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Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Lazy Neighbour VS Lazy Maid

I have a neighbor who is a full time stay home mother of a son of 6 months old. I always thought it is good to let Charlotte play with her peer of around the same age. And I always treat my neighbors very good as you might not know when u needed help.

This neighbor of mine is super lazy to the max… she is about mid to late 30s and this is her first born… its normal to not knowing everything about taking care of baby but its not okay not to learn! She will usually bring her son over to my parents’ place to play with Charlotte… but the so call playing session is revolved into taking advantage of my maid.

On and off she will ask my maid to “teach” her something, like cutting of finger nail, cleaning of the ear… for the baby… but the so call “teach” always end up to be asking my maid do for her… she started off by asking my maid to cut her baby’s fingernail as she tried cutting and cut the boy’s finger… then in order to return the “favor” she wanted to bring my maid out for coffee… I say “NO”… giving the reason that I dun allow my maid and baby to go out alone… she say “why not”… “they stay at home also boring mar” I tell her my maid every weekend follow us go out to shopping where got boring?... then back home I still must tell my maid loads of excuse why I dun allow them to go out with the neighbor… I told my maid that if anything happen to Charlotte while they are out there who wants to bear the responsibility?

Then the neighbor next pattern is to come over and ask my maid to help her “look after” her son for a while as she do some of the stuff like “dressing up for dinner”… as my maid is the sole care giver of Charlotte, she will have to bring charlotte along… Then I told my maid… I dun want Charlotte to have the habit of going out of the house often… else she will have a hard time… because back at our place on weekends we always go out of the house and this has become a habit for Charlotte… whenever we stayed at home the whole day during weekends, she will always point to the door and wants to wear her shoe to go out. She never does that at my parents’ place as it was not practice.

After this incident, my maid stop going to the neighbor place…. Then now become the neighbor always come over….. I am ok with it … but I know she always talk to my maid... I din really ask what they talk but lately my maid start to complain…

When the neighbor son turn about 4 month old, I gave her some brown rice powder to try and she is too lazy to spoon feed the son, she say the son does not like it so she mixed into milk for him. Now the son turn 6 mths old, she wanted to let him try porridge.  She say she dun know how to cook, wanted my maid to GO OVER HER HOUSE to “show” her…  She ask me once face to face if its ok for my maid to go over. I say “cooking porridge” for baby is very easy… I even tell her step by step how to cook using the slow cooker… she say she dun know how much water… I give up, I say why not u cook normal kind like we adult eat kind and blend it using a blender then u can control the consistency of the porridge.

The final straw came this week. On Monday evening when I reached home, my maid say the neighbor come over during Charlotte nap time and ask her why her son’s ear got black black and requested my maid to clean for the son. Being the kaypo kid, Charlotte woke up from her nap with all the commotion and refuse to sleep… result? Cranky all the way! I think my maid got pissed off because she has to clean the boy ear and manage the cranky charlotte… leaving her no time to eat snake.  She say the neighbor find excuse for her to clean the boy’s ear. I was a bit pissed hearing this because it affected Charlotte nap in the day and the whole night she was cranky and thus affected my sleep.

My maid told me that sometimes she went to hide when she heard footsteps of my neighbor coming. I told her, in future if Charlotte is sleeping when the neighbor come, just tell her that Charlotte need to sleep now, please come later. My maid says she going to close all the windows!...

Yesterday evening when I reach home, my maid told me the neighbor came again… she told my maid that I allow her to go over to “teach” her how to cook the porridge…  being the lazy maid, of course she dun want to go over. She tell me that she know that time I ever say “No” … but the lazy neighbor come and ask again.

Maid: “did u ask my mdm?, because my mdm never tell me”
Neighbor: “have! She got teach me how to cook mar, u come over to show me lar”
Maid: “ I cannot work for 2 places one, later I ganna catch”
Neighbor: “ No lar, u not working for me, U teach me how to cook”…
Maid : “ I very busy one, when Charlotte sleep, I need to do housework, and if I dun finish before she wake up, I no time one”…
Neighbor: “ U very scared of your mdm ar!”
Maid : “If I do something wrong, then how… I ask my mdm first”
Neighbor: “ No need to ask your mdm one lar”

Upon hearing the whole thing, my blood shoot up… I wanted to confront my neighbor but she already went out… I told my maid, of course U must ask for permission, even my mother also have to ask for my permission if she wants to go market and the answer is NO! (because my mum have difficulty walking and we forbid her of going to the market on her own)

Then I have to “manage” my maid… I explained to her why I was angry… 1st the neighbor is too lazy already… when there is 1st time there will be second and third… My maid say “Ya loh…. That time she wants me to cut the nail, then she come again to cut the nail I know le…” Then I have to brain wash my maid, I told her, “ I dun like people to challenge!, saying things like why u scare u mdm,, challenging u to say NO! I not scare then do things she ask u to do!”… I told my maid “to teach is ok but as the mother u must learn also”. My maid say “Ya loh, she lazy dun want to learn” Then my maid remark that “She come to ask me clean the ear also never bring her own cotton bud, use Charlotte’s one some more!” I was like “ hahah… the one cotton bud is ok lar” My maid reply, she not “pai sei one”… Which is true lar, I regular bake and gave my neighbor stuffs and usually they will return with some other food as well… but this lazy neighbor always return with an empty plate.
Nick and myself discuss this issue and we suspect that the lazy neighbor has asked the maid to do things for her a lot of times until the maid also pissed… hahahah…. Because my maid is a lazy maid also… when she eng eng she watch tv with my mum… with this lazy neighbor disturbing her, she no time to eat snake of course not happy loh… hahahha…

This morning I went over to my neighbor place and told her that if she need any “ advise” on cooking porridge she can ask me directly… I dun have the habit of letting my maid get out of the house. My neighbor kind of gets the message. I also tell the neighbor that Charlotte is having cough and running nose now, so it better not to spread to the boy, “indirectly” telling her not to come over!

Back home, I told my maid, if the neighbor ask her “why u so scare of your mdm, u just reply YES! My mdm very fierce one, even ah ma (my mother) also scare of her!” Then tell the neighbor, “I need to ask permission for going out of the house”…

Hopefully this sage faster blow over… I hate it when I have to face with this kind of issue… To manage a maid is already not an easy task… with a lazy neighbor who tell tales and challenge my maid to go against me really pissed me to the max.

Friday, December 03, 2010

Hi! I am back


Haven been updating my blog for a while... too busy or too lazy??? hahahha... I also realize that I haven been taking a lot of photo of Charlotte as she grow up.

My ger has progress quite a lot and I am starting to lose track... just like the no of teeth she has now! Totally lost count... hahahhaha... She is now 15 month plus now... she can walk well and is able to understand instructions... just that she not ready to speak properly... she seldom call us... she din really address us unless situations like she badly need attention... hahhahah...

She has a lot of fluffys... as much as like 10 over of them... each has a name and she knows them all! Weird... she seems to have a liking for all the soffy... Now that she is able to walk around by herself.. we have fix safety gates ... but the kitchen become a place she likes to get in!

She is quite a bully at times... ahhahah... and getting more and more cheeky... we also notice that she becomes more outgoing ... maybe more daring in roaming around... but she still dun like to carry by others... except me, nick and her ka ka (maid)... she always call out to her ka ka... maybe she knows that she is her playmate...

We are training Charlotte to sleep over at my parents place as we are going away for a week for holiday... Not bringing Charlotte... hahahha cos I guess its too young for her to travel far. We started her training session by 1 night... bringing her ti-lam cover, remove the original one in front of her from our place and bringing it to my parents place and show her that her "bed" has been shifted... hahahha... 1st night she passed the training... This week we tried 2 nites and she is coping well... I guess as long as got toys and people to play with her.. she dun really mind... hahahhaha

She tend to hit and knock herself... and we realize she learn to "hit" the item she knocked against and started "scolding" the item... hahhaha... She can be quite a complain queen. :P She used to be scared of the cuckoo clock at home and I have off the power... but one fine day she was pointing to the clock and her daddy press on the power and the bird came cuckoo ... that's it! She scream her head off... and I have to remove the clock... whenever we told other about the clock in front of her, she start to do the "pa pa" scare signal... and mumbling complaining... hahhahahah....

She seems not ready to be toilet trained or maybe my maid din really try hard enough... hahahah... cos Charlotte always do the "chou chou" sign (pressing her nose) after the shit has come out on the diaper! Hahahha... sometimes if I am at home and caught her doing the shitting act I will quickly ask her if she "pupu" and lets take the potty... it works a few times but not all the time... hahahha....

