The Original Juice

Sat, 7th Aug 10.

I got the whole morning off when Tufeil went out with his dad. Phew! What a relief... Unfortunately tho I just cldn't fall back to sleep.. cos my tummy was hungry and i tot why shld i just get when i can fully utilise my time watching online tv while eating? One episod led to another and another... until the next thing I knew, Tufeil was home.

Thankfully he hasnt had his nap so we both went to sleep. We (or rather I) woke up hungry and ready to go out for lunch. At 4pm. haha

But before that we had to make a stop at a DIY shop to grab a few tins of paint. Our living room and my bedroom are getting a new colour after 10yrs of staring at the same wall. Tufeil had to be entertained by his Atok. And I kept feeling guilty about it - though unfounded. 1. Tufeil might be asking Where's mummy where's mummy (He did not) 2. Ayah must be tired (he felt happy to).

Late Lunch or Early Dinner?

First Shift: Atok

Tufeil & his Koala Bag

MUUUAhh

2nd Shift: Nenek.

See him sitting on the table in the background being entertained by Nenek w "Pok Amai2" song

I had the 3rd shift and my duty was also to feed him and he had a few mouthfuls of Kway Teow Goreng Mama. it was quite hot even tho we asked for a mild one. His Indian Rojak FAIL. Not only was the sauce/gravy sweet and lacking peanuts... the Paru (beef Lung), Sotong not getah (squid) all were undercooked. Yikes. I'm not sure how Ayah's Mee Kuah was but he sure didnt finish it.

Afterwards, we went to the new Khoo Teck Huat Hospital (We kept thinking its called Phoon Huat the famous Bakery suppler haha) in Yishun to visit my grandma. Tufeil met with his young "uncles" and "Aunties" who are my cousins and belted out a series of dances!

The video started in the middle of his "dance", then he played with his sandals and towards the end, the danced again. So wait for it. It was a bit short but I cldnt get any better recording.

NOte to self: Do not video record in portrait mode.

SUN 8th Aug 2010.

My plan was thrown wayyy off course when Tufeil could not go out with his dad again in the morning. (I hate surprises!) I was supposed to get the house / room ready to be painted but instead I had to entertain the very mobile boy. As a result, Dad tot I was lazing around while he did the hardwork. Sorry Ayah. PLUS i tot we were doing the living room first. Fortunately, our hired help (costing us $350) were slightly late.

I had an eye treatment appointment (which i'd booked like 3 weeks in advance and cldnt/didnt wanna change) in the afternoon. 2nd sister was kind enough to have Tufeil over at her house so the kids can play.

Felt like we were just settling in to new house. My things are all over the place and mostly they are in my room and i can't retrieve them so had to borrow mum's things. Dont like that feeling of unfamiliarity. Ergh.

We slept in another room too cos the paint smell was too overpowering still.

MON 9th Aug 2010

While Tufeil was out in the morning, I was assigned to do the laundry while Mum cooked lunch and ayah helped with the clearing of walls.

My room was ready and i had to put the furniture back in. I'm not very happy at how the colour turned out. It's SOOOOOOOOOOO light! I wanted something browner but Mum kept saying dont take dark colour or my room will seem well.. DARK. esp cause i paint the ceiling the same colour. But if u've seen my orange room before, it was quite a deep colour. Enough to make an impression. Now, its just .. simply put... WHITE. Ergh! Insya'Allah I shall post a before and after photo when my room is finally ready for Eid.

I took the opportunity to clear my wardrobe too! Which I had been putting off for quite some time. I feel... CLEANSED... or half-cleansed at least cos not all shelves were wiped. I had to prioritise the lower ones where Tufeil could reach. God forbid T eats the lumps of dusts! Wa nauzubillah!

After maghrib around 7.45pm, my family including T all went downstairs to catch the fireworks. OMG IT WAS SUPER DUPER LOUD since it was right in front of my room!!! It went off at exactly 8.10pm as scheduled. I was quite worried about T - how he took the deafening, heart palpitating BANG. It was reported back that he didn't cry. It would've been nicer if my view wasn't obstructing by the tall trees.

He was sent home an hour later at 8.45pm cos he was yawning away... A quick wash up and he was down in 15min. Just as i was about to remove myself from the bed, another round of fireworks popped in the sky! I know 9pm is not late but HELLOOOO please be considerate! GRRRR! It took another 10m to put him back to sleep again.

Oh well.. at least i got my room back.

For a lonnggg time, I had been agonizing myself as to how am I gonna structure Tufeil's Bedtime Routine. At Babycenter and everywhere else puts it down roughly like this:

1. Dinner
2. Bath
3. Books
4. Songs
5. Sleep

And this is supposed to help babies sleep thru the night (?).

