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.

Rainy week

Singapore's going through winter. Now, that'll be a news headline we'd like to see. Everyone (ok, those who know their geography well) knows that Singapore is located near the equator & this location isn't the place where one would be able to experience the 4 seasons, let alone winter.

But why did I say that Singapore's going through winter now? Well, from the constant downpour which started on Sat, we've not had a day without rain 5 days. It's just as gloomy today, haven't missed the sun so much since god knows when. The constant rain has brought down the temperature in Singapore by a few degrees and it's as if the whole of Singapore is on natural aircon.

I do like this cool weather, prefer it to the heat but the rain just makes it messy and inconvenient for us. And I hate being wet but I guess there's never a perfect world, you take some, you give some.

Most people's mood gets gloomy when it's raining, for me.... well.... I think I'm in a better mood when it rains, I can get grouchy when it's hot.

I'm just rambling on and on, think I'll stop here for now.

TGIF

Friday, the day of the week that I always look forward to for 2 simple reasons:

1. The weekend is here, yahoo, 2 days without work
2. I get to leave officially at 5.30pm on Fridays, our usual knock off time is 6pm. Well.... I don't always get to leave on the dot since I've got tons of work to do but the thought that I can leave early is enough to make me look forward to it :)

Also, what makes this weekend even better is that we get another 4 day week next week, next Tuesday is a public holiday for us, woo hoo!

Not intending to write a long posting today as I need to clear off some work so that I can leave at 5.30pm sharp but I tend to get long winded, so I think it'll still be a pretty long posting from me today.

On Wed, I found out about an interesting piece of news. The ruler of Dubai passed away on Wednesday and all offices & businesses were delcared closed for 10 days. I was quite amused by this as we've never encountered that here before. Over here, we pretty much still by the book. We don't get sudden declaration of holidays for celebrations or mournings, work (& life) goes on.

Anyway, that was just an interesting news I've found out this week. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to 5.30pm and I really need to get back to my work so that I can leave on time.

Have a great weekend on me :)

My very own blog

My very own blog, finally. I've just recently reached the 30th year of my existance and much as I'd resisted, I realised that I enjoy penning down my thoughts and reflect back years later on how I felt at a certain stage in my life.

Having lived 30 years might sound plenty to some and little to others but to me, I just realised a scary thought. I've reached the mid-point of my existance in this planet & I'm starting to think through what I've done right or wrong for the 1st half of my life....

Then I realised, what's the use of thinking back what I've done right and what I've done wrong? I'm unable to change my past. I have this habit of going through the past and reminiscing about events that happened 1 week/ month/ year ago at a certain time. Then a very special person in my life brought me to my senses. He asked, "Why do you like thinking back about the past?". After much thought, I realised I'm like a frozen clock (as a character in this K-drama, "My Lovely Kim Sam Soon" (MLKSS), had said once), everyone else is moving forward but I'm still living in the past.

I guess the past has many fond memories for me, be they good or bad but life is short, I need to move forward & make the most of my time & cherish what the future beholds for me. So, today, 4 January 2006, I've decided to start making the most of the 2nd half of my life & "carpe diem" (as Robin Williams' character, John Keating, told his students in the movie "Dead Poet's Society").

So, to my life, here I come, see me charging towards you without a fear, come what may & I fear nothing, I only fear I'll leave without having lived my life to the fullest.