New home sweet home!

After five years of waiting, after we grew from three to five of us, we finally moved in!

Sito and I took leave the whole of last week to pack and unpack and move. We - or rather, I - overestimated the time required for packing and underestimated that for unpacking. Kai and Yang happened to be at home coz Kai had a bruised toe and I brought him to the doctor (he was totally fine) so Yang refused to go to school *.* It was quite fun having them around - sometimes, when they were happy and not cranky!

 They helped to pack their toys!

Found the magazine with our newly renovated first home in an advert - so different from now!

Found our wedding shoes :) His were peeling, mine had shattered heels. Dumped!

Took a tea break on Monday afternoon at OCK :)

We managed to pack almost everything by Tuesday morning, went out for lunch and did some household shopping at IMM - Daiso of course!!!!! Then we went to BP to drop the stuff and pick the kids up.

Yu enjoyed digging into boxes, especially where he found his toys

Our old living room with some 30 cardboard boxes and five suitcases and other random boxes

I went with Mum and the kids to BP on Wednesday morning to clear space for boxes and prepare for the moving-in ceremony. Sito arrived before 10 am with lots of stuff! We bought more stuff at the NTUC downstairs, including tang yuan and two bowls.

Yu had some last fun with a box before he went to school

And with the tang yuan, we've "moved in"!

Our fridge finally arrived and I spent some time cleaning it out while Sito went back to wait for the movers, who happened to be able to make it earlier, which was great for us! They very chop chop shifted everything over in an hour!

Boxes now in our new living room

We managed to unpack half the boxes before we had to fetch the kids. No mean feat!

Returned to this though - so bare :(

Thursday was a very siong day. We dropped Yu off and went to BP. Three of us, including N, unpacked and wiped down everything to get the house ready.

When Friday morning arrived, I told the older kids to remember their first home and we left... So sad to be leaving our first matrimonial home, where our kids spent their first years.. But we were just too busy last week to feel sad about it! Which is even sadder...

Our last family shot at our old place...

Echoes can be heard in the empty house...

Only the wall decals remain now

I left Kai's drawing on the wall

The floor beneath our old bed is of a different colour and feel!

And the kitchen I painstakingly curated

Friday evening, Sito and I picked Yu up in HV and left for BPP

Yu had dinner while Sito went to fetch his brothers. As Yu was quite dirty with food, we decided to give him a shower. The water took a long while to heat up. When it was hot, the mains tripped! I turned it back up and carried on. But it happened again and the mains refused to be turned back up! I got N to give Yu a wipe-down and be done while I called the guard house - maintenance office was closed by then. Two guards came up to check and found the washing machine point to be at fault. So weird. We turned that point in the DB box off and managed to keep the mains up.

The next morning, I called the maintenance office and they sent the main contractor up. Couldn't resolve. Arranged for their electrician to come over on Tuesday morning. Due to potential complications with regard to two sockets drawn from the washing machine points, I called our ID and he sent his electricians too.

I took leave on Tuesday. Three hours in, they told me it was done. But as we started to try out things, the mains tripped. The electrician suggested pulling an external wire to the washing machine and I agreed. The problem was resolved after that but they didn't put back my two sockets so my ID's electricians came back the next day to fix it.

The whole thing was super weird. I had used the washing machine before we moved in. I had tested the water heater before we moved in. I had tested the two sockets before we moved it. Everything was fine until we moved in! And how did the heater affect the washing machine?! The problem lies with the wire leading to the washing machine. Either it was spoilt at developer's side or my renovation did something to it. And seems like the problem flared up only when we moved in. Glad that the main contractor did it out of good will. Coz our renovation would have voided any warranty.

But my neighbours were upset about it! I posted this on our Facebook group to see if anyone else had the problem. And someone complained to the developer that they should have hacked our walls! I ended up having to assure the electrician then his boss then the developer...

Anyway, we're moved in :)

Now the process...

19 Oct 2017

After more than four years, we got our keys to our new home!

