June 2017

Gosh ....where has all the time gone to????

I am now at my workstation ,waiting for the kids to report for rehearsals, when I happened to look through some photos. 

It is amazing (and scary) that Furqan is almost 2 years and 3 months old. I can still remember his tiny feet, squishy face and baby's smell and as much I love the current him, I really miss his baby days.

He is talking so much now that I get tired sometimes. Not tired of entertaining him but really, the mouth just gets physically tired. Haha...I definitely feel less lonely when husby is not at home. However , that will also mean that I do not have much "me"time. The only "me' time I have is when husby is home and I get to take a good shower.That is usually after 7pm. I will sometimes purposely take my own sweet time. No , it is not a selfish act because the max I have is usually only 15 minutes. 

But so what? 

I love you , Furqan Haris! 

He is already 19 months old!

It has been so so long.

Many times, I had the urge of posting something up and reviving the blog but it never became a reality.

Work responsibilities have piled up . It would still be manageable if there are just the two of us still, like in the past. I could do work at home at night, and on weekends. It is a different story now...there are 3 of us and most of my time at home is spent entertaining the little prince.

Doing school work at home is hardly in my dictionary now.

Am I complaining? Of course not.

Furqan Haris is the best gift I have been blessed with.

With much swag ...just like Daddy  :) 

Baby's First Overseas Trip!

When Furqan just turned 3 months, I read that the best times to bring babies overseas is before 6 months. They are usually fuss -free - just the usual milk, diaper change, sleep.

I told the husby and we decided the June holidays would be a perfect timing as he turned 4 months. For 2 weeks, we toyed with the idea of Langkawi, Bintan , Bali , KL ...... Langkawi was at the top of my list as I pictured a rest n relax beach holiday.

One morning , while in the lift, I said in jest that I missed the Australian winter and if only we could go there.

And so that was where we headed to ...7 days in Perth!

Us with the lil one. He slept all the way to the boarding gate.

We brought my parents along and that was an added joy, definitely. How I wished the nephew could tag along as well !

He was quite good on the flight to Perth - lying in the bassinet and sleeping when the time came. However, he refused to stay in it when we were going home to SG. Totally refused to. 



Check-ed in at midnight! We didn't want to bring our stroller over so I googled and managed to find perthbabyhire.com.au where we rented a stroller and a bath tub! All we had to do was choose among the many models, pay through paypal and got them sent to the hotel concierge for a small fee. To return , we just had to leave them there too. It was very much worth the money.
We rented the stroller for AUS$40, cannot remember how much the bathtub was  (maybe about $20), for the entire week.
I really hope this service exists in other parts of the world!

One of those rare wefies with mom.

The Quinny that I have always wanted but totally impractical in SG cos of its massive wheels. 

Didn't plan to be matchy matchy ! My Armani jacket finally breathed its final breath right after the trip :( 

The mussels were supposed to be spicy but oh well, as expected, Maggi Chilli sauce is probably ten times spicier. Cannot make it lah  - their definition of 'spicy'!

Love  the fruits and vegetables at the Fremantle market! So so colourful !

We have rarely taken any wefies since Furqan came along.... this is precious ! 

Quinny was comfy enough for lil prince who, obviously, loved the weather too! Very nice to sleep!

I did try to make sure one of us will wear matching outfit with Furqan each time. I don't know, it just gave me that cheap thrill !



He turned 4 months then!

Crazily cute and adorable ! I wish we have winter here in SG. The jacket is from SEED ....and has been collecting dust ever since we came back. Either I try to sell it off on Carousell or we have another baby soon! Heehee

He looks so sad here. I think it was because no one was entertainig him on the bus rides. The buses in Perth were VERY baby friendly. There is a ramp for us to push the stroller onto the bus and practically, EVERYONE gave way to us!

I did not know this initially but some seats on the bus can be folded up. On one bus trip, a few extremely kind souls got up from their seats, folded them and signalled to us to move into the space by the windows!

GOSH! I was really surprised by their generosity and kindness - wonder if we can ever get that in SG, folded seats or otherwise!



So engrossed in watching a sheep being sheared at the wildlife park!



