Couple Things To Do (at home) 31 January, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, For Him For Her.add a comment
Dear1 and Dear2 have this ‘household notebook’ where we write all sorts of things that we discuss, including household finance, wedding plans, holiday plans, facial schedules, etc. While flipping through our household notebook just the other day, I came across this particular page entitled “Couple Things To Do”. :D
The list was made quite some time ago when we first moved in to our love nest. It was a list of things that we wanted to do now that we were free from our parents’ clutches and living together as a married couple. I’m quite sure all couples who had just moved in to their new home would have a similar to-do list. :P
Now with baby on the way, our twosome world becoming threesome, some of these things may not be achievable anymore. We’ll share our to-do list here and do a little review of it. Hope our readers dun find us a boring couple…
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1. Drink until high – Checked!
Yup, we did this one. On a normal Saturday night at home, we switched on the air-con in our study room, played music from our laptop, and chilled out over some drinks on our sofa bed. It’s quite fun actually, drinking at home, dancing to some techno beat late at night, not worrying about our safety or how to get home if we were at a club, and it’s cheaper too cos all our drinks were airport duty-free goods. Hehe… We did this quite a few times, the worst one resulting in Dear2 vomiting at the kitchen sink, I guess we were too high on alcohol. And after that, just wash up and go to bed. How convenient. :P
2. Invite frens over to play – Checked!
Yup, we often have friends over for gathering. Things we had done include steam boat dinners, pasta dinners, muffins, chicken wings, board game sessions, mahjong sessions, watching horror movies, pizza, potato chips, sleep overs, chit chats, Wiis, computer games. It was lots of fun having friends over and no watchful eyes from the older generation around. We can make as much noise as we wanted, limited only by our level of social graciousness. Fun, and we intend to keep this up.
3. Stay up overnight – Checked!
Hmm… We didn’t really stay up the entire night, but probably until 3am or so. Sometimes becos we were drinking, and sometimes becos we had friends over. And sometimes just the two of us chatting with each other, enjoying the late night together. And we don’t have to worry about parents popping in to ask why we had not gone to bed yet. Haha… By now, you should be able to see how happy we were (and still are) to escape from staying with our parents. Freedom, I tell you, freedom. :P
4. Late night supper – Checked!
We had supper, just that we didn’t go out for supper. We were rather lazy at night, and especially being smooth and clean after shower, we were just not keen on going outdoors again and getting all dirty and greasy again. So, we just have supper at home instead. Sometimes it’s just 2 packets of instant noodles at 2am. At other times, we steamed some siew-mai or bake some Taiwanese sausages. Yum yum.
5. *Ahem* couple things – Checked!
Don’t try to act innocent, I’m sure this item is on every couples’ minds once they moved in to their private love nest. :D Privacy is an important thing in couple life. It can be simple things such as wrapping ourselves with just a simple towel when we step out of the bathroom to… erm… other *ahem* couple things… You get the idea. Anywhere in the house. :P
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Looks like we did achieve all these things that we set out to do. For some things like drinking, we won’t be able to do anymore with baby around, but for others, we’ll continue. It is important that we do not revolve our lives around baby completely and neglect the needs of our partners. We should still keep the passion going and spend quality time with each other as a couple and as a family.
-Dear1
p.s. If you have ideas for couple things to do, pls drop us a comment! :D
Week 35, Oh Week 35 30 January, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2.add a comment
Week 35 started with 2 days MC on Mon and Tue becos Dear1 and Dear2 had Durian ice cream and Milo ice cream from Swenson’s the week before. Swenson’s still have this student promotion – $9.80 for any 2 Sundaes if you present your Student Pass from 2pm to 5pm on weekdays. Dear1 thinks that it’s a super good deal, so off we went and indulge in these sinful ice cream flavours which we haven’t tried before. The result – immediate sorethroat and running nose for Dear2.
With all logistics and schedule planning only possible after the C section (or not) is confirmed at the next gynae visit which is end of Week 36 (oh groan), this week is a very enduring week for both Dear1 and Dear2. Sudden blood in mucus, the second or third time in the past month, was making Dear2 very worried when the next appointment is more than a week’s away, so it was a desparate call to the clinic to ask if mtb should be concerned. The usual response – nose bleed or gum bleeds are pretty common for mtbs… So, it was a no-more-blowing-of-the-runny-nose-lest-blood-again for Dear2….
