1.30pm

That is the time I woke up today. I look at the clock and shocked myself out of bed. Which when you are pregnant is a bad thing. You might unwittingly give yourself leg cramps!

I rarely sleep so late, and was a little angry about it. I slept the day away, instead I could have gotten a few things done. The frustration didn't last too long, I need to be not too hard on myself. I have learnt that it is alright to sleep in once in a while and not feel guilt, especially now. I did want to make dinner today, but waking up at that kinda time didn't set me in the mood for any cooking at all. Haiz.

Maybe I was really tired. The Husband drove me to Wheelock Place yesterday morning, dropping me off at about 10.30am. I made my way to the baby fair, break for lunch and head up to Kinokuniya. There, I spend hours. Then I walk back to Wheelock and it was already 4pm. I took another break in a cafe, reading while waiting for The Husband to come to town so we can have dinner together. We walked some more, all the way to Centrepoint. Then walked the way back to Liat Towers where he parked the car. I guess all the walking exhausted me. It rained quite a bit in the wee hours of the morning. Of course I can't wake up, it is so nice and cool under my duvet!

It feels so so nice to be able to sleep. I am having some kind of insomnia. I wake up sometimes around 5 or 6am and wasn't able to get back to sleep til it was 7am. Super irritating. I guess I wanted to walk a lot a lot more yesterday to see if more walking will help me get a more restful sleep. Now I know it works! Probably works a little too well.

Entering Third Trimester

To those of you who keep saying that I don't look pregnant, this photo will prove to you otherwise. I am officially in my 3rd trimester, which is, 28 weeks. We still have 12 more weeks to go!

Reading

When I showed The Husband the books I bought for The Little One, he proclaimed that those fabric flip things are not books. I thought it was more visual than anything else, plus flipping will get her to love books. The Husband mentioned too that he will give me a $200 allowance on books for The Little One in the future. How come The Wife doesn't get that kind of allowance????????????

Of course, I didn't wait for the future to come to start with the book allowance. I went yesterday and bought a few books already. Kinokuniya has a 20 percent leh, must buy! I bought The Gruffalo, which is really really cute with ryhmes that are well written. I bought a few Eric Carle books too, because I love the illustrations. By experience, I know kids are always quite interested when I whip out a Eric Carle book. I bought a Dr Suess as well. The Husband doesn't really dig Dr Seuss, saying the characters are freaky. I do agree, some of the characters are a little scary but I like the ryhmes!

I bought a book for The Husband too. He was interested in this particular George Orwell book we saw in Kino the other day, but I didn't bring out my Kino card. It is nice that he is finally showing some kind of interest in wanting to read books again. :) He isn't too into my books, which are mostly fiction. He likes to read about stuff like ideas and thoughts. Maybe he would find Nietzsche interesting. I've been wanting to read Charles Darwin, but have been putting it off, for fear that I will be totally clueless what he was writing about.

It is nice if he keeps up this reading habit. It will be fun to shop for books for the whole family instead of just myself!

Just for your information, on top of all the books for The Little One, a book for The Husband and a book for myself, I still have 50 bucks left over from the allowance!

List of Stuff to Buy for the Little One

This list is exhaustively long! The list for now, til I can think of other stuff to add in...

Clothes
3-10 vests or onesies
4-7 sets of PJs
1 Sleeping gown
1 lightweight sweater
1-3 hats (one with a brim and 2 without)
2-3 pairs of booties and mittens
3 bibs

Linen
3-4 fitted sheets
2 waterproof pads
2 quilted mattress pads
2-3 receiving blankets
3 terry cloth towels
2-3 wash cloths
1 dozen nappies

Grooming
Baby soap
Baby shampoo
Bath tub
Baby oil
Nappy rash cream
Diapers
Wet wipes
Cotton balls
Baby clippers
Baby comb
Yu Yee Yu

Medicine Cabinet
Thermometer
Rubbing alcohol
Nasal aspirator
Tweezers
Sterile bandages and gauze pads
Adhesive tape

Feeding Supplies
4 8oz bottles
Bottle and nipple brush
Bottle sterilizer
Bottle and food warmer
Breast pump
Detergent for washing bottles, nipples and the breast pump.