Mum came with Sito and me to look at the place. We took some measurements for appliances and tossed some ideas about. Then we walked around the common area - think the kids will be happy with the pool :) Not too sure about the playground though...

20 Oct 2017

Can't remember if it was the previous night or this morning. I suddenly had a feeling of apprehension about moving. Coz it's further from work? Coz it's still new and strange? I'll miss Holland Village too.

22 Oct 2017

Whole clan went to the new house to look see! Kai said his room was small *.* Some time later, he also asked why N's room was so small. I asked him if he would switch with her :p

Had the fengshui master over as well and took notes like crazy. Then we became $1,000 poorer...

28 Oct 2017

We went back in between YQ's tea ceremony and wedding lunch to take picture of the toilet bowls - lots of neighbours talking about them so must check!

Later, we showed these photos to our ID, who said that the lobang behind was due to the trap used. Too technical! Later in the shop we bought our bidet, the lady also said the same technical thing. Alright, but I don't like it - what if water stays there and we breed mozzies? What if - with three boys - poop flies there?!

Also pasted lots of bright pink post-it notes on defects and sent in the list.

3 Nov 2017

Met the contractor S to go through the defects. Confirmed that our toilet bowls are fine! I asked about sealing it, and he advised me to seal with silicon to facilitate any future works.

That night, we met our ID to discuss renovation too. Went back to the one who did our current place. And Mum's place. And Jo's place - she recommended him to us.

8 Nov 2017

Nope, did nothing on this day but updated this to-be-published post, and realised that I had not taken a single decent photo of our new place!! I shall correct that...

17 Nov 2017

Turned on water and electricity today!

I brought a picnic mat and worked there while waiting!

18 Nov 2017

We were at the child care centre open house when the contractor S called. So we went over that evening! Most were done. The balcony wall remained rough and after some clarifications, we understood that the smooth wall on the floor below was a mistake *.* We closed an eye on the floor tile straddling inside and outside the main door. It's not too visible and the work involved was too much. The contractor was already very nice to replace a tile in the master bathroom coz he saw that it was cracked.

But found that the ceiling light in Kai's room was blocking the cabinet. So might as well ask him to change the round plug for the washer to normal plug. But I only managed to submit the defects a week later coz my fax couldn't get through early. In fact, it didn't get through but I got their email address when I called :p

27 Nov 2017

It was a Monday but we went down at night to check things out before meeting ID again on Friday. Came home with an aircon remote control coz ours all spoilt :p

The original colour is white!!

1 Dec 2017

Met ID to discuss design.

6 Dec 2017

Went to meet ID at our new place and hand over the keys. Managed to arrange an inspection with S too. ID pointed out some minor defects so I told S who got his men to rectify on the spot.

But I found that the wash basin was too small! That's an A5 book.

By January, we decided to hack the mirror cabinets and vanity cabinets in the two bathrooms coz they were super non-user friendly - the basin was too small and you can't bend over enough coz the mirror cabinet was in the way, which means wet floors all the time!

22 Dec 2017

Final meeting with ID after Yu was down to go through electrical and lighting plans, as well as the laminate finish. Had to order Macs for our dinner as we were warned that this could take four hours!

ID sent us the 3D images the next day along with the edited plans - so nice!!!

Living room

Our room

28 Dec 2017
On leave to buy furniture so went to Hillion to do some final measurements.

Found it all protected!

Kitchen area

Common bathroom

Our bedroom

Also found the top of the mirror cabinets in both bathrooms looking like crap

We wanted to seal it up but as mentioned above, we changed to hacking it off :p

That afternoon, I sprained my ankle :( Never mind, still had to buy and bought our sofa and mattresses! Even customised a mattress for N coz her room is too short for a full-length mattress. Luckily she isn't too tall :p

8 Jan 2018

Day of the traffic accident. Went to have a look as I heard some works had been done. Most of the electrical work was done. But the living room balcony light was left on, argh!

A single 36W is bright enough

Couldn't turn off the balcony light coz of this

The crappy basin looked so filmy!

