Afterwards I had lunch with a bunch of lady colleagues and we went to Teo Heng at Sembawang Shopping Centre for a crazy sing-song time! Had dinner at a Wan Chai Hong Kong Kitchen before heading home... Had such a blast with my colleagues, really love them to bits!
2 June 2012 Week 27! And I'm going on a local hotel staycation with 3 lady colleagues... we're gonna have lots of fun! :D Poor hubby has been home alone though... while I was away at my folks' place and tonight too... tomorrow I'm going back to my folks' place again because I'm having a workshop at HCI on Monday and Tuesday, and it'll be easier to go there from my parents' place than mine.
6 June 2012 Updating this in school... came back to clear up my messy desk but ended up with a headache and no mood to do anything. Staycation was great though. First time I dipped in pool in my bikini! Because obviously my bump can't fit into my one-piece swimsuit anymore... Workshop at HCI was ok, and after day 2 of my workshop, I went for my first antenatal lesson yesterday evening with hubby. It was very enriching and fun! Mrs Wong, the instructor, also taught the hubbies to massage for the pregnant wives, and to talk to the baby bumps and say, "baby, be good to mummy!" Hee, so cute!
My colleague gave me a pair of sweet light pink baby sandals just now! She bought them from KL when she was there with her family over last weekend. Really nice of her! =) Later meeting 2 NIE girlfriends for lunch at Changi Airport... still feeling blah, hopefully my headache will go away soon!
13 June 2012 Week 28!! Had my gynae appointment last Saturday. Baby's going fine but I need to watch my diet as I've been gaining weight. =P Have gained 6 kg so far... although I seriously hope it won't go up any further! But baby's weight gain will peak in the last month... I can't believe how much more weight I'll have to put on. Urgh~
This week is a week of indulgence! I did a bit of housekeeping at home on Monday and then went back to my folks' place to spend the night. Yesterday my mum bought breakfast (YUM!) and cooked a sumptuous lunch as my close cousin's coming over to eat with us. After lunch I went to Jurong Point with my cousin and we ended up having a sinful dessert at Haagen Dazs!
Went for my second antenatal lesson after hanging out with my cousin in JP... took a train down to AMK Hub to meet hubby and went for the lesson together. The second lesson focused on the techniques for combating labour pains... including breathing techniques for relaxation, and details on other techniques available, such as massage, epidural, laughing gas and hydrotherapy etc. We learnt the different ways of breathing to cope with early contractions as well as intense pain... and hubbies learnt to massage the wifeys to reduce pain... and everyone learnt that the last thing we should do is to bite/slap our husbands... Keke!
Later I'm meeting my cousin again, and another girlfriend, for vegetarian steamboat buffet at Lotus Restaurant in Quality Hotel, and then there's another buffet on Friday, at Carousel after my close colleague's ROM! Oh boy, what a week! Whatever happened to "watch my diet"?! ><
15 June 2012 Had high tea buffet today! And haven't eaten anything since buffet until now (it's close to midnight)... had so much food at Carousel!!
Chatting with a colleague on Facebook and reading up some forums as well... my colleague is a single girl that used to go mambo with, and asked me where I'm delivering. While comparing KK and TMC with her, and reading the forums, I was overwhelmed by the fact that I'm so blessed, and I'm telling her too. I'm blessed to be able to afford to go to a private hospital, as I read some mothers wrote in forums how they struggle to pay for their subsidized visits at KK, and even had to skip some appointments because they couldn't afford to go for every single one. Then I saw a thread about mothers with acne problem during pregnancy... my mum had terrible acne problem too when she was expecting me, but I'm blessed to be looking radiant and good. I saw mothers complaining about stretchmarks from 6 months onwards, but I'm in my 7th month and I'm stretchmark-free... so far! I really wish it'll stay that way!! *fingers crossed* I saw mothers complaining about confinement ladies, or the lack of people helping during their confinement, but I have my mum to be there for me and to cook my favourite food for me. There are mothers who live with in-laws and quarrel with in-laws every other day and had a hard time living with in-laws for years and years... while I have in-laws that are nice to me and always give in to me. How can I not feel grateful and blessed? Even my baby cots (yes, two of them!) are given by our friends, plus baby clothes, maternity wear and maternity milk, as well as baby car seat from hubby's colleagues and baby carrier from cousins... and even a baby monitor from my SIL! I think I'm truly a very very fortunate person and I am very very thankful.