It was quite diff for me to follow this structure because for us, we can't / not supposed to shower/bathe baby after dusk = cold = weaken the bone or whatever ya know. So his evening bath is at 6pm, dinner 7pm, bedtime 9pm. So there's like a gaping 3 hour hole between bath and dinner.

However, little did i realise that I've actually created a little ritual without thinking or being forced into it. We start the turning down process by:

1. Salam-ing (Shaking hands) with whoever's at home and say goodnight bye bye kiss kiss
2. Or if nobody's home, we will turn off all the fan and lights in the living room together
3. Sometimes I will read him a book but if he's wailing for his milk already, I will jump straight to nursing. Otherwise..
4. Toothwipes. Tufeil now loves his Mango flavoured toothwipes. But its very painful to do it bcos he bites my fingers while trying to chew the tissue. Aiyooo
5. Sometimes when I feel Tufeil is not ready to sleep yet, I will play for him a lullaby from Youtube in my phone. He used to LOVEEEE Elmo & Mr Andrea Bocelli's song. But now he's into Pooh's Lullabee.
6. Nurse to sleep

Youtubing is a bit dangerous to start cos its hard for him to stop. He will cry/scream to get me to repeat again and again and again. So i use this step sparingly. There was once when I was trying to remind Tufeil of his susu with not much success until i pretended that his Giant Pooh soft toy was drinking too LOL. Then he jumped on me and drank to sleep....

---------------

Now... Monday night 2nd Aug, Tufeil had such a good wonderful long sleep that i thought I should better keep track of what was done during the day to give such a results.

Day One: Napped at 10 for one hour, again at 2 for 2 hours. Dinner 1 whole packet of Instant Baby Porridge at 6pm. Yogurt at 8pm and slept at 9pm. Woke at 11pm then straighttttttttt to 5am!!! MIRACULOUS! Then slept again till 7am.

Day Two: Woke up 7am, Napped at 11 for 1hour, no afternoon nap, a few mouthfuls of briyani at 7.30pm, slept at 9pm and woke every 2 hours.

Day Three: I forgot to ask if he had napped but he had slightly more dinner than what i usually give him. 2 cubes of mashed potatoes topped with curry tuna. He was asking for some more but need to wait for another 10-15min to heat up the frozen cube, so i tried to entice him with Jelly to no avail. Again, slept at 9pm and woke every 2 hours =(

Day Four: Woke up 7am, usual 1hr morning nap but NO AFTERNOON NAP. 1/2 cup of cheese risotto + 1 cube of Chicken & egg mayo. This is A LOT A LOT of food! Then afterwards, I gave him 3 slices of peach too. Slept 8.30 for 3 hours. I thought tonight i will nail it. but Nay! He woke up every 2 hours again thereafter.

I'm beginning to think that perhaps he SHOULD nap a lot in the afternoon to be able to sleep thru the night. Let's see how this weekend will work out to. Somebody please help me before i turn into a monster!!

On a happier note, i totally got a grip at being FIRM to Tufeil. Twice already I FIRMLY reiterated again and again for about a min or 2: GIGIT = NO SUSU (BITE = NO MILK). Then i ask him, "Nak susu?" when he said yes and if his cheeky-something-is-up-my-sleeves grin has been wiped out, i will grant him access and Alhamdulillah he stopped after that. Since then, occurence has been rare. (I hope I don't jinx myself.)

Now, I just need to apply this method to when he's hitting my head, or anybody's head for that matter, and throwing things and shrieking when he didn't get what he wants

Early Wed morning I got an email saying that somebody's requesting for my resume for this job portal. I replied and said I am interested.

The next thing I knew, she called me and sorta interviewed me on the phone! After asking about my jobscope and everything, she said she will recommend me to the employer (she's from an agency) and request a salary 15% that of current. Making that a sweet $500 increase per month. But the BIG Question is...

DO I WANT TO QUIT NOW?

Because if i quit now and not at the end of the year when our AWS (Additional Wage Supplement) is, I stand to lose $1,700! Bcos my current company pays 14months.

On top of that, Mummy mentioned that if i switch job now, it'd be difficult to take leave for Hari Raya and Dec holiday (she's planning a one week vacation which i can follow or stay home to care for T).

Other stopping matters include the fact that i'm still pumping during working hours, I'm not sure if the workload is super heavy that would force me to stay late and how would T/mum react to that.

Moreover, the job description sounds rather similar to what I'm doing MINUS the claims and reporting (i think?) but includes credit control.

I know I shouldn't jump on the first wagon that comes. Especially since I saw quite a few other attraction job description on the website recently... But I feel like as though it's fated.

Ya Allah, please guide me to do what's best for me and my family. Ameen.

OK i'm about to die swimming in debt. I've been shopping like nobody's business. I made 3 purchases in the last month or 2 alone!

