Our New House @ Kallang - Selection of Tiles

2 days after we signed with Ideal house, our ID - Steven immediately start work on our house reno. First he submitted the permit for hacking and rebuilding of kitchen wall. We also received the approval letter from HDB within the week and on the letter, it states that hacking has to be done on 31st Mar, 1st & 2nd Apr and the entire reno has to be completed by 28th Apr. Hmm... Will they be able to finish work by end Apr? I really hope so.. :p

Next, Steven arranged with us to go down to Hafary @ Balestier to select tiles on sunday @11am. The entire selection was pretty fast cos we are using homogenous tiles for our living room, 3 bedrooms and bomb shelter. We went to the 2nd level where all the homogenous tiles samples were displayed out. We chose the non-stain glossy type of type which cost $3.80 psf. It is slightly greyish white in color. Above is a sample piece that we took home for souvenir... :p

What's next will be the 3-D drawings and selection of color for the kitchen top which Steven say will be this coming week. :)

March 2008 Teen Girl Coverlook

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My new hairstyle

I've been having bad hair days since i delivered my darling. I am going back to work on next monday -31st Mar so I thought of doing something to my hair to look nice nice! hehehe... :p And i decided to do rebonding which is the safest thing to do to my hair.

Anyway, i asked my friend Eileen for contact but it's @ AMK so i check out flowerpod to see if can find one that is nearer to my parents place. I saw from flowerpod that they are recommending this saloon call Act Point and they are having a promo price @ $150 for rebonding (regardless of hair length), haircut, treatment and they are using shishedo product. So i called up to make appointment and request for Anson(recommended too) to do my hair. Also for mon - thu, they are giving a 300ml btls of Senscience shampoo and conditioner which worth $50 so quite worth the value! They are located at Shaw tower and International building which is very near my parents house, very convenient!..

I reach there @ 1pm and Anson look at my hair commenting that my hair is very healthy. Cos the last time that i did rebonding (in HK) during Dec 05. After that, i only cut my hair every now and then. So the salon stylists all say my hair in good condition which is quite rare cos most of their customers are those who either perm or rebond very frequently. ;) Funny thing was Anson say he has to use a lot of cream for healthy hair like mine so it's really worth the value for me cos i use almost 1 tube of dunno what cream ah... ;p

The entire process took about 4+ hours and i left the saloon @ 5.30pm with a straight hair and change of hair parting too. A bit not too use to the parting but find it's pretty nice though. I also went to buy a small clip to clip the fringe cos still not use to the right parting fringe covering my eyes and can't see my darling when i feed her. :p

Okie, here are pics of my new hairstyle :

Our New House @ Kallang - Select ID

It's been abt 3months since we collected our key in Dec. After 3 months, we still haven't started renovating... very si1 bai4 rite?!?! Anyway, my initial plan is to renovate during my maternity leave so that i got time to supervise the reno. Eversince our little princess is borned, 24 hrs a day doesn't seem enough for me. And worst is... i am going back to work on 31st March! Thinking of it makes me wanna cry cos there are tonnes of work awaiting for me to clear and imagine i still have to take care of my little princess @ nite - I am very stressed even thinking abt it now. A lady ask me today whether i will consider #2? What i have gone through and going through doesnt encourage me to want to have 2nd one. My mum say my sis-in-law want to have more kids - of cos lah, during their #1, my brother will wake up in the middle of the nite to feed and change my nephew. My brother-in-law too will wake up in the middle of the nite to feed and change my niece. How abt my husband? He will wake up for a sec and tell me that adelle poo or hungry and then he doze off wor. Good rite! Well, to conclude - i pai mia, what to do?!?!?! Have become maria of the house and really p*** me off sometimes! :(

