Have the bad habit of phone surfing before sleeping so this could be a much more meaningful use of time before sleeping each nite - to pen down some thoughts n learnings from the day.
And so this blog has just been revived!
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Yays to blogger app
Great! Now there is a mobile app to blog! (Maybe it's been around for ages but it's new to me!)
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Bang!
I'm 31!
Happy belated birthday to myself and I'm glad to be still able to make this entry!
Got involved in an accident 2 days before and ended my 30th with a literal bang. All whines about the hassles being car-less for now aside, I'm thankful nobody was injured in the incident, especially since my baby was also in the car when it happened.
I can't recall if the other car beat the red light but since either way I do not have proof, I'm liable and the claims will be made against my insurance. Money-wise I have to pay $500 and the rest will be covered by the insurance and I'll lose my NCD which is currently worth about $600. (Luckily it's an amount I can afford). Logistics-wise, I'll be moving temporarily with BB to my in-laws since I have no means to bring her home on weekdays without my car (still at the workshop) and will have to take MRT to work.
Lessons learnt:
1) You can't be more careful on the road
2) Keep the car insurance and emergency contacts in the car and also store them in the handphone
3) Be more careful on the road
4) Be more more careful on the road
5) BE MORE MORE MORE CAREFUL ON THE ROAD
Happy belated birthday to myself and I'm glad to be still able to make this entry!
Got involved in an accident 2 days before and ended my 30th with a literal bang. All whines about the hassles being car-less for now aside, I'm thankful nobody was injured in the incident, especially since my baby was also in the car when it happened.
I can't recall if the other car beat the red light but since either way I do not have proof, I'm liable and the claims will be made against my insurance. Money-wise I have to pay $500 and the rest will be covered by the insurance and I'll lose my NCD which is currently worth about $600. (Luckily it's an amount I can afford). Logistics-wise, I'll be moving temporarily with BB to my in-laws since I have no means to bring her home on weekdays without my car (still at the workshop) and will have to take MRT to work.
Lessons learnt:
1) You can't be more careful on the road
2) Keep the car insurance and emergency contacts in the car and also store them in the handphone
3) Be more careful on the road
4) Be more more careful on the road
5) BE MORE MORE MORE CAREFUL ON THE ROAD
Monday, December 31, 2012
Year 2012
Last day of 2012 and the yearly ritual of recap for the year!
This year, I'm doing this in a water chalet at Avillion Resort (Port Dickson) and I've just watched the sun set for the last time this year. I'm on a day bed with my daughter (YES! My daughter!). While I'm typing away, she's making all sorts of cooing sounds at the side, entertaining herself with her fingers and 'grrrrrr' sounds. She looks over to me and returns my smile. The peace is sometimes disturbed by the soft purring snore of the hubs who took the wheel this early morning.
No doubt the biggest event of the year is her arrival and thus my entering to motherhood.
I had many things to complain and grumble about but I simply love how our brain functions - choosing only the pleasant to remember and therefore this year's entry will be one to count my blessings and take note of the wonderful things that happened in 2012.
- Smooth pregnancy
- Delayed honeymoon to New York
- Safe delivery of baby Shyan
- Maiden family (of 3!) time in Athens/Santorini
- Understanding boss who permitted the long leave for extra quality time with Shyan
- Wonderful parents and in-laws who are ever so willing to accommodate and help out
- Supportive siblings sharing their experience in child bringing
- Great friends who stayed by my side (figuratively) despite my absence and 'auntie-sization'
- "Completion" of stanchart marathon (making the last of my 3 goals by 30 years old complete)
[3 goals: 1) Afford a rolex; 2) have a baby; 3) complete a marathon]
- New Year countdown at Port Dickson (+ quality family time!)
Hope 2013 will be an even better year!
This year, I'm doing this in a water chalet at Avillion Resort (Port Dickson) and I've just watched the sun set for the last time this year. I'm on a day bed with my daughter (YES! My daughter!). While I'm typing away, she's making all sorts of cooing sounds at the side, entertaining herself with her fingers and 'grrrrrr' sounds. She looks over to me and returns my smile. The peace is sometimes disturbed by the soft purring snore of the hubs who took the wheel this early morning.
No doubt the biggest event of the year is her arrival and thus my entering to motherhood.
I had many things to complain and grumble about but I simply love how our brain functions - choosing only the pleasant to remember and therefore this year's entry will be one to count my blessings and take note of the wonderful things that happened in 2012.