Not sure if you can notice but Furqan was all rosy over there. His fair complexion plus his pink rosy cheeks made him sooooooo adorable that he easily made friends with both the locals and tourists alike! JEalous much!

Everything he has on here was worn only in Perth! Sigh....kids' winter clothes are already expensive and they outgrow them almost immediately. Maybe I should rent out the clothes.

I must must must credit my TULA and my MCM backpack...hahahah! The TULA was really a big help for us to move around quickly without the stroller and when he needed to be hugged /  go to sleep. I had my Fidella ring sling as well but I only used it twice for 30 mins each as I found it quite a hassle. TULA all the way !  :P

And that backpack is just huge enough to store all his diapers, milk, toy etc etc while still ensuring that I did not look like a grubby , frumpy mummy !

Another 'adventure' of taking public transport! We tried out the train to go to Fremantle !

 

Overall, it was a fantastic decision to go to Perth while he was still very young as he was still unable to roll , crawl, walk , make lots of fussy noise ....hehehhehe.....it was pretty easy to take care of him overseas and also in the aeroplane. I am also glad that I could bring my parents over for a holiday after so many years - goal accomplished!

 

Now , I need to start saving up again ....hehehe... we may try the next hols on our own ( just the three of us ) although I am itching to bring my parents to Hong Kong or Japan . LOL

 

Just a recommendation before I end : Quins' Travel is the agency to go for if you are the kind who likes your trips to be customised to the T. We used them for Gold Caost in 2013 and for the recent Perth trip. Thumbs, fingers and all toes UP!  :P

 

Changing / Nursing Room

Ever since Furqan is around, I have had a slight obsession with nursing/baby changing rooms in shopping malls.

Haha...something that we have never bothered with before.

In fact, suddenly , everywhere we go, all we see are strollers, babies, baby wraps, diaper bags.... We used to study people's shoes, bags and all those fancy schmancy things in the shop displays. See how one's lenses of the world change with circumstances.

One of my favourites is the one at Tampines Mall. It is very roomy, brightly lit and it has got a very nice wallpaper. The only downside is that their hot water dispenser is always spoilt! That is a no no ...esp for mummies like me who bottle feed their babies.

Top of my list currently is the one in Takashimaya on the fourth level. We didn't check out the nursing rooms but they look roomy and adequate enough .... AndI like the diaper changing area.

There are about four or five changing stations and plastic bags are provided for soiled diapers (with the rubbish bin attached individually to each changing station).

Water dispenser works perfectly fine and I find it interesting and extremely considerate of them to even have a machine selling diapers! I thought that is pretty cool...if only every mall has this, I never shall have to worry again about not having enough diapers with me.

We shall continue to explore all the nursing/changing rooms in SG Malls.

Oh, how my life has changed! 

The Birth Story

Ok ...I know... this is way too late . Baby is 7 weeks now and I am just blogging about his birth.

Oh well...blame it on the sleepless nights. and always-busy-with-don't-know-what days.

Anyway I want to pen this down so that I would not forget how my first cutiepie (first because we hope to have more...hahaha) entered the world.

I had an Elective Cesarean. Elective Cesarean means it is a planned surgical procedure versus the Emergency Cesarean which some mothers have to go through when facing complications while attempting vaginal birth.

I have always hoped for a normal delivery but baby was in breech position for the longest time, all the way till I reached my 36 weeks. By that time, I was already having mild contractions and had gone on the CTG monitor to monitor the frequency of my contractions.

Dr Su, my gynae at NUH, did not want me to go into labour while my baby was still in breech position. First, they do not recommend vaginal birth for such conditions as there is a high risk of infant deaths . Second, she did not want me to end up going for Emergency C-sect as that carries 4 times higher risk than a planned one. For a planned one, a mum will be given medication and all to prepare for the major surgery.

It wasn't a difficult decision. 16 February (a Monday) was the chosen date.

So I had to take my medication on Saturday and Sunday and had to fast from 6am on Monday itself. My slot was at 3pm so by 1 pm , we were at Ward 2A at NUH to register. I was praying so hard that I would get the Coral Deluxe Suite as I have set my heart on it for the longest time . We got it but that will go in another post.

