Just showered and was rubbing my heavenly scented stretch mark oil in front of the mirror when I saw fleshy bits where the waistline should be. So I told Sito:
Eh, my belly very sexy leh..
*pose*
Don't think it's because of the very full weekend in Bahamas. Or the burger and au gratin potatoes this afternoon. It's just...natural, ahhhh :)
I now weigh 142 pounds - I have gained 12 pounds since the beginning. But since two weeks ago, I gained five pounds! That's a bit over the one-pound-every-week guideline. If I gain a pound a week from now, I would have gained a total of 30 pounds! Still within range for my weight but I intend to gorge when I go back to Singapore :p so I'd better start watching what I stuff into my mouth and walk a bit more..
For some strange reason, I have been getting insanely hungry very frequently for the past week or so. I would get hungry at strange times and I MUST EAT! In fact, after removing my face mask, I'm going to have a bit of vanilla swiss roll from an Asian confectionery - it's very 家乡, I like :)
And baby is no longer exclusively mine.. Sito's hand spent some time on my belly yesterday, and last night, he finally felt baby move! He didn't seem very impressed though, bah! Guess not when baby isn't abusing HIS bladder now!
Oh yes, I have confirmed my flights home!! One third of my miles will expire by the end of April so I topped up 3,000 miles for US$120 to redeem my flights. I would have earned 3,000+ miles by mid April but I was afraid I couldn't get tickets by then. Also had to pay almost S$400 in taxes, but still worth it! Be taking Asiana to Incheon and then SQ to Singapore! Departing 16 May, arriving 18 May.
But before that, we have holidays! And we're off to our next holiday this Friday! Going to knock down the details of our itinerary tonight...
Monday, 12 March 2012
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Exclusively mine...for now
It's so fun to feel baby move in me :) It's really an inside feeling cos when I put my hand on my belly, I don't feel anything.
He seems to like to move early in the morning when I sit here quietly, sometimes in the afternoon, and often at night when I first lie down and put the music on.
So last night, I disrupted Sito from studying and asked him to come to bed to feel him move. But Sito went to the toilet and by the time he came back, baby had given a few hard knocks (hardest ever!) and quit for the night!
Oh well, let's try again tonight...
We're going out for lunch today - dim sum in Viet town! Try something new and hopefully yummy cos our last dim sum experience in Chinatown wasn't too good.
Btw, check this out - how the organs shift during pregnancy!
Update 7.47 pm
The dim sum at Furama was good! Except for the char siew buns which were disappointing.. The place was very old-school with roaming carts. They even had dou hua! :) We ate some 12 items :p Got two sesame balls, an egg tart, an old wife cake and a vanilla swiss roll from a nearby confectionery to snack on too - happy!
And, I received my Bellaband today from Figure8. I only ordered it three days ago! Got a white, size 1, keeps my unzipped denims up and fits nicely with plenty of space for later expansion hoho!
He seems to like to move early in the morning when I sit here quietly, sometimes in the afternoon, and often at night when I first lie down and put the music on.
So last night, I disrupted Sito from studying and asked him to come to bed to feel him move. But Sito went to the toilet and by the time he came back, baby had given a few hard knocks (hardest ever!) and quit for the night!
Oh well, let's try again tonight...
We're going out for lunch today - dim sum in Viet town! Try something new and hopefully yummy cos our last dim sum experience in Chinatown wasn't too good.
Btw, check this out - how the organs shift during pregnancy!
Update 7.47 pm
The dim sum at Furama was good! Except for the char siew buns which were disappointing.. The place was very old-school with roaming carts. They even had dou hua! :) We ate some 12 items :p Got two sesame balls, an egg tart, an old wife cake and a vanilla swiss roll from a nearby confectionery to snack on too - happy!
And, I received my Bellaband today from Figure8. I only ordered it three days ago! Got a white, size 1, keeps my unzipped denims up and fits nicely with plenty of space for later expansion hoho!
Wednesday, 7 March 2012
A stressful 21w5d
Our route to parenthood is somewhat arduous.
Had another ultrasound scan today to check my cervix. No problem there.
But also had another scan of baby as a particular scan wasn't clear at the detailed scan two weeks ago. First, I felt a bit sian to see the sonographer I had just over a year ago who told me Angel Baby had no heartbeat. Then after she was done with me and sent the scans to the doctor, I felt super sian to see the doctor walk in.
Indeed, she did the same scan again and told me that baby's nuchal fold is thicker than expected - 6.5 mm instead of below 6 mm. This increased the risk of Down's Syndrome from 1 in 2500 in our first trimester screening to 1 in 150 now. She said we could do an amnio to find out, although that would carry a 1 in 300 chance of miscarriage.
Well, there are 149 chances in 150 that baby is perfectly fine! Still, it was pretty stressful to take in this information, especially when Sito had to be at his final project presentation and couldn't be with me today.
I was trying to think clearly and managed to have a little discussion with the doctor there and then. There were a couple of mitigating factors. This scan is not done after 21w6d - I'm just two days shy of that, so it's pretty borderline. Also, no other risk marker was found.
So I'm more inclined to believe in the 149.
I came home with a heavy heart. I googled like mad. Then I sank into the sofa with a can of Pringles until Sito came home. We have decided that we will not do an amnio to find out now because of the risk of miscarriage - we'll have baby no matter what. But we may do an amnio later so that we could be more prepared if baby has any issue.
Yesterday, I suddenly felt very strong as I went about doing laundry. I attributed that to baby. Now, I place my faith in him too, that he will be fine and bouncy comes July.
On a happier note, I saw baby again, in 3D. He was a sleepyhead today and moved only a little. And he's getting chubbier. We thought he looks more like me at this point although he seems to have Sito's nostrils :p
Also, last night, I dreamt that I felt baby's foot through my tummy! It was so real I called out to Sito to come have a look! And that was when I woke from the dream. And I don't know if this happened before or after that dream but I felt three (real!) taps on my bladder. Actually, there have been other taps here and there but somehow, I didn't associate them with baby until last night. Perhaps the taps are not exactly what I imagine baby kicks to be like but well, I don't know of anything else that could move inside me!
Had another ultrasound scan today to check my cervix. No problem there.
But also had another scan of baby as a particular scan wasn't clear at the detailed scan two weeks ago. First, I felt a bit sian to see the sonographer I had just over a year ago who told me Angel Baby had no heartbeat. Then after she was done with me and sent the scans to the doctor, I felt super sian to see the doctor walk in.
Indeed, she did the same scan again and told me that baby's nuchal fold is thicker than expected - 6.5 mm instead of below 6 mm. This increased the risk of Down's Syndrome from 1 in 2500 in our first trimester screening to 1 in 150 now. She said we could do an amnio to find out, although that would carry a 1 in 300 chance of miscarriage.
Well, there are 149 chances in 150 that baby is perfectly fine! Still, it was pretty stressful to take in this information, especially when Sito had to be at his final project presentation and couldn't be with me today.
I was trying to think clearly and managed to have a little discussion with the doctor there and then. There were a couple of mitigating factors. This scan is not done after 21w6d - I'm just two days shy of that, so it's pretty borderline. Also, no other risk marker was found.
So I'm more inclined to believe in the 149.
I came home with a heavy heart. I googled like mad. Then I sank into the sofa with a can of Pringles until Sito came home. We have decided that we will not do an amnio to find out now because of the risk of miscarriage - we'll have baby no matter what. But we may do an amnio later so that we could be more prepared if baby has any issue.
Yesterday, I suddenly felt very strong as I went about doing laundry. I attributed that to baby. Now, I place my faith in him too, that he will be fine and bouncy comes July.
On a happier note, I saw baby again, in 3D. He was a sleepyhead today and moved only a little. And he's getting chubbier. We thought he looks more like me at this point although he seems to have Sito's nostrils :p
Also, last night, I dreamt that I felt baby's foot through my tummy! It was so real I called out to Sito to come have a look! And that was when I woke from the dream. And I don't know if this happened before or after that dream but I felt three (real!) taps on my bladder. Actually, there have been other taps here and there but somehow, I didn't associate them with baby until last night. Perhaps the taps are not exactly what I imagine baby kicks to be like but well, I don't know of anything else that could move inside me!
