Been Shopping

So I kinda overdosed on the online shopping. Hee, had a great time getting baby's items online. The purchases include a breast pump, a baby carrier, baby clothes, Glee and Vampire Diaries box sets and a bag which will be delivered soon. Add in the 5 pairs of shoes i just bought, skincare and a pedicure package ( well.. i've not bought shoes for the past 1 year so i have double of the normal shoe quota rightz?!..).. will definitely have to cut back on the shopping for the next few months. Opps.

About 1.5 more months of maternity leave left. Sure hope i finish the drama shows and lose the extra weight before returning to work.

2 Months

Baby Braedon is 2 months old. We've brought him out to the nearby mall and to Orchard (Ion). Mummy had to sling him for most of the trip but he's been wonderful and slept most of the time.

Baby's cradle cap has cleared and fine hair has sprouted on the bald patch on his head with the cream given by the PD. I'm still worried that he's not getting enough breast milk with my limited supply ( hope he gains enough weight for the next visit to the PD after Chinese New Year).

He has grown more cherubic in the last one month and more aware of his surroundings. He's a jolly baby who smiles quite abit although he's not sleeping much in the daytime these days and wants to be carried to sleep. Hence Mummy has to spend most of the time tending to him.

Happy 2 months my little prince.

4 Adults, 2 kids and 1 Baby

We had dinner at the mall nearby last Sat with the in-laws and the cute niece and nephew. We brought baby along, his first trip out with us. Its quite a major event, logistically. We had to bring along loads of items like diapers, milk, extra clothes etc in the baby bag. Little Braedon got his first ride in his stroller.

Little Brae was kinda grumpy and i had to feed him milk during dinner and keep him occupied. The dearie and I had to take turns to enjoy the meal as the gramps were lookin after the 2 naughty little ones and feeding them their food. Not much time for us to enjoy the meal. Def signs of the way meals would be for the near future. Its a good experience, tiring but we survived. We shopped for a short while before heading home. =)

Quiet Christmas

We did not plan anything this Christmas despite me ending my confinement a few days before.

Its a quiet Christmas this year at the homeland, just me and Baby Boy as the dearie has to work today and the parent-in-laws are out for a Christmas Party. No Christmas feasting as well..

The little boy has not been sleeping much for the past week during the day and he occupies most of my time these days as we've yet to establish a routine yet and he's cranky and likes to be carried most of the time. I sure hope this phase will pass quickly. He's well-being is the best pressie that I can have this year. (oh.. plus i can lose a few more kgs and have alot more milk in my moo moo career .. if possible.. Dear Santa)

Merry Christmas peeps and my little Braedon.

One Month

A month of mummyhood and we've survived the little one's full month celebration (Thank you dear friends for the well wishes). Time has passed so very fast..

This is the little one who occupies most of my time these days and makes my day with his winsome grin. I lurve you my baby.. Happy One Month.

Being Confined

Really counting down to the end of my confinement. Some says 40 days.. but i'll take it easy from 30 days onwards. Counting down to normal food.. woots! (Although the food that the MIL cooks have not been too gingerly .. ;p)

Its easy to see why many newly minted mummies slip into depression, with the demands of parenthood like caring for the new born baby (crys, poo and pee), worrying about their health and milestones. Add in breast feeding, a body that is still recovering from the delivery, saggy tummy, weight gain, restrictions during the 'confinement' month.. sounds quite daunting. I neber thought i'll miss the 2 daily showers so so much and i can't bear to see my belly with the saggy skin and stretch marks ! Hmm... but.. the moment i see baby with his cute smile. everything is worth it.. :)

Now, there' the baby shower on Sunday to worri about.. close to 100 pax in our tiny home.. aiz.. should have separated the peeps into diff timings.. this silly old donkey moi.

Hello Baby

Kinda expected the little one to arrive on his estimated due date.. but he decided to pop out early on 22nd Nov 2010. My water bag broke around one am and was admitted to the delivery suite around 2 plus. Contractions started and i had epidural injected around 5am. Was fully dilated around 12 pm and baby arrived after an hour of pushing.

It really feels kinda surreal, when the little one whom i have been carrying for the last 9 months popped out and started crying. So loud and wonderous, his first cries. It felt quite like a miracle.. my baby. ( well.. the birthing process was kinda traumatic though and i was quite drained after the whole event).

Its been one week into parenthood and one week into confinement. Baby's feeding time means a constant lack of sleep plus struggles with the demands of parenthood like breast feeding. Tiring but worth the effort. The in-laws and dearie has been wonderful and i'm grateful for their efforts. Now i can't wait for the dreaded one month of confinement to end. Baby' s doing alrights.. and he melts our hearts when he smiles.. the charmy naught little boy. I'm grateful to have him, and the dearie.. =)

Busy With..

