Shopping Spree (27 Jun 09)

Went Orchard for shopping yesterday.

Burberry
Taka was having 10% mall wide discount. Burberry was having sale and on top of that add'l 10% disc. Bought a collar tshirt for mum ($78.20 after discount; UP: $220) and a crew neck tshirt for YC (his bday present - $67.50 after discount; UP: $150).

Gap
We were at Vivocity on Fri nite. Went to Gap and bought 6 items - 1 polo cap sleeve shirt for myself, 1 polo shirt for YC, 1 dress for Cherylihn and 3 tops for Shawn. Total amount is abt $130.
Went to Gap again on Sat (Centrepoint outlet). Spent about 1.5hours there and left with 1 pants for mum, 2 shirt & 1 jeans for YC, and 1 jeans and 1 pants for myself. Total amount is abt $260.

Toys
We bought a magic spray pen set cum refill for Cherylin. She has been eyeing for it a few weeks back. She was so happy that she kept holding on to the pen set and refill pack. Happily played with it the moment we reached home (it was passed 10pm then)

Mothercare
There's 50% off regular priced items over the wkend. Was in a rush hence only manage to pick two dresses for Cherylin (cost $28 n $31.50 after disc).

Was telling YC that it's the 1st time i spent like $500 in a day. :P

NB: will take pictures and post later.

Studio shots at foto-u (20 Jun 09)

We had a 30-min photo session at foto-u. It's a father's day promo costing $38. We had a total of about 100 shots. Felt it's too few. What to do cos my two kids refuse to cooperate - one too hyper and kept running around; the other too stone after waking up from nap and refused to pose alone without mummy/daddy. Hence, we wasted some time while trying to get them to pose. Nevertheless, at only $38, it's still quite worth while :)

It's shopping time!

Not because of GSS. PC show is just next week. Need to get a compact digicam, renew mobile broadband scription, and want to buy a netbook. If you noticed, I used "need" for the first 2 items, and "want" for the last.

Need because:
(1) Digicam - as mentioned in previous post, my more than 2.5 years old canon digicam is spoilt. Though i have a DSLR, still need a compact camera so that i can carry it with me everyday whereever i go. With so many models in the market, it's really a tough decision to make on which camera to get. Shortlisted lumix (FX38 or FX48) or canon (ixus 100is or 110is). A fren of mine recommended finepix 200EXR. Hmm... really can't decide..

(2) Mobile Broadband Subscription - it's due for renewal this jun (we sign up during PC show last year in jun. so the renewal ties in nicely with PC show that's held in this period).

Want because:
(3) Netbook - this is something that can wait as without one, i won't 'die'. but really hope to get one soon (looking at lenovo s10) so that i can surf on the go (complemented with the mobile broadband that we have). Then perhaps i'll be able to update my blog more regularly. But i heard windows 7 will be released soon. Hence, not sure if i should wait?

Wedding Dinner

Yesterday was Celest's wedding. Celest was my ex-colleague 6 years ago. We haven't been keeping in contact much. Hence, was surprised and delighted when she invited me to her wedding dinner few weeks ago.

Had wanted to bring YC n kids along. Too bad he's on reservist. Hence, I only brought along Cherylin. Would give Cherylin 8 points for her behavious yesterday. Other than keep asking me questions, she's really well behaved. Ate her food and chat with my two other ex-colleagues too.

Celest became an air stewardess after she's left my ex-company. She's not changed after so many years, still as friendly and fun loving. Cherylin kept wanting to take picture with the beautiful bride. Too bad my camera is spoilt (Cherylin dropped onto the floor and the LCD shows a black screen - can't take picture anymore. sob). Hence, could only take 2 pictures with my low resolution handphone, and one taken by the wedding photographer. Will try to get the soft copy from Celest.

I enjoy attending wedding dinners, especially those of people whom I know personally. Can really feel the joy and happiness of the couple. Make me envy and feel like getting married all over again (haha... just kidding, too old for that).