Oh yes... Charlotte love cooking... as in cooking toys... I noticed that she was playing with the empty cream cheese tub that I gave her. We gave her a stirrer and she started stirring and we kinda say Cooking... and she started feeding her fluffy... I got her a simple cooking set and she enjoy playing it... Just that she still likes to put things in her mouth...  She tends to lick them which I dun really like it.... We tried to put axe oil to deter her from licking but seems like she not really scare of spicy stuff! Hahahhaha.....  I purposely show her I put "oil" on her toy and tell her those are "la la"... 1st time she lick and throw the toy away... but now she not scare anymore... when we say "put oil" she immediately point to the axe oil... *faint...

And she is like her father... like to throw things into the rubbish bin... every now and then, we will ask her to throw rubbish...hahhaha like her soiled diaper... she will bring to the bin to throw... she likes to clean stuff also... hahahha... she will ask for wet tissue to clean her hand, mouth and most of the time she clean the floor... hahahhahah....

Its sometimes hard to track all her actions... she has all sort of expression that make u dun know laugh or angry... hahahha... She dislike wearing new dress and we have to "train" and make her "practice" wearing new dresses... We are going for my cousin wedding tomorrow and we have trained her to wear her new pong pong dress... hahahah

Friday, October 22, 2010

Catch up on Charlotte's milestones

It has been a while since I do updates on my blog on Charlotte's milestone... I noticed that on my main page I have been keeping track of the big and small events of her growing up phrase and it was only track until 6 month old.... hahahha.... Mummy too busy to update :P

I decided that I should blog a "crash" update for future reference...hahahhah... I realized that memory is falling... not sure if it is a good sign... When my cousin (with an infant less than 2mth old) was complaining how hard it was.... I cant really remember the "hard" time of taking care of my gal in her 1st year... :P

1 year old mark the transition from Baby to Toddler... ahahha... My gal is no longer call Baby Charlotte...hahhaha we tend to be more adventurous as well... in term of letting her try all sort of food... We also upgraded some of her daily necessities....

I sold off her cot and mattress since she is able sit and crawl around... upgraded her to an adult size "Ti-lam" next to our bed... she still sleep with her on her own bed with all her fluffy... yes! her fluffy are her dearly.... 

As she grow heavier, carrying her up and down while traveling to and fro my parents place seems to be quite taxing on my arm... I decided that I do not want to be a super left hand muscular mummy... I sold off the previous stroller and bought an umbrella stroller instead.... prove to be a good investment... we are using it almost everyday....

I guess as 1st time parents we tend to buy a lot of stuffs which we feel its necessary and then though experience we know that it might not be the case... hahahha... Like example, feeding spoon and bowl ... only good for below 1 year old...now she use normal bowl like us and small metal spoon... bibs are not useful the minute she know how to take it off... hahhahah....


So much on the items she used...its time for some growth development updates... hahahha... just before her 1st birthday, we noticed that she is able to stand up unassisted and walk a few steps holding to the furniture.... We bought her shoes and trained her to wear shoe when going out... I still remember when she first wore shoe, she has this funny like like "HEY! what are you doing to my feet"... she cried a little while when she couldn't see her feet.... hahhaha During the moon cake festival, we brought her to the playground to "take lantern"... I saw my maid hold on to Charlotte arm and she is seen walking!... She is able to walk unassisted around that period of time for a short distance... she was 13mth! 22 Sept which is also Daddy and Mummy, wedding anniversary! 
My mother said I was able to walk before I turned 1... so obviously Charlotte is more like Daddy.... hahahha.... even the way she walk is 99% like Nick! Every steps seems like landed on the toes first... She is now 14mth plus and can walk around the house on her own.... which means no no step in to the kitchen! We managed to get 2 second hand safety gates, one for my parents place and one for our own... to keep this little ger out of the kitchen! hahhahah... She is able to understand instructions but she is not willing to speak... she cant really talk proper words yet... She can pronounce Ta Ta (which we suspect is ka ka, sister in malay to call my maid), Pa Pa, Ma Ma.... but she dun call out distinctly... she will do pa pa pa pa pa pa pa ..... and usually its not meant to address to Nick... when we tell her, where is daddy? she will look out for Nick... why only daddy? Cos she is more scared of Daddy.... hahahhaha.... when she is doing Notti things... she only scared of Daddy scold... hahhahaha


Charlotte has also completed 1 term in my gym.... she was screaming 8 out of the 10 sessions...hahahha she dun like the teachers to touch her or carry her... but she managed to enjoyed the last 2 sessions. I decided to take a break and did not continued her session with my gym... Still looking around to see what's next... The main idea of going to classes is to expose her to outsiders and hopefully less "coward" in facing strangers... hahhahah...

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

方草寻元~小儿手足口病

I copy down all the ingredients from the show for all the mummies to refer...
初起的手足病
杏暖童心~清热解毒
連翘,杏仁,茵陈
三仁汤善于治疗中期
杏仁,薏苡仁,白蔻仁,厚朴,半夏,竹叶,通草

杏仁 ~ good but have to take note of the following
南杏(甜)性平味甘没有毒,有润肺止咳平喘之功
北杏(苦)性味温味苦有小毒,止咳平喘润肠通便

预防药膳~清湿热
1) 茵陈,煎好的鲫鱼,猛火煲一小时
can also add 扁豆,薏米,绵茵陈,for 煲粥,煮水
2) 鸡块,姜,油,水,麦芽(包布袋),扁豆,薏米,芡实,殻芽

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Its mummy's turn


Yes... Charlotte got Hand Foot Mouth Disease! The doc say it is highly contagious and advise me not to eat her left over food.... BUT..... we din know she got it so I am used to eating her left over food... we even share kiwi using the same SPOON!

Luckily her HFMD is quite mild and generally she is quite ok... we keep her at home ... din bring her anywhere... I think people with kids are generally very scare of HFMD... but adults maybe not so... My dear working mates are hoping to get it "desperately"... I was joking that if I got it from Charlotte I wont know it cos it take a while for the symptoms to develop..

Dun know its heng or what... I am damm zun lar.... about a week after Charlotte got it... I am down with sore throat and slight fever last evening... Went to see the doc today and he confirmed I got HFMD also!!!! Faint lar....

I told my working mates and they are all guessing who will be next... I wonder isit really so contagious??? The doc gave me 2 days mc and he say mine is haven full blown yet... I dun know wat is coming man!  :(

Ws is damm bloody scare... she say she is going to pass me a bottle of sanitizer but she is going to leave it at my flower pot... Ching say her colleague got it and they disinfect the work area... I told this to my working mates... cos I hope they help to clean my work desk... but they like not interested lei.... btw... my work area is damm messy lar... hahhaha

This weekend do I have to stay at home like what Charlotte did last weekend??? I wanna go out....

Monday, July 19, 2010

Maybe its not the time yet..

Sometime back I posted on the thought of bring charlotte to IFC... I managed to find a IFC near my mum place and signed up immediately... A center of max 10 babies... though the set up dun look impressive but the teachers look caring...

We got to pay for 12 days of trial and Charlotte started her 1st day last Friday. We were there for half a day... The center had full 10 babies on Friday, of which 1 boy of 16 months was crying non stop from 8 to 12noon... Charlotte was initially fine with the place... while she was busy exploring, I sneaked out the place... I peep through the window, she seems to be doing fine... the teacher manage to pat her to sleep... I went in and a while later she woke up... and is damn sticky to me.. I think she is worried that I might sneaked away again.

On her 1st day at IFC, she is practically a terror.... she snatch a boy's tutu and put into her mouth... the boy is having flu!!! Then she push another boy of her age (accidentally) and she pull other babies hair (intentionally).... I wanna faint.... I cannot imagine how the teacher is going to keep an eye on her given that she is so active!

We went back in the rain but Charlotte seems happy about it... because as I was getting ready to go, packing her bag and stuff (she is on the floor)... she thought I am going to leave her there, she burst into tears! The min I secured her on her stroller, put on the cover and left in the rain... the feeling is a bit like running from war...hahahhah... Maybe Mummy is also stressed lar... cos I see the whole morning, the teachers are really like fire fighting... 1 min change diaper, bath, 1 min feed milk and pat babies to sleep, another min start rushing to feed lunch and change diaper again... then with the babies crying... really can me madness! The bigger ones are already quite independent... they can hold their milk bottle and sleep on their own... But it also means they are very smart! They fight the chair during meal time... cos the one who get the seat get to eat first! During feeding, some babies were strapped to their bouncer or get to roam around... that is where small accident happen here and there... I saw a baby falling off the bouncer head on the floor, another one get push and head back on the floor...

