Aneboda- Brand New Workout!

I woke up this morning with aches all over my body. Who would have thought that assemblying a chest of IKEA drawers is such a body breaker!

It took me about 2 hours in total, 70 screws, 30 nails and an extra 13 wooden pegs (resembling mini tampons). Sig.Ot came home and told me that IKEA does not give out extra parts! Well, it is waaayyyyy too late. The drawers look pretty sturdy, albeit IKEA sturdy to me.

Equipment : Aneboda- 3 Drawer Chest: Color White
Targetted Muscles : Bum, Thighs and Upper Back
Total Time : 2 hours



The extra pegs are still bugging me. I shall make an enquiry with IKEA today.

The Scare Tactic

I have not read up much on the subject of bringing up children but I am quite sure most experts warn against scaring children into submission.

Most of you while growing up would be familiar with "bad people will come and catch you" or sometimes the police would come catch you too depending on your locality, and in the past some politically incorrect terms were used too.

This I remember from my childhood and I think it is quite funny. "Police come catch you and put you into prison, and you will have to eat curry rice." I am not quite sure how scary curry rice is supposed to be. Maybe as a kid, you wouldn't like spicy food or the prospect of eating rice with only curry gravy is quite pitiful.

The issue that I am faced with today is whether I too should employ a scare tactic. Honestly, as much as I would like to adopt all the idealistic approaches of raising children but being in the state that I am in today; WHATEVER that works to keep my boy from harm, who cares.

I have been telling Eddie there is a dinosaur outside the house and I always accompany that statement with a roar. It worked for about a week. This morning he ventured out when I was not looking and realised for himself that of course there isn't one. It is very tiring to have to consistently outsmart your children.

Happy 1st Birthday Eddie!

Motherly love has been written about so much and whatever I am thinking of writing probably would not be anymore different. Unconditional love, apple of my eye, etc.

All I know is that 1 year ago on this very day, I was so afraid of taking on motherhood. Now I will not trade it back for the whole universe!!!

What a very quick first year and the many years that will follow. Moral of the story? Don't miss any second of it!

Eddie's 1st ever Birthday Bash!

I did it! I held Eddie's first ever birthday party. We invited 5 kids who turned up and had fun, I hope. After much debates and contemplation and long distance phone call and msn, I decided to bake the carrot cake after all.

My pride and joy; I kept telling who ever that paid me any attention that I baked the cake, from the pizza delivery guy to the lady who worked behind the counter. For days I was worried bout the icing as I am not very good at it. Sig.Ot also added to my misery by telling me that Eddie could not have daisies on his cake. According to him, boys should have rockets or fast cars. I told him that the problem with drawing a rocket is that if it goes wrong, it could look very rude. So I came up with an excellent solution. Thomas Tank Engine!!!

Eddie does not know Thomas but at least it is cool enough to show off to his friends. I went to buy Thomas in the smallest size they had and drew train tracks on the cake. Of course my blue daisies lined the sides of the cake.

I even had gate-crashers, a grandmother with her sleeping grandchild who were mistaken by the venue staff as our party guest. Of course the aunty did not realise that we have booked the whole venue. We did not mind a bit and offered them food and drinks as well. The most surprising kind gesture from them to top off my kind gesture was that some time during the course of the party, the grandmother's daughter snuck off to buy Eddie a birthday pressie! And guess what she bought? A Thomas Tank dvd! She must have seen the cake and assumed that Eddie liked Thomas. Honestly that was such a thoughtful gesture. I hope I see them again and thank them properly. But then again I was very kind too, I gave them door gifts and balloons as well.

Birthday parties and everything fancy

I have been wondering for the past week whether I should hold Eddie his 1st birthday party. Honestly he wouldn't know any better. Neither would he have any memory of it in the future.
Reasons why a party is in order would be either for photographic memory (literally) or an excuse for parents to get together for a beer or two. Ever wondered why there are so many kiddy birthday parties on Sunday afternoon at Bangsar Chili's?

However since my parents are coming down to celebrate Eddie's birthday, I shall throw him a party. Not a boozy one but a kiddy one. I came up with a brilliant idea to hold a party where all his friends meet everyday. That would be our local playground, a very nice local playground where Eddie has made more friends than both Sig.Ot and I combined, in Singapore. That way I do not even have to do an invite and just turn up with birthday cake, food and drinks for the children and their nannies. Their parents will not be obliged to turn up or bring presents. Honestly that is a superb idea!!!

As much as I would love doing that, Sig.Ot reminded me of the recent weather unpredictability. Furthermore if my parents will be attending the party, humidity in Singapore is something you need time to acclimatise to. Otherwise not only will you be soaked through the moment you leave the air-conditioned car, you can almost hear the sizzles of sunlight as they give the surrounding trees a hand with photosynthesis.

Therefore I am settling for an indoor party at a play place called Bambini Playclub http://www.bambiniplayclub.com/ It is pretty cool and consists four levels of obstacles. Think Funhouse. Obviously there is a big market here for places like this. They have packages you could select complete with theme options. The shocking bit (to me at least) is the price! The cheapest I have encountered is $350. You could invite up to 25 kids. Nevermind the price, I don't want to invite 25 kids!!!

I saw another place with an advertisement of $100 discount. Upon closer inspection, in 10 font sizes smaller, it says that usual price is $750 which brings the total to $650 for a bloody kiddy party. There is not even booze!!!! If they were to throw in free flow beer it would be a different story.

