Actually I'm quite worried as I will be having my glucose test on next Monday and this week I'm feasting away like mad... as it's my birthday week! I feel like my baby has been growing very fast and a friend did mention if I have already taken my glucose test and checked if I have gestational diabetes. I read up on gestational diabetes and indeed, one of the symptoms is big baby. Urgh, that got me really worried for a while! But now I guess, what will be, will be. I shall just indulge as it's my birthday week, and hopefully I can clear my glucose test next week with no issues. Keeping fingers crossed and yes, you may pray for me. =P
12 March 2015
It's my birthday. Last year, I had plans to have an extravagant birthday on my 35th birthday, just like my big 30 celebration. However, I was kept busy and before I know it, my birthday is here. With no plan at all, today ended up being plainer than any other ordinary plain day. I ate breakfast (bread) alone at my work cubicle in the morning and now lunching alone in a foodcourt. However, I'm still very thankful for all the birthday well wishes on all the various social media platforms.
Here's my fried horfun in the foodcourt, right now at 3:30pm. (omg it's actually very oily!)
13 March 2015
Hubby came home yesterday with a chocolate banana cake from Awfully Chocolate and my girl got to sing me a birthday song. And then hubby brought me out for dinner... I wasn't very hungry so we went to Sushi Express and hubby was raving about how "cheap" my birthday dinner was... haha. So it's a good birthday afterall. Love spending time with the family.
Today, my cousin treated me to high tea at The Landing Point, The Fullerton Bay Hotel. I'm feeling so pampered!!
14 March 2015
Happy Pi Day!
Today we went out for lunch, then brought our girl to the salon for a haircut. She's really cool throughout the haircut and we're so proud of her. Even the staff in the salon said that she behaved herself so well and they welcome her back for her next hair cut.
Lunch was ten don (my special order with yasai tempura only) for me and half udon for my girl. Hubby had katsu don which is not in pic.
I used to blog about food in another blog but now I'm too busy to maintain multiple blogs, so here... more food pics! I cooked this for my girl for dinner. This is just a quarter of her actual portion. Hello Kitty pasta with lettuce, seasoned with ketchup and black pepper. And she loves it! =)
15 March 2015
Went back to my parents' place for dinner and my brother bought a blackforest cake to celebrate my belated birthday! Another birthday song, another candle blowing and cake cutting... I feel so spoiled... I truly love my family!! ❤
16 March 2015
Today wasn't a good day. I fasted overnight for my glucose test, and after drinking the yucky sugary drink and doing my second test, I'm not proud to declare that I did not clear the test and now I'm put on a strict diet plan, and I'll have to prick myself to do the test next week for 2 consecutive days, 7 times on each day. It won't be easy and I'm still taking time to accept the fact. So much for an indulgent birthday week. Anyway, I'm not gaining too much weight, which is good, but according to Dr Tham, my baby's overweight. Therefore a strict diet will help too, in case baby gets too big and get stuck during natural birth. It will do more damage than good to the unborn little one.
There were plans for two buffets this week as it's the term break for school, but I've cancelled both of them as I need to stick to my strict diet. So this was lunch yesterday.
For dinner, MIL cooked brown rice porridge, oil-free pan-fried egg and blanched green veggies for me. My diet plan will include small meals at short intervals, and the snacks I can take will include a slice of wholemeal bread or 2 slices of wholemeal crackers. We bought those after lunch yesterday, plus Meiji low fat milk as I'm only allowed to take water and low fat milk. No juices, Milo, or any sugary drink. I had to argue that because of my job nature, I may not be able to stick to light meals/snacks every 2 hours as I have 3 consecutive teaching hours on some days, but Dr Tham insisted that I must take a break from class to eat. Sigh... No one can understand how unhealthy and tough a teacher's life is. So I updated my Facebook:
"A doctor can never understand a teacher's life. He'll want us to do everything strictly for the sake of our health, but they cannot understand a teacher's work is super unhealthy and everything's out of our control. He can only give this much advice but how much can I follow? He'll never understand. Who will understand a teacher? Only another teacher..."
Stepping out of class during a lesson is a big no-no. I don't even dare to leave for a toilet break... and often have to hold uncomfortably and miserably until the lesson's over. I have no rights to step out of class to eat during my timetabled teaching hours... unless I really am so sick of teaching that I wanna get myself sacked. Not yet, I need this job.