Anyway, back to the renovation thingy. We started to get quotations since Jan before i hit the delivery ward. Previously we went to one of the reno fair in expo but only 1 guy - DesignerGuy came back to us with his quotation whereas the rest MIA. However, his pricing and design idea not to my type so i am not keen to do biz with him. Then we went to Darwin Interior to check out their showroom @ Bendemeer. We like some of the design in their showroom and got a quote too. But we want to do some 'market survey' so we went to TPY to check out other IDs as well. We talked to Substance, Unimax and Design Profession. The most impressive one is Unimax with 8 yrs warranty and beautiful wallpaper!! Of cos all of them gave us quotations and needless to say Unimax is SUPER Ex among all else how to give 8 yrs warranty right? Anyway, i did up a comparison chart between the 4 of them. I find Substance and Darwin prices are quite ok but becos renotalk mentioned that Substance doesnt have license so i decided to drop Substance.

Before i deliver Adelle, i also started to read the thread of Upper Boon Keng in Singapore bride. Thanks to Arizona who invite me to check out the link via this blog site. :) The thread is really useful and i learn quite a few tips and info from the fellow forumers. In Mar, i read one of the forumers using this ID call Ideal house so i drop them an email enquiry and a guy call Steven follow up with me. We sent him our floor plan via email and wrote to him our requirements. Shortly, we received his quotations and find that their price is quite competitive to Darwin. We decided to shortlist Darwin and Ideal house. So during the month of March, we are more actively thinking which ID to choose cos the mosquitoes in my house started to drive me to the wall and i just can't tahan to stay more days in this super dusty and mosquitoes house. I have to pester hubby everyday which ID to choose. Finally, we decided to look at their workmanship to make the final decision.

Last sunday, we managed to get Darwin to show us 2 units that they renovated in our area - Upper Boon Keng. Honestly, i find their design so-so and very 'uncle/aunty' kind. Hubby find their workmanship no good especially the tile laying gap was quite big. Then Steven - Ideal House sms me to follow up on the quotation and ask me if anything else i need. So i reply jokingly that i want better price! hahaa.... :p Well, i personally find the service from Ideal house is much better than Darwin. Anyway, we also saw a unit @ TPY that Ideal house has done up. We like the design - trendy/modern, very close to what we like, tile gap was small and workmanship looks good! So we already have in mind who we will award the tender. Hahaa... i guess i have done too much tender in my workplace until even off work, i also practice the tender style - ask for few quotations, do comparison, shortlisting, do reference site visits then finally award the winner. :p

To conclude, we decided to go with Ideal house and on saturday(22 Mar) we signed on the dotted line with them! Based on our current requirements, it will cost us abt $24K to do up the reno and one thing i am very happy is becos Ideal house price is negotiable and we don't have to pay GST! Well, i simply don't want to pay 7% to govt cos if i were to select Darwin, i will pay extra 7% loh.... ;) Ok, i am looking forward to the 3D drawings and will share more in my Part IV, V, VI, etc posting on the renovation process! So exciting that i am going to move house liao!! :)

Formula milk

Dunno is it coincidence or what?!?! My house fridge broke down the next day after we bought a can of formula milk powder - Enfalac LF on last saturday evening. Worst is we bought the wrong type of FM powder which is meant for colic and baby who have problem with lactose which is not applicable for my baby Adelle. Aiyo mummy very sotong when comes to buying FM powder. We anyhow grab a can from Enfalac (cos recommended by friends that this is quite close to BM) so we buy without knowing the different types of Enfalac that is available on the shelf. To make it worst, we bought from NTUC and they don't have Enfalac A+ 400g so we cannot do exchange and have to go back to queenstown where we bought for a refund. Super mah fan!

Anyway, my fridge broke down on sunday mid-night when i happen to check the freezer and saw that my ice pack is watery. Worst still some of my frozen milk bags are defrozing! I was really worried and prayed very hard that all the packets of breast milk can survive else all my hardwork and efforts are gone!! :(

The next morning i woke up and saw that the situation did not improve any further and some bags are almost defroze already. I have to do backup plan which is transfer all the packets to my mum freezer instead. I put all the packets into a big plastic bag and you know it weighs at least 5-10kg in total! Super heavy....