I really not very comfortable to put Charlotte through this... but since we already signed up for 12 days... decided to just go ahead for the rest of the week... Sat she fall sick from flu and fever... Our conclusion is.... her immune system is really not ready for this... We have exposed her to other babies during her swimming, play with other babies in gym class... but was not as bad as this kind of direct contact (the tutu case and toys)...

Today I bring Charlotte to half day school again.... notice 3 kids not in the school... things were less hectic... actually the student teacher ratio of the school is good... but still teachers cannot always keep an eye on everything... I wanted to let Charlotte try to get used to the teachers since we have the thought of putting her through the rest of the week... obviously she is aware that I might sneak out... she refuse to sleep and keep close to me... though there are times her curiosity made her crawl for toys.... but it lasted for a while and she is searching frantically for me... The teacher tried to make her sleep by carrying her into another room... she cried for a good 30 min.... and fall asleep for a while...
I noticed the teacher face not looking very good after a few phone call... one of the babies who did not turned up today got HFMD... he is about 9 mths old... I rem the teacher told me, the week b4 we went, they got 1 case of HFMD also... all the toys and stuff were cleaned... Today another case... Next thing is the pails of dettol.... then I realised got an indian boy was kept in the food preparation all the time... the mum appeared to bring him back... I ask the teacher what happen. She say the boy has red spots on his hand and feet... so they worried might be HFMD... they initally admitted him in the morning because the mum claimed that his rashes were due to the medication....

It was quite scary lar.... The teachers start checking on every kids for the hands, feet and tongue... hahhaha.... We went back during noon time... On our way back... Charlotte is very quiet... and when we are in the lift with another auntie (Charlotte in the pram facing inside) the auntie just smile at her, she cried! Alamak.. she is usually not like this... I think she got phobia.....

Immediately call Nick and told him what happen about the HFMD... he say better dun go to the school liao... later suay suay ganna then jia liat... We decided to pull her out from the IFC... I guess till later date.... when she is ready for childcare.... I feel that if possible and also within our means... I would want to pamper my ger more... giving her the comfort of being at home...

Just tonight, while putting Charlotte to bed... she cry the min I walk away... When I am there, she is ok.... Nick say maybe the 2 days of trauma in IFC made her realize who her mummy is! hahhahah

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Some ppl is just not deserved to be well treated

From day 1 when I interview my maid at the agency I already tell her strictly no hp allow! The agency advise not to let her make phone call within the 1st 3 months. I see that she take care of the baby well, so I allow her to call home. I even pay for her 1st phone card. After she is allow to call home, she ask for permission to give the phone number to her family cos they might need to contact her, which I agreed. The next thing u see is her mother keep calling her, her relatives start calling some whom she din even know who they are! I ask her how come they got the number, she say her mum gave the number. I tell her she should let her mum know that she should not do so. I din even tell her off.

After a while, she ask if her mum can send over a hp which contains picture and video of her son. I ask why u need the hp. U can ask your mother to send photo. She say video and photo not the same. I did not agree. The photo of her son come though....

During the days I am at work, she will be at my mum place with baby. That is where she have all her phone call. I heard from my mum that sometimes her family call, she can talk on the phone non stop for 1 hour! I already say, no phone call during the day as I wanted her full attention on the child. They can call in the evening time. I let this matter rest as I feel that as long as she take care of the child well.. such things I can choose to close my eyes.

For the short 7 months here, she follow us to 2 holidays. I paid for her expenses and after every trip she end up like dead hog, I have to clean and pack the stuff... I never let her finish all the tasks. I see that her clothes are old and I bought her new clothes. She din even have to fork a single cent when staying with us. We bring her out whenever we bring baby out during weekend.

Even the weekend when we are at home, I will help to finish the household chores. I have planned a time table for her to follow, but she never did. I reminded her that floor at my mum place has to be mop like 3 times a week, she only mop twice. I reminded that baby mattress cover to have iron cos she has allergy, she only iron for a few months and now not at all. I reminded that cover to have change twice a week, now she only change once a week. All these I can still live with it.

At my own place, she did not follow what I requested as well.. I can live with it. Her daily schedule is Morning wake up at 5.30, clean herself then baby wake up at 6 where she will clean up baby and get ready to go my mum place. I prepared my own breakfast. At my mum place she only wash baby stuffs like clothes and milk bottles. Sometimes she help with ironing of clothes and simple cleaning. My mum's kitchen is quite messy, plastic bag all over the place. I only see her pack 1 time when she 1st come and I requested so... other than that she never pack, the cabinets never wipe.

Then whole day she just take care of the baby, cook baby food, clean up baby. When baby sleep, she bath and watch TV. In the evening time, she followed us back home with the baby, clean up baby while I bath. Then I will coax baby to sleep. She dun even have to make baby sleep. She is practically free at 8 plus. I seldom ask her to do work in the evening. Thinking that its quite tiring in the day time to take care of the baby. During weekends, I even let her sleep late, though baby wake up around the same timing, I will wake up to take care of baby...But all these she never appreciate!

Last evening, she tell her after 2 more month, her loan with the agency (getting full month pay). Previously during CNY, her ang bao money amount to 150 bucks, we give it to her and she TT back to her mother. From then till now, what she want to buy, I pay for her. But she is not contented... now that she is getting her full pay soon, she want to buy a hp! I ask her, U forget that the 1st thing when I interview u, what I say? She say yes, she rem but she want to get permission to buy... and please!....with tears like going to come out....

I ask her why she needed the hp, she say at night she cannot sleep, boring... can communicate with her family via SMS! I tell her I let u rest early so that day time u not tired... I also know day time taking care of the baby is tiring that is why I let u rest early! U boring cannot sleep u do house work loh! I ask her, u got see b4 that maid work non stop till late late then next morning still have to wake up early one? 

I ask her why u wanna spend the money where not as if I dun allow u to call home! I allow her to use the house phone when her family call, also let her call home using the card. She tell me something diff to say over phone! Woh lau! She need to type to communicate! 

I tell her, u think phone and phone card very cheap? 1 sms to your family is 50 cents, 1 sms receive is 50 cents, U can control meh... if they keep sms u.... U pay and pay... if u think u wanna spend all these money then u should not be working. Why u come here to work? Is to earn money, if you dun save now, how u going to buy things back? (because she always ask me how much is this and that, she wanna buy back. My house got the ikea pots for $14 she also wanna buy to keep and bring back)
I tell her, since u got another 2 more months, u go and think abt it 1st then we talk again. She ask me, if after 2 more months she still want the hp and WILLING to pay... will I allow her. She is pressing me for an answer. I HATE IT WHEN PPL FORCE ME TO THE WALL.... I tell her we will talk again in 2 months time.

My blood is boiling and yet I cannot release... thinking that given her stubborn character, if I say NO right away, she might be revengeful and take it upon the baby. I cannot quit my job and stay at home. Thus I have to be under her mercy! and I hate this. At work I have to take all the nonsense and back home I have to take her nonsense.

These kind of ppl, they dun know wat is good... I try to be the nice MDM who give her almost all freedom. When we are out there, she can go and talk to other maid, which I never stop her. What she ask for I buy for her... btw, she dun even need to cook. Lao Niang cook for the family and her. She can even tell me, I like this food and that food. 

Lao Niang too good liao... ppl dun know how to appreciate. She haven see how nasty I can be... these ppl huh, they do all these nonsense and cannot blame why the Mdm is so nasty and make them work like shit... cos if u dun make them work, they tell u they boring... cannot sleep... need HP to sms. CRAZY!

I was damm pissed that I couldn't sleep well last night and I am not feeling sleepy now... cos my blood is still boiling like mad! Now I can truly understand why a lot of people say, U cannot treat this kind of people good one... cos they no brain think... I thought it was quite nasty ... but now I no longer do.

Monday, June 07, 2010

Update on my cheeky charlotte

See this picture tell all!



This picture is titled as "I know Mummy wanna spank me!"....Charlotte has been sticking her tongue lately... I suspect she is trying to feel her 2 big bunny teeth that is going to fully pop out soon...
As compared to 2 weeks ago... she seems rounder... she has been on and off sick last month... my cheeky baby is back in action. In the process, due to her diarrhea, she dirtied one of her "smelly"... she has 2 bean sprout pillow... now left with one... still considering if its necessary to make another replacement... she has a lot of soft toy now... she has a her favourite piglet... the sotong that produce music... lately her daddy got her a life size (her size) pooh bear while waiting to see doc...hahaha...