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
A matter of life and death
I'm fortunate enough to still have close friends from my childhood and teens. We have grown up together, grown apart at some point and grown closer again at another point. And now as we are all firmly labelled to be "in our 30s", we're growing old together.
Our conversation topics, our life focus, our interactions - they change with the passage of time. I can still vaguely remember kiddish things we talked about years ago. And sharing our love stories, both bitter and sweet. And talking about the intricacies of making babies. And taking the cue from an old TV ad, I once mentioned that at some point, we'll be discussing how to prevent breast cancer. But before that last bit, there is just one more thing.
This morning, I woke up to some bad news. A good friend just lost his mum after a long battle.
I guess it's inevitable. At some point, we'll have to talk about death.
Somehow, death doesn't seem very near when grandparents pass away. Sure, we're sad, but at 80 plus, many of them would have had a full life and enjoyed the company of bouncy grandkids. And at that kind of age, even if we don't say it, we expect them to go any time and we're at peace so long as they go peacefully.
The reality may be much harder to grasp when our parents pass away prematurely before they reach a ripe old age like their parents before them. Many of them may still be working or barely retired. With so many of us youngsters getting married and having kids later, many of them parents are still waiting for their first grandkid. Yet, some of them never live to enjoy life after retirement, life with grandkids running about them. We can only hope that they don't suffer in their last hours.
At some point, we ourselves will also be confronted with our own mortality.
Life can so fragile. One moment, I'm fine; the next? I don't know. We can only treasure it and live it well, treasure our loved ones and leave no regrets.
I have no idea what happens after death. Maybe nothing. But I'm not afraid of dying. I'm just afraid of dying suddenly and painfully. I need to make sure my dependents will be well taken care of after I'm gone. I need to make sure I don't burden them with medical bills. I first thought about this last year, when I had that abnormal PAP smear result. That wouldn't result in sudden death but it jolted me into thinking about what would happen if I were to go suddenly and prematurely. I don't know why but I thought about this again a couple of weeks ago. I think I should do a stock-take of my stuff and, despite not having a lot, make sure I have both a last will and a living will that spell out my wishes clearly.
Our conversation topics, our life focus, our interactions - they change with the passage of time. I can still vaguely remember kiddish things we talked about years ago. And sharing our love stories, both bitter and sweet. And talking about the intricacies of making babies. And taking the cue from an old TV ad, I once mentioned that at some point, we'll be discussing how to prevent breast cancer. But before that last bit, there is just one more thing.
This morning, I woke up to some bad news. A good friend just lost his mum after a long battle.
I guess it's inevitable. At some point, we'll have to talk about death.
Somehow, death doesn't seem very near when grandparents pass away. Sure, we're sad, but at 80 plus, many of them would have had a full life and enjoyed the company of bouncy grandkids. And at that kind of age, even if we don't say it, we expect them to go any time and we're at peace so long as they go peacefully.
The reality may be much harder to grasp when our parents pass away prematurely before they reach a ripe old age like their parents before them. Many of them may still be working or barely retired. With so many of us youngsters getting married and having kids later, many of them parents are still waiting for their first grandkid. Yet, some of them never live to enjoy life after retirement, life with grandkids running about them. We can only hope that they don't suffer in their last hours.
At some point, we ourselves will also be confronted with our own mortality.
Life can so fragile. One moment, I'm fine; the next? I don't know. We can only treasure it and live it well, treasure our loved ones and leave no regrets.
I have no idea what happens after death. Maybe nothing. But I'm not afraid of dying. I'm just afraid of dying suddenly and painfully. I need to make sure my dependents will be well taken care of after I'm gone. I need to make sure I don't burden them with medical bills. I first thought about this last year, when I had that abnormal PAP smear result. That wouldn't result in sudden death but it jolted me into thinking about what would happen if I were to go suddenly and prematurely. I don't know why but I thought about this again a couple of weeks ago. I think I should do a stock-take of my stuff and, despite not having a lot, make sure I have both a last will and a living will that spell out my wishes clearly.
Monday, 5 March 2012
Babymoon in the Bahamas!
Back in February, we made plans for three holidays in March and April, and this babymoon to the Bahamas was the first!
It was such a relaxing holiday! We slept a lot, ate a lot, walked a lot, watched a lot of TV - all without the usual distraction of smart phones and emails and homework. It was bliss :)
We shared a sausage McMuffin and a hashbrown at the Chicago airport at 4 am. By the time we arrived at the Charlotte airport three or four hours later, my usual breakfast time, I was famished! Stuffed a burrito down my throat in record time before we went in search for our connecting flight.
And here's Sito, having Bojangles near our boarding gate. He couldn't finish the biscuit so we packed it for later, which was good cos by the time we got to our hotel, we were so hungry!
We arrived at Nassau at 1.30 pm. As we walked off the plane, we felt this warmth seeping through the gap between the plane and the gate :) And the sun was shining! Oh, it was going to be such a great holiday! :)
Well, that was what we thought until our suitcase didn't show up :(
We were forced to gate check our one and only carry-on suitcase at Chicago because "the flight was full and there was no more space for cabin luggage unless it could be stowed under the seat in front". But there were still more than 30 passengers waiting to board! Isn't each passenger supposed to bring only one large bag? So anyway, no choice, we had to gate check our one suitcase.
But when we got into the plane, we saw that the stupid passengers had put all kinds of small purses up in the overhead cabin! No wonder there was no space! And the flight attendants didn't say a thing to them but instead told the ground staff to gate check everyone outside! It was ridiculous!
And since ours wasn't a direct flight, the chance of losing our luggage was upped n times. And indeed, they lost our suitcase :(
Note to self: NEVER TAKE US AIRWAYS AGAIN!
This was taken while we were still hopeful and waiting for our suitcase to roll down the belt. This part of the airport is pretty old - decor is like our budget terminal - but they're going to renovate it; the boarding area and the departure hall have been nicely renovated.
After filing our lost luggage at the airport, we got ourselves a friendly female taxi driver who pointed out various sights along the way and found ourselves checked into a really nice room at the Atlantis! Atlantis is effectively an IR, with a casino, many restaurants, various family spots and a number of towers to suit different hotel budgets. We went for the cheapest Beach Tower. Although online reviews said that it was dated etc and recommended the next tier of rooms, we found our room very nice and comfortable. The decor was nothing to wow about but it was adequate. And we were lucky enough to get a room on the beach side of the tower - check out the view from our balcony!
The blue pool is for swimming. The green pool is full of stingrays! At night, we could still clearly see them float eerily around...
You know, I like to unpack everything on a holiday. But this time, there was nothing to unpack... Everything was in our suitcase - clothes, beach wear, sunglasses, chargers, and even my big puffy coat. In the following pictures taken over three days, you'll see us wearing the same clothes *.* I have to wash underwear every night *.* We decided not to replace our clothes cos our suitcase might show up the second day? Of course, it didn't.. In any case, these stuff are expensive over there. I managed to get a bikini for $25 but men's trunks were a different story - when we eventually found some, they cost $200!!!
Anyway, we decided not to let this sour our holiday mood - we'll just be happy 小臭臭! :p
And after munching on the leftover biscuit from Sito's breakfast, we headed downtown for a pretty late lunch. The hotel helped us get a taxi but it turned out to be a bus - we shared it with four other groups! But it was cheaper at $4 a person.
We walked around a little until we reach Señor Frog's, supposedly one of the hippest new joints in town. Well, it was quite happening in there! There were people like us, nicely seated, and there were people who were just wandering around the whole place. There was a host who led the patrons in karaoke and various stuff which we didn't pay attention to, not when we had food in front of us!
My blacked fish - I don't know what fish! - burger. Pretty yummy on its own but even better with plenty of ketchup and mustard..
Sito had fried grouper, which came with a whole potato spiral! That was fun! And the yard-length cocktail he had was very fun too! It was a lot of alcohol but heck, we wanted to carry it around town! :p
Check out the warning on the cocktail cup :p
This was taken outside the pub. There were three cruise ships in town that day - one of them is right behind me in the picture.
By then it was around 6 pm and many shops were closed or closing. Sito was also, um, "closing" after finishing half the cocktail.. We roamed the streets a little and got a bikini for me and a coke to wake Sito up before grabbing a cab back to the hotel, where we lazed around for a while until we thought we should get some dinner.