- Smooth pregnancy
- Delayed honeymoon to New York
- Safe delivery of baby Shyan
- Maiden family (of 3!) time in Athens/Santorini
- Understanding boss who permitted the long leave for extra quality time with Shyan
- Wonderful parents and in-laws who are ever so willing to accommodate and help out
- Supportive siblings sharing their experience in child bringing
- Great friends who stayed by my side (figuratively) despite my absence and 'auntie-sization'
- "Completion" of stanchart marathon (making the last of my 3 goals by 30 years old complete)
[3 goals: 1) Afford a rolex; 2) have a baby; 3) complete a marathon]
- New Year countdown at Port Dickson (+ quality family time!)
Hope 2013 will be an even better year!
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
End of my SAHM career
Soon, very soon (13 days to exact), my short stint of a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) career would have ended. Excluding the 2 weeks of leave before Shyan's birth, I would have had a 19-week full-time job as a Mom by the time I go back to work on Jan 7th. I feel fortunate to have been able to have this time with Shyan, though I certainly will not mind if they really changed the policy to a 6-mth maternity leave.
Life as a SAHM is simple. There is really only one purpose and goal - look after Shyan well. What this goal encompasses is not a lot either; if you count, there are only two items -
1) feeding her well (latch-on, pump milk, wash bottles/pump parts, make sure I'm eating well so that the breast milk I'm feeding her is nutritious enough,)
2) make sure she's clean (bathe and diaper changing)
but in order to accomplish them, I am left with two injured wrists, backache and panda eyes.
There is no scorecard too, no KPI. No bonus, no increment, no salary. I realize it's a conscience thing. There was this one night when she was crying. I was sleep deprived and did not know what she wanted and I said some things to her angrily (it doesn't really matter what you say since babies don't understand; they only recognize the tone of voice). I can't remember how that particular night ended but I remember the guilt I felt the next morning. There is no reason to be harsh to a 1-mth plus baby! What this translates to is having to think through every little action and word, fearing the sense of guilt for losing my temper or worse, displaying bad behavior (in case she follows).
Simple management rules tell you - without measurable results and compensation, nobody will enjoy what they are doing or be motivated to do their best. Am I motivated to do my best? Surprisingly, yes. Did I enjoy it? Amazingly, I sure did.
Perhaps the compensation in this case is -
* a simple smile or an occasional cackle which is as valuable as your pay-check.
* the satisfaction when you see her outgrowing her clothes or her responding to you when you call her name
* the autonomy of having no boss
又或许这就是传说中的母爱。
Regardless, I'm treasuring this time with her, knowing I will not never have this amount of quality time with her once this leave is over.
Life as a SAHM is simple. There is really only one purpose and goal - look after Shyan well. What this goal encompasses is not a lot either; if you count, there are only two items -
1) feeding her well (latch-on, pump milk, wash bottles/pump parts, make sure I'm eating well so that the breast milk I'm feeding her is nutritious enough,)
2) make sure she's clean (bathe and diaper changing)
but in order to accomplish them, I am left with two injured wrists, backache and panda eyes.
There is no scorecard too, no KPI. No bonus, no increment, no salary. I realize it's a conscience thing. There was this one night when she was crying. I was sleep deprived and did not know what she wanted and I said some things to her angrily (it doesn't really matter what you say since babies don't understand; they only recognize the tone of voice). I can't remember how that particular night ended but I remember the guilt I felt the next morning. There is no reason to be harsh to a 1-mth plus baby! What this translates to is having to think through every little action and word, fearing the sense of guilt for losing my temper or worse, displaying bad behavior (in case she follows).
Simple management rules tell you - without measurable results and compensation, nobody will enjoy what they are doing or be motivated to do their best. Am I motivated to do my best? Surprisingly, yes. Did I enjoy it? Amazingly, I sure did.
Perhaps the compensation in this case is -
* a simple smile or an occasional cackle which is as valuable as your pay-check.
* the satisfaction when you see her outgrowing her clothes or her responding to you when you call her name
* the autonomy of having no boss
又或许这就是传说中的母爱。
Regardless, I'm treasuring this time with her, knowing I will not never have this amount of quality time with her once this leave is over.
Sunday, November 04, 2012
Motherhood
I have been trying to update Shyan's blog often - alwaysmylittleprincess.blogspot.sg but realized I have been neglecting my own! It's after all also a new journey I've embarked in my own life and I really ought to do some recording and reflections of sorts.