People toy all small small hand carried... hers is mummy carry... even bigger than her... then BHG sales, I got her a lying dumbo... maybe sooner or later she dun really need her smelly anymore. We also realized she like her bolster... maybe use the bolster to replace that smelly... but not so nice to carry the bolster around...like when going out.... hmmm....

Her daddy bought this pig head for himself as a neck ring... who knows Charlotte is amazed by this new toy and it become her toy instead...hahhaha

Charlotte is now 9 months old and very soon it will be her 1st birthday! Its has been a while since I track her progress... hahaha... She is making a lot of noise such as yi yi ya ya,... screaming when being force to sleep and force to drink milk...hahha... her fav action is running in her walker... We have been using the walker a lot... no choice... else she will be crawling around the hse and banging on stuffs...

She is learning how to stand lately... and now the play yard become the best tool to "keep her in place" ahhaha... she leaned on the play yard, sofa, tv console to get support...



Talking about her 1st birthday... I have already start planning... hahhaa... though its 3 more months but time flies... Initially din really want the hassle of going through a party... but we decided that it should be a celebration and shall do for her 1st birthday to celebrate the progression of baby to toddler. I have decided on a Garden party theme... initially wanted a ocean theme since she like the sotong so much...even to the extend of wanted to get her a sotong designed cake.... but notice that sotong is no longer her fav anymore... so mummy shall decide what best match the venue... kekekek...

We are not going to dress as bee or butterfly to match the theme...cos got fred ask me if they should come dressed to the theme! I guess just some deco to match the theme and its going to be a simple affair as baby dont really know what is going on...hahhaha....  I am still thinking if I should DIY the deco... as those commercial one are so expensive... looking around for preloved deco as well...
I am back into baking as well... not baking the cake but trying cupcake and frosting... Did one batch over the weekend with self made frosting and its terribly sweet.... Going to try whipped cream or nutalla... will try to do a another batch this coming weekend hahhaha...

Monday, May 24, 2010

sentimental again..... re alignment???

I have been using the msg "re alignment" in my msn nick ... a ex colleague once ask me why I keep realignment... "alignment" is a common word in my work place where division and division get to align and align...
In my context... its never about work... its about thoughts and expectation... about life and expectation.... I have been eating farewell lunches for a month... average 1 per week... so... people re align and look for better opportunity.... I cant measure my hope on this job... cos I think I really treat it like a "job"... work done and F*** off... not that I dun like what I am doing but I dun like the "total package" that come with it....  Maybe I haven "align" to the "expectation".
Haiz... it not easy to find the perfect job... and it also depends on how does one defined perfect job... come to think of it, job occupies 39.5% of our daily life...  no wonder there are people who work non stop... fight non stop to gain work recognition, job satisfaction...
9.5 hrs of work, 8 hrs of sleep, 2 hrs to travel... what do u do with the rest of the 5.5 hours??? work????
I am sure that is definitely not the lifestyle I want.... maybe that is what it make me less competitive in work... hahahah... can I use that as an excuse for not "working hard" such as doing OT and bring work back home????
Everyone has their own path and what they choose to do... but I hate it when its being force down the throat... but yet you cant reject cos that is suppose to be "good" for you.
As and when... its always good to "re-align" what you hope to do in life to what you are exactly doing now...time wait for no one and never stop for anyone... I know what I want in life... but find it rather hard to make reality align to it...

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Roseola is also known as Fake Measles

The following Sunday coming back from Melaka, we are supposed to go for the gymboree trial class... who knows that Sunday morning, Charlotte was running a fever... as high as 38 plus.... gave her the medicine and sponge her... that evening the fever worsen... hitting 39...no choice but to bring her to the GP and no PD available on Sunday.

The GP say might be some viral fever so have to wait for it to subside... might take about 3 to 5 days... the GP only gave the same fever medicine, paracetamol... The fever was under control on Sunday night and Monday... Tuesday the fever was hitting as high as 39 again!... Her fever was never as low as 37.5... which means she is drinking medicine 4 hours non stop.... I did a Google search and also from forum... many comment that teething will not caused fever... it is definitely some viral stuff...

On Tuesday evening, we decided that she should see a pd... the usual pd whom she see does not have evening clinic... the only available one is the one behind my mum place. We waited for about 1 hour and she was still running a temperature. The doc comment that rashes might break out when the fever subside. She was given a strong medication call brufen.

That night, I gave her a dose of brufen and she cant sleep after the medication... she was flipping and stuff and I saw her breaking out cold sweat... within 1 hour the fever was gone...  The following day, she is still not as chippy... grumpy little baby....

Wednesday her fever has recovered. Next thing we see is the rashes.... quite bad.... But since the doc did mentioned I thought it would be alright... I did a Google search and Roseola seems to be the closest match.... It says the rash will last for hours to days.... My maid also told me that Charlotte's poo poo for the day is black... I was quite worried but that evening she poo poo again and no more black poo...

On Thursday, the rashes are still there... Charlotte is still a grumpy baby.... I thought perhaps she haven fully recovered that's why being unhappy... On Friday morning, her rashes are still there...  Later in the noon time, I received a call from my maid saying that Charlotte has poo poo for 4 times and alot and its black..seems like lao sai!. PS also told me that it might be fake measles.... I did a search and realize that Chinese call fake measles and English term is Roseola...

We decided that we need to bring her see the pd not because of the rashes but the lao sai... This time round we brought her to the usual pd she is seeing. The doc told us that its Roseola... also known as fake measles... for a moment I was like woh... Google says all... Then I ask the doc, I did a search and it say its roseola but it did not say will have diarrhea... The doc is very good, she use a calendar and show us, typically roseola will cause fever for 3 to 5 days, when the rashes come out, the fever will be gone... then the rash will be accompanied by diarrhea... about total 5 days... which means Charlotte will be fine latest by Monday.

I ask about the black poo... she say a lot of parents like to say black poo and scare the shit out of themselves... Charlotte was banging her table and making noises as we are talking. The doc say Black poo is worrying cos it means blood... but U see her, so active... dun look like got problem... most probably the poo is dark brown and not black as in the black in our hair... as I did not see those poo poo... she suggest that I should go back and check with my maid if its as black as the hair....

Charlotte was given some diarrhea medication and to relieve the itch... but I once read before those rashes are not itchy,... but nonetheless we just feed her a dose... We got a $100 summon due to see the doc... *faint... But we are relieved to hear from a professional what to expect and how to deal with it.
From this experience, I realized that sometimes its really important to see the right doc... though the GP might be cheaper but they dun have the medication for baby... which only the pd has... but sometimes some pd might not give u a clear overview of what to expect... and also... Google might not give u all the answer you are looking for.

This morning, we see that the rashes are gone, and more smiles from Charlotte... guess she is ready for the kids' run tomorrow... Nick has also specifically ask doc if Charlotte is OK to participate in such activities... the doc say no problem! :)

Hope that my experience will help mummies with similar question on rosela / fake measles... and make Google a better search! :)

Friday, May 14, 2010

Mothers day in Melaka



Baby Charlotte's 1st overseas trip! Daddy has always wanted a road trip to Genting... and keep bugging "when are we going???" Finally Daddy say "We are so going for a trip in May, Cos its MY BIRTHDAY!"...

Initially as suggested by Nick, he wants to go to Genting... dun know whats the catch! I guess its because of the casino... But we only have a night! So I suggested that we should just go near by.... like... Melaka! Hahhaha... Sherry and Steven wanted a road trip too.. but they wanted a longer one... so they traveled 2 days before us to Genting then meet us at Melaka.

Daniel, Joey are regular of road trip... this time round we arranged to bring the little ones along... we brought the maids along... I guess the maids are like having this as a holiday... cos both my maid and Joey's maid is like sisters!....


We set to set off at 6.30am from Joey's place... The night before, I told baby Charlotte... tomorrow we need to wake up early... so u guai guai sleep at night k... and indeed she really sleep well that night... dun know if it was coincident.... the next morning she is a smiley baby! and damm excited... think she knows we going on a trip!

3 big bags... 2.5 belongs to Charlotte's stuffs...  we brought 3 big bottles of drinking water, cooking stuff, baby biscuit and toys! Yes... to keep her entertained...


We reached JB for tim sum while charlotte is sleeping... reina is having fun eating all the stuff... she practically eat from SG to MAL...Hahhaha... We stop over at the A&W for the babies to have lunch... and we reached Melaka at about 2pm...

