Covid19 Ranting

It had been a good 3months since my last post, that was 1 day before didi popped and now, he is already 3months plus and I'm back to work.

Didi was born on 17th January 2020 evening. Just like her sister, I went to the fengshui master to chose an auspicious date & time for his arrival, so when he popped, he is exactly 38weeks old. He is much smaller in size compare to Marilyn as this is really a tough pregnancy for me as mention in the previous post.

So, let me officially introduce you to my 2nd born, our son, Martyn Su.

This time round, since we are already staying at my in laws' place, I might as well do my confinement there. This confinement is easier compared to the first one with the help of my MIL & my helper. But when come to handling didi, I still very much preferred to do it myself. Confinement fall on CNY period, so this year CNY, I really missed out alot of goodies.

Initially I was pretty worry still as didi was really very small in size when born, but now after the 3months mark, I had put all my worry aside after seeing his double chin. Just like the daddy & mummy, both our kids is of bigger build compared to the average baby. 

One of my biggest worry is about how Marilyn adjusted to the arrival of Martyn and finally I can put this worry away as well. At the start, Marilyn did not reject Martyn, but just refused to approach him. After sometime, she did a good job in protecting her little brother, she will ask for her little brother as and when he went out of sight.

I planned a holiday trip for Marilyn's birthday this year before I go back to work from maternity leave. But who knows, Covid19 strike and affected every single person, my resort payment and air ticket payment cannot be refund, so the whole trip was postpone to an open date, till April 2021, if not my 3K will go on a waste. So we just have a short staycation at Carlton hotel & a mini celebration at home this year.

Because of Covid19, my trip is cancelled, so I decide to end my maternity leave early and start work. God knows, I went back to office for 1 day only, all the non-essential services will required to ceased their operation or fully work from home (WFH), we are one of them.

WFH is really a challenge for us. First of all, we do not have a house of our own, so basically we only have a room to ourselves, 4 of us plus 1 dog to a room, how are we suppose to set-up our work station in the room, I don't know how. Moreover, there a total of 9 adults, 4 kids, 3 cats & 1 dog under the same household, everyone will need to WFH & home-based learning (HBL), staying sane in a confined area with so many people is kinda IMPOSSIBLE, I can't even find a place to hide when I just need a 5 minutes of peace, away from everything.

2 days back the news on the extension of the circuit breaker is a total nightmare to me, I'm trying very hard to stay sane and the news is like a triggering point to drive me crazy instantly.

I seriously don't how everyone out there coping with this circuit breaker, but there are too many grey areas and loop holes here and there. I would rather the country do a complete lockdown to contain the situation once and for all, it is impossible to juggle work & kids at home at the same time without any help as we can't drop kids at the grandparents place for us to concentrate on our work. Leaving my kids with her grandmother throughout the whole circuit breaker period is also impossible, how you expect an elder to have the energy to juggle a 3years old toddler and a newborn at the same time and my kids need me.

Enough of ranting, I know no matter how much I rant, nothing gonna change, but I just need to let some steam out of me.

Just keep my fingers crossed, and everyone out there, please stop being stubborn and be a covidiots, just stay home during this period of time. I know is tough, it tough for everyone, but let just get over it once and for all and thing will definitely get better eventually if each of us do our part. I want to get under the sun with my kids again. 

Super Lengthy Post

When was the last time I blog, I can no longer recall now, to me, having me time is consider a bonus to me, I would like to do so much more other thing rather than blog now.

There so much major change in life now, to the extend I cannot recall most of it, but I will just try to put the bit & pieces together. 

My dearest Marilyn is already a 2years 9months old toddler, super mischievous, sometime I really defended by her. She is really sharp, talk alot (both logic & nonsense), she learnt alot from school, I glad she love to go school now, the initial stage was a torture for everyone.

We start Marilyn off really early, we put her in childcare since she is 18months old, I though it would be nice for her to mingle around children of her age rather than spending so much time with my helper that struggling with her own English. After Marilyn start to settle down in school, it just the right time for my helper to go back for her home leave.

She takes almost 2 to 3months to settle down, it was really hard for everyone at the start as the childcare was near to my office, easy for me to send & pick her up from school, which means it really far from our home. She have to wake up real early & go home real late, spend so much time travelling from place to place with me.

I have pretty much internal struggle that time, I start to question myself if I'm to harsh on Marilyn, is she really ready to be away from us for shall long hours at such a tender age. But seeing how much she enjoy going to school now, I'm really thankful that I'm firm enough back then, I was not influence by what her grandparents say and how other judge me that time, all I know is I'm doing all these for her own good.

