my lovely roses from hubby ...

sigh ... lousy thing about flowers is that they die so quickly :( what a dreadful waste of money. They are really very pretty though.

My 35th Birthday ...

*SOB*

yes, it's true .. I turned 35 on the 27th of Dec ... BUMMER. I'm OLD ..

Hubby was so sweet ... secretly ordered a beautiful cake and a lovely bunch of roses for me .. it's also our 11th wedding anniversary .. (yes, can u imagine we've been STUCK with each other for 11 years?) we started DATING 17 years ago .. then got married after 6 years of courtship ..

11 years of marriage and 4 kids later and we're happier now than when we first got married cos we have our lovely, wonderful girls :)








yeah, u don't see Calista cos she was asleep in her crib .. lol



Here I am with my bunch of roses .. :) and my girls ... again without Calista .. poor baby.

Merry Christmas to everyone !!!

Me and my gals ... ok, the ones that were NOT napping at the time ... lol. Emily and Calista were out cold after lunch ... Emily from the food at Swensens and Calista from all the milk she drank while Mummy was having her food .. lol .. multi-tasking I call it.

Anyway, this was taken outside my favourite store ... DAISO .. aw, come on .. the place is awesome ... they have everything!! And for only $2!! .. I replaced my pair of chopsticks today (mine were getting old looking) ... and some birthday candles ... they have these nice ones with hearts on them ... 10 candles in the pack .. $2 only!! I was looking at the baking stuff they had too .. so cheap .. !! I used to love baking when I was younger ... now with kids, I just don't have the time ... sigh ... must pick it up again soon ...

So I was walking around Daiso looking at the kitchen stuff when I hear the announcement over their PA system ... they have a new store opening at Sembawang Shopping Centre ... !!!

That is wonderful news ... Sembawang SC is just a 5 min drive away from my house !! YAY!!!!!!

I know, I know .. it's damn unglam to like Daiso ... BUT I CAN'T HELP IT .. I DO !!! Ok, I draw the line on buying make-up and CLOTHES (heaven forbid) from Daiso ... but I love the other stuff they have ... lol.

Another hubby story ...

Yesterday, while we were at Causeway Point, hubby saw some DVD sale happening in front of Cold Storage. He spotted this really old dvd title ..



Come on, I watched this in the cinema when I was like 6 years old I think. My father took us to see it ...
That's how old it is .. lol

Anyway, it was on sale for $14.90 so hubby happily bought it and declared that he was going to make Claudia (poor girl) watch it with him. SIGH. I pointed out that it wasn't really something a child would watch (cos it's a freaking 3 hour and 39 minutes long movie) and that she might not understand the story.

But of course, uncle claimed that he watched it when he was young .. NUMEROUS TIMES and that he ENJOYED the movie immensely .. and that he was sure Claudia would like it too.

Yeah, right .. sometimes I think he was born yesterday and doesm't know his own daughter.. lol!

So today after lunch, he made everyone sit down and put on the movie.
Initially, like the first 10 min, it was ok ... then it got a bit tedious. And there was a lot of dialogue ...

A lot ...

The only one watching the movie intently was hubby.
I had earlier announced to him that I was not going to sit through such a long and OLD movie and ran off to my PC to surf the net. Lauren, the poor girl, initially had 20 million questions like, "why did she put the baby in the basket?" .. and "Is she a bad aunty?" hahahahahaah. Then she got bored and ran off to play with Emily ...

Claudia tried her best to understand what she could .. my poor poor child. She did try to get away once or twice but was called back to sit and watch the movie by hubby .. the evil man .. lol.

It was a very long 3 hours and 39 minutes.

I am so going to HIDE that dvd in some cupboard.

vomitting blood ...

ok, so I don't have a picture of me actually vomitting blood, but trust me, I felt like it today .. why, u ask? ... I made the dire mistake of going grocery shopping with hubby .. not the quick run to the NTUC nearby type of shopping trip ... but the major once a month grocery run to Carrefour at Suntec City mall.

Firstly, we left the house rather late after lunch ... then as we were travelling on the SLE, there was a massive jam .. turned out an accident JUST occurred .. it was quite tragic actually - a motorcyclist was killed .. (yes, we saw the body) .. So we arrived at Carrefour a little before 4pm .. not really near closing time BUT Claudia had a ballet class at 5.30pm .. so we basically had just an hour to shop for everything.

sigh

And that was the problem ...

Hubby thinks I should have a list .. so that we don't "wander aimlessly" in the hypermart ... as he puts it ...

HUH *me snorting*

I told him that I have to go through almost every aisle anyway .. so list or not, I know what I need to buy ... I don't need a list .. I buy almost the same things every month anyway!

So there he was ... rushing us though the place .. I hate being rushed .. I tend to forget things when I am rushed ...

blardy man.

So ... as we left the carpark a little past 5pm, uncle was complaining cos we had to pay per hour parking PLUS the per entry charge (cos we went past 5pm) .. for just that short ONE hour that we parked ... he was saying that I should've have listened to him and rushed through my shopping etc etc ...