Tummy is feeling very heavy indeed this week. For the past few weeks, it was just groans and slooow motion while Dear2 rotate on the spot when flipping over on the other side at night. Now, the weight shift from one side to the top to the other side is so pronounced that mummy feels as if baby will ‘drop’ heavily just by this act of rotation. So, it was ‘push yourself up’, ‘get out of bed’, and ‘get in bed lying on the other side’….. Kind of tiring if you need to flip over a couple of times every night….
With the first 2 days off and the rest of the week just trying to finish up all the outstanding office stuff before Dear2 goes on Maternity Leave, possibly next week, the week past fairly fast, yeah.
Come the weekend, it was eat, sleep, eat routine for Dear2, a nice restful weekend after the past shopping weekends and cleaning weekends. Next week will be Week 36, when all the planning and instructions to family can be given out.
- Dear2
PS: One fine day, Dear2 suddenly have this curiousty. We have been tracking Dear2′s weight increase and taking photos of Dear2′s tummy throughout the term, how come we didn’t track Dear2′s waistline? Haha. So Dear2 whipped out the measuring tape in our house, the Ikea paper measuring tape, and ta da, Dear2′s tummy is sligthly larger than the tape which measures about 39.5 inch. That makes Dear2′s tummy about 40 inch in size, wow………
What’s for Dinner Tonight? 29 January, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Food & Beverages.1 comment so far
Dear2′s mum was a wife who didn’t knew how to cook when she got married. And as mummy was living with her mother in law at that time, the cooking task was left entirely to MIL while she chose to go out and work rather than stay at home all day long. Granny was a Cantonese who cooked delicious soups and stews and it was always table-ful of goodies on major Chinese festivals including Mid Autumn Festival, yummy!
Later on while Dear2 was 12 years old, mummy decided to stay at home and learn cooking from granny. Simple recipes like stir fried vegetables and peanut soup were picked up along the way, until granny passed away 2 years later. Nonetheless, mummy continued her learning (from recipe books and cut out recipes from magazines) and experimentations (thru the daily cooking for the family), until mummy can conjur up brother’s favourite dish (fried stuff usually) and daddy’s favourite (fatty pork usually, haiz). With constant practice, mummy can even tell you which brand of rice or oyster sauce is nicer over the others. Wow wow.
It may sound like very trivial, after all, most mothers know how to cook, or can cook. But like many things in life, cooking may not be a given skill, and one needs to practice constantly for it to be nearing perfection. Not to mention perserverance in the chore as well.
Chore. Yes, indeed when Dear2 first started cooking in our own house, the initial excitement soon turned into a dread of chore. The kitchen was always a no-no when Dear2 was living with her parents before marriage, so being able to finally cook something on her own was definitely a new-found freedom and excitement. But the hassle of cleaning up afterwards coupled with no-time was making cooking-for-Dear1 into a dreaded chore. The problem of groceries selling in bulk and cooking for just 2 people was making cooking at home less cost effective than it was supposed to be. With time, Dear2 lost interest in cooking and the sauces were left to expire slowly…..
Suddenly, with baby on the way, and Dear1 feeding on curry puffs all day long, Dear2 is very inspired to cook for the family. Find simple recipes, re-stock on new sauces and pots and pans, drag Dear1 to the market every now and then, and beg Dear1 to show support for Dear2′s renewed motivation (by not being a wet blanket). Dear2 is now very motivated and charged up to do some healthy cooking at home. Gambatte and may our potato, corn, carrot, onion, vege and pork ribs soup on the slow cooker turn out ok tonight…..
- Dear2
ParentCraft Childbirth Course 28 January, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear1.3 comments
We completed our childbirth course earlier this month. Let’s do a short recap of the course and what we thought of it.
We first heard of the ParentCraft Childbirth Course when we signed up for the FBI. Being first time parents, the course sounded interesting and useful indeed. We decided that we should sign up and learn some tips about taking care of baby.
