Why pay more?

This morning, Vicky told me that she felt tremor 5 mins ago. I just woke up and didnt feel anything. She told me that the fish tank was moving and the hanging lights too. She said if it lasted longer, she would have woken me up and took Caleb downstairs. Haha. I might have felt it when I woke up but probably didnt think much since I always feel a little dazed and groggy after waking up.

Anyway, Vicky also told me that Caleb's blocked nose is worse. I could also hear from his breathing that it was getting more blocked. So after his milk, we went to the polyclinic at about 830am. I dropped Vicky there first before finding a place to park my car so that she can take the queue number.

After I parked my car, I joined her in the polyclinic and she said the number pass already. I asked her how come she didnt go forward to register. She said she dunno what to tell the receptionist. So, I went to take another number and within 20 mins, I was called up and am glad, Vicky didnt go up the first time as I was also certain she didnt know how to register Caleb.

I must say I was very impressed with how fast,efficient and orderly the polyclinic's system was. After registering, I went up to the 2nd floor to wait to see the doctor. waited for probably about 20-30 mins and the doctor was a young lady who was quite patient and nice to Caleb. After seeing her, I went to the vaccination room to book appointment for Caleb's next immunisation.

You see, I have been visiting Baby & Child Medical Group at Tampines since Caleb was born because by default. He was taken care by Dr Ho from East Shore who has a clinic in Tampines. So right after Caleb was discharged, he went there for follow up and his BCG jab (since he was underweight then) and one thing led to another. By the time I knew, I went to the clinic for about 6 times already for his vaccinations and blood test for jaundice and each time I go there, I pay about $30-$110 as well as having to wait for 30 mins - 3 hours! The last time I went to that clinic, I waited for 3 hours and told myself that it would be the last time.

It was unfair as the clinic's opening hours is 930am and I went there at 925am and got the queue number, 12! I was shocked as there were not many people in the clinic. So, I asked the nurse how come my queue number so far behind even when I come early. The nurse say, next time ask your maid to come get queue number early in the morning lor. I was disgusted as the clinic opens earlier for maids to come down to the clinic to get the queue number and then go back home. So unfair! So from that day onwards, I decided to go to the polyclinic as Vicky says its much cheaper and no need to wait so long, as compared to 3 hours!

So today was a good, first-time experience in the polyclinic and I was impressed. Impressed by the short waiting time because of the many counters they have and impressed at how cheap it is.

First of all, here is a medicine Caleb was given when we visited the pediatrician at Tampines because of the wind he has in the stomach.



Consultation alone was $35 in the private clinic!

During this visit to the polyclinic, Caleb was given 2 types of medicine- one for his nose block and the other for his phlegm.



I thought it would be expensive since I got 2 types of medicine. But look at how much I had to pay...



A mere $1.30!!! The total cost is actually $6.50 but because I am a civil servant, I get a subsidy and the $1.30 actually comes from one of the medicine which is not subsidised. So if not for the particular medicine, it would be free for me!

So from now on, I would not pay more to go to a private clinic to see the specialist and pay ridiculously high price for the consultation and medicine and even cramp myself in the small clinic with lots of babies and kids crying.

Funky hair

Yesterday, had Yong Tau Foo for lunch. Its basically ikan bilis stock, add noodles and yong tau foo in it. A simple and easy to do lunch.


After lunch, I changed into working clothes and went to my school to pick up my student, Steven from the foyer. I am actually on maternity leave but Steven and I have been invited to Singapore Poly for the "Kindness Movement" Award Ceremony as Steven has been nominated by me to win it. So, when I received this invitation, I was def proud and happy to be able to go with him as he deserves it. So, I picked him up from school to go to Singapore Poly. Met my Secondary School sitting partner there. She is a primary school teacher now-also bringing her kid there. So, we sat together and talked about our good old days.



After the ceremony, I dropped Steven back to school as he needed to do project. My colleagues all caught up with me for a while and asked me when I would be going back to work. Oh well..soon..soon.

Today, as usual, Caleb bathed at about 9am. And he still enjoys bathing which I am very thankful for.