I pointed out to him that we had been delayed by the jam on the SLE .. and that we were late to begin with .. and that I had told him to just turn back and go back and leave the shopping for another day ... but of course uncle didn't want to hear it.

sigh

Anyway, that is the last time we bring him along to Carrefour ..

Actually, I wanted to wait till he went back to work on Tuesday but we were running low on groceries and other items that I had no choice but to bring him along ..

I've already told him once that if he's going to NOT be of any help .. then it's better he not be there at all ..

lol.

I also told him in the car that I think it's time he goes back to wotk ..

lol.

I'm not one of those wives that can tahan their hubbies being home for long stretches of time ..

PLEASE, go to work. As long as I have the maid at home, I am a happy chicky .. that and the car .. and my computer and internet access .. and money of course ...

Hubby being at home is a not essential .. well, not ALL the time .. I'd go bonkers.

Anyway, I spent a bomb at Carrefour ... $822. No snacks, no tidbits .. no extras .. all essentials like rice and soap and diapers and formula.

*sob*

ahhh the hefty price of a big family .. that doesn't even include the amt I spend on meat, veggies and bread and other things I buy on a weekly basis .. I calculated that for that I spend another $600 per month.

After just 10 days ...

I'm thinking maybe we can have Number 5 ... of course, hubby was adamant we stop at 4 .. lol. I look at Calista's face and I think .. awww is she really going to be my last baby??

I would love to have a few kids more I guess but I am afraid that physically, my body won't be able to handle it ... this time around, it took me a week to recover from the aches and pains from the delivery .. gosh, A WEEK!! .. I couldn't believe it .. I was a bit alarmed actually.. previously, it took me all of 3 days to be perfectly fine and back to normal. This time, however, no such luck. I was careful to rest and not exert myself those 7 days it took me to feel ok. Thankfully, I had my hubby and my helper with me .. and baby Calista is a very easy baby to care for .. thank goodness!

Calista is always sleeping ... lol

She's 6 days old today ... and so far (touch wood) .. she's a very easy baby. She doesn't fuss or cry very much. She doesn't really mind being put down after a feed .. and she loves sleeping.

So much so, that hubby and I were starting to worry .. lol. She's a really quiet and calm baby.

After FOUR kids ....

Hubby FINALLY buys me flowers .. the girls presented them to me happily when they came to see me after I had Calista ... lol. I love receiving flowers even though I KNOW they're a horrid waste of money ... I guess it's ok for a special occasion like this.



Another good buy ... the rocking cradle from Mothercare ..Calista is lying in it during the day in the hall ... I'm so glad I bought it! .. Here is a pic of Calista taken today ... she's 4 days old !

Some pics of Calista Grace ..

sorry, it's really hard to look glam after giving birth ... lol



Right after she was born ...



She cried for a really short time ... thank goodness !



Ah now, then I don't look so AWFUL ... lol



Here's a nice shot of her ...



Ah yes, all my gals and me .. !




lookin a bit grumpy




At home .. yes, I was discharged today !! YAY!!!

So .. I've POPPED !!!

On Saturday, I was pretty bummed cos hubby said we had to stay home that day IN CASE. I was all game to go down to Vivocity to see the Christmas decorations there .. I hear it's very nice .. !! Anyway, admittedly, like I mentioned earlier ... Vivocity is quite a distance away from KKH so I had to reluctantly agree to stay home that day ...

SIGH.

Nearly died of boredom. When night came around, I suddenly had a bout of dizziness and breathlessness and nausea. Checked my BP with my trusty electronic BP Monitor and true enough, my BP was rather high ... I really really didn't want to go in because of that, so I went to lie down in the hopes that my BP would drop .. it didn't ... Finally, we had to go down to KKH and have it checked out .. I was worried it was pre-eclampsia and decided it was better to be safe than sorry.

At the hospital at about 11pm, I was checked and admitted ... gawd, it was an awful night at the delivery suite .. I was put on all the monitors to check on my baby and myself and a drip ... I couldn't get any sleep AT ALL till about 5am I think. My gynae only came in the next morning .. (Sunday) at about 8am ..

She had my blood tested and all .. and thank goodness it wasn't pre-eclampsia after all .. just a high BP. She decided to let me have my breakfast then said she would induce me since I was going to come in on Tuesday anyway so there was no point waiting. I agreed with her.

At 9am, she broke my waterbag and put me on a drip with medication to help my contractions along. I have to say .. it was a boring few hours with irregular contractions that didn't really hurt all that bad .. They checked me at 11 and baby was till high up and my cervix had not opened.

SIGH.

At 12noon, I was busy sms-ing a pregnant friend and complaining to her that induction was a waste of time for me as nothing was really happening ... dammit. I think I spoke too soon. After that, the nurse came to check on me and asked me to empty my bladder ... I really really tried but the baby was obviously pressing on my bladder so I could not pee at all ... the nurse then used a catheter to drain my bladder ..

