Little booties for little Beanie

Pink booties with a matching headband.

Completed orange booties with a matching hat.

Since Little Beanie is still happily hatching inside my tummy, I do have some spare time on my hands and I've managed to complete the orange pair of booties with a matching hat, as well as a pair of pink booties.

If Beanie is still not out soon... I'll start working on a pair of cream booties, something for her to wear when she is 6 mths old.

But seriously... I'll really prefer to have Beanie out and screaming!

Beanie at 39 weeks

Still no signs of Beanie. Ugh.

There were some encouraging Braxton Hicks contractions and some of them were rather painful, but that was it. Just "practice" contractions, as long as I change my positions or rest for a while, they will usually stop.

And Beanie is happily piling on weight. The latest weight estimation of Beanie: 3.8 kg?!?!?!?!?!

I hope that's an OVER-estimation! How am I going to push a 3.8 kg baby out w/o epidural???

*stressed*

Meanwhile, I've decided to walk as much as I can to encourage Beanie to arrive. Hub is now already stationed in Singapore and both of us are really curious about how our Little Beanie looks like.

So, Beanie, please please please come out soon!!!

Beanie at 38 weeks

Little Beanie is still hatching inside me at 38 weeks. Hmmm... no signs or any indications that she is interested to greet me in person yet.

So, here I am, waddling around with a huge stomach, sweating buckets and feeling super hot all the time.

Beanie is luckily in the correct position and her head is engaged. Hub will also be flying back this Sat and will be stationed in Singapore until Beanie is born.

So, I am all ready to have her once Hub is here. So, Little Beanie... are you ready to arrive from this Sat onwards?

My birth plan

Ok, I know that it’s fashionable to write a birth plan nowadays, but my idea of a birth plan is not to have a plan.

Hrm… ok, not very organized, I know but end of the day, I’m just supposed to have a baby loh. That is the plan: have a baby, make sure that Beanie and I are safe and sound. Period.

Of course, I have done all the required readings: Hypno-birthing, Lamaze method, Bradley method … plus another 10 books on “how to birth naturally, drugs-free”. But my focus is very clear, to have both Beanie and I safe and sound. That is the most important thing… having a “good” birth experience is good to have, like icing on the cake.

Nonetheless, I do have a vague birth plan lah:

1) Epidural free. Other than the fact that I want to experience child-birth (it’s crazy, I know), since I’m only going to have 1 or maybe 2 kids, so this is like the only shot I can experience what many other mothers in the world experience, the process of giving birth and I am curious how things are going to be.

2) Labor at home for as long as I can. So, if I wana be epidural free, it is very important that I do NOT go to the hospital too early, because the nurses and doctor will tend to intervene by inducing or wana IV drip here and there, and basically make labor so painful that most mothers give up and take the epidural.
The best outcome is to arrive at the hospital where I'm at least 6 cm dilated, by then it will be too late to have the epidural anyway!

3) Get hubby to fly back from Hong Kong in time. OK, this is the idea: once I feel contractions (hopefully, not false labor), I’ll call Hubby up and he has a 7-hrs window period (inclusive of checking-in and travelling time) to get his ass to Singapore. During the 7 hours, I should be laboring at home.

4) If I am REALLY dying of pain, aiyah, take the epidural loh.

HAHAHA.

So… Beanie is now 37 weeks, her estimated weight is 3.1 kg. I think she is ready to arrive soon… maybe next wk? 8 Aug 2011 seems like a good date. ;)

Headbands galore!
Made the above 2 for Little Beanie

Above two are for Baby Alyssa and Baby Heidi. ;

Also made some hair clips for Little Katie


Having a big stomach now means that I spend more time on my butt then on my feet. Although I do try my best to walk around, but it is getting more and more tiring for me to put one foot in front of the other...

I prefer to swim any day, swimming is my favorite form of exercise now. Only when Im in a pool, I can finally feel weightless although being the only hippo in the pool, kinda makes me self-conscious. Thankfully, the pool isn't usually crowded during weekdays' lunch hour. I try my best to swim at least twice weekly but I must confess that my low energy level barely allows me to crawl to the pool once a week.