Time to stop (Part 2)

This morning when i woke up, don't feel my breasts heavy at all. The day is finally coming. I gather by early next week, I won't need to pump any more and it will really be the end of my 'bfg career'. It's really a mixed feeling for me. Glad because it means i can start on my medication to fix the condition; sad because i will miss the bonding time with Shawn while he latch on. Well, i guess it's a matter of sooner or later. So, just try to let go and be happy :)

Time to stop (Part 1)

It's time for me to stop breastfeeding. Really reluctant but got no choice. If not, I'll probably breastfeed till my supply stops or Shawn rejects me. Haiz...

Why?
I've to face with reality. Somehow, my thyroid problem seems to relapse after every birth. It happened after I gave birth to Cherylin. Now, it happened again. I had known months ago that the problem has relapsed. I kept postponing my scheduled blood test, until mid Apr, before my Europe trip. As expected, my blood test results were negative. Doctor advised to start medication. I checked if there's medicine safe for breastfeeding. The doctor checked and found none. He checked with two of his colleagues. Both of them said the medicine will go into the breastmilk. Hence, doctor advised me to stop breastfeeding. Afterall, baby is already more than a year.

Ok, told doctor I'll start taking medicine after my trip (course don't wanna introduce changes to Shawn during a holiday, and it's so much more convenient to breastfeed him then to bring milk bottles, milk powder, etc.

How?

1st week (11 May to 17 May)

When i first tried to avoid latching Shawn, he cried till very cham. So much so that i bu ren xin to reject him. So for the initial first week, especially weekend, I still bf him like 80% of the time. I kept saying Shawn is like a drug addict having withdrawal symptons when he's not breastfed. He will cry in the middle of the night. So all of us suffered.

I had to adjust the number of times i pump too. Objective is to reduce the supply gradually (err... don't want to take medicine to stop though it's the fastest way). For the first few days after I go back to work from holiday, I stretched the time to pump to 10pm (gotta tolerate the engorgement, so had to hand expressed a little while at work). Morning gotta pump once too. But for each pump, I avoided clearing everything. So, there's some 'improvements'. My supply used to be around 1 to 1.2 litre a day. This week, it's reduced to abt 600ml by end of the week.

2nd week (18 May to 24 May)
Shawn seemed to adapt better when I don't breastfeed him even on weekends. He'll ask for milk and when I told him "Mummy heat up milk for you, ok?". He'll nod his head. I tried giving him formula milk but was unsuccessful (i have some enfagrow sample - oh, me deciding to give btw enfa or gain IQ, which is better huh?). Weekend as usual, bf Shawn as usual (hee...like derailing right? :P)

Pumping at work had also improved a little. Am not so engorged at end of the day. But still need to pump at night for first 2 nites. By mid week or so, can stretched till the next morning. Supply is about 300ml.

3rd week (25 May to 31 May)
This week, I tried to give Shawn formula milk again on weekend. When he asked for milk, i took the satchet of milk and told him "mummy make milk for you, ok?". He nodded his head again. After I've prepared the milk, I passed him the bottle. He took a sip, removed the the teat from him mouth, looked at me and shook his head. Haha.. rejected again. I tried another time, adding the ebm to the fm, he tooked it. Okie, means must 'camouflage' and slowly get him transited to formula milk.

Now able to just pump once in the morning. Supply reduced to about 200ml liao. Sob, my stock of ebm is depleting soon. Now got lots of empty milk bottles which I have headache over what to do with those.

4th week (1 Jun to 5 Jun)
This is the 4th week trying to wean Shawn off breastmilk. Today, 5th day of the week, I yield only 14oml (this is roughly the qty i get. yesterday slightly more at 180ml). Only feel slight heaviness on one side. Really going to be end of my bfg job liao.

Yesterday (4 Jun) at mum's place, Shawn was crying for milk. As she needed to warm up the milk, Shawn had to wait for a while. He cried and kept asking for milk. Good that he didn't come to milk and insist that I bf him. So this is a good sign.

At this rate things are going, I should be a dry cow by next week bah.... then I'll start taking my medication...

My thoughts
I wonder why the relapse occurs each time after the birth of my child. Could it be due to the hormonal change, coupled with caffeine? If so, I'm thankful that I was 'auto averse' to caffeine during both my pregnancies. Otherwise, it would be a difficult pregnancy for me as I read from the internet that patients who are pregnant need to be monitored constantly.