The the fun began ...

Well, it wasn't exactly FUN ... more like .. "ACTION" ..

I started to feel quite intense regular contractions at 12.08, 12.09, 12.11 then at 12.14 ..the nurse came to do a VE and I was effaced and about 6cm dilated already!!! My gynae came in at about 12.30pm ... did a check and told me I could start pushin whenever I wanted to ...

WHAT??? So fast? That was my reaction ... !! I was starting to feel really anxious about the actual pushing and felt like backing out .. lol. Of course, I didn't have a choice and started pushin .. I had opted for no epidural or gas mask or any kind of pain relief btw ... *sigh* and had also asked for my gynae to avoid making an episiotomy if possble.

At 1.04, Baby Calista Grace arrived. She weighed 3.61 kg and 52 cm in length ...

I had successfully done it without an epidural or an episiotomy.

YEA!!!

waiting ...

Yup, I'm still waiting ... my induction is scheduled for Tuesday .. but I am still hopeful I will go into labour before then .. I stayed at home today .. I was suprisingly sleepy and couldn't think of anywhere to go. I still want to go to Vivocity ... but, er ... it is a rather far drive from there to KKH should I need to go.

We visited SITEX yesterday (Thursday) .. gosh it was crowded .. and we had to park BEHIND the Expo .. it was quite a walk to Hall 5. dammit. Plus, since we were early at around 11 plus, the blardy management STILL hadn't switched on the escalators .. so heavily pregnant aunty here had to climb up STAIRS .. I was cursing and swearing as I slowly made my way up. We spent about 2 hours there, had lunch at BK the decided to go to IKEA Tampines ... ah, that was fun for me ... replaced some kitchen stuff and bought storage boxes .. my maid happily stocked up on candles cos apparently the ones back in Indonesia suck big-time. We were done by about 4 I think .. I was by that time, quite revved up and wanted to head down to Vivocity so we could walk around there and see their decorations ... I took one look at hubby and the girls' exhausted faces and KNEW they weren't going to make it ... sigh. So I agreed to go home ... much to their relief. Good grief. I thought I was the heavily pregnant one here ... lol.

Anyway, we went to Cold Storage today to stock up on groceries in case things happen this weekend. Gosh, the waiting game ... Arghhhhh!

my 39th week appt ...

well, my bp was high ... it came down after testing at 15 minute intervals .. the 4th time .. lol. I am really sensitive to bp taking .. I get quite excited ... it affects the reading. I don't know how to control it ...

anyway, my gynae quizzed me on whether I was having any headaches (no), any water retention or body aches (also no) and decided to let me continue with my pregnancy till next week ... my water level is good and baby is fine ... but we've gone ahead and scheduled an induction for the 2nd of Dec .. a day before my EDD. After all, no point waiting once I've hit my EDD and there's no sign of baby ... so we decided to just book the date anyway.

She did however do a vaginal examination and basically tried to pry my cervix open in the hopes that it'll get labour starting before the 2nd ...

hopefully, it'll work so I won't have to get induced at all ...

In the meantime, I am aiming to go to Vivocity and also IKEA so please, please baby .. stay in there till I have a chance to go to these 2 places to see the Christmassy stuff ... lol !!

yes I still am ...

pregnant ... lol ..

I'm 39 weeks today .. I think I may just make it to my edd ... after all, I did for my last 2 pregnancies ... despite my running around here and there ... I went to Paragon on Monday ... walked from Orchard MRT station and nearly died ... I was with my friend and her 2 month old boy .. and he was in a stroller ... and I couldn't keep up!!! The minute we reached Paragon and she went off to meet her parents .. I started on my slow slow journey back to the MRT station ... I was walking so slowly I was hardly moving ... !! lol. It took me a hell of a long time to get back to the MRT station to catch a train back home ...

*sigh* yes, I stupidly thought it would be better for me to take a train instead of driving down to the CBD area earlier to meet another friend for lunch ... what an awful mistake .. !!

My first option was to park at Raffles City and then take the train one station up to Raffles Place ... I should've stuck to that plan instead of leaving my beloved vehicle at home and relying on pur public tranportation system. It wasn't the system that sucked ... it was the PEOPLE on the bus and train that MEGA SUCKED ... especially the MEN. Both ways up and down .. WOMEN were the ones who offered their seats to me ..

SHAME ON THE MEN.

I came home and told my maid that if sir died, I'd rather stay single the rest of my life than marry these horrible horrible Singapore men ...

Hubby keeps asking me why my "if-I'm-ever-single-again" scenarios always has him dying ...

hahahahaha :)

Anyway, I see my gynae today later at 2.30pm. She wants to talk to me about inducing since I have such fast and short labours and she doesn't want me driving myself to hospital while I'm in labour ... which of course is my plan .. duh ... I can still drive I'm sure .. possibly even road bully on the way to KK ... hahaha!!

