Changi City Point: kids water playground

On Sunday, we brought Adam to Changi City Point after we got back from our staycation.

I tell you - we suck at leaving our kid without us. Even for one night. Even if we are only away in another location in Singapore other than where Adam is.

This kid clearly has us wrapped around his little finger I tell ya.

Warning: the carpark in Changi City Point is quite a bitch so we had to park in another building and walk over in the scorching sun.

As a result, my little monkey had his eyes shut like this:

Arrived!

My little terror

Love this shot. He's touching a rainbow!

Adam really enjoyed himself loads. He was prancing around and for the first time in a long long time, he didnt need me to be beside him.

Ever since he found out I am pregnant, he's been pesky like super glue. Cling wrap.

He lost interest in his toys and demands that I be with him every single minute of my waking time with him.

It is truly exhausting when he doesnt wanna play on his own, and at bedtimes he wants me to look at him and watch him fall asleep. Sometimes I admit it's really cute to have him so adoring because I know such experiences won't last till he's old enough to have a GF (sobs) but to be honest, I'm exhilirated at times and I'd rather look at the back of my eyelids.

YIKE!!! what happened to My kid??! My easy baby has been abducted and swapped with a pesky toddler.

But I digress.

Back to the water playground. I have found my answer!! He enjoyed himself so much he ran and pranced around not needing me. Mama is now free to sit one corner and relax!

Not only does Adam like it, I do too! It's free, and clean, and has toilets and cleanup/shower area. What a brilliant place.

In fact, I suspect he loves the playground more than he does his parents. He's been bugging me to bring him there again every night and we are counting sleeps before we go there again on Good Friday this week - 3 more sleeps!!!

 

 

Staycation at Rasa Sentosa

Maxi dresses: my figure-savers this pregnancy.

My face round round and my arms so flabby...............

Our private suite with personal outdoor jacuzzi.

Self-pampering before our spa appointments!

My favourite skincare line.

Then the doorbell rang. Bubbly room service for us!

with compliments :)

We ended the evening with dinner by the beach at Barnacles.

Last December, before I knew I was knocked up, I had all my leave booked for travel plans this year.
+ April Good Friday long weekend - Perth farm stay and Margaret River with Hubs & Adam
+ July - Hong Kong sales + Disneyland
+ October - Game fishing in Rompin
+ December - somewhere we've never been to before (we were thinking Europe or visiting Andy's relatives in Florida)






Now.... with all our travel plans shelved till God knows when, Hubby decided to book us a little staycation to get away from the rush and routine of daily life.
We chose Sentosa because it was away from the city.


Although we were technically still in Singapore, that little staycation did miracles to my mind & body.
Not waking up to alarms, not waking up to the kid, we basically spent all weekend sleeping, eating, relaxing in the sun, and just did nothing.
I was a greedy pregnant whale!

It was a good break. I love Adam to the ends of the universe of course, but I do miss my me-time.
Especially so when I'm pregnant and don't get much rest because I'm kept busy by him all the time.


Thank you Rasa Sentosa for the hospitality and offering us much respite.

I think I'm gonna need a few more hotel stays till I deliver!

Lyndsey is ONE!

My neighbour's daughter Lyndsey celebrated her 1st Birthday today and Adam was very happy to be invited. He's been anticipating the party, looking forward to the cake and goodie bag and singing Birthday songs in the morning :)

Before we left the house, I had already warned him with the "We are going home immediately if you misbehave" threat 100x and made sure I drilled it in his head that I was not prepared to be dealing with any nonsense.

Glad my little soldier enjoyed himself and was really an angel at the party. He didn't fuss, he didn't throw tantrums and he played quietly by himself.
I'm so proud of him! Considering how annoying he's been lately.

Ok this is a short post because it's been a long day for me (we had a Parc Lumiere party and we went after the birthday celebration to get Adam some balloons, popcorn and ice-cream).
Good night!

I'm a 15-weeker, and we've started on the nursery :)

Time has definitely gone by in a blink.
I recently went for my antenatal checkup in my 15th week, and will be scheduled for my 20-week FA scan somewhere mid-April.

This time round we've started preparing for the nursery early, which is currently also Adam's Play Room.
We should be putting the cot and some baby stuff there, but I'm kinda nervous to know Adam's reaction when the time comes where he realizes he's gonna have to share his Play Room, the first among many other things he's gotta have to share.



The toys, electric breast pump and safari cot set are from the recent Taka baby fair which is still on-going until 25 March 2012.
We also couldn't resist buying a Bugaboo Bee in the newest model (not from baby fair though)!