I had earlier asked my gp what will happen if I do not take medication for my condition. Dr Lawrence said that the worst case scenario will be heart failure. Heart failure? I asked him. But Dr Lawrence told me that it won't happen. Because the patient will feel so unwell that medication assistance would have been sought before anything happen. So, I need to be less obstinate and get myself cured. Hopefully, forever and ever and no more relapse in future. :)

So frustrating!

Must complain. It's so frustrating to include pictures in the posts. The pictures are always uploaded onto the top page even though i upload after typing some text. Always gotta drag the picture down to where my text end. Not sure if it's the way blogger works or i did it the wrong way?

Anyone can advise me how to be more efficient in creating post with picture. Just that one post on my day 1 taiwan trip took me more than 30 mins to complete. Humph.

Taiwan - Day 1 (26 Mar 09)

Taiwan - Day 1

On the plane

This is Shawn's 'virgin' flight Thankfully he was quite ok while on the plane. There's no bassinet for him so he sat on our laps/empty seats (good that the flight was not full :P)

They gave Shawn child meal instead of infant meal. Haha..the food ended up in YC and my stomach since he didn't eat much. Shawn cried a little when I held him on my lap, refused to let him wander on the plane. Other than that, he 'survived' well on the plane.

Cherylin was looking forward to activity pack that airline usually gave to kids. She's disappointed when there's none. Also no in flight entertainment for her. Poor thing hoh. Luckily it's a short flight.

At Taipei 101

Our first stop of the day - Taipei 101. Had our lunch at the foodcourt, next hot mini shabu shabu in the cold weather. Me bought a cake set too - cranberry cheesecake with mocha (hiya, too busy eating and forgot to take picture). Yummy.

We went for our sightseeing after departing Taipei 101. Oh, what's this place huh? I actually forgotten the name. Have to go home to look at my itinerary.

Shilin Night Market

Our next stop was the famous Shilin Night Market in Taipei. Gosh, we were only given about 1.5hrs. A bit too rush, i feel, for us to explore the place fully. So we just had to make do with whatever time that we had and cover as much stalls as possible. First thing YC did was to rush to his favourite chicken cutlet stall (we came to Taipei in Nov 2004 when I was expecting Cherylin - YC fell in love with this chicken cutlet stall since then :P).

Shawn was so tired that he fell asleep while we were at the night market. Hee, he's holding on to the stroller while he slept. So cute.

Hotel Room

Some pictures of the hotel room. Again, i can't recall what's the name of the hotel. Gotta go home dig for the info too :P

Shawn's Birthday Bash @ JWT (22 Feb 09)

Shawn and mummy


Look closely, Shawn is crying when i left him in the parachute thingy


Family photo :)


Cherylin peeking into one of the gym equipment (hee.. i don't know what it's called :P)
She enjoyed the session very much, happily running and playing around the gym.


Group photo of mummies and babies

Valentine's Day - On The Flyers!

Super belated post. Can't be helped cos nowadays work is never ending. Everyday do OT still have unfinished tasks.

We had a ride on the Singapore Flyers on Valentine's Day! Cherylin used to fear riding on ferris wheel when she was younger. Now, she enjoyed the ride so much that she asked to go on board again! Shawn had fun walking around in the cabin. Not afraid of the height at all. One thing that surprised me is that security screening (like those in the airport) is required before you can board the flyers. Didn't know they are so strict eh.

Shawn said "ma ma"

Yesterday I was playing with Shawn and decided to test if he knows how to call me.

Me: Hong Kai, call "mummy"
Shawn: *silent*
Me: call "ma ma"
Shawn: Ma Ma (followed by a smile)
Me: call "daddy"
Shawn: *silent again*
Me: call "ba ba"
Shawn: hesitated a while... pa pa

Hmm... he can't call daddy/mummy yet which is what i preferred to be addressed (i suppose it's more difficult to pronounce). Ok, make do with him calling me "ma ma" now.

Grounded no more :)

Yeah! Finally going to travel. Book our tour packages over the weekend. Lots of roadshows by travel agencies and it's usually the trend when NATAS is approaching. Now just hoping that the min size for the tour group will be hit. Pray hard.