Anyway, with more time on my butt, I can now work on producing more headbands and hair clips for my Little Beanie, as well as for my friends' little girls. Hmmm... I wonder how the headbands will look like on their little heads, gotta get my friends to post some photos!

Finally, ONE bootie is completed!

After many days of struggle, I have finally completed ONE bootie! Crocheting is definitey harder than it looks...

Now, I just gotta concentrate on the other bootie so that Beanie can have a pair to wear. ;)

Hub saw the photo and commented "who wears orange shoes???"

*sniff*

Well... girls with the classic orange Birkin bags from Hermes will definitely wear orange shoes! Ok, Mummy will make the orange shoes... hrm, Beanie just gotta make Daddy buy her the orange Birkin bag to match the shoes. (but Mummy will borrow once a while ok?)

Another pet?

And I said I do not exactly like birds... But somehow, I ended with birds in my house once again.

This little yellow cockatiel flew into my neighbour's flat last Sunday. It was slightly injured with a bleeding left claw and a bruised nose. My neighbour's cat, Meimei, is a great hunter, who brings home dead birds,lizards,bugs,leaves... ... etc. The moment she saw Tweety, she was all ready to pounce on her. Luckily, my neighbour managed to catch MeiMei in time and saved Tweety's life.

So, to cut the story short, Tweety ended up at my place instead. How's Cookie taking Tweety's presence? She is totally NOT interested in Tweety at all.

Haha, my black-and-white cat took a look at Tweety, wrinkled her nose and went back to sleep.

Cookie, the cat with ZERO killer instinct.

So, a friend passed an old bird cage to me, and Tweety is now residing in my guest toilet. Whenever I'm free, I'll put Tweety's cage at my planter box so that it can enjoy some greenery and sunshine.

I tried to entice Tweety to come out of its cage to explore my house, but it isn't interested in leaving its safe haven and it is currently still rather defensive and keeps biting my hand whenever I have to handle it.

Hub seems to find Tweety very cute and keeps bugging me "how's the bird? How's the bird?" whenever we are on the phone.

Seriously... I find Tweety a rather silly thing, which poos all over the place, and not being very interactive at all.

Maybe I should let a bird lover to adopt Tweety instead.

34 weeks

I attended a wedding dinner 2 days ago and it hit me that I had not taken any photos of myself with Beanie ever since I got pregnant.

So I immediately bugged Hub to take a few pictures of myself with Beanie since I was all dressed up for the wedding dinner.

To date, I've put on about 9 kg, and from the last visit to the gynae, Beanie's weight was estimated to be around 2 kg, which was considered "average weight". Phew. All these while, I was worried that Beanie isn't putting enough weight because my appetite has been poor.

Indigestion is driving me crazy and I have to eat really small meals. Other expecting mommies are eating to their hearts content, and here I am, eating like a bird. Not only that, nuasea is also hitting me once again. I am constantly gagging in the morning and whenever I walked past strong smelling coffee shops and food courts, waves of nuasea would hit me. But I guess I should have an easier time losing the weight once Beanie is born. ;)

Really not easy being a mom and it's only the beginning!

Will you eat your own placenta?

Have any of you mummies out there consumed your own placenta? The thought of stir-frying my placenta is a bit too hard core for me, but placenta encapsulation seems very do-able.

The placenta contains very high level of prostaglandin which stimulates the shrinking of the uterus (ie: I can get back into shape faster and bleed less!), as well as small amounts of oxytocin which is basically a "feel-good" hormone that can ease post-natal depression and even promote breastmilk supply.

Although there isn't any real, scientific evidence that consumption of own placenta will truely reap the above mentioned benefits... but no harm right? It's my own placenta anyway.

The only catch is that I gotta find a reliable "service provider" that can ensure that the whole process of placenta encapsulation is done in a very hygienic manner and the placenta is indeed mine!

I managed to find 2 such "service providers" online and reviews from forums seem encouraging.

Am I the only crazy woman here who wana eat her own placenta??? None of my friends had done it, so I am on my own here. Hub is very supportive. In fact, he has heard about how the placenta can improve one's complexion and he wana eat MY placenta as well?!?! He is even wondering about the "texture of the placenta and suggest that we should stir-fry it with ginger and spring onions, just like pig's liver and do a taste test..."

