The Note

One night, some weeks ago, I was rather upset with Renee's 'misbehaviour'(the boredom must have really gotten to her) and I refused to speak to her. Then immediately, I saw her walking quietly to the study room and instead of pouting in there, she came out shortly and handed me this note with a sad look in her eyes(which gave me a good chance to correct her spelling, lolz). Still feeling rather emotional at that time, I couldn't control my tears... She's a 'strong' girl who held high pride and probably fearful of being 'rejected' again, she had not wanted to apologise to me upfront but chose this way of relaying her sincerity instead and this was what had touched me at that moment - her sensibility to understand the need that I should be feeling happy during this period and most importantly, that she was wrong... Awww, how can one not love such a girl... :***)

Our Family

Thanks for the concern many had shown me during those times when I had felt 'uncomfortable'. For known reasons, I had been unable to reveal the actual reason why I had been feeling ill but apart from my family members, most whom are close to me had more or less made a correct guess and for the benefit of those who still do not know... Renee's going to have a sibling! :)

This pregnancy's detected very early(I even told hubby to buy another 'more known brand''s home test kit to test again, lolz) and the symptoms set in immediately and for the 1st week following my home-test, I had been resting and resting and although Renee had suspected that I'm hving a baby(she said "cos aunty Cindy was also like that the last time", hahaha), but, to prevent her from spilling the beans, we had to tell her that I was just feeling unwell, as much as we'd like to share the joy with her(since she's been longing for a sibling).  Not being told the truth, her patience soon began to wear thin... However, this wonderful secret cannot be contained for long from her and when we brought her along to the 2nd prenatal check-up at the gynae's, she couldn't stop grinning and clapped so loudly when she 1st heard the baby's heartbeat over the ultra-sound scanning machine, lolz. She was sooooo excited and kept saying "you're going to have a baby, you're going to have a baby...!" very loudly whilst we were waiting at the clinic's lobby, :D.

Thereafter, though we've instructed her not to leak out the secret when she's at grandma's, we were prepared that she wouldn't be able to contain her joy and true enough, the very next Saturday she was there, she revealed it to my sisters whom luckily, had already knew/guessed so, :).

The symptoms of this pregnancy are really much stronger and for the 1st 2 1/2months(after my pregnancy's confirmed), I had been literally resting on bed most of the time and what made it worse was that I was also feeling rather weepy, lolz and I tear-ed almost every night whilst watching Renee sleeping, feeling guilty for not being able to give more care/time to her, even though she has not made a single complaint at all...

The 1st thing I checked with my gynae was - if it's due to my age that I'm feeling so terrible but he re-assured me time and again that it's not and in fact, many younger women(in their early 20s) are the ones who felt such strong symptoms. He added that it is actually good news although the concerned mother-to-be would be 'suffering' as it meant that the pregnancy's strong(so, for those whom are also expecting and are experiencing the same, don't be alarmed, just take good care of yourself , try to rest/eat and take your pre-natal supplements).

Apart from the constant discomfort and vomitting, I only lost abit of weight on the 1st week and already, that got me worrying but once I was given the medication to help curb(not of tremendous help but it still did control abit) the vomitting, I had been able to gain weight steadily - although my weight prior to this pregnancy was already 'big' to begin with but I don't think this should be the main concern especially when we're pregnant and want the baby to grow healthily.

As I hvn't been able to send and pick Renee up from most of her classes(papa's the one who's been rushing here and there during this period), I have not taken up the long waited slot with Berries for her Chinese lessons, :( and we're now beginning to re-consider putting her back to a school next year(ne's requested to go to a childcare, oh man!) but that, for now, still can't be the 1st thing on my list as some of you had already known, we would be relocating, as to where, we've yet to finalise!(that's why I'm unable to work on this matter...), and in the meantime, I'll try to provide updates whenever I can... :)

A Night Away From Home

Yesterday, papa asked me last minute around noon if we'd like to go for a night stay at the Marina Bay Sands hotel. His client must have been rather sick of his free stays that he offered tonight's to papa. Well, since it's free and knowing that Renee's gonna be thrilled to the bits, I agreed immediately even though I havn't been feeling well.

However, not long later, I began to ponder if it's really gonna be worthwhile packing up for the night when we could only get to the room after Renee's S&D and Maths classes which will end at 6:30pm. Nevertheless, we decided to just go ahead with it...

At before 3pm, papa phoned and told me to bring Renee down to United Square on my own as he couldn't make it back home and he'll pick our 'luggage' up before picking us up in the evening.

