Guilt

Now that we are preparing for the arrival of BB2 and with most of the clothes being handed down, that of a different gender and not too much of hands me down on hand, we tend to buy quite a far bit of clothings for BB2. Of course it was also difficult to find excuses to resist the numerous sales came across and the online spree made easy and available.

Subconsciously we tend to compare with that of Zethan's time and how we are blessed with alot of hands me down be it clothings, feeding accessories and all. It came to a point we or at least I felt extremely guilty that it appear BB2 had some much more new stuff as compared to Zethan! Even the daddy commented why BB2 has so much new things as compared to Zethan! opps...

Because of that I had to make it a point that whenever I am buying for BB2, I would definitely make it a point to get something for Zethan too if not equivalent but trying to balance it up. Wonder if this is what people say no matter what the 1st born would always hold a significant position in mummy's heart. I start to wonder if we as parents should feel bad that the 1st born is going to have divided love and attention with the arrival of the second child or should we feel bad for the second child since she would never ever get the undivided love and attention that the 1st child had all these while.

Am I thinking too much at this point of time, maybe yes, maybe no. I am trying my utmost best to prepare myself being a parent once again to a 2nd child and this time while having to cope with another toddler on hand. The transitional period from 1 to 2 children can be pretty tricky especially how to avoid letting the 1st child feel that he is not being neglected and developing sibling jealousy and rivalry. Even though we can be prepared with a constant reminder on the importance of spending quality time every now and then alone with the 1st child but somehow it could be easier said than done given the fact that newborn demand more time and attention so it could be easily forgotten.

As of now, all I can do is to spend real quality time with Zethan exclusively before the arrival of BB2 amid the fatigue and low energy level that I am experiencing. This month long term break sounds perfect to do just that!

PTC

We attended Zethan's very 1st Parents Teacher Conference on 18 May, a week before the term break. The daddy is very nice to take some time off to attend it together.

In a nutshell, he is pretty much a leader in class alongside with a few others thus 'arguments' can be quite common among them. He is very well developed in his large motor skills and can be quite vocal though at times he loves to rush through his speech and with the power of language not as developed, the teachers need to slow him down to understand what he is trying to tell. Efforts needed in the department of focusing as he is very much overactive and he can perform his tasks very well when he decide to focus but if not then he tend to be very distracted and rush through his work. He need to be reminded from time to time on his over activeness.

We exchange some pointers on my concern on his fine motor skills e.g. colouring etc. It was suggested that we could spent 5mins everyday sitting with him and get him to doodle and for him to dictate what he has drawn. From the 5mins daily, extend gradually to work on his focusing and fine motor skills.

The whole session took more than the scheduled 15mins  and we were given 3 booklets of his artworks as well as schoolwork for semester 1. Personally I would feel that it would be much more appreciative if the workbooks could be returned after every term for a good feel on how the child is doing in school and should there be a need to, work on what is lacking or the weakness of the child for better improvement for the next term. Easier to monitor for progress or non improvements. What is lacking is the involvement of the chinese teacher's discussion on the child's observation too.

Having said that, I am rather pleased with how Zethan fare in school and what he had picked up from school which I must say is very great improvement be it the academic aspect or social development as well as speech development. He will returned home to share what has happened in school, sing some songs etc.

 Last but not least, term break started which can be a great relief to me especially now at 33 weeks, I could rest at home and save a month's of walking to & from school. Or at the very least need not rush in the morning. Zethan ended school with a term break party, all children will bring some snacks for the 1hr party, decked out in their party clothes.

32 weeks

currently stepping into 32 weeks of this pregnancy and all the nagging issues start to surface. 

Lots of pressure at the V area especially so while walking be it fast or slow. Sleeping at night is such a pain as it is just so tough to get the perfect position to conk off and after some hours, there is a need to change position once again lest faced with a numb body and cramp. 

