Ever since we are expecting twins, one of the popular questions is " Who's gonna do yr confinement for u?" Which I would proudly declare as Uncle Pig coz he knows how to cook all the confinement food I like and he knows how to take care of newborns. Simple answer, case closed.
Of coz this was unimaginable by some of my friends who felt that it's best to hire professional help, like a confinement nanny so that I don't end up killing him before the end of the 1st mth. haha.. Well, at least for friends, they are still okie.. They will voice their opinion and that's it. But of coz, when yr mum happens to be one of them, then things aren't that simple.
Almost Every weekend over dinner, she will ask " How are we gonna cope w/0 hiring an auntie?" and sometimes u know that she's asking bcoz she is worried. But on other times, u wished that she juz stopped asking and offer more substantial help ie cooking for me would be ideal.. Or coming by to take care of me or the twins for a few hrs a week would be nice too.. But being her and knowing her, she wouldn't do that. It's a taboo to enter the house of a "uncleanse" mother, who has yet to pass her confinement. I rem during my last confinement, I struggled w my auntie and begged her to let me stay w her for the rest of the mth, which she plainly rejected. It did hurt at that time, and ever since then, William and I kinda depended on ourselves for parenting.
Anyway during this pregnancy, a lot of friends n relatives are concerned for us, plainly bcoz we are expecting twins and I did contemplate hiring one too. Esp when my friends who recently delivered commented that theirs was gd help. I thought abt giving myself and a new auntie another chance, esp since its been 5 yrs so the trauma has been more or last forgotten.
Before deciding, i prayed to God.. And I pray that he showed me signs n guide me along bcoz only He knows best - my needs and my shortfalls. And He sure did. Cause immediately after that day, God reminded me of a friend of mine, who had twins and no parental help as she was in NL when she delivered. She married an Ang moh, and they don't hv confinement nannies there. She also didn't hv much help fr either side of her parents. I consulted her and she too felt that it's do-able, esp since she's done it before and also bcoz we weren't first time parents anymore. Bearing that in mind, I really felt more assured and I thank God for everything.
Then recently, one of my close friends delivered too.. And I called her to check on her too.. N her only complaint was that the auntie was too nagging, bossy and highly irritable.. All her complaints on day 1 after the confinement.. - another gentle reminder that I shldnt juz follow social norms bcoz they might not be the best for me.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
The day the air con took a break..
In the midst of the pregnancy we decided to do some major Reno to remove some of the original fixtures and made new ones, so that they were not as space consuming but equally gd storage spaces, if not better.
The original TV console, shoe cabinet made way for a whole new stretch of built in cupboards, covering the entire stretch increase my storage place n made the entire living room bigger. We also removed my walk in wardrobe n replaced it with another built in one, coz I realize that even though it's nice to hv a walk in wardrobe , a simple wardrobe would saves much more space . And indeed it did.
We also decided to service the air con units n shift one of the units to a more central location at the living room.
All these done in a span of a few days and I'm thankful to God that we did it bcoz now my house does look much bigger, with cooler air too!
However today upon returning home, uncle pig informed me news that the air con compressor has broken down! Huh?? But I Thot the pple juz came that day to do servicing? So how? How r we gonna survive tonight w/0 air con, esp when today is a hot hot day?
Suddenly I realize that air con has become an essential part of my life, more impt than rice or anything else! I can skip rice for days, n I can zz separately fr uncle pig , but I can't zz w/0 my dear a/c! Arrgh!
It's only when things like that happen u realize the importance of it, n how reliant I've bcome. It has unknowingly become an essential part of me, without me realizing. The only consolation is that this is the first time it happen, in the 6 yrs that we've stayed here n I surely hope that the pple can come tomorrow to solve the prob!
Nevertheless it was an interesting experience coz we activated 6 fans , w Uncle Pig zz in the living room bcoz it's much cooler. He had volunteered to give me that first class sofa but it was pretty uncomfortable so I decided to sweat it out in my room. Haha.. Thus this posting is at 4am, after one of my night pees but I'm too hot to zz further.. Wonder how do pple zz w/0 a/c.. How could they? =p
The original TV console, shoe cabinet made way for a whole new stretch of built in cupboards, covering the entire stretch increase my storage place n made the entire living room bigger. We also removed my walk in wardrobe n replaced it with another built in one, coz I realize that even though it's nice to hv a walk in wardrobe , a simple wardrobe would saves much more space . And indeed it did.