The past few weeks kinda just passed by in a flash. The little ones went for their long overseas trip together with the Mother-In-Law. The Father-In-Law got hospitalised the day they went overseas. Which kinda freaked the dearie out. So, we packed our bags and stayed over at the In-Laws place. We even managed to buy some furniture (a bed and shelves) which was needed in the next few months.

The Mother-In-Law came back about a week plus ago. We are slowly moving back to our own place. Work has been kinda crazy. My new colleague who just joined and took over the diff portfolio has just resigned after 2 weeks into the job. So I'm kinda struck with the 2 portfolios, and its a shitty sinking feeling and it kinda spolits my mood most days.

Other than that, I've managed to catch the entire series of Down With Love in the few weekends..a taiwanese idol series staring the drool some Jerry Yan and Ella Chan. Its a cute series, one of the rare ones which I have truly enjoyed recently. That pretty much sums up the past few weeks.

Looks like the current moodiness over work issues will continue for some time to come. Haiz. Silly Old Me.

Sleep Patterns

The sleep routine:

Sundays to Thursdays Nites: 11.45 pm to 6.20 am. (6.5 hours)
Friday & Saturday Nites: 12am to 11am and later.

The lack of sleep on weekdays lead to almost full day sleeping on weekends. Gosh, moi must really sleep earlier on weekdays to reduce the topsy sleep patterns. =)

Dearie's Pizza

Pizza baking in the oven

I got off the train one station after my usual stop and walked home instead of taking the feeder bus service. In the late evening coolness (although the air was hazy ah), walking in my high heels was actually bearable. Good for this lazy moi to get so exercise huh (aiz, especially in view of the ballooning dress size).

Came home to warm cheesy smells from the kitchen. Yup, the dearie made Pizza today. From stretch (almost lah) with Pita Bread as base. Just add pizza sauce, topped with honey baked ham, luncheon meat (or spam), pineapple pieces and mozzarella cheese and bake in oven.. Tat Da!! Easy home made pizza for dinner. The melted cheese was simply divine goodness! Add in some mushroom soup and the meal is complete. Although the canned soup would be better if it was home cooked.. ;p

Hee, starting to get overdose of western style food. Looking forward to other type of cuisine.

Dearie Cooks Dinner

Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta and Lobster Bisque

Hotdog with Italian Sausage

The dearie got home an hour before moi. He got down to cooking dinner. We had planned to do a simple Italian Hotdog meal with lobster bisque ( from a can lah!). However, the dear one was afraid that wifey would be hungry. So he did a pasta with sun dried tomato and poached prawns (weird combi huh) as well.. Hee i simply adore anything with sun-dried tomatoes. I can eat it just by itself.. *Slurp*

I'm been particularly hungry this whole day.. gobbled down my fishball noodles for lunch and had biscuits and choco for tea. Its been a decadent food day today.. so not very good for the diet plan. *Gluup*

New Year Goodies

I've been rather slack in the preparations for the new year. Din really clean the homeland much, except send the curtains and carpet for dry cleaning. The cleaning lady is coming on Friday, I sure hope the homeland is decent enough with her helping with the cleaning. Wanted to take leave to spring clean, but.. with so little leave left, guess i wanna save the precious off days.

I wonder how the little containers start piling up. Most of erm are contributed by the dear MIL. She's been a dear, frying the prawn crackers, cashew nuts and floss rolls. She also helped us to order the other tarts and wat nots. Add the items from the dear mummie.. its food galore for the festive season. My contributions? Only a bottle of almond cookies I got from a colleague and maybe some peanut thingy. Looks like not much left to get huh..except for Bak Kwa for the dearie's family Oops..

Bright Red Hair

Took half a day off to visit the hair stylist. Had no inspiration, so left my hair in the hands of my stylist. Andrew was clearly more inspired than moi. He gave moi flaming red hair with slight curls for volume. Can't say whether I liked or disliked the hair. Its clearly loud.. literally Ronald McDonald's kind of red ( which the dearie teases me about) but different. Andrew says the colour will fade to a copper red. I sure hope so.

Well.. hair styles are quite cyclic in nature.. I get flat straight hair, colour >> change a colour (red) and get some curls >> goes for flat hair and change another colour again >> decides to get some changes>> so the cycle goes on. Yupz, so its now the red hair (uncle Mc style), slight curls for the new year lah.

Its a subdued weekend.. went for a baby shower..the dearie colleague's on Sat evening with shopping after. Stayed home on sunday, with throbbing headache and tried accessing the work email without success. Still can't figure out why the vpn failed. Aiz.. sure hope the connection problem can be resolved soon, so that I can do a day of working from home next month.. :)

Looking Back

The good thing about blogging is that you would be able to return back to your thoughts, captured thru yesteryears. In a rather narcissistic manner.

Although what i am afraid of, is that the musings remains constant throughout the years. Even worse, would be the realisation that the years have been frittered away in a colourless drab existence.

An example: " Yah!! Its friday tomorrow!!" [ repeated in countless posts down the road].. which pretty much sums up this work week..[ feeling repeated many years down the road]. Urrgghh!!