Here is just a short clip on his washing of hair...



After the bath, his hair in the middle was standing up the whole day. What a nice hairstyle..

Fashion Alert

Introducing hipster Caleb in his diapers!



This happens when he moves around so much when putting on his cloth diapers for him. He kicks and twists his body that it is so difficult to wrap it tight..

Caleb's chuckle finally caught

I finally caught Caleb chuckling on video while he was sleeping. Today is actually my first time putting him on his front to sleep. I do not usually do that because I heard it is not good as well as it might suffocate him or something like that. But I grew desperate because he was crying a lot and I knew he was tired but just couldnt sleep.

So I figured lying on his front would be good as it probably will give him a sense of security since there is something against his chest to lie on. Therefore, I placed him on my bed and he really slept soundly.



I was resting beside him and giving occasionally glances to make sure he is ok.He slept in this position straight for about 2 hours which I am so thankful.



So here is a video of him doing just one chuckle...please turn on your speakers to hear it!

Caleb's cousin

On Sunday, went to Bukit Batok to visit my sister-in-law and see my niece. When I saw the tiny little baby, it just reminds me of how Caleb used to be so small only one month ago...how amazingly fast he has grown.

Here is Caleb's cousin...born on Teachers' Day (1 Sept 2007)



When I carried her, she felt really fragile where her whole body seems so soft and boy, she is very light! Guess I am just used to carrying Caleb that carrying this newborn seems like holding a feather.

Here are the 2 cousins getting together for the first time..



Caleb looks really shy beside a baby girl. Haha..

Caleb kept moving his hands that he almost "punched" her..Look at her frowning..


As usual, the newborn was just sleeping away...while Caleb was up the whole time.

Can't wait for them to grow up and play together.

Weekend

Today, went to my mum's place for lunch and my parents joined in the celebration of Vicky's birthday. Yesterday, I asked Vicky how she celebrates her birthday in Phillipines and she told me that her family, relatives and friends will all gather, having lots of food. I asked her what kind of food and she told me there will be noodles and this glutinous rice dish with coconut milk and sugar, which is not a dessert dish. How interesting...That was a bit of cultural exchange as I converse with her.



My mum cooked noodles, Vicky's favourite bittergourd with pork rib dish, yu sheng type of salad, fried chicken chop with plum sauce and olive rice. Thanks mum for cooking!

After lunch, I did my usual marketing in Giant since it was on the way home.

Weekends are a great time when I can catch a little more breath at home since CT is around to play with him. Weekdays are like a battleground at times when I have to be on standby when Caleb wails suddenly from his sleep and wants to be carried.



Took pictures of how tiny Caleb's feet are..



And here is Caleb's foot with my wedding ring



Shall see when his toe cannot fit into the ring.

Favourite Position

One of Caleb's favourite positions which keep him quiet is when you just lug him over your shoulder. If he is hungry and you use that position, he would start sucking your shirt or even aim for your cheeks and neck and suck. So, that'd keep him quiet. And if he is sleepy and you use this position, he would slowly fall asleep with his 2 arms also thrown over your shoulder.

Here is a picture of what position I am talking about..



Sleeping soundly in this position...



I also get amazed when I always see Caleb displaying his 2 dopey-liked eyes as he stares at me as if I look strange to him..



Or times when he just smiles to himself while sleeping..



Or how he is such a messy eater, spilling milk all over his mouth..



Or how he can be rather photogenic as he knows when to stare at the camera.



Or just looking at toys dangling above him can keep him occupied for a pretty decent long time...



Today, received a box from the postman knocking on my door as if he was going to break it down. It was a parcel from Esther(my close friend who just migrated to the states). She got "Dr Brown's" feeding bottles for Caleb as he is a windy baby. So, this specially designed bottle helps to reduce wind, burping and spill out.



I used it immediately and it really works wonder! Caleb doesnt mess up anymore during feeding and he drinks much faster, without any interruption from having to burp him.



Thanks Esther for getting it for me!

