Fair that's being at at B2 of Takashimaya. I'd never really thought that we'd need to buy this so early, it's like bringing me to reality check that nanami is going to join our lives in 3 months! Wow, I'm 2/3 into my pregnancy!

We'd been looking at bulk items such as baby cot, strollers & car seats for a while, but had been waiting for the right moment and a good sale to make this purchase. Buying stuff for baby sure isn't cheap. Not that we'd spent a lot on the cot, it's a good offer that comes with a mattress, a 5-pc bedding set and a mobile toy. We've set the delivery of the cot for 25 Oct. The sales person had told us that the earliest delivery date is in mid-Oct and we went "No worries, that's too early for us!" hahaha

Picking a good stroller is a lesson in itself. Being 1st time parents, we figured it'll be good to make an investment in a stroller (of cos, something mid-range) since nanami is our first, we may have #2 later. And it should be 1 that is sturdy yet light, easy to manage with 1 hand, easy to push around, compact (if possible) & most importantly, comfortable for nanami. We don't want her suffering while on the stroller, and that be a waste of our investment if she doesn't enjoy sitting on the stroller. It's a good thing that the sales staff for the strollers were so friendly, we'd learnt quite a bit about strollers from that 2 and & half hrs that we'd spent at the fair.

And we'd to learn about baby car seats as well, they were all foreign to us. We'd to find 1 that's easy to use, safe, and comfortable for nanami. We'd found one that looks quite good but being the typical 'research-centric' parents that we are, we'd decided to do some homework before deciding on what we want. And it's still early for us so we can check out other shops & compare prices first.

Being the typical mummy-who's-happy-that-she's-expecting-a-girl, I couldn't resist buying some clothes for nanami. Well, just some cheap stuff, like 3 for $9.90, it's like sleepwear for newborns, so that nanami will have some decent sleepwear since this mummy doesn't intend to spend too much on such stuff as babies grow real fast, in fact, too fast!

We'll be checking out prices of strollers & car seats later and decide if we need to buy them now or if we can wait. Will be tiring for the legs but it's still fun shopping :)

Courtesy, our way of life?

I'm on a roll today, this is my 2nd post of the day. It's only because I'm disgusted at the lack of civic consciousness I encounter everyday! This topic isn't new here, it has been brought up in forums & newspapers that the citizens of Singapore are not very courteous, hence the need for a nationwide courtesy campaign, supposedly launch in 1979, if this contribution in wiki is accurate.

It sets you wondering what's wrong with Singaporeans? Do you need to be taught a virtue as basic as courtesy? After living in this "Garden City" for the past 32 years, yes, I truly believe we need this campaign & we need to revive it fast, like NOW. And it's to educate the 'foreign talents' that have been heavily lauded as an essential talent pool to help propel Singapore into a world class nation.

Into my 2nd trimester now, it's very obvious that I'm not walking around with a beer belly or a pillow under my dress (as 1 of my colleagues say it since I've not put on much weight anywhere else except for my growing tummy).

As part of my daily commute, I'll take the mrt as 1 of my preferred mode of transport. My train journey can be as long as 40 mins and standing in a travelling train while pregnant isn't exactly comfortable. However, it seems that the passengers of mrt don't seem to understand this. Either these people have never been pregnant (which is true for guys), do not understand the difficulties of standing on a moving vehicle with a bulging stomach or have amensia about their pregnancy days!

I've noticed very frequently that everyone turns into great actors deserving of an Oscar award when I step onto the train. They'd suddenly find that the view on every part of the train (except moi, who's standing in front of them) is interesting, or they have a sudden urge to catch up in their sleep (but with peeping eyes as they try and see if I've moved on to stand in front of another 'victim') or they must be oblivious to my present physical state ("yah, serves this stupid woman right for drinking so much beer and having a beer belly!").

And it's not only the locals who're putting on this act, the "foreign talents" (whom our govt have painstainkenly been bringing into the country & ask for our acceptance & tolerance) make up the bulk of this new breed of 'actors'. Some would even fight with me for a seat! Imagine that!

I guess, in this "dog eat dog world", it's to each his/her own. And I strongly believe in karma, & this phrase "do not do unto others as you would wish them do onto you". You reap what you sow. 'nuf said!

A good sized baby

That's what my gynae said today when we went for my monthly check up. At 863g, my gynae said nanami is growing well but she'd cautioned me to watch my diet as nanami can grow to a 3.5kg at the rate that I'm eating ;p I've put on 3 kg since my last visit 4 weeks ago!

I guess I've been enjoying my meals since I've gotten back my appetite after my non-eating 1st trimester heh heh. Breakfast is usually my 'heartiest' meal of the day. On one of the days last week, I had an apple, a hotdog, fried beehoon with tao gua and get this... 1 and a half slices of roti prata, yes, all in one morning! but of course, I didn't eat much for lunch, since I wasn't really hungry at lunch time.


My gynae has told me to reduce my sugar intake, and not to take anymore durians, so, there goes my favourite fruit, sigh. But I guess it's all for the sake of having a healthy pregnancy so I'll just have to bear with it :)


So, here's a pix of nanami's scan from today's visit. Not too sure if you can figure out this scan but it's a side profile of nanami, with her head on the right of the scan. And it seems like she's gonna be like me, she might have a big nose, sigh, I was hoping that she'll have a nice petite nose like her daddy. But I guess most importantly, she must be healthy & all features are developed normally, right? :)

humpty dumpty....

Well, that's how I'm begining to feel these days. With an expanding stomach (it's now 34.5 inches!) and a slow sense of losing my balance, I feel like the lead character in this age old nursery rhyme ;p

In 2 more days, I'll be into the 24th week of my pregnancy, time flies! And nanami (that's what I'm calling my baby for now) is growing each day. I've read in 1 of the pregnancy books given by my best friend these little beings have moods as well and on certain days, they'll have lots of movements and on others, they have less. True enough, this is what I'm encountering now.

Eventhough it feels weird to have movements other than the usual digestive system from my overactive stomach, it still gives me comfort in knowing that nanami is growing well in my tummy. And I try to talk to her as much as possible, so that she'll know that she's loved and we're waiting anxiously for her arrival :)



This is the 1st time we saw Nanami, from our first visit to the gynae. I couldn't believe there was such a lovely life residing in me till I saw the scan and heard her strong heartbeat. Mother nature is really amazing, isn't it?





"Nanami, grow up well in mummy's tummy. Mummy & daddy love you very much. We can't wait for you to come out and see us in Nov :)"

1st post after a 2 yr hiatus

It has been more than 2 years since I've posted here. I've never thought of updating this blog till 1 of my best friends reminded me that I should maintain a blog to record my thoughts now that I'm in the family way. It's a good way to bond with the child later on. I thought that it's a good idea, that's why I'm writing this now.

Currently into the 22nd week of my pregnancy, I've been fortunate so far. Haven't had any serious pregnancy side effects.... yet.... (I'm superstitious, don't wanna ruin it by jinx-ing it) and I hope it'll be smooth till I deliver on 13 Nov.

For the past 3 weeks, I've felt my baby's kicks, it's a weird feeling, to have something poking the insides of your tummy (sort of like watching those alien movies but in a good way) but it's great to know that you'll be bringing a new life to birth soon. Everyone's (my family, especially my hubby & mom, my friends & colleagues) been very concerned about me since they knew about my pregnancy & I'm very grateful for their care & concern.

It's past my bedtime now, I just wanted to stop procastinating and get this blog started and hopefully, force myself to pen a little everyday.