And I thought I'm the crazy woman... guess there's a reason why we are married to each other. HAHAHA... Anyway, I told him that the placenta is full of FEMALE hormones, so unless he wana grow some "man-boobs", I seriously dont think it's a good idea for him to eat MY placenta. My placenta is ALL MINE to eat!

More hair accessories!

Made another batch of hair accessories this weekend, a knitted headband with a cloth flower and more hair clips. ;)

Hrm... I realize that the headband might be too thick for a new born, so most probably that will only come in handy when Beanie is at least a few months old. And I also realize that Beanie might not have much hair to start with... so all these hair clips might not be useful until Beanie is older as well!

Guess I gotta make more headbands instead!

Making baby hairclips

Materials bought from Arab street, Daiso and a craft shop in AMK.

Ta dah! Finished products! I'm quite proud of myself. ;) *1st attempt ok*

Will be giving these clips away to friends who has little girls.

Have mothers noticed how much the shops are charging for hair accessories for little girls? I nearly vomited when I saw some shops are selling $6 for a pair of hair clips. Hallo? $6 for a pair??? I can making these with a cost of $0.60 for a pair.

And prettier, cuter somemore.

So I went shopping for materials, and made a few hair clips yesterday evening. It was a rather fun exercise and I enjoyed myself. ;)

I will definitely be making many more hair clips since I bought 2 big bags of raw clips... So, friends with baby daughters are in luck! ;p

Meanwhile, I will also try making some baby headbands and sock monkeys (soft toys) too!

Heh... Little Beanie is lucky to have a crafty mum like me! *stingy more like it!*

Haha!

Sleepless nights

Everyone has been telling me to sleep more before Little Beanie arrives, but it is getting harder and harder to enjoy a good night's sleep nowadays. On the weekends, at least I can catch a nap, but during a workday, I do get really tired and sleepy in the afternoon, so much so that I start to develop headaches... Ugh. ;(

Typical sleep pattern at night:

11 -1130 pm: Goes to bed and try to sleep on my left side

12 am: Lucky if i'm asleep by now

2.30am - 3 am: Gotta turn to my right side because left arm starts to hurt. Turning around takes a lot of effort because Beanie is much heavier now and I gotta rearrange my pillows again.

5 am - 6 am: Cookie will start meowing at the door. She has begun to sleep in the living room instead of the bedroom, and has so far, been behaving very well. Hrm... Except for the loud meowing, head-banging or scratching of the door in the early morns. I don't mind the early hours because usually around this time, I gotta wake up to pee anyway.

So, I will feed Cookie and let her out of the house, and try to catch another 1+ hour of sleep before waking up to get ready for a workday at 7.15 am.

But last night was really bad, I woke up at 2 am, 4 am, 5 am (Cookie's fault), 630 am. I feel like a zombie right now.

Or maybe my body is preparing itself for the sleep deprivation in months to come!

Knitting
I went for my very FIRST knitting class last night and knitting is much harder than I thought!

My neighbour was very kind to pass me her old knitting needles and yarns, unfortunately they were too big to knit baby booties, so I still have to make my way down to a handicraft shop to buy a new set of needles and yarn to knit some baby stuff for Little Beanie.

Previously, my neighbour mentioned that knitting would be just like doing cross stitch, ie: easy peasy. And I was like "ahh, ok. I have done cross stitch before. So knitting should not be a problem right?"

WRONG.

I must have killed many of my brain cells last night while trying VERY hard to coordinate my fingers. Geez, this was much harder than it looked! I made so many mistakes but thankfully the instructor was very patient and she didn't make me feel toooooooooo stupid.

And I wonder do I enough time to knit her a pair of bootie before Beanie arrives? Looking at my progress last night, I really gotta buck up!

Cookie, the baby until the REAL baby arrives

Cookie's sulky corner. This is where Cookie likes to sulk. Whenever she is displeased about something, she will sulk at this corner. But not that we care anyway... Haha.