26 Jan 2018

Was very sick. Changed child care leave for centre closure to MC. But I had to go settle the tap at the washer - ID said nothing came out! Turned out there was some wrong connections. The developer contractor was very nice and helpful, and fixed it on the spot. I also happened to chance upon my own paid work - they were sanding the parquet floor and then rolling some yucky brown thing over.

31 Jan 2018

Very pissed with the gas installation today. The guy wanted to test the gas so I let him. But the loose fixtures had not been fixed yet so there was nothing to turn the hob on. He somehow managed to turn it on. Tested so done right? No! He let it burn high coz "must keep it on in order to test the gas heater". What?? So he went to turn on the heater at the remote control, and as I watched, the fire from the hob was affecting the cabinet above!! I shouted for the guy who came back in from the bathroom to turn off the hob. Too late, some glue melted a little :(

And the water still wasn't hot. Why? Coz the main switch at the heater was not on! So he reached over the wall to the aircon ledge to turn it on, by stepping on the wall with his dirty and wet socks! Water was still cold. I just asked him to go; I could test slowly on my own.

He left black and wet marks on the floor so I went around wiping with kitchen towels coz that was all I had! And when I was wiping, I found the dirty wall. I was so angry coz our ID only just painted and cleaned the whole place! Luckily, he helped us paint over nicely again.

3 Feb 2018

I realised a bit late that I forgot the curtains *.* So arranged for the measurements to be done today.

Also arranged for installation of loose items, i.e. toilet seats, hobs, shower heads etc. And the bidet for ourselves that we bought separately.

All well done!

And best, the guy installing the loose items taught me how to use the heater. It was totally different from what the gas installation guy said, and it worked! I was so angry all over again and wrote in to complain. City Gas called me back to understand the case, and that was it.

6 Feb 2018

Arranged two deliveries and one installation today! The TV and washer-dryer came first. Then the TV installation. I waited for the fridge until I couldn't wait. But while I was reaching the child care centre, the delivery man called! I told him I told his colleague by 5.30 pm. I waited until 5.40 pm and had to go. He told me he could deliver again but there would be a $80 charge. I told him I wasn't paying as the text message from them wrote clearly 2 pm to 5.30 pm for me.

Seriously, are they trying to be irritating with their delivery hours of 11 am to 3 pm or 4 pm to 8 pm?? Do I take morning or afternoon leave for the first slot? And for those who haven't moved in, with kids, like us, how to do the second slot?! And their delivery men don't need to eat at proper meal times?

Anyway, arranged for 14 March when we will be unpacking there and can wait 11 am to 3 pm. Ridiculous.

10 Feb 2018

Taken at HV MRT platform on the way to Chinatown

There's a windmill above the top left corner of the photo. I remember I passed by the windmill one day some years back and wondered how long more I would be there for. Well, that windmill is long gone and I'm still here!

17 Feb 2018

Second day of LNY and we decided to move lots of bags over!

Mr Strong

Apart from the brown bag, all the other big bags were used for more moving trips like this...

We had hotpot downstairs!

And bought a drink at the Esso station on our way back!

I was telling Sito where I had the accident when the car in front of us did the same thing - cut across two white lines to go to PIE! Why?!!!

21 Feb 2018

Shopping day at IMM! Went to only two shops in three hours - Daiso was one of course, and got some bedsheet sets. I was so dead after that..

23 Feb 2018

Went to Ikea to buy yet more things and brought them straight to the new house. We were there until quite late coz fixing things etc. Then, a fire alarm went off. We didn't think much of it until it was time to go - the lifts didn't work :( So we walked 18 floors to the carpark *.*

And this night, the car in front of us looked drunk. Very suay.

26 Feb 2018

Dashed to Ikea to change some towels - took the wrong size - and bought more stuff to carry to the new house all m=by myself. I Ms Strong :p

Curtains went up! So pretty, especially the Tiffany blue in Yu's room :)

Took the chance to do some laundry too. The washer-dryer took damn long!!