I changed into the hospital gown and waited for them to wheel me into the operation theatre at 2:30pm. Unfortunately, there was some delay ...I was getting a little frustrated by 3:15pm because hey, I couldn't wait to meet my man!

Finally they wheeled me in at about 3:45pm. I was feeling extremely nervous by then and kept reciting my prayers and visioning my little boy , in order to keep myself calm.

If you had watched Xiaxue's birth video, she was still pretty calm and collected. I wasn't... as my contractions were coming on stronger than ever!Perhaps if I had gone through normal delivery, 16 Feb would still have been his birthday.

In the theatre -  Contrary to the stories about epidural and its long , painful needle, I felt nothing when it was injected into my back. That is because they gave me an injection prior to that to numb the area so I really felt no pain.

They then proceeded to place an ice-pack at various parts of my lower body to see if I could feel the cold. When everything was in order, they called the husband in .

I honestly did not feel anything when they were ..well...cutting me up. I have read that one will feel some uncomfortable tugging and pulling but I honestly felt nothing. WIthin minutes, the husband was saying," They are pulling out his legs now...... ok , I see the buttocks now. Soon soon!"

A few seconds later, husby announced that his head was out ....I was waiting for his cries and I heard them very soon after. He was sooooooo loud!!!!!!

Immediately. husby left me on my own (oh wow...) to go see his precious son. When he was reciting the adzhan into baby's ears, little one was all calm and quiet.

The nurse placed him on my chest for some skin-to-skin contact and all I could feel then was heaps of love for our little miracle. He was so cute, so small , so adorable. At that moment, nothing else mattered in the world....all I wanted to do was to continue having him on my chest and holding his tiny fingers. That was definitely one of the best feelings I have ever had!

Everything was over in about 35 minutes. Hehe.... that is one perk of a c-section, I suppose. The cons come during the recovery period (oh boy! Don't get me started on that!)

They had to separate us after a few minutes of embrace as I had to be sent to the recovery unit. I stayed quite long there because my oxygen level was on the low side and they had to ensure it stabilised before sending me to the ward where my whole family and baby were waiting .

And that ...is my birth story :)  :)   :)

Furqan Haris

I know I have been missing for super long.

Well, it has been a super interesting journey.

I delivered my little prince almost two weeks back and life has never been the same again.

There have been moments of frustrations but the happiness definitely outweighs all all that.

I am still at recovery stage as I went through elective cesarean so have pretty much been very slow in everything I do.

Anyway meet my sushi roll, love of my life, heartthrob, boyfriend...Furqan Haris

Get your Selfie Stick @ bicycles.sg!

Sponsored

How many times have you encountered such a moment - everyone is feeling high and wanna have a group photo , get into a group pose and then realise 'Hey, who's gonna snap for us'?!?

I have been in such situations many times before. 

So what used to be the typical solutions?

1) One person has to be the sacrificial lamb and be the photographer for the group shot. The rest will feel bad and another person will volunteer to snap the next shot so that the first lamb will now be in the photo. Conclusion: Eventually, you do not get a complete group photo after all!

2) Get a passing stranger to take the group photo for you. Personally , I prefer Option 1 because I always feel awkward when I have to pose or want to make monkey faces in front of someone I absolutely do not know. Then, you will feel obliged to not to ask for more than 2 takes because ..you know... that can irritate the photographer. Bleargh.

3) Use a tripod. Yeah , right... how many of us lug around a tripod (and a camera) everyday of our lives?

4) Do a group selfie or a we-fie as we call it! Ok , this definitely sounds much much better! I can be wacky with the rest of the gang, do not feel self-conscious& we can have as many takes as possible! The only minus point is the photos may end up like this......

Hahhahaha!  Poor husband of mine.... he always ends up getting part of his face cut off the frame! Even the fact that he has the longest arms and is the tallest in my family didn't help! (This was taken  at my uncle's place...we were all in a rather hyper mood but hhhahahaa.....such a spoiler !)

I give u one more!

You cannot even see my mum here! 

SOLUTION?

Well, get a Monopod! We have always seen people carrying those weird-looking long sticks to take their selfies / we-fies and some people just swear by it!

