Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Biggest Poop-saster (so far....)

It was another typical busy weekday where I attempted to do as much as I could while the baby was asleep. She is a good afternoon snoozer and has been asleep for two hours. It would be two plus in the afternoon soon. I was ravenous and thinking about lunch. 

Right on cue, she stirred. Whenever she wakes up on her own and is not rudely awakened, she is usually in a smiley and happy demeanor (just like her mum). Yup, this time, she was smiley. We giggled our way to the kitchen after a diaper change, oblivious to the impending catastrophe. 

As I prepared my lunch, I looked over to smile at her and saw her give a "I am trying to poop" face. Something that looks kinda cross eyed with a lop-sided smile... Then, an extremely audible watery fart thundered across the kitchen.

I stared at my uncooked spinach and contemplated for a second. Sorry, my ravenous digestive juices, lunch would have to wait. I promptly scooped her up from her high chair, about fifteen seconds since her ominous fart. I checked her back and saw the dreaded poop stain. It was spreading gradually, ugh, like a plague. Gross. We have to hurry.

As we made our way to the changing area, I quickly grabbed the more-easily-washable mat from the guest bath. Then, I felt something dripped on my arms. Please let that be her drool, I thought, as I balanced the baby and the changing mat precariously. 

I desperately ripped the towel cover from the inflatable changing mat (easier to clean the inflatable changing mat without the cover) and carefully plopped her down to survey the damage. There was poop on her entire back and also her sides. Oh, and the "drool" on my arms turned out to be poop as well. Such joys of motherhood.

I grabbed the bag of wet wipes and crazily began wiping her back, right up to her neck. God, how on earth does this poop travel up to her neck? It was a few wipes on her butt, then her back, then the changing mat so that she would not have more poop as she rested on the mat, then her butt again, then her arms, then her toes. I looked up to chastise her for her pooping ability (probably inherited from her dad) and saw, to my horror, she has grabbed one of the soiled wipes and put it in her mouth. Oh, and she was smiling as if to say "Hi mummy, look what I have gotten in my mouth!"

I grabbed the soiled wipe from her hands and included her mouth area in my wiping frenzy. Butt, back, hands, arms, stomach, legs, toes, mouth. Repeat x 10,000. Then, I lifted the soiled jumper with a little finger and turned on the tap at full blast. Die! You poopies! Die!
Subsequently, I dressed her and we went back to the kitchen where I could hopefully get on with my lunch.

So, I prepared lunch. Baby was contented. La la la, everything was great. Then, baby drooled and I looked for a burp towel to wipe her up (lots of wiping in the job of a mother). In my search, I saw yellow goo on the floor and parts of the high chair. God, the poop has spread to the floors too! I have only just mopped the floors this morning. I went into a wiping frenzy again. The wet wipes company must love me.

Finally, after another million wipes, I had lunch, trying to regain an appetite from dealing with so much poop. Naomi stared at me, doe-eyed, and I decided she must be hungry. She took to the bottle readily and after ten minutes, she began to look cross-eyed again.

Oh no, you don't, I began. My warnings were ignored and she let rip a symphony of rather-wet farts. I quickly grabbed her and ran into the room to check - phew, this time, the poop was contained. We had a swift change of diaper, requiring only a tenth of the wipes previously used.

We went back to the kitchen. I cleared my lunch which was by now apparently unappealing. It is a conspiracy to make me lose weight probably. Naomi started fussing a little, so we adjourned to her room where she could have some gym time. She quickly rolled over to her tummy the moment she was placed on her gym. Before I could adjust her to a more comfortable position, she let out a series of loud farts, more forceful than before. I gave up procrastinating about her bath. It must be a sign that I (and not her dad) have to bathe her today. I was secretly hoping he would come home and assume the bath duty.

And that was how the biggest poopsaster went - Naomi's poopy hat trick in a matter of an hour. Yippee!

Thursday, December 25, 2014

First Christmas

Although Peter and I had known each other for some time, we have never spent Christmas together. He would either be back in the USA with his family, or I would have some vacation booked with friends. This year, we decided to spend Christmas together for the first time(!), since he would be moving to Arkansas and we would not be seeing each other for 12 weeks. :(

I have been dreading his move for a long time. It would not be just him moving, but the two fuzzies as well. I am worried about fuzzies adapting to the temperate climates, about fuzzies being stressed out by the move, about.. almost everything. I just want Peter and the fuzzies to be safe.

