Fragility of Life

Some other news that I received this weekend also reminded me how life can be fragile sometimes as anything can happen to anyone of us. I think the one thing that always frightens me is the fact that some bad thing may happen to people that we care for and love. As such, I always believed the being blessed with good health is the most important of all. Right now, I can only pray that this relative of mine will be fine and that the operation that she will go through will be smooth without complications. Cherish your loved ones always....

Hubby's back this weekend

This week at work passed quite quickly as it was fairly busy with the usual month end presentations. In the nights, Dear and I would do video-conference chatting over MSN so it was nice to still be able to communicate with him each day and chat about stuff. Then had a long weekend as I took leave on Friday to pick Dear from the airport. Glad to have him home again! Hehe... and thanks to dear dear who bought me a few gifts from KL.... :P

We had a simple celebration meal that evening for his return and also to celebrate our 'dating anniversary' in advance. Yup, 6 years ago we decided to 'try it out' and start dating. And now, here we are, growing and enjoying the friendship and love that we have. Looking forward to more years ahead!

This weekend, we also awaited the delivery of some baby items that we bought recently...so here's the baby cot, baby stroller and baby car seat! With a bit more shopping, we will also likely settle on a particular chest of drawers to add on to the room for keeping baby stuff. We should be getting that pretty soon too.

Weekend without hubby

Spent this weekend without Dear Dear. Feels strange to be away from him after so long as his last business trip was almost a year ago. But going forward, I might just have to get used to a bit more of his business travelling. Anyway, my mum helped me out at my home this weekend. She stayed over with me on Friday night so that on Saturday, she could help me with some of my housework. Really thankful for that, though there were also moments of irritation and disagreements in how we do things!!

So my weekend was spent mostly with my family, going shopping with them and hanging out at my old home, having meals at my granny's place and also celebrating my cousin's birthday. At nights, I look forward to chatting with Dear over MSN. Thanks to technology, we're able to have free conversation via MSN's video conferencing since I have a headphone with a mic. Hehe...every night I look like some customer service operator talking to the pc... :P

Well, just look forward to end of week where Dear and I can be together again!

Xiaoling's Birthday

Dear and I both had a busy week at work and it was great to have the weekend come by. But even with the weekends, we seem to be in and out of our home many times!! Anyway, I had my monthly checkup at my gynae this Saturday and we were given our report from the detailed scan that we did at Mt. A hospital about 2 weeks back. My doctor went through the report with us and I'm glad to say that all's fine in my baby's development. Then he did the usual ultrasound scan for me and again, another chance to look at baby!! Too bad we can't get to take an ultrasound picture anymore already, as baby is growing bigger and it can't be captured in 1 full shot. At least we have the films from the detailed scan to keep.

Dear's cousin also celebrated her 21st birthday this weekend, so we went with the family to the rented bungalow at NSRCC, which is all the way at Changi Coast Road. All the uncles, aunts and cousins of Dear Dear's were there but we entertained ourselves by going to the clubhouse area to play pool. Hehe, yup, I can still manage to play some pool with my bump at this stage ;P

Changes in Life

This week marks another set of change in our lives. Dear has been posted out to work in another Ministry for the next 2 years and he started work at the new place on Monday. The first week was not much of a 'honeymoon' as it required Dear to quickly settle in and get up to speed. As a result, he will probably end up a lot more busy than me! But no matter what, I will support him in his new role and hopefully it will turn out fruitful for him. It just means quite a bit of changes in our working lives I guess. I also had a new colleague join my team on Monday. She turned out to be quite a pleasant and cheerful gal who is much easier to chat with. However, it's still too early to tell if she can perform in terms of work yet. Have to guide her along the way and hope that she too picks up speed!

Over the weekend, we went to my ex-colleague's housewarming party as well and it was yet another good time to catch up with some old friends to see how's everyone doing. For most of them, it was the first time too that they have seen me since knowing that I'm preggie. The most common comments I have heard at the moment is that my tummy is still not that big. Well, I guess it's fairly proportionate to my frame at the moment. Can't imagine having such a big tummy at this stage, as it will only get bigger later and more tiring! Already once in a while now it can get quite uncomfortable!

Dear and I also did a bit of scouting around for our chest of drawers to be put in our spare room, in preparation for our baby's arrival. We have not really decided on which to get yet, but we have eyed some possible models from IKEA or VHive or even those HDB furniture shop. Anyway, the shopping around this afternoon certainly tired me out as I feel super zonked out even right now and I'm going right to bed after this! Ok...it will be another busy week ahead, so got to rest well and charge on!

Long weekend

Had a slightly longer weekend this week as I took leave on Friday. Part of the reason was to go for my detailed ultrasound scan at Mt. A hospital, and also to go 'par tor' with Dear Dear :P For our detailed scan, it was an interesting experience to be able to see baby in more details. The radiographer pointed out to us the bladder, kidneys, spine, limbs, nose, mouth, brain, etc as part of the checks to ensure that the baby is developing well. Glad that all is fine and yes, confirm it's boy boy indeed - pretty obvious from the detailed scan as baby was not shy at all! Anyway, now we are starting to think of names already...think that will take us a while to decide.

Dear then checked out COMEX to get us some stuff, after which we watched the movie Ratatouille. Well, it's a nice and feel good Disney movie, so quite worth it. It was also the first time that we went to CENTRAL shopping centre at Clarke Quay. I think the whole day of shopping around led me to spend quite a bit of money on getting some big tops! :P

Also celebrated my mum's birthday in advance this weekend by having lunch with my parents. It was Jap food this time, but too bad I could not really enjoy eating sashimi :( WIll have to wait long long before I can dig into my salmon sashimi again! Happy Birthday to my Mummy!

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....