Besides, inducing didn't work the last time with Emily ... only caused me a nite of unnecessary pain ... huh. So I'm sticking to my guns and telling her that I am not keen on being induced .. my BP is fine so I don't see why not ... I can still wait .. I have time .. another week in fact ..

Time enough for me to go to IKEA and some other shopping I haven't quite finished with ...

lol :)

Baby at 38 weeks

Gosh, I can't wait to see and hold her in my arms !!!

again and again ... lol

So the next day after our zoo outing ... we dragged Daddy to Orchard Road to see the Christmas light-up ... boy, was Daddy Mr Grumpazoids about the whole thing .. hahaha ... he claimed it was the lousiest birthday he had every had .. and that it was way past his bedtime (we arrived at Orchard Road at nearly 9pm so as to avoid the crowds). We parked at Holiday Inn Parkview near Centrepoint and headed to Macs first for ice-cream since it was still drizzling at the time. Once the drizzle stopped, we made our way slowly to Ngee Ann City ... and took photos along the way ... it was actually quite a disappointment .. which made Daddy more grumpy ... he was grumbling to our maid ...hahahaha .. she just kept laughing ... I ignored him and happily snapped photos of the girls ...

It was very tiring for me admittedly ... on the way back to Centrepoint, my tummy was beginning to feel crampy and I had to support the weight with my hands ... gawd, I hate it when I see other pregnant women do that ... well, now I know WHY they do it .. hahahah. My feet were aching too ...



But of course after a good nite's sleep, I was rearing to go out the next day as I'd already made a lunch appt with my friend and her kids at Suntec ... I really didn't intend to stay as long as we did .. we were at Suntec from 11am till 5.30pm ... my parking charge came to $14.98 ... *sigh* and yes, my feet were aching by the end of the outing. Plus I was an unhappy driver on the way back home and horned ungraciously at stupid drivers on the road who kept pissing me off with their terrible driving. hahaha. One of my friends has pointed out that pregnancy has been me somewhat of a road bully.

huh.

Tempting fate ....

Ahh yes, 38 weeks pregnant .. and I HAVE to walk around the zoo ... lol .. it's the holidays, man ... I need to bring my girls out .. went to the new Kidszworld ... awesome !! They had an enjoyable time with their old time friends .. John and Anna .. :) Claudia has known them since we were all in the States together ..

at home ...

Ah yes, and after this photo, I had such a tough time getting up off the floor ... lol :)

I had some spotting today ... methinks I won't make it to the 3rd of the Dec - my edd - oh dear. I haven't done A LOT of stuff ... I have yet to buy my Maxi Cosi Infant car seat .. (darn) ... and have my eyebrows trimmed ... (yes I am vain, I don't want pictures of me and bebe with my ugly un-trimmed eyebrows)

The spotting (brown) is usually a sign of impending labour ... I read that it can happen within the next 2 weeks so .. who knows - I may still make it to the 3rd of Dec after all.

Damn it ... there goes my plan to bring my girls to the zoo on Monday (Stanley asked me if I wanted to have my baby at the zoo) and IKEA Tampines on Tuesday ...

I'll keep u guys updated :)

37 weeks ...

Hubby says I shouldn't be posting a pic of my tummy online ... it's not porn .. it's not even exciting looking ... just a huge tummy ... lol.

Luckily I'm er, plump, to begin with .. so no stretch marks :) wooo hooo .. that's the ONLY advantage to being er, plump ..

sigh ...

I'm waiting ... I'll be 37 weeks tomorrow .. I love being pregnant but I'm also anxious to see my baby :) I was just thinking of doing a maternity shoot ... when hubby suddenly asks me in the car yesterday ... "Do we want to go for Baby No. 5?" ...

hahahahahaha!

At the time, it wasn't funny cos I just have this week and probably the nezt to make up my mind and book the package to do the shoot before I pop.

My response was ... "WHHHHHHHHAAAT?!!!!!" --- and then I went .. "But I want to book a maternity photo shoot .. Can u pls decide and let me know so I can call them up to book ASAP?"

I thought we had decided already on the baby bit ... obviously I thought wrong ..

It's not that I absolutely don't want another baby ... I really would love to have more kids .. but time doesn't seem to be on my side .. I'll be 35 right after Christmas this year .. if we go for another baby, I'll probably give birth when I'm 37 ...

Yes, yes it's not that old .. but I always envisioned myself to be free and easy at that age .. not running after a little one ..

Anyway, we still have time to THINK ABOUT IT. lol :)

My gynae says I don't have to do the ligation procedure right after I give birth .. I can always come back to her in a year or 2 when we decide for sure ... while that sounds like a good plan, the slight flaw with that plan is if I get pregnant FIRST ...

Oh well.

Then we'll really have to buy a mini-bus ...

SO cute !!!