We went ahead and reserved our class once past the crucial week 20 detailed scan. We initially booked a random class that started in October which suited our timings. However, a few weeks later, while visiting a friend who had just given birth, he explained that we should attend the class conducted by Mrs Wong Boh Boi as she was the most experienced instructor for the course. Oh… So, we went back to ParentCraft to ask for a change of class. Luckily there was no extra charge. But the next available class would be in November. And due to the Christmas and New Year holidays, the last lesson would end in January. Well, Dear2 would be in her 3rd trimester by then but we thought it would be worth the wait since we got Mrs Wong as our instructor.
The course was divided into 6 lessons. Lesson 1 focused on some exercises and the do’s and don’ts of pregnancy, as well as food and nutrition. Lesson 2 also have some exercises and some breathing and relaxation techniques. Lesson 3 was an interesting and important one on the entire labour process, and there were exercises too. Lesson 4 was on child care techniques such as carrying the baby, bathing, burping, folding of nappy, etc. Lesson 5 was dedicated to breastfeeding. And lesson 6 was a seminar talk by two doctors – an obstetrician and a pediatrician.
Now, what do we think of this course. Let’s first look at the cost, $192.60 for 6 lessons, attended by 2 adults. That’s $32.10 per lesson, or $16.05 per adult per lesson, or $6.42 per hour per adult per lesson (assuming 2.5 hrs per lesson). It may sound cheap, but note that the class size was very large, about 30 couples or more. Mrs Wong also commented that her class will be more expensive starting from 2010 to encourage more couples to go for other class. I guess this meant that she’s really popular.
Our class was held at a play school in AMK Hub. I would think that the venue is a little too small for the number of couples there. When we were doing the exercises, there was hardly room for the mummies to lie down and the daddies beside. When it comes to Mrs Wong doing her demonstrations, it was hard to see what she was doing as everyone gathered in a big crowd around her.
About the projector and powerpoint slides. Somehow, the projector was always giving problems during our course. Most notably, the colours cannot be reproduced properly. This led to much difficulty in reading the slides and making sense of the pictures. Personally, I don’t think this is acceptable. Imagine paying to watch a movie with the colours all wrong.
Next up is the ‘lecture’ notes, or rather the lack of. Yes, some may argue that we can always copy down the important things on paper. But I feel that in teaching, notes should always be made available to the students. The students can then focus on taking down details or insights that the lecturer provides to supplement what is already printed on the notes. Students should be listening and understanding, not copying.
About the exercises. We hardly practice any of the exercises at home. The reason being, we can’t remember all of them. There were a lot of exercises being taught, some of them form a natural head to toe total body workout which I can see will be very useful to mum-to-be’s. But no notes or videos were given. Urgh. And the textbook wasn’t very helpful when it came to the exercises.
I dunno how the other couples think about this course, but this is my opinion. It is definitely an informative course. We learnt many things from Mrs Wong through her sharing of her many many years of experiences. But, I can’t help but feel that this course can be so much more. That is, the couples attending this course be benefit much more if more effort can be made by the organizers. This course should not be conducted in a seminar style way where people listen and then forget a few days later. At the least, there should be a set of detailed instructions on the exercises routine and suggestions of intensity levels at the different stages of pregnancy.
Before I end, I should give credit to the pediatrician from lesson 6, Dr. Ong Eng Keow. His talk was well supplemented by a small booklet “A Parents’ Guide To Newborn Babies”, distributed to all couples before the talk began. The important points of his presentation were all summarized in this guide for couples to take home and refer to should they forget points afterwards.
Still, despite the overall negative comments in this post, I feel that the ParentCraft Childbirth Course had been very useful and well worth the money for first time parents. We’ve learnt a lot about (untrue) old wives’ tales, malpractices by secondary caregivers (maids and confinement ladies), and first aid tips for both mummy and baby. And it’s a good bonding session for couples to attend a course and learn something together. However, this course definitely has plenty of room for improvement.
-Dear1
Toy Animal Giraffe & Cow 24 January, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear1, Leisure & Games.2 comments
These are our gifts to baby, toy animal giraffe & cow from Mothercare.