When i reach my mum place, i told her that my fridge broke down and need to "tong-bang" her freezer to store my milk bag. She say ok but she refuse to clear away her compartment of ice ah! So i have to try ways and means to squeeze all the packets into the fridge somehow. Challenging but i managed to squeeze all in. While unpacking into mum's fridge, 1 packet was leaking!! Oh mine!! Can't believe that lansinoh bag can leak leh... wah piang, i have to throw it away cos my dad say better don't feed Adelle with this packet loh. So bopian heart pain also must throw though this is a big packet > 3/4 filled. .

In the evening time, i brought 1 pack of the frozen milk packet home just in case, i need to feed Adelle though i still have 2 packet left in my spoilt fridge. When we reach home, hubby warm up the milk in the fridge and Adelle was screaming loudly when I attempt to feed her that packet. We thought the milk has turned sour due to fridge is not cold so we quickly open up the frozen milk that i brought back but no use too! She cry until like want to tear down the whole house. So we thought those frozen milk also turned sour?!?! Aiyo i was telling hubby that if all the frozen packs really turn sour, i will cry my heart out! Though it's free but it's my hardwork and effort and work like a cow loh.... :( Anyway bopian since we bought the wrong formula milk and all the packet of breastmilk she rejected, i have to let her latch on. Then she quieten down finally....

The next day I took out one of the frozen pack to let her try again. Well, thank god that she drink it as per normal so i know it is still drinkable. Thus, something else must have went wrong the previous day that she rejected the bottle of milk. We suspected that it may due to the teat is not thoroughly clean?!?! Anyway, we went to Mustafa to buy enfalac A+ and went home to let her try it out too. Being a first timer, we dunno how to mix the qty of water and milk powder so ended up giving her 6oz and she finished it all! So we thought she will sleep through the nite but NO loh... she is wide awake (due to over-dose??) and 3hrs later, she is awake for milk again... :( After latching on then she off to her dream land.... So does it means breast milk will make her sleep than formula milk? :p

Princess turns 2 months old on 16th Mar

Time passed very fast and my darling princess is 2 month old on 16th Mar! So what's significant thing that we have done on her 2nd month? Well, we brought our little princess to do the hand and foot prints @ Taka. :)

I been wanting to do the hand and food prints for little adelle for a long while but dunno where to do it. I saw from forum that a lady was selling something similar(DIY) for $30+ but after enquiring from her, I don't really like it cos it's blue clay and kinda look cheapo. Then on 14th Mar, adelle cousin was born @ KK and while on our visit @ KK, I saw the shop that was selling the customised hand & foot print. We were told that most hospital(including MT A) has the service but we missed it! So mummy thought of doing it on the 2nd month cos it's never too late to do so! ;)

On 16th Mar, we dressed up our little princess in the coolest dress that she has - a pink Ralph Lauren dress - present from Aunty Tifernie. We put her on our bed and she happily posed for us to take pics too! :)

Then we went to Taka and did the hand & foot mold. Glad to say my princess adelle was quite cooperative and only struggle a bit when her hand & feet was put on the mold. We have yet to decide on the frame color and background cos we are still hesitating to do a full photo or a 4R photo with background so no pic to share of the end-product yet. Anyway we have 1 mth to consider and get back to the person but we paid a deposit ($300+) so cannot regret liao. :p

Post-natal Massage session

Finally after 7 weeks, i started my post-natal massage sessions from 3rd March to 12th march. Initially, I called a lady named Aunty Sue in Dec and kind of booked her. But becos i went for c-sect operation, i cannot do massage after delivery and have to wait 1 month later(advice from gynae). Who knows after 1 month, i tried to contact her and she keep delaying my massage sessions. I got fed-up and decided to find another alternative. Thank God that there are several jan mummies who had post-natal massage and recommend their massage ladies. So i took down one of the lady contact and called her to check on her availability and price too. I told her i wanted to start asap and she say no issue.

