Yearly Archives

2012

getting ready for baby, pregnancy

Five More Weeks.

July 23, 2012

Just like that, I’m at week 35 of this pregnancy. I’ve got 5 weeks to go and I’m not sure if I should be relieved or start throwing my arms in the air and shrieking a little. Maybe a bit of both.

Part of me just wants to give birth like NOW. I’m at the point of the pregnancy where I have difficulty doing simple tasks like taking off my pants or trimming my toenails. Just the other day, I was attempting to walk briskly when the husband leaned in real close and whispered “I need to tell you something, babe…you’re starting to waddle.” And then I punched him in the stomach. Ok, not really. It was more of a friendly jab to the abdominal region.

But with the reality of the impending birth setting in, I’m starting to remember the TRAUMA that is childbirth. Oh, you know, the whole having to push a human out of my vagina thing.

Apparently, mothers have this ability to block out the trauma after giving birth, which is why they can have another kid 6 months after a major screamfest in the hospital. What they don’t tell you is that while you’re able to block out the trauma when you’re having fun making the baby, it all comes flooding back when you’re about to deliver the baby.

Which is um, right about now.

And that brings me to my list of 3 most terrifying things about childbirth. If you’re planning to make a baby anytime soon, I’d recommend that you go see some pictures of cute babies first and come back a few months later when it’s too late and there’s no escaping the process.

1. Cervix check

To fully understand why this is such a nightmare, you have to know where the cervix is. I’d show you pictures but this is a wholesome family blog so you’ll just have to trust me when I say that it’s located in a place that shouldn’t be checked with bare hands. In order to reach the cervix to check it, the nurse has to put her hand and jab around somewhere you really don’t want her to. And yes, it’s every bit as painful as it sounds.

2. Episiotomy

This process involves a scalpel (or scissors) and your lady bits. Those are 2 objects that shouldn’t be near each other but this is the kind of thing that happens in the wonderful world of childbirth. Especially for VBAC cases, the doctor has to make an incision so the baby’s head doesn’t get stuck and cause a wound rupture. How very fun and exciting.

3. Labor Pain

For better or worse, the pain of labor trumps any other sort of pain you feel at childbirth. The husband was standing by witnessing the episiotomy in horror but I had no idea that it was happening because the pain of labor was all I could think of. It’s like when you get shot in the leg, it really doesn’t matter that you also just stubbed your toe, which I guess is a good thing in a bizarre sort of way.

by
travel, Videos I dig

93 Million Miles from the Sun

July 20, 2012

A little known fact is that the husband and I used to enjoy video production back in our uni days. We once shot a cheesy horror flick where I got brutally murdered and laid out on a deserted grass patch surrounded by tea lights. Thankfully, all evidence of that has been eliminated.

But the point is we used to really like making videos.

After graduation, we put that on hold because it cost way too much to invest in good video recording equipment. So apart from the occasional footage we take on the iPhone, we don’t really do much video recording.

Recently, I was introduced to the Sony HDR-GW77 Handycam. The folks at Sony passed me one set to fiddle with and when I first saw it, I admittedly didn’t think much of it. It’s like a fraction of the size of the SemiPro Sony Camcorders we used to work with and the whole unit was barely as big as my palm. But the features seemed impressive. It’s completely waterproof (up to 5m), dustproof, shockproof and comes with 10x optical zoom.

It was perfect timing that we got to bring it along to Australia to get some travel footage.

Amazing video quality aside, my favorite feature is the waterproof one. We were at Wet ‘N’ Wild Waterpark and I was about to bring it into the pool when the lifeguard was all like “I think you forgot to put down your camera, it’s going to get wet” and I just shrugged and said “Oh, this? It’s waterproof, mate!” before dunking it in the water like a boss.

Well, ok enough talking and time for some pudding. As in proof, not actual pudding.

Change your Youtube setting to 1080p to view in HD. Enjoy!

by
travel

Lavender Lovin’

July 19, 2012

Part of this trip to Australia was to go visit a lavender farm in Melbourne, courtesy of P&G’s all new Fab Lavender. It was a contest held a couple of months back and the plan was to travel later in the year after Finn was born. But things sort of fell into place so we decided to travel last week instead, hence the crazy timing of the trip.