If you're wondering why we have to buy so many things since this is not our first-born, well that's because when we shifted to our own place we gave away 90% of the baby stuff, including our Bugaboo Cameleon !!! All FOC!
The Cameleon is actually borrowed by a couple-friend, but I'm not sure if it's just me, I don't feel comfortable asking people for stuff back. What about you???


When I gave birth to Adam, I had some people give me stuff like sarongs (for confinement), nursing covers, and stuff like that.
(Ok, I say "give" in the sentence above because they will always say "Hey I have this/that to pass to you so you don't have to buy". They never said to lend me or that they'd want it back some day)


Then when I've forgotten all about them (you know how FAST kids outgrow their milestones), these same people start asking me for their stuff back, to pass on to their niece/ cousin/ friend who's just given birth. Oh. My. God. Whenever I received calls or SMSes like those, I always felt a missed heartbeat when I frantically try to recall where I chucked the said stuff.
You know how it is, I was staying with my in-laws, we had limited space. Everything was stashed everywhere!!!! Where on earth do I go pull out the nursing covers / sarongs/ tummy binder all of a sudden?!?!?!
Out my ASS????

I've also given Adam's infancy stuff to other people but I've never ever thought of asking for them back. Seriously. Even my $2000-Bugaboo Cameleon, for goodness' sake! Even though this couple-friend said they would like to "borrow" it, we've never thought of asking it back from them, especially when their kid is still less than a year-old and expecting their 2nd child to0.
Maybe that's just us (thank goodness Andy & I are alike in more ways than you can imagine), or are we too generous ??


Anyway, back to the topic of preparing for the nursery. So... this time round, we decided we will start over and prefer buying the stuff we need again. Full stop. (Unless people are buying stuff for the Baby Shower, that's another story.)

Sunday Champagne brunch at Mandarin Oriental

Fred (the guy in the centre) is leaving Singapore, going back to France, so we decided to hold a farewell lunch for him, and with the kids in tow, Paul thought of a grand plan - babysitting, play area for kids, great buffet spread, and alcohol.

We went to Mandarin Oriental for their Sunday champagne brunch.

Somehow one of my weirdest cravings this pregnancy is alcohol. I've been craving for Cosmos and cold icy mixes. So too bad I could only take a few sips of the Dom Perignon. Bleah.

And the luncheon didn't progress as well as I thought it would, because Adam wouldn't be with Morgan and insisted on sticking with me THE WHOLE TIME.
At first, our designated server had brought both boys to the Play room, and I did mental cartwheels thinking I could relax and enjoy some adult-time finally.
Wrong. 10 min later, the server came back with a black-haired whiny kid. Oh goodness, that kid is MINE.
Adam has been clingy like cling-wrap ever since we broke the news that I'm pregnant.
Andy & I think it's only right for him to be involved in the new baby as much as we are, but we didn't expect him to be pesky to this extent.

So anyway, everyone enjoyed the meetup except me of course.
I was reluctantly forced to babysit Adam the whole time and deal with his what-nots.
But this gathering is not about me. It's about wishing Fred all the best and hope his father recovers from surgery soon (the main reason he's going home).

As for me, I think for the remaining 5 months or so, I'm better off :
- not having a social life
- leaving him with my aunt / in-laws
- swapping him for a better-behaved kid.

OoooOhh I'm lucky

Adam is obsessed with trains and fire-engines.
One evening, after watching Fireman Sam videos on his iPad, he suddenly asked to be a Fireman. Oh my goodness, sometimes it can be very trying to deal with requests of toddlers who insist on having things that have finished / do not exist in the house!
I searched everywhere around the house for a water hose and helmet for my Mr Fireman.

In this photo, he is actually Fireman Sam (please do not be misleaded by the word on his helmet) putting out fire with his hose, which in reality is the suction hose we use for sucking our pond's fish-shit , which I found in the toilet. We now have a happy kid. Great!

Here, he is diagnosing why his trains are sick (lying on their sides on the floor)

and he gives them an injection.


P.S. Adam is going 80% diaperless now. He only wears diapers to bed or when we go out, and even so, sometimes he will tell me "Mommy I need to pee and I don't want to pee in the diapers" No more cleaning up messy poopy bums!

P.P.S I have conversations with Adam every night before he goes to bed, mostly about what we are going to do the following day (school/ Ah Ma's house/ an outing, etc)

Tonight, our conversation went like this:
Adam: Mommy I am going to bed ok?
Me: Ok. Your milk is here. Good night baby.
Adam: Tomorrow we are going to Ah Ma's house?
Me: Tomorrow's Sunday. We will be going to meet your Grandaunt (Aunt LY) in the afternoon and then we'll meet your Ah Ma for dinner. Is that Ok?
Adam: Ok. Good night Mommy.
Me: Good night baby. I love you.
Adam: I love YOU, Mommy.