Needless to say, Renee was overjoyed with the news! Then, she started telling me that she's feeling tired and would want to just go for her S&D class. Arhhh, I knew what she's up to! hahaha, she's so excited and wanted to skip her Maths class so that she could get to the hotel asap!(good thing we didn't skip as she was tested and passed to go up to the next level yesterday) :D

On our way to the maths class, I reminded Renee not to day-dream or kaypoh around(looking at her friends in the class) so that she could finish her work in class faster, if she wants to get to the hotel earlier. And she did! haha, including the school work and the tests she was given, she came out of the room at close to 6:25pm, haha. Unfortunately, papa's still stucked in Jurong with work and we had to walk around the mall - which didn't take long 'cos she was hungry and I had to stop at the foodcourt for her eat 1 of my pies, :).

Whilst dining at Tony Roma's, Renee even wanted to skip the rest of the meal(she will usually have some of the ribs and the baked potato) after her favourite french loaf starter as it was getting late and she was sooo afraid that she wouldn't have enough time to enjoy the room, :).

*I've forgotten to charge up the battery of my camera and thus, these were taken with papa's Iphone(not much though but the videos of Renee at the pool were a joy to look at - well, to us, lolz)

The hotel room we stayed in has a spectacular view. We had planned to go up to the skytower after watching the news but by then, it was closed! So we decided to wake up early today and went up there for a swim(well, papa & Renee, heee) after our breakfast.

This morning, with Renee's choice of breakfast, we took a cab over to Marina Sq but surprisingly at 7:50am, the Mcdonald's was still not opened! So left with no choice, we decided to just have our breakfast at 'Qi Ji', instead of wasting more time to look for another Mc outlet.

Back at the hotel, Renee couldn't wait to change into her swimsuit(she had wanted to wear the suit out actually, hahaha) and her 'fear of water' soon dissipated when Papa slowly drew her into the water at the adult pool. She had such great fun and even agreed for us to sign her up for swimming lessons, ha!

After >an hour at the pool, I was beginning to feel tired but with obvious reasons, Renee wouldn't hear of going back to the room and even urged me to go back on my own(when she hadn't allowed me to do so earlier). But as we weren't allowed a later than 12pm check-out(their usual is 11am), we headed back shortly after her last few 'laps'/rounds with papa - which she 'swam' back on her own(with the help of arm floats of cos and the wrong way of legs peddling haha but still, a good start :>).

With the lack of sleep and being tired from the 'swim', she immediately fell asleep in the car on our way home, but as the short nap wasn't enough and she didn't resume her sleep when we got home, she threw tanthrums during her '1st' violin lesson(we'd have to pay more for her lessons now as it'd have to be home lessons), after a break of about 2 months, haiz... However, despite hving not played the violin for a while now, she was still able to play rather smoothly, which was a relief to me, :).

Again, the teacher brought up the topic of the grading exams but unable to commit myself fully to the coaching of her in this area during this period, I told her that we'd like to take a break from the exams for the time-being.

Not long after her violin lesson, she was soon ferried to her arts class - oh boy, it's really been eventful for Renee! :).

Sorry for the non-updates for so long, shall try to do so when time permits/as soon as I can....

Thanks all, for the patience...

Home Camping

This just revives our childhood memories huh? :)...

Artwork Display

It's been quite a while since she's been dabbling with paintwork at home, :)

My fav pc. She'd actually ran out of ideas of what to do with it when I told her to do something 'under the sea' 'cos she was tooo tired from the lack of sleep that day. So I told her to just paint the whole piece with blue paint and then paste the stickers and foam sea creatures on it and voila!

Copy Writer?

Renee did this long time ago - she's 'copied' the contents from a 'Cheers' receipt, hahaha

Last Day of Preschool

Finally, it's been a month since we've handed in our notice of withdrawal to Kinderland Serangoon.

Mixed feelings for both myself and Renee on the withdrawal. I wouldn't mind to let her continue 'wasting time' at school, as she could have some playtime with her friends but the need to review her learning routine appears to be more important especially when she came home requesting to learn how to read even after a good 1/2 year at K1. Anyway, how many of us still contact our friends from our Kindergarten year(s)?...