I had lunch with a friend at United Square yesterday ... and then of course, we walked around the kiddy shops looking at clothing .. I saw this at Gingersnaps and fell in love with it immediatedly !! It's meant for my new girl .. I bought it in size "6 months" ...

I was pleasantly surprised to learn from the sales lady that Gingersnaps is from the Phillipines ... they have some really lovely, lovely and sometimes quirky stuff .. and the material is so suitable for the weather here ... it's soooo soft and comfy .. :)

36th week appt ...

and my gynae claims my baby is still ok sized at this point .. 3 kg .. and that it's unlikely she'll hit 3.9kg in the next 4 weeks ...

huh. I hope she's right ... baby seems bigger and longer than Emily in my tummy .. I can feel her every movement .. and guess what? For the first time in all my pregnancies, I have heartburn ... well, not all the time .. but a good part of the day ... it's not too bad .. I can still ignore it and eat .. but I'm just amazed that I even have it ..

I usually have none of the stuff that plague pregnant women (besides the 1st trimester nausea which I've had the misfortune of having for all my pregnancies) ... so this time it's slightly different - with my heartburn - ... and baby feels really bigger in my tummy which btw is also bigger .. I've only gained about 5 kg so far ... in total ... so thank goodness for that .. but she seems to be taking up a hell of a lot of space in my ever expanding tummy ... my tummy still can expand some more .. since I am on the large side .. so no stretch marks for me .. but I can feel her all the way up near my ribcage right down to my pelvis ..

I'm still hoping to high heaven that she'll be 3.4kg at birth ... lol :)

Me and my pink girls

Here we are .. we spent the afternoon at Sentosa with Daddy and took a round trip cable car ride .. :) the girls LOVED it and my maid was initally terrified cos we got the glass bottomed cabin.

Finally ..

I dragged out all the baby clothes I had .. and looked through them .. I chucked out a fair bit .. things that were either worn or stained or just stuff that i didn't want my newborn to wear .. and guess what ??!!

I have a reason to run out to the stores and buy NEW stuff .. I have quite little of the 0-3 months clothes .. hmmmmmmm .. I am going to hit Mothercare and Marks and Spencers next week when hubby goes back to work .. ah, yes, did I happen to mention that Uncle is on leave this whole week? ... Of course, he wanted to "surprise" me last minute and didn't tell me till Sunday evening .. when he sprang the news on me AFTER I told him I was meeting my friend Michelle for lunch on Tuesday ... I was happily chatting on and on about what we were planning to eat and do .. when he says, "So, we're all going, huh?" .. I was like .. "What the hell are you talking about .. it's a weekday what .. you'll be at work ... " .. only to see the gleeful look on his face that he was going to SPOIL my plans of an afternoon of shopping and lunching with my girlfriend .. the evil evil man !!!

Of course, I had to cancel on my friend and postpone out lunch date till the week after .. when he's back at work again .. told her that hubby was threatening to join us on our lunch date AND drag my girls along ...

sigh

My friend says it's weird .. other women would CELEBRATE their hubby being home the whole week . while I'm complaining that the man has messed up my social calender ... hahahaha. Thankfully, I've been tired and my stomach feels ultra heavy so that meant I had only made that ONE lunch date with my friend and no one else.

He has been quite useful so far this week .. he's been sending Lauren and Claudia to school .. and we had our kitchen basin replaced cos it cracked .. and he was around to monitor the contractors ... (I hate contractors btw .. blood sucking fiends they are .. ) .. so not too bad, the man has no been a nuisance so far .. lol. Plus I have been finding it harder to get in and out of the driver's seat .. so it's a nice change that he's sending the girls to school ..

My maid also swears that my tummy is bigger this time around .. bugger .. I think she's rite .. lol.

Anyway, it's already Friday .. !! Hurrah !!

A view that I miss dearly ... *sob*

Claudia in our backyard on the base ... I got her that swing set .. it was awesome .. it could seat 6 kids at one go and had a slide at the other end (u can't see it in this pic) .. Claudia loved the snow !!



What I saw looking out my kitchen window .. I NEVER got tired of the view ..

Looking forward ...

Hubby and I were chatting last night. We are really happy that this will be our fourth and last baby ... not that we are sick and tired of having kids .. ok, maybe TIRED .. lol .. but looking forward, when I celebrate my 40th birthday .. baby number 4 (yes, we still haven't decided on a name for her) will be FIVE years old .. ALRIGHT!! Emily will be 7, Lauren will be 9.5 and Claudia will be almost 15 .. !!


This is partly why we're not keen to have any more kids later on. At 40, I'd like to be able to sit back and relax and not have to run after a toddler .. I don't think I can do it, quite frankly. IF we accidentally conceive, then well, we'll be thrilled of course .. but right now, I'm already planning to ask my gynae about birth control options.

Hubby suggested abstinence jokingly ... I snorted. lol :)

An epiphany

I had an epiphany yesterday. I was standing in Mothercare at Centrepoint staring at the racks of lovely lovely kiddy clothing when it came to me.