OooooOohhh I'm lucky lucky LUCKY. I have a beautiful family and I'm a Mom, and my son loves me!
Oh thank you God, I'm really blessed.

My 29th Birthday celebration

My babes came over to give me a surprise celebration in cahoots with my Hubby.
As it was a complete surprise, Adam was actually taking a nap at my in-law's after lunch.
Thank you girls and thank you Hubster I love you all so much!
That night, my parents and brothers came over for my birthday dinner at Sukiya, Tampines Mall.









On a separate day, Andy treated me to my Birthday lunch at The White Rabbit, where at the end of everything the server came out with a surprise birthday dessert.





I feel so loved and lucky to have my friends and family. I couldn't have asked for more :)

The birds and the bees

Last night, I accidentally let Adam see me not wearing my shorts and he exclaimed "Mummy 你的鸟鸟破了!" which is loosely translated to "Mummy your birdie is torn!" and he asked why's that?
I nearly DIED. Andy had gone for his soccer game and I was left alone to handle the awkward situation.
I had to go on and on about "No, mummy doesnt have a torn birdie, Mummy has a fanny" and "You are a boy, you have a birdie. Daddy is a boy, he has a birdie too. Mummy is a girl, mummy has a fanny, not a birdie"

Thankfully he changed the topic to playing with his toys.
Can't get much private time around here, can I??


Time for me to go read up on the Birds and Bees to children. A 2-year old!!
When I was young - 10 yrs old was considered young for sex education during my time - my Dad just passed me a book on sex education and asked me to read it myself.
I then asked him, Why is it that boys' birdies stand up when they see girls?
My Dad brushed me off and said I was not supposed to ask such things. (?!?!?!?!!)

I suppose I'm not gonna be the kind of parent my parents were.
Any useful tips on broaching this subject, and those popular "where do Babies come from" topics are most welcome.

Adam on Sunday

I pulled myself together this Sunday morning and actually made French toast for Adam's brekkie.
What seemed effortless in the past now seems to be a huge challenge. Even cooking a simple dish. Luckily, he didn't mind that it wasn't my best effort and finished everything together with his Vitagen.



Adam was busy on his Playdoh set while I was cooking breakfast in the kitchen.
Notice the Thomas ride-on in the background? It's his mode of transport around our home these days.
By the way, I salvaged lots of those white sterile paper from OT. They're really handy for doodling / protecting furniture.

I asked what he was making, and he replied he's making "Kai kai".





This is Adam's final product of himself, missing a pair of legs and arms.


My son is growing up so fast. Too fast. His motor skills are amazing me at alarming rates.
In 3 mths' time, he will be 3. I'm not sure I'm prepared for that!!
Please be Mummy's baby forever.

Pregnancy - revisited

My ideal job
I have been extremely bummed lately, always wanting to sleep, cannot concentrate at work, making mistakes etc... So I did the wise thing and consulted my very wise and reliable friends & Hubby over my serious need to lie down 24/7.
I need a job which allows me to lie down all the time, as opposed to standing up and walking about all the time.
These are their suggestions:

Meena: Prostitute
Charmaine: Andy's sex slave
Andy: a Blow job.

See? I knew I can always count on them.

Confinement Lady
I did not engage any confinement lady when I gave birth to Adam because my MIL was available to help cook and do the chores for my 1-month confinement, and also because we were staying with my in-laws then.
This time, the situation is very different and we figured it'd be best to hire someone "professional" in this aspect to do it.
I called several recommendations from friends / relatives / online forum but many were either already booked for the months of Aug-Sept (speaking of kiasu-ism) , or charged exorbitant rates like $2500- $2700!! I remember during Adam's time, confinement nannies were only charging $1800!
Dragon Year is really, really a Baby Boom year.
I'm already having visions of myself camping overnight and volunteering to mow the fields of our choice Primary schools in future. Shudder.


Anyway, during my last checkup after I fainted at work, my doctor has prescribed me iron & multi-vits to boost my energy levels and overall wellbeing.
I'm seeing slight improvements on my energy level, although I'm still tired but at least I can still function as "normally" as possible.
I even managed to read books to Adam at bedtime (I always say choose 1 book but he will take out 5 at any one time) and play with him in the evenings instead of hiding under the sheets the first thing I reached home. Gratitude.

Here's the latest ultrasound photo of our little little (and highly likely last) bean.

Just the previous visit, it was still a teeny bean pole with a yolk sac and suddenly it has expanded to include limbs and a face!