1. Rainbow (click link for the post i wrote abt it) SGD 3,200. A POSB Loan @ $140/mth x 3 - $1,000 (?) cashback. Well, when i bought this, i was expecting to pay only a year later, which i hoped by then my study loan would have finished. and Besides this is for the WHOLE family's health well-being. So it is a good investment. Isn't it?

2. Some EYE care package at Civic Centre for SGD 2407.50 for 30 sessions to reduce the dark rings around my eyes that i've had since like... FOREVER! ok maybe not forever.. but maybe when i was just... 14? Ok maybe some of you want to punch or slap me in the face. But the damage is done lor. I just hope i get the results timely.

I paid by Standchart Credit Card and successfully got a 0% installment free thru their EasiPay system. So i'm paying 200/month but total amount is, of course, blocked.

3. Disney's Reading System





In the box are 26 DVDs and 26 activity books that encompass the daily phrases like Greetings, Playing or something. While the books look a bit too high a level for Tufeil's ability at the mo, i think the DVDs perfect.



This also comes with 6 PHONICs system that consist of 12 books and a DVD each.



DAMAGE: $ 1102. But after some discount of $56 and a deposit of $138, I will be paying just $76 x 12 months. They will charge my credit card every month WITHOUT blocking my limit. But I hear somebody wants to contribute to the investment of this educational tool for his son. So that's a relief IF it's true.

4. I just spent about $150 at John Little Causeway Point 80% sale yesterday.

But this is not bad at all considering I got PLENTY of stuffs:

• 2 pillows @ $12 each
• 2 velvet half-curtains @ $12 each
• 3 home t-shirts @ $6 each
• 1 3Q pants @ $10
• 2 work shirts @ $25 for 2.
• Maybelline Mascara $15
• Some Pimple gel
• Simple Facial Wet Tissue to remove make up
• A hari-raya gaudy shoe for $13

Oopss now u know what a cheapskate I am. Can somebody be a cheapskate but a spendthrift at the same time? LOL

So i took half day leave yesterday afternoon to watch INCEPTION starring Leonardo Dicaprio. I don't think he's good looking - anymore - Ash. If anything, That Gordon-Levitt is more charming in a selenger way. OMG i'm sooo superficial.

INCEPTION movie poster

1. I thought Dreams are based by the imagination of the Dreamer, why do they need architect? I guess to station their sedatives and bombs in each level?
2. If several of them are going under together, how do they determine whose dream they are entering?
3. How would the girl's totem - a King Chess Piece - work to know she's in reality?
4. If the wife killed herself in a dream and that's why she's in limbo permanently, where's the body? Or was that real life? I'm confused
5. What's with all the COMBINATIONs???? Why does Fischer junior need that combination? To open the safe yes, but why so troublesome to extract the numbers?
6. I didnt hear properly but what did Fischer Senior said Not disappointed in him but disappointed in... what? Is that Junior's projection or the architect's work?

ASH PLEASE COMMENT!

I had noticed before that Tufeil was beginning to wake less in the night but I had never checked my watch (it's semi-dark in my room). And then suddenly, his routine was thrown off course when he started to take late afternoon naps between 4 - 5 for 30min to 1hour.

Last night though, I resolved myself to check the clock. He went to bed at 9pm, woke up at 11pm and slept thru to 5am!!! Then I had to wake him at 7am to go out. Who knows maybe he could have slept a little longer?

So what did I do right, this time?

In the morning, he had his usual morning nap at around 10am for one hour. Then at 2.30pm he napped again for 2 hours!! on my mum's chest. Cheh. He had dinner of this instant baby porridge Indo brand at 6pm, he finished the whole packet. Then i brought him out to Causeway Point and had snacks (Fries and cinnamon melts *GRIN*) at 8pm, grocery shopped and straight away nursed him to sleep when we reached home at 9pm.

I think the key item is that vital afternoon nap. As long as he starts to sleep before 3pm, we are in the clear?

Let;s just see his progress today. I shall stay vigilant in keeping time. =)

There are only 6,574 days between a child’s birth and their eighteenth
birthday.

I found this lovely website while researching "Baby Ate styrofoam". It's exactly what kinda blog i wanna read but difficult to find. A working mother with a toddler who's still breastfeeding and has trouble with sleeping thru the night.

Oh yah Tufeil ate a bit of styrofoam yesterday. We had my mum's siblings over at our place. I was feeding him some rice while being seated in my lap facing outward. I managed to grab my cousin's cup beside him. I let him played with it for awhile. Then i realised a bit of the cup was chipped! And then i looked at him at saw him chewing. Tried to pry my finger in but he just wont let it it! He gagged, i patted his back.