Nursery
Cot
Mattress
Chest of drawers
Book shelf
Night light
Stroller
Car seat

For The Mum
Nursing Bras
Nipple cream
Nipple shields
Maternity pads
Breast feeding support pillow

Nice to Haves
Books!
Baby swing
FisherPrice's Rainforest Melodies and Light Deluxe Gym
Bumbo chair
Teething toys
Mobile to hang from the cot
Rattles and other sounding making colourful toys
Er, toys from Plan Toys
Stokke Tripp Trapp
I have more than enough clothes, so that, I am not worried about. I do not know how big she is going to be, how to buy??? Buy too small, she will outgrow them in 2 weeks, too big, the clothes will fit really loose. Doctor says she is average size with long legs. Should I tell that to the sales person at Mothercare? I will not think about clothes til she pops out.

I have all her linen ready. I just wonder if I really do need a waterproof pad for the cot. Is it a must? I bought one anyway, just in case. I really do need to ask friends with kids for advice. Trouble is, I do not have a lot of friends with kids.

California Baby or Sebamed? I am thinking of Mustela too. California Baby is very pricey, cute cute packaging though. Sebamed seems good, so does Mustela. All promise to be gentle and moisturising. Some products even claim to have calming properties! California Baby has non-talc powder! All of them have those 2 in one wash. Can use for both hair and body. All of them have bubble baths!

We bought just one big item and that is the cot. Next thing we must must must, absolutely must buy will be the car seat. The last big item will be the stroller. I will get a chest of drawers from the neighbourhood store and then maybe an inexpensive book shelf that will double as a storage space for her toys from Ikea. The nursery will not be up for now. Chinese pantang, says cannot do renovation during the pregnant months. I am hoping to get her room ready by the time she hits one.

Buying for the Little One

I have not been shopping for the baby recently. I do not know where to start, I do not know exactly what to buy and frankly, I do not like to shop so much, especially now that I am not feeling particularly energetic. I will still be going down to Takashimaya for the baby fair and see what I can buy. If my energy levels are not so high now, can you imagine what it will be like shopping in 2 months time?

So I drew up a list of essentials and then, I went through the stuff that has been bought. Mostly clothes, and mostly by a certain uncle who is already spoiling her! The clothes are all of different sizes, so I have to go throught them and sort them according to sizes. It took me a while since my pregnant brain ain't working at the speed it used to.

Doing stock taking. Scarly don't have anything for a newborn then how? Seriously, everyone is telling me to buy bigger sizes because they will out grow them clothes before you know it. I have plenty of clothes that are sized for 6 months and above. The newborn ones are really really tiny, I think by the time they are 2 weeks cannot wear liao.

See the size difference? The one on the left is a new born size. So small right? The one one in the middle is for a 3 month old and the one on the right is for a 6-9month old. I suppose the little one can wear clothes that are a little loose right? No harm done. In the event that she needs to be out, I do have a few really small onesies that she can wear. Her stuff for now. We bought her cot already and I recently bought a bedding set which has a 40 percent discount. If I put that bedding set on my bed, it will cover my bed entirely. I really do need to get her a chest of drawers soon!

Her first books! Gotta start them young right?

Mum's Birthday Dinner

We had the Birthday dinner a week early because my dad wouldn't be around on the actually day. He wanted the dinner earlier because he is feeling so guilty as he would be teeing off somewhere in China on the actual day. We have a usual place we go to for buffets, I guess after so many times there, most of us are dying for a change. This might be the new place for the next few buffet celebratory meals!

Arinco

I went walking around town on Monday, mainly to Kinokuniya looking at children's books (gotta start them young!) and also to look for this month's elusive Monocle - it is sold out everywhere. Woe to the person who is not kiasu enough....

Since I had some time on my hands before meeting a few friends for dinner, I hopped over to the new Ion, wanting to try the takoyaki everybody is raving about. The queue is too long, and I decided to pass it. I walked pass the stall and saw...
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ARINCO KYO ROLL!




I stood in my tracks for a few seconds, not believing my luck. I had these little babies 2 years ago in Kyoto, and I never stop thinking about it since! It is really yummy. I bought a roll to bring home and decided to get a roll sand to eat on the spot. It is still as fine as the last one I had in Arashiyama. I was grinning as I ate, with the Matcha ditty playing in my head. I am a happy pregger :)



The roll that I bought on Monday is still pretty much intact. I am amazed how disciplined I am, not eating even a teeny bit of it til today. See, even the box is so nice. Truth is, I prefer the roll sand. I think the almond flakes and the caramel does it for me. Still, this is nice, the sponge is oh so oh so soft. I wonder how the Japanese make the sponge so soft. I can't resist but make myself some tea to go with the cake.