We also decided to service the air con units n shift one of the units to a more central location at the living room.
All these done in a span of a few days and I'm thankful to God that we did it bcoz now my house does look much bigger, with cooler air too!
However today upon returning home, uncle pig informed me news that the air con compressor has broken down! Huh?? But I Thot the pple juz came that day to do servicing? So how? How r we gonna survive tonight w/0 air con, esp when today is a hot hot day?
Suddenly I realize that air con has become an essential part of my life, more impt than rice or anything else! I can skip rice for days, n I can zz separately fr uncle pig , but I can't zz w/0 my dear a/c! Arrgh!
It's only when things like that happen u realize the importance of it, n how reliant I've bcome. It has unknowingly become an essential part of me, without me realizing. The only consolation is that this is the first time it happen, in the 6 yrs that we've stayed here n I surely hope that the pple can come tomorrow to solve the prob!
Nevertheless it was an interesting experience coz we activated 6 fans , w Uncle Pig zz in the living room bcoz it's much cooler. He had volunteered to give me that first class sofa but it was pretty uncomfortable so I decided to sweat it out in my room. Haha.. Thus this posting is at 4am, after one of my night pees but I'm too hot to zz further.. Wonder how do pple zz w/0 a/c.. How could they? =p
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Counting down to ten weeks!
Entry blogged on 18th Feb........
Yes, it's that fast.. We are finally seeing the twins in another ten more weeks! Although The expected EDD is 21st of May, but if the gals can tahan n stay in me till 1st of may, we will b more than satisfied. Coz by then they would be abt 37 weeks, which is also about the same as Joy. Well, if they can reach 40 weeks that will be the most ideal scenario coz we would hv more time to prepare for everything .
The thought of merely 10 weeks only sent me to sleepless nights frenzy coz it feels that I hvnt completed my work yet n I really really don't hv much time. Ahhhh!! Plus it juz seem that we hvnt completed our shopping list even, not to mention preparing the delivery bag.
Lord, I pray that You will deliver the twins in yr timing, that you give me enough time 2 complete my work @ hand, motivation and energy to meet up with all my clients. Lord, I pray that you will help provide for all, and that they will all be timely. In Jesus name I pray, Amen
Yes, it's that fast.. We are finally seeing the twins in another ten more weeks! Although The expected EDD is 21st of May, but if the gals can tahan n stay in me till 1st of may, we will b more than satisfied. Coz by then they would be abt 37 weeks, which is also about the same as Joy. Well, if they can reach 40 weeks that will be the most ideal scenario coz we would hv more time to prepare for everything .
The thought of merely 10 weeks only sent me to sleepless nights frenzy coz it feels that I hvnt completed my work yet n I really really don't hv much time. Ahhhh!! Plus it juz seem that we hvnt completed our shopping list even, not to mention preparing the delivery bag.
Lord, I pray that You will deliver the twins in yr timing, that you give me enough time 2 complete my work @ hand, motivation and energy to meet up with all my clients. Lord, I pray that you will help provide for all, and that they will all be timely. In Jesus name I pray, Amen
A Hearing Aid (Part 2)
This is the hearing kit that Uncle Pig went to collect y'day. It's the same kit that the clinic recommended him, but at 25% discount.
Thank God that he manage to find a small shop in Chinatown that sells the same model, but at much cheaper price. During the trial testing of the hearing kit, did I realize the seriousness of his hearing, or lack of hearing. Sounds that we've always taken for granted, conversations that we always had, all these were nv in his hearing radar since a long time ago. And all along, I always thought that it was juz a small humming sound that he was hearing, once a blue moon. But while he was doing the analysis, I realize that he had always been suffering in silence. My heart sank. I was not aware, nor was I sensitive to him. I even picked on him, when he can't hear me at times. Haiz.. Y am I such a wife? Y wasn't I more understanding or sensitive?
I thank God that at least now I know and I thank God that Uncle Pig had taken the initiative to wear a hearing kit , ignoring the glances of others. He did look pretty sporty with his new toy! Haha.. I also wanna thank God for helping us find this clinic that offers the same pdt at 25% discount!
God, right now I wanna pray that u help Uncle Pig get used to using it, that there will be little interferences, that it will help reduce the humming sound and the kit will be able to last us for a long time. In Jesus name I pray, Amen
p/s: blogged on 16th Feb, but didnt get to upload it till now..hehe..