And dinner was at the Marina Village in the resort. We checked out Bimini Road which I had earlier marked out for a meal but found the prices to be rather steep for our half hungry stomachs. So we settled for Johnny Rockets, bleah.
We took a little walk to the middle of the resort where the casino was. It only admits those 18 and above but there was no one around to check. Anyway, that's the fastest way across the resort to the other side.
Atlantis has various sculptures and stuff lying around, so I must take photos!
Dolphins..
Seahorse...
A throne!
Some strange horse thing, right outside the casino across from the throne.
I would have taken more silly pictures but I had no charger. Stupid US Airways!!
Anyway... That first night, after watching Shrek 2 for the nth time, I had a really good sleep with two pillows under my head and one wedged under tummy. I woke once at 5 am to find myself in the same position! And the best part? I fell asleep shortly after a trip to the toilet. My nose didn't complain at all. When I woke at 8 am, I felt sooo refreshed! :)
The buffet breakfast downstairs was $25 each but it wasn't spectacular. We were disappointed to find the usual food - we wanted local food! But it was nice to see the sunshine and pool through the glass windows. We just sat there and ate and chatted for two hours!
And then, we lounged in our room :)
But we were too full so we decided to walk around the resort. We were here last night but it looked nicer with the sunshine.
We sat in front of the blue bits for a while, looking at the fish. Some kids were snorkelling inside at some point.
I never like fish very much but it was actually quite fun to watch these fish. Some of them cute, some blur, some pretty, some fierce and plain ugly. Here's a video! :)
We were particularly taken with a group of four or five big fish which looked like they were the mafia! And of course this huge stingray!
The casino was less crowded in the day so we managed to take pictures at empty tables.
Oooh, tummy protruding here :p
We took a walk near Marina Village again, this time to see the yachts in daylight - there were so many big and beautiful yachts! We're inspired to rent one at some point just to relax and party :)
After a short rest back in our room watching Indiana Jones (!), we decided it was time to take to the waters!
I had my new bikini on but Sito could only take off his shirt and roll up his jeans. But just as well, we didn't get burnt!
And I think it's time to show off my new figure hoho! Tummy is definitely getting bigger...
Check out the super clear waters! It was pretty cold though.. Sito said last summer when he was at Miami for his internship sell weekend, the water was warm - not too good cos they could not cool down in the water!
It was tiring walking in the lovely white sand so we went to the pool and lounged for a while. The pool water was a little warm though.
Finally, the sun started to set. We took a walk along the beach but on the path above instead of on the sand :p The sun actually set further to the left of this picture but it was rather far for us to round the bend to get there... Well, still a pretty sight - this picture just doesn't do justice to it..
And as usual, we went back to nua in our room for a while. Watched National Treasure 2 for the nth time haha! Had to tear myself away for dinner. This time we decided to go to Bimini Road even though we were still not hungry cos it was the only place with local food.
The conch fritters reminded us of takoyaki :) The rice with peas was very simple and yummy. It was brown rice, which I like. The blackened grouper was nicer than the blackened fish I had the day before. In all, good meal :)
Thank goodness we didn't have a main dish each. We were bursting at the seams after all that food! I think at that time, breakfast was in my intestines and dinner was in my stomach *.* My whole torso was big and hard with all the food competing for limited space with baby!
We just had to take a walk after dinner! And we found this - tours of a club for very inquisitive parents! Haha! Cos the club is for teens aged 13-17 only - no parent allowed!
Now we were horrible people. After some walking helped settle our stomach, we decided to walk back to Marina Village for ice cream! That's a big scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream on a cookie, topped with four cookie halves and dollops of whipped cream!
As we sat down to eat, I heard a little voice inside of me, "How could you do this to me?!" Oops, stomach was complaining...
We went back to the hotel just in time to watch the first part of the Indiana Jones movie we watched a little of earlier in the day. I fell asleep at some point :p
And I was totally refreshed again the next morning! It must have been the air! My nose was so good those three days!
We checked out and brought our pathetic amount of belongings with us to brunch across the bridge.
Did I mention our resort was not in Nassau but on Paradise Island? It's a little island off Nassau connected by two bridges. We took the southbound exit bridge and reach Potter's Cay right under the bridge. Found this little eatery:
And we were asked to go straight to the back where there were the same benches as out front but facing the water - it seemed to the only eatery with such waterfront seating. No wonder it was featured on TV etc! Cos angmohs (and girls like me :p) like!
This is the northbound bridge into Paradise Island. The little blop in the water was a man in snorkelling gear - no idea what he was doing... What struck us was that even with all these eateries and fish stalls, the waters were still amazingly clean and clear!
I ordered a non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri - tiny and cute.
And conch fritters again! These were much cheaper and better than last night! Crispier, less like takoyaki, with visible vege bits inside.. I was so smitten with them..
Fried grouper again but better than what we had before - the batter was really nicely seasoned even though it was a very 家乡 flavour, something I would expect from say Grams :)
We didn't know where to get a cab after that so we walked back to the hotel! Ah well, exercise!
Leaving the Bahamas was another adventure altogether. Turned out that we would clear US customs at the Nassau airport! And Sito was lucky enough to be selected to for a pat-down. Oh, I got that in Chicago cos I couldn't do the X-ray machine. It was a super detailed pat-down... And it took a while.
When we got to the customs, there seemed to be some problem with the machines - all lines stopped moving. When things resumed, the line for non-US citizens was served by only one counter. They eventually got another guy in but we had 20 min left before departure time and there were many people in front of us!
That many in the line were on the same flight did not quell any fears that we would miss our flight. Not even when the usher at the lines told us that flights were usually not on time! Seeing that the line was moving slowly, we asked the family in front of us if they could let us go first and they kindly did. But that was as far as we went cos the next group were on the same flight.
While waiting, we saw something infuriating. A family of some eight people squeezed their way to the front of the queue without asking anyone. They managed to squeeze to right behind us and a girl even tried to cut between Sito and me! I retaliated. I put my right hand on Sito to prevent the girl from cutting through while my left hand held my bag in such a way to prevent this angmoh guy on my left from cutting us (that's another story but less rude), ha!
But that wasn't all. When we were at the counter, I heard the kind family in front of us telling the rude family off. And a girl from the family went, "blah blah blah blah..."! So rude!! If they had nicely asked, I'm sure the kind family would be nice to them but instead of being polite and asking for permission to cut the queue, they saw it their right to do so and were not even sorry!
Anyway, we eventually cleared customs at 2.45 pm - our departure time! The customs guy was very nice and thanked us for filling in our student details on the customs cards. He even told us that the flight was probably still waiting. Still, Sito ran ahead to the gate while I walked as fast as I could. Finally got to the plane and found Sito waving at me :)
But turned out that so many people on that flight were delayed at customs that the entire flight was delayed. We actually sat there for another 30 min or so before taking off.
Lucky for us, we still had an hour before our connecting flight in Houston so we managed to grab dinner at Wendy's :)
And for the first time, we were actually impressed with United Airlines. The flight attendants were so nice and attentive, rather unlike so many others who spoke like they were the customers. It was almost like taking an Asian airline!
Got a nice cab driver at the airport. We've had many immigrant cab drivers but this was an American. And he was so chatty and told us a lot about black food culture. He even gave us the website to this soul food restaurant near us!
And so that ended our little holiday on a good note. I woke up refreshed this morning after a good night's sleep - maybe I brought some of that good air back with me, along with good vibes :)
PS: I called the baggage call centre on Monday and was told that our suitcase had been located. But I think they are going to send it to Atlantis *.* There was no option in the call menu to tell them our home address *.* Sent them an email - hopefully we'll get our suitcase back before our next trip!
PS2: Got an email response from the airline on Tuesday that they've got our address! Now keeping our fingers crossed until our suitcase returns to us...
PS3: Right after PS2, I got a call from Nassau - they will send it back on the next flight tomorrow! Yeah! And since I'll be going to O'Hare on Thursday, I'll go pick it up to avoid any further mishaps on the road to Evanston.. Still keeping my fingers crossed that the contents are intact cos there is not lock...
It was such a relaxing holiday! We slept a lot, ate a lot, walked a lot, watched a lot of TV - all without the usual distraction of smart phones and emails and homework. It was bliss :)
We shared a sausage McMuffin and a hashbrown at the Chicago airport at 4 am. By the time we arrived at the Charlotte airport three or four hours later, my usual breakfast time, I was famished! Stuffed a burrito down my throat in record time before we went in search for our connecting flight.