28 Feb 2018

The bed frames arrived but only for the kids. Some issue with the queen bed coz we wanted to change the high headboard to a low one.

3 and 7 Mar 2018

Our electrician came over to check out the light in Yang's room, which flickered when other lights were turned on or off. Couldn't find out why but one light got busted. So he had to come back another day to fix it.

5 Mar 2018

The mattresses arrived! Don't know why but all these deliveries are always late!

10 Mar 2018

Our bed frame arrived! The high headboard came along with it else we would have no bed! Have to wait for the low one to arrive end of the month.

And I put on some bedsheets - it's time.

And we were ready to for moving week!

Growing up in child care centres

Just some random thoughts on the kids' child care life.

I was telling Yu on the way to school the other day that while his brothers might remember their first home in HV, he would likely see himself as a BP kid. And it just hit me one recent evening while I was watching Yu sleep that Kai has spent five years in old school and will spend one year in the new, while Yu will be the opposite, i.e. one year in his current school and five in his new. Yang is in the middle - three years in each.

I consider Kai and Yang child care veterans :p On their first day at the new school, the staff thought I would stay with them that day. But no, I went to work after a short while :p They're used to the child care setting - many children, some of whom they don't know but kids just play together anyway; many teachers, some of whom they don't know but if the other kids know them, they're teachers!

But Yu, I'm not too sure. He is comfortable now, being one of the oldest kids around at 17 months. But when he graduates from infant care, he'll go to a new school with new teachers, new friends, new routine. Kai and Yang were brought to playgroup towards the end of their infant care days to help them get familiar. But Yu will have no such orientation. I'll take leave on his first day at playgroup, first day at new school, just in case.

Yu showing me around his territory one morning when we got there before the first teacher

I really like the old school. We - Sito and I - find the new school quite sterile. It's very new, and in a mall so the outdoor is still sheltered. There's no water play, only sand play. And there is no trampoline! The old school is in two old houses but it feels super homely. Ah well, pros and cons of each.

The old school is also where they all met a girl named H. Kai's H left him in N2. Yang left his H in N2. Yu's H has never been his - she graduated to PG last year and recently said she liked Kai AND Yang. Poor Yu!

Growing up in child care centre also means, I hope, that they are used to being in school. We use "going to school" all the time. Granted, formal education will be quite different, but it's similar in that they will not be at home for many hours a day. An ex-colleague once said that they would also not be used to staying at home. But looking at them now, I think they still like to be at home - I get meltdowns here and there just before leaving for school coz Kai wanted to play more at home!

The bad thing about child care centres is the ease of catching germs. With Kai, I had to take leave before I even earned them coz I just came back from no-pay leave. That's even with Mum's help to watch him. Then we got a helper. But I still had to take leave when Yang and Yu were smaller. Now, I try to take leave when I have to bring them to the clinic. Other times, I work from home while the helper watches over the kid(s) - it's important that I'm still home else I'll be super worried with no eyes on them when she goes to the toilet!

But child care centres aren't cheap, especially the old one. We have spent more than $100,000 on child care fees already!!!! Kai is almost done now. From next year, it will be mostly Yang and Yu coz student care fees should be way lower. And Yu will spend a few months less in childcare coz he was born in October :p Now I can't wait for them all to go to primary school!

Busy Mama still wants to write about Yu

I always have to count from October when thinking about Yu's age - he's past 16 months now. And the poor dude has been missing his growth updates from Mama!

“你怎么舍得我难过？”

不舍得！So sorry my baby but Mama has been pulling late nights to make up for arriving in office late and leaving early. No one is counting hours but there's so much work! And then there's moving to settle but that's a whole story for another day...

I'll start from the latest happenings..

Yu loves having his brothers push him around!

"Ahhh!"

And then he tried to push Kai!

Wondered if this was how it started coz I went into the room only when Kai called me in

And this baby loves fruits!

It's a huge strawberry!

He loved it and finished it!

Copying Yang who sat there yesterday; I piled on the toys and he was so happy!