If you have been following our continually updated pregnancy related expenses, you would have noticed two particular entries from Mothercare about a toy animal giraffe and a toy animal cow. Well, here they are. :D
One day, while shopping for baby stuffs at Vivo City, Dear1 caught sight of this animal giraffe at Mothercare. It’s so cuddly and soooo cute. But it was a little expensive, $29. So we waited to see if there was going to be a sale coming up.
And it did. 15% discount on all toys until Christmas. We went to Mothercare again and picked up the toy animal giraffe in the picture on the left. It’s a self standing soft animal toy, no other gimmicks.
At the same time, we also saw this other toy animal sheep (UP $25) that was about two-thirds the size of the giraffe. And it was a crinkle sheep, meaning that it has some soft plastic sheets inside the sheep that makes a crinkle sound when squeezed. And it’s quite cute as well. We were considering.
It was around this time that we decided that we should get a gift for baby. Some sort of gift to welcome baby to our world and to become part of our family. We decided that daddy will give the toy animal giraffe to baby as his gift. So this meant that mummy will need to find a gift too, and the crinkle sheep looked like a great idea.
We went back to Mothercare on another day with the intention to purchase the sheep. However, when we arrived, we noticed this very cute toy animal cow. Having came from the same series, it was the same size as the sheep, and same price too (UP $25). It too makes a sound to grab baby’s attention, a rattle sound that is.
After much consideration, we decided on the rattle cow instead. The 15% discount was still ongoing. We chose the cow becos it was newer, it’s pink, it’s cuter, it’s got the same tiny eyes as giraffe (sheep had large eyes), and becos the shorter fur was easier to maintain (sheep had longer curlier fur). There’s the toy animal cow in the picture on the right. And that would be mummy’s gift to baby.
We’ll probably put both animals in one corner of the baby cot until baby becomes old enough to play with them. And we might expand baby’s safari collection in the future too! :D
-Dear1
Tracking personal expenses 21 January, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, Dollars & Cents.2 comments
One of the things that I loved most about my now spoilt HTC Touch 3G was the personal accounting software that I had. Over the period from Dec 2008 to Jan 2010, I had meticulously recorded every single one of my expenses using my phone. The advantage of doing this on my phone instead of on the computer was the accessibility.
Think about it, it is not possible to have your computer by your side everywhere you go. If you had waited until the end of the day, when you reached home, to record your expenses for the day, you would probably have forgotten some of them. The handphone, on the other hand, follows you practically everywhere you go. So whenever you, say buy a drink, you can immediately whip out your handphone and record that expense. It’s that simple and convenient. It is also much less of a chore compared to using the computer becos you don’t have to search your memory and crack your brain to recall all the expenses over the course of the day.
I believe recording expense on handphone is a fantastic starting point for people who can’t control their spending habits. It is also great for statistically minded people (like Dear1) to record/plot/analyze all the data gathered from the wonderful game of life.
Luckily, I stored all the data on the SD card in the phone so I was able to retrieve the data even when my phone was spoilt. So, let’s take a look at one small category of data from Dear1 and Dear2 over the past year… our expenses on food and groceries.
Our expenses on food from Dec 2008 to Jan 2010.
In the bar chart above, you can see our combined Dear1 and Dear2 food and grocery expenses from the period Dec 2008 to Jan 2010. First, the disclaimers. Data for the month Dec 2008 is incomplete becos I only started recording in the middle of the month. Data for the month Jan 2010 is incomplete becos the phone spoilt in the middle of the month. So let’s exclude these 2 months for our discussion. Nonetheless, we have 1 full year of complete data for 2009. The recorded data includes the combined expenses of Dear1 and Dear2 when we dine together, expenses when Dear1 dines alone (becos the phone was mine), and all grocery expenses from the wet market and supermarkets. It does *not* contain expenses when Dear2 dines alone (i.e. lunch on working days), treats given to others (i.e. when we give treats to our parents on their birthdays), and food bought with foreign currencies (i.e. holiday food expenses).
In total, we spent $5856.16 on food and groceries in the year 2009. The mean is $488.01 per month and the median is $474.78. The lowest recorded expense was in Feb 2009, the reason being that we were on honeymoon in Japan for one-third of the month. On a similar note, we were on holiday in Penang for 5 days in Oct 2009 which partly contributed to the decrease from Sep 2009.