Time passes really fast when you are not working. Alright to be fair, it passes really fast when you are very busy at work too. Point is, before I know it, more than half of my maternity leave is already gone. Bb turned 10 weeks old couple of days ago, meaning I've already consumed 10 out of 16 (yes, maternity leave is 16 weeks, not 4 mths) of the leave. The good news is, I've pretty much gotten use to Bb's routine and can cope pretty ok now. I'm already looking forward to the time when she can sleep through the nite, which, many say, might happen any time soon! The bad news is, I have to go back to work soon! And I know from the year-end appraisal discussion with my boss that once I go back it's peak period for at least 3 months straight.
I know I shouldn't worry since worry is not going to help things and I should channel all my energy to looking after Shyan but I can't help but think about it at times. Just hope the transition back to work will be smooth and I will have no issues coping!
I've always thought that marriage is not a life-changing event but having a child is. Indeed, my life has changed. Well I'm still free to go anywhere I want and do anything I want, but provided either I have someone else looking after her, or I should be able to look after her while doing whatever I wish to do, wherever that is. I'm fortunate to be staying with my mommy such that she can be that someone when I need to run errands. I have my mil to help out too, though now I'm still half-hearted to utilize that help since she is still recuperating from her op and appear to be overly eager and confident.
Of course there is the minor (but not so minor) issue of having put on weight and not being able to fit into the pre-preg clothes. That can be fixed, with lots of determination. I need time though.. Hopefully by the time I go back to work, I would fit into those jeans.
Apart from these physical changes, I certainly hope I have 'transformed' into a mother. I use hope because I can't really sense any change in me. I'm still impatient, I still wish I could join my friends for a drink and feel pretty much the same way about everything else, though I wonder if I've become more ah soh, lol.
Having spent the last few days at my grandpa's wake listening to the elders' conversations and talking to cousins who are also parents, I feel fortunate. There is an uncle who decided not to have a 2nd child due to financial difficulty and old age (husband and wife are 40+) and there is a cousin whose 8-mth unborn child was strangled by its umbilical cord.
I could complain I did not manage to have a natural birth despite the 10 hour labour and have to go through an emergency C-sect cos the baby had her umbilical cord round her neck, making her unable to descend. I could also complain about the ridiculously high expenses as a result of having to pay both the natural birth and c-sect costs. But at least, my baby is out safely and we could afford the bills, especially with the good maternity benefits the Co provides.
I could only afford to travel after I started work, but once you start working, you get limited leave and traveling becomes a luxury; therefore the opportunity to make use of my maternity leave to travel with the baby to Athens was such a god-sent. Thinking back, I had the good fortunes to have visited numerous places. So much so that when the hubs showed me his blocked leave and asked where I want to go, I said "I don't know".
New Zealand? Brazil? Another part of US? Germany? South Africa? We shall see...
Time passes really fast when you are not working. Alright to be fair, it passes really fast when you are very busy at work too. Point is, before I know it, more than half of my maternity leave is already gone. Bb turned 10 weeks old couple of days ago, meaning I've already consumed 10 out of 16 (yes, maternity leave is 16 weeks, not 4 mths) of the leave. The good news is, I've pretty much gotten use to Bb's routine and can cope pretty ok now. I'm already looking forward to the time when she can sleep through the nite, which, many say, might happen any time soon! The bad news is, I have to go back to work soon! And I know from the year-end appraisal discussion with my boss that once I go back it's peak period for at least 3 months straight.
I know I shouldn't worry since worry is not going to help things and I should channel all my energy to looking after Shyan but I can't help but think about it at times. Just hope the transition back to work will be smooth and I will have no issues coping!
I've always thought that marriage is not a life-changing event but having a child is. Indeed, my life has changed. Well I'm still free to go anywhere I want and do anything I want, but provided either I have someone else looking after her, or I should be able to look after her while doing whatever I wish to do, wherever that is. I'm fortunate to be staying with my mommy such that she can be that someone when I need to run errands. I have my mil to help out too, though now I'm still half-hearted to utilize that help since she is still recuperating from her op and appear to be overly eager and confident.
Of course there is the minor (but not so minor) issue of having put on weight and not being able to fit into the pre-preg clothes. That can be fixed, with lots of determination. I need time though.. Hopefully by the time I go back to work, I would fit into those jeans.
Apart from these physical changes, I certainly hope I have 'transformed' into a mother. I use hope because I can't really sense any change in me. I'm still impatient, I still wish I could join my friends for a drink and feel pretty much the same way about everything else, though I wonder if I've become more ah soh, lol.