Breathlessness set in as early as 27 weeks and I had attributed it to possible bb2 turning head down / engaged but little did we knew that she have not turned at 28 weeks scan, neither at 31 weeks scan which sent me into a panic mode! As usual, woody's cool reply was it's still early and there is still time. Google and realized there is no fixed and fast rules on when is the latest baby should engaged, some as far as the last hours of delivery. Meanwhile I am trying out coaxing or you can called it nagging every day once or twice a day for bb2 to turn ASAP! It sound abit hopeless for a 2nd time mummy but I do have problem trying to identify the differences between her stretching, elbow nudging and kicking. Well, seriously it's her call now as to whether she would want to turn or refuse to turn, definitely I am still bearing hope she will, hopefully she listens. Next visit in 2 weeks time (33 weeks gestation) so I am crossing my fingers and toes for good news.

Most of the 1st trimester symptoms start revisiting again, heartburn, reflux, giddiness and the long list continues. Body temperature seem to be at all time high and the recent weather only make matter worst. Feeling constantly greasy (the body) despite showering Nth times a day, perspire like there is no tomorrow. My best friends Insomnia and fatigue returned as a tag team leaving me very helpless on most days. Exhausted yet can't get to sleep early and difficulty in waking up in the morning. I am pretty glad that Zethan is having his term break very soon but he appear to be waking earlier and earlier these days so it's as good as null.

I have got to realize that I am not as conscientious in my intake of tonics for bb2 as opposed to Zethan's time. For bb2, I have only started my 1st tonic of homemade doubled boiled chicken essence with paosheng on the 28th week and her 1st bird's nest nearing 30th week. Since then there's about all?!! Being naughty and encouraged by the hot weather, we had our 1st coconut shortly after 30 weeks and trust me, it was really heavenly, cool down the body immediately!

Till date I have put on about 8.8kg for the whole pregnancy and bb2 weight estimated to be about 1.6kg as at the last scan at 31 weeks. Not a very big baby she is going to be, quite average and she have only put on about 300+g since the last visit at 28 weeks.  At this point it could be a good thing since if she is not too big then there's higher chance for her to turn. having said that she is extremely active and can expect alot of movements from her usually the vigorous ones. She tend to protested when I am sleeping on her not so favorable side so imagine the shifting I have to do each night before drifting into lala land.

Preparations for the arrival of bb2 was about 70% completed except for the washing and setting up, buying of confinement herbs and packing of hospital bag. What needed to buy have been bought, what not necessary to buy have been bought too (read as more more clothings for bb2). Planned to start the washing beginning of June. Oh yes one of the most crucial prep has not even been discussed upon; bb2 is still nameless as of now. We have had many people asking about it but guess it's going to take a while more.

40 mos

it's been a long while since I have updated some of Zethan's progress. Unlike in his younger days, these days progress should mean lesser of 'milestones' but more of the interesting stuff happening to him.

Zethan have been enjoying school loads and is very observant on the what's happening in school. For example, he will returned home and discussed with me on who is absent in school and why so in his own words. In his words ~ xxx and xxx no go school today, coughing, sick, no drink water. Otherwise he would recite what he does in school especially in the morning ~ take out socks, shoes, water bottle, comm book (communication book), wash hands, take photo?!, play! He knew most of his friends names by now including the little details such as xxx's water bottle / bag when he spot one while shopping.

Now to do justice to the school which I have to admit I as a little biased against in the beginning, I would have to say give them the credits deserved. By 2nd week of the the term, the teachers are imparting self help skills of removing their own shoes & socks, placement of socks in shoes (one each) and leaving their shoes at the designated spot on the shoe rack. Bringing out their own water bottle and comm book to be placed on the table and keeping their own bag. Soon after, moving on to wearing their own shoes and putting on their own socks which I must say is pretty impressive.

Besides that, the principal take the initiative to toilet train Zethan as early as Feb, the first few among the class as she have observed him to be better articulated and outspoken which does came as a surprise to me since I have always feel that Zethan need a fair bit of improvement in his speech. This is such a great consolation to me seriously. That helps a great deal since we are toilet training him at home as well which started shortly after the CNY holidays. As for toilet training at home, Zethan fared marvelously as even in the 1st day, it was zero accident for him and he accepted potty as natural as it could be without any resistance totally. The whole process was way too breezy and unbelievable.

His speech improved drastically and is very much in the process of stringing up sentences although it's very much broken english here and there. If I may praise him, he performed very very well, good job buddy! And for now I am beginning to find him a little of a bother since he could be talking non stop and asking the same question repeatedly even though the question have been attended to. Guess it should be considered as a nice 'problem' to have.