Well I am not going to take up any packages. I am just going to select 1o nice kids from the playground i.e. the polite ones who greet me, and bring them to this play place. I will bring my own cake, packet juice and order 1 for 1 Canadian Pizza. After all, what matters at the end of the day is that one photograph of Eddie sitting with his 1st birthday cake.

The Curious Case of Edward Kirby

Eddie has always been popular with the neighbours, the aunties in the markets, waitresses in restaurants and fellow strangers in general. This is because he is a very friendly and smiley boy. He would not mind being picked up by a stranger and being passed around. On top of that, he is also a very independent baby. From the age of 4 months, we could leave him in his room at 7.30pm, switched off the lights and he would go to sleep in his own time. We would not hear from him until 12 hours later. All changed when we went to Cairo for the 10 days.

When we were in Cairo, Eddie suddenly developed a serious case of total dependence on me. I could not leave a room without alerting him in advance lest he freaked out when he realised that I was gone. Each time when I moved from the living room to the kitchen, I had to get his attention and he would plod on all fours and followed me where ever I went. Reena had to trick him each time I sneaked off to have a shower! Poor boy.

He was also toilet trained since the age of 6 months and he's got his own little babysit on the toilet. When we got to Reena's apartment, he refused to use Safeia's baby toilet seat! Perhaps he was distracted by the extractor fan in the bathroom or maybe he is just like some of us who like our own toilets.

I recently read that babies do not develop long term memory until they pass the age of one. So I was very worried that when we got back to Singapore he was going to continue to cling to me and not use his own toilet!

Well the 10 days of clinging to me for life came to an end as soon we stepped out from the airport. He saw his father and went straight into his arms. When we got home, he forgot all about me and reclaimed his territory. What a little traitor!

Oh, and he's back on his own toilet seat.

Eddie at 8 months

Leaving Eddie

I will be driving up to KL this afternoon without my little bub. This is going to be the very first time I will be separated from him for more than 15km and more than 6 hours. Haha.. Singapore is that small and I used to work half days at the office.

I do not think that he will be quite upset because he is used to seeing me leaving in the car every morning. Plus he will be looked after and spoilt by our helper Juvy. Looks like I am the one who will be having separation anxiety.

I love you very very much, my little rascal.

My 2 month old demonstrating his water prowess

Yes, having kids is an expensive affair. This super sunsuit which protects you from all sorts of ray harm cost me $ 70, and he'll probably wear it for 2 months. As for the float, I went to a shop in Singapore to get it. When the saleslady gave me an option with the mushroom shelter, I could not resist! So I lugged it all the way to Samui. When I tried to blow it up (pun unitended), only did I realise that this was not possible. My husband already chided me bout the unnecessary mushroom and yet I made him drive me to a nearby kedai motor. So I tried to explain to the para-para mechanics that I needed to borrow their squirty pump because I could not blow up the mushroom by myself. As they filled up the float, the people in the shop started laughing seeing this grown up woman with a giant float. Nevertheless, I was extremely pleased that I have bought the float in the first place.

Jetsetting Eddie

Finally I am back in Singapore. The 6 hours trip was extremely stressful for me as we had to spend 3.5 hours in the car and another 2.5 hours in the airport / plane. I was so worried if Eddie were to have one of his episodes, the infamous inconsolable cry that makes me cry too. And he did have one in the car. Even my dad was freaked out and got very worried. Thank goodness after much coaxing, he calmed down and we continued our journey. However we were running late due to the unscheduled stop so my dad drove me straight to the departure gate. I left Eddie in the car with my dad as I got all the luggages (30 odd kg in total) to purchase Eddie's ticket and checked in first. Only after that I went to get him and he was blissfully asleep. I strapped him into my sarong sling and hand in hand we went through immigration. Thank goodness he had another feeding session just before we boarded the plane and that definitely helped him sleep through the flight. He didn't wake up or fuss until the plane touched down in Singapore! Woohoo... phew... i was sooooooooooo relieved.

One Month Old

Yippie!!! My confinement is officially over today! I'm no longer under house arrest (not that I haven't been roaming around town). This morning, I got up early, apart to pump milk, to dress up my son in his Sunday best and he wore his blings from his grandparents. He looked rather smart. After that, I went to pick up cakes which were to be delivered to all relatives and friends who have given us pressies. Bridezilla, since you are away, please have a look at the picture which is dedicated to you. There's a Swiss Log, ang ku kueh and red eggs.

Baby Eddie with his num-num

My baby is 26 days old today. This is a picture of him, when he isn't crying.

Popular Demand

Thank you everyone for your well wishes: Yummymummy, David, Miss Kechik, Tabea, Shen & Jon, Ade & Bob, Sean & Dave, Emma, May Leen, Jean & many many more.

Attached is the photo of my 4 days old baby, Edward Rhys Kirby.

14th May 2008- Baby Eddie is Here!!!

After much waiting, my water broke on the morning of May 14th, which is also the birthday of a good friend of mine.

8.50am - I called the nurse to check how long I could hang around my parents' house before making my way to the clinic. I was told to report in asap. So I took my shower, washed my hair and drove myself to my doctor's. Called my mom to update her while I was driving.

9.30am - After some internal examination, it seemed that my best option was to have a c-section.

9.45am - Called my hubby to tell him that I was going to have the baby

10.00am- My mom sent a whole troop of my relatives to come see me to make sure that I was ok.

10.30am - Wheeled into O.T. and anesthetist injected epidural. Thank goodness it didn't hurt!

10.40am - Proceeded to cut me open.

10.50am - Baby Eddie made an appearance and he commemorated the occassion by having his first pee!