One other major change is we sold our very first nest away. Yes, sold already and currently cramping at my in-law's place, with a total of 9 adults, 3 kids, 4 cats & 1 dog at this moment. Suddenly decision? Well, kinda yes & no, but we did it anyway.

Staying in Yishun the past 5years have always been a pain in the ass for my husband, he need to drive a long distance, stuck in the jam and pay so much for the ERP. Not so much for me actually as travelling long hours have never been a problem for me since young, I'm always an early bird.

Once we hit the 5years MOP we went to my uncle (property agent), ask him to assist us to sell our flat ASAP as we are afraid this gonna be a unit that gonna be hard to get rid off as there so many new flats coming soon and that area was really pretty much overcrowded. To our surprise, we got response almost immediately after the post was up, and the buyer request to view the flat on the very same day evening.

I didn't actually knows how the viewing was like as I take this chance to bring both Mari & Lycan down for a walk in order for them to have a smooth view. Thanks goodness the viewing was really fast, the buyer left in less than 30min as I was struggling to handle Mari & Lycan together. The same evening almost 11pm I remember, my uncle called and say the buyer would like to confirm our unit, jaw dropped for us.

We bought our unit at 352K from HDB 5years back, we posted to sell our unit at 550K in the website, with a little negotiation of the price, the buyer willing to offer at 528K. We had pretty much struggle on the decision that day, but in the end, we feel that 528K is a good price, we sold our unit without having any back-up plan, so here we are, squeezing with everyone else waiting for the property price to slump before we make our purchase.

Shifting from a 5-room flat to a 1 bedroom is really a challenge and we need to get it done in 3months time. We donate away most of our furniture & large electric appliances to the needy, basically we just bought our necessity along to my in-laws' place, the rest of our items I manage to squeeze into the extra bedroom in my mum's house, we will bring it over when we get a place of our own.

I hate shifting, and the worst part of this whole moving activity was I was basically handling everything alone, from packing to throwing, from giving away to arranging movers, I feel like a superwoman as my husband was really held up by his work.

But during this 3months period, I must admit I really breakdown several times, I was so exhausted, both mentally & physically. I basically have to handle my work from 9 to 6pm, on mummy's duty from 6pm onward, after my toddler went to bed, I will used all the spare time I have to prepare for the shift. Not forgetting, during that period, I was already pregnant, in my 2nd trimester that time. That was really too much for me to juggle, but I'm grateful that I manage to pull it through anyway.

After move is not the end of the whole episode, is the time Mari take to get used to the change. Initial 1st week she enjoy herself alot as everything was new, but after the 1st week, reality strike her. She cry every single day on her way back from childcare while reaching home, she cry to go home everyday. She say she don't want to stay at the grandparents house, she want to go back to papa mama house, her words really break my heart, both me & my husband starts to wonder again if we make a right choice this time. Such words from a 2years old toddler was really painful to hear.

As of today, we had moved almost 3months and Marilyn able to accept the fact now. At time, she will still say she wanna go home, but overall, she start to open up to everyone here, learn to play & share with the other 2girls, no longer reject the grandparents. It take so much effort to assist her to overcome this barrier.

Yes, you hear me right earlier on, I'm currently having my no.2 now in my tummy, and my no.2 will be ready to say "hi" to everyone tomorrow. Yes, TOMORROW!! That how fast time fly.

Mum's guilt, I was pretty much double standard, second child symptom, no.2 really did not get the best of everything, or even close to similar to Mari I will say. I didn't really do it on purpose, but there really too much on my plate as of now. For Mari when she is in my tummy, she had the best of everything as I was very caution after my first miscarriage. I'm very particular about the things I put in my mouth, I always had enough rest, I feel like I'm a princess made of glass, breakable anytime. And everyone else treat me like a princess too, as she is the first grandchild for both the family.

But I have to be fair saying that Mari was really nice to mummy, it was really an easy pregnancy that time, no morning sickness, no complication, just a little choosy over food in the first trimester. It was a complete smooth pregnancy I would say.

Thing wasn't easy with no.2 for me. I had really bad morning sickness in the first trimester, I'm aching & in pain everywhere, there is also a little complication with my low placenta placement which I required to be extra careful. Things got worst when entering the 3rd trimester, baby was a little small, but super active (blame myself for no caffeine control) and I have to skip my dinner every single day due to acid re-flux. I must either sleep sitting up or keep running to toilet to throw up all the acid. There a stage that I throw up acid every night till my throat badly burn, I cannot even speak for days.