The place we visited was Warratina Lavender Farm, just off Yarra Valley – about an hour’s drive out from Melbourne city.

It was freezing cold and most of the lavender plants were bare but there were already some pockets of purple among the rows of plants. I imagine it would smell quite divine when all the flowers started blooming in spring. Not to mention the rows and rows of pretty purple everywhere.

There was a nursery with different samples in tiny pots so we could smell each one up close. Which Kirsten gladly obliged. She went along the rows taking a giant whiff of each plant and going “mmmm, smells nice!” like a real connoisseur.

But it did smell really nice and lavender happens to be one of my favorite floral scents. Other flowers like rose and peony all smell too sweet, almost annoyingly so. Plus they always remind me of little old ladies with big hats and crisp English accents.

Lavender, though, has that light freshness that’s just right.

It was quite an experience, strolling among the lavender plants and learning about how they are grown, harvested and pretty much distilled into a fragrance of flowery freshness.

Nice move by Fab to go with Lavender instead of the usual citrusy or overpowering floral scents in their new range of detergent. Incidentally, we had a truckload of clothes to wash when we got back and Kirsten saw the lavender on the detergent box and went “That’s lavender! Remember we smell the purple flower in Melbourne?”

Now every time we have a new batch of freshly-washed laundry, we’ll remember the magic of Warratina Farm in Melbourne.

by
i love christmas, travel

Christmas in July

July 18, 2012

I like Christmas. In fact, I like it so much I dream of having it all year round, which explains why I listen to carols throughout the year. But the magic of Christmas is to celebrate it with other people, so it’s not much fun being the only nut feeling all festive in the middle of the year.

So when we were in Melbourne last week, we absolutely had to visit this charming little place called Miss Marples Tea Room. It’s pretty much like any other tea room, except they serve tea with a theme – Christmas in July.

It was ingenious, why wait till December when you could have it in July? Especially when it’s the middle of winter and the setting was perfect for some yuletide cheer.

We had to wait 40 minutes for a table but seriously, so worth it because stepping into the place, it felt exactly like Christmas.

There was a real fireplace with a crackling fire, all decked out with red and white stockings. Dangling from the ceiling were wreaths and garlands and mistletoe. The jingle of carols filled the room and the smell of Christmas was in the air. For once, I wasn’t the only one rocking out to Winter Wonderland in July.

And the desserts? Unbelievable.

They had all varieties of Christmassy food like roast turkey, eggnog, bread pudding and all kinds of sweet caramel creations. But we had just come from lunch so we decided to go for a sugar-induced coma with mugs of hot chocolate and a selection of desserts instead.

Not a bad way to spend a wintry afternoon.

 

by
giveaways reviews ads

There’s no party like a Colgate party

July 16, 2012

Remember the Colgate Slim Soft Bloggers Party that I was talking about a couple of weeks back? That happened 2 weekends ago and congrats to those who managed to snag the tickets – it was a pleasure meeting you guys there!

Together with the Colgate and Nuffnang folks, all 5 of us Colgate Bloggers were there to host the event. That’s Beatrice, Melissa, Maureen, Brad and yours truly.

We were asked to color-coordinate and thankfully, Colgate’s colors are red and white, not something far out like green and purple. Even Kirsten picked out a pretty red and white dress to be all matchy-matchy. She was a little shy at first with all the attention but she warmed up once the activities started and the food was served.

Speaking of food, it was held at Skyve Elementary Bistro & Bar, a cosy little place at Winstedt Road. We arrived to find the place decked out in red and white as well. There were flowers, balloons, ribbons and cupcakes – very pretty.

On top of the usual icebreaker games, we also had a Colgate version of Trivial Pursuit, which was actually quite informative. Like I found out that the world’s first toothbrush was made out of… wait for it, horse hair. That’s gross on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin. I guess it gives new meaning to the phrase “straight from the horse’s mouth“, except it’s straight from the horse to your mouth.

We also got useful toothbrush care tips like the importance of keeping your toothbrush at least 6 metres away from the toilet bowl as germs can travel from the toilet bowl to your toothbrush and into your mouth.

Ok, to round up the post, here’s one final bit of trivia:

When I get a stalk of Gerbera, I honestly don’t know what to do with it except hold it gingerly like it’s going to turn around and bite me. The husband was like “it’s a flower, not poison ivy” and I was all “just stop talking and take the picture.”

When Kirsten gets a stalk of Gerbera, she smells it, cradles it and walks around like it’s the prettiest thing she’s ever seen. Well, she obviously didn’t get that from me.

This is part 3 of a series of sponsored conversations on behalf of Colgate. All opinions and text are my own.

by
to Kirsten with love

Happy birthday, not-so-baby girl.

July 15, 2012

It seems like Kirsten has grown up a lot this trip. The last time we were on holiday, she was still in her baby mode, but this time, she’s behaving like a total big girl.

Like when we ran out of milk midway, she didn’t fuss or have a meltdown like she normally would and just went, “It’s ok, I can sleep without milk. Mommy will get milk for me when we go home right?” Or when we lost her duck (again), she borrowed one end of Tru’s blanket and went right to sleep.

And then we realized that amidst all the travel and excitement, we totally forgot that it was her birthday on Friday.

We did throw her a rather massive combined birthday bash with Truett, so on Friday we gave her a hug, wished her Happy Birthday and it was more like “yay, congrats, you’re finally 3!”

 

All this while, we’ve suspected that she’s advanced for her age, but there was this babyness to her that made her seem so little at the same time.

Well, that babyness is almost totally gone now.

At 3 years old, she’s incredibly comfortable mixing with bigger kids. When we were at one of the playgrounds in Gold Coast, there were a bunch of 8 to 10-year-olds at the slide and both her and Truett just fit right in, playing with them like friends. Before long, we realized that she was ordering them around, telling each one it was their turn to go down. Strangely, the bigger kids didn’t seem to mind.

She’s very expressive, which is something I hope never goes away. She dances in the street when she hears music, yells at the top of her lungs when she feels like it (she obviously got this from the husband) and goes “WOW THAT”S SO AWESOME” at stuff we often take for granted.

She’s also exceedingly girly. If she could choose, she’d be walking around in an explosion of pinkness all the time. We saw a girl dressed in a glittery tutu skirt and Kirsten just stood and stared at her for a long time before exclaiming “I think that’s a princess!” That sort of made me want to go right out to buy her a glittery tutu.

And the thing I love the most is how she makes us smile whenever we’re upset or down. She’ll make funny faces and laugh that infectious giggle, which is irresistible. People always say that kids are a bundle of joy and I guess that’s what they mean.

I usually get a little nostalgic during their birthdays, but if this is any indication of what the rest of her third year will be like, I’m really looking forward to it.

Happy birthday, my princess!

by
travel

Sea World

July 12, 2012

Sea World turned out to be a whole lot of fun.

In fact, it was probably the most fun among all 3 parks. While there were some rides, it’s really less of a theme park and more of a zoo crossed with an aquarium.

There were the different enclosures, underwater viewing galleries, marine attractions and my personal favorite, the animal shows. I’m working on a video with some awesome dolphin show footage, hopefully that will be ready next week.

This trip, we discovered that Tru’s favorite marine animal is the shark and Kirsten’s favorite is the penguin. Looking at their personalities, I would have imagined it to be the other way around but there you go.

There was also a Dora show that Kirsten enjoyed immensely. I’ve never let her watch a single episode of Dora so I’m not sure where she picked it up from but apparently, she loves Dora. I thought this Dora seemed a little pudgy but the entire 20-minute show was basically about her going for a picnic so I can’t say that I was surprised. I guess all that chocolate has to go somewhere.

And the coolest part of Sea World has to be this play area. There’s this ride called Battle Boats, which is sort of like a boat ride but with a twist. All the boats are equipped with water jets that the passengers can use to shoot the people on land and those guys on land have their own water jets to shoot the guys on the boats – hence the name Battle Boats.

So that about wraps up all the theme parks for us. We decided to give Dreamworld a miss but I hear that’s pretty good too. Maybe we’ll try that the next round.

by