Things the little one likes to do in my tummy

I'm now enjoying my days at home, carefree without work and simply waiting for the little one to come out into this world. It was our weekly check-up at TMC on Monday morning, followed by me doing net-surfing the entire afternoon. Tuesday was spent at Mama's place and also a little while at Tampines Mall where I went for a fringe cut and to stock up on some hair-loss prevention shampoo. Hopefully this will be useful in limiting the hair loss when the hormone pattern changes later. Yesterday I was writing a memo I owed my colleagues, and spent pretty much of the day doing pleasant little things like playing the piano and bringing Summer for a nice long walk.

At week 38 + 1 day now, baby Claire should be ready to come out and see the world. It now depends on her choice of date. WW and I hope she comes out earlier than the 10 November due date, preferably by next week. We then can spend more time with her before I return to work on the last day of February next year.

Wonder if BB Claire is enjoying the days spent at home instead of the office. She must be missing my colleagues' voices, but there are other sounds at home to make up for it - the planes flying overhead our house, Cash the German Shepherd barking away next door and the voices of gonggong and popo.

It's fun to observe the little actions of BB Claire now:

• Rolling around (somersaulting?) and making waves on my tummy
• Stretching out her hand or leg towards the right side of my tummy (she prefers the right to left side which results in me sleeping more on my right). Sometimes I thought I might be able to grasp her hand.
• Kicking (it didn't feel like a kick to me even though gynae said it was a kick) the scan equipment when gynae nudged her for a better positioning during the scan
• Tensing up, hardening the tummy when we are in those horrible taxi rides. Maybe it's Braxton Hick?

The little one has been good to me so far. Let's hope it goes all the way!

Preparing for baby Claire's arrival

Our study room has been set up with baby Claire's cot, and the computer has been shifted to a corner on the study table to give more space for placing other baby stuff. We have also bought a few rompers to last her till 6 months. Didn't buy a lot in case she outgrows them fast.

Baby cot in our study room

The chest of drawers containing baby Claire's stuff. But it's already kinda stuffed.

Shirts from Mothercare. Sweet colours of yellow, pink and orange

Rompers for her 3-6 months. Tks Stephie for the Carters sweet strawberry rompers and Peipei's little cardigan for BB.

Today is the start of my leave. No more work and I shall treasure this me-time before Baby Claire comes along!

5-7 weeks to go!

Another one month plus and Baby Claire will be out to see the world. Lots of things to prepare still, like packing my bag to bring to the hospital, and all the bathing and feeding necessities for the little one. Gonna do some shopping this weekend.

Baby Claire is in a breech position now and has been that way for the past week. Hope she guai guai goes head down nearer birth. Mummy wants no C-section! BB has been moving around quite a bit these days, kicking her little power kicks now and then, and mostly doing somersaults in my tummy. Looking forward to the times when we will see her and hug her.

Meanwhile I'll work till she's ready for the world, or till my legs can carry me.

Beaten by the crowds

WW and I are at ikea tampines now. He's in the long queue for food, while I just got seats after romping one whole round in the cafe. It is super packed in ikea on a Saturday! We wanted to beat the crowds, but think we got beaten instead. We are back today to buy the chest of drawers and its accompanying changing table top. Well, better to get it earlier else next time when tummy gets too big I won't be able to maneuver in the crowd.

Kudos to WW's patience. He used to hate queuing so much that he would go for food other than the famous ones in hawker centers. But these days he is able to stand the crowds and queues better, hugely due to the fact that I'm a preggie now. He'll need lots of patience with me, for having to shop a lot for BB now and that I need to visit the toilet much more frequently, and I have to walk slower now. Can see that WW is gonna be an extraordinary daddy. :)

Ok, I'm almost done with this blog, but poor WW is still not here yet. Hope the food comes soon!

All the Baby Buys!

Heading into the 3rd trimester now! The little one is gaining weight, and is possibly at around 1 kg now. These days I walk a little slower, as my legs are no longer that agile. It doesn't help that I've been missing out on my yoga and swimming for a whole month! May the cough go away soon.

Meanwhile, we spent more time walking around instead (walking is another good exercise for me preggie). We went to Taka baby fair twice over two weekends, the first to get the baby cot and the second time to buy the stroller. Gotta start stocking up on the necessities for our little girl. Before that, I've bought a Kate Spade baby bag to motivate myself to bring BB out more often.

I'm getting more easily tired these days and usually have to sleep by 1030 or latest 11pm. This explains the reduced blogging :( but I hope to update more often still with the little details of the preggie's life!

Two weeks ago SIL and her family moved in. Now it's more crowded at home with two maids in the kitchen, sometimes with the confinement lady (for my SIL) as well. And two dogs to accompany Summer who would otherwise be lonely. My little niece of 3 yrs and an even younger niece of 1 month are here too. Which is not a bad thing, having more people around. Since then, dinner has been proper and filling. Initially I find the confinement food yummy, but the law of diminishing returns set in and now I find it so so. Maybe the confinement lady's cooking is not quite to my taste. I prefer 黄妈妈's gao luck chicken versus the confinement lady's gao luck 连藕 soup; MIL's potato soup versus the confinement lady's. But still I appreciate the many dishes for dinner these days. When SIL moves out in one week plus time, we'll have to bear with bland simple dishes again.

Yesterday WW and I took half day off work to catch Toy Story 3. It was a nice show with a storyline for the 3D version. Ever since watching Up in 3D, I expected all movies to be better in 3D mode. But we decided to watch it in 2D as WW is less keen with 3D in case he gets dizzy. We should catch more shows before we lose the freedom to do so.

These days the little girl kicks more and with greater force. Maybe she has my power taekwondo legs. And she'll remind me of my hunger so that I'll go replenish foods. My tummy is not that big yet, and amazingly I still am able to hide it in some looser clothes. Good thing too that my arms and thighs are not expanding as thought would be. Hopefully I can go back to pre-preggie build shortly after birth. We need to get all the baby stuff soon! The cot, the chest of drawers, BB clothes, stroller, car seat and so much more. May this year's bonus be great!

Precious time to myself

Just finished the piping hot pumpkin soup from soup spoon. I bought the prepacked packet and heated it up at home instead. It tasted just as good as the fresh soup served at their outlets. Except here I get to enjoy my own music, at a suitably loud volume. Haha and not to forget the jealous greedy Summer staring at me (or was it my soup). I've cut a slice of Sara Lee pound cake, thick and fat. I care less about the sinful kind of fat these days, what a pleasure!

WW is out with his supervisor for dinner today. I'm lavishing the time to myself and treasuring it before I lose all (almost, I'll make sure I still have my own space) freedom. Shall give WW some time to himself too.

Tomorrow marks the start of a new financial year for our company. There are organization changes and we'll see how things play out. For me the small fry, I'm indifferent to it and life simply goes on.

Housework issue taking a toll on me psychologically

Last night I dreamt of the whole family quarelling, or rather more of me and WW talking back at PILs. We were at the second floor living area (this doesn't look like our current house) where PILs, the elder SIL and her hubby were sitting on the sofa watching tv. I was busy doing housework (what else) and climbing over the sofa to get to another area behind them. The rest stayed glued to the tv. I grumbled about how unautomatic they were. Later another scene took us to my mama's place. WW and I were having dinner with apa ama at the dining table. After the meal it was around 9plus pm. WW and I proceeded to do more housework. Mama asked why such hurry? We sadly pointed out that at our current pace, we could only get the chores done by midnight with each of us having 3 outstanding tasks. I was thinking of work the following day and felt kinda peeved that I won't be getting enuff sleep.

At that point I woke up, feeling a little of the unhappiness from the dream. Wonder if I've been suppressing too much of my feelings. Sometimes I also wonder how different things would turn out if WW and I were staying on our own. Would I be so obliged to do chores and make the family happy? It seems I'll never be able to break out of this obligatory arrangement and having to be play my role as good daughter (-in-law) everyday. Will I ever be able to break free and not have to fit into any roles? Why can't I be like some of the others who don't bother at all? Not that I dislike playing my roles, but when I perform my duties I want to do it at my best. I suppose my most carefree days were those in hostel, where I got total freedom to do what I want to everday.

Well, enuff of lamenting. Gotta start work in office. Will try to bear with next one month where elder SIL and her troop of 5 and another 2 dogs will join the household. I predict more duties to play. I dunno why this have to happen during this time, when I should be resting well and getting my own way.

On a brighter note, we'll know if it's a  or  tomorrow!

2-year anniversary!

Today marks our 2-year ROM anniversary. We didn't plan anything special for the day and instead would go for a nice dinner and piano concert on Friday. We're on a cost-saving mode, so no extravagances on ourselves. There are more dates coming up that we have to remember every yearly, hopefully we'll both remember to celebrate our ROM anniversaries in time to come.

Last night WW was playing the soccer iPhone app when I felt BB kick quite distinctly. It must be the "Goal" cheering and shouting from the game that aroused the little one. Maybe he (?) likes kicking soccer haha. Maybe it's more likely to be a "he"? Hoho. We'll know on Friday :)

The days without a maid

This weekend the whole family was busy with housework. MIL sent away the maid last Wed as she couldn't stand her poor attitude. One weekend of housework for me is pretty tiring, though it's only simple chores like ironing the clothes, washing dishes and washing my own lingerie. Hubby was of great help to the family as he did all the cleaning and scrubbing of front porch. With Summer doing her business now and then at the porch, keeping the porch clean could prove difficult. I only lament my sis-in-law's lack of initiative. She woke up late, at noon on sat when most of the chores were done by PILs, WW and I. And she got to be told to help in washing the dishes after lunch. Sunday morning she woke up earlier, but spent time talking on the phone instead. That's the result of PILs spoiling her, and treating her like a young kid tho she's 20 this year.

Well, enuff lamenting. Like I told WW, everyone has his right and freedom to choose the things he wants to do. And it's only in a traditional mindset that you expect the whole family to help out with the housework. If one can tolerate the dirt and mess, so be it as long as your dirt is not imposed on others.

On the whole, the weekend is good. We did the usual stuff like swimming and having lunch with 黄妈妈爸爸. WW and I went to guan yin temple as well on sat to pray for good health and that everything go smoothly. Tian and I met up with Feng gang, excluding Feng as she's down with flu, for tea at Wild Honey, Mandarin Gallery. XH and Dennis are now preparing for their wedding and just had their photoshoot in NZ. How blissful! It's a beautiful stage of life to be in.

WW and I ended the weekend with fried hokkein Mee dinner at AMK. Haha, am I fortunate to be able to eat guiltlessly and not care about getting fat. Tonight we don't have dinner at home and have to eat out again. Wonder if this will last the whole month before the next maid comes. Eating out everyday is not very healthy for the little one leh.

Werner's Oven

Life's been good after recently, much less burping and bloat during the evenings. And I'm starting to like the taste of meat. Yesterday WW and I went for dinner at Werner's Oven. He ordered the veal sausage while I ordered semmelknodel, the German bread dumpling. We both liked the veal sausage as it was simply delicious. Sweet meat and taste came from every chew, yummy. Since our trip to Germany and Austria in 2004, I've wanted to try the semmelknodel (I'm a fan of bread) but didn't have the chance to. The best try was a semmelknodel instant packet, where you add water to the flour mix to get your end product. That was bought from Austria back then. So it was quite a novelty to try the real thing here in Singapore, at the little warm and hospitable German restaurant.

A Different Kind of Exchange | JobsCentral Community - your friendly hangout for career topics and more!

A Different Kind of Exchange | JobsCentral Community - your friendly hangout for career topics and more!