As much as I wish to pay more attention to my no.2, I cannot forget I'm a mother of a toddler, a needy toddler that feeling super insecure knowing the existing & arriving of no.2. I need to be very careful handling Mari emotional feeling, attend to all her needs, be a superwoman for her that I very often neglected about taking care of myself. 

Actually I'm very worry about the arrival of no.2 tomorrow, I don't know how I going to juggle with a newborn & a toddler at the same time, it fear more than excitement I would say, I just hoping to be sane at all time.

Bad Experience @ Window on the Park - Holiday Inn Orchard

Say I'm cheapo, I'm fine with it, but this time I really regret the choice I made just to save a few hundred bucks. For my family gathering last Sunday, the venue I chose was "Window on the Park" since they have a promotion for OCBC card-holders, 1-for-1 buffet lunch / dinner. This offer seem really attractive for a group gathering.

I remembered clearly it was a Monday (3rd Sept) which I made my first call to Hotel Inn Orchard to make my reservation, I was told that reservation for 18pax cannot be made just by calling, I will need to make a 10% deposit in advance, and they will send me a credit card authorization letter via email.

I waited for the email that day but I didn't receive any update from them, so I called again the next day (4th Sept). I was told the reservation I wish to make (reservation for 30th Sept) was way too early in advance, that why they haven't send me the authorization letter, but they promised to send the email over later in the day since I wish to confirm my reservation ASAP. I wasn't expecting this excuse from them, but I accept their lame excuse since I had too many issues on hand to take care, I just want to strike off as many items on my to-do list ASAP.

My wait continued, I even gave them a few days buffer to get back to me but I never hear from them. I decide to stop calling them this time as call conversation might not be recorded, I wrote in a complaint email to their direct hotel room reservation email address instead on 7th Sept.

I should have done that earlier, I finally receive the an email reply the next day. The confirmation was pretty smooth via email communication so I decide to forgo what had happened earlier on, but I must mention I was very disappointed in their customers' feedback management. The email I received from them was purely on the table reservation issue and they did not address to my unhappiness toward their poor customer service.

On 30th September itself, me & my guests arrive on our gathering session. The whole dining experience was horrible. When I first step into the restaurant, the place was so warm, my toddler was sweating thru out the whole dining session, to the extend, my guests had to request for a fan around our sitting area.

I'm usually very excited to enjoy the spread during any buffet session, I hold on to my plate and make my round, for the first time ever I don't know what to eat. The spread they offered was so limited, and the appearance wasn't appealing at all. Not just the appearance, the food was cold and the taste was bad too. The first dish I tried was the pumpkin soup, I can't believe that the soup was totally tasteless, just like drinking thick, orange-ish plain water, even my toddler refuse to take a second mouth after her first try, that is how bad it is.

Their laska and mee-rebus taste was pretty acceptable, but the server really spoil the dish. The feeling that the server gave me is like I'm visiting a very popular hawker store with an attitude aunty taking my order, the feeling was exactly like if you are not happy with my attitude, go somewhere else to order your food.

As a host of the gathering, I was really embarrassed, many of my guests came up to me asking how much am I paying for per pax cost. The reply I got from them was luckily is a 1-for-1 deal, if not it really not worth paying 70++ per pax, they even feel I'm paying too much for this type of foods and standard at a 50% discounted rate.

I'm very sure, this gonna be my very first and the last visit to "Window on the Park". Even if any friends planning to hold their wedding banquet at this hotel, I will definitely advice them to think twice before they made the decision. Can't believe I gonna attend a wedding banquet there sometime soon later this year, I'm so not looking to the dishes I gonna expect that day.

Anyway, everything I mention above is solely based on my very own experience, personal review, I believe each individual have different preference, go and try it still if you want.

Zoo Outing with Marilyn

This is not the first time I bought Mari to the zoo, but should say this is the first time I can properly introduce the Zoo to Mari and show her the animals myself.

I'm not trying to be mean, but I really got pretty upset during our first trip to the zoo. Initially was an outing for Mari with just me & my husband, but my MIL say she wish to tagged along, of cos we welcome her to join us, but eventually turn out that FIL & Mari's grand uncle wanna tag along too.

I'm not saying that I'm upset our field trip became a group outing, but what upset me is throughout the whole zoo trip, I don't get to interact with Mari at all, not a single bit.