My lack of interest
Before I was preggy, I had all these mental prep-talks of how I'm gonna be a glowing mom-to-be armed with my knowledge and experience of being a mother.
I hate to admit, but the truth is far from it.
I've totally lost all my moods, I don't bother with makeup these days and everyone at work's been asking me why I look so pale all the time.
Truth is, I just cannot be bothered. Sigh. I've totally let myself slide.
Charmaine asked me today, what would I like for my Birthday??
I replied her something very Aunty - please get me Takashimaya vouchers because I have no wishlist this year.
Knowing as how I am now, I will probably use the vouchers at the Baby Fair for my kids instead of myself.
The unthinkable is happening.

When will I get my mojo back???!!!!

Many updates from the Tan household

ME
I fainted at work today. Unglam. I was all scrubbed up to assist in surgery when I saw white spots and had difficulty breathing. The next thing I knew, I fainted. (Just for your info, I've assisted in many surgeries before and it's not the gore that blacked me out.)
And the next next thing I knew, I was being wheeled around a wheelchair to the A&E dept for some medical attention.
Oh. My. God. Totally embarrassing.

According to the doctor at the A&E, I'm having something known as "vasovagal", which my husband thinks sounds very genital - "vaso" = blood vessels. "vagal" = sounds like vagina.
Means what? My vagina has many blood vessels. ??? Crazy husband. That's why I cant believe 100% what my husband says.
It really means a sudden dilation of vessels which makes blood pool elsewhere and make a person faint.

And this is the reason:

I missed my period. Been 2 months now.
I peed onto a contraption which returned the following. POSITIVE.

I initially didnt wanna tell anybody yet because I've not crossed the 12-week mark. So far I've only told my Mom and my Aunt. But for some unknown reason, my Dad "could tell from my face" and so could 7 hundred other people whom I've met ONCE a year during CNY.
And as of today, my whole dept knows.
It doesn't help that this pregnancy is much much more untolerable than my 1st.
When I was preg with Kai, I could manage 3-shifts in a hospital ward, working 6 days-week, and had no adverse reactions whatsoever.

Leg cramps in the middle of the night, expanding waistline, intolerance to smells (shampoo/soap/perfume), intolerance to sights of certain foods, all seem a distant memory.
On top of that, extreme fatigue, exhaustion, the need to lie down 24/7, food adversity, lack of appetite, exotic food cravings all seem very new this time round :(
I never used to have any cravings in my previous pregnancy, 'cept for once or twice when I felt like eating the Chinese 9-layer multicolor cake.
In these 2 mths, I've already craved for --- pasta with sundried tomatoes & fetta cheese (what?!), cornflake & raisin cookies, and Marks & Spencer potato chips with Sea salt & Balsamic vinegar (what?!?!?!), and Chicken in a Biskit which I've made my poor Charmaine & hubby hunt for.

In summary - I have just set myself up for 9 mths of torture in exchange for few hours of marital pleasure with the husband!!!!


ADAM
1 month of being in his new school hasn't turned out nearly as well as I'd imagine. In fact, it was pure torment for all of us.
We had to fight with Adam to get out of bed every morning, fight with him to put on his uniform (which he hates), fight with him to physically get his ass to school, and then fight somemore at home when his tantrums escalate.
My little preggy heart can only take so much.
I withdrew him from Learning Vision, as discussed and agreed with my good Hubby & family, and switched Adam back to his old school, where he's now back with his friends again, after a month of hiatus.

He seems to be enjoying himself more now, give and take some hiccups and teething problems with the switch-over. But generally all is good now. Thank GOD!

Lesson learnt --- we parents all think we know what's best for our child but sometimes we should just take a step back and be more in tune to our child's needs.

And the other day, I was at home on a weekend, with a terrible need to nap (not new to my husband and kid anymore).. So I said to Adam:

Me: Mummy needs to rest for a while on your bed Ok?
Adam: Ok mummy. Mummy go sleep. Good night Mummy!!
[5 mins later, he enters the room]
Adam: Mummy??? You sleep?
Me: Yes baby. Mummy is tired and needs to rest for a while Ok?
Adam: Ok mummy. Mummy go sleep. Good night Mummy!!
[I shut my eyes ..again... and dozed off]
[10 min later, he re-enters room]
Adam: Mummy? You sleep?
Me: Yes baby. Mummy is tired and needs to rest. Now. Ok??
I chased him out the room (his own room, bad mummy) and closed the door and napped for an hour.

I am so wasted. Poor deprived child. He's gonna grow up developing psychological problems because his mother is always sleeping/tired/"stomach so big with baby inside" <-- he went telling my in-laws, traitor!!

Ok that's enough updates for now. Feeling giddy typing this. -___-
Off to nap.