Mar
Going to Taiwan for 8 days. It will be my second visit to Taiwan (went for 4 days when i was expecting Cherylin in Nov 2004 - was around 5.5 mths preggie then. didn't dare stay too long since it's my first pregnancy. Became more gungho when i was expecting Shawn. keke.. 敢敢 went USA for 11 days when i was 6.5mths preggie :P)

Apr/May
Going to Europe for 11 days + 2 days (extending in London. not sure how many days until flight is confirmed - Oh, i opted to travel in A380 for the return flight. Hope can get it.) Now must do homework for free day in Paris and London. Paris should be easy since it's only 1 day. Probably can spend the whole day shopping. keke. Will need to do research for London though. Anyone has got suggestions please let me know k?

My pocket will have a super duper big whole after going for the above trips. Must start saving up again to build up my reserves for future holidays. I told YC: "You donate all your money to the gaming industry while I donate mine to the travel industry." ;)

Holiday Trips in 2009

I've been grounded in Singapore for more than a year since my last trip to USA in Nov 07 (when i was expecting Shawn). I'm so deprived that I intend to go for 2 to 3 trips this year. Initially was planning to visit Japan. But the soaring Yen puts me off. It's simply too costly (when things in Japan are already very expensive) to go to Japan when the exchange rate went from 1.3 to 1.7. And with a group of 3 adults and 2 kids, the extra expenses due to increase in Yen can be quite substantial. Hence, i've put off the idea. Visit the country again when the rate is more favourable.

So now, what are the countries i have in mind and the tentative dates?

• Mar 09 - taiwan, korea, hongkong, shanghai/beijing (still not decided, depends on the date too because the main idea is to help YC clears his leaves - so may or may not materialise)
• May 09 - Europe (confirmed going just that we've not booked the package yet! with the attractive rates for Euro and Pound, it's a good time to go)
• Sep 09 - Melbourne (going with J and W. we planned to go as a group with our family. yeah, looking forward to it and it must materialise k? J and W if you are reading, it's a reminder hoh.)

I told YC all the above will eat into my savings by a lot. Who ask that I like travelling so much that i'll just slog and build up my reserves again. :)

Shawn's milestone updates

Just like his sister, Shawn can walk when he's 1 year 1 week old. Nowadays he walks most of the time when he's home (except during weekend when we are outside). He enjoys walking it seems, though he may take longer to reach a destination compared to crawling.

What can he say now? He can:

1) call jie jie. his favourite word, can hear him saying that almost everyday. repeated times so more
2) mum mum - when he wants to eat/drink milk. 2 nites ago, when he cried for milk in early morning. when i carried him in the craddle position, he took off his pacifier and utter "mum mum" before i fed him.
3) wai po - it's true that my mum and I heard him mouthing these 2 words.
4) Ohh - when he drops something on the floor and when something goes wrong.

Other than the above, the usual baby talk of 'ma ma', 'ba ba', 'ehh' comes out from his mouth.

What can he do now? He can:

1. wave bye bye (he does this by clenching and opening his fist. must have learnt from me cos i did that to him every morning when i goes to work)
2. do the 'sayang' action (he'll stroke our face from top to bottom, though sometimes used too much strength)
3. do the "pa pa" sign (pat his chest with his hand)
4. point to things he wants with his finger
5. feed himself baby snacks, fruits (banana, orange, apple, strawberry - he loves the korean strawberry)
6. hold his bottle with two hands (am surprised with this because he hates to be bottle fed)
7. do the "from sit to stand position" effortlessly\
8. do the "gong xi gong xi" sign (only do this when he's in the mood)\
9. listen to instruction (e.g. when we ask him to pass something to us, he's able to understand and do the task correctly; whenever he asked for food that i'm eating, i'll tell him to sit down first which he always follows)
10. take things out from a container and put them in again
11. clap his hands
12. cry when we (me, YC, my mum, Cherylin) scold him (find it very cute - he'll first blink his eyes, then give the pityful look, blink his eyes again and look at us, if we continue to look angry, he'll pout and cry. haha)

Super busy at work!

Since last quarter of last year, work has been more and more hectic. And it's not going to end anytime soon. More news of helping Singaporeans to stay competitive and employable in the papers means more work for me. Sometimes have to console myself that at this time, it's better to have work and be busy then to be without work. Should count my blessing. Such positive thinking helps. Ohh, this is also the reason why it takes ages for me to update my blog. Simply no time to 'eat snake' while at work. :P

Diaper Free Days :)

Cherylin is now fully off diapers. Yeah! This happened like end of 2008 (see... i can't remember the date. getting old). She was off diaper for the day when she was abt 2.5 years old. We didn't train her for sleeping without diaper in the night because of the possible mess (i.e. if she wee wee in the middle of the night, imagine the hassles of changing bedsheet, wiping the mattress, etc).