When papa suggested pulling her out of the Kindy(since she's not learning much academically there) and before I could check her opinion on this, she asked me to change school for her! This apparently showed that she has no objection to the withdrawal. One of her reasons could be due to the withdrawal of most of her newly found close friends(due to the fees hike to ~S$1,300 - not worth it esp when some teachers are heard speaking 'leh, la, lor' & calling out to the students 'hello, this & that' in an aunty way... Her teacher couldn't even pronouce her name! and even refused to correct herself when I've told ne to try and explain the correct pronounciation, just once, in order not to aggitate her...) at the beginning of the current term, I think she kinda felt lonely...

Actually, I've asked the school many times since she's joined them at Pre-N, if they'd consider changing the morning session to a later time, say 9am and though they replied that they've considered that before but there has been no decision to change at all even though this branch only runs on 2 sessions. 8am, to me(I've also checked with few other mommy friends and they all agreed) is too early for preschoolers and although I'm not one who's against waking up early to send the kid to school in the morning, but if a 5yo has to sleep by 8-8:30pm, wake up at 7am, rushed through a cup of milk and bread to get to school on time and still has to attend enrichment classes outside school, then we feel, that it's really time for the parents to review...

Upon much considerations, we embarked on this decision which we hope works best for our darling girl as it would give her more free time to play/relax at home.

Meantime, the only enrichment classes I've signed her up so far in replacement of her Kindy learning are 'Phonics & Reading', 'Speech & Drama' and 'Maths'. Berries is still unable to give us a slot at the moment and I think we have, up til the end of this year before I have to seriously consider letting her join other chinese language school.

National Day - Mommy's Birthday!

I had half expected hubby to bring Renee out for breakfast and to perhaps get me a cake but no, I woke up to the voice of Renee asking papa to also make breakfast for mommy(heating up the leftover pizzas), but when I got outta room, there's none for me... So much for being the birthday queen, lolz... However, if this was not done in the morning, it's done in the afternoon, when he brought her out to get lunch(no, I didn't feel like cooking even Renee's - so I put back the fish I've taken out to thaw, heee).

As usual, Renee's the one who's most excited about my birthday but this year, due to my being busy trying to schedule her enrichment classes, I had forgotten about it and by the time I remembered and tried to book a hotel/restaurant, they're all fully booked, :( - Well, good also, save $ on the hotel stay, hahaha. But Renee's of cos disappointed 'cos she simply loves hotel stays, lolz, so we let her chose the restaurant for our dinner which I later regret, 'cos she chose Tony Roma's! Oh my, having accomodated her wishes so many times before, I'm now already rather sick of their food!, haiz...

They had both tried to look for a gift at Compass pt, where they bought the cake, but knowing that I've certain preference of stuffs, hubby daren't make his final purchase even though I've already known what he'd wanted to get me. So, in the end, we went in search of it before heading to the restuarant but before I could decide on which one, Renee fussed and complained that she's hungry - ya, she just couldn't wait to eat her favourite food.

After dinner, hubby wanted me to get the sunglasses first but I thought we should head over to watch the fireworks 'cos I've not made my decision yet and do not wish to hurry over it due to the need to rush over.

Walking out of the mall, outside some restaurants, we had thought to stay there for a view but some diners there had acted as if they had bought over the whole of the view there just because they're dining there(not an expensive restaurant hor) and that put us off and we decided to move to somewhere else. Good thing for us, we got a much better view because of that!

We headed back to the optical shop and although we've both kinda settled on a pair of Gucci's(same as the one hubby's bought me many yrs ago) but as I also like another by Emporio Armani, I decided to take the latter due to its price. I don't really wear sunglasses very often, only recently when I felt that I should really start to protect my eyes esp. whilst driving and so, I don't see the need to get such an expensive pair. Although the G's(e one I like cost almost S$500) on 30% discount, the EA's on 20+5% and the final price is still quite abit of difference and so, I told hubby that we should just get the latter since the style of sunglasses changes rather frequently according to trend.

Renee had not wanted to go home(hong sim) but the reminder that I've yet to cut my cake got her all excited about going home, lolz. She played the happy birthday song with the violin and papa made her sing it thereafter, :).

When I've learnt that they'v got this cake from the 'Icing Room', I was like 'oh no, their cakes don't taste good...' but luckily, their Tiramisu one doesn't taste that bad...

why wouldn't a pair of 'normal' sunglasses do? well, the level/degree of protection is different, thus, to avoid paying a high price for inferior quality, it is important that one gets these 'branded' ones from renowned shops too

This is the 2nd round, and influenced by the crowd, you can hear nene 'wow, wow, wow' with the rest, lolz