I think I'm only having kids cos I like to buy kiddy clothing etc.

Really.

lol.

I discussed it with my friend who laughed and said that after this baby, I should concentrate on buying clothes and stuff for myself instead. I told her that that idea wasn't as attractive as buying kiddy clothing and toys and other assorted baby/kiddy paraphernalia. Even more so, GIRL STUFF. All that pink and red and yellow ... ahhhh it's intoxicating !!

I have been traipsing in and out of the toy departments of malls for YEARS now. And I'm still not bored with it. I have been buying baby/toddler and now tween clothing for YEARS too and I still find it a pleasant experience. hmmmmmmm.

Makes me wonder. Once my youngest is in her tweens .. will I go into some kind of withdrawal stage cos then I have NO ONE to buy these things for?

OH DEAR. I shall not think about that now then. I can only hope that by then, I'll have grandkids !!!! ahhhh yes, there is HOPE after all!!

murderous thoughts ...

hubby has been having this AWFUL cough for awhile now. It's so awful that a few nites ago, he chose to sleep outside in the hall instead of with us on the bed - for one thing, he felt that the air con was making it worse and he didn't want us to be bothered by his incessant coughing through the night ..

I say "us" cos Lauren and Emily sleep with us .. yes, I am a believer of sleep sharing .. I love having my little ones with me .. that and Lauren REFUSES to sleep with her big sis in the next room claiming that she loves me so she must sleep with me .. lol. Hubby and I are fine with it cos we figure there'll come a time when they won't want to sleep with us anyway. So every morning I wake up being squashed by 2 little bodies who try to sleep as close to me as possible .. lol !!

Anyway, so after that one nite where he slept in the hall, his coughing seemed to improve, so the next time I insisted that he sleep on the bed ... cos I know it's uncomfortable to sleep the whole nite on the sofa ...

BAD IDEA.

Uncle was hacking the whole nite despite my best efforts to prevent it .. I rubbed Vicks on his chest and back .. gave him his medicine regularly that whole day (he was on mc) .. and massaged his arms and legs with a herbal oil to "warm" his body up ...

He was coughing and coughing .. and everytime he did, I was jolted awake .. I was so annoyed. lol. Even in my groggy state, I contemplated smothering the man with my pillow to put him and more importantly, me, out of OUR misery. hahahahahaha.

The next morning, I woke up to a headache and promptly threw up cos I felt tired and giddy ... and the first words out of my mouth were "you're sleeping in the hall tonight, I dun care!"

see, the love??

I also went down to Guardian Pharmacy and bought the strongest cough suppresant they had and antibacterial lozenges. Hubby was appalled cos he thinks Strepsiles and Breacol are good enough. I snorted and told him that the cheaper the medication, the lousier they were.

I know I am right.

bits and pieces ..

still have a lot of stuff to do before baby comes .. Just got a Mothercare bath dresser.. u know, those things you can change baby's diaper on and underneath the change mat there's a bathtub .. very pretty design too :) - there are 2 storage shelves below and it's on castors .. so you can push it around anywhere .. I went to have a look at one at Kiddy Palace .. ugh, it was too ugly for words .. decided that the Mothercare one was much nicer .. :)

I don't know how come I didn't get one for Emily when she was born ... anyway, I decided that it would be much easier to change and bathe baby in those things ... plus everything u need can be stored in the storage shelves below .. so handy !! Gosh, nowadays they have a whole array of stuff for babies !!

Vivo on a Saturday

Hubby had a wedding lunch to attend on Rasa Sentosa so he dropped us off at Vivocity for a bit of window shopping. I had NO interest to attend some wedding lunch of some colleague of his on a Saturday afternoon when I could go walk around and look at stuff .. besides, the invite stated, "lunch will be served at 2" .. what the hell? Who has lunch at 2pm?

So there we were with another friend whose hubby was attending the same wedding lunch walking around ... and then having some coffee and light snacks at Serenity Cafe .. everywhere else was CROWDED .. I actually prefer the Pacific Coffee Company .. but all the seats were taken .. bummer.

I took the opportunity to bring my ginormous Quinny Buzz along .. Vivo is so huge and spacious it's ok to push it around ... I wouldn't take the Buzz to a smaller mall .. and it's ideal for crowded places too .. people tend to steer clear of your stroller for fear of the BIG ASS wheels running over their feet ... hahahaha ..

Since we were there for a mere 2 hours or so and half of which was spent at Serenity .. I actually came home EMPTY HANDED !!! I didn't get to buy a SINGLE thing ... hahahah. I tried, believe me .. walked into Gap, Mothercare and Pumpkin Patch .. but it was too short a time to really get the girls to try on anything ... OH WELL .. there's always next time.

Gynae appt ... 33 weeks ..

Went to see my gynae yesterday ... short appt .. had an ultrasound ... doesn't fail to fascinate me no matter how many times I've been pregnant ... I love seeing my baby on the monitor ... I saw her little feet .. so cute!

