FAIL

How 'DUH' can it get? A box of "Shatterproof" Christmas ornaments that is so obviously shattered!? Hahaha... I found this FAIL Blog through another blog and I've been visiting it every now and then when I'm feeling bored. They never fail to crack me up! Heehee..! Go check it out...

Turn Baby! Turn!

Went for our usual check up yesterday but I wasn't too happy about it. Apparently baby is still happily in a sitting position, when she's supposed to have turned upside down by now, getting ready to meet the world in about a month! Dr Kee say baby probably wanted to be closer to Mummy, so was unwilling to turn.

After scanning my tummy, he found out why baby still haven't turn. Apparently she's in a yoga-like position with her leg stretched out straight in front of her body, so it's a little more difficult to flip herself upside down. Har... then how... I exclaimed out loud that I don't want to have a Cesarean, so Dr Kee said to my tummy, "baby you better turn ok, or else I will smack your buttock when you come out" Erm... Don't he smack ALL baby's butt when they come out? Haha...

Anyway, Dr Kee seemed pretty cool about it, casually saying that if baby doesn't turn, he would do a Cesarean for me around the 3 Feb, which is about 7-10 days before the due date.

-_-"

Erm... I have never planned to have a Cesarean, and I REALLY don't wish to have one. So I asked Dr Kee if it's possible for baby to turn anytime soon. Luckily he replied that it is always possible for the baby to turn before the delivery. In fact, baby may decide to turn just an hour before she comes out! So it's important for us to inform him if baby has already turned upside down.

Phew... OK, now it's all up to baby. For the rest of the day I kept stressing on this issue. I mean, my mom had Cesarean for both my sis and I, so I guess it's no big deal right? Besides, that would mean I wouldn't have to squeeze her out of my vagina, so I should be happy to avoid all that pain right?

But then again, the recovery process of a surgery is much longer and definitely more painful. So, many day to day activities would be affected, even breastfeeding!

Sigh, honestly I REALLY don't want to have a C-section because I'm terrified of needles. So I'm seriously hoping Princess would be a good girl and turn around before she's due. In fact, I was so stressed about it, I even dreamt that she had turned over last night, only to be disappointed that I found out that it was just a dream.

Oh well, apart from that, baby has gained about 400g, which is nice and steady, while my weight has not gone up! Yeah for me and baby!

Happy 3rd ROM Anniversary

17 Dec 2008 was our ROM Anniversary. We didn't really celebrated or do anything special that day, but I didn't mind. I wasn't really in a celebratory mood anyway. But my day was suddenly turned upside down when Cobby suddenly barged into the room with his newspaper, exclaiming, "Eh Dear, your friend's husband passed away!"

HUH? WHO?

He showed me the obituaries section and I immediately saw a familiar face, but it was so unbelievable that I could do nothing but stare at it with my mouth opened. Turned out my old friend's brother in law had passed away a few days ago. He left behind a wife and a little daughter, he was only in his early 30s.

I don't know him personally, I only saw him when I went over to my friend's place for birthday parties. Cobby went on course with him once, as he was an army officer. The news shocked me so much. I heard from my friend that he was ill, but I never imagine that he would just pass away like that.

After the initial shock, I was overwhelmed with tears. I feel so unbelievably sad because there was so much similarity between my little family and theirs. An army officer with a young wife and baby daughter. I can't imagine if Cobby was to pass away, leaving behind me and baby. I think I would just die.

We were always so concerned about how we should be financially covered in case one of us pass away, but that day I realised that money would mean nothing if my Cobby were to leave me alone in the world with our baby girl. So I cried... I cried for my friend's sister who lost the love of her life, I cried for her daughter who had to grow up without her Daddy, basically I just kept crying because I felt that I can feel her pain.

It was our anniversary, but it wasn't filled with gifts or romantic gestures. On our 3rd year anniversary, we renewed our love with a reminder of how much we meant to each other, and how we should always treasure each other oh so dearly. And I think this is more precious than anything that we've given each other.

A Good Day

Today was a good day...

The contractors were coming down around 10am plus to install our cabinets, so we woke up at around 7.30am to get an early breakfast before dropping me off at Mom's place to 'hide' while they hammer away.

At around 8am, our doorbell rang! Cobby had to jump out of the toilet, thinking that the contractors had arrived early. Me, I was happily brushing my teeth in the bedroom toilet, I didn't even hear any doorbells.

Imagine our surprise when my parents turned up at our door! Apparently, they were taking a morning walk and ended up at our doorstep. OK... since they are here, we went out for breakfast together!

After a hearty breakfast at Chong Pang market, Cobby dropped us at my Mom's place and he went back home to wait for the contractors to arrive. My main objective was to learn how to make Mom's steamed carrot cake (actually it's made from radish). But I've also picked up many more recipes during the day.



So for the whole day, I hung out at my parent's place, watching her cook, eating yummy food, napped and ate some more. Haha...

After lunch, Cobby sms me great news. Apparently his exam results were out and he got 3 As and 2 Bs! He was SO HAPPY and relieved as he had been worrying about it for so long.



By the time the contractors were done, it was already 5plus! Cobby came to pick me up and we went home to check on the cabinets. I'm happy to say that it's very pretty!



After...!




It's the first time that we were using colours for our cabinets, so I was a little worried if they would turn out nice or not. But they turned out looking very pretty and sweet, very appropriate for a girl's room! The window cabinets turned out to be more shallow than I expected, but it's fine I guess.

After a quick wash up, we headed to Shabuya, a new found Japanese restaurant at Vivo City that serves a fantastic Shabu-shabu (steamboat).

Their Garlic Rice is to die for...Favourite!

As usual, they food was fantastic and we had a very enjoyable dinner to celebrate Cobby's good results.

It was such a good day! The cupboards were done and we love it, I had a great time hanging out with mom and dad, Cobby had such great results and dinner was fantastic. Then we thought, hmm... maybe we should buy 4D! It was the 23 Dec, so naturally we should buy 2312. The Cobby added that since he got 3As and 2Bs, we should buy 3122. Then we realised... hey, 2312 and 3122 has the same numbers! Oooo so coincidence! Must buy!

Well, we bought, but we didn't win... hahaha... but it was a fun day nonetheless.

Bummer...

Sigh...

Santa Char organised a Christmas Party this weekend, and everybody, including me, had been so excited, so, looking forward to it! Cobby and I spent the whole Friday walking around ViVo City, shopping for the gift exchange item. I couldn't find anything satisfactory, so after Vivo we went to IKEA before I found my gift item. On Saturday morning, I wrapped up both gifts in pretty wrapping paper and gold ribbons (to fit the theme).

Since it's a Christmas party, I thought it would be nice to have some nice bubbly drink, so we bought a bottle of sparkling wine and a bottle of sparkling juice for me and our Muslim friends to enjoy!

So everything seems to be going well until..............



I found out that the party was on Sunday instead of Saturday.

WHAT!!!???

OK the original plan was suppose to be on Saturday! I didn't realise that the date has been changed, so I happily said that I can make it!

But what's wrong with Sunday you say???

We've already promised Mother-in-law that we'll go to her place for dinner on Sunday to celebrate 冬季, in other words, to 過冬. FYI, it's a day where the family get together to celebrate the peak of winter.

Sigh... So disappointed...

Cobby tried to console me and said that we can give each other the gifts that we've bought. Haha... no surprise leh...

Next time really have to read my emails more carefully! :(

A Trip To The Marina Barrage

We were out running some chores on Saturday, but by the time we were done, it was still early, and the weather was so beautiful! So I suggested that we go visit the Marina Barrage for the first time. The place was so scenic that Cobby and I started taking pictures with our phones when we got there.

Just for fun, we decided to take pictures with both our phones so that we can see the difference in picture quality between his Nokia E71 and my Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot K800i. Haha... Not a fair comparison, but sounds like fun! So what's the verdict? Well, see for yourself!

Nokia: The barrage at the back

Sony: Very windy afternoon

Nokia: Two beautiful winding walkway all the way up to the rooftop

Sony: I like the grassy walkway in the middle... nice

Sony: At the top! Great view!

Nokia: Beautiful and peaceful place. Great location for a picnic

Sony: This would be a great place to view fireworks!

Nokia: The place is powered by the sun! Go green!

Sony: A view of the barrage from above

Nokia: The Marina Barrage pump room

Nokia: There's a water playground for kids... looks so fun!

Sony: Taking a break, sitting on the barrage itself

Nokia: Picture of Mummy and Baby!

Nokia: The beautiful evening sun... a fun day out

Anyway, it was a fun trip. The sun was shining, but there's just enough clouds to prevent us from being fried... The place was so nice and windy... it's just a nice place to go jalan jalan before we made our way to a nice dinner. I definitely can see ourselves coming back again with our little Princess! :)

Evil X'mas Items

Quote from Santa Char...

"Please bring along a present that costs between $10 to $15 for the festive gift exchange among the elves and fairies.

For this party, chocolates, photo frames and mugs are considered as evil items and thus not appropriate as presents."

I laughed out loud when I read the part on the "evil items". Yes I do agree that every year, we are bound to receive some "evil items", but I didn't really agree with Char's description of the evil items!

What's wrong with chocolates? They're delicious! If Chocolates are evil items, I'm happy to take it away from you! Give me! Give me! I thought that photo frames and mugs are OK too, given that those selling at stores nowadays looked really nice and tasteful.

Unfortunately, not everybody are so lucky to get tasteful gifts. Many people suffer the common fate of receiving REAL evil items during Christmas. I was surprised that I wasn't alone when I told Zinc about my ultimate evil item.

Disgusting mugs...

OK I may not have received them for Christmas, but they are still disgusting nonetheless. I mean, what the hell were those people thinking??? Do they seriously think that we would like it enough to even use them? I don't even know why I still keep them. It's collecting dust at the very top shelf in my kitchen now, out of sight, out of mind.

Other evil items include:
Keychains
What am I suppose to do with so many keychains?

Handphone accessories
It's very personal - what I like hanging on my handphone...

Bodyshop products
Skin care is even more personal! What fragrance I like, what skin products I need, etc. Besides, I may not even like the quality of their moisturiser! Sticky...

Cheap cute stuff with no practical use to put on your desk and collect dust
Cute, but... what am I suppose to do with it? Those stuff are always the 1st to be thrown away. No offence...

Face towels
Besides being a super boring gift, I don't use them, so it's evil to me.

Aroma therapy - the incense sticks type
Makes the place smoky and stinky. Evil...

Scented candles
Doesn't work for my home as it's very windy and airy. So it's only use is to collect dust again.

Free gifts (ultimate cheapo people!)
This one is from Cobby. Someone actually was cheapo enough to use a free gift from Shell petrol station, a mug, and put it into the gift exchange! Disgusting people!

That's all I can think of now, do you know of any that's not in the list?

What's UP

Parents coming home tomorrow...
but their house was a tad bit dusty and I havn't been watering dad's plants for weeks! I hope it's still alive.

Project Pineapple Tarts...
I've found a recipie, I bought all the necessary ingredients, and now I just need to actually go make it. Lazy... Maybe tomorrow..?

Good Wheel Hunting...
Cobby's favourite past time is to hunt for good car deals online. He gets so excited when he finds one.
me: "you planning to buy a car?"
cb: "no, but I get a kick out of finding a great deal"
me: "what if someone buys the car you found?"
cb: "oh that's even better, it reinforces the fact that IT IS a good deal"
me: -_-
I created a blog page for him to post his precious findings. It's very new, so it's still empty.

Princess cupboards...
waiting for appointment for electrical works and actual installation. Zzzz...

Long time no cook...
It's been awhile since I've cooked a proper meal for Cobby. No mood to cook really. We've been eating out alot. Mom's coming back anyway, so, we'll eat at her place instead.

No show for auntie Jolene...
Looks like sis is not planning to come home for Chinese New Year... Apparently bro-in-law and parents are flying to HK to celebrate CNY. Right. Great.

Plans for post Pregnancy...
Go for haircut and dye job, run, jump, swim, anything that involves actual physical activity. Probably not possible in the first few months, but hey, a girl can dream.

Baby Check Up - Update!

Just an update, went for check up on 11 Dec. I weight a whopping 75kg! Phew... the last check up, which was 3 weeks ago, I was only 72kg! So compared to my first appointment, I've gained about 12kg already. With another 2 months to go before my due date, I'm definitely gonna exceed my acceptable weight gain, which is, well, between 12-13kg. Oops...

Anyway, back to the check up! Everything is fine, baby Jolie has gained another 500g to weight about 2kg. She's in a sitting position right now, sitting like a Princess on her throne inside my belly. Dr Kee said that by the next appointment, which is in 2 weeks, she should be upside down position, getting ready! Phew... So exciting! Can't imagine that we are already 8 months pregnant!

But now I'm feeling a little stressed, hopefully baby would be a good girl and turn, because I really don't want to have a Cesarean! I wonder if I should do something, like stand on my head or something to help her turn. I mean, isn't it kindda squeazy inside to turn upside down? Hmm... dunno...

I also did a swap test and a little blood test. The swap test was fine, but the nurses commented that my blood count was a little low. Eventhough I'm already taking the iron supplements, the baby could be taking alot of my blood, so maybe I should take more iron rich food stuff to boost my blood count!

Next appointment would be on boxing day, 26 Dec. The frequency has reduced from monthly, to every 3 weeks, and now to every 2 weeks. By Jan, I would have to see Dr Kee once a week till I'm due! The countdown has began!

Baby's Very First Videos

Zinc keep asking me to post some videos of baby kicking my tummy, but the movements were so subtle, it's quite hard to capture it with a vdeocam! Besides, I wouldn't know when my little princess is going to start kicking! Haha... so after chatting with zinc on msn this morning, I decided to give it another try.