And here's Sito, having Bojangles near our boarding gate. He couldn't finish the biscuit so we packed it for later, which was good cos by the time we got to our hotel, we were so hungry!
We arrived at Nassau at 1.30 pm. As we walked off the plane, we felt this warmth seeping through the gap between the plane and the gate :) And the sun was shining! Oh, it was going to be such a great holiday! :)
Well, that was what we thought until our suitcase didn't show up :(
We were forced to gate check our one and only carry-on suitcase at Chicago because "the flight was full and there was no more space for cabin luggage unless it could be stowed under the seat in front". But there were still more than 30 passengers waiting to board! Isn't each passenger supposed to bring only one large bag? So anyway, no choice, we had to gate check our one suitcase.
But when we got into the plane, we saw that the stupid passengers had put all kinds of small purses up in the overhead cabin! No wonder there was no space! And the flight attendants didn't say a thing to them but instead told the ground staff to gate check everyone outside! It was ridiculous!
And since ours wasn't a direct flight, the chance of losing our luggage was upped n times. And indeed, they lost our suitcase :(
Note to self: NEVER TAKE US AIRWAYS AGAIN!
This was taken while we were still hopeful and waiting for our suitcase to roll down the belt. This part of the airport is pretty old - decor is like our budget terminal - but they're going to renovate it; the boarding area and the departure hall have been nicely renovated.
After filing our lost luggage at the airport, we got ourselves a friendly female taxi driver who pointed out various sights along the way and found ourselves checked into a really nice room at the Atlantis! Atlantis is effectively an IR, with a casino, many restaurants, various family spots and a number of towers to suit different hotel budgets. We went for the cheapest Beach Tower. Although online reviews said that it was dated etc and recommended the next tier of rooms, we found our room very nice and comfortable. The decor was nothing to wow about but it was adequate. And we were lucky enough to get a room on the beach side of the tower - check out the view from our balcony!
The blue pool is for swimming. The green pool is full of stingrays! At night, we could still clearly see them float eerily around...
You know, I like to unpack everything on a holiday. But this time, there was nothing to unpack... Everything was in our suitcase - clothes, beach wear, sunglasses, chargers, and even my big puffy coat. In the following pictures taken over three days, you'll see us wearing the same clothes *.* I have to wash underwear every night *.* We decided not to replace our clothes cos our suitcase might show up the second day? Of course, it didn't.. In any case, these stuff are expensive over there. I managed to get a bikini for $25 but men's trunks were a different story - when we eventually found some, they cost $200!!!
Anyway, we decided not to let this sour our holiday mood - we'll just be happy 小臭臭! :p
And after munching on the leftover biscuit from Sito's breakfast, we headed downtown for a pretty late lunch. The hotel helped us get a taxi but it turned out to be a bus - we shared it with four other groups! But it was cheaper at $4 a person.
We walked around a little until we reach Señor Frog's, supposedly one of the hippest new joints in town. Well, it was quite happening in there! There were people like us, nicely seated, and there were people who were just wandering around the whole place. There was a host who led the patrons in karaoke and various stuff which we didn't pay attention to, not when we had food in front of us!
My blacked fish - I don't know what fish! - burger. Pretty yummy on its own but even better with plenty of ketchup and mustard..
Sito had fried grouper, which came with a whole potato spiral! That was fun! And the yard-length cocktail he had was very fun too! It was a lot of alcohol but heck, we wanted to carry it around town! :p
Check out the warning on the cocktail cup :p
This was taken outside the pub. There were three cruise ships in town that day - one of them is right behind me in the picture.
By then it was around 6 pm and many shops were closed or closing. Sito was also, um, "closing" after finishing half the cocktail.. We roamed the streets a little and got a bikini for me and a coke to wake Sito up before grabbing a cab back to the hotel, where we lazed around for a while until we thought we should get some dinner.
And dinner was at the Marina Village in the resort. We checked out Bimini Road which I had earlier marked out for a meal but found the prices to be rather steep for our half hungry stomachs. So we settled for Johnny Rockets, bleah.
We took a little walk to the middle of the resort where the casino was. It only admits those 18 and above but there was no one around to check. Anyway, that's the fastest way across the resort to the other side.
Atlantis has various sculptures and stuff lying around, so I must take photos!
Dolphins..
Seahorse...
A throne!
Some strange horse thing, right outside the casino across from the throne.
I would have taken more silly pictures but I had no charger. Stupid US Airways!!
Anyway... That first night, after watching Shrek 2 for the nth time, I had a really good sleep with two pillows under my head and one wedged under tummy. I woke once at 5 am to find myself in the same position! And the best part? I fell asleep shortly after a trip to the toilet. My nose didn't complain at all. When I woke at 8 am, I felt sooo refreshed! :)
The buffet breakfast downstairs was $25 each but it wasn't spectacular. We were disappointed to find the usual food - we wanted local food! But it was nice to see the sunshine and pool through the glass windows. We just sat there and ate and chatted for two hours!
And then, we lounged in our room :)
But we were too full so we decided to walk around the resort. We were here last night but it looked nicer with the sunshine.
We sat in front of the blue bits for a while, looking at the fish. Some kids were snorkelling inside at some point.
I never like fish very much but it was actually quite fun to watch these fish. Some of them cute, some blur, some pretty, some fierce and plain ugly. Here's a video! :)
We were particularly taken with a group of four or five big fish which looked like they were the mafia! And of course this huge stingray!
The casino was less crowded in the day so we managed to take pictures at empty tables.
Oooh, tummy protruding here :p
We took a walk near Marina Village again, this time to see the yachts in daylight - there were so many big and beautiful yachts! We're inspired to rent one at some point just to relax and party :)
After a short rest back in our room watching Indiana Jones (!), we decided it was time to take to the waters!
I had my new bikini on but Sito could only take off his shirt and roll up his jeans. But just as well, we didn't get burnt!
And I think it's time to show off my new figure hoho! Tummy is definitely getting bigger...
Check out the super clear waters! It was pretty cold though.. Sito said last summer when he was at Miami for his internship sell weekend, the water was warm - not too good cos they could not cool down in the water!
It was tiring walking in the lovely white sand so we went to the pool and lounged for a while. The pool water was a little warm though.
Finally, the sun started to set. We took a walk along the beach but on the path above instead of on the sand :p The sun actually set further to the left of this picture but it was rather far for us to round the bend to get there... Well, still a pretty sight - this picture just doesn't do justice to it..
And as usual, we went back to nua in our room for a while. Watched National Treasure 2 for the nth time haha! Had to tear myself away for dinner. This time we decided to go to Bimini Road even though we were still not hungry cos it was the only place with local food.
The conch fritters reminded us of takoyaki :) The rice with peas was very simple and yummy. It was brown rice, which I like. The blackened grouper was nicer than the blackened fish I had the day before. In all, good meal :)
Thank goodness we didn't have a main dish each. We were bursting at the seams after all that food! I think at that time, breakfast was in my intestines and dinner was in my stomach *.* My whole torso was big and hard with all the food competing for limited space with baby!
We just had to take a walk after dinner! And we found this - tours of a club for very inquisitive parents! Haha! Cos the club is for teens aged 13-17 only - no parent allowed!
Now we were horrible people. After some walking helped settle our stomach, we decided to walk back to Marina Village for ice cream! That's a big scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream on a cookie, topped with four cookie halves and dollops of whipped cream!
As we sat down to eat, I heard a little voice inside of me, "How could you do this to me?!" Oops, stomach was complaining...
We went back to the hotel just in time to watch the first part of the Indiana Jones movie we watched a little of earlier in the day. I fell asleep at some point :p
And I was totally refreshed again the next morning! It must have been the air! My nose was so good those three days!
We checked out and brought our pathetic amount of belongings with us to brunch across the bridge.
Did I mention our resort was not in Nassau but on Paradise Island? It's a little island off Nassau connected by two bridges. We took the southbound exit bridge and reach Potter's Cay right under the bridge. Found this little eatery:
And we were asked to go straight to the back where there were the same benches as out front but facing the water - it seemed to the only eatery with such waterfront seating. No wonder it was featured on TV etc! Cos angmohs (and girls like me :p) like!