Charlotte din make a lot of fuss during the trip... she sleep, wake up... play... sleep...hahaha... and of course the tutu helps a lot...

Melaka is a old town... with the tagline of heritage and history stuff... I rem I went there with my secondary friends before during a trip by the school... now they have more shopping malls... we stayed in Hotel Equatorial so its quite near the shopping malls.


We settled the babies and let the maids take care of the babies... The mummies and daddies went to spa.... Joey and myself took a couple room while the daddies have their individual room... We realized that the massage ladies din talk to us except Nick... he say the massage lady talk a lot to him... Hmmmmm.... why not us lei.... He say if he dun reply wait his bones break! .... 3 of us dun feel that the session is good except Nick who rave about the massage.

We went for dinner together with Sherry and Steven and chill out in the lounge in the hotel with 3 monkeys (Daniel call them chipmucks) jumping around... Nick go around asking for birthday kiss and Steven say "Hey... its our wives K!" see how protective is Steven Phua... hahhaa... I bet if some man try to get near to sherry he might end up in hospital...kekkeke...


Sunday morning the mummies and daddies woke up for breakfast and the 2 lazy pigs say their morning call is 10 am... After breakfast we went for a swim with the babies... yes! for the 1st time the daddies are in the water...

We settled the babies and the Mummies and Daddies went shopping....We meet up Sherry and Steven at the shopping mall...

Done some shopping and we went back to the hotels all ready to head back to SG... The journey way back seems shorter as we drove quite fast... Charlotte was sleeping all the way in the car... We reached JB's jesso around 7pm for the babies to have dinner and head back home....

We din really celebrate Nick's bday as it was not his actual day... No celebration for mummies cos the babies still dun know what is mothers' day... as for the daddies... they can't wait to siam the topic.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Loooooong weekend

Yes... loooong tiring weekend... Charlotte is coughing since Friday all thanks to the visit at the GP for the stupid olive oil for the ear wax... Charlotte has been trying to dig her ears for a while and I ask around at pharmacy to get those ear drop for clearing the ear wax but they do not have anything for less than 2 years old. No choice, I ask Nick to get from the GP at our void deck... the GP refuse to sell saying that must do consultation. The following day we brought Charlotte for the consultation. The minute we step in to do the registration, I saw a old uncle lying on the bench, an ah ma coughing away. I immediately carried Charlotte out of the clinic after registering. The stupid doc only see her ear and say ok give u some ear drop.

Then next day we noticed that Charlotte seems tired and not her usual self... next thing... coughing away and bad appetite... vomit her milk and food when she cough... *shake head.... Sunday worse, she developed a fever and no choice we brought her to the GP again cos the PD she used to see not open on Sunday. The doc ask her to open her mouth as he wanted to check her throat... I wonder how he expect a baby to listern to instruction????? Nonetheless he gave a cough medicine...

Since Friday till today, I dun have a good nite sleep... Charlotte is tossing in her sleep and not able to rest well as her fever is On and Off... her cough is with a lot of phlegm... haiz.... The doc say will take a few days to recover... but has been a few days liao lei.... really tiring... not sure if her fever could also be caused by her teething... 2 big front teeth is like coming... but also like 2 weeks liao haven come out!

She has lost weight and the chubby gone too... she is not eating much due to not feeling well and has been damm cranky always want me to carry her... hmmm... every morning she wake up she will cry if I ignore her plead to "bao bao"... every evening she will give me that pity look when I return from work... haiz... hope that her cough go away soon.

We suppose to join a trial class at gymbroyee last Sunday but it got cancelled cos a lot of babies fall sick too... hope the rest of the babies are recovering too... bad weather and the heat from the sun is killing too!

I went to the Chinese medical hall, thinking if she can take some chuan bei for her age... I have been giving her the nan xing and bei xing even during normal days. My friend say its good for the lung... I wonder if I can give her chuan bei as it seems like good for the cough... the uncle at the medical hall say cannot ... as baby is too small to take all these... then he recommend his in-house powder... I ask what is inside the powder... he say chuan bei, pearl and stuff... "mo" into powder... Upon hearing, I say thank u, I dun want... then I walk away leaving him looking STUNNED.... I then stunned loh... boil water cannot cos baby small... then "mo" into powder can meh... so funny one... sometimes these medical hall is trying to smoked parents and old grandparents into buying this kind of powder which we also dun know what is in it.

I am so sleepy... feel like a walking zombie today.... and my poor baby with her 2 teeth!

We have also gotten the haemin play yard from the baby expo fair. Been trying to get a second hand one but could'nt find a reasonable price. End up we got it from the fair as there is discount. I dun think the play yard can use to lock her for very long... she start screaming if being left alone in there... she prefer her walker to the play yard. But it is necessary during her day nap as sometimes she din make sound when she woke up and the next thing she is already crawling to some places and pulling off stuff... hopefully the yard is able to sustain for more than 2 months or more... I guess when she start to cruise around, it will be quite useful.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Charlotte is 8 month old

Charlotte is 8 month old! She is now more "mobile" hahha... and very loud girl... screaming every night before bedtime as usual...hahhaha...

She learn to recognize faces and yell when she lose sight of us... Every morning before I leave for work after bringing her to my mum place. I will play a while with her telling her mummy is going working... she will not make a fuss... but during the days where I am not working and leave the house, she will cry... hmm... she can tell from my dressing???? Hahhaha... Sometimes when we are running late, I will just leave her without playing and she will cry.... When seeing strangers she is alright... but not carrying her... if wanna carry her must first make friend! Hahahhaha...

She is not drinking a lot of milk as usual... but I have let her tried more variety of food... she now can take chicken stock, vege stock, egg yolk... going more and more adventurous... hahhaha.... and she is a picky eater... eat only the nice food... if feed her simple stuff (simple taste) she will scream and turn here and there.. making a mess all over the place!

We are going to bring her on short road trip this coming holiday... and yes... she enjoy playing water and we have been going on regular swimming with Reina....
 
Some of her milestone for being a 8 month old baby, her bottom 2 teeth has come out of her gums and top 2 coming soon... she can crawl about the place but not pro crawling...hahah... she always on "stand by" to sit down. hahhaha.... She cant really stand up and keep trying to push her body... she love the walker which can bring her around... she is more responsive to mummy... esp every evening when I am back... she will climb on me like a koloa bear and make funny fake crying sound... wat we also say "yang O"...hahhahah...

I hope not to be a super KS mummy who is overly concern about her learning curve... but I do hope to expose her more to babies of her same age so that she dun become self centered. So far I think she is doing good with socializing (with babies and children) except that she is not that kind of "any one can chin chye carry" hahhahaha....

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Baby Day Out



Brought Charlotte to the NTUC baby day out event at Little Skool House Tampines. I signed up the event with fellow August thread mummies... As I was not really active in the forum, I couldn't recognize the mummies from the Aug thread.
As we are feeding Charlotte her milk in the nursing room, some mummies and babies came in then I realized they are from the forum too! They organized a photo taking session with all the August babies... Hahahha... Charlotte was having fun "interacting" with the fellow babies... not shy at all! She even make screaming and happy noises... hahhaha....

We stayed for a while and left but caught in the rain so waited for close to an hour... and managed to run across to Tampines mall.. had our dinner and went ntuc for some grocery shopping... Just as we are about to leave... someone tapped my shoulder...I turned aroud and couldn't recognized for a second.... until I see baby Warren! Hahhaha... yes... it was Hazel and her cute baby Warren...  Nice bumping and great to see them in person... Baby Warren indeed is very Cute and Chubby!!! Hahahha...

We left the place after a brief chat.... and I was sharing with Hazel that now Charlotte sleep on the "ti lam" I got from Seahorse... she no longer sleep on the cot as she knows how to turn and sit up...
Charlotte was totally exhausted from the day out... She slept in the car and back home... din really wake up... half way through... I heard her cry as usual check her out in the room. To my shocking moment! she was not on her bed! She was near the fan at the end of her "ti lam"... the fan was not on thou.... I carry her back to her bed and pat her and she slept...

In the middle of the night, I heard her cry and turn over to see her... She was not on the bed again! I quickly on the light and saw her under our bed! She got stuck! We actually lined the space with soft toys and she managed to push them in and crawl in... I immediately wake Nick up and he pulled her out ... She din really cry... she sleep after her milk...

About dawn... I heard some noise... I woke up and saw her again not on her bed! She was sitting near the dust bin and grabbing the bin making noise with her "tutu" still in her mouth! I wake Nick up to see what her dear daughter is up to... *shake head... shake head.....