One Monopod that you may want to consider purchasing is from http://bicycles.sg/shop/selfie-stick

Their model is compatible with all phones and cameras. Just connect your cameras or phones to the Monopod adapter using the tripod insert.

Here is my Samsung Galaxy S4 firmly attached to the adapter. You don't have to worry about your device slipping / dropping off - the grip is pretty strong. 

You want a wider angle? Simple extend the pole. This selfie stick is extendable up to 108cm. 

Carrying it is not a hassle since it is only 22cm at its shortest and weighs a very light 22 grams.

The Monopod at its shortest

Monopod fully extended. This is especially good if you have a big group of people in the photo or taking photos/videos of a pretty landscape. I haven't had the chance to do the latter due to the piles of work in the past few weeks. 

 You can slot it into most handbags with ease! 

 The Monopod from http://bicycles.sg/shop/selfie-stick is really easy to use. You just have to:

1. Fit phone into the phone bracket included
2. Open camera app
3. Adjust the selfie stick to the right angle/length
4. Set timer on your camera (5-10s)
5. Extend the stick and smile!

They come in other exciting colours as well - red , blue, yellow. I would definitely go for red, if given the option :P

For $13 only, this is absolutely worth the money! 

This Monopod is perfect for your photos and videos during your travels, at weddings, parties, the beach, sports events.... you name it, you've got it!

Hope you will be as happy with your Monopod as I am with mine! 

MY TRAVEL TAG!

I have always ignored all those Taggings before. I never bothered to do because one, I don't see why I should tell people what I wear to sleep at night or who was the last person I hugged.

Two, lazy lor. Plain laziness.

However, I thought this travel tag is pretty cool! I have always liked reading about people's travel stories so yeah to Dyan for tagging me ! Hahah!

What made you start traveling?

It should be "Who" made me start travelling. Haahaha... the answer would definitely be my parents as they always tried to bring us kids out of the countries during the school hols even if it was just to a nearby country.

However, now with the husby with me, we feel we NEED to travel - get some fresh air and basically , escape from reality. We kinda work around the clock so it is really a heaven-sent to be able to wake up in an unfamiliar surrounding in another country without caring what time it is and if we need to attend the morning flag-raising ceremony , :P

Where was your first plane ride to?

It was actually just a 45-min ride to Kuala Lumpur. I think I was 10 and my parents just wanted to let us get a feel of being in an aeroplane. We were not rich so that was all that was affordable at that time. We went on SQ and I remember how my sister and I were in awe of the really pretty stewardesses at that time. The standard has obviously dropped , in my opinion. Heh.

Where have you travelled to that you would love to visit again?
Definitely Makkah / Madinah and Jerusalem. 

Makkah &  Madinah solely because these are the places where I felt the highest level of peace and tranquility that no other place can match , I am sure. Each time we went, I never felt like coming back. I remember saying to myself that I didn't mind dying there...it was that wonderful.

We went to Jerusalem in 1998 , amidst all the chaos and shootings then. As scary as it was (and probably still is), I want to go there again now that I am more aware of the political and social issues engulfing the area.

What are 3 of your must have travel items?

Phone charger (I have no idea how to survive without this!) , toiletries (I must have my everyday facial products and make up items) and camera, of course!

Window, isle or middle seat?

Window ,for sure!  In the past, I used to take turns with my sister. For example, I got the window seat to the destination and she got it on the way back to Singapore, and vice versa. Now I don't care lah.... I insist on window seat whenever I travel with the other half. He sleeps most of the time anyway so it probably doesn't matter as much to him .

What place is on your ‘places to visit next’ list?

I have been longing to go to Makkah again. It was on our list for 2014 but with the baby, it definitely has to be postponed. So yes, InsyaAllah , I hope to make it there with my two darlings end of next year... and then I wanna go to New York in 2016 and also, do a Europe tour in 2017. Pretty ambitious, if you ask me. Must save up!!!!!

Where would you travel just for the weather?

Australia!