I think her success is partly due to us saying "you are going to be 4 years old next year, if you are still wearing diaper to bed, the air stewardess will not let you onto the plane (haha...white lies). Then daddy and mummy can't bring you for holiday." She took it seriously, i think cos she likes to travel. So the day when she finally succeeded in not wearing diaper (actually my mum was the one telling me that Cherylin need not wear diaper anymore. As her diapers were dry in the morning in consecutive days), she was very happy and declare that she can now take the aeroplane!

Shawn's 1st bday celebration - 17 Jan

We celebrated Shawn's 1st birthday 2 weeks in advance. A couple of reasons: 31st is the 6th day of CNY, based on last year's understanding, some cake shops may not be opened then. 24th is not suitable either cos it's a day be eve of CNY. Everyone will be busy preparing for CNY. Hence, decided that 17th is the best. It's also close to his lunar birthday which was on 19 Jan.

Collected Shawn's cake from SO at abt 330pm, picking mum up at the same time. We chose a TTT theme, thinking that he can keep the toy train as remembrance (though he probably can't remember a thing. At least can show him the pictures).

Food arrived at 6pm, and most guests (mainly YC's relatives) had their food at 7pm plus. Planned to cut the cake at 845pm. Shawn was very tired and fell alseep at abt 820pm. We thought it's easy to wake him up for the cake cutting (he's usually a light sleeper). Who knows he's soooo tired that no matter how we disturb him, he continued to sleep. It's so funny that people around started to laugh. Shawn finally woke up after all the disturbance.

Step-by-step

Shawn was able to stand without support few weeks back. He started off with a few seconds. Now, he can stand for about 15 seconds (YC timed it last weekend). When he did that, he'll smile very happily, as if very satisfied with his own 'achievement'.

My mum told me that Shawn could take 1 to 2 steps (without support) a couple of weeks ago. Over the weekend, he progressed to taking 3 to 4 steps. Cherylin could walk on her own when she turned 1 year 1 week's old. Let see if Shawn follows suit. Am not stressing myself nor pressuring Shawn, just want to know if they have the same rate of development at least in one area (in terms of teething and sleeping through the nite, Shawn is much slower). But i must say that it's really cute to see baby crawl..... :)

My new toy!

Bought myself a new toy last sat. Been wanting to buy it a couple of months ago. Finally decided to take action so that i can use it during Shawn's birthday celebration. Guess what is it?

It's a Canon DSLR. I've interest in photography but am not a pro. So why did I buy it? Cos my friend said it's very user friendly (when set to auto mode), just need to point and shoot just like a compact digicam. And I've seen pictures taken by DSLR. Really very nice. I especially like those focus on the object and blurry background effect.

Did some recce on the price on Fri. Went to 4 shops and found that the one at HV is the cheapest!

I probably won't be holding on to the camera on this sat: (1) have not learnt how to use it effectively yet, (2) i should be carrying shawn and the camera will be in the way. So, told YC to ask his brother/cousin help take pictures :)

Cherylin attends Nursery Class!

The pictures below say it all. Cherylin attended her first day of nursery class on 2 Jan 09. We took leave and brought her to class. No cries, no clingy on to mummy. She even talked to her teacher without fear (she was playing with some toys and asked the teacher how to fix the blocks). She happily waved bye bye to us when we left the class. Well done! My brother thought she would cry on her first day of school. Thankfully it was a breeze for her to start school again, with new environment, new classmates (well, there are about 3-4 kids from her previous class, perhaps that helped to settle her more easily?) and new teacher.

It's been 1 week since she started school. Other than being grudgy on 1 morning (cos she didn't have enuf sleep) and throw a little tantrum at my mum's place, she was perfectly ok on rest of the mornings. Brush her teeth, change into her uniform, wear her shoes - all done without a fuss. She's happy everyday when she goes to school. Even told YC she likes to go to school. :)