Cookie has to check out EVERY new piece of furniture in the house. Nothing escapes her eyes... This Ikea step-stool becames her personal step-stool to the retro cabinet, where she likes to hang out when I am in the toilet doing some hand-washing.

Once again, Cookie has to lay her paws on everything. Even this little canvas box that I bought .

This lamp as well...

Cookie is usually rather lady-like when it comes to her sleeping positions, unless she is dead-tired. Guess this was one of those days when comfort was more important than style.

Cookie is a semi-stray cat, which we kind of adopted when we moved into our flat about 1 year ago.

Previously, she treated our place like a hotel and only came over whenever she felt like it. Now, she will start running towards me at the void deck whenever I take out the house keys and will follow me up the stairs to my flat. She sleeps over every night and follows me around in the house.

Now that Hub is away in Hong Kong, it is Cookie who keeps me company and I spend most of my evenings talking to her, as if she is a person. She will usually just flinches her ears or gives me an occasional yawn as a form of acknowledgement. At times when I am eating some prawns or fish, then I will suddenly become her new-found best friend, and she will become very "manja", rubs my legs, paws me at my thighs with her little right paw and looks at me with her big, golden eyes, of course, begging for treats.

I have grown to be very foud of this little cat and I hope that Cookie will continue to be part of our lives when Little Beanie arrives.

But I'm afriad that Cookie will have to learn to sleep in the living room soon... Currently, she is sleeping at a corner of my bed. When Beanie arrives, I will have no choice but to let Cookie sleep in the living room instead.

Sleep training for Cookie gotta start soon!

A little update from me and Little Beanie

Finally I am done with the 6-hours-marathon CFA L3 exam yesterday, I really hope I can finally pass this time round. To pass is to score 70% and above. To be honest, I am not confident of achieving that but nothing much I can do about it now, except to wait for the results in Aug.

Meanwhile, I'm 29 weeks now into my pregnancy and I gotta start preparing for Beanie's arrival! Her room is still in a mess, so we gotta get our act together to ensure that her room is decent and the Confinement Lady gets a decent bed to sleep.

Next, I gotta prewash her baby clothes, blankets, toys. Figure out how to use the breast pumps, replace some of the old parts, get her cot ready, knit her booties, hand-make a soft doll for her, buy some modern cloth diapers and convince Hub to use them.

Woah.

Then gotta read up on natural birthing techniques. Friends have recommended some books for me to read and I am hoping for a drug-free, natural birth experience. *keeping my fingers cross*

I will be giving pre-natal classes a skip as Hub is still based in HK, and if I were to attend the classes alone. I would most probabaly feel very alone and depressed, so might as well just read up some good reference books instead.

Little Beanie is very active, always moving and whooshing around in my tummy. Especially so, during and after my mealtimes. Guess she is actively exercising her limbs when she is being fed!

Talking about exercising, I've been swimming regularly at least twice a week and practising my yoga moves 3 times a week as well. All these are to prepare my body for the up and coming labour. I really pray for a safe and smooth delivery with Hubby at my side.

We are still wondering how we can coordinate, such that Hub can fly back in time to go through labour with me... Hmmm, hopefully Beanie can be corporative and arrives near the estimated date of birth: 20 Aug!

11 more weeks to go!

It's red!!!

I've never thought that I will live to see my Frangipani flowers, but it did!!!

Yay! I'm so happy! ;)

I've been wondering what would be the color of flowers if the tree ever bloom. Due to meanly bugs problem and the fact that I do not get enough sun at my balcony, I never have much hope of seeing my poor tree flowers.

So when ever I walked past a frangipani tree in full bloom, I would look at the flowers jealously and marveled at the beautiful colors of white, yellow, pink, red and even orange.

Giving thanks to the recent hot weather, seems that my frangipani is doing much better. Less meanly bugs and it actually flowers!

Just wana share my joy! ;)

Useless Furniture

Of course, Cookie must check out all the new items in the house. ;)

Hub and I have a weakness for useless furniture. In fact, we often walk into a furniture shop with the intention to buy item A, but more often than not, we will walk out of that shop buying items X, Y and Z instead. Not only did we NOT buy item A, we usually ended up spending MORE than the budgeted amount to buy silly items instead.