Alright enough of my whinings... with no more buffet gatherings this week, my term break will turn into a bore. Tomorrow I'll be heading out for my haircut, then back to school to mark and then join my ex-CCA for performance night during their March annual camp. Looking forward to Thursday when I'll get to meet my close colleagues for a fun-filled karaoke session. Seriously, I haven't sung for so long, I doubt I'll even sing much during the session... perhaps I don't remember how to sing any song anymore, except nursery rhymes. Not looking forward to the end of term break, as I still have papers to set... and paper setting is killer! I can try to finish every other piece of work in school and not bring work home at all if possible (since I'm on 4/5 part-load) but paper setting... ah, paper setting... always such a heavy chore and requires hours of undivided attention. Hardly possible at home, but I'll try!
17 March 2015
Today's post will be just a boring meal report.
Breakfast was 2 slices of wholemeal bread with a slice of cheese, followed by a small cup of low fat milk.
Morning snack was a slice of wholemeal bread.
Lunch was vegetarian kway chup (ermm, not as fattening as the real deal right?) at a nice vegetarian stall in Jurong East... I was choosing between vegetarian chicken rice, lor mee and kway chup. Come on, it's a rare treat! Traveled halfway across island for my haircut near Chinese Garden... cutting my hair super short in preparation for confinement. If anyone's interested, my hairstylist since 2002 is now the boss at I Capelli, in block 350 opposite Chinese Garden MRT Station.
Afternoon snack was Mr Bean soya milk with no sugar.
Dinner was brown rice with veggies, long beans and beancurd from a vegetarian stall near school, before my ex-CCA's performance night.
Supper was a cup of low fat milk.
Yup, I'm required to take 6 light meals a day. Although I won't consider my meals really light. Haha.
18 March 2015
Today's meal report:
Breakfast - 2 slices of wholemeal bread with cheese
Morning snack - 3 slices of wholemeal crackers
Lunch - sushi (^__^) tamago, inari and kappa maki
Afternoon snack - caesar salad (I think I'm overeating)
Dinner - QQ rice purple rice ball
Supper - a mug of Meiji skimmed milk
That's my kappa maki and my colleagues enjoyed the other dishes in the background. Back in school to do some marking, then met some colleagues and ex-colleague for lunch at Sushi Tei.
Came home with these. Took a bite of my purple rice ball (with cucumber, french beans, carrot, mock floss and braised tofu) and my girl came to ask me what's that. "That's my dinner", as I tried to take a shot. She started pulling at my hand (thus the blur shot) while instructing, "妈咪吃饭! 不要拍照了!" ("Mummy eat your dinner! Stop taking photo!") She's like the little boss yet so sweet too... after I've finished the rice ball, she said, "洁丢。妈咪喝牛奶。" ("Jie [her chinese name] throw away. Mummy drink milk.") Took over my empty plastic wrapper and tissue paper (which she brought for me to wipe my mouth) and promptly went to throw away at the dustbin.
So, who's more like mum now?
19 March 2015
I'm bad. It's only been 2 days since I go on my controlled diet and I decided to go on a cheat day today! *oops* Don't worry I'm not taking anything sweet or sugary... so far I had a heavier-than-usual morning snack (more like another breakfast) and yup, I decided I'm not posting my meals for today in case you gasped at my disobedience. But here's my lunch today:
Unfortunately no green leafy vegetable available... will prefer that to this broccoli. Only love my mum's blanched broccoli! Trying to stay on track for lunch because will be heading out for dinner tonight and wondering where I'll be having dinner...
And I'm going for karaoke session this evening! Long time no sing~ Actually... I haven't sung for such a long time that I don't think I really feel like singing... and I used to be quite a mic-hogger. Hahaha... *shameful* After karaoke will be dinner with my colleagues and friends. Let me head back to marking and I shall post my dinner later~
Taadaa!!
20 March 2015
Play date for the little girls! Met up with 2 of the mummies from my first-born's EDD group and our 2.5-year-old girls finally get to meet up and play again after so long. Dearie Angel is the sweetie mummy who hosted us and whipped up sumptuous meals for us too~ I had hearty lunch and dinner at her place, and she made us super healthy sugarless muffins for tea! :D Didn't feel nice to go empty-handed just to munch :p so I bought her some bananas and blueberries, which she used for the muffins. =)
22 March 2015
Yesterday was spent at home the entire day... no update. Too lazy. *bleah*
Lunch: MIL bought from a nearby vegetarian stall - brown rice with lots of veg! In fact, so much veg that I had to put them onto the top part of the takeaway foam box. MIL and my girl shared the box of vegetarian noodles in the far corner and it's also topped with so much beans and beancurd! I had some beancurd from their box. =P
My mum's cooking is always my favourite! I don't even have to give her any extra instructions because she always cooks such healthy dishes with minimal salt, no sugar and very little oil. Dinner was lotus root and peanuts soup, blanched kang kung in spicy bean paste, french beans fried eggs and stirfried mushrooms with vegetarian mock ham, along with brown rice of course! ❤
23 March 2015
Salute to our first Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the man who gave us what we have today. No one owes us a living. But we, the Singaporean sons and daughters, owe ours to him, his dedication, his groundbreaking decisions and his team. Thank you, sir.