Having spent the last few days at my grandpa's wake listening to the elders' conversations and talking to cousins who are also parents, I feel fortunate. There is an uncle who decided not to have a 2nd child due to financial difficulty and old age (husband and wife are 40+) and there is a cousin whose 8-mth unborn child was strangled by its umbilical cord.
I could complain I did not manage to have a natural birth despite the 10 hour labour and have to go through an emergency C-sect cos the baby had her umbilical cord round her neck, making her unable to descend. I could also complain about the ridiculously high expenses as a result of having to pay both the natural birth and c-sect costs. But at least, my baby is out safely and we could afford the bills, especially with the good maternity benefits the Co provides.
I could only afford to travel after I started work, but once you start working, you get limited leave and traveling becomes a luxury; therefore the opportunity to make use of my maternity leave to travel with the baby to Athens was such a god-sent. Thinking back, I had the good fortunes to have visited numerous places. So much so that when the hubs showed me his blocked leave and asked where I want to go, I said "I don't know".
New Zealand? Brazil? Another part of US? Germany? South Africa? We shall see...
Friday, September 21, 2012
Overdose of baby news
I can totally understand how irritating all those baby/young kids Facebook updates can be to people who are not married, without kid or trying to conceive. They practically line up your whole wall each time you log on to Facebook!
I'm a kaypo Mom who loves seeing all the cute baby pics and reading comments other people make of other people's children and even I do find such updates overwhelmingly excessive recently. Dragon year and friends are of childbearing stage of life, 1 out of 4 posts is of a newborn, some new uploaded pics of a kid etc.
Remembering the times when I couldn't get an appointment slot for the detailed scan, and not being able to get my single room on the first day of hospitalization, is there low birth rate in Sg, really?
I'm a kaypo Mom who loves seeing all the cute baby pics and reading comments other people make of other people's children and even I do find such updates overwhelmingly excessive recently. Dragon year and friends are of childbearing stage of life, 1 out of 4 posts is of a newborn, some new uploaded pics of a kid etc.
Remembering the times when I couldn't get an appointment slot for the detailed scan, and not being able to get my single room on the first day of hospitalization, is there low birth rate in Sg, really?
Friday, August 10, 2012
Food cravings
I did not have frequent hunger pangs or strange weird food cravings all these many months but I feel they might be starting now! As I'm typing now, how I wish there's some tiramisu or strawberry shortcake for me!
Thinking back, perhaps I did have cravings..I did after all, eat 水煮鱼 perhaps 5 times? And keep wanting to eat the butter pork at Dbl Chef after first trying it a month or two ago.. In fact, I'm hoping to be able to eat it once more before I deliver.. And I had perhaps 20 mini magnums or so..
Oh and the perpetual craving for 帝皇苗..
I did not really increase my number of meals or food intake, which probably explains why I've only put on about 10kg. Only is by others' standards. I feel I've put on enough. Baby weighs fine too. With only 10kg I already feel clumsy and big. I look forward to giving birth and being agile and light again! Of course that requires much work I'm sure, but right now I'm pretty motivated to work off those kgs!
And as evil as I may sound, I cannot imagine how fat people get by... those people with those huge potbellies - how can they tolerate themselves being so restricted? It's so hard to move, squat, run, jump, brisk-walk and you carry so much weight around it's so tiring just walking around.
***
And now... what shall I have for dinner?
***
And I've started a new blog - http://alwaysmylittleprincess.blogspot.sg/
Self-explanatory.
Thinking back, perhaps I did have cravings..I did after all, eat 水煮鱼 perhaps 5 times? And keep wanting to eat the butter pork at Dbl Chef after first trying it a month or two ago.. In fact, I'm hoping to be able to eat it once more before I deliver.. And I had perhaps 20 mini magnums or so..
Oh and the perpetual craving for 帝皇苗..
I did not really increase my number of meals or food intake, which probably explains why I've only put on about 10kg. Only is by others' standards. I feel I've put on enough. Baby weighs fine too. With only 10kg I already feel clumsy and big. I look forward to giving birth and being agile and light again! Of course that requires much work I'm sure, but right now I'm pretty motivated to work off those kgs!
And as evil as I may sound, I cannot imagine how fat people get by... those people with those huge potbellies - how can they tolerate themselves being so restricted? It's so hard to move, squat, run, jump, brisk-walk and you carry so much weight around it's so tiring just walking around.
***
And now... what shall I have for dinner?
***
And I've started a new blog - http://alwaysmylittleprincess.blogspot.sg/
Self-explanatory.
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