The highest expense ocurred in Jun 2009. Let’s take a closer look at our data. The extraordinary spendings that month were $51.80 at Buckaroo BBQ (recommended by Driving Miss Foodie but we didn’t think it was worth it), $65 at Mellben Seafood for a friends gathering, and $52 at 717 Trading for durian.
Now, what about the 2nd highest month of Dec 2009. There were $93.46 at Ichiban Sushi becos we were trying to earn enough ‘stamps’ to redeem a $20 voucher, $43.35 of chocolates and shepherd’s pie for our mini Christmas celebration, and $15 for a Magnum ice cream indulgence.
By now, you should have realized yet another big advantage of recording personal expenses. You are able to pinpoint down to the last cent where your money went. This way, you can objectively evaluate your expenses and to cut down on unnecessary ones. As a side effect, you can also recall which restaurant you and your loved one went to on your anniversary. :D Or what you were doing on, say National Day, by looking at your expenses for that day!
Right, let’s take a look at other trends. Our food expenses was on an uptrend for the year 2009. Part of the reason for this was that we were spending more on groceries for the 2nd half of the year. After we found out Dear2 was pregnant, we started buying more milk (for calcium), 100-plus (to help with gassy-ness), and fruit juices (becos mtbs prefer flavoured drinks to plain water). The other reason for this was probably us becoming too comfortable with life and spending more. This can be become quite dangerous if left unchecked. Luckily, we were able to realize our increased expenses by looking at these data.
The other trend would be the ‘corrections’ in Jul 2009 and Oct 2009, and possibly one in Jan 2010 as well (if we had the complete data to verify it). This was becos we were able to constantly review our spending habits over time. Once we noticed that our expenses was becoming too high, we would look at where our money went and try to cut down on some of the luxury items for the following month. But as you can see, we tend to get complacent and the monthly expense will start to rise again after every correction, until we noticed again.
Ok, this is all that I’m going to say for our food and grocery expenses. Of course, if we looked at our other expenses such as utility bills, household equipage, etc, there would be many many more trends and realizations. The purpose of this simple illustration today is to demonstrate the usefulness of recording and tracking your personal expenses on your handphone. First, it is easy to do, just take your phone out every time you spend some money, takes less than 30 seconds. Second, it gives insights to your spending habits and may provide some form of self-exploration and self-discovery. Third, it acts as a heads-up mechanism and provides some early warning signs before you get overly comfortable with life. Fourth, it’s like a diary of sorts as you can see where you went every single day.
I hope that’s enough reasons to get you started on this journey. For me, it’s back to receipts and paper recording until I get my hands on a new smartphone!
-Dear1
Change of Plans… Week 34 18 January, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2.add a comment
Dear1 and Dear2 went for gynae appointment during this week 34. Alas, baby is in a breech position and has not turned down at this point in time, so gynae is not too hopeful that baby will have the space to turn down before week 36 as baby is now growing to a healthy size and the amniotic fluid does not seem to allow for much somersault turning already…. With this current status, gynae prepares us for a likely Cesarean Section during week 38 to 39. We’ll have to choose a date for the surgery and see how it goes during our next visit at week 36…
Well, this certainly means some adjustments of plans and expectations. No need for a birth plan liao? No need to familiarise ourselves with the relaxation and breathing techniques liao? Need to find out about C sections and to prepare ourselves for it? Squeeze out more cash as a C section will definitely cost more than a normal delivery? Repack the hospital bag as it’ll be a 4 day stay rather than the usual 3 days stay now. No need to coax baby to come out after Day 4 of Chinese New Year liao. Gotto replan Maternity Leave and inform company about it. Gotto inform family about it cos we will be confined at home during CNY and wun be doing any visiting at all already… Need to rethink about baby’s Chinese name as she will be a Bull and not a Tiger anymore? Need to hasten on finalizing baby’s English name as she will be out 2 weeks earlier than expected!