And next to our current Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong: The world's looking at you as you addressed the nation while grieving the loss of your beloved father. Any other man would not be nearly as tough as you to do the same. We are full of respect for you, sir.
Double-whammy Monday. End of the very very short term break with outstanding work to be done, plus news of the passing of our beloved first Prime Minister, the man who made our current comfortable standard of living possible. Monday can't get any bluer than this.
Anyway Monday is also my packed day... not good because I was staaaarving by noon! And my 3 consecutive hours of lessons only ended at 1pm... =(
Today in school:
0650 - 2 slices of wholemeal bread with cheese
0940 - 1 slice of wholemeal bread
1315 - rice with mixed veg and egg, plus sliced guava
Sometimes my students really get on my nerves. I don't know if I'm just getting less patient because I'm pregnant or they are really short-circuiting me... I keep having the urge to really SCREAM at people! And shouting at those kids makes my bump so tight and uncomfortable! *sigh*
I had a melt down last night at home and I really screamed. I was snapping at my hubby and he snapped back at me. And I literally snapped. I threw the phone down on the floor, walked into the bedroom, slammed the door and screamed into the pillow. I screamed and screamed until my throat is sore and I have no more voice to scream out loud anymore. Then I cried. I cried and cried for very long as hubby came in to look on, waiting for me to calm down. It was a long while. And he talked to me. I needed to vent but kinda regretted screaming because I'm having a terrible sore throat right now due to all the screaming last night. But I had my biggest regret last night, which was to shout at him that I didn't want this baby. This pregnancy has been tiring, aching, stressful, anything but good. I'm tired and sore and stressed. Work is dreadfully piling and I hate to be suffering from this freaking gestational diabetes thingy. And he didn't help. He said he didn't know what help he can give me unless I ask him explicitly. I had enough of doing everything alone, while tired and sore, and he's sitting there watching anime or surfing Facebook. I had enough of being like the single mum. I don't know how to cope and I screamed "I don't want this baby anymore" at him several times. I hope my baby won't take it to heart... baby I love you. But I'm just too stressed, too tired, too sore, too uncomfortable. I'm not being myself, and it's been this way the whole pregnancy. Everyday I wanna snap at someone, everyday I wanna cry. It's a sad pregnancy... I hope it doesn't mean I'll have a sad baby.
Today, I made another boo-boo when I'm in school. My pregnancy pea-brain is at its peak now. I thought I had my pure physics notes on my table and my N(A) physics notes in the printing room inside the general office on the ground floor. Then I went to the printing room and I couldn't find, so I conclude that it must be on the table and I'm having a pea-brain moment. I needed to rush for the N(A) physics lesson on the ground floor right after morning assembly, so I asked a colleague for a favour to bring me the notes from my table in the staffroom on the third floor... then he realized they're not on my table but in the printing room all along. I just didn't notice it because the notes were underneath the worksheets. Oh my, I'm so sorry for making him run up and down in his only free time, and he's rushing to submit a competition report due today. I promised to treat him to Starbucks some day.
On the brighter note... last night's dinner was good.
That's last night's dinner and today's lunch~ MIL cooked dinner the way I like it - no sugar and minimal salt! Yums~ The family is used to food heavy with seasoning and she didn't taste the dish as she specially cooked a portion for me. She kept asking me if it's too bland but it's not bland at all. The beancurd and the little bit mushroom balls (mock mutton meat) are already a bit salty and added to the flavour, so it's just nice!! She also cooked an individual serving of brown rice specially for me, but it was too much so I portioned the rice and the dish into two equal portions, and saved a portion for work today.