18 June 2012 Last week of holidays. Had planned to go back to school everyday, but hubby's on leave today for his eye checkup (one year post-lasik) and I decided to go with him and have a day off together. Left home early in the morning feeling hungry but looking forward to a good brunch together in town... however, very unfortunately, we got involved in a traffic accident on the way to town. It was minor but I was so worried sick for my baby I cried all the way to TMC with hubby feeling super sorry... luckily baby's okay... great to see baby's heartbeats going strong on the ultrasound; it's really a relief. Now I'm grateful for every single kick that baby sends my way... it's assuring to know baby is active and sound. Had to miss his eye checkup appointment at 10am, and I was starving. Sent his car to the workshop and then had a quick breakfast of carrot cake at the hawker centre near the workshop before coming home in a cab. Did nothing but napped the whole day away the moment I'm home... Now I've just woken up and feeling hungry. It's already 6:20pm! Just ordered pizzas... now waiting for dinner to arrive.
No more off days after today! Tomorrow will be back to prepare for SEL workshop. Wednesday will be in school for a camp and staying overnight in school... until Thursday, when the camp will continue, plus there will be staff meeting in the morning and I'll be conducting the SEL workshop along with my committee members for the staff in the afternoon. Friday will be department meeting... then school reopens already. No more rest! *sob* I'll definitely miss napping on and off everyday over the school holidays.
23 June 2012 Yes, I've survived an overnight camp in school, staff meeting, facilitating a workshop to all the staff and then department meeting and finally it's weekend again! Last weekend before school reopens T_T but I should be grateful that at least I had many restful days over the holidays. My maternity leave will officially start in week 9 of term 3... taking 2 weeks before my EDD to prepare myself, and hopefully baby will not pop too soon before I'm ready with preparing myself! Hahaha...
At my parents' place now... had 2 yummy rice dumplings, always my favourite ones since young. My mum's super yummilicious homemade dumplings! When I was a teen I could take 4 for a meal! I can do that now too if I want to, as mum's dumplings aren't big, but that will probably give me indigestion and plenty of weight gain! Haha...
Reading this book "Bringing Up Bebe" and loving it! I don't know why the book made such a big hoo-haa of the "French way" of bringing up a baby... a lot of seems very common sense to me! And as the book compare that with the "American way" of bringing up baby... I realized that's really how most Singaporeans bring up theirs too... ditching "common sense" (of allowing the baby to take "no" as an answer and discovering learning at their own pace), and rather have spoilt brats (giving in to the kid all the time) with no childhood (as many enrichment lessons as one could afford). Are we going the American way?
One very interesting fact that I read was that when parents always give in to every whimper of the kid, the parents are treating the kid like an addict. And soon the kid is addicted. At times when the parents cannot do much but to refuse, the kid gets frustrated and throw tantrums. The parents may be wanting to give all they can to the kid so that the kid is a happy kid, but a kid like this does not have a happy childhood because he gets frustrated easily. When he throws tantrums and he cries, he is frustrated and very unhappy, and that happens pretty often in a spoilt brat's life. A kid like this grows up wanting "instant gratification" but it's not really possible in the real world, so the kid continues to be frustrated easily and also gives up easily, thus hindering success. On the contrary, when parents know how to say "no" or "wait" to a kid, the kid will learn to accept no as an answer or be patient enough to wait. This kid knows how to cope with frustration, is more resilient and patient, and thus more likely to succeed in life. This is what I read in the book, do you agree? Actually I thought that was how I was actually brought up... what happened to the local parenthood scene along the way?
I don't know if I'm exactly looking forward to school reopening on Monday, but I do realize that it's the one milestone that I'd have to cross before delivering my baby girl in the late August, or early September... as I'm due on 2 September. Baby's getting really big now! So I foresee she may wanna pop out earlier for a glimpse of reality. And then it'll be too late to want it back inside the happy darkness. Baby, are you ready? You will have to learn to accept "no" as an answer, and be an independent learner who's keen to discover new things. Mummy will be here for you to guide you along the way, and you'll just have to be a good girl when mummy wants some "me" time. When I have my "me" time, you have yours too. And that's when you'll learn how to play and discover on your own. Just like mummy did when mummy was a kid.
30 June 2012 Last day of June. Went to TMC for my check this morning. Baby is doing well, in fact she's getting on the heavy side already! After that we went to Plaza Singapura to return the Starhub set top box, had lunch at the food court and then watched Madagascar. Baby was kicking when the 'move it move it' song came out at the end of the movie! Hee... Came home and finished "Bring up Bebe". It's a good read. =) Tried to nap but couldn't sleep. Hubby was sleeping soundly though. He's still sleeping now but I'm hungry so I got up to order dinner. This conversation went on just now as I disturbed him from his sleep...
Me: Dear I'm hungry...
Hubby: You go and order dinner...
Me: Pastamania?
Hubby: Okay.
Me: What you want?
Hubby: The usual.
Me: Creamy chicken?
Hubby: Mmmm...
Me: Fusilli?
Hubby: Why you say I silly?
Me: (-___-")
Haha... hope everyone's having a great weekend! I've got work to do... although it's a long weekend for me, I don't think I'll get to go back to my parents' place this weekend. Gotta settle lots of work stuff, work review, set papers etc before I go for my maternity leave some 8 weeks later!