Citing a funny conversation we had in the car earlier on, Zethan spotted a red GE Honda Fit and exclaimed, look, mummy's car! I probe further, oh yes, it's the same as mummy's car. As we drove past the car, he took a look and was puzzled ~ why uncle driving mummy's car?!! which sent me roaring in laughter and he goes, mummy, so funny??

He is able to speak a tiny bit of mandrain such as rote counting of 1-10, ba ba, ma ma, zhou gong (working), zai jia (at home) which is about it.

Feeding very well these days, on the average days he took 3 bottles of milk (300ml each) and 2 staple meals of mainly rice & fish with soup. He is very much into rice, fish and eggs and reject noodles, porridges etc. Very much following the chinese palate of his daddy, his favorite food includes rice, fish, eggs, hor fun and it was a relieve that he accept pasta, macroni, french fries (all time favourite) as well. I am much more relaxed these days when it comes to cold drinks, juices, soft drinks, sweets, chocolates etc, not giving him excessive amount but not totally prohibited. A little concerned that he might be eating too well as he sailed his way to the scale of 19kg.

Zethan is very sweet to mummy lately too which is so so touching and heartwarming. When he see a trolley coming my way, he goes mummy be careful and pulled me away. There are lots of the little gestures that happened everyday he does which surprised and touched me a great deal. At bedtime he will asked to lift up my blouse to say night night meimei which I usually replied, meimei say night night Zethan. He would asked to kiss meimei night night too. If the daddy and I are engaged in a 'squabble' or so he thought, he goes, daddy, stop it, not nice! He is very protective of mummy and I certainly hope that he will show the same degree of love to meimei in the near future too.

We have grown to be very very attached to each other that he have shown his preference for mummy on too many occasions. Even over the rare occasion that his grandma bring him out, he would keep asking to go home - mummy's home, he said especially so at night. He would chose to go home with mummy rather than bunking over at grandma's. A lot of times, daddy can't perform the tasks as he would voice out loud that he would wants mummy instead. Not too sure if I should rejoice or frown upon these actions of his since I would love for the daddy to take over at time upon the pregnancy fatigue setting in. It does worries me the sibling rivarly and jealously issues when BB2 arrive and it hurt deeply to anticipate that he might not feel as loved as now.

Can I say that I am so much enjoying these moments everyday with him now and it feels like while stock last kind of thingy since once BB2 arrive, time and love would have to be shared. He is growing up way too fast so much that I hope time will just slowed down a wee bit for me to love him exclusively, more and more each day. 10 more weeks, that is for my sole devoted and exclusive love for him!

Detail Scan

Went for our scheduled detailed scan on the 1st March 2012 with much anticipation. Our appointment was supposed to be 4pm but we were there earlier at about 3.40pm for registration.

Post registration, we were informed that as there is a huge delay from the patients in front of us, we were suggested to take a walk or have a drink before returning to the centre at about 4.30pm. We did just that instead of coping ourselves in the tiny and crowded assessment centre.

As advised, went up again at 4.30pm yet had to wait till 4.50pm when my name was finally being called. We are attended by a senior sonographer by the name of Ms. Fong which I vaguely remembered Z's scan was under her too after returning from walks bcos of infavorable position.

All of us were very excited waiting for the revelation of the gender but she was all discussing about Zethan with us instead while focusing on her scans and measurements. Babe had to ask her a few times about the gender and she brushed it off saying that baby was not in a good position to show off the gender. I had to gently remind her that my gynae's machine wasn't very advanced thus had to wait till detailed scan to confirm the gender. However she keep brushing us off on how difficult it is to scan for gender as the baby's legs are closed very tightly, even movements are with both legs crossed, the hindering of the elastic band on my pants? and blah blah blah.

