An Exciting Start to Week 32

Today marked the beginning of Kaelyn's 32nd week. The Saturday morning began early for us, much like a usual work day, only more hectic. G and C (from the PR Firm), another G, his very sweet girlfriend D and Shi Fu (Nippon Paint) and a bunch of other people were scheduled to come over at 9am to start the painting of Kaelyn's new room and the living room as well as the photoshoot for Nippon Paint Hari Raya marketing brochure.

Makeover of Kaelyn's Baby Room

Here's a BEFORE and AFTER photo of our guest room which was being converted into Kaelyn's room, all part of a joint marketing project by Nippon Paint, Life Baby and Young Parents:

Here's a photo of the master shi fu at work. He's super agile and has a steady hand for a 74 year old man, who started his painting career at the tender age of 12, painting cars for 5 years before switching to painting houses for the other 57 years of his life, of which he spent 6 years in Swatow, China setting up the Nippon Paint China operations and training disciples there to carry on the trade.

Nippon Paint's Hari Raya Promotional Brochure

We had agreed to let the Nippon paint people use our living room as the backdrop for their Hari Raya marketing and advertising promotion. Little did we know what we were in for until we had about 25 people of various ages packed into our tiny living area, doing make-up, setting out studio lights, using huge ass cameras, and of course, an entire wardrobe of clothes for at least 5 models! The sheer number of shoes outside our door as well as part of the wardrobe hanging outside our house must have scared our neighbours!

Here are some of the shots that they were taking:

Oh, and if you were really wondering, Nippon Paint's Odorless range of paints REALLY have no smell. We had the aircon on in the entire house and it was smell-less! Wonders of modern technology. I am sold. :)

Routine Medical Appointment

Went for the routine medical appointment today at around noon to check on how Kaelyn is doing inside. Did a hospital tour as well, just to get a feel of what and how the labour rooms / wards looked like and to mentally picture myself in those surroundings. Strangely, ALL the rooms on the maternity floor were filled, from the super luxurious suites to the deluxe rooms to the 1 bedder to the 4 bedders. I knew July would be a busy month for babies being born, but this??? As a result, we only managed to sneak a peek into the rooms through the tiny windows in the doors. Oh well. Looks spacious enough for me.

The ultrasound conducted on Kaelyn showed:

She's STILL a girl (PHEW! The room can still remain pink)
She's got pouty lips and a bulbous nose (that's G's description of Kaelyn. I personally think she's cute!)
Head Circumference: 29.1cm
Abdominal Circumference: 26.3cm
Estimated Weight: 1.79kg (50th percentile, approximately 0.6kg weight gain from last checkup 3.5 weeks ago)

Oh, and my alleged weight gain (including Kaelyn's 0.6kg increase) was 2.5kg. I SWEAR that there's something wrong with that hospital scale... and apparently I'm not the first one to complain!

Did a Strep B test to see if I'm a carrier (hopefully not!) and whether Kaelyn would need treatment when I'm in labour.

Skype Video Calls

Ended the night on a 2h long video and audio call with Dad & Mum in Den's place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Dad & Mum decided to fly up at very short notice to visit Den & the kids before Kaelyn is born. They sent over some photos of the HUGE house Den stays in-- approximately 15,ooo sq ft, including a house with about 4,000 sq ft in built in space. Think Den's 3-car garage is probably the size of my entire Fernwood apartment. Geez.

And Den was telling us that he and Erica went to check out the most expensive house in their estate--built in was 12,000 sq ft and the land area was at least 2 acres (that's about 90,000 sq ft?). Double Geez.

31 Weeks and Counting...

Woo Hoo!

Stepped into the fourth quarter of the pregnancy already. It's funny how they always count pregnancies by the trimesters and never quarters. Hmmm... Anyway, technically and theoretically, 9 more weeks to go. This is really the final countdown.

*nervous on what to expect and yet excited*

*GULP*

I Will Be Here

Our good friends sang this for us at our wedding. That was the first time that I had heard the song, which apparently, is quite a famous Christian song. The words (and of course the effort that our friends went through to sing for us in front of 400 odd people) meant a lot to us. Some of you might already be familiar with it, but here it is:

I Will Be Here (Steven Curtis Chapman)

Tomorrow morning if you wake up

and the sun does not appear

I will be here.