Dear2 was pretty moody about this change of plans during the week, but come to think of it, actually most of these initial concerns were pretty unfounded. Baby’s original EDD is 1 week after CNY, but we all know that first borns will usually be early, so what disappointments that mummy dun get to eat bak kwas and love letters during CNY? And this thing about having 2 less weeks to prepare for baby’s arrival. Gynae has already say to get ready the hospital bag by week 36, so it means that we can expect baby any time after week 36, and not to leave any important things after that. Opps. (Dear Dear, we really need to come up with baby’s English name very soon ah…).
In fact, a planned Cesarean probably has it’s advantages too. At least mummy dun have to live in constant worry on when she’ll encounter the labour pain, though people always say that “you’ll know it when it happens”. And mummy and daddy do not have to worry about baby putting on excessive weight now, so no need to sugar control anymore, haha. Admittedly, mummy has been trying to deceive herself all this while – the increasing discomfort on the tummy and diaphragm has made work really less tolerable with each passing day, and mummy still insists on working till week 39 just to save on that 2 days of CNY Public Holidays Leave. Fat chance, haha!!
3 more weeks to go, so better use this time well to do all the things that maybe will be less viable when baby is out. Things like start studying for CFA, just resting and doing nothing, and spend more (non grouchy) time with Dear1.
- Dear2
PS: Baby is 2.1 to 2.2kg this week, and the 300g increase in weight in mummy since the last appointment has all gone to baby. Gynae says that it is normal for mummy not to put on the weight gain herself as long as baby is growing well. Hmm… mummy must continue to load herself with nutritious foods so that baby gets all of this and develops well.
My lousy luck with handphones 16 January, 2010
Posted by dear1dear2 in Consumer Electronics, Dear1, Slice of Life.4 comments
Haiz…
My HTC Touch 3G is spoiled, just barely 14 months after I bought it. You can read about my earlier review of the phone and my bad luck with previous phones at this post. Not to mention that this is the first phone that I bought without telco contract, which meant that it was expensive. Looking back at my previous post, I bought this phone at $480. And 14 months of usage = 420 days. That’s about $1.14 per day. Haiz…
My phone was just sitting on my work desk, idling. Suddenly, I feel like checking my organizer, so I pressed the on/off button to wake my phone up. Nothing. Hmm… Press again. Nothing. Press and hold. Nothing.
Hmm…
Press all the buttons and scribble on the touchscreen. Nothing. Take out the battery and replace the battery. Nothing. Press the reset button at the back of the phone. Nothing. Plug into charger and turn on. Nothing.
Oh my… This was serious. After another few minutes of fiddling, I’m convinced it was something really serious. I decided to visit the HTC service centre at HabourFront immediately.
At the service centre, the service staff there told me that the phone came with 12 months of warranty which was probably over according to the production date of my phone. The diagnostic cost will be $30 something. Without diagnosis, the person speculated that he had seen this problem many times before and it was due to the micro-processor crash and a complete replacement of motherboard was normally required. The parts replacement cost will be $400 something. I rejected their repair proposal.
Overall, the impression that I got from the HTC staff was that of an uncaring attitude. All they were concern about was doing their job and following procedures. There was no offer to retrieve my contact list for free or the sort of friendly customer service I was expecting. Was I expecting too much? All hail corporate heartless-ness.
Next, I brought my phone to those Ah-beng handphone shops for repair. But I was told that there isn’t any HTC spare parts on the market and that the service centre is the only place to repair HTC phones. Haiz.
I was really saddened by the sudden demise of my phone. Why me? Why do I always have bad luck with phones? I liked many things about this phone, the GPS, the maps, the accounting software, the stock monitor, the internet browser. I lost my contact list and organizer too. Maybe this will teach me not to be over reliant on my phone. Haiz.
Now, I’m back to using my Nokia 6288, luckily it is still functional. Dun think I’ll be getting a new phone any time soon. Wait until July, when my Singtel is due for upgrading. And just get a cheap phone will do. No point spending on an expensive phone that spoils immediately after the warranty period and the repair cost is about the same price as the phone.
Look on the bright side, I still have my old contact list on my old Nokia which I can copy out to my SIM card. All is not lost. :)
-Dear1
p.s. Ignore my rants and sieve out whatever useful information between lines.