That was what happened a few weeks ago.

We were supposed to shop for a single bed, meant for the confinement nanny, which will also double up as Beanie Girl’s bed as she grows older. So, we have been visiting furniture shops, looking for a cool yet functional (and hopefully reasonably priced bed). Ikea didn’t quite cut in under the “cool” factor, so we visited shops like John Erdos, Air and Motto.

But as usual, instead of buying a bed, we ended up with… … a retro looking cabinet and 2 wooden planks-paintings instead, which of course busted the budget for the intended bed.

Of course, both of us love the retro cabinet… with the iron grill as doors, we simply couldn’t resist…

So, thankfully, we managed to buy a simple single bed from Ikea for only $69 and that made me feel so much better about our impulsive buys.

Hrm… I bet Beanie Girl can’t tell the difference anyway between an Ikea bed and a “cool and funky” bed that costs 4 digits.

I promise that Mummy will still make your room looks as good and as chic as the rest of our house!

My letter to LTA, PTC (Public Transport Council) and SBS

After reading today's article on The Straits Times regarding about SBS putting a block to 3rd-party apps, I've decided that Enough. Is. Enough.

I'm a frequent user of SG Buses, this free app that is much more user friendly than Iris. Seriously.... Iris is useless. It takes FOREVER to load, the app doesn't seem to be well maintained at all. Before I downloaded SG Buses, I used to even log into the website of SBS to check on the timings of the buses. That also didnt seem to work because it also takes FOREVER for the website to load.

And now, SBS is blocking these efficient, user-friendly apps. SBS senior VP of Corporate Communications Tammy Tan, referring to these free apps and said (as quoted from the ST), "This could result in wrong information being released to end-users, which is something we will not be able to control. The Introduction of captcha is to prevent unauthorised re-use of propreitary information".

Seriously... your proprietary information is not even useful or user-friendly in the first place. If SBS has already sank in money to develop some useless applications, then admit your mistakes and out source this value-added service to some other more efficient vendor to do the work. Instead, SBS decided to sabotage these vendors which has provided FREE services instead.

I'll really like to remind Miss Tammy Tan that SBS is a PUBLIC TRANSPORT company, it's purpose is to service the public. And the best part, PTC's secretary and quality service manager Eugene Tan said that "regulator typically focus on basic concerns such as fares and bus services, and that bus time apps were a value-added service and did not generally come under its preview".

Well... if SBS's buses are very frequent, then maybe bus schedules are "value-added" services. But when I have to wait 20 mins for a bus, bus schedules and bus time apps aren't "value-added" services, they are part of the "total service" that a public bus company should provide. With today's usage of internet and smart phone applications, it is high time for PTC to include such "value-added" services as BASIC services.

"Dear sir/Mdm

I will like to highlight about the recent shut-down of 3rd-party apps, such as SG Nextbus and SG Buses. I am a frequent user of these 2 applications as they are much more user friendly than Iris, SBS's proprietary app. Iris app is extremely slow to load and even when I use my smartphone to access SBS's website to find out about the arrival timings of the buses, the website is also very slow in processing my request. In conclusion, SBS's proprietary app cannot compete with free downloadable apps, which were previously doing a service to fellow commuters like me.

If that is the case, SBS should outsource this service to more capable and efficient service providers instead. As a paying commuter, why am I being denied of a free and efficient service that has enabled me to commute more conveniently? On today’s Straits Times, 24 May 2011, SBS's Senior VP of corporate Communications Tammy Tan, said that "The introduction of captcha is to prevent unauthorized re-use of proprietary information". However, due to inefficiency of Iris, commuters like me, is unable to use SBS's proprietary information in the first place!

Public transport operators, such as SBS should look at how to enlarge, instead of limit their outreach to commuters. Its focus is to enable commuters to have a smooth and efficient usage of public transport service instead of "safe-guarding" its proprietary information, when such information is meant to benefit the public.

I also suggest that, maybe it’s time that PTC include such “value-added service” into its purview as Bus-time app is indeed a valuable service to frequent bus user like me, where I do not stay next to a MRT station and still rely on buses to commute."