Happy Birthday Vicky

Today is Vicky's birthday and so, I brought her out for lunch nearby our place at Sengkang. We took a nice stroll there as we crossed the overhead bridge to Sengkang. And of course, Caleb had to come along.



Here is him slanted to one side as he still cant keep his head straight.



We had lunch at Sakae Sushi in Rivervale Mall and it was just a simple Japanese meal. I ordered Salmon and Potato Salad Bento but they got the order wrong and gave me teriyaki chicken bento set, which I accepted while Vicky had Chicken Katsu Don.
Here is poor Caleb unable to join us to eat..all by himself at the side of the table



Got a 10% discount from lunch as they got my order wrong. I was pleasantly surprised. That was a nice gesture.

After lunch, we decided to get more exercise by walking home instead of taking the free shuttle bus back to our block. Anyway, it was just a 15 mins walk. But unfortunately, the sunlight was so strong and my pram has no shade..So we did this.



Then Caleb started wailing..so we had to take him out of the pram to carry him and yet at the same time, shield him from the sun.



He looked really cute under the hooded towel. He fell right asleep once he was being carried. What a baby!

New developments

Caleb is now 1 month plus and there are changes as I watch him everyday. There are physical changes where he put on more weight (Last weight check on 3 Sept was 4.3kg), there are emotional changes where he cries more for milk now and sometimes when feeding him, he will open his mouth and cry. So, getting choked at times too and there are other changes where he focuses more on objects.

Here are pictures of how he has changed...

Caleb has learnt to put his thumb in his mouth now...which I immediately gave him a firm "No, No!" because I do not want that to be a habit. But of course, for the sake of this blog, I took the picture first before saying No.

He looks really huge in this picture because I was holding him and taking. So, it is a close up picture. Thus, looking huge.



I find it rather amazing as how a kid knows how to automatically do something without the parents teaching him. He would automatically just place his thumb in the mouth or when they are hungry, they would automatically use their head by turning and finding milk. It is interesting how they instinctively behave without prior instructions.

Another interesting development is his habit to turn and watch TV. You see, most of the times when I feed him, I would watch TV because feeding him can turn very long from 30 mins - 1 hour. He has recently learnt to stare at things and so one day when I was watching TV, he started to turn towards the TV and stared..



So this is him staring while eating...



He is really picking up all the bad habits at only one month old.

Slurppp..

Today for lunch, Vicky decided to try something new. She took out spinach noodles which my mum gave and thought of cooking that for lunch. She asked me how I normally eat it with. I told her what my mum usually does is to cook the noodles and remove it from the boiling water. Then just add oyster sauce and cook vegetables to be placed on top of it. I told her I eat it as dry noodles, not soup.

So with that idea in mind, she re-created the dish and I was pleasantly surprised as it was delicious.

This was what she cooked...(Photos taken with my handphone again as it is really convenient to just draw out my phone and snap)



She actually fried minced meat, fish cake, prawns and veggies together with gravy and then pour it over the cooked noodles.



This fish cake that I had is especially nice. It is the best I have tasted so far. Very bouncy and has a great texture. I bought it from the Tampines Market which came in a huge pillow-like shaped. Went with my mother-in-law to the market on Sunday early morning to get it as recommended by her.

The grass is always greener on the other side

I remember when I went back to school during the Teachers' Day celebration and my colleagues asked me how am I enjoying myself. When they started to ask such questions, I could sense a tinge of envy in them.

I also recall back when I was in US for almost a year with my husband since he was sent there for training. I accompanied him and became a full-time housewife there. All my colleagues back in Singapore all envied me and said, "how I wish I could have that kind of break!" However, when the wives ,whose husbands were also sent there for training in the same company, went over to US as a housewife, they complained too. Why? Well, they complained that they were so bored. Nothing to do. When the husbands go out to work, they stay at home very bored. They wished they were back in Singapore working. How ironic right?