Monday, February 13, 2012
Every Day can be a Valentine's Day
Was looking rhru my past entries, and trying my best to recall how we celebrated Valentine's Day last year, but to no avail. I only blogged about the eve of V-day, which was spent in church, and the few days after V-day where we were embarking on our family trip to Korea. Nothing was mentioned about V-day last year...haha..gasp!
Anyway, not that it mattered to me. Coz after dating for several years, I suggested to Uncle Pig about scrapping the whole celebration on V-day, coz I felt that it was an overly commercialized event and I guess, I always felt that we can always treat each other better, n not juz in one day of February. Having said that, I was kinda taken off guard, when he planned his surprise this year.
This year, the celebration started on 10th Feb, on a friday morning where I woke up with heart-shaped French toast for breakfast, which was nice. I had ordered for French toast for breakfast the night before, but having it heart-shaped was sweet.
After breakfast, we went to the office as I had to prepare for my evening appts. I was greeted with a nice bouquet of purple roses! Kinda surprised coz i really didn't expect it. And it was one of my fav flowers, coz it was the flowers we used for our wedding. Nice!
The beaming Uncle Pig was so super happy, cause he had managed to pull off a couple of surprises, without me suspecting anything! Usually, I would always kinda figured out even before the actual day. haha...
Anyway, Sat proved to be even exciting cause he had "pre-booked" me way in advance, that we were going for a date on Sat. And yes, I enjoyed sat even much better too! First of all, being a control freak, my usual pattern is, I always need to know in advance where and what are the things we are gonna do for the day, but on Sat, I simply leave it to him. I didn't cause where or what we'll be doing, but just the dress code to start the date.
After dropping Joy at my in-laws place, we headed to Suntec. He says we are gonna have Tony Romas for lunch, and since it was still early, we went for a cup of coffee at Ya Koon's. After coffee, we headed back to the carpark (which I thot was kinda weird, coz Tony Romas is just a 5mins walk), but I followed obediently..hehe.. he drove to Marina Bay Sands..haha... coffee at suntec, was just simply becoz we were too early for lunch, and he was afraid that I would be too hungry by then...
Lunch was at this international buffet called Todai, a Korean restaurant, with a huge spread! And the nice part of it, most of the food were in bite sizes, so we wouldn't add up stuffing ourselves juz by trying all of them. Nevertheless, we didn't get to try all la...coz the spread was really too much... food is nice, service is nice too..juz that it's too crowded...will try going there on a weekday lunch and hopefully it will be better. Sashimi is super fresh, and the cold crabs are nice and aided with scissors.
After lunch, he brought me to watch the Musical the Wicked. I've not read up much on the musical, but several of my friends have watched it, and said it was good. My personal opinion was that, the musical tend to be a little draging at the start and there were times when both of us had problems trying to stay awake. (maybe it was the food). But it didn't matter if the musical was super good, or there was no one performing, becoz what mattered was that, it was a date, with him. A long awaited date, and a date that I treasured so much. =)
Back in the car, i asked him, when was the last time we actually dated, and both of us couldn't really rem when it was. He attributed it to his busy weekends while baking for Haven Bakery, which was kinda true. After the bakery was closed, I could really see parts of my house being much appreciated, and me being overly pampered by him. Haha... I guess, I just can't share him with the world. Sorry mummies but I'm sure you will find another baker!
p/s: paiseh, that this entry is kinda long..juz wanna start blogging down our dates, so that at least I will rem...haha...
Anyway, not that it mattered to me. Coz after dating for several years, I suggested to Uncle Pig about scrapping the whole celebration on V-day, coz I felt that it was an overly commercialized event and I guess, I always felt that we can always treat each other better, n not juz in one day of February. Having said that, I was kinda taken off guard, when he planned his surprise this year.
This year, the celebration started on 10th Feb, on a friday morning where I woke up with heart-shaped French toast for breakfast, which was nice. I had ordered for French toast for breakfast the night before, but having it heart-shaped was sweet.
After breakfast, we went to the office as I had to prepare for my evening appts. I was greeted with a nice bouquet of purple roses! Kinda surprised coz i really didn't expect it. And it was one of my fav flowers, coz it was the flowers we used for our wedding. Nice!
The beaming Uncle Pig was so super happy, cause he had managed to pull off a couple of surprises, without me suspecting anything! Usually, I would always kinda figured out even before the actual day. haha...