This is the northbound bridge into Paradise Island. The little blop in the water was a man in snorkelling gear - no idea what he was doing... What struck us was that even with all these eateries and fish stalls, the waters were still amazingly clean and clear!
I ordered a non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri - tiny and cute.
And conch fritters again! These were much cheaper and better than last night! Crispier, less like takoyaki, with visible vege bits inside.. I was so smitten with them..
Fried grouper again but better than what we had before - the batter was really nicely seasoned even though it was a very 家乡 flavour, something I would expect from say Grams :)
We didn't know where to get a cab after that so we walked back to the hotel! Ah well, exercise!
Leaving the Bahamas was another adventure altogether. Turned out that we would clear US customs at the Nassau airport! And Sito was lucky enough to be selected to for a pat-down. Oh, I got that in Chicago cos I couldn't do the X-ray machine. It was a super detailed pat-down... And it took a while.
When we got to the customs, there seemed to be some problem with the machines - all lines stopped moving. When things resumed, the line for non-US citizens was served by only one counter. They eventually got another guy in but we had 20 min left before departure time and there were many people in front of us!
That many in the line were on the same flight did not quell any fears that we would miss our flight. Not even when the usher at the lines told us that flights were usually not on time! Seeing that the line was moving slowly, we asked the family in front of us if they could let us go first and they kindly did. But that was as far as we went cos the next group were on the same flight.
While waiting, we saw something infuriating. A family of some eight people squeezed their way to the front of the queue without asking anyone. They managed to squeeze to right behind us and a girl even tried to cut between Sito and me! I retaliated. I put my right hand on Sito to prevent the girl from cutting through while my left hand held my bag in such a way to prevent this angmoh guy on my left from cutting us (that's another story but less rude), ha!
But that wasn't all. When we were at the counter, I heard the kind family in front of us telling the rude family off. And a girl from the family went, "blah blah blah blah..."! So rude!! If they had nicely asked, I'm sure the kind family would be nice to them but instead of being polite and asking for permission to cut the queue, they saw it their right to do so and were not even sorry!
Anyway, we eventually cleared customs at 2.45 pm - our departure time! The customs guy was very nice and thanked us for filling in our student details on the customs cards. He even told us that the flight was probably still waiting. Still, Sito ran ahead to the gate while I walked as fast as I could. Finally got to the plane and found Sito waving at me :)
But turned out that so many people on that flight were delayed at customs that the entire flight was delayed. We actually sat there for another 30 min or so before taking off.
Lucky for us, we still had an hour before our connecting flight in Houston so we managed to grab dinner at Wendy's :)
And for the first time, we were actually impressed with United Airlines. The flight attendants were so nice and attentive, rather unlike so many others who spoke like they were the customers. It was almost like taking an Asian airline!
Got a nice cab driver at the airport. We've had many immigrant cab drivers but this was an American. And he was so chatty and told us a lot about black food culture. He even gave us the website to this soul food restaurant near us!
And so that ended our little holiday on a good note. I woke up refreshed this morning after a good night's sleep - maybe I brought some of that good air back with me, along with good vibes :)
PS: I called the baggage call centre on Monday and was told that our suitcase had been located. But I think they are going to send it to Atlantis *.* There was no option in the call menu to tell them our home address *.* Sent them an email - hopefully we'll get our suitcase back before our next trip!
PS2: Got an email response from the airline on Tuesday that they've got our address! Now keeping our fingers crossed until our suitcase returns to us...
PS3: Right after PS2, I got a call from Nassau - they will send it back on the next flight tomorrow! Yeah! And since I'll be going to O'Hare on Thursday, I'll go pick it up to avoid any further mishaps on the road to Evanston.. Still keeping my fingers crossed that the contents are intact cos there is not lock...
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Is this what I think it is? #2
Some time in the past week, I discovered something strange about my belly button...
1) The skin on the "slopes" looks dry.
2) When I stand in front of the mirror and look at its reflection, it looks a semicircle - a little flat on the bottom instead of the usual circle.
3) When I sit and look down, the curve the top part makes is much smaller than before.
4) When I stick my little finger in, it feels shallower than before.
I'm afraid my pretty little innie will become an outie soon :(
My only consolation is that we're having a little baby! (And then my innie will return :p)
Oh, our weekend trip starts in about 12 hours - excited! :)
1) The skin on the "slopes" looks dry.
2) When I stand in front of the mirror and look at its reflection, it looks a semicircle - a little flat on the bottom instead of the usual circle.
3) When I sit and look down, the curve the top part makes is much smaller than before.
4) When I stick my little finger in, it feels shallower than before.
I'm afraid my pretty little innie will become an outie soon :(
My only consolation is that we're having a little baby! (And then my innie will return :p)
Oh, our weekend trip starts in about 12 hours - excited! :)
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Is this what I think it is?
I just felt two bubbles pop in my tummy, one after the other.
Baby, is that you? :)
I've read that initial baby movements feel like fluttering butterflies (!) or bubbles. When I first felt something like that one night some days ago, I was so excited! But the next thing I knew, I farted *.* Just gas passing through, bah!
But this time, no fart!
I've also read that thinner mums may feel baby movements earlier than meatier mums. I know I have a nice layer of subcutaneous fats around my torso but I always thought it was a thin layer or at least thinner than 10 years ago. Maybe not.
I shall be patient and wait for his movements to become strong enough.. Jia you, baby!
Baby, is that you? :)
I've read that initial baby movements feel like fluttering butterflies (!) or bubbles. When I first felt something like that one night some days ago, I was so excited! But the next thing I knew, I farted *.* Just gas passing through, bah!
But this time, no fart!
I've also read that thinner mums may feel baby movements earlier than meatier mums. I know I have a nice layer of subcutaneous fats around my torso but I always thought it was a thin layer or at least thinner than 10 years ago. Maybe not.
I shall be patient and wait for his movements to become strong enough.. Jia you, baby!
Peanut butter love
The first time I came across nut allergy must be in some angmoh story book. Somehow, angmohs are more prone to nut allergy. There are two main kinds of nut allergy - tree nut allergy and peanut allergy, cos peanuts are not tree nuts. Collectively, what are nut allergy sufferers missing?
1) Groundnuts in their shells, toasted and begging to be split open to be downed with some ice cold beer
2) Cashews, almonds, hazelnuts etc as an afternoon snack on their own, or crushed and sprinkled over vanilla yogurt or good old cereals
3) Smooth creamy peanut butter, perfect on nicely toasted white bread
4) Crunchy peanut butter, perfect on its own, especially after some vile TCM concoction
5) All kinds of nutty delights, like rojak (what's rojak without crushed nuts?), pistachio ice cream, or the two peanut butter chocolate chip cookies sitting behind me right now..
*** 30 minutes ago ***
mf: I want another cookie..
(mf eats a second peanut butter chocolate chip cookie)
mf: Oh no, I want another one..
(mf stares at the near empty box)
Sito: Close the box now.
mf: There are only two left...
(mf stares at the near empty box)
Sito: Close the box NOW.
(mf stares a little more)
Sito: We'll eat them tomorrow.
mf: Ok..
(mf closes the box)
*** Back to now ***
Yup, better to keep them behind me where I can't see and yearn for them!
I think I have an addiction to nuts. I can't stop once I've started! The only way to stop is to start with only a handful. If the entire box or bag is in front of me, I'd eat until I feel full or sick :( And sometimes, I would still continue for a while until I get disgusted with myself.
miso: No control, you horrible woman!
mf: But they are SO good!
Sometimes I think I'm just a compulsive eater. Ice cream isn't my favourite but I can go at a tub of ice cream until I feel sick. I like chocolate but that makes me feel sick quite early - the throat will start to burn.
I think I need to change my eating habits. No good for me or baby if I keep eating like this! I had a strange dream about inculcating good eating habits in our kids the other day.. Good eating habits mean moderation, not deprivation. But I think I have to set a good example first. For a start, I'll make the remaining one box each of almonds and cashews last until we leave Evanston! (I'll try my best with ice cream - it's milk after all, right? :p)
1) Groundnuts in their shells, toasted and begging to be split open to be downed with some ice cold beer
2) Cashews, almonds, hazelnuts etc as an afternoon snack on their own, or crushed and sprinkled over vanilla yogurt or good old cereals
3) Smooth creamy peanut butter, perfect on nicely toasted white bread
4) Crunchy peanut butter, perfect on its own, especially after some vile TCM concoction
5) All kinds of nutty delights, like rojak (what's rojak without crushed nuts?), pistachio ice cream, or the two peanut butter chocolate chip cookies sitting behind me right now..