25 March 2015
Realized it's 3 plus, I was hungry and I haven't had lunch! So I quickly packed some work and left school for a late late lunch... heading home to continue with work after. My gynae, who's instructed me to eat small meals every 2 hours, disapproves of my irregular eating hours and gorging after starving for hours... but my teaching hours go beyond 2 consecutive hours. What to do? A teacher's life is dreadful like that. On one hand we preach about a healthy lifestyle to our students. On the other hand, we eat at irregular hours and barely have enough sleep ourselves. Such contradiction!
Anyway here's lunch at the foodcourt near school... I had a pear at 2 plus.
And once again, MIL cooked a lot a lot A LOT for my dinner! Yes, for me only... the serving was overwhelming. So I packed my overwhelming dinner into an overwhelming lunchbox for tomorrow.
Dreadful hemorrhoid is back... the other time was post-partum and then it's today. After I got home, I went to shower but had the urge to poo... after that I still felt like pooing, so I pushed hard. There was no pain at all but when I wiped, I was shocked to see bright red flesh blood on the toilet paper. The shock was worse when I stood up and saw the liquid inside the toilet bowl has turned an opaque red. That's a lot of blood!
26 March 2015
Last night before I slept, I went toilet to pee but there's still a lot of blood in the toilet bowl with just slight pushing as there was slight poopoo feeling. This morning i pooed a lot but there's no more blood, and hope it stays this way!!
Then, this morning I started doing my self-administered blood glucose test. Pricked twice in the morning because the very first time I attempted, the device showed an error!! Maybe the blood on the test strip is just not enough... too stingy me >__< wasted the one-time-use test strip and prick needle... luckily hubby said to buy and we bought a new set with extra items. If we had rented, the items are all in exact number, and I won't be able to redo and complete all 14 readings!
Today I'll have to be a good girl and eat at regular hours as everything will be recorded, including the time for every meal and snack.
0635 result - 4.2
0735 breakfast - 2 slices of wholemeal bread with cheese
1050 result - 3.4 (forgotten to test at 0935 >_<")
1100 morning tea time - 3 pieces of chwee kueh
1315 result - 3.7
1330 lunch - brown rice etc (see dinner pic from last night)
1530 result - 5.5
1535 afternoon tea time - 1 slice wholemeal bread
1740 result - 3.6 (another reading error >_< and I'm starving actually!)
1930 dinner - brown rice etc (see below), sugarless soya milk
2135 result - 3.9
2145 supper - 1 slice wholemeal bread, low-fat milk
2315 result - 5.2
I've forgotten to bring the lunchbox I packed last night to school... pregnancy pea-brain indeed at it's peak this week. Gonna rush home for lunch after school so I won't disrupt my eating pattern today and hopefully clear my monitoring with flying colours! Sent MIL a Whatsapp message to inform her that I'm going home to grab lunch in case she thinks I didn't want it for lunch when she gets home from paying tribute to late Mr Lee.
I really wish to pay tribute to late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, but my friends who've brought their toddler kids told me they were in the queue for up to 4 hours... and latest information from another pregnant friend is that it could go up to 6 hours in the priority queue. My mummy friends with kids told me not to go as there will be no place to sit and rest my feet and I'll have to stand for hours with my huge bump. Sigh, had wanted to bring my girl down... perhaps we'll just go to the neighbourhood tribute centre in the community club. (But MIL just went early in the morning and replied my Whatsapp message that she only queued 30 minutes in the priority queue... this really re-motivates me to consider going down to queue early tomorrow morning.)
I was having breakfast with a colleague who moved from Hong Kong to Singapore with her family when she was still a school-going teen. She said she really wanted to go join the queue (the normal queue's stretching beyond 10 hours as of midnight) and pay tribute to late Mr Lee because she saw on TV this person that queued for hours and said it's worth it because without Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the person will not be able to come to Singapore and become a citizen of Singapore. My colleague said it really struck a chord with her as she remembered when the family was uprooted from Hong Kong and shifted to Singapore, she and her young siblings asked her parents why? Why do they have to move away from home to come to Singapore. Her parents' answer was simple: "Because there are Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Goh Chok Tong in Singapore." Even foreigners of that time know how great they are... these are indeed the very two prime ministers of Singapore whom I've admired very much growing up, and am still full of admiration for. And kudos too to our current prime minister for keeping up the good job!
0625 result - 3.7
0735 breakfast - chee cheong fun with gravy and chilli sauce
0935 result - 4.5 (reading error again?!)
1030 morning tea time - 3 pieces of chwee kueh
1245 result - 3.2 (ERROR AGAIN?! Really waste my test strips!)