If in the dark, we lose sight of love

Hold my hand, and have no fear

'Cause I will be here

I will be here

When you feel like being quiet

When you need to speak your mind

I will listen

And I will be here

When the laughter turns to cryin'

Through the winning, losing and trying

We'll be together

I will be here

Tomorrow morning, if you wake up

And the future is unclear

I will be here

Just as sure as seasons were made for change

Our lifetimes were made for these years

So I will be here

I will be here

And you can cry on my shoulder

When the mirror tells us we're older

I will hold you

And I will be here

To watch you grow in beauty

And tell you all the things you are to me

I will be here

I will be true to the promise I have made

To you and to the One who gave you to me

Tomorrow morning, if you wake up

And the sun does not appear

I will be here

Oh, I will be here

As G and I soon embark on the next chapter of our lives with Ger-Ger (Kaelyn?), I am sure, with God's grace, we'll be able to stick together and support each other through all the ups and downs that our expanding family, careers and our marriage may present us with.

Gwandpa turns 65

Gwandpa turns 65 today. I took leave to spend time with him and celebrate this major milestone in his life.

We celebrated three days earlier on Sunday cos G couldn't take leave on Wednesday. We went to the New Majestic Hotel , a little boutique hotel in the middle of Chinatown for dinner. It is the second hotel to be refurnished to its old world charm by lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Loh Lik Peng.

The food that we ordered, was absolutely scrumptious, to say the least. Our meal began with a combination of crispy prawn with wasabi dressing and Peking duck served with pan-seared foie gras. This was an excellent first course. The prawns were great. The foie gras and Peking duck pairing, though, was even better. The liver had a lovely caramelized crust and was deliciously runny inside. Paired with the crispy duck skin, it was a sinfully rich mouthful that left us panting for more.

Dad & G are great fans of soup so they were relishing the Shark Bone soup with fish maw. This was very well executed and left them slurping up the very last drop in the bowl!

The soft shell crab came next and it was gorgeous. It was served in a creamy milk and lime sauce, hot and crispy. The sauce was rich but it was used sparingly, giving the dish a lightness you don’t expect in a milk-sauced dish. The crabs were also brilliantly juicy and meaty. This was a real winner!

Chef Yong's striploin fillets are pan-seared with home-made sesame sauce and accompanied by a dollop of kimchi. I had the grilled rack of lamb in a Chinese honey sauce accompanied by fried carrot cake. The lamb was juicy and tender but had a very strong mutton taste and smell. Other than that., the sauce, while powerful, gave the dish a nice strong accent.

The desserts were extraordinary. Dad, Aunt Jenny and I ordered the Crispy Durian, which comprised of a large serving of durian ice cream, wrapped in fresh durian flesh, and deep-fried in a very light batter to perfection.

On Wednesday itself, Mum, Dad & I went to Vienna International Seafood & Teppanyaki Restaurant at United Square to feast. We got there at around 1220h and ate (almost) non-stop till 1430h. We were so stuffed that dinner was the last thing on our mind. Thank goodness we did not make firm plans in going to the Crab Nazi, Joo Chiat Black Pepper Crab for dinner!

We've been having very heavy chocolate fudgy type of cakes for the last few birthdays / anniversaries so we got Dad a Lychee Martini cake which is pink and packs a punch from the vermouth-soaked lychees layered inside. Yums!

Mr Grumbly

Don't let his dashing good looks fool you. He's no man/pooch of few words. We don't call him Mr Grumbly for nothing. He takes after his old man, G.

Mr Grumbly grumbles and complains at the slightest of things, and this has worsened lately.

He grumbles in the morning when he's not fed in time, when he doesn't have his best-friend (Mr Industrial Fan) on, when we leave the house without taking him along, when we come home and he doesn't get enough hugs or attention from us, when it's too hot, when he's been bored the whole day... and the list goes on.

Not sure why his incessant grumbling has increased recently. Could he be jealous of Ger-Ger and her impending arrival? Or is he just longing for our affection?

Latest Fashion

Mr Grumbly just went for his bi-weekly grooming session on Tuesday. To our surprise, he came back at 12 noon instead of 7pm. We were even more surprised when we saw him. This time round, and for the first time ever, he came back with more than just a nice smell after the usual wash and blow treatment. The groomers actually trimmed his ultra bushy tail and his tail now looks like a fox's, cut blunt at the tip. His underbelly fur was also neatly trimmed (but this time he he was spared a Boyzillian). We're still trying to get used to his new neat look.

Food for Thought...

"Making the decision to have a child - its momentous.
It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body."