No time to post video but yesterday he also pushed himself around on the excavator at Mum's place - with one leg coz he had to tilt to one side to reach the floor haha!

We think he's doing some things earlier than his brothers. Last weekend too, he was pulling a little truck around. We have three of those toys and his brothers started pulling them around past two.

On LNY eve, he said a very loud BAAAAYE when we left Mum's place. He can also say "more more" when he wants more snacks. Or "preh" when he wants to press something - with his forefinger only please. And "boh" when playing peekaboo - so cute :) At night, he says nainai, ah nainai a tad too often - not so cute...

Pressing the door button

Oh and he has been wearing pull-ups! He can pull it quite down now...!

I have missed out recording so many of his moments but third kid - sorry! Hopefully I'll be less busy from April onwards - less commuting, less working from home, more time for the things I want to do!

Next up - hope to write about the things the kids say :p

Happy doggy year!!

It's the third day and work resumes tomorrow so I guess celebrations are mostly done with...

We started ours in Chinatown last weekend!

Quite crowded but it was a mercifully cool day so it was quite a pleasant walk with the kids. We did mostly eating haha! The kids, including Yu, had a field day trying various snacks.

We ended up with these!

Add a gerbera to the table on V Day - courtesy of a sweet colleague

Didn't take photos at Chinatown - too busy holding hands! But somehow N managed to take pictures... I wonder where the holding hands went *.*

Random shot of Kai

Source: N

Yang playing with a dog display

Source: N

Fast forward to the eve. Coz it's just too much of a hassle to send Kai and Yang to BP for half a day, I took up emergency care at their old school - the $70 per pax was well spent!

Kai got a new set from Chinatown while Yang and Yu wore hand-me-downs :p

I mean, this is a once-a-year event! At most twice if you count RHD but I also have Japanese outfits for that. I bought one size larger for Kai - he can wear it again next year, for RHD if not LNY eve!

Anyway, the two older boys had fun in school with their old friends. Yu also posed with oranges in a video uploaded by the school. Why do I find all of them super cute? :)))

Reunion dinner was at Mum's place. We brought them to the playground before going up, with newly bought bubbles from Chinatown.

Yu enjoyed the slide

Yu chased bubbles!

Kai loved the big ones

Yu picking up sticks - taking the nursery rhyme so seriously? :p

What a spread we had!!

Yu had three rounds - his soup noodles, top-up braised noodles, and Papa's noodles

And there were fruits

It being LNY eve, I thought perhaps we could let Kai and Yang sleep later. We watched part of the mermaid movie on TV together while playing with random things, and they ended up with questions of why there was blood in the water when the bad guys shot into the water. Oops, PG!

We snuggled a little in our bed before shoo-ing them off to bed, saying we were tired too coz they would not admit to being tired! Kai looked especially tired - could tell from his eyes. This Yang was terrible, younger yet hardly sleepy!

Sito and I lay down with them for a short while in their room. It was sooo nice that for once, I was not in a hurry to send them to bed to ensure they get enough sleep and I get to start work early so I would get some sleep! So nice to just enjoy our kids at the moment :)

But they did not sleep in the next morning *.* In fact, they woke at normal time, which means early. I don't know what we did but we lasted until it was time to head out!

Yu napped for longer than expected so we left later than usual

Oh but a family photo first! :)

Got the boys their shirts on our first trip to Legoland. They looked great in them! I bought my dress more than two years ago but they stayed in the bag until recently.. Sito got his shirt on LNY eve so no, it was not washed before he wore it!

Yu discovered his calling for food at Mother's table of goodies!

This boy loved most of the snacks. These few days, he would not have his lunch/dinner unless they came with snacks!! Terrible... And worst of all, I gave in! But well, LNY.... His brothers could hardly stop eating too!

We had a cooked lunch, not steamboat, to our surprise, but it was yummy!

Took a break from the snacks to go to the playground

Yang was driving before becoming a prison warden..?!