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

We are going to Kids Run!


Yes... Mummy will be the one doing the walk though... hahhaha ... there is this new category under the kids run this year organized by Cold Storage... I thought it would be fun to bring Charlotte for such activities to expose her to "a lot of people".... hahah I bet she will be damm kaypo and excited!
The event will be held on 23 May which mark a special day for daddy and mummy too! So it would be kinda fun to go for such activities I guess... I hope its not too hot and humid... and Baby stay alert and happy...hahhaha

Our bib number is : 50115... and we are supposed to put in a 8 char name on the bib... Charlotte has 9 characters... so cant squeeze in... then crack our head to think what else... Sotong? Since she like sotong... but funny... then baby NJ, baby C, NJC??? then Liang (her last name) or QiuLiang (no space)... but not interesting lei.... she has this expression that look like Mr.Bean and thus we call her Miss Bean also... but Miss Bean is 9 char also...So the final is BOSS TAN...kekekeke... she got a picture that look like boss chairing a meeting... for a while I call her boss tan...

Look out for Boss Tan in action! Hahhaha...
Any mummies going for this event? ... we can "walk" together! Hahahhaha...

Monday, March 29, 2010

I love Swimming

Charlotte learn to enjoy swimming this time round! Last sat, the sun was scorching hot from 12 noon and mummy keep saying its good as the water will be warm for swimming in late afternoon...
So, we jio reina mummy to bring reina to her 1st swimming attempt in the public pool. We reach the pool at about 4pm and the water is warm warm... Charlotte was not afraid at all! I think because the previous, she got the experience of damm cold water...kekekke.... Reina got her 1st experience of drinking swimming pool water! Kekeke... but she enjoy the session after that... Charlotte keep kicking and having fun too! Will make this a weekly swimming session if possible... kekekek....


Charlotte is now 7 month old! She is on 2 solid meal now and her food range has increase to more types of vege such as spinach, brocoli, potato, tofu, pumpkin ...and ikan billis, with porridge and tried fish for the 1st time... smelly smelly mouth...kekkeke... and she love biscuit...apple, pear and banana! She cannot eat sweet potato which give her "lao sai", and she dislike carrot and papaya... We will try to give her a bit prune when she has problem with her put put... but so far she is fine...and she love water....


Charlotte can sit unsupported now but dun know how to crawl...hahhaa... daddy say she must learn how to crawl... but she keep pushing her 2 little feet high up like doing push up... I think she prefer to walk...hahhaha.... but nonetheless will let her progress naturally... just that at present moment she is miss scary! cos she will like flung herself on the ground... so must have lots of pillows around her.
 
Showing U my "teeth"... teeth less but 1 coming out soon!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Many 1st experience for Baby Charlotte

Life is very busy, trying to find time to blog some entry... for the last week, Charlotte experience many 1st time try...kekeke

My previous blog was on how she have problem sleeping and that night after blogging, I decided to use "cry as u like" method... So the minute I reached my mum place after work, I was telling my maid on the "method" because whenever Charlotte screaming in the bedroom, she will walk over to pat her, comfort her... I was explaining that "Charlotte needs training" of course I said all these in front of Charlotte...

That evening, as usual, I bath as Charlotte get her routine clean up and change into pajamas... As I am done, I am all ready to received my scream baby from the other room... there was total quietness this time round... She is falling asleep... my maid was patting her... Hmmm... I see that she has yet to fall deep asleep, so I carry her to her cot in our room... she din wake up... continue to sleep... I was jokingly saying she must have knew that Mummy going to "train" her...hahha... not sure if its coincident... so try for another few more days and it works... My conclusion is... her separation anxiety is not from me but from the maid...kekekeke...

Then last Sunday we brought Charlotte to the public swimming pool at Sengkang. Damm crowded and tons of children jumping in and out of the water... the water is very cold... and Charlotte dun like it at all.. she is wimping and grumbling... the daddy is concerned by the fact that Charlotte is "tasting" the swimming pool water and her skin is going to be crumpled... now I know what is meant by daddy's girl... cos mummy dun have any concern...kekeke....



Monday, while on our way home, I wanted to carry Charlotte to sit in the front car seat, the door swing back as we are going into the car, the sharp corner hit her on the head and Nick gave a shout... Charlotte was like can't cry out... poor thing... that night I faster give her some "jin feng shan".... and rolled egg and apply zamba on her "ba lu ku"

Tuesday evening as we reached my mum place... I saw many pillows around Charlotte's play mat... My maid say Charlotte bump her head while trying to sit... Yes, she is learning how to sit now.... and often will like give way... she din see which side Charlotte landed her head on... so zamba for both corner of the head... hahahha

Daddy got worried and insist that we should get a walker... to ground her while she is left alone... I have always wanted to buy a walker, but daddy keep saying he want Charlotte to learn crawling 1st... Charlotte cannot crawl yet... she can only move backward so far... then that evening, daddy insisted that we go grab a walker from kiddy palace... faint!

We got a walker, pink rocket... yes... pink again... I wanted a yellow bear one but its out of stock... the walker has stopper to prevent the walker from moving --- meet daddy criteria of Charlotte not learning walking 1st... moreover the walker is too high for her, her little feet cant reach the ground yet... we stack up with those square ABC mat, so that she can rest the feet... initially she is treating it like her jumperoo and keep wanting to jump in it.

As Charlotte getting more mobile... we have to keep our eyes really close on her... I think very soon we going to "ground" her in the play pen... hahahha.... she likes to move out of the safety zone (the play mat)... and very often we have to stand by pillow behind her... and she like to move into the pillow, wriggling her backside beneath the pillow... so funny....

And she will respond to us calling her name and give us a big grin... she dun have any separation anxiety from me... every morning when I say bye bye Mummy going to work... she give a big grin... every evening when I reach home calling her name, she give big grin... hahhaha... I think she is quite used to the routine of mummy going in and out of the house.







Tuesday, March 16, 2010

separation anxiety

Recently Charlotte has this "bad" habbit of crying and screaming before bedtime... sat was the start of the whole entire episode... from noon, she refuse to take her nap and scream her lung out... finally got her to nap.. for less than 30 min she wake up...

We decided to go out to Nick's classmate's housewarming. She poo poo on the way there and keep "herm.. herm..." telling us she need a change... We concluded that she might be feeling wanna poo poo that's why she wake up from the nap. She is happy and ok after changing... But she is quite cranky at the friend place... we concluded that it a new environment... that's why...

Then back home... the whole screaming episode started when we wanna make her sleep... she is practically screaming and shreking... dun know wat to do with her... keep yelling for 1 good hour and we manage to make her sleep...

Sunday noon, again,.. screaming during nap time... morning nap was fine... but noon nap is terrible... then my in law come and play with her, that nite... again screaming during bedtime and we think it might be due to lack of sleep... She scream 1 hour, refuse to be carried... just keep screaming till my maid manage to calm her down in her sarong... then about 1 hour later, she yelled and scream from her sleep, like having nightmare. I carried her out from her cot and she keep on yelling till wanna puke. Then she stop and after comforting a while, she manage to sleep... throughout the night she wake up several times and end up we have to put her inbetween us to sleep.

I start to read and google for the cause of such behaviour... initally I found a lot of stuff related to teething and colic ... Her teeth still not appearing and I also suspect its colic... ytd feed her grip water and nite time gave her the colic drop... but it din work... last evening was another screaming to bed episode...

I start to read more and saw this "separation anxiety" term. This is the 1st time I am hearing this term... in olden days, ppl will call it "child start to recognise ppl" but according some of the stuff I found online... it mean the child get upset when the caregiver walk away... I realise some of the very similar behaviour... when charlotte wake up from her nap, she will search for my maid and start to cry if she cannot find her... then during bed time, though she has already sleep, but she will on and off open her eyes to peep... cant really rest...

Cham... how to tackle this huh... I read some website they say its normal for infant to experience it... normally from 8th month to 2 years old. Recently charlotte do not need to be nursed in the middle of the night so we just gave her water. I did a online quiz from johnson and johnson sleep stuff... and realise that its quite normal for infant to wake up a few time in the middle of the night and most of the parents give water too... but that is ang mo site... so not sure if its commonly practice in a more chinese society like here.

Any advise how to cope with "separation anxiety"??? I tried to enforce a bedtime routine.. like singing and let her cool down before bedtime.... but the minute she knows she need to sleep... she will start her screaming engine...