To end this post: Yah!!! Its friday tomorrow!!

Wrong Bus.. Again!

There's a reason why moi's a self-proclaimed silly old donkey. .or goofball! Cannot recalled the countless times i've done silly things. Stopping at wrong MRT stations and other misadventures are my forte. *Signs*

I confess, guess what i did today? I took the wrong bus (again!). Staying 2 bus- stops away from a major interchange means that i usually pop onto any old bus for the feeder ride. BUT.. there are 2 buses which does a loop a junction before. And i cannot seem to remember the 2nd bus which i cannot take! So, it not a once bitten twice shy kinda scenario. Coz one forgets after a long lapse after being bitten.

When the bus came today, i vaguely remembered that i shouldn't be taking the bus (it was that vague k..). But, i checked out the route summary board before boarding. It said XXX street. That's where i usually alight.. so i bravely hopped onto the bus. Am guess what, yah.. its the wrong bus. *Aiyah* Moral of the lesson.. must take wrong bus a few more times! i'm sure my pea-sized brain would finally register the forbidden bus no! Or.. could this be a sign of aging.. ;p

(although the dearie noes this is a common occurrence in moi's life. So he's none too surprised when i confessed)

Pasta.. Again..(By the Dearie)

This is the dearie's version of pasta. With tomato and portobello mushroom and some fish. Yup, we woke up late yesterday.. had lunch (the pasta) before the dearie and mommie left for hair stylists. Moi, I waited with a cup of ice cold latte and a story book at the McDonald's nearby. Totally stuffed with food the entire day. Yah, we are quite homes people.. day offs are just for slacking.

Bliss, Blessed

MIL's Home-made salad sans salad sauce

Home cooked pork chops set, courtesy of the MIL

The dearie is working late today, so i came home late as well. The dear Mum-In-Law, Dad-In-Law , Sis-In-Law, little Javen and Megan trooped over to our place at 8 plus. Just to deliver MIL's home-cooked.yummy-licious Western Food for us. I'm so blessed to have wonderful thoughtful in-laws.. bliss as I chomp on the food... the pseudo chinese-western styled pork chops with the old school fries made from real potaoes which i used to cook when i was younger.. Hummhh.....

New Routine

The dearie is back on shift work..although he needs to do only 1 night shift per week. This has altered our established pattern. When he's on afternoon shift, i can stay longer at work because i dun have to eat at the in-laws. It also means less home-cooked food. Yeeepps.

Its actually straining to be putting long hours at the workplace. Especially when one knows that one has no career luck with the series of unfortunate incidents which leaves one feeling low on energy. The glass always seems greener from the other side.. whichever side you happen to be viewing from. * Sign* Nostalgic about the old work place. But, i guess its a blessing to be able to fret about such trivial issues. Not needing to worry for the basic necessities in life. One is never contented with one's lot in life.. that's why we are constantly unhappy complainey peeps. Learn to count our blessings on a daily basis... Yah!

Trying Kyoho Grapes

Expensive Japanese fruits are quite the rage these days. We've been wanting to try out the momo that looks oh so pretty and prefect in their boxes. And the special musk melons that cost a fortune.

I find it quite fascinating, how fruits can be so expensive and yet so perishable that their worth diminishes with every moment after harvesting. Its like the clock is ticking down. We came across some Kyoho Grapes at Cold Storage when we were shopping after work today. Kyoho Grapes were going cheap at $10 plus.. or rather, cheap by Jappy fruit standards vis-a-vis speciality gourmet supermarkets. A splurge if you compare with other types of grapes.

So, we decided to try the grapes for novelty's sake. I like the sugary sweetness of the fruit with a hint of winey musk. Yums, but a tad expensive.. so its gonna be a very rare occasional splurge.

August In Summary

August is the month moi started a new phase, with a brand new job and entirely foreign portfolio. This newbie is still learning after a month on the job. August is the month of adjustment to full-swing working life, as compared to the laidbackness of July. New environment, new people to be pally with, new beginning career wise. The new journey is long.. with loads to learn and this gal has just began. The goal is to gain experience in the field for mobility. Pronto.

fav seasonal fruit- Duku

Newly discovered passion fruit

August is also the month for fruits. Yah, I am a true blue fruit gal. I just gotta have my strawberries, pineapple, grapes, cherries, raspberries, plums, peaches , lychees and many many more. Moi tried passion fruit for the first time. Yah, i know i am quite a 'swa ku' for a fruit lover.. and the month for 'Duku' or Lansium Domesticum as the fruit is also known as. I am totally addicted to this tropical fruit which is native to the malaysian peninsula and have eaten basket loads (or is it lorry loads) this season. Its a yearly, six-monthly addiction that wans with the end of the fruit season. Just heart the sour-sweetish flesh. I can easily polish off 2-3kg all by moiself. oh man.. this gal's got a self control problem.. *sleepish grin*