Doc claims my baby is still within the average weight ... 2.4 kg at 33 weeks ...

Not that I don't believe her ... but the last time she estimated Emily's weight the day before I gave birth, she said Emily would be about 3.2 to 3.4 kg ...

She was 3.9 kg at birth.

Friends later told me to switch gynaes ... lol.

I know it's just an estimate .. my friend who recently had her boy was also told by her gynae that her baby would be about 3 kg ... he was 3.4 kg at birth ... so I think that doctors are just basically making educated guesses .. based on what they see on the ultrasound monitors.

Why am I so concerned you ask? .. Guess I've read too many magazine articles where the baby was too big for the birth canal and well, needless to say .. it was a very painful experience for the mom.

My doc told me that if I wanted to ensure I won't have a big baby .. to control what I eat from now on ..

HUH. People always assume that just cos I'm BIG ... it must be cos I'm stuffing my face with food ALL THE TIME.

Eh, hallo ...

Right now, my appetite is just right ... I usually can't even finish my meal at the food court .. I haven't gained that much weight ... so I don't get it ... what I am supposed to do? Starve? ... Run 30 mins on the threadmill everyday till I deliver?

I was at a friend's place this morning .. her 6 year old son asked me whether I wanted to jump on his trampoline ... lol .. I politely declined and then he told me that I had a huge tummy ... lol :) Told him that I had a baby in there .. that's why aunty can't jump on his trampoline .. that and I'd probably wreck the thing with my weight ... pregnant or not ... hahaha :)

Obviously I'm getting senile ...

when I said I weighed myself everyday .. I must have conveniently forgotten that the last time I weighed myself WASN'T yesterday .. more like sometime early last week .. and in that time, I visited my 2 aunts for Hari Raya and was fed like there was no tomorrow on cookies and cakes and other food ...

So yes, I have gained weight .. YAY!!! .. I gained about 1.5 kg plus since my last weigh in .. awesome!! My total weight gain is now about 4kg .. at this rate, I am probably going to hit my usual 7-8 kg overall weight gain for pregnancy ...

I was kinda worried that I wasn't gaining weight .. how could that be when my tops seemed to be getting tighter .. it just didn't add up ..

Now I know .. forgetful ol me just FORGOT to weigh herself recently ... hahahahah :)

Pregnancy makes me forgetful it's so annoying .. :p

XXL in Singapore

We were at Vivocity on Sunday having lunch with my friend and her family ... after lunch, we strolled around for a bit .. I wanted to buy a maternity top or 2 to wear with my pants as the current ones I have .. well, they've gotten a bit tight ..

Everyday, I stand on my weighing scale .. my weight is still the same .. I've only gained 2kg from my prepregnancy weight .. BUT .. my tummy is expanding so alas .. there we were at Marton-Bell .. with me frantically rifling thru their racks of clothes TRYING to find something nice ..

The maternity stuff here sucks .. ok, that's not fair .. I just can't shop at the other shops here .. Thyme Maternity etc. The clothes are all way too small for big ol' me. DAMMIT.

Anyway, I managed to find 2 decent looking tops from Marton Bell (I only went there cos I KNEW they had bigger sizes) .. and went to put them on .. they were ok ..

They were labelled "XXL"

SIGH.

All my maternity stuff thus far .. I've bought online from Motherhood.com .. the stuff there is very nice .. and I wear an XL .. well, it is a US website .. AND the stuff is so reasonably priced too !! Here, I find the maternity stuff quite hideous at times and way overpriced. I had no choice but to buy here cos it's already way too late for me to order online at this point. I only have 8 weeks or so to go.

XXL ... sigh.

30 weeks pregnant with Lauren

See, it makes a difference ! .. This was me at 30 weeks pregnant with Lauren in 2004 (sob I was younger too then ... about 31)
I can't wear that top now. My stomach at 30 weeks with Emily and now with my 4th, is way bigger ..
Lauren was only 2.9 kg at birth though .. quite petite I thought .. lol

Emily was 3.9 kg and well, I don't know about his last baby ... praying she'll be less than 3.9kg .. hubby says my stomach is huge and he doesn't think I'll last another 8 weeks ... lol.

This photo was taken at one of my favourite places .. Colorado .. ok, I really like Colorado Springs .. but this was in Canon City .. the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park .. can u see the bridge behind me and the drop below? Awesome isn't it??



We stayed in the AFB there .. Petersen AFB to be exact .. they were having some Family Day the weekend we were there .. and they always have some kind of petting zoo type thing for kiddies .. Claudia loved those ... :) The weather was fantastic btw .. it was spring :)



Ok, I couldn't resist putting this pic up .. it's my beloved Dodge Grand Caraven .. 3.3 litres, huge, and well, a bit underpowered if you ask me since it was quite heavy ... but I loved it to bits .. it was so roomy !! You could just clamber into the 3rd row .. not like the MPVs here where you have to push forward the 2nd row to get into the last row seating.