Surprise surprise! Princess Jolie was pretty active this morning, so I managed to capture 2 video clips!

Baby Video No.1
Look at the left side of the belly at around the 7th second
You'll also see her give me a karate kick on the left side at the 32nd second

Baby Video No.2
For the 2nd video, notice the left side of the belly on the 22nd and 43rd second.

I thought it's so funny when Cobby asked if he can touch my tummy... So cute hahaha... Anyway, I refused because little princess always quiet down and stop moving when Daddy place his hands on my tummy. It's like she knows that it's not me and would freeze to think, "hey, who's that?" :)

Last night, we watched the show "Makan Places Lost and Found", and we were so inspired that we decided to go to the recommended Pek Kio Food Centre for lunch today. But the place was so difficult to reach that by the time we got there, most of the stores have sold out all of their food! Argh so fustrating!

So next time we plan to reach there BEFORE lunch time! Haha... I'll give my reviews when I DO get to eat the food there ok? After a not too satisfying lunch, we bought some yummy Tau Sar Piahs for tea break. Unfortunately it wasn't the type that Cobby liked, but I liked it! :P

Haha... hope u guys like the video of my giant belly. :D

Princess Room

Yeah... after much discussions, arguments and delays, we have finally started our princess room project. We wanted to make a custom made wardrobe and a cabinet by the window in the baby room.


But the idea was faced with alot of objections...

Sis suggested that we do the renovations only when I reach my 3rd trimester...
MIL joking suggested that we do the renovations after the baby is born... erm.. maybe when she reach 18 years old? -_-
Mom just don't like the idea that we wanted to do renovation works now.

So in order to please the women-folk in the family, we waited till we reached 3rd trimester. And with Cobby recently completing his exams and enjoying his term break, it was the perfect timing!

So last week we shopped around IMM for a contractor and decided on one. Today the contractor came to take the measurements and finalise on the designs.


Soon we will be able to confirm a date for the actual installation and the cupboards will be ready before Christmas!

With the fixtures ready, we can shop around for a bed for Mom to sleep in when she's helping me with confinement, plus any other furniture needed, wash all the baby's clothes, linen, sheets, etc. By end January, the Princess room would be all ready! All we need to do then is wait for the room's owner to arrive :)

I like it that everything is well planned and I'm very happy that our plan has finally started!

BBQ with friends

Marl organised a BBQ party on Saturday at the Goldkist Chalet at East Coast Park. We ordered those packaged BBQ food, but Zinc thought that it would be more fun if we each bring something too, like a little pot-luck. Zinc suggested that I bring a chocolate cake, so I made my layered chocolate cake.

I think it was my first time going to the chalet there and was surprised that it was quite crowded! Almost every chalet was occupied with people having parties, BBQ-ing, eating and drinking.

After walking like, forever, Cobby and I finally found the chalet! Zinc, UJ and family, Marl and Nurul were already there with the fire started, cooking.


It was my first time seeing Marl without her Tudung! Her hair was so long and curly... Pretty! :)


It was a fun evening, as usual, I hung around the BBQ pit, because that's the best place to get fed quick! Haha... Zinc was the chef for the night and we feasted on sambal stingray, chicken wings, otah, crab sticks, corn and satay. Yummy! Unfortunately the chicken wings seems abit lacking, I only got to eat one!



We were already eating desserts in between the chicken wings and otah. I was eating the yummy Nutella cake from Marl when I commented, "Wait, this is desserts! Shouldn't we be eating this later instead?" To this cute Issac said, "NO! This is not dessert, this is APPETISER OK!"

I like your theory Issac, and continued munching on the yummy cake.

We also tried to roast marshmallows, but we didn't have any sticks! So we had to "recycle" our satay sticks. Unfortunately they were so bloody short, we had a hard time holding it over the fire! So even though it's not browned, it still melts in our mouth! Nice!


We had a wide variety of desserts! There was iced longan with sea coconut, 3 different type of ice creams, chocolate cake, nutella cake, even ice cream cake! By the time I tried everything, I felt like I was gonna burst!


By 9pm plus, we were just hanging around, chatting and laughing. I don't know why, but by then I was so tired, I was ready to just close my eyes and fall asleep! So shortly after UJ and family bid their farewell, Cobby and I said our goodbyes too.

I had so much fun that night, I guess I missed being around my friends, chatting and laughing. We ended the night with plans to meet up again for Christmas, so it's nice to have that to look forward to!



P.S. On a morbid note, I read the news that a body of a teenager was found the next morning on the beach just outside the Goldkist chalet! I don't know what happened, but it's just weird that a young man died so near us when we were laughing and enjoying life.