I started my first session on 3rd march and the massage lady use some kind of green oil (smell like medical oil) to massaage me. Then she apply the jamu (brownish stuff) on my tummy and wrap me up like bak-chang using a super long blue cloth. That is suppose to helps to reduce my tummy and the jamu is to expel out the wind and burn fats, water, etc etc. Well, i did feel burning effect on my tummy and can feel water moving around. A little itchy initially but not that bad after few hours of wrap. I was also told that i can remove and shower 6 hours after the wrap. After 7 sessions of wrap, i can say my tummy did reduce quite a fair bit but of cos not that flat yet. Also i lost abt 2 kg over this 1 week though i wish i have loose the remainding 10kg... :p Overall i gave her a 8.5 out 10 points and can recommend to those who need post-natal massage session. She is quite a nice lady and she will massage extra on my neck and back when i told her that i have constant pain there and now i am feeling better on those area. :)



Anyway, the massage lady also provide 3 baby massage for my little princess. My darling love massage and was enjoying it! Interestingly, she fart a lot cos the oil used on her is to expel out the wind in her tummy too and also eversince this week onwards, she been sleeping a lot! Not sure is it due to the cooling weather or the massage sessions did help her to sleep better. She can sleep from 1am all the way till 7am then cry for milk! :) This is heaven to me! :p A few other changes that's happening is princess adelle poo lesser now, probably she absorb the milk better so only 2 big poo per day and also she can put herself to sleep by using her mittens to rub all over her face until it has patches of redness then she falls into deep sleep. Her eh-eh-eh has greatly reduce and we don't have to carry and pat her to sleep that much now. :)

Taka Baby Fair

Last weekend, I went to Taka baby fair to see if we can get any good bargain since we have $200 shopping voucher complimentary from my sister-in-law during Adelle full month celebration. ;)


I went on friday with my sis & aunty to check out first then return on saturday with hubby to grab the stuffs. Thank God that it wasn't very pack on both day. On friday, we tried to put our little princess inside the sling (first time) and she sleeps throughout the whole shopping trip! Well.. i am not the one who sling her but it's my sis & aunty who carried her so that i can look around freely! :p I eyed on the promo car seat that can use from 4 months to 4 year old. Besides that, I also tot of buying baby gym, rocker and walker. So i told hubby about it and we went back on saturday to see the stuff. The promo car seat was really cheap - $149 and comes with a booster seat too. However, we don't really like the material (kinda rough and uncomfortable) so we decided to buy another one display @ the fair. The brand is Nania and the model is Spider SP Car Seat #051971 @ $179. So there goes the $200 voucher and no more spare voucher $ to buy the gym, rocker nor walker which we really need to buy whereby gym and rocker are good to have items. As for the car seat, we choose the grey color instead of orange cos our car is grey too! :p The sales girl told us that they run out of stock and will deliver to our house instead. Last year we also bought something from Taka baby fair and similarly they ran out of stock and deliver to our house. :)


Anyway, I am not sure if the car seat price is really a good buy @ Taka fair so i went online to check it out. It is a France product and selling @ $49.99 pounds. In singapore, Aprisin is selling similar thing but cost $10 more.


Here is the pic of car seat and feature list :

• 4 mths - 4 years approx. ( up to 18kg)
• Rear or forward facing.
• Use from birth to 9kgs rear facing.
• Use forward facing from 9kgs- 18kgs.
• 5 point safety harness with one pull adjustment.
• Harness has 3 different height positions.
• Padded shoulder straps.
• Padded buckle section.
• Removable padded body insert.
• Multi position recline.
• Features deep side wings that offer increased side impact protection.
• Easy to fit into the car, it is secured with the 3 point safety belt.
• Features a lock off clip which maintains seat belt tension.
• Removable covers.
• Conforms to EC R00.44.
• NEVER fit a child car seat on the front seat of a car fitted with an airbag.