I was just glad to be able to spend Christmas with them. That itself was a gift. 


There was no Christmas parties nor Yuletide fanfare. We spent the Christmas Eve afternoon at the pool (since he would spending the next three months in winter conditions) before heading back to shower before dinner. 

The only thing remotely Christmassy about our now-rather empty apartment is the lovely felt Santa wind chime created by Ashley, and towo wrapped up presents from my brother and Charlotte. I excitedly asked Peter if we could open presents before we headed out for dinner. I guessed he was tired of me asking about unwrapping presents since the start of the week, so he agreed for us to do so. It was just one present for us each, but yet there was something so magical and exciting about unravelling a surprise gift. We tore the muji-gift wrappers open. I got a lovely black shawl which would definitely be useful for my work fashion, while Peter has gotten yet another neck pillow! :)

We laughed and discussed about our gifts. Suddenly, Peter asked if I was ready to open another gift. I was surprised. I have been so grateful to be able to spend Christmas with my beloved fuzzies (including him) and that itself was already a big big gift (cliche, I know but yet true) Besides having a wonderful husband and of course, our precious sweet pea, I could not really think of having any more blessings or worthier gifts. Also, Peter was never a gift-giver sort, so I was completely taken by surprise. I was also quite upset because I did not prepare any Christmas presents for him. 

He revealed a little bag which he opened carefully. It was a pendant. 


"This is a Celtic love knot," he began. "The diamond in the middle represents us. With every kid we have, we will add his or her birth stone in each of these gaps between the love knot. It will keep you company all the time I am not around." He continued to describe how his mum had a bracelet which allowed her to add a charm with every child she had, and that he wanted a similar jewellery for me. Before he could actually continue the story of his mum, I was already weeping with emotions (not sure if it was the fault of pregnancy hormones!), soaking his t-shirt and mine, blabbering stupidly,"But I didn't get you any gift!" 

It was a very touching speech he made, in fact, more touching than the proposal one. It was perhaps also made more emotional by his pending absence. All of these resulted in me being nothing but a blabbering wet mess. 

After we took time to recover from the emotional gifting session, we dressed up to grab dinner from Hatched at Holland Village. It was a quiet, rainy night. We headed for midnight mass soon after, and had a brief Skype with his parents to holler our Christmas greetings. 

We woke up on Christmas morning and stuffed ourselves at a Christmas luncheon at the Caroursel. 

I couldn't ask for a better Christmas. Have a jolly Christmas, y'all.


Saturday, September 13, 2014

Saturday, August 9, 2014

The SG Wedding at Min Jiang

Being a bride isn't much fun, because there are about a thousand things that require your decision.

After the morning festivities and a brief photo-taking shoot around the condominium compound with our brilliant  groom and bridal parties, Peter and I took a well-deserved rest before heading to Min Jiang to set up the venue. We arrived at about 3, but I was shortly whisked away to have my hair and make-up done. 

Meanwhile, Peter and the girls went about getting the decos in place - magnet pieces for wedding favors, and props to motivate the guests' use of the Wedding Pics app.




Now, the Wedding Pics app is pretty awesome. It allows you to crowdsource pictures from your guests, and you get to see pictures from their perspectives. In my iPad version, I could even put on a Slideshow to display pictures freshly taken. What's more, it's free! Pretty cool.

Anyway, it was a bit of a mayhem - with the restaurant being slow to set up the tables and chairs, my parents getting lost, having to deal with questions on logistics and decorations, etc. I was frankly, extremely stressed out

My make-up artist, Irene, did a perfect job with the hair. Never mind that my head was pretty sore with all the poking of hair pins and tugging.


Peter was the perfect groom, and ran around ensuring things went smoothly. My bridal party, especially Jish, was awesome too. 