Life can be so good when it is so simple.

Happiness

is standing at the window, eating really really cold musk melon on a sunny day.

Life is sweet.

Not Settling

I was talking to The Husband about how people should not be settling for their life partners. People shouldn't just stay in a relationship because they grew to be too comfortable in it. Some stay because they are afraid they wouldn't be able to find anyone else.

Personally I would rather be alone than with someone whom I think isn't totally the one for me. My sis in law was relating this story about her friend last night. The friend married his wife because he thought it was okay to settle for someone who fits 70 per cent of what he was looking for. They have a son now and he is now having an affair. What the hell? If you think the person is not going to totally fit you, please do not commit. It isn't fair to the other person nor is it fair to you too. He isn't the only one. I heard too many similar stories.

I never was one to settle. I learnt not to after my first relationship. Sure, it does make me look like a selfish person, a very un-self sacrificing person who only thinks about myself. Surely, it is one of the few few things we have to be critical about. I do not want to regret and then end up in a messy divorce later. Even if there isn't a divorce, I do not want to be just 70 percent happy, wondering where my soul mate is for the rest of my life. I want to feel happy with my life everyday, even if other unhappy stuff comes up. I want to live my life as how I intended it to be.

Just the other day I was talking to a friend about people who stay in abusive or unhappy relationships. Just between the 2 of us, we had countless of stories to share. Both of us decided that we will never let those things happen to us. Is it because we are too clear headed? Or that we are very unromantic people who are unwilling to sacrifice? Is love truly so blind? Then I realised that as much as we talk about how poor our self esteems are, it is a lot healthier than a lot of people we know.

Road Trippin' to Melaka

Road trip with the Boos. We didn't do much in Melaka except eating. We didn't visit any of those tourist spots either this time round.

As famous as this chicken rice store is, we didn't try this one. We had ours in a dingy little shop. We were advised to avoid the nice. big and comfortable ones. They are for tourists! ( I know, we ARE tourists, but we like to eat good food, not tourist trap food) The nice big stores make good photos though.

The best juice is in Cafe Limau Limau. We were there the last time, glad to have found it this time too, since it moved to a side street instead of being on the main street. It is very charming and a nice nice respite from the unrelenting Melaka heat.

Jonker Walk is closed to traffic on weekend evenings. Hawkers will set up shop selling all kinds of stuff. It is a long long pasar malam really, with a huge food section. There are even evening performances too!

Their trishaws beats ours hands down in terms of decoration. Plus, most of them do not have loud headache-inducing ah beng techno blaring out from them.

Doesn't he look like he is glad to get of the Eye on Malaysia?

The GPS took us on a different route out of Melaka. Instead of getting to the NS Highway, we took a smaller road to Muar and then to the Highway. It was very interesting, passing kampungs, small eateries, fruit stalls and markets. We never did got to Muar though, choosing to go back to the NS Highway earlier, cutting through a plantation on our way there.

Our National Pastime

See that long line of cars on the left? Wondering what those cars are doing?

But of course! They are queueing!

You see, we Singaporeans love to queue, even more so on National Day! I think Shell had a 44 cents discount on petrol, that explains the long long queues snaking outside almost every Shell petrol kiosk on National Day.

The Secret

My friend and I are browsing through Youtube looking at baking videos. She found a Macaron video that has a featured song.

I thought, maybe that is the secret to great bakes! Pastry videos with songs about them! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

We came across this other video that has a regular french dude making macarons. I like the fact that he was wearing regular clothes and baking. Rather than being in some chefy uniform, it makes him very appealing indeed. Some more ah, he was speaking french, all the more more appealing. Guess what, and he chose to make pink macarons! I dunno how you will be able to resist someone like that.

SHOULD I POST THE VIDEO OF THE CUTE FRENCH GUY?

The French get away with everything don't they? God loves them more it is true. Next life, I wanna be French too, so I can also be effortlessly chic and a wardrobe full of Chanel and Hermes.

Matcha Matcha Matcha Cha!

This video just makes me smile! I have seen a few more videos that show nothing but the pastry and a feature song about the featured pastry. Plain weird. But so cute!

Strawberry Shortcake

This is very motivating! I may just attempt to do this!

Happiness

is hearing my baby's heartbeat on the doppler monitor.

Her heartbeat is a hearty 160/minute!

Happiness

is dinner with these 2 siblings!