As for me, I enjoyed my stay in US, despite cooping at home-I made use of the 70 over channels on TV, I made use of my time cleaning up the house-scrubbing the floor on my knees, vacuuming the carpet,doing laundry, whipping up a good meal when my hubby comes home and I also made use of time to surf the internet.Time passed quickly in the day and though I did that every day when my husband is working, it did kept me busy. Once a while, the wives would get together in someone's apartment and we would talk or we would just walk outside (which we didnt do very much because there was no walkway for pedestrains. So, rather dangerous. It was like expressway roads)

Anyway, the point I am making is that the most unhappy/discontented person is the one who compares. For example,I have friends who complain all the time about not getting enough bonus or money as compared to her friends who get more and did not do as much work. Then,they start blaming their circumstances(e.g bad luck, grew up in a poor family,no support,no opportunities etc) or blame others for them not achieving the results they want.

When will we start taking responsibility of our own actions? When will we count our blessings and start focusing on the positive?

Now, I would like to introduce to you Nick Vujicic of Melbourne, Australia. Nick was born with no arms and no legs. On the day of his birth, his dad left the room to throw up and his mother was in tears. As a child, he was teased and bullied by his friends in school. Instead of CHOOSING to focus on his limitations, what he could not do and making himself feel useless and depressed, he instead chose to focus on what he HAD…his inner strength, his mind and his voice. Instead of blaming God, he chose to create a powerful meaning to his circumstances.



He chose to believe that being born this way happened for a purpose. God was using him as a model to inspiration and heal the world. The meaning we choose to give to our life’s experiences is the meaning we create. We can choose to see our adversities as ‘Problems or opportunities’ as ‘punishments or blessings’.

He chose to live not just an ordinary and normal life, but to live an extraordinary one. He went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Financial Planning and Accounting. He is also a motivational speaker and has thus far spoken to over a MILLION People in Indonesia, Sweden, USA, Africa, etc… His current goals are to become financially independent by the age of 25, through real estate investments, to modify a car for himself to drive and to be interviewed and share his story on the ” Oprah Winfrey Show “! Writing several best-selling books has been one of his dreams and the title of his upcoming book will be called “No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!”

Below is an amazing video of Nick. Hopefully after today, you will choose to respond in a more positive way despite whatever circumstances you are in.

Another baby born

My sister-in-law finally gave birth to a baby girl on 1 Sept 2007 (Teachers' Day). Yesterday as usual, we brought Caleb to church. But this time round, we put him on the pram, instead of the car sear which we used to carry him to church in.



We placed the bean bag to keep his ears warm and to keep his head almost straight. Hehe..looks like the judge in court right?

After church, we went to Thomson Medical to visit my sister-in-law. Had lunch there first before going up to visit. The sad thing was that I didnt get to see the baby because the nurse was going to give him a jab..so we waited and waited for an hour plus and till Caleb got cranky. So, we went home without seeing the baby.

But anyway, its nice to have a cousin to play with Caleb now. And they are only a month apart in age. How cool.

Caleb's girlfriend

Yesterday when I went to my parent's place for the usual weekend visit, Caleb as usual would be sleeping. So, we got him a good spot to sleep on the sofa.



When Caleb was awake, I noticed Janine's doll lying around and thought, hey..this doll is almost the same size as Caleb. Here is a picture of Caleb and his girlfriend. Hehe.



After having lunch at my parents' place, we went Giant, Tampines for our weekly supermarketing. Caleb was too heavy to carry, so CT waited with Caleb at the sitting area for us to shop. I met my colleague there which is def not surprising. I keep meeting different colleagues here in Giant.

We bought a fan for Caleb's cot at Giant. When I reached home, I tested it out...



Heard he slept well with the fan that very night.

Prawn Paste Chicken

This is the first time Vicky cooked prawn paste chicken and it tastes really nice and crispy. I used to cook that as well but somehow, it is not as crispy as how she did it. So, I am really pleased with her cooking.



Since we both like to cook, we would exchange pointers and teach each other our recipes. Most of the time, I would teach her how to cook western food because she does not know how to cook western. As for local food, she is already well-trained by her previous employer's mother.