I have only been to Sydney and Gold Coast and both times, we went during Winter (I cannot stand heat). The weather was soooooo lovely ....cool but lots of sunshine! Perfecto! (Except the time when we went up to the Blue Mountains - I think I might have turned blue due to the cold)

Do you have an interesting ‘I’m lost’ story?

Not really .... unless you count my visit to Vietnam when I was 'lost' for food. It was a very impromptu decision and we just followed a package from one of those tour groups in Chinatown. I ended up having almost NOTHING to eat over there! 

We were, obviously, not brought to any halal food places. I tried sourcing for cup noodles and biscuits in their malls and provision shops but practically everything had lard or pork in them! Stress, ok??? I ended up eating just lots and lots of bread at the hotel's breakfast buffet and whipped potato from KFC for dinner all four days. The minute we landed in Changi Airport, I demanded that the husby (then-boyfriend) bring me to Popeye's! I so needed meat, I tell you!

Where would you travel to just to eat the food?

KL ! So many halal places.... whenever we go there, we will try to cover as many restaurants as possible. 

Is there a place you would never go again?

Vietnam. Nothing much there except for the historical tunnel, Mekong River etc which I have already covered. Besides the lack of food for me, I couldn't stand the weather there too . It was just too hot and humid , much worse than Singapore! And don't get me started on the traffic and noise pollution! 


If you could take one person with you to travel who would it be?
The husband lah ..who else???

How do you pass the time on the airplane?

I love to read on the airplane...it is not often that I get to do uninterrupted reading so I definitely appreciate this chance to drown myself in a book. If I get tired, I'll watch some movies (rare though) or talk to the husband. The latter does not happen often though because he always uses this time to catch up on his sleep :) 


Are there other people whom you think would do this?
This tag? I am not sure ...hmmmm....
Let's try:

Ainul ( errahathirah.blogspot.sg )
Raodah ( http://xschmellycatsx.blogspot.sg )

Harlow!

He he....I don't usually post such things but just like this so much.. .  so share lor !



Taken at 24 weeks + 3 days 

Freelance Designer - for your cards, posters, tags etc!

Sometimes I have lots of ideas in my head.

I want to design , draw, paint..... I want to customise my gifts for people , I want my ideas to materialise....

BUT .... and it is a huge BUT.....

I cannot draw, cannot paint and worst of all, I suck at Photoshop!

Simple editing and all is fine but when I need those talents or skills to cut , crop, move or blend, everything comes to naught. Sad, isn't it? Especially when I really want to get something different from what we get from the shops.

For my brother's recent wedding, I wanted some cards to be placed at each table, together with the centrepiece provided by the wedding vendor. It was to be a simple request for guests to hashtag the photos taken and uploaded on Instagram, to allow us to view the various photos.

The wedding theme was Retro so I wanted something colourful and eye-catching. Unfortunately (though nothing new), it was Term 3 of the school year - the busiest term every time! I had no time to sit and sketch,  much less time to even attempt to lay out my ideas on print. 

Thank goodness I have a very reliable person to turn to! She is the one I go to whenever I need to  get designs / posters done. 

A person who is very easy to work with , it was even easier to let her know what I wanted and let her do the magic. She is very efficient and meticulous in her designs. What makes it even better is that I can tell her, without any apprehension, if I want something changed or adjusted without much of a fuss from her. Perfect customer service! 

Here are some of the designs we had for the centrepieces....

There were about 10 designs altogether but I did not manage to snap photos of all because as the ...eh hem... sister of the groom , I was more or less running around like an excited and /or mad woman. Haha! She also did the gift tags for the wedding favours but sorry , no photos of that!

Here are some of her other pieces of work...

You may choose to get this young lady to do the printing for you ... She will source for the best papers suitable for your designs and needs. That's exactly what I did for my brother's wedding  - got her to do the printing and lamination because I simply had no time to do all that ! That comes with an extra minimal fee , of course but hey, so worth the saving of time!

Alternatively, you can just get her to design / realise your ideas and pay for the artwork. It is then yours for keeps :) ...better still, her fees are extremely reasonable and affordable! 

Therefore, if you need any artwork for whatever purposes, small or big , do contact 

Nur Afiqah at nfeeaz@gmail.com

She will be more than glad to show her other works if necessary :)