Baby stuff

Just as I mentioned about my boss having found a replacement for my team, another colleague just tendered her resignation this week. So guess what, it's back to square one again! Gosh, now really hope that another replacement can be found soon.

Anyway, the weekend went by quickly especially when we are busy doing this and that. I guess the main thing we did was to start buying some baby stuff this weekend. Quite exciting and happy to go about it. So far, I've got some feedback from other mothers on what are the basic necessities to buy and this weekend, we ended up ordering a baby cot, baby car seat and baby stroller!! I guess after much deliberation and asking around if there could be people to hand us down stuff, we decided to invest in getting new items for our first child and hopefully continue to use it for future children. We also started buying a few pieces of clothing, mittens & booties...hehe...so small and cute! :)

Quite a happy weekend

This week at work went by fairly well. A small piece of good news is that my boss has found a replacement for my team, so my new staff will be coming in pretty soon. Anyway, with the weekend, I felt really happy after seeing my gynae on Saturday. Besides knowing that everything with baby seems to be going well, we also found out the gender of our baby! Well, based on what the gynae showed us on the ultrasound scan, we could see the "little birdie" and was told that it's a baby boy! Dear and I felt a little unconvinced but the gynae seemed pretty sure. Anyway, we will be going for a detailed scan in 2 weeks time to further confirm this and other features. Besides knowing this, I also started to feel some slight movements from baby in the last few days. This interesting feeling made me really happy and excited :) It's especially interesting to put your hand on the area where baby is kicking and feel it so real :)

Dear and I also attended the Ruan Ensemble in Concert 2007 on Sunday where Ivy was part of the performance. Here's a shot of us with the performer herself...

National Day Weekend

Well, it's the nation's 42nd birthday this year and how nice it was to have a public holiday last Thursday. As the thousands of Singaporeans flocked to the Marina Bay, Esplanade and Padang area to get into the celebratory mood and watch fireworks, Dear and I spent some time shopping during the day. And again, we watched the telecast of the parade on TV that evening while having dinner. We actually spotted a minor mistake made during the actual day's performance and we were telling our family about it. Hehe. Anyway, in the papers the next day were some photos of the NDP show and this picture really caught my eye.....what a strong (but also stunned) looking MM Lee catching his view without any binoculars on...tsk tsk on the younger ministers :P

Source: TODAY newspapers

On Saturday, some of Dear's ex-colleagues organised a chalet at Downtown East Costa Sands Resort, so we went there for dinner. Have not been there for some time and was surprised to see that a multi-storey carpark had sprung up right in front of the Downtown East entrance. That certainly makes parking a lot better, but I find it strange that it's so high that it practically covers the whole front look of the resort. Perhaps there would be more changes that would take place in time to come, as I saw the on-going construction of another structure in front as well. Anyway, I had the opportunity to chat with 2 wives of 2 other officers at the bbq and found it pretty interesting. One lady was also expecting and due around Nov, while the other already has 2 kids. The lady with the 2 kids shared a lot of experiences with us about her pregnancy and the bringing up of her kids. One thing she said struck me - that is giving birth is not the hardest thing of it all, it's the bringing up of your children that's a challenge and also an interesting journey. At one point, you wish they would grow up faster, but before u know it, you wish they were little cute babies again. Haha...I'm sure our parents would have that same thoughts and experience before. Will only know for myself in future :)

Countdown to NDP

This week passed with some changes happening in my office. Another colleague resigned and my boss spoke to me of moving one of my staff over to another section as it is more short of manpower. The move would also be permanent as my staff was keen on taking it on the other role permanently. That meant my own team would be 1 person short for a couple of months before any replacement comes. Hope for the best, but prepared for some bz days ahead!

Anyway, for the time being, it's countdown to NDP 2007. 4 more days to go at this point. My home area constituency organised a mini NDP celebration with a fun fair event nearby and also a mini parade on Sunday afternoon. With nothing much to do this afternoon, Dear and I went to check out the mini parade, in which they closed a small street for it. Well, what can I say, quite pathetic! But it is a community event after all, so bravo to those who took time to perform for PM Lee (the GOH), some MPs and the residents. So, see if you can spot our dear PM Lee below....

NDP Preview 2007

We went to the NDP Preview at Marina Bay on Saturday evening, thanks to my Uncle who was able to garner tickets for us. Although I mentioned earlier in my blog that we did watch a session of the rehearsal, this was much better as it's as good as the real thing, plus we get the goodie bags! Anyway, the weather was very good on Saturday. Although it rained a bit earlier in the day, it was cooling by the time we went for the parade.

As usual, throngs of Singaporeans came dressed in red. Once you were at Cityhall area, you could see practically who was heading towards the Marina Bay area for the event! Well, the bad thing about the parade this year was the terrible queue at the Security Check point. Because of that, we were like stuck for about half and hour or so. Luckily by the time we got inside to this new stadium, we were still able to get pretty good seats. As I mentioned, because the weather was much nicer this day, the whole waiting for the show to start was so much more bearable! Think baby was also rather guai, as I felt pretty ok throughout the whole show :)

The preview turned out so much better than the 2nd rehearsal we saw. They had all the fireworks and pyrotechnics going throughout the show where it should be. Fireworks were also seen going off 3 skyscrapers in the Shenton Way region. Very nice :) And of coz, the parade culminated with the medley of old-time favourite NDP songs and a nice array of fireworks. So overall, felt quite happy that we were once again able to join in the celebrations of Singapore's 42nd Birthday! Hmm...sounds so patriotic...lol...