After a good 10minutes of scans and taking of measurements, I had to ask if the results are normal till this moment of time which she replied yes. She showed us some of the vital parts of baby like heart, brain, legs, arms, umblical cord, kidneys etc. So the finale of confirmation of gender! She said she is not too sure but probably 80% is a girl! I was like....what? Had to reinforce again, so can't confirm the gender? She replied = as long as baby healthy, gender does not matter. I pushed her further saying we need to prepare for the baby as well and she said, baby is healthy matter most, no need for preparation, will confirm when baby is born! Then she proceed to shut down the computer and said that the report will be sent to gynae's clinic and that usually at this timing, they had only very few stations left working.....

Guess I was too much in a shock and disappointment that I could not think straight to react. After leaving the centre, I was all grouchy and naggy, fuming madly. Had wanted to ask for a rescan since she made no attempt to shift the position of the baby for a clearer view of the genital but we had left the centre. I was simply in no mood for our early dinner totally and had the urge to rush to my gynae for confirmation again. Jolly well knowing my character, Babe suggest to make a trip to gynae's after dinner otherwise he will hear my nags and complains for the whole night. I was even contemplating to call TMC to complain and demand for a rescan.

Called Woody's clinic and was told that he is around but schedule is very tight since he was expected to be at the hospital for delivery anytime. Anyhow we decided to rush there and was mentally prepared that we might not get to see him afterall. Luckily we did managed to see him and as soon as I flopped myself on the chair, started rattling away and complaining to him about the DS earlier on. He had to ask so what did the sonographer say, boy or girl!

Did a scan and told us that confirmed it's a girl~ was very happy now and started joking that we can start shopping now...but as soon as I left his room, went into state of denial thinking to myself, why does he need to ask about sonographer before confirming it's a girl. I am so very sure going to ask him to double confirm the gender again over our next visit. Seriously speaking I am still not confident of telling we are having a girl when people asked about it even till this day in time!

CNY 2012

Chinese New Year this year was a very very quiet one.

We had a very simple reunion dinner at our place with just mum and us so dare not prepare alot of food but guess most importantly is to keep the tradition of having reunion dinner together. Well, next year we will have another addition joining us at the table!

Nothing to shout about except for full day visiting for the 1st day. As usual every year, rushed around islandwide to about 6 different places but ended this year slightly earlier to head home. 

Friends coming over to our place on the 2nd day for a gathering with some simple snacks and a small box of Luo Hei.

Went to the Loyang temple for some praying on the 3rd day of CNY.

On Ren Ri a short visit cum mahjong session at Aunty Gumball house and was hosted with a spread of delicious homecooked dinner! The whole night they are being plagued by gumball, gumballs, gumballss....Zethan's version of Tong Zhi!

1st Excursion

Zethan went for his very 1st school excursion on 23 Feb 2012 for a puppet show @ Esplanade; Hello Elly!

We have decided to let him join the school bus as we gathered it will be much more fun as opposed to driving there even though the early timing to gather was quite a turn off.

Amazingly, there are only 2 children from the Pre-Nursery joining the excursion.

By and large the puppet show was pretty interesting but crowd control was terribly managed by the organizer. The place was too crowded with insufficient seating space on the floor for all the children so much so that the teachers had to retreat in a corner leaving the children on their own. As you can imagine the children are fascinated and excited over the props moving around especially that of Elly Elephant so naturally they try to inch and touch Elly which the staff frown on badly!

It was a pretty short play and after the show, the children were lead to have their snacks and a short trip to the library. The coach picked everyone up at around 11.30am and we reached school shortly after 12pm.

On the other hand I witness unpleasant and upsetting incidents which left mi in shock. His classmate aka best buddy in school actually uses his school bag to hit Zethan on the head out of which Zethan innocently smile at him, guess he assume his friend is playing with him. I stopped his friend and gave him a stern warning but this boy did not stopped at that. Next, he uses his fist and hit Zethan repeatedly on the chest and again Zethan did not stopped him and smile at him again. Even the older children seated together with them shook their head in disapproval.

The above incident was brough to the attention of the principal subsequently after much consideration and definitely had to be careful with my choice of words. I had qualify that Zethan could have done something to irritate him to warranty such a strong reaction and hope the school will keep a lookout for both of them to prevent such incidents from happening again. At the same time I did emphasize that it is normal for incidents of such nature to occur so the intention of me highlighting to the school is more for prevention purposes.