I thought the episode was over then i saw him chewing again and i hadn't given him anymore food yet. I rushed to my mum's side and got her to sweep his mouth. Only a few made it out. =( But he was active throughout the day so I was not quite worried until when he got to bed and fussing and fussing... My google search said it should be ok lah insya'Allah.

I soooo sucked at parenting, I think. I know NUTS about First Aid nor Safety first. For example:

1. I obviously let my child play w styrofoam. Duh
2. I ever led Syifaa' to a fall when i opened the car door when her hands were pressed to the windows!
3. I gave in and did not "scold" Tufeil much. I mean I let him play with CDs and virtually anything he wants.
4. I ever bumped his upper eye hit my table when I was trying to put his diaper on.
5. I won't know what to do if he falls. I mean My mum would rub her hair on my bump, whereas me, I can't even identify the hurt area in the first place. Although, i would carry and kiss him lots.

And many more i just can't remember right this moment. One thing I do know is that... I LOVE HIM LOTS. I've never been one to gush about babies. Heck I didnt even know how to carry one. But after Tufeil's arrival, it's like a whole other world opened up to my eyes. I see babies everywhere and just wanna kiss every single one of them. LOL.

Has it been just 491 days, though? It felt like forever! and I hope it won't take another thousand days for him to be independent enough then I can be let off a bit... At the very least I hope to wake up late on a weekend? Pretty please?

Yeaaahoooo

Found a new Halal place to eat during lunch. It's just opened for about a month or two i was told. and they sell WESTERNNNNN!!!! And Thai cuisines. At canteen price.

The place is situated at URA Building itself facing Maxwell Food Centre.

Me, the menu and the Halal Logo

Ordering Counter

My Chicken Cutlet & Spaghetti $6
+ Ribena $1.20

The sauce is rather bland but maybe that's just me. Even with the Chicken, I was asked for Beef or Chicken bolognaise sauce. so of course i picked Beef. Best of both worlds... and some more i get to sample....

Ash's Fish & Chips $5.50
Coke Light $1.50

The spices in the fish batter was distinct. That's good.

Zihah's Thai Fish Rice $5 comes with soup

The fish are placed on top of thai sweet chili sauce giving it a nice twist to normal fish bites.

We were there at 12nn and the place was decently filled = not as noisy as say... Amoy St and you'll definitely get a table. While it's nothing like Secret Recipe or Eatz 19, it's definitely a place to go for cheap western food if you're craving for it. =)

28th July 2010.

Oh WEEEE. It's been a year since we last came here for karaoke. It was Ayah's bday month and he gets some credit at his work place's club house. We totally made full use of it.

Ayah had to take half day afternoon to go home to pick up Mummy and Tufeil. Last year, Tufeil was too small @ 4 months to join us so he stayed home.

The plan was for me to wait for Ash to knock off at 6pm. But when i heard that Tufeil was already there, i go off promptly at 5.20pm to attend to my son first. Just as well, cos my parents need to go for prayers, then i give him milk and dinner first before the rest arrives. And true enough, Ash was the last to come - as usual :P.

Atok singing.

The gang who made it: Aunty, Cousin and Ash.

He looks sooo tall in this pic. Tufeil I mean.

Geletek Tufeillll!!! (Tickle)

Kiss Tufeil...

We all ordered dinner first, cos we cldnt bring the main dishes inside to the room. I had Black Pepper Beef w Rice which was disappointingly bland - as in tawar. I fed some to T but it cldnt hold a candle to the appealing fries! ahhaha.. But thank god he took a liking to the siew mai.

Oh he also took a liking to Chicken Wings.

Even accidentally tasted some chilli sauce himself! He had no reaction at all to that!

YUM

Haha.. i always feel... amazed when he managed to get some food into his mouth. Today, he even got the end of the fries stick in without help! Usually, he'd give me the last bit cos he doesn't know yet to release the food so he could eat it without biting his own fingers.

Anyways, all in all it felt wayyyyyyyyyyyy tooo short because effectively we only sang for 2 hours between 8 to 10pm cos 6 - 8 was dinner and prayer bla bla bla... There are quite a few songs tt i don't know too so that's sad.

Highlight of the night - and even mum agrees - was when the four of us sang to the ISABELLA '98 song. You know the one with Amy (of course), Jamal, Saleem and Zamani. But we had to repeat like... 3 times cause we kept forgetting whose turn it was to belt it out and then we were laughing and laughing.. cos we know we sounded funny.

It was a lil after 11pm by the we reached home. Tufeil was already asleep in the car. but of course he woke up afterwards, thankfully not before i managed to hit the shower first. Embarassed to report that i didn't bother to bathe him but just changed him to PJs while just wiping his face with wet tissue. :S

Note to self: can't take Tufeil out till late at night, next time. Can't wait till he doesn't need me to sleep so i can go out late. Sometimes.