Arghhhhh !

So we were at United Square yesterday walking around ... hubby decided that he was bored and wanted to take the girls out and so there we were.

When we got home, and we didn't get back late btw .. just a little past 2pm I think, and I opened our front door, I found 2 slips of paper on the floor telling me that the postman had been there to deliver my stuff but too bad I wasn't in so now I have to either arrange for a redelivery date or pick up the stuff myself from the PO.

Blardy hell. I was home all day this last week .. but noooooo, the postman didn't come.

I had been waiting and waiting for my stuff from Gap and Ralph Lauren to arrive and the ONE day we choose to go out ... they try to deliver my packages.

I cursed and swore. Hubby said if I had mentioned it, we would've stayed home to wait for them .. told him that was what I had been doing this last week and they didn't come to deliver it ... no way was I going to sit around on a Saturday waiting for Mr Postman ...

HUH.

Running out of time .. and names ..

ok .. so it's not that we're getting sick and tired of naming girls ... but hubby and I agree on so little names ... it's becoming IMPOSSIBLE to think of even ONE name for our new girl ...

SIGH

Do u know why my Golden Retriever is named "Isabel"? I so desperately wanted Claudia to be named that ... he disagreed ... so when we got a puppy, I insisted it be named "Isabel" .. lol. He agreed cos, well, it's a dog, what does he care what it's named? My Maltese is named "Kimmy" after Kimi Raikonen .. lol ... I thought it was a cutesy name that suited a small toy dog like Kimmy .. hubby was ok with it since to him, it was an F1 driver's name .. and it wasn't too cutesy like "Fifi" or something ...

As we had more kids, it became harder to think up of names that we could agree on.

I have 9 weeks to go and we have NOTHING.

I have this sinking feeling that we'll be at the hospital staring at our newborn's face .. desperately flipping through the pages of the book of baby names trying to come up with a name at the last minute .. or rather, trying to AGREE on a name ...

SIGH

I really like the name "Summer" .. but he doesn't like it at all. He likes the name "Eden" .. I think it's awful.

Celebrating Emily's birthday!

Emily turned 2 on the 28th of Sept ... I decided to forgo the party and just do a simple lunch with another friend whose girl also shares the same birthday (but different year) ... Everytime I throw a party ... it costs me between 1.2 - 1.4 k ... (SIGH) ... eg. Claudia's Jan party and Lauren's party last year each came up to about 1.4k ... how come, you ask? .. Well, there's the catering, the bouncy castle and the magician and the cake ... I love the cakes from The Patissier even though it's so darn expensive .. Claudia's cake cost me $250 .. hubby nearly had a heart attack .. lol!

So for Emily I decided we'd be cheap and have a nice decent lunch at Hog's Breath Cafe, eat cake and bring the birthday girl to Toys R Us to pick out anything she wants ... ok, so it was me that picked out the toys .. total damage for the afternoon was far less than 1.2k let me assure you .. lol !

It was a very enjoyable afternoon with the girls and hubby and our dear friends ... :)

My girl smiling :)

Here's a 3D scan of my baby ... she's smiling !!! Alright, another happy, good-natured baby!! YAY!!! lol :)

My arch nemesis ...

See my car? It's in my favourite carpark lot ... why is it my favourite car park lot u ask ? ... Well, it's right next to this door ....



Which leads to this short staircase ...



Which leads straight to my lift lobby ... (and this short walkway is sheltered too) .. !!



And there ... my lift lobby ...

Plus it's a SINGLE lot ... no cars next to me .. so no chance of car doors hitting mine .. etc etc ...



Now this is my arch enemy .. this blardy white Odyssey ... every damn day, we compete for the said lot .. as u can see, this day the pic is taken, Uncle LOST the lot to me ... HAHAHAHAAH!

That isn't always the case of course ... some days when I go out and come back at 5 plus .. I enter the carpark entrance and SWEAR loudly cos he is parked in my lot ... I call it my lot .. cos it's mine lor.

Yeah, so the lot that he is in is also right next to the "exit" door .. what's the big diff? .. Well, it's not a SINGLE lot .. hahahahah ... so yes, he and I are cordial to each other .. we wave and smile and even exchange pleasantries in the lift (he stays in my block of course) ... but every blardy day .. it's a fight to the death for that SINGLE lot ..

You'd think that since I'm a HOUSEWIFE, I'm sure to get the lot everyday but nooooooooo, I have to chauffeur my girls up and down leaving my beloved lot EMPTY and open for the taking .. and dunno what kind of job uncle does, he always seems to be able to get home from work so blardy early it's damn irritating ... I can make a grocery run to nearby Causeway Point for barely an hour .. get home at 5 and my lot has been stolen by him.

Hubby says I'm too free ... but eh, it's not just in my head lor .. the competition is real ..

Recently, to my absolute horror, I've found other damn residents also vying for this coveted lot ... DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL.