Monthly Archives

April 2013

lists you should paste on your fridge, too awesome for words

5 reasons why babies are awesome

Let’s face it, babies are a lot of work. They cry for no reason, make poopie in their pants, require constant attention and wake up multiple times a night demanding milkies. And they make you talk like a two-year-old when in fact, you’re pushing thirty-one.

Frankly, it’s exhausting.

By virtue of those factors alone, babies should be extinct by now but the amazing thing is that they aren’t. And I think this is because they make up for all of it by sheer awesomeness. A redonkulous amount of awesomeness (hat tip to HIMYM’s latest episode), if I might add.

1. Baby skin. Have you felt the powdery soft skin of a baby who just woke up from a nap? That coupled with the intoxicating fragrance of eau de bébé can send your ovaries straight into overdrive. Notice I didn’t say MY ovaries. These ovaries need a break, y’all but yours can carry on.

2. They poop rainbows. No, like literally. Like that one time Finn ate crayons, there was actual traces of color in his poop. It was still really gross but in a colorful sort of way, I guess.

3. Babies don’t judge. They don’t care if I haven’t washed my hair in 3 days or can’t fit into my size 28 super skinnies. They don’t care if my singing sounds like when the neighbor’s cat was attacked by what I imagine was another more angry cat. They don’t make jokes about my cellulite. They look at me at see all the awesome parts that I often don’t even see myself.

4. Baby babble. Watching them try so hard to form words only to have them come out sounding like “bleh eh dehh” is a special level of cute. Every time Finn tries to talk, it’s like he really concentrates before forming sounds and when he actually hears the babbling that’s coming out of his mouth, he stops and looks puzzled like as if that wasn’t meant to happen. And he tries again until he babytalks himself into a frenzy. I half expect him to hulk smash some toys at the end of it.

5. Babies do what you tell them to do. More or less. Unless they don’t want to, then they will scream bloody murder. Okay you know what, scratch this point.

5 (redux). Babies are so stinkin’ cute to look at. Why are their heads so disproportionately big? Why do they look like emoticons? Why don’t they ever have a bad hair day? Why are their thighs so deliciously chubby? And most of all, how can anything have this much cuteness crammed into such a tiny body?

finn

giveaways reviews ads

Relaxing one corner with my Osim uAngel

I’ve had the most massive backaches for a really long time now. I don’t know if it’s caused by the 9 months of pregnancy (x 3) or the 30 hours of labor or 5 years of carrying the kids but one thing’s for sure – my back these days is like a giant knot made up of a hundred smaller knots. Honestly, neck and shoulder aches have been my constant companion for so long that I can’t remember a time when my back didn’t hurt. Even after I go for the best massages from those deadly Chinese sinsehs, the relief lasts for at most a day before the aches come right back again. Total bummer.

Which is why last week, when the OSIM folks asked me if I wanted to give the new uAngel massage chair a spin, I was really quite enthusiastic about it. In fact, I might have immediately fantasized about vegetating on my shiny new toy and having all the tension slowly massaged out of my knotted muscles multiple times a day. And then some.

On Monday, I got a special delivery and  *squeeeeal* I AM IN LOVE.

osim uangel

Okay, you guys know I hardly ever squeal right? I’m not much of the squealing sort but if there’s anything that deserves some proper squealing, this is it.

Let me get straight to the point – first of all, the massages. When I sat down on the plush leather for my first massage, the English language failed me so I looked at the husband and said “WAH SEH…SHIOKNESS.” Which is perhaps the best way to describe the enjoyment I derive from the intense squeeze and knead massaging. It comes with 5 different modes for me to customize the intensity and massaging motions for my neck, shoulders, back, and legs.

This is now the special boss chair I head to the moment I wake up, before I go to bed, after lunch, in the afternoon…you get the idea.

osim uangel test

The other great thing about the uAngel is that while it comes with the features of a full-sized massage chair, it also has the ability to transform into a stylish compact little sofa.

How compact, you ask? To be precise, it measures only 70cm (width) by 86cm (depth) in sofa mode, which makes it an excellent space-saving option for homes that don’t have the luxury of space to fit a ginormous massage chair. When you need a massage, just touch a button and it transforms into a massage recliner. And when you don’t, it transforms right back with another touch of a button.

osim uangel transform

As an added bonus, the shiny upholstery is easy to clean and even the kids love it because it’s the perfect size for their cosy reading corner.

osim uangel reading corner

One more thing, OSIM is one of the sponsors for this year’s Cold Storage Kids Run, which will be held on 19 May. The kids had a great time at last year’s run and they’re really excited to take part in the run this year. Who knows, we might even trade run partners. More on that soon!

*From now to 19 April, OSIM is having a Dress Up as Angel Facebook Photo Contest! To participate, just snap a photo of you as an Angel and submit via the OSIM Singapore Facebook Page.

breastfeeding

To wean or not to wean

I’ve been thinking that maybe it’s finally time to wean baby Finn. As in stopping breastfeeding and switching him to formula.