 

Monday, March 08, 2010

我中毒了...

是我的指甲中毒了


I have this fungus in me... as in my nail for quite some time... I din realise that it was fungus growth till I saw a col's fingernail got "corrupted" after ignoring treatment....

Despite Nick constant nagging for me to go see the doc I just keep delaying... Sunday I finally see a doc... and got a shocked... not the condition  but the medication! The doc say it some fungus attack so need to eat pills (My col also eat pills) then the doc never tell me that the pill is bloody expensive... I need to eat 4 pills a day and for 7 days... the pills cost $140! My heart ache sia.....

Then still need to go buy another medication paint for the nail... dun know how much that will cost.... sigh.... Nick say its better than the nail rot rite...

Doc say have to go back after 1 month.... to see if the condition improve...


I have this bad habbit of not finishing my medication... for this time... I make sure I finish the $140 worth of medication to get rid of the fungus!

Sian... rot too much till my fingernail also wanna rot liao....

Friday, March 05, 2010

Simply Lazy... feel like rotting...

It has been a tired week... though its Friday today but I feel like rotting off liao... for the past 1 week... din manage to get proper rest... last sat we brought Charlotte to go for her injection for 6 in 1... she developed a fever and followed by vomiting that night on our bed... then cranky and crying on and off the night...

Following few days are not peaceful neither... she got a cough and slight running nose... been cranky on and off the night... then last night she vomited from coughing again... we din manage to get much sleep...

At times I really give up and let her grumble and scream.... sometimes she quiet down after her daddy sing to her... dun know why... when I sing, no effect... when daddy sing, she will quiet down a bit... good loh... make daddy sing for u, finally someone know how to appreciate Nick's de singing * evil grin!

I still thinking if I should bring Charlotte to see a doc... din really want her to take all these medication... but I am not sure if I am doing it right man.... will have to monitor and see how... She is 6 month old now and quite noisy... she make noise when she is bui song... angry... happy.... hahhaha...

We also change her infant car seat to those for bigger baby... not because of her size but because she will simply turn and flipped on the infant seat! She wants to KAYPO!!!!... now we strapped her to the bigger car seat, its higher and can see the window view... she will sit in the seat quietly, suck her fingers and enjoy the scenery. Hope she remains this way on car journey... but I think will have more pattern coming.

She is trying to sit unassisted as well... but still like humpty dumpty.... and cant really on her fours now... but tried to bring her small buttock up and keep moving backwards...hahhaha...

Oh ya, her passport is ready for collection and mummy's ic is ready too... ya.... mummy re-registered ic at 30 yrs old... oh goss... hit 30 liao...

Will post some of her photos soon when I recovered from my lazy and rotting mode...

Monday, March 01, 2010

Infant Care and Childcare vacancy is hot cake sia!

I was reading Sat ST on a report on how "lucky" a mother manage to "secured" a slot for her baby in the infant care center... and best of all... its not some prestige childcare center with those super "activities" that "mold" the child's brain...

The report is on how a mother managed to get her child into one of the "young" estate; punggol.... and in the interview, they interview a few center and the comments was there are alot on waiting list... some KS parents even put their unborn child on waiting list! as early as 5 month preggy! Terrible... There are comments that there is a terrible shortage of childcare and infant care slot in the newer estate such as Punggol and Sengkang...

Of which... on my previous entry I was considering one of the infant care at Sengkang which is near my parents place... its a normal infant care run by "my first skool" which is NTUC based. Then the report say there are as much as 100 on waiting list! OMG! which mean I must really pampered my maid b4 she decided to go back to her kumpung and I will have a big problem sia!

Then just as this morning, the in charge of the childcare center call me... cos I previously send them an inquiry email. I ask if really there are 100 on Q... she say 100 is inclusive of both childcare and infant care... I ask abt infant care... she say currently 8 in the Q... my response is "that's not so bad" then she got no response... maybe 8 is bad enough! kekekek...

I ask them about the activities...she say basically is the necessity like feeding and sleeping... cos infant not really mobile... hmmm... when baby is more mobile then they can join in activities like music and movement, play group and stuff... She say she will put me on waiting list and contact me when there is a slot... also they dun run half day session, they will charge full day course fee, but I can put baby there for half day....

Then I just leave my contact... and will see how... on a separate note... I was thinking... if there are 100 on Q and of which 8 belongs to infant group... that mean 92 are q for childcare!!!! That's terrible man! Does that means that I have to start q-ing now for childcare as I have plans to put Charlotte to childcare at the age of 2...

Singapore is having low birth rate, yet its hard to get a slot in childcare...funny lei...

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Advise needed...

Its all about when u have a maid... U need to close more than 1 eye!...

My maid is the main caregiver for Charlotte... during the day time... She will be with Charlotte at my mum place. All she does is really look after Charlotte... that means most of the time she is damm eng.... I have no issue of her sit down there doing nothing when Charlotte is sleeping... but lately I am quite irritated by some of her behavior... she tend to start to take things in her own hand... and behaving really "queen"... she lie on the bed and play with Charlotte... I caught glance of her feeding/ playing her spoon with Charlotte... I cant really confirm if she has let Charlotte "taste" her spoon... When Charlotte is sleeping... she simple laze there to watch TV... I mean laze as in half seated and half lying comfortably....

Initially I really try hard to focus on the fact that as long as she take good care of Charlotte, the rest perhaps I should really close my eyes.... Having her around is good as she also act as a companion for my mum at home... The con of having a maid is that Charlotte get to be fed on time and enjoy home made fruits and it does really help esp during this time that she is starting her solid...

The bad point is, I have to endure my maid behavior... I dare not really tell her off cos worried she take it on the child... every time I talk to her is like physco her... even have to explain the reason why... and she like to ask "why" "what".... I m not so worried about the fact that Charlotte gets really close to her... I m more worried about what Charlotte will learn from her! All day long, all she does is make funny noise with Charlotte and carry her to watch TV...

Esp now that Charlotte start to be more alert I wonder how I shall deal with this... I have thoughts of sending Charlotte to half day infant care so that she still get to eat home cook stuff... I m not really into Charlotte learning anything in the care center... more of ensure that she has less contact time with the maid to pick up some funny stuff... But I m not sure if this is a good option....

I talk to friends who has maid also tell me to bear with it... I think I am being very generous towards my maid liao... I din really want to stop the maid as I think she does really can help us with housework and taking care of Charlotte. Confuse lei... maybe its a transition period...

Maybe anyone here who has maid at home to take care of kids and baby can share with you your experience?

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Charlotte's update

It has been a while since I last updated on Charlotte's milestone... She is turning 6 month soon and going for her final injection (the 6 on 1) this sat... we are trying not to remind her in case she give the grumpy face...hahhaha


She is able to flip and turn on her tummy now... which make her quite mobile on the play mat... At my mum place, my maid would place her inside the jumperoo to make sure she dun "go" anywhere outside the mat! Hahha... At my place, we would some times belt her up on the swing or the high chair.

Charlotte also tried a number of new food... of which she is quite "sensitive" to sweet potato and prune... which make her a bit "lao sai" ...hahhaha her favorite is apple! She also tried some baby biscuit but she took quite a big bite and we decided to feed her instead of her holding it... scare she choke.

This is the 1st year, Charlotte is experiencing CNY... being the only baby around.... all the aunties and uncle is so amuse by her... and wanna carry her... she is quite well behaved in the day time... but bed time is terrible... I guess over exhausted as well... a bit like "hum being"... sometimes she cry so loud that we have to wake her up...hahha...

She knows how to hold the ang bao and send the ang bao to her mouth! hahhaha... She wear all the pretty clothes during cny and her hair has grown quite a bit... intend to cut them to equal length after cny season...



I also made passport for Charlotte so that we can bring her for a short trip to Malaysia soon... have been trying to take her photo and she can be quite cheeky...


Her hair are all standing, very difficult to use Photoshop to edit... so I use water to make her hair "flat" (the top right hand Pict) then she play and play and wriggle until her hair are all damm messy!

Lately Charlotte learn to "complain" and make "pathetic" look and sound... the video show all... she is complaining...hahhahaha

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Bump Bump rolling off the bed

As the title suggest.... Charlotte fell off the bed....ouch!  Yes... she is like just 5 month old and she experienced her 1st fall... It was an eventful Friday, she already woke up and I placed her in the middle of our queen size bed... I only do that sometimes when she sleep with us... cos lately she is trying to flip and always end up screaming for help in the middle of the night... in order to "secured" her to a position. I some time placed her in between us to "stationed" her in the night.