1340 lunch - brown rice etc (see dinner pic from last night), low-fat milk
1540 result - 4.0
1545 afternoon tea time - sugarless soya milk
1800 result - 3.8
1805 dinner - see below
2015 result - 6.8
2130 supper - a mug of low-fat milk
2255 result - 4.1
The funny thing is... the monitoring chart says the target blood level before food is 3.3 to 5.5 while two hours after food is 5.5 to 7... and mine is mostly below 5... (in mmol/L)
MIL bought dinner for me from a vegetarian stall in the foodcourt - brown rice with bitter gourd, long beans, beancurd, and I also had a portion of the soup from the vegetarian fish beehoon that MIL bought for my girl. I guess outside food plus extra portion really made a difference as seen in my blood glucose level after dinner.
30 March 2015
It has been an emotional weekend.
Saturday night: Home-cooked dinner at home.
On Friday night after my last prick of the day, we left home for The Parliament House, not knowing that the queue has been closed. It was revealed to us when we're already on the way. As we're reaching City Hall, traffic police made us U-turn and hubby parked at Marina Square. We walked over and the crowd was overwhelming indeed.
Leaving home feeling hopeful, while munching on a slice of cheese to fuel up.
After standing around for 2 hours, we decided to head home. I had left home hopeful, but unfortunately I had to do my blood tests until bed time and I didn't want to be doing it in the queue! If I'd gone down earlier I may be able to join the 50-minute priority queue like some of my other mummy-friends. I totally understand the decision to close the queue though. And yes it's wise not to reopen the queue too soon as it's unbelievably crowded, there may be a stampede to get in the queue first if it reopens with the huge crowds lingering.
We returned in the next morning, this time with our girl, and we managed to get into the priority queue without hassle. It was quick and organized in the morning, a result of the previous night's queue closure. Excellent decision indeed. The ushers were polite, efficient and helpful. Kudos to the ushers and volunteers.
See that uniform in a corner of the pic above? That's my hubby holding his uniform as he's on standby and may be activated anytime. So he brought his uniform along in case he got activated. After our second trip to City Hall and paying tribute to Mr Lee Kuan Yew, we had our first meal of the day and came home. He's tired as he drove to and fro for both trips. We decided to take a nap too as our girl has fallen asleep on the way home. As we lay down in bed and made ourselves comfortable, a message came in on his phone and he's activated immediately. My poor hubby would have no rest for the time being, but I knew he can do it for our late founding father. Salute to all ushers and men on the ground - volunteers, SPF, SCDF, MINDEF regulars and NSmen on duty.
Thankful. Thank you.
Sunday was the state funeral. The nation wept... both the people and the sky. It rained nationwide as we watched the procession and the state funeral on TV. We're lucky to be watching the live broadcast in the comfort of our home, and I salute the crowd that has braved the rain to witness Mr Lee's last journey through the roads of his beloved Singapore. The day wasn't easy for them and the many personnel deployed. The sky and the people wept together, as I watched live coverage and then the delivery of the eulogies with drippy nose and teary eyes.
It's been an emotional March, full of ups and downs. My birthday, the horrible news of having to prick myself for blood glucose test after failing my test in the clinic, term break and play date, that dreadful exam paper setting deadline, and the passing of our beloved Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Indeed, what a March!
Lunch: Bought yong tauhu noodles soup for my girl and rushed home to watch TV.
I had the vegetables and tofu with leftover home-cooked brown rice.
Didn't go back to my parents' place so my hubby could rest at home after his long-hour deployment at the Padang. Met my parents, my brother and his wife at Happy Realm Vegetarian Restaurant in the evening for dinner. I had wanted to make this trip so much because they're closing for good at the end of March 2015. We used to eat here when we were kids, and we will miss this place that serves old school hand-made vegetarian goodness. Coincidentally bumped into my aunt (mum's sis), uncle and cousin so we sat together and we could order more dishes.
A good vegetarian dinner with my folks.
The events have distracted me from my official tasks on hand. Well not that I'm complaining. We're all joined as "One People, One Nation, One Singapore" due to this historical milestone, and many have shown resilience to overcome the long hours of queue to pay tribute to our nation's father Mr Lee Kuan Yew, including some of my students. Singaporeans showed the world that we can be united as one. May the spirit live on! My only rant is that I've been procrastinating since term break and now I bear the consequences. I was setting exam papers until almost 2am into the night and I couldn't take it anymore. Tired. Very tired.
On a lighter note: True story of my life.