Oh yeh, and this entry officially marks a 1 year anniversary of the time we started our offline photo album on the Dayz of our Lives. If you look back in my blog's history, it's also the first entry that we had. Time flies indeed! Once NDP is over...I can feel Christmas creeping in round the corner..hahaha...sounds a bit exaggerating, but it's true! Well, ok la, don't think too far first. Maybe think about Mid-Autumn Festival first :)

Our baby

Just wanted to mention here for the record that we are having a baby :) Yup, it's been about 3 months plus already and our little one is due in Jan 2008. Anyway, we went to the gynae on Saturday for the usual check-up and this week, we were able to see more shape and form of our baby. The doc showed us the spine, the head, the hands and the leg. Baby was in a sitting position, so we still could not identify the gender. Hehe...Will have to wait some time more. Anyway, since the last check up at 13 weeks, I did not seem to put on much weight..though the doc did not highlight it as a problem. I think the most important thing for now is that baby is growing and this time, he/she measures about 9.13cm.

In addition, I also had to draw blood for the antenatal blood test and triple test in this appointment. A little painful and guess the doc didn't do a great job poking...haha..my arm is slightly blue-black with the blood clot : Anyway, do hope that the blood test results will turn out well and that my pregnancy will continue on smoothly... Must continue to have the faith...

Slow week

This week went by quite slowly, especially with a less hectic week at work. Earlier in the week, we had tickets to the gala premiere of the latest Harry Potter movie. Was looking forward to it, but found the movie to be boring. Still watchable, but not as interesting as some of the earlier stories. Dear and I also caught some other movies in the comfort of our home this weekend...Transformers and Deja Vu. The latter is quite an old show, but having watched it only now, I found it to be quite good. Denzel Washington's shows generally don't really disappoint.

We also had a simple dinner to celebrate Dear's father's birthday today, along with Phyllis and Ah Da. Here's wishing Papa a Happy Birthday and another year blessed with good health and wealth!

PS - for the record, Roger Federer won his 5th consecutive Wimbledon title last weekend :)

Wimbledon 2007

The Wimbledon Championships started since 25 June and we've been following some of the better matches quite closely. Of all the four Grand Slams in a year, Wimbledon is my favourite. Maybe it's the way the grass court looks, so lovely and tempting, so elegant and 'British'. It being held in London makes the game feel even more traditional and classic.

The ladies matches were quite interesting to watch, but nothing beats the men's tennis. In particular, watching our favourite Roger Federer, the World No. 1.

I really like and admire the way Roger plays tennis. His every move really seems so elegant and suave, and his skills are amazing. The way his balls curl with top spin and trickery, makes it so enjoyable to watch. Which is why I'm really looking forward to watch the Finals between him and Rafael Nadal. At this point that I'm typing this, the match is still on-going, so I can only hope that Federer prevails for another 5th year!

NDP Combined Rehearsal

This weekend, I managed to catch up on some shopping (bought quite a few items needed) and we also went to the NDP combined rehearsal show on Saturday at Marina Bay. Dear's colleague passed him a pair of tickets and there we were at the new venue for the first time. It was quite a hot afternoon but we were well prepared with umbrella, hats and fan. Ha ha... Anyway, this show being the second combined rehearsal to date, did not turn out that great. I felt that that some parts of the program have more room for improvement in terms of the timing and coordination of the performers. Only a few items helped to make the show better - the para-troopers descent, the chinooks, apaches and F16s that flew past, and this time round, a little bit more 'excitement' in the waters surrounding the floating platform. The mass performance, unfortunately was boring, and there were no fireworks to end of the event! Guess this wasn't such a good preview after all. Still look forward for the possibility of catching the official preview before the actual NDP.

Well, time flies, half the year has gone and now's the start of the second half of 2007. Soon our photo album which we first started to capture weekly updates of what we did, will be a year old! Looking forward to year end already....

Feeling lazy

Been feeling quite lazy on Sundays nowadays. After our weekly grocery shopping, I'm actually pretty happy to just take an afternoon snooze or read a book in bed. Somehow have not really got into the shopping mood though it's the GSS period. Anywayz, despite this lazy feeling, we had a rather good Saturday too. Besides 'checking out some important stuff', we also managed to catch a movie in the evening - Fantastic Four. Well, what can I say, this show is pretty much a typical super hero type of show. Not that great, not that bad. I think the main thing was us checking out the newest Cathay Cineplex to open at AMK Hub. Quite a nice cinema and seats were comfortable and spacious. It even had this 'new smell' about it. Haha...

We also took the time to celebrate a belated Father's Day dinner with Dear's side of the family today, since his mum and sister only came back from a Taiwan holiday this week. Then it's back to couch potato time at home, watching Initial D again. Hehe. So much for the weekend, it's back to work again!