And then we were called up for Yu Sheng! Version without raw fish :p

And then Kai fell asleep in my arms. My big baby :)

My old baby

:PpPpPPpPPppp

Yu dug in for goodies! Sito grabbed a drink from Macs while we were at the playground

So after waiting for Yu to wake, we had to wait for Kai to wake. So this year, we left pretty late. Dinner was leftover braised noodles from Mum. But I fell asleep with Yu and ended up too sleepy to eat :p

Lastminute playdate with J&J at their place!

It was quite a sight to have six boys in the same room! The two youngest - just five weeks apart - did not participate as much but can't wait for them to join in fully!

"I still had fun"

"See? I can get in and out without help!"

It was a short play date but it was fun enough for Kai to declare that he wanted to invite them to our new house! We went back early for lunch - leftover soup noodles! And then in the afternoon, it rained a little so we took the chance to stay in :p Gave the kids the remainder of the leftover braised noodles coz Sito and I had grand plans :)

Brought a few thousand dollars worth of bags to new house!

I wiped the cabinets where I was to store the bags. Just so happened that our neighbours were having a party so they saw us when sending guests away. I met the guy previously but this time, we also met his wife and MIL. Then so paiseh they gave us oranges and a can of snacks but we had nothing in return!

Dinner was hotpot downstairs :)

And then we went back to keep the bags properly and tuned the TVs. No prize for guessing who did what! As we were about to leave, we found something weird - turning on some lights make some other lights flicker! Took a video and sent to ID with queries. Hope to hear from him too..

Us at Esso after Sito bought some drinks

Now, the last time I drove back from BP, I had an accident right.. So I was just telling Sito that this was the place where the lorry hit me when the car in front of us did almost the same stupid thing - it cut across the chevrons after the double white lines to get to the PIE! What the ****!!!! Sito had a good laugh though, bleah!

This morning, our neighbour downstairs had a lion dance at home again. Last year, we had to carry the boys. This year, they just climbed! But we had only glimpses of the lion. Within seconds of coming out of the house, the dance was over.

Eagerly waiting for the lion

Then we did our regular Chengzhu and Yu continued his intake...

Brought Yu out to gathering with ex-colleague!

He had a great time - ate some cake, saw the swimming pool, sat down with the big boys and girls next to the pool with me grabbing him behind. When he migrated to another end of the pool with the kids, he found that he could copy the big boy and put his feet in the water! So he splashed his pants wet. I let him play a while longer and grabbed him up. No more getting ill please!

Came back in time to pack dinner! Yang insisted on going with me so I had company :)

Yang remembered he had a photo here and wanted one more!

Then it was his turn to take a photo of me - quite a good photographer? :)

I just finished opening all the hongbaos and agonising over how to recycle them. Actually, I'm still agonising over it. I used to keep them to recycle them but they got too much and some collected so much dust that I threw everything away last year. This year, I'm feeling sorry for all the paper...

Never took this photo before, I think

I received two packs of these hongbaos some years back, used them for close family and only just finished using them this year!

This is the year when Kai became more aware. He was quite happy and willing to greet elders, but he was also shameless in asking for red packets! Gosh, and I thought I did my preparation - I told Kai and Yang to greet, say thank you and not to open the red packets there and then. But I forgot about the 伸手要钱 part! Though to be fair, he wasn't asking for money but golden chocolate coins!! He said he enjoyed Chinese New Year coz he got to eat goodies!

Yang also enjoyed himself but he was more shy when it came to greetings. In fact, he said he was shy! But he loved the goodies. Think he didn't stop eating the whole time he was at TPY!

Yu was the surprising one. While his brothers barely did much on their second LNY, this boy was all over the place looking for food! If any can was open, he reached in. Once, he got himself a crumbly pineapple tart - nightmare of picking up after him! He even grabbed a packet drink from the coffee table and started drinking it! Thankfully it belonged to one of his brothers. I guess it comes with teeth? Haha!

I love that the boys are enjoying this fave festival of mine. I hope they grow up enjoying the festivities - the goodies and the gatherings with families and friends we don't see as often as we like :)