I understand my FIL doted on Mari alot, but he should understand that it Mari first outing to the zoo, as a mother, I really wish to be the one showing her around at time, enjoy some quality time with her, take this opportunity to snap some photos together, but I got none, NONE AT ALL.

My FIL carry Mari for the whole trip, at time when he gets tired, he don't even let the rest of us carry her around, he rather put her on the stroller and push her around himself, no one get to spend any moment with Mari. I'm really really very upset over it, not a single photo with Mari for the whole trip.

So I decided, I gonna bring Mari to the zoo again, not going to let any of them know I'm bringing her to zoo again, but I invite my mum & sis to join this time instead.

Mum knew how upset I am from my previous trip, so she is very mindful when handling Mari on our outing day, and snap tons of photos for me & Mari.

Unfortunately it rain heavily on our way to the zoo, but luckily my corporate pass can go both the Zoo & River Safari, so we head over to River Safari first as it sheltered all the way.

After our River Safari trip, we had a quick bite. I guess Mari is super happy that she doesn't not need to eat porridge for lunch that day, she enjoyed her nuggets & fries alot, keep asking for more.

Food coma after meal, Mari dozed off straight on her stroller. Since the rain had stopped, we decide to head for the zoo. Glad that Mari was taking her nap at that time, cos most animals was not in sight, guess they are all hiding from the rain, if she was awake I guess she will be real disappointed not being able to see much of the animal.

Mari wake up at the right time, just in time for rhino feeding session, she enjoy interaction with animals alot. After the feeding session, Mari get to see her lion, that is the reason for us to come to the zoo that day. She been bugging me to see lion the whole morning, finally she get to meet them and we can at last call the day off.

I'm looking forward to more such outing with Mari, when we can spend quality bonding time together, real quality I mean.

We took lots of photos that day, below is just some of it to share:

Our Very First Family Vacation

Bought little Marilyn for her very first oversea trip on 6th July 2018, not going anywhere far, just a short family get away at JB.

Planning trip with toddler wasn’t an easy task, too many small details required to take into consideration, can you believe that my luggage for our 3 days trip to JB is so much heavier compared to my 2 weeks trip to South Africa? Luckily we are driving in ourselves, so we can afford to bring along big luggage, just dump everything into the car.

Initially we are still quite afraid that Mari will get cranky on the road trip, but we plan the time well, we set off near to her nap time. She manage to sleep through both her way, in & out of Singapore, no drama at all during the driving trip.

It was a real tiring 3 days take care of Mari all by ourselves. She gets pretty cranky from time to time due to lack of sleep and change of diet, but we manage to overcome all, still have some time off for spa. Thanks to hub for the spa treat and he offered to take care of Mari all by himself for 2 hours while I’m relaxing.

We spend a lot of time at the pool as Mari really love to play with water, the pool was located at the top of the building with amazing view looking across the harbor.

We spend a little more on the hotel stay, that the money I’m willing to pay for convenience, nearest hotel to the Hello Kitty Town & security. I just want no hic-up through the whole journey.

But I will say the trip to JB Hello Kitty Town was a pretty bad experience, as we are Chinese and don't speak their language, we are given a different treatment. We got very pissed over it, luckily there are some kind locals actually help us out.

Quality family time spend together, look forward for more of such trip in the near future.

My Baby to Toddler

Lack of update, but my little human is already 14months old. Oh mine, I wonder where had all my time went to.

Was really tied up with my new job role since I’m back from maternity leave, working OT many days in a week, luckily my mum is helping me taking care of Mari on the weekdays. Didn’t have much time to spend with her, all I have is my weekends & public holidays time, full attention on her. Taking care of her wasn’t an easy job especially she already start running around in the house, weekend used to be days for re-charge, but ever since Mari came to my life, I always feel so drained after weekend now. But no doubt, I’m willing to exchange every good night rest of mine for every single smile of her, those smile are priceless.

Not gonna update in details, too much for me to recall, shall just let the photos speak on my behalf.

~ Out to attend Caylie's BB Shower~

~ Dinner at the airport ~

~ My mother-in-law's birthday ~

~ Mari's 1st CNY ~

~Attending the Twinie's BB Shower ~

~ My 33rd Birthday ~

~ Mari 1st Birthday photoshoot ~

~ Mini 1st Birthday celebration for Mari ~

~ Happy 1st Birthday Mari ~

~on 2nd April, her actual birthday ~

~ My Happy Pill ~

~ Her 1st Swim ~

~Bubbly Girl ~

~ My 2 Babies ~

~To the Animal Resort~

~ Her most recent photo ~