When he was born, I didn’t think I’d be successful at latching him on but just like that, I’ve been doing it for almost 8 months now. 8 months of powering through the depression. 8 months of having my boob chewed on every 3-4 hours. 8 months of special bonding time with my littlest one.

He’s been adjusting to solids fairly well recently and I’m thinking that the time has come to give my boobs (and the rest of me) a break. Letting someone else (babe, I’m looking at you) take over the feeding for a change so I can maybe sleep through the night for once.

Oh, sweet, uninterrupted nighttime sleep, you and me be needing a date real soon.

With Kirsten, I made it to 9 months of breastfeeding and the day I decided to wean her, I popped the champagne and did a victory dance. But that was because I never managed to latch her on and the whole pumping experience made me feel like Bessie the cow. I couldn’t wait to be done with all the tubes and pumping equipment.

This time around with Finn, I’m really torn about it. I still had to struggle with D-MER these past 8 months but being able to hold him in my arms while he drank was a really special experience and I feel like I’m not quite ready to give it up just yet.

And then there’s his refusal to drink from the bottle to contend with. I’ve tried 4 different brands of bottles and he hates every single one of them. I tried expressed breast milk (even fresh ones right from the boob) and several brands of formula but none of them worked. When I have to leave him with my in-laws for an afternoon, he’ll struggle through each feed and wait for me to appear before attacking my boobs like he’s positively starving.

So I made a list of pros and cons like I usually do when faced with dilemmas.

weaning or breastfeeding

You guys have any advice on somewhat painless weaning techniques? See you in the comments. 

seriously somewhat serious

This is my happy

As parents, whether we’re aware of it or not, comparing is something we do quite a lot.

We compare parenting styles, our kids’ developmental progress, the coolest baby gear, the places we visit, the amount of fun we’re having with our kids. Which in itself is not a bad thing, until it messes with our heads and makes us less happy with what we have.

Somewhere, someone’s kid is smarter, cuter and better behaved than ours. They’re wheeling their tots around in the Aston Martin Silver Cross pram. They’re traveling to Norway so their kid can take a photo of the Aurora Borealis. They’re doing all the stuff we didn’t think we wanted to do until they did it and suddenly, we’re like “GOOD HEAVENS MY LIFE WOULDN’T BE COMPLETE WITHOUT THAT.”

And then we look at our lives and feel like what we have is about as awesome as a partially blind ferret who’s also missing several toes.

Being happy with what we have is a learned response. It doesn’t require having the best stuff or even more stuff for that matter. We’ve got what we’ve got and sure, we can (and should) try to do better. But for now, all we need to do is look at what we have and just be happy.

This. This is my happy.

kids

Finn

The many expressions of baby Finn

Baby Finn hasn’t quite mastered the art of speaking yet but he’s not letting a little thing like his lack of linguistic ability stop him from making his feelings clear to us.

Seriously, for a little guy, he’s sure got a lot of expressions.

Here are some of my favorites.

the many expressions of baby finn

milestones & musings

We’re going Downton

Guess what, y’all? We’ve finally caved and hired ourselves a live-in domestic helper. SHOCKING, I know.

All this while, we’ve never been hot on the idea of having a stranger live in the house with us and besides, we were convinced that we wanted to do everything for the kids on our own so we managed to somehow survive the past 5 years and 3 kids without a maid. The laundry wasn’t always done on time and the house wasn’t as spotless as I would have liked…okay, who am I kidding? Most days, it felt like we were living in a war zone where little kids were doing the fighting with a formidable arsenal of toys.

Over the past 7 months, with a new baby at home and more projects at work, the time has finally come for us to reconsider that decision.

Initially, we got a part-time cleaner to come in once a week for a couple of months, but it wasn’t quite enough so after a lot of thought, it made more sense to get someone in full time. Also, it might be a direct result of too much Downton Abbey.

So last Thursday, we picked up our domestic helper and so far, it’s been working out really well. I still want to do the baby stuff like the feeding and bathing as much as possible but it’s nice to be able to outsource the cooking and chores to someone else. Seriously, my house hasn’t been this clean since like ever and it’s nice to have an extra pair of hands to help out with stuff here and there so we don’t have to work till 2am every night.

Obviously, we’ve all had to make some adjustments (the helper included) and it’ll probably take some time to get used to one another but the important thing is that she seems to like the kids, and they like her back. They were a little shy at first , like when they wanted an apple and I was busy feeding Finn, I overheard them whispering to each other “you go and ask aunty”, “no, you go”, “okay, scissors paper stone…” and finally Tru went up to her and asked “Aunty, can you cut an apple for us pleaseeeee?”

Now they realize that with another adult in the house, they don’t need to wait for me to finish feeding Finn to attend to them so they’ve warmed up to her nicely.

Hopefully this arrangement works out. I do so enjoy being the Dowager Countess of Grantham around here.