new toy and new photos...

happy birthday to me... :)

another year has gone by in a flash... hopefully i've also become another year wiser... july has always been my fav. month in a year since both our birthdays (dh & i) and our ROM anniversary fall in this month... with another few more days to go, we might just have another reason to love July... i.e. if #2 decides to come early. although we both would prefer not since we still have uncompleted work to do.

sweet DH got me the dSLR that i wanted as a pressie this year and we spent the morning having fun, taking photos as a family. its so nice to have crisp & clear photos as compared to what you get with a PNS camera - there's just no denying that u get better quality photos with a dSLR and here's the photo evidence!

as you can see, even our pets got into the (photo) action... i did macro shots of our fishes and it has been a while since chewy has nice clear photos (since he's such a bundle of energy and we only get blur photos trying to capture his movement!) and he clearly enjoyed being a photo subject!

home run...

we are less than 3 weeks' from the arrival of #2 - in fact, our OB 'predicts' that i will go into labor next week based on the fact that #2 is already 60% engaged - i am totally not ready since i still have plenty to do at work.

on homefront, we are more or less ready - the baby cot was set up for C's use so that she will not roll over didi at night - and she has been co-operating by sleeping into the cot since it was up last weekend. i also spent some time sewing pillow cases for my 2 little babies last weekend - need to find more blue cloth though! we also bought a pack of newborn diapers to standby - anyone who has had a baby will know how much diapers they use in the initial months!

it has become increasing difficult for me to move around, no thanks to the bulge... even turning from one side to another on the bed is a chore! not to mention the numerous times i have to wake up each night to pee with the bb constantly pressing on my bladder. 38" is (hopefully) the biggest that i've ever been in my whole life - now i wonder how i'm going lose all those weight after delivery... *sigh*

sleepless again...

another 4am and i'm up again - this time, awaken by the dog's sudden barking...

C has been exhibiting terrible behavior the past few days - whining and crying excessively for attention and refusing to co-operate at all! where has my li'l angel gone to? Coupled with my overloaded schedule & pressure to clear my production before i pop, i lost it too many times - screaming and caning her when she refuses to stop! i'm a BAD mother!! *sigh*... she is clearly testing our patience - is this the 'terrible twos stage' that so many talk about or is it because we are nearing the arrival of #2? i had the afternoon off today to think through the events of the past few days.

Her behavior is clearly attention seeking and us losing our temper definitely doesn't help at all! i refuse to end our day last night the same way we did the past few nights so we made that extra effort not to scold and speak gently to her at bedtime - it is evident that the gentle approach works since she did not cry nor scream in her sleep; something that she has been doing the prior few nights.

My poor li'l baby - i refuse to believe that there is such a thing as 'the terrible twos syndrome' and feel strongly that her behavior is due to jealously and insecurity, so I must remind myself of that constantly and not lose it anymore! It is no fun carrying such a big tummy, being short of sleep and having a punishing schedule - so i've decided to take a step back to breathe now... and savour our last few weeks together as two, before #2 arrives. Proritize, Proritize, Proritize - that's exactly what i need to do now!

sleepless in SG...

Its 4am and I'm up again... I simply cannot understand why I have to keep waking up at unearthly hours - had a full day of training in the office today (my brain cells were ALL killed in the process) and by the time dh came around to pick me up, I was practically a walking zombie! We went to bed slightly after 10pm so that means I've only had 6 hours of sleep... *sigh*

I'm glad that my activities today will revolve only around C and not work... that would give my brain cells some time to recover! The upside of waking up at unearthly hours is that I usually find quiet time to clear some of the things that I need/want to do - today, I finally managed to sort out the (printed) photos from C's 2nd birthday party - a large # to be discarded as they are either duplicated or of 'unpleasant' angles. I want to continue working on the scrapbook but these printed photos are of the 'wrong size' so I will need to 'get them' to be of size that I want! As for her studio session, I still have not found the time to sieve through and select the ones that we want.

Considering that C's birthday is more than 3 months ago, you can probably imagine the amount of backlog that I have to clear - both on the homefront and my work! doesn't help that my all-in-one printer/scanner decides to conk out on me at this time!

With the impending arrival of #2, I really doubt I will be able to clear the backlog of work and we haven't even set up the baby cot! Over the past few weekends though, dh has done a great job repainting our living room area (C used my work rubber stamp and 'decorated' the walls)... I know it is hard work for him, simply because he is not born to do such 'laborious' work and I really appreciate the effort that he put in for us (normally, I would be the one who 'volunteers' for such chores, simply because I enjoy doing them much more than him!)

daddy's birthday

C's daddy, i.e. this is the 3rd year that C is celebrating with her daddy - as for me, well - we've known each other since 1997 or so... so i can safely say, more than 10 times? hmm... next year this time, there will be four of us. :)

we are not that into big celebrations - usually its just dinner together as a family (and another two with the extended families) and we haven't even had a cake in years (dh is not a big fan of cakes)! thanks to a dear friend though, we have a cake this year! :P

so here's our feast for today - the in(famous) Sin Huat Crab Bee-Hoon (Lor 35 Geylang) with garlic prawns & some healthy vegg... yum yum!

close up of garlic prawns

dh's slice of mango cake (excuse C's messy hair - she just took her bath!)