Minimalistic parenting

Now that most people around me noticed my bump, many asked me 2 questions:
1) So… when are you getting a car?
2) Are you getting a maid?

My answer: No and No.

Then most will stare at me in disbelief and some will even smirk and give me a “I-see-how-long-you-can-last” kind of look. Well… I, myself am also curious to how long I can last without a car or a domestic stay-in helper when Beanie finally arrives.

Hub and I can definitely afford a car if we want to, but for what? To park in office? After doing our sums, maintaining a car actually costs more than our current HDB mortgage. We’ll rather save that money for our 2nd property in time to come.

As for a stay-in domestic helper, I do not need one now as I am staying alone and I have a part-time helper who comes in once a week and I think that is more than enough. When Beanie arrives, and if I cannot cope, I will request my part-time helper to come over twice a week instead of once.

I will be lying if I said I wasn’t tired by the end of a work day and yet I still gotta do laundry or cook dinner for myself and wash up as well. But… I enjoy the independence, I enjoy the peace and quiet time that I have to myself and to my cat. While doing these household chores, I take it as exercise and it isn’t that much of a big deal.

I hope I can set myself as an example to Beanie, who learns by watching that a responsible adult will do his/her own chores and helps to clear the mess in the house. Monkeys see, monkeys do right?

I also don’t believe in buying expensive toys or items for babies and children because they outgrow these toys/items in a flash. Hand-me downs are a god-send, and I personally do not encourage consumerism. “Buy/Use what you need” is my mantra, although I must admit that little girls’ clothes and accessories are like the cutest things in the world.

So, currently I am having ideas about hand-making some soft toys and simple dresses for Beanie Girl when I am done with my CFA exam in June. Hmmm… I am not a art-&-craft person, but the thought of making little stuffed rabbits and cutesy patchwork dresses is kind of exciting!

GE 2011

Now that the General Election is over, time for some reflection and analysis.

I stay in Bishan-TPY constituency where SPP was contesting under the leadership of Mr. Chiam. I admire Mr’s Chiam’s dedication and perseverance for the past 27 years in his service to the residents of Potang Pasir, despite the lack of resources. And for that, I have given him, my vote.

Unfortunately, it was not meant to be and it seems to me that he will most probably retire from politics for good. Although he has put up a good fight, his greatest weakness was the lack of proper renewal plan for his party. The new candidates whom Mr. Chiam had recruited joined the party too late and didn’t have the time to work the ground.

SPP’s mandate: “Service before self” comes across as a mandate for a volunteer group. There wasn’t a very clear indication of what SPP really stands for. So, moving forward, If SPP is serious about setting itself as a credible political party, it has to differentiate itself from WP and SDP from a political stand-point.

Most Singaporeans are a practical bunch. At the end of the day, we are concerned about bread-and-butter issues like housing, jobs and cost of living. The grudge against the mass influx of foreign talents only heated up when local infrastructure (ie: public transport and public housing) weren’t ready to accommodate the recent increase and these issues are affecting our lives.

Ideologies such as democracy, fair-play and justice within the political climate simply do not register with a typical Singaporean if he/she has a high paying job, gets her HDB flat on his/her first ballot (without paying through his/her nose) or basically a comfortable life.

WP has recognized the pragmatism of most Singaporeans, and thus more Singaporeans can relate themselves to the party. (Me, for sure). Some other parties campaigned for true blue democracy and other very idealistic notions that I am not interested in.

Without food in your stomach, without a job to pay your bills, without a roof over your head, talking about democracy doesn’t get you anywhere in life.

Most Singaporeans are a well travelled bunch. I don’t about you, but when I visit neighboring countries, I do count my lucky stars that I am a Singaporean. In fact, even when I was having long vacations in developed countries, I still give thanks to the fact that I am born in Singapore, have a decent paying job, to enjoy a relative high quality of life which isn’t that far off from a first-world, developed nation.

I hope the ruling party will truly “reform” and reconnect with its fellow citizens. I am looking forward to how policies will be penned out for the next 5 years. In fact, this year’s National Day Rally will most probably be a very interesting one!

Now that the election is over, let all Singaporeans come together and work towards a better future. For ourselves, for our children, for our beloved country, Singapore.