-- Elizabeth Stone

Time Flies By So Quickly: 29 Weeks

During the First Trimester, I used to think, amidst the awful entire-day sickness that I'll never make it through the first three months, let alone the entire 40 weeks. Then came the 10th week, where I was secretly proud of my achievements, that I actually managed to pull through, and come out alive, 10 entire weeks! Woo hoo!

Time really flies. I'm now into my 29.5 weeks and will soon hit 30 weeks in a couple of days time. That's yet another milestone for me and Ger-Ger. Definitely something to celebrate. An excuse for a present from G? Ha. I think I'll just reward myself with a facial and maybe a good ol' backrub if I can arrange for one.

Ger-Ger's Movements

Ger-Ger has been moving a lot more these days. Either that, or its starting to get rather crowded in the belly. Have been constantly poked, jabbed and prodded, sometimes against my I-dunno-which-internal-organ, causing a sudden sharp pain. When this happens, I'll start massaging the sore spot and try to readjust her into a more comfortable position (for me), rub my belly and say HULLLOOOOOOO!

Ger-Ger's Room

It has suddenly dawned upon us that Ger-Ger is arriving much sooner than we thought. The thought of 40 weeks always seems so far away, but the day we get to meet her is actually creeping up on us sooner than we think!

I digress yet again.

Anyway, we have volunteered our 2nd bedroom to a team from YP to feature in their September issue. They are having some article on Nippon Odourless Paint, which is suitable for babies so they will be painting our all white room in their special Nippon Paint and an interior designer will be arranging and styling our room using LifeBaby products to take nice fancy schmanzy photos for the magazine feature.

The catch (yes, there is always a catch!) is that we don't get to keep the LifeBaby products but will be entitled to purchase them at a discounted price. At this point in time, we are not sure whether we will purchase some, or all, of the LifeBaby products. I guess we are just keeping our options open and waiting for the ID people to get back to us with their proposal on what they intend to do with our room. Hope Ger-Ger will like it!

The current proposed theme is pastel pink and perhaps dashes of pastel yellow. I originally wanted pastel pink and lilac but G objected from the over girly-ness. Oh well. I'm sure the ID person would do a good job in any case. *cross fingers*

Busy Bees

The past few weeks have been very busy for the both of us. G has had the R trial for the past 2 weeks and is entering into another one in a couple of hours time. Throw in 4 weddings in 3 weeks and he doesn't even have enough time to sleep, his favourite past time, other than chilling out in front of the TV. Hopefully all this madness will end soon and he'll have more time to spend bonding with Noname (who shall be called that, or Ger-ger till fussy and choosy G decides on a name).

Went for my routine checkup by myself on Wednesday. This is the first time G didn't accompany me to a checkup so it was pretty lonely, especially since I had to fast from 10pm on Tuesday night for a diabetes screening they performed on me during the checkup where they sucked three vials of my blood at 1 hour intervals after making me drink a non-chilled gassy F&N Orange-tasting glucose syrup first thing in the morning. The missy who deprived me of my blood insisted on putting a plaster on me. I swear that pulling off the plaster (and the hair on my arm) was at least ten times more painful than drawing blood! Oh, and for some strange reason, I was left with a rather huge orh cheh on my right arm after the third time they sucked my blood.

I digress.

Anyway,

Updates on the checkup at 28.5 weeks:

Weight gain: 700g (I told the nurse she should have weighed me BEFORE I drank the glucose syrup and not after-- I'm sure I'd be lighter!)
Blood pressure: Normal
Total weight gain: Lets not go into that

Ger-ger's weight: Approximately 1.2kg
Ger-ger's weight gain: 0.5kg
Which means... drum roll please... the weight I put on over the past 4 weeks was largely Baby's weight! Time to indulge in warm chocolate cakes with vanilla ice creams again... heavenly!

During the ultrasound scan, the Doc managed to capture a very nice portrait of Ger-ger which she printed out for me to bring back to show G since he couldn't make it to the checkup. Ger-ger's face is round like a moon, but has a rather sharp chin. She was opening and closing her eyes and mouth whilst the Doc was doing a scan, as if trying to smile, pose and act cute for the ultrasound photo to be taken. I guess I'm probably biased, but she is gorgeous.

Awwwwwwwwwww.

One and One Makes Four...

Our family is expanding... rapidly. Our son just turned two last week and our daughter is coming along in 2+ months' time. Our little boy is no longer a baby boy but is now a teenager with raging hormones. Here are some photos of him as a young babe:


Our adorable babe has grown up into a handsome heartbreaker.