some may argue that it is different when you do takeaways - maybe its the lack of ambience (of a dirty coffeeshop or waiting hours to order/get your food) or not being ripped off (the ave. bill per head drops to S$50 or less if you do takeaways as opposed to eating there and being hackled to order more food - sssshhhh!! dun tell danny i said that!). me, however, enjoy eating at home more coz i really don't fancy waiting for food, being ripped off nor 'fighting' with the crabs in public - though i must add that danny does a great job with the crabs and not much 'fighting' is required.

insomnia AGAIN!

i seriously need to stop waking up at unearthly hour like 2, 3am in the mornings - i mean, i will probably to do lots of that when #2 is out but for now, what i really need is good sleep. i've been running on overdrive the past few weeks - first, with the two darlings at home falling sick, then with me realising that i am seriously running out of time to clear my work for the year. i end each day exhausted - either because 1) i've been training the maid 2) i've been spending heaps of time with #1 (and in my current state, it just totally tires me out) or 3) i've been seeing clients/running to the office to sort out my admin work. i collapse on the bed and just zone out in front of the tv, doze off and get woken up abruptly (either because i need to pee real badly or due to dh's snoring) at approximately the same time (almost) every night - 2am to 3am. then i am unable to fall back asleep - talking about vicious cycles!

you would probably suggest that i nap when dd naps but its just out of the question - when i am home with her, it normally means that i have tons of paperwork to sort out or that i am training the new maid (yes, new still - less than 1 month with us) so when dd naps, its usually the best time for me to 'accomplish' as much as possible. i love it when she takes 4 hours nap but that doesn't happen very often - if i'm lucky, once a week. the rest of the days, she will take an hour nap or the most, 2!

i have been getting a lot of questions about the new maid (mostly due to concern) since i've not posted much about her - well, no news is good news, isn't it? she's been relatively good as i've said in my previous post - doing what i need her to do (mostly)... but she is a bit of a grouch. i know she misses home (and her daughter) coz she has been crying herself to sleep and i really empathize with her so i encourage her to write and call home... dd is probably a constant reminder to her about her daughter (who is just a year older). it doesn't help that she doesn't have very much to do - so her mind has plenty of time to idle. i try to keep her busy and take her out when we go out but there's only so much i can do... sigh, anyone has 'homesick remedy' for her? i'm not sure if she can last 2 years at this rate.

writer's block

I’ve always enjoyed writing – it serves as an outlet for me to express my thoughts and more importantly to record my memories; very important if you know just how TERRIBLE my memory is. I’m one of those who have cluttered thoughts almost all the time – too many random thoughts and by writing them down, I somehow get organized. This also applies to my work – I have to write down the things that I have to do all the time, otherwise they just get ‘forgotten’ amongst the clutter in my brain. Yes, I am a product of the multi-tasking generation…

Of late though, I find myself suffering from writer’s block – I just don’t know where to start. It doesn’t help that there’s not a lot going on in my life – with the latest H1N1 virus going around (& school holiday crowd everywhere), we’ve been staying home most of the time. At my present state, I fall into the ‘high-risk’ category, together with dd, and really, it is the last thing that we want to get infected with.

At the same time, my two babies at home took turns to fall ill so I have been ‘paying off’ the sleep debt together with them. We practically spent all our afternoons napping in the last one week!

With just over a month to go before we welcome the fourth member of our family, things are starting to get pretty busy – at work, I have to clear as much of my production as possible, sort out all the necessary admin work that I can and complete the training hours for the year. At home, I have to sort out those clothing that #2 will be able to inherit from his sister, get them hand washed by the maid and teach the maid some basic culinary skills so that she can help me out with the cooking during my confinement.

And ah, talking about confinement – its interesting how ALL the folks at home only worry about my meals when that is really the last thing on my mind. I mean how difficult can it be to brew some nutritious soup (just throw everything into the slow cooker) and whip out a dish or two (I don’t eat a lot remember?). I am a master chef after all. What I am genuinely concern about, is how I am going to take care of an active 2 year old who sticks to me like superglue when we are home, a newborn baby, breastfeed and get enough rest? Rest being the ‘KEY’ reason for doing confinement, isn’t it? I definitely welcome any help to come over to entertain my 2 year old during the 28 (or 40, if you like) days that I am supposed to be resting. Anyone?

On the home front, I am glad that we finally have a relatively decent domestic helper – I won’t need to worry about the cleaning in the house. She is Filipino and she understands us (though a bit slow to catch sometimes and a tad too forgetful). As per my previous posts, we are not fastidious employers – all we want is someone clean (we’re talking about her own personal hygiene – the previous one was really a disaster), honest, able to complete our list of chores with minimal supervision and understands us. She’s been okay so far – ‘cept for 2 things:

1) dd has not quite warmed up to her yet. I don’t need her to take care of dd 24-7; as long as dd is willing to play with her for short intervals (20 – 30 mins perhaps?) during the day, I would be able to get some breathing space. And that is all I need.

and

2) if you don’t give her instructions to do something, she’ll just sit there. So after she completes her morning chores, takes her bath and have her lunch, she’ll take afternoon naps. And she goes to bed at 8pm (its now 6.15am and she’s still not up yet) – good life working for us, isn’t it? I think she gets more sleep that I do!

#2 updates – at approximately 35 weeks’, I have put on a total of 5.6kg & #2 is estimated to be 2406g. He still refuses to let us do the 4D scan (to see his face)… and we still haven’t decided on his name!! Would it be Caleb, Corwin, Chase or Clyde?