Adelle first injection - 1st March 2008

During our first visit to PD, she told us that there are 2 types of injection - 5 in 1 and 6 in 1 for us to consider. Also there are package price for the series of basic injection. So what's difference?

For 5 in 1, Hep B is a separate injection and need to take total of 6 injection when baby turn 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 months old. PD price - $440

For 6 in 1, Hep B is included in the injection so only need to take 3 injection when baby turn 1.5-2, 3, 5 months old. PD price - $440

--> Same price but lesser number of injection so lesser pain that she has to go thr' i presume?

Additional optional vaccination package :
Chicken pox during 12 month, MMR during 15th month and 5 in 1 Booster during 18th month. PD price - $310

One of my friends told me that normal GP clinic also do offer injection for babies and much cheaper. Polyclinc also have injection and it's free but heard the quality is no good. By coincidence during my gynae review visit, i went to enquire from NorthEast Medical Centre (in Seng Kang) which is in the same clinic as my gynae(share the same reception counter but different room). They also have package price for injections and much cheaper. Also they have several branches in Kallang(old airport road), Simei and Bedok North. We took up the 6 in 1 package and it comes with additional MMR and 5 in 1 booster for $440 but they give 15% discount as well! So it cost us $374 + $73(for chicken pox - optional) which is a saving of $376.

The clinic @ Kallang open on saturday & sunday so we decided to bring her to do the injection today so that we can monitor her progress over the weekend. Cos we are told some babies will get fever when they do the injection. Thank God that baby Adelle only get slightly warm @ 37.3deg on sunday & after that she is back at normal temperature. :)

Adelle was ok when we turn her to one side for the doctor to inject on her thigh. When the needle poke at her, she started to cry and thank god in less than 1 min she stopped crying. The doctor also did an assessment and measurement on Adelle. At 6th weeks old, she is 5.1kg (put on 500g in 2 weeks) but didn't grow any taller and head didn't grow bigger too. Other than that, she passed all the basic tests written in the MT A health booklet.

My Mummy Milk

Few days ago, someone from MT Alvernia called me and asked me if I am still total breastfeeding? So i replied YES then the person say thanks and hang up the phone. Hmm.. are they doing survey to see how many mummies still breastfeeding the babies after 1 mth? Also when i went to my post-natal review with gynae, he also asked if i am still breastfeeding? Seems like it's a common FAQ. ;)

Anyway, i am still expressing out milk but a non-regular interval now. Initially i started with a 2hrs then 3 hours then 4 hours and now it can be as long as 6 hours! Horrible right?!?! Actually, i wanted to express out regularly at 3-4 hours but baby adelle is awake & stuck @ my arms during the 4-5th hour so how to pump leh? I haven't master the skills of multi-task to express out & carry her at the same time. I also thinking of stop breastfeeding when i go back to work cos the duo pump that i borrowed from friend is in a haversack. Imagine i have to carry this haversack + my laptop (in a backpack too) to a few office buildings everyday is a nitemare to me. Dunno how i can manage to bring so many stuff with me to work everyday and also wonder if i really have the time to express out during office hours?!?! Cos even at normal office days, i have lunch meetings + i got tonnes of work to clear when back @ work... Haiz.... Dilemma... Was telling hubby that some mummies want to breastfeed for long term but no milk so bopian. I got milk but lazy loh.....

The first pic is my "stock-up" supply for emergency or future use. After 6 weeks, i only have about 20+ packets as i didn't work extra hard enough... :p Also some pics below of my precious baby enjoying her mummy milk. We started using the free glass bottle as milk bottle for her cos it's easier for her to learn to hold milk bottle. Gradually we upgraded her to the Pigeon Milk Bottle. Thank God that she is not picky and can accept any kind of feeding teat and likes to hold her own bottle!