*** 30 minutes ago ***
mf: I want another cookie..
(mf eats a second peanut butter chocolate chip cookie)
mf: Oh no, I want another one..
(mf stares at the near empty box)
Sito: Close the box now.
mf: There are only two left...
(mf stares at the near empty box)
Sito: Close the box NOW.
(mf stares a little more)
Sito: We'll eat them tomorrow.
mf: Ok..
(mf closes the box)
*** Back to now ***
Yup, better to keep them behind me where I can't see and yearn for them!
I think I have an addiction to nuts. I can't stop once I've started! The only way to stop is to start with only a handful. If the entire box or bag is in front of me, I'd eat until I feel full or sick :( And sometimes, I would still continue for a while until I get disgusted with myself.
miso: No control, you horrible woman!
mf: But they are SO good!
Sometimes I think I'm just a compulsive eater. Ice cream isn't my favourite but I can go at a tub of ice cream until I feel sick. I like chocolate but that makes me feel sick quite early - the throat will start to burn.
I think I need to change my eating habits. No good for me or baby if I keep eating like this! I had a strange dream about inculcating good eating habits in our kids the other day.. Good eating habits mean moderation, not deprivation. But I think I have to set a good example first. For a start, I'll make the remaining one box each of almonds and cashews last until we leave Evanston! (I'll try my best with ice cream - it's milk after all, right? :p)
Friday, 24 February 2012
20 weeks and starting to show!
Now, I gained only four pounds* in the first 18 weeks. Then, some time between last Friday (when we hit 19 weeks) and this Tuesday, I became unrecognisable!
* Oh, forgive my betrayal on the metric system! I bought the cheapest bathroom scales here, i.e. in pounds only..
Last Friday when Kel asked me to show a picture of me, I said that I had only my usual fats spilling over. On Sunday when we took our weekly belly pictures, I couldn't see any difference from the previous two weeks. On Tuesday, I was wearing my "fat skirt" - I looked pregnant in it even before I got pregnant! - and felt really huge the whole day. At the end of the day when I took everything off after that big dinner, I was quite shocked at my appearance - I actually looked pregnant!!
But it was the food la; the next morning, I was back to looking chubby.
As my lousy scales became a little wonky after I lent it out, I could only estimate that I had gained another four pounds in the past two weeks. And I was right! Just weighed in this morning and just now at two separate appointments with the doctor and the nutritionist. So it's eight pounds in 20 weeks - that's about 3.6 kg. So far so good.
I can still wear all my pre-pregnancy clothes. Except for the jeans - I could not stand wearing them since morning sickness hit and now, I don't intend to try! And I have a lot of loose tops that I can continue to wear for quite a while and maybe the entire pregnancy if I'm lucky. But I've bought a pair of maternity leggings to stand by - gonna freeze if my usual leggings suddenly become too small!
But I noticed depressed marks on my boobs after wearing a bra the whole of Tuesday. (Oops, I've been passing over that piece of clothing at home :p) Strange that I didn't feel the tightness. Think I should wear my other bras that can be used with an extender. No issue with cup size (yet?) cos I wasn't able to fill up those darn things anyway hoho!
Had the detailed foetal assessment on Wednesday. It took a long time cos the sonographer had to measure everything this time. Everything looks normal. Our baby is an estimated 300g now - light than my bottle of water! - with heartbeat at 150bpm. And we saw his face!
So cute right? :) Although to be honest, he probably looks like any generic baby at this stage hoho! But but but, the pose is still cute right? :) Love 3D ultrasound!
It is a little blurred as he was moving so much! He didn't cooperate when we were counting fingers, moving his arms about and keeping his little fists closed most of the time. We have a couple of short videos though, and here's one showing a little hand :)
I love seeing baby on ultrasound, or just hearing his heart beat on the doppler. Sets my heart at ease since I can't feel his movements yet. Since last week, I kept thinking I felt something, especially Wednesday morning when I thought there were four tumbles in the middle and sharp jabs on the left which later become a dull ache. But it could be shit moving through given how much I ate the night before *.* Anyway, I asked doctor about it and she said it could be a FOOT! Well, still waiting for that elusive definite first kick..
Other updates: My fundal height is 21 cm today - my first measurement. It should grow one centimetre every week. And my placenta has moved away from the cervix! No more marginal previa! Yeah! And this morning, doctor checked my cervix physically and said we could resume intercourse! Woohoo! :p
Anyway, we were quite set on going back to deliver until last night.. Mum said that the renovation of their new place will finish only in July. The rental apartment will probably not allow us to keep a wailing baby.. One way around it is for us to move back into HV by early July and have one of them move to the rental apartment. But the more I think about it, the more I don't wish to cram six of us including a newborn in the flat.. So now we're considering staying here until August, SIGHS! Drawing out pros and cons now... To be updated...
In the meantime, a list of some signs that this is indeed *Sito* Jr...
1) I used to avoid sauces while Sito loooves ketchup. Now, I must have lots of ketchup on burgers and chips. When we had ribs on Tuesday, I even poured some extra BBQ sauce..
2) I used to avoid cold drinks unless they were bubble tea and teh-o-kosong-beng while Sito drinks everything cold. Now, I love cold milk, cold Pepsi and most recently, cold water. I've taken to keeping a bottle of water in the fridge so that I can have ready access especially in the middle of the night.
3) I like to sleep like a plank, on my back, while Sito sleeps with his arm or 小臭臭 over his eyes. Baby seems to like to keep his hands around his face - it's the I-wanna-sleep-more pose :)
The only mf-ism he shows is a liking for spicy stuff - I'm really into Tabasco now!
* Oh, forgive my betrayal on the metric system! I bought the cheapest bathroom scales here, i.e. in pounds only..
Last Friday when Kel asked me to show a picture of me, I said that I had only my usual fats spilling over. On Sunday when we took our weekly belly pictures, I couldn't see any difference from the previous two weeks. On Tuesday, I was wearing my "fat skirt" - I looked pregnant in it even before I got pregnant! - and felt really huge the whole day. At the end of the day when I took everything off after that big dinner, I was quite shocked at my appearance - I actually looked pregnant!!
But it was the food la; the next morning, I was back to looking chubby.
As my lousy scales became a little wonky after I lent it out, I could only estimate that I had gained another four pounds in the past two weeks. And I was right! Just weighed in this morning and just now at two separate appointments with the doctor and the nutritionist. So it's eight pounds in 20 weeks - that's about 3.6 kg. So far so good.
I can still wear all my pre-pregnancy clothes. Except for the jeans - I could not stand wearing them since morning sickness hit and now, I don't intend to try! And I have a lot of loose tops that I can continue to wear for quite a while and maybe the entire pregnancy if I'm lucky. But I've bought a pair of maternity leggings to stand by - gonna freeze if my usual leggings suddenly become too small!
But I noticed depressed marks on my boobs after wearing a bra the whole of Tuesday. (Oops, I've been passing over that piece of clothing at home :p) Strange that I didn't feel the tightness. Think I should wear my other bras that can be used with an extender. No issue with cup size (yet?) cos I wasn't able to fill up those darn things anyway hoho!
Had the detailed foetal assessment on Wednesday. It took a long time cos the sonographer had to measure everything this time. Everything looks normal. Our baby is an estimated 300g now - light than my bottle of water! - with heartbeat at 150bpm. And we saw his face!
So cute right? :) Although to be honest, he probably looks like any generic baby at this stage hoho! But but but, the pose is still cute right? :) Love 3D ultrasound!
It is a little blurred as he was moving so much! He didn't cooperate when we were counting fingers, moving his arms about and keeping his little fists closed most of the time. We have a couple of short videos though, and here's one showing a little hand :)
I love seeing baby on ultrasound, or just hearing his heart beat on the doppler. Sets my heart at ease since I can't feel his movements yet. Since last week, I kept thinking I felt something, especially Wednesday morning when I thought there were four tumbles in the middle and sharp jabs on the left which later become a dull ache. But it could be shit moving through given how much I ate the night before *.* Anyway, I asked doctor about it and she said it could be a FOOT! Well, still waiting for that elusive definite first kick..
