New Home (part 1)

After months of planning and looking around for the right place (hope it is, he he he), we finally got our keys of our flat last 7th November 2005. After working hard in Singapore for almost 5 years now, we could say at last we have our own house. I am glad that finally we decided to buy our own flat here in Singapore after renting a condo unit for quite sometime. I consider this as a reward for us.

Last Monday, 14th November our contractor started the renovation. I am excited and at the same time anxious on how our flat would look like. We really wanted to move-in before 19th of December so we can celebrate Albert’s 1st Christmas and New Year in our new home.

Last Saturday 26th November 2005, we will finally saw what happened on the 1st week of renovation. So far, the renovation is on schedule, contractor managed to finish the piping, electrical, tiling for the living and dining area and L-box. Then our anxiety came back again because we ordered an L-shaped sofa which is larger from the allocated space for our living room. We can’t cancel it because it has already been shipped when we noticed it was too big for our living room. We had a wrong calculation. We didn’t allot space for the curtain railings. What we did was really a wrong mistake he he he! Our passage area now would only be half a meter. Hope it won’t be not that bad L.

After attending the Sunday mass, we went to Hoe Kee Hardware to buy some bathroom and kitchen mixers, shower heads, bathroom fittings and accessories.

Tomorrow, we are planning to view (again) the improvements of the renovation. On the work plan, they’re supposed to finish the aircon piping and bedroom floor. Then we will finalize our curtain and shop for our new kitchen utensils, dining wares and accessories. We’re planning to shop at Ikea. I hope that we can get big deal there!

To be continued…

How I wish

My best friend since high school is getting marriedthis coming 20th of December. And I am somewhat havinga difficulty to inform her that I cannot be one of herentourage for her wedding because of work and we’ll beshifting place. I just came back from my maternityleave last August and there are some backlogs thatneed to be done. Our home renovation will also havesome delay because we can only get the house keys on November.

We actually planned to go back for her wedding forquite sometime. We already booked last August. I knowI will be hard for her to accept that I cannot come toher wedding. I just hope that these changes won’tcause more headaches for her wedding preparations. Ireally love to go back especially this coming Christmas. How I wish we could go back home…

BZ Bee

I had a very hectic and tiring weekend. It was the very last city tour of Rose (my Friend) and Rhea (Alvin’s niece) on Saturday evening. We left home at around 6pm and reached Plaza Singapura at 6.20. There was a long queue at Café Cartel so I & AJ w/ Alvin queued up while Rose and Rhea went for window-shopping. After 15 minutes of waiting, we managed to go in. After eating and with (very) full stomachs, we’re all ready for an extensive walk night city tour!

We took MRT from Dhoby Ghaut to Raffles City. Dhoby Ghaut station is currently the deepest and largest MRT station in Singapore (as far as I know). This is the only station with five storeys below ground level and there are two commercial blocks build above the station. City Hall station is beneath the junction of Stamford Road and North Bridge Road. We exited at Raffles Shopping Centre and took some photos at Swissotel - The Stamford, the tallest hotel in Singapore.

Then we walked towards Esplanade - Theaters on the Bay. It is located at the waterfront overlooking Singapore’s Marina Bay. With its distinctive dome-shaped roofs, it is comprised of theatres, recital rooms, and rehearsal studios. It is also called “The Durian” by locals. Our guests were amazed by the architectural design of Esplanade. We walked on the Esplanade Bridge (not so sure about its actual name), sat there for a while; enjoyed the cooling sea wind and the cityscape. It was already late and AJ our Tamagochi was still wide awake. He was also enjoying the see breeze and the city lights! I think he was having fun as well! Then we went to Merlion Park and took a lot of photos. It was already quite late so we decided to go home.

When we reached home, I changed AJ’s clothes while daddy sang him lullabies. I went outside to have my last chitchat my friend Rose and Rhea. By the way, Rose was my ex-colleague in RSH Marketing Philippines. We worked together for about more than two years. We slept almost 2am and woke up again at 4am prepare their breakfast. Rose’s flight was 7:00 while Rhea’s was 7.50. We didn’t send them to the airport because AJ needed to rest and we would still need to fetch my mom at 2:50 in the afternoon. We went down and waited for the cab. Then we went to bed again and took more rest!