That morning I left her on the bed and went to the kitchen to put away the milk bottle... just a while... I heard a "bong" and loud shriek cry... I knew that's it! I hope my guess is wrong... when I ran to the room, Nick ran out to ask what happen! He din realized Charlotte has fell off the bed!... I immediately on the light and Nick pick up Charlotte. I comforted her and Nick wanted to check her injury... but my 1st concern is to calm her down...

After she calm down, I saw her mouth oozing with blood... her inner upper lid is bleeding... she fell face down which is a blessing in disguise... cos it can get really serious if its head up... I quickly wash up while my maid clean up the teary Charlotte... Nick say he clear up a small puddle of blood from the spot where Charlotte fell. *sweat...

After cleaning up, I see that there are still blood coming out from her mouth... we feel that its better to go KKH incase we din realize something more serious. Both of us took the day off. The A&E did a check on Charlotte. She even smile to the doc in green (must be reminding her of Sotong, cos her favourite Sotong is in green too). The doc wanted to ward her as none of us see what really happen. I din want to... so Nick sign the form and the doc advise the sign to look out for. The rest of the day, Charlotte appear OK but very grumpy... obviously not happy.

Saturday she seems ok... but cry out loud when sherry reminded her of the fall... hahaha... I reminded WS not to mention the fall in front of her. Ws just play with her and she allow Ws to carry her... hahaha... Following Charlotte's fall and also some of the stuffs happening around lately, I wasn't really in the mood for any birthday celebration. Nick arranged a gathering for the fluffy gals to come to our place and Nick whipped up a chilli crab dish... and my favourite strawberry shortcake from WC... though I have told Nick before that I din want any birthday cake or celebration. The strawberry shortcake never fail to put a smile on my face. :P

By Sunday, her wound has healed, but she is still quite affected by the fall... she would cry in the middle of her sleep and we have to wake her up... She will also fidget in her sleep and very "mang zhang"... I have given her some Chinese "jing feng san" and hopefully she walk out of the bad feeling soon... if not mummy will become a panda for CNY....

Monday I am back to office to work... dun ask me why... *sigh.... but I am surprise with a gift from my ex colleague. They are really sweet to remember my birthday and send bird nest and flower to my office... Yes... I really need to nourish nourish for the cny and replenish my lost of youth over the sleepless nites...ahhaha...

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Post renovation problems

In renovation, sometimes also see "heng" "suay" one... I engage a carpentry coy as recommended by forum-er here who has their house done up... I can say their quote is quite competitive that is also why I go to this company... A lot of things I also "close both eyes"... initially handed the dish rack I bought for them to incorporated into the kitchen... but turn out my dish rack cannot fit cos no space was cater for it... (design fault) but I din blame them cos I saw the final drawing and I agree... which mean I din realize the dish rack is missing from the design...neither did them rem that i have a dish rack that they need to cater space for... I just bought a standing rack to solve this issue...

Lately the doors of the cabinet start to curve...YES... bend and curve... I request they change because I only use barely 3 months! They came and give me the reasons that its their supplier problem which gave them a "different" quality of wood... they cannot control what their supplier gave them... SO they are expecting me to live with this?Huh? Then they say they cannot change the door, they can only bring back the door to do a manual pressed and hope that it will be straighten and flat...I questioned what happen if the door bend again... again they tried to push the blame to the supplier of the materials... I gave up... ask them to bring the door back...they took like a few weeks and my doors are back...

Now! The door bend again! I ask them for solution... they say they can only install a door catch to make the door "stick" in... again blame it on the supplier of the door... and ask me what I suggest...

If you are me, what would u do?

I send her a sms which she din reply: " I m a end consumer, I bought the thing from u, so it only possible of me to come back to u when the thing got problem, cant expect me to find your supplier right. I am not trying to be difficult, you are also a consumer yourself. If you spend 4k plus on a kitchen which doors start bending even less than 3 months of usage, how would you react? If you can just accept it as it is... Please tell me so."

I believe they will do nothing to this case... they will just sit on it... or expect me to "forget" about it... or best still ask her husband to come and argue with me that its their supplier fault... frankly speaking there is nothing I can do also... I can only say SUAY loh... find a carpenter who is small scale... and poor after sales service.

One word of advice... if you can afford to live with this kind of non-sense then go to a small scale company...

She just call me and say they have done before this size and it din bend like mine... they have no solution also... They suggest to use aluminum frame kind which will solve the problem but I dun like the metal framing as it will make my kitchen really small. They ask if they change the door for me and what happen if it bend again? They cant possible change again... I also understand...

So I can only say, if change liao still bend... the only reason I can think of is... I am really suay! or my kitchen is meant to be door less?Huh?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hai... i am sick and tired of this loh... they say will change for me this round... but if it bend then there is really nothing they can do... they can only do it after CNY... I am ok with it... cos I am really tired of this...

well... i can only say... 1st time is maybe really the material got problem or design got problem (which I cannot control or dun know how to control)... if change liao still bend.... I can only say really DAMM SUAY....  I really need better luck!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Updates...

I haven been updating my blog.... this year I din even have to do a 2009 review...kekeke... dun know is it really no time, or maybe simply just dun feel like doing any review... :P
Been really busy after returning to work... more work and work and more more work... larger role and stuff... its all about how one relates and explain to another one...same wine, different bottle kinda theory... I dun wish to blog about my work... cos I dun know how to start, also dun know how to solve it... just see how lar... just hoping that the day pass faster at work and eager for weekends and public holiday...kekekkee



Been busy with sessions and after sessions of housewarming... house party... kekek... yes! I am still doing housewarming! :P Hosted nick's school mate last Saturday... Puroland's Catering again! :P Menu includes, Spaghetti with Italian tomato sauce, Garden Salad DIY, Roast Chicken with Cranberry sauce, cocktail sausage with cheese and tomato... bake potato dress with beacon mayo.... I can only rem all these... photo speaks for itself... I am also exploring more menus! Kekeke...
Still another few more sessions to go... I think I need to take a break till CNY... hahahha


Not sure if I have mentioned earlier in my blog that Charlotte has started some solid... so far only put her on brown rice cereal... she is doing good... except her milk strike is back again :(  Will try bananas this coming weekend... I m not really into starting her on more variety yet, moreover she is still below 6 months... We started her on cereal at 4th month old as her doc recommended...

Lately she start to make funny sound and noise... think she is starting to be more and more "verbal" sia... hahahah.... Ever since going back to work, I spend lesser time with Charlotte... trying to catch her every milestones....


We attended Reina's 1st bday and seriously I am not sure if I wanna do a big scale of birthday party for Charlotte when she turn 1... lots of logistics and barangs to bring and arrange!...hahahha... Reina's mummy dressed up as a snow white to fit the theme of her daughter princess theme.... we happen to get her a present that is in line with the theme!... Din know about the theme prior to the birthday thou.... we got Reina a princess walker... hahhaa... Ws and james took quite a number of photos of Charlotte lately... and when I receive the cd rom... only to find all my face "chop" or cant even see my face! Explanation from ws, "her camera focus is only on Charlotte!" *faint!

*The only picture the adults took!




Oh ya! and not to forget, I finally received my wedding video clip from Kelvin...Kekeke... after 2 plus year sia! Immediately view it the following day!... hmmm din feel really excited or touching...I think some memory lost also.... but it does bring some warmth feeling when viewing the moments again! Time passes so fast and we seems to age quite a bit, ok... I must admit its quite a lot!... A woman's prettiest moment is during her big day once again proved the sentence right!.. hahahha... The fluffy gals also age quite a bit! ... OK... its quite much :P


Last weekend, we married off one of the fluffy gals, sherry! ... ahhaha... it was one of the many weddings but the first one which I felt touch and close to tears when the bride hug her mum! I guess motherhood does bring a lot more different in term of perspectives and feeling... its so touching when u marry off your precious and kinda mission accomplished... ahhaha.... Maybe by then I will be thinking cant wait to marry her off sia :P And after this wedding... the fluffy gals are definitely hoping and really excited about the last gal! Ok... no pressure, but we promised it will definitely be a powerful one when the time come ok!

We are definitely shag by the end of the day... the following day I returned to work with the zombie look..kekekek..I guess I drink quite a lot sia :P ..... We had a fun day and nice catching up with Wonder woman sharing with us about horror stories of teaching...kekek... and teaching us technique on how you drag the table with the chair to slam at the door... violent sia! ahhaha... and finally she gave up... quit her teaching job! :P
 

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