3rd Hatchday II

Even though some of the kids are still crying in school being the 2nd week of the new school term, after checking with the form teacher, she feel that it will be fine to have a small celebration in school for Zethan's birthday. A break into the routine.

So we ordered a small Mickey Mouse cake from Polar, bought a box of animal biscuits and a bottle of Yakult for each kid in the class.

On the actual day, after dropping Zethan to school in his homewear (birthday boy/ girl get to be in homewear), went to pick up the cake. Brought along the balloon from his birthday party too.

It was a simple celebration with the children seated and the birthday boy get a special seat in the little tikes bench. The children sang a birthday song and get to tuck in a small slide of birthday cake each. I brought along additional little snacks in case any of the kids don't like the cake which turned out a few actually asked for 2nd and 3rd helping!

The box of biscuits and Yakult were packed in the childrens' bag to be brought home.

3rd Hatchday

simple matter such as my darling's 3rd birthday sent me in a dilemma too. Indecisive if we should celebrate his birthday, where do we celebrate, what cake do we buy, what design do we choose.......

Finally it was decided that Yes we will celebrate his 3rd birthday on 8th jan 2012 (Sun) and I have promised my dear Babe that it will be the LAST year of celebration, crossing my fingers and toes.

It was prettty easy peasy to decide the theme of his birthday party; Bowling, no doubts about it since he is going all gaga over bowling clips in Youtube. Venue was not as easy as it seem as we are trying to accomodate our guests to our every best if possible. Sourced for quite a few locations and had initially decide on Superbowl @ OCC after enquiring about the rates and catering services. However when we head down to place a booking, the irritating caterer turned back on his words and increase the price threefold while reducing the varieties on the menu! So very pissed off can.

So back to square one and started all the callings in action once again to double check and triple check lest it happen again. Placed a booking with the bowling centre @ CDAN at Bukit Batok and pop in one day with intention to check out catering menu. It was then I was full of regrets booking the place and the hub supported my idea to switch venue (not very appropriate to disclose our reasons here anyway).

So, again it was back to square one but fortunately I have done all the necessary homework so drove down to the next potential location; The Chevron. Decided that it is only wise to view the place before we proceed with any booking again. Once we are in there, we knew that it would definitely be the right choice and wise to switch venue. Placed a booking for 2 lanes for 2 hrs, one of which a bumper lane for the kiddos.

Head back home came the tedious arrangements. Choosing the menu was a 10 minutes affair while the horrifying aspect is to resend the change in venue to all guests via SMS. It does not help that even though it was less than a week to the party, many of the invited guests have not RSVP which is quite the norm anyway. Messaging, replying, reminders to bring socks, constantly on the phone and trying to recall if anybody have been missed out which would be a disaster; no joke going to the wrong venue!

Next up will be the birthday cake. Initial plan was to go for a bowling theme cake and had coordinated with one of the baker. Any hiccup here again since I was not aware that I had to collect the cake a day before in the noon since they are operating on sunday and the collection point is in Bedok! So again had to abandon this plan and go for a 'normal' cake. T&F will be the best option since Zethan is so much into it so T&F it shall be. Just 4 days before the party, the cake was ordered. I had to even watsapp the hub the shortlisted 3 designs to decide which to order (Zethan asleep in the car thus I had to order the cake myself).

On the big day itself, we headed down to Chevron slightly earlier to make sure the caterer did setup the food in order, the nitty gritty details such as lanes allocation, rental of shoes etc and in case any guests were to arrive earlier than the stipulated time.

We were very glad that everything went in order though the kiddos actually hogged the 2 lanes thus we have to apologise to the adults that they did not manage to bowl afterall! The birthday boy had a rolling good time and seeing the priceless happiness on his face made all the hassles and hiccups worthwhile!

A big thank you to all our dear friends and family for attending the party, sharing the joy of the little man. Pardon us if we have not been good hosts and hope that you have enjoyed yourselves too.

Lastly Happy 3rd Birthday My Darling!

School

A terribly back dated post and there are simply more to come.