Other updates: My fundal height is 21 cm today - my first measurement. It should grow one centimetre every week. And my placenta has moved away from the cervix! No more marginal previa! Yeah! And this morning, doctor checked my cervix physically and said we could resume intercourse! Woohoo! :p
Anyway, we were quite set on going back to deliver until last night.. Mum said that the renovation of their new place will finish only in July. The rental apartment will probably not allow us to keep a wailing baby.. One way around it is for us to move back into HV by early July and have one of them move to the rental apartment. But the more I think about it, the more I don't wish to cram six of us including a newborn in the flat.. So now we're considering staying here until August, SIGHS! Drawing out pros and cons now... To be updated...
In the meantime, a list of some signs that this is indeed *Sito* Jr...
1) I used to avoid sauces while Sito loooves ketchup. Now, I must have lots of ketchup on burgers and chips. When we had ribs on Tuesday, I even poured some extra BBQ sauce..
2) I used to avoid cold drinks unless they were bubble tea and teh-o-kosong-beng while Sito drinks everything cold. Now, I love cold milk, cold Pepsi and most recently, cold water. I've taken to keeping a bottle of water in the fridge so that I can have ready access especially in the middle of the night.
3) I like to sleep like a plank, on my back, while Sito sleeps with his arm or 小臭臭 over his eyes. Baby seems to like to keep his hands around his face - it's the I-wanna-sleep-more pose :)
The only mf-ism he shows is a liking for spicy stuff - I'm really into Tabasco now!
Thursday, 23 February 2012
Candy floss from heaven!
Well, I was going to do something productive when I was distracted by huge snow flakes!
It's really pretty :)
It may snow again tomorrow when I'm going out, but with this winter much milder than the last, I'm kind of looking forward to it!
Better get back to knocking out the final details of our upcoming trip next weekend!
It's really pretty :)
It may snow again tomorrow when I'm going out, but with this winter much milder than the last, I'm kind of looking forward to it!
Better get back to knocking out the final details of our upcoming trip next weekend!
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Tuesday dates
Before we moved in together, we used to go on dates on Tuesdays :)
We would usually meet in Orchard and have dinner at either Food Republic or Ajisen. Then we would head for the cab stand at Lucky Plaza or Heeren to get a quick ride home. Sometimes if he wasn't too tired, he would send me home first.
We were walking home from the bus stop just now when we realised that hey, it's Tuesday today! :)
It's Chicago Restaurant Week so we decided to go downtown for dinner today. But before that, we stopped by the MCA. Um, too arty farty for us.. It just so happened that this morning at the tutoring session, we did a comprehension story where Olivia the pig went to a museum, saw a painting and commented that she could do that at home in five minutes. Well, at some points, we felt the same way *.* I much prefer the last exhibition I saw.
Anyway, as we walked up to the third floor, we both began to get really hungry. So we headed for our main destination, Carson's. It was a great choice! First of all, we had a really friendly and helpful server, Mike, who recommended trying various preparations of our meat so we got more varied tastes than just BBQ. Then, well, just look at this spread!
Caesar salad, simple but the first I had with whole romaine leaves. Sito had coleslaw but that wasn't interesting enough for a photo :p
Mediterranean shrimps - perfectly grilled and juicy on top of grilled vegetables. Sito suddenly became more open to me trying out more Mediterranean recipes..
Ah, the bibs... They could only mean that our meat was on its way!
WAAAAAA!
Sito ordered a sampler from the dinner menu - half slab of BBQ ribs, a quarter BBQ chicken, a medium charred pork chop. Yes, medium as in it was a little pink in the middle. I tried the outside bit and it was out of this world! This came with a side of salad (i.e. the coleslaw) and potato - he chose the double baked potato, i.e. baked potato dug out and mixed with sour cream and chives, and baked again in its skin!
I chose from the Restaurant Week menu. Besides the caesar salad and prawns, I had half slab of BBQ ribs and half a chicken done Mediterranean style. The chicken skin was nicely seasoned and crisp, while the ribs were meaty with a sauce that didn't feel too heaty even though it was BBQ. I chose potato au gratin which was soooo sinful!
Of course we couldn't finish everything! Honestly I would be quite disgusted with ourselves if we did *.* We packed home a half of my chicken and 80% of his pork. We finished the potatoes! And we were tempted into ordering an apple pie with vanilla ice cream! Which we finished too! Ok, we should be disgusted with ourselves... Damage: $83 all in and about five extra inches on each of us.
We could have taken the train home from a nearby station but full as we were, we decided to walk all the way up north to catch the school bus instead.
Along the way, we popped into Forever 21 and I got this really pretty frilly dress! :) Ok, what's a pregnant woman doing with a pretty frilly dress right... Well, it's got an elastic waist :) And a wrap neckline to show up my new cleavage hoho! I'll put up photos when I eventually wear it..
When we emerged from the shop, it seemed that it had rained AND stopped! Lucky! :) And the lights were so pretty! Had to pose :)
Those two minutes of posing almost caused us to miss the school bus! We saw it in front of the school from way back and we had to speed up quite a bit and lucky we did cos it left shortly after we took our seats! Phew!
And so, that was our latest Tuesday date. I like to go pah-toh with my husband :) But next time with kids, pah-toh must go hand in hand with 拜托 - 拜托 Mum to take care of the young ones for a few hours!
We would usually meet in Orchard and have dinner at either Food Republic or Ajisen. Then we would head for the cab stand at Lucky Plaza or Heeren to get a quick ride home. Sometimes if he wasn't too tired, he would send me home first.
We were walking home from the bus stop just now when we realised that hey, it's Tuesday today! :)
It's Chicago Restaurant Week so we decided to go downtown for dinner today. But before that, we stopped by the MCA. Um, too arty farty for us.. It just so happened that this morning at the tutoring session, we did a comprehension story where Olivia the pig went to a museum, saw a painting and commented that she could do that at home in five minutes. Well, at some points, we felt the same way *.* I much prefer the last exhibition I saw.
Anyway, as we walked up to the third floor, we both began to get really hungry. So we headed for our main destination, Carson's. It was a great choice! First of all, we had a really friendly and helpful server, Mike, who recommended trying various preparations of our meat so we got more varied tastes than just BBQ. Then, well, just look at this spread!
Caesar salad, simple but the first I had with whole romaine leaves. Sito had coleslaw but that wasn't interesting enough for a photo :p
Mediterranean shrimps - perfectly grilled and juicy on top of grilled vegetables. Sito suddenly became more open to me trying out more Mediterranean recipes..
Ah, the bibs... They could only mean that our meat was on its way!
WAAAAAA!
Sito ordered a sampler from the dinner menu - half slab of BBQ ribs, a quarter BBQ chicken, a medium charred pork chop. Yes, medium as in it was a little pink in the middle. I tried the outside bit and it was out of this world! This came with a side of salad (i.e. the coleslaw) and potato - he chose the double baked potato, i.e. baked potato dug out and mixed with sour cream and chives, and baked again in its skin!
I chose from the Restaurant Week menu. Besides the caesar salad and prawns, I had half slab of BBQ ribs and half a chicken done Mediterranean style. The chicken skin was nicely seasoned and crisp, while the ribs were meaty with a sauce that didn't feel too heaty even though it was BBQ. I chose potato au gratin which was soooo sinful!
Of course we couldn't finish everything! Honestly I would be quite disgusted with ourselves if we did *.* We packed home a half of my chicken and 80% of his pork. We finished the potatoes! And we were tempted into ordering an apple pie with vanilla ice cream! Which we finished too! Ok, we should be disgusted with ourselves... Damage: $83 all in and about five extra inches on each of us.
We could have taken the train home from a nearby station but full as we were, we decided to walk all the way up north to catch the school bus instead.
Along the way, we popped into Forever 21 and I got this really pretty frilly dress! :) Ok, what's a pregnant woman doing with a pretty frilly dress right... Well, it's got an elastic waist :) And a wrap neckline to show up my new cleavage hoho! I'll put up photos when I eventually wear it..