For dinner tonight, I taught her to cook this soup which is made up of 3 different types of "carrot"- the usual orange one, green radish and white radish. Add that with pork ribs and you will get a great tasting soup. A little bitter because of the green radish. But if you do not mind the slight bitterness, it tastes really nice. I told Vicky that next time, she can add gei zi (wolfberry fruit), red dates as well as dried cuttlefish.

Caleb has grown

Today, Caleb used a different bath tub already. He used to bathe in his own room where his tub is really small for newborn (given by the hospital). But recently, his legs has been quite squeezy for him to stretch, so we change his bath tub to a huge one, given to me by my ex-colleague.

Just simply changing his bath tub gave me yet another reality check that my son is growing fast and a great reminder of how I must make use of whatever opportunity to watch him grow and be with him.



Caleb loves his bath time. Sometimes, he would smile while bathing. He has started smiling since he was 3 weeks old and at about 5 weeks old, he started laughing as he smiles and chuckles. Real cute.




After bath, his wet frizzy hair never fails to capture my attention as I stare at his curls. Many of my friends and relatives ask how come I do not shave him bald so that it can grow thicker in future. Well, partly, I do not believe that it would happen unless there is scientific evidence. But it seems to be as just an old wives tale. So, I'd rather not since I am very happy with his hair at the moment. The other reason is that it is only when they are young, at this age that they can grow whatever hairstyle.Next time when they are older, they have to adhere to the school rules. So, I wish to grow his hair as long and see how his hair turns out to be. :)
Striving to groom him to be some korean superstar with his long hair.



Here is Caleb focusing on his toys above his playpen. He seems to like that too!

Happy Teacher's Day

Today is Teacher's Day and each time when this day arrives, I would think of the teachers who have influenced me in a huge way and probably has inspired me to become a teacher as well.

Would like to dedicate this blog entry now to the most influential teacher in my life- Mrs Lim Kia Huan from Temasek JC. I remember when I was in my 1st year, as I was still heavily involved in Swimming, I did not do very well in my studies. I was taking the usual 4 "A" level subjects back then- Economics, Accounting, C Math and F Math. Towards the end of Year 1, I failed my Accounting and F Math. I concluded F Math stands not for Further Mathematics, but Failing Mathematics.

My F Math score was the lowest among my 3 other subjects as I scored only 20 plus marks out of 100 marks. For F Math, we had 2 teachers- each teaching different kind of Mathematics. One teacher taught us on Mechanics of Mathematics (e.g Physics kind of Math..) while the other taught Mathematics relating to like Probability and Stats. The F Math teacher who taught me Mechanics advised me to drop F Math so that I can concentrate on the other 3 subjects since I kept failing my F Math. I was of course upset that there is a teacher who instead of encouraging me, advised me to give up. Sigh. I remember answering back to him and say that I will not drop F Math because I have interest in Mathematics. Then I went on to say that I would drop Accounting even though I did better in Accounting than my F Math. So, I went with my interest. Then, the teacher just gave that look as if I would not make it since I didnt heed his advise.

On the other hand, my other F Math teacher made an effort to give me remedial after school and made me practise and practise and practise with a few other weaker students from her other classes. I remember sitting right in front of the remedial class to pay as much attention as I can.

And in the end, I actually managed to get an "A" for my A Levels. Without Mrs Lim's effort to patiently teach me, I probably wouldnt get an A. And coincidentally, she happens to be attending the same church as me now. She recognises me and it's just nice seeing her again. At the moment, she is now the Vice-Principal of Temasek JC.

Thanks Mrs Lim for everything!

Went to school yesterday as my form class students invited me. So I brought Caleb and Vicky there as well. My colleagues kept taking turns to carry Caleb while I was busy doing some work in the computer that I didnt know where Caleb was. Ha.

Had class party celebrating Teachers' Day and it was nice to see my students again. I do wish them all the best in their final year exams and hope they will continue to work hard and do their best!

Actually wanted to wear this shirt yesterday to school which my friend, Esther got for me. Its a shirt about teachers. But too bad, I have not gone back to my pre-pregnancy weight. So, couldnt fit. Sobsob.

Here is the shirt!


Happy Teachers' Day to all teachers. Indeed, you make all other professions possible!