Anyway, Sat proved to be even exciting cause he had "pre-booked" me way in advance, that we were going for a date on Sat. And yes, I enjoyed sat even much better too! First of all, being a control freak, my usual pattern is, I always need to know in advance where and what are the things we are gonna do for the day, but on Sat, I simply leave it to him. I didn't cause where or what we'll be doing, but just the dress code to start the date.
After dropping Joy at my in-laws place, we headed to Suntec. He says we are gonna have Tony Romas for lunch, and since it was still early, we went for a cup of coffee at Ya Koon's. After coffee, we headed back to the carpark (which I thot was kinda weird, coz Tony Romas is just a 5mins walk), but I followed obediently..hehe.. he drove to Marina Bay Sands..haha... coffee at suntec, was just simply becoz we were too early for lunch, and he was afraid that I would be too hungry by then...
Lunch was at this international buffet called Todai, a Korean restaurant, with a huge spread! And the nice part of it, most of the food were in bite sizes, so we wouldn't add up stuffing ourselves juz by trying all of them. Nevertheless, we didn't get to try all la...coz the spread was really too much... food is nice, service is nice too..juz that it's too crowded...will try going there on a weekday lunch and hopefully it will be better. Sashimi is super fresh, and the cold crabs are nice and aided with scissors.
After lunch, he brought me to watch the Musical the Wicked. I've not read up much on the musical, but several of my friends have watched it, and said it was good. My personal opinion was that, the musical tend to be a little draging at the start and there were times when both of us had problems trying to stay awake. (maybe it was the food). But it didn't matter if the musical was super good, or there was no one performing, becoz what mattered was that, it was a date, with him. A long awaited date, and a date that I treasured so much. =)
Back in the car, i asked him, when was the last time we actually dated, and both of us couldn't really rem when it was. He attributed it to his busy weekends while baking for Haven Bakery, which was kinda true. After the bakery was closed, I could really see parts of my house being much appreciated, and me being overly pampered by him. Haha... I guess, I just can't share him with the world. Sorry mummies but I'm sure you will find another baker!
p/s: paiseh, that this entry is kinda long..juz wanna start blogging down our dates, so that at least I will rem...haha...
Thursday, February 9, 2012
A Hearing Aid
Today while waiting for Joy's class to end, Uncle Pig & I stumbled into a hearing clinic at the mall. It provided a free hearing analysis within 5 mins n he suggested going for it. ( I think largely bcoz recently his hearing went from bad to worse).
The outcome: it reaffirmed with the last test we did at TTSH tat his left ear nerve was severely damaged n there was no known possible cure at the moment. So in addition to the relative loss of hearing in one ear, he would also hear the humming sound. But what they suggest alternatively is to start using a hearing aid so that it can still continue to receive the sound waves from his left ear to the brain. The rationale for doing this is so that, the brain doesn't "close" the left channel as time passes due to a long period of lack of messengers. Sounds pretty logical to me. And I was puzzled y the pple at TTSH did not offer this advice.
So yes he would need a hearing aid. I didn't want to rush him into getting it on the spot bcoz to me, getting an aid is a BIG thing. It's bigger than getting his first pair of long sighted glasses when he was first diagnosed of 老花眼- a sign of aging. It didn't matter that the aid itself was pricey, but the main crux of it is, Uncle Pig muz be prepared to acknowledge tat his hearing has failed & it was necessary to use an aid to help him . It was like a woman agreeing to remove her breasts becoz of breast cancer- something that may seem logical but hard to do.
While @ home, he started to research more onto the different models n brands. Apparently, at least based upon our limited research at the moment, the model that was recommended is really a very gd one, bcoz it's water proof, and comes with several modern gadgets. I'm kinda surprised how hearing aids has evolved over time with technology improvements. Looking at my gentle giant do his due analysis, my heart go out to him when he commented tat he was aging faster than his peers. I think what he was concerned about was not being an old man at 40, but if he had the abilities to continue to take care of me & the kids, with his accelerated aging. Seeing him worry, sent tears to my eyes. This is the man that has given his all for this household and even now, his main worry is still on us.