When we emerged from the shop, it seemed that it had rained AND stopped! Lucky! :) And the lights were so pretty! Had to pose :)
Those two minutes of posing almost caused us to miss the school bus! We saw it in front of the school from way back and we had to speed up quite a bit and lucky we did cos it left shortly after we took our seats! Phew!
And so, that was our latest Tuesday date. I like to go pah-toh with my husband :) But next time with kids, pah-toh must go hand in hand with 拜托 - 拜托 Mum to take care of the young ones for a few hours!
Friday, 17 February 2012
A dash of vinegar over chips and salaries
Oops, I forgot to complete this post after writing "let x be ..." in January :p Forgot parts of our discussion and added some. Sito said this is chim-er than before! Oh well...
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After the craving for Singaporean food ended with morning sickness, I went back to wanting angmoh food. So we headed out for some Irish pub grub - bangers and mash, fish and chips WITH VINEGAR! Omg, that was good..
Besides eating, we had one hell of a time coming up with a way to settle this ministerial salary thing. Ya, great dinner topic - money..
It started with Sito suggesting that we continue to pay MPs what they were earning before being elected. Let me present the result of our discussion as follows:
Let
$p = last drawn basic annual salary before being elected
$a = basic annual salary after being elected, i.e. entry-level pay for MP
Sh = salary add-on for office holders, i.e. for Parl Sec, MOS, (Acting) Minister
$r = the debated and accepted recommendation of MP's salary
$b = annual bonus
N = number of elected MPs
n = number of office holders; different n for each level
(Familiar format?! :p)
Then,
1) $a = $p if $p is smaller or equal to $r for new entrants; existing MPs whose $p are long out of date can take $r. Over time as existing MPs retire, salaries will adjust to a new equilibrium.
This means that those coming in from high-paying jobs will see a cut in their salary but those coming in from lower-paying jobs will not see a dramatic increase. This way, people are not motivated to join politics for money, and those who are already highly-paid can remain so subject to a cap. (If $a is deemed too low, one way is to up it to $a' = Σ$a/N. But what is too low? Anyway...) The remaining difference should even out as the better ones take on more responsibilities and move up the salary scale, i.e. + $h.
2) $h should be set at appropriate increments for each successive level, e.g. a single increment could be $i = Σ$a/10N and depending on the office and $h could be $i for Parl Sec and x$i for Ministers.
3) $b = xΣ$a/N + yΣ$h/n where
- x is a quantum obtained by weighing various economic and social indicators; the four indicators under the accepted National Bonus structure should do fine, and,
- y is a similar quantum but could vary for each office holder.
Note that $h = 0 for MPs who are not holding office.
4) As per recommendations, no more pensions; just CPF like every other Singapore.
5) There is no annual increment; the basic salary is fixed for the entire term and revised when new MPs come in. $r may be also be revised at the end of each term. How? I don't know :p Maybe based on real income growth of the 50th percentile?
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And just this week, we also discussed salaries for civil servants. We don't think that civil servants should be subject to the whole "privilege to serve" thing. First of all, we have professionals in the civil service with very comparable equivalents in the private sector - just think teachers, healthcare professionals, lawyers, social workers etc. Then, for the rest of us who are not in professional wings, there are content experts in their respective areas and those who have experience and overview in more than one policy area - necessary for a whole-of-government approach. (Love that term hoho!) At the end of the day, civil servants are doing a job, doing something worthwhile for a cause they believe in, serving the people indirectly through implementation. Politics is not their war.
Sito did a little "rally speech" in his PJs on how the civil service and the politicians should be separate entities altogether. I'll like to make a little flag for him :)
Things we talk about when we have time. Bliss.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
After the craving for Singaporean food ended with morning sickness, I went back to wanting angmoh food. So we headed out for some Irish pub grub - bangers and mash, fish and chips WITH VINEGAR! Omg, that was good..
Besides eating, we had one hell of a time coming up with a way to settle this ministerial salary thing. Ya, great dinner topic - money..
It started with Sito suggesting that we continue to pay MPs what they were earning before being elected. Let me present the result of our discussion as follows:
Let
$p = last drawn basic annual salary before being elected
$a = basic annual salary after being elected, i.e. entry-level pay for MP
Sh = salary add-on for office holders, i.e. for Parl Sec, MOS, (Acting) Minister
$r = the debated and accepted recommendation of MP's salary
$b = annual bonus
N = number of elected MPs
n = number of office holders; different n for each level
(Familiar format?! :p)
Then,
1) $a = $p if $p is smaller or equal to $r for new entrants; existing MPs whose $p are long out of date can take $r. Over time as existing MPs retire, salaries will adjust to a new equilibrium.
This means that those coming in from high-paying jobs will see a cut in their salary but those coming in from lower-paying jobs will not see a dramatic increase. This way, people are not motivated to join politics for money, and those who are already highly-paid can remain so subject to a cap. (If $a is deemed too low, one way is to up it to $a' = Σ$a/N. But what is too low? Anyway...) The remaining difference should even out as the better ones take on more responsibilities and move up the salary scale, i.e. + $h.
2) $h should be set at appropriate increments for each successive level, e.g. a single increment could be $i = Σ$a/10N and depending on the office and $h could be $i for Parl Sec and x$i for Ministers.
3) $b = xΣ$a/N + yΣ$h/n where
- x is a quantum obtained by weighing various economic and social indicators; the four indicators under the accepted National Bonus structure should do fine, and,
- y is a similar quantum but could vary for each office holder.
Note that $h = 0 for MPs who are not holding office.
4) As per recommendations, no more pensions; just CPF like every other Singapore.
5) There is no annual increment; the basic salary is fixed for the entire term and revised when new MPs come in. $r may be also be revised at the end of each term. How? I don't know :p Maybe based on real income growth of the 50th percentile?
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
And just this week, we also discussed salaries for civil servants. We don't think that civil servants should be subject to the whole "privilege to serve" thing. First of all, we have professionals in the civil service with very comparable equivalents in the private sector - just think teachers, healthcare professionals, lawyers, social workers etc. Then, for the rest of us who are not in professional wings, there are content experts in their respective areas and those who have experience and overview in more than one policy area - necessary for a whole-of-government approach. (Love that term hoho!) At the end of the day, civil servants are doing a job, doing something worthwhile for a cause they believe in, serving the people indirectly through implementation. Politics is not their war.
Sito did a little "rally speech" in his PJs on how the civil service and the politicians should be separate entities altogether. I'll like to make a little flag for him :)
Things we talk about when we have time. Bliss.
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Happy V Day, every day!
We happened to have some strawberries in the fridge so I made a little arrangement in his cereal bowl this morning before I left for volunteer work. Happy.
Walked to school after that to meet him for lunch at the school cafe, buffet style. It being today, there were pink sponge cakes and red velvet cupcakes on a table decorated with candies. Sweet.
We spent the afternoon washing clothes, changing bed sheets and doing homework before taking a nap - he in the fresh sheets cos he'd had a shower and me in the sofa cos I didn't shower until just now. Very normal.
It was 8 pm (!) when I woke. We weren't very hungry so he cooked instant noodles for himself while I made myself a bowl of granola with yogurt and fruits. Our dinner was topped with the nth rerun of "Die Hard with a Vengeance" on the tele. Perfect.
And now, I have cotton pads of Epsom salt solution on my pimply face while he studies. The only sounds in the room are my sniffling, his typing and some background noise in the building. Again, very normal.
So, we are having a very normal day which happens to be Valentine's Day. We agree that every day can be Valentine's Day for us :)
Walked to school after that to meet him for lunch at the school cafe, buffet style. It being today, there were pink sponge cakes and red velvet cupcakes on a table decorated with candies. Sweet.
We spent the afternoon washing clothes, changing bed sheets and doing homework before taking a nap - he in the fresh sheets cos he'd had a shower and me in the sofa cos I didn't shower until just now. Very normal.
It was 8 pm (!) when I woke. We weren't very hungry so he cooked instant noodles for himself while I made myself a bowl of granola with yogurt and fruits. Our dinner was topped with the nth rerun of "Die Hard with a Vengeance" on the tele. Perfect.
And now, I have cotton pads of Epsom salt solution on my pimply face while he studies. The only sounds in the room are my sniffling, his typing and some background noise in the building. Again, very normal.
So, we are having a very normal day which happens to be Valentine's Day. We agree that every day can be Valentine's Day for us :)
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