Miracle of life being a woman

May 30, 2005, we woke-up early not because we were going for work. It was because we were going to Raffles Hospital for my scheduled delivery. It was a sunny Monday morning. Alvin, my Mom and I were all energized for this big day. We arrived at the hospital before 8 am and filled-up the admission form. After a while, the nurse weighed me. I weighed 72 kg. My goodness! I was a very heavy fat pregnant woman. After that, the nurse assisted me to the delivery suite, helped me to change my clothes and inserted some jelly into my *** to have a fast motion. Only Alvin could go with me inside the delivery suite so my mom just stayed at the waiting area. The nurse started to induce labor at 9am. After an hour, I started to feel pain in my tummy which meant the labor started. I still could tolerate the pain. Alvin and I still had time to take photos while I was in pain. :)

I took my lunch at 12. After 2pm and it is been 6 hours of labor, I already couldn’t stand the pain. It was every painful. The nurse told me if I couldn’t bare the pain I could ask for epidurial. So I decided for epidurial. The anesthesiologist injected it to my spine while my body was in a C-position. The procedure was quite delicate you couldn’t move during the procedure. Right after a few minutes, I still felt the contraction but without pain. At 4pm, my opening was still at 3cm and my baby needed at least 10cm dilation. I could hear a baby’s cry at a nearby delivery room and I am still at my delivery suite. The contractions were getting more frequent but were tolerable. It’s dinner time and they didn’t give me dinner though I was hungry. :( The nurse told me I might vomit if I took my dinner.

At 7:50 my opening was 10cm and my doctor arrived. Alvin felt excited and tensed again. The nurse helped me to push. I don’t know how to because I didn’t attend course. They told me to push like when you’re constipated. Sometimes, I could push but most of the time, I was doing wrongly. I could see that Alvin was tense. At last! They could see the head and the doctor showed it to Alvin. Everybody felt very thrilled. My baby’s heartbeat was irregular so the doctor decided to use a vacuum to pull out the baby. Finally, at 8:11 pm Albert Kristoffer Valera was out from my tummy! Seeing my cute baby was the most amazing experience that ever happened in my life! He weighed 3.098 kg and his length was 51 cm. Albert Kristoffer looks 100% like his daddy. The nurse gave Albert to me and I kissed him. Daddy Alvin started to take photos and video again. What I experienced I was a miracle. How wonderful it is to be a mother!

Feeding infants during the first 6 months

I want to share this experience of mine to all new mothers out there…I felt sad and I blamed myself because my son lost his appetite for a week. It’s like he didn’t want the taste of the milk and his feeding got lesser and lesser. I noticed only on last Sunday because it’s the only day I stayed the whole day with him. I searched from the net what could be the possible reasons. One of the reasons is feeding fruit juice before 6 months. It alarmed me because I fed AJ fruit juice when he was three months old only. From what I read, you can feed juice only if your son is constipation during his 1 st six months. Take note that carrot juice can cause constipation while pear juice can help to have a fast motion. Apple juice is somewhat more balanced from what I have experienced during the two weeks of feeding AJ. Infants need more nutrients and vitamins from their milk which fruit juice cannot provide during the first 6 months.

Tuesday Morning with AJ

Today is Tuesday and I was behind schedule for work but it is quite worth-it. After doing my morning routine which includes bathing AJ, fixing his bed and preparing his fresh juice, AJ went for his morning walk. Then I prepared myself for work. Same with my daily schedule, I would rush down to the estate park before I go to office. I was still far from AJ but I could sense his sadness the way he stared at me. As if he was saying to me, “Mommy you’re going to work again”. Then I carried and cuddled him. I felt his happiness while feeding him with fresh pear juice that I made just for him. I enjoyed so much talking to him. Hearing all his giggles and sounds made my heart pound. Then I didn’t realize that I was almost late for work but I still stayed for about 5 minutes more. While writing this blog, I am wishing for the time to go faster so I can go back home and see my son soon again!.