I thank God once again for blessing me with you, and also for the random ear analysis that we juz decide to do spontaneously. I pray, Lord, that You give us the wisdom to choose the right hearing aid, & I wanna trust You Lord, that this clinic is the right clinic, one that is professional & right-priced. Lord, if it's only right for us to get a second opinion, then I pray too, for wisdom to decide on this. Lord, I wanna trust that You will help us in situation. In Jesus name I pray - Amen
The outcome: it reaffirmed with the last test we did at TTSH tat his left ear nerve was severely damaged n there was no known possible cure at the moment. So in addition to the relative loss of hearing in one ear, he would also hear the humming sound. But what they suggest alternatively is to start using a hearing aid so that it can still continue to receive the sound waves from his left ear to the brain. The rationale for doing this is so that, the brain doesn't "close" the left channel as time passes due to a long period of lack of messengers. Sounds pretty logical to me. And I was puzzled y the pple at TTSH did not offer this advice.
So yes he would need a hearing aid. I didn't want to rush him into getting it on the spot bcoz to me, getting an aid is a BIG thing. It's bigger than getting his first pair of long sighted glasses when he was first diagnosed of 老花眼- a sign of aging. It didn't matter that the aid itself was pricey, but the main crux of it is, Uncle Pig muz be prepared to acknowledge tat his hearing has failed & it was necessary to use an aid to help him . It was like a woman agreeing to remove her breasts becoz of breast cancer- something that may seem logical but hard to do.
While @ home, he started to research more onto the different models n brands. Apparently, at least based upon our limited research at the moment, the model that was recommended is really a very gd one, bcoz it's water proof, and comes with several modern gadgets. I'm kinda surprised how hearing aids has evolved over time with technology improvements. Looking at my gentle giant do his due analysis, my heart go out to him when he commented tat he was aging faster than his peers. I think what he was concerned about was not being an old man at 40, but if he had the abilities to continue to take care of me & the kids, with his accelerated aging. Seeing him worry, sent tears to my eyes. This is the man that has given his all for this household and even now, his main worry is still on us.
I thank God once again for blessing me with you, and also for the random ear analysis that we juz decide to do spontaneously. I pray, Lord, that You give us the wisdom to choose the right hearing aid, & I wanna trust You Lord, that this clinic is the right clinic, one that is professional & right-priced. Lord, if it's only right for us to get a second opinion, then I pray too, for wisdom to decide on this. Lord, I wanna trust that You will help us in situation. In Jesus name I pray - Amen
Monday, February 6, 2012
24 weeks update
Juz as I was feeling better n feeling the feeling of in my "honeymoon" trimester last week, the backaches n lower half pains came back this week. The pains were more unbearable than the backache n I could literally feel my uterus undergoing a free fall whenever I stood up or was abt to walk. It's really time to get a maternity belt, I guess. And Thank God we didn't register for Vegas.. Coz I was feeling so gd last week that even a 14hrs flight seem achievable.
@ 24 weeks: everything seem to be happening so fast n in another 10-12 weeks time I'm gonna be due. It's a bittersweet moment.. Sweet bcoz after all the pains n heartaches, finally we will b seeing our precious two soon.. Bitter bcoz I'm not sure if we were (or at least for me) prepared mentally, emotionally to survive the rollercoaster initial mths. I survived terribly during my first mth when I had joy, despite the fact tt Joy was an easy easy baby.. Even slipped into depression n the thought of having doubles did scare me at this moment. My only consolation was tat we r no longer first time parents, thus we will b more experienced n able to cope. But bcoz things happened so long ago, honestly, I can't really rem how to take care of an infant! Hopefully William is not like me! Just have to trust God for his protection upon my household, and tat He provide helpers for us in times of need, and give us wisdom in taking care of the little ones.. Thank God for everything He's made possible. -amen
@ 24 weeks: everything seem to be happening so fast n in another 10-12 weeks time I'm gonna be due. It's a bittersweet moment.. Sweet bcoz after all the pains n heartaches, finally we will b seeing our precious two soon.. Bitter bcoz I'm not sure if we were (or at least for me) prepared mentally, emotionally to survive the rollercoaster initial mths. I survived terribly during my first mth when I had joy, despite the fact tt Joy was an easy easy baby.. Even slipped into depression n the thought of having doubles did scare me at this moment. My only consolation was tat we r no longer first time parents, thus we will b more experienced n able to cope. But bcoz things happened so long ago, honestly, I can't really rem how to take care of an infant! Hopefully William is not like me! Just have to trust God for his protection upon my household, and tat He provide helpers for us in times of need, and give us wisdom in taking care of the little ones.. Thank God for everything He's made possible. -amen
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