We had our housewarming on 10 December 2011 after much procrastination and major changes due to indecisiveness, shall not even go there. Anyhow we split into 2 sessions; noon for relatives and Babe's colleagues while the night session is mainly for friends with a little mix here and there. The turnout was pretty okay even though it is a super peak period for weddings and holidays. We had quite a fair amount of leftover food though, quite high wastages.

okay, back to the intended post. Zethan's 1st day of school.

The search for his school was a very eventful one since it was decided at the last minute to place him in a kindy rather than full day childcare. This is largely due to the fact that since receiving news of my pregnancy, all plans have to go through major change; me not returning to workforce or rather quite impossible and uphill task. Imagine the panic mode I went into instantly having to source for a school for Z and we all knew that finding a 'good school' is highly challenging since registration and queueing start way in the beginning of the year. To make matter worse, it is the school holiday!!! which means most of the schools are closed.

Had to sprung into action with instant research on schools which offer preschool program in the area which I am absolutely clueless about it totally. So Kiasuparents.com became my bedtime story for the next few days. Did some research on the choices available and started calling them only to be greeted by voicemails which is normal since it is the school holidays period. Change strategy to email instead and everyday was pessimistic checking the emails to know that the schools are full and the waitlist is longer than the queue for Mac's Hello Kitty plush toys.

Reluctantly and my last resort; PCF. I am stereotyping here big time but the though of having to send Z to PCF brought me to tears (you could attribute this to pregnancy hormones too!) BUT what can I do? There are simply no other options available and that is the last bet! Called the office up and was told that they still have a vacancy for Pre-nursery..Phews. The only good news out of all the nad news, yes I need that. However the teleconversation with the super not helpful nor friendly admin lady was rather agonising. I could only do the registration on 1st day of school including payments, buying of uniform and the yada yada. The slow processing preggy me actually took all her advice in and did not pursue further.

Took me quite a while to realise that what if there are a few people trying to vie the supposedly limited vacancy and all turned up on the 1st day trying to do registration?!! I would be a dead duck and no way I would allow that to happen! So after 1-2 weeks later, I called again hoping that the answerer is somebody more helpful but tough luck. She told me the exact same thing again but this time I push her further on my concern. I had insisted that she took down our details to reserve a place for us which she said she can't and what if we decide not to turn up on that day itself. I told her off and said there is no other options available for us now and there is no way we are not going to turn up for registration and it was them who did not allowed immediate registration despite the office operational during the school holidays! You can hear the unwillingness over at the other end of the phone when she took down the child's name and that's about all she required?!!

So the first day of school is quite a madness for us since there's tons to be done. Reached there 15mins earlier with the necessary documents and started filling up the registration form. There she is taing her own sweet time despite the rush and even had time to take her personal calls while there are more coming in for registration and purchase of uniforms. At long last, settled all the documentation and payments and it was almost 20minutes later affair. Happily she told me we might not be able to make it for school today since we had to get uniform and they highly encourage children to be in school uniform to attend school! So we rushed through the trying out of sizes, payment again, changing Zethan into the new and crumpled school uniform and rushed to the classroom few units away.

What happen next was even unacceptable for me not to mention Zethan. We are expected to drop off the child and leave! No orientation, not even 5 minutes with the child in the classroom!!! We were caught totally unprepared and Zethan cried badly when the door closed and all parents had to go. This mummy here sobbed badly even while walking to have my Mac breakfast, eating and sobbing. Must have been quite a sight, tsk tsk. Can't control my tearing totally, blame it on the preggy hormones again. I had to chop chop finish up my breakfast and walked back to school, peeping in on him. After dismissal brought him to playground for a while before going for lunch. He could tell me - Zethan cry...mummy, mummy!

The 1st 3 days will only be 1.5hrs sessions as part of 'orientation' for the children and there are 4 teachers around to help with the crying ones. I had to prepare Zethan throughout the day on what he had to do when dropped off in school. Smile and say goodbye, no crying as he is a big boy and gave assurance that I will be back for him soon and he will have lots of fun in school with new friends and toys.

The 2nd day went well, no crying from him though he still look a little confused. All smiley while preparing for school which touched me close to tears again. Sailed through 3rd day as well and like they always say, the rest are history. Not a tiny bit affected by the other crying children which went on for a good 2 weeks. Good job buddy, all grown up and you did very well!