Aside from dealing with the venue and logistical issues, we were also worried about our solemniser. We had randomly found him from the web, and realized he was almost 90 years old when we met him face to face. We could sense his enthusiasm in solemnising the wedding, but yet could not help worrying that he was not able to turn up due to ill health. After all, he did tell us about he recent health scares and operations. It did not reassure us much when he displayed signs of memory lapses while speaking with us. We decided to stick with him because we did not want to hurt a nice old man's feelings, and we were glad when he turned up earlier than expected.

We had an adorable pair of ring-bearer and flower girl - Ian and Ashley. They were a hit with the guests, as well as the photographers.


Peter had earlier given instructions to Ian on the path he should take to the solemnisation table. However, my Dad who was probably nervous, kept holding Ian's shoulder to steer him. Meanwhile, all that was in my head was - "please don't let me step on my dress and trip!"


As we were making our way to the table, the sound man accidentally switched the "Canon in D" symphony to Vanessa Mae's "Toccato and Fugue in D Minor", a piece that is typically used in horror movies. It was pretty funny, but I could see the horror in Jish's face as the music changed. There was a little confusion, but Jish straightened it out and threw the sound man a dirty look.

I prepared bottles of bubbles for children to keep themselves entertained. But it turned out the adults were having fun with them too. 



Finally, I made it to the table, while deftly avoiding bubbles in my face. Peter and I were both slightly nervous, and I wondered if our solemniser was nervous too. Instead of speaking, he seemed to channel all his energy to shouting the words in his script. I gently nudged the microphone towards him, but he was adamant about yelling out each word. "We! Are! Here! Today! To! Celebrate! ...." 

As he was boisterously guiding us in our vows, he sternly warned Peter not to look at him because that would mean "he was marrying him (the solemniser)". Peter got alarmed and stared determinedly at me. Without looking at the solemniser, it could be somewhat difficult to decipher what he was saying. When he declared us man and wife after what seemed like an eternity, there were loud cheers - not sure if it was a reaction to our union, or out of relief that the ceremony was over. We were certainly relieved. The solemniser looked relieved too.

"Um.. What is he saying?"

"Yay! Married!"

The traditional tea ceremony ensued, and there were a long line of relatives to be 
served tea. Peter's relatives were especially excited, since it was a first time for them to be involved in a tea ceremony.


There was a slightly emotional moment when grandma got teary, causing my eyes to start watering as well. Peter was quick to ensure that my eye make-up wasn't ruined. 


After the tea ceremony, the guests mingled at the cocktail reception. There was plenty of photo-taking.



Dinner commenced at 7.30pm promptly. The general feedback was that the food was good - not that I had much. The specialty was Min Jiang's wood-fired Peking Duck. As I was perpetually being escorted upstairs to get my hair done, Jish was a sweetheart and brought me some duck to feast on.

My evening outfit, a red laced cheongsam, had elicited plenty of compliments. 


I had it tailored at a shop in Lucky Chinatown called Iris and Edel. It was a last minute decision to do so, and boy was I glad they were able to whip up the dresses in about three weeks. The ladies at Iris and Edel were also extremely friendly. They would show you samples of different types of laces and advise on the suitable ones for the types of dresses you are looking for. They aren't very pricey too - my red cheongsam was about $760, with a train of lace behind. I would highly recommend them to anyone who needs nice dresses tailored. 


They also helped tailor a second dress for the wedding in the USA. More on that later. 

The evening's merry-making went on. We gave our speech which we prepared just the night before. The objective of the speech was really to thank our friends and families for being in our lives.


Peter's part of the speech included a line in Teo Chew "Ah ma! Gam sia le qi yi hao an nee swee",targeted at Grandma. However, grandma didn't seem to understand the line, though the rest of the audience was tickled.



When the night finally ended at around 11, both of us were thoroughly knackered, but glad that the SG wedding was done! 

Now to worry about the USA wedding instead...

Thursday, August 7, 2014

The Singapore Wedding: Morning Festivities


I dutifully woke up at dawn, at the strict instructions of my mum, to shower and get dressed, and to participate in some of the traditions my Mum had in mind. Mummy placed two hard-boiled  eggs near the shower, with instructions to "not bite the egg when putting it in the mouth". I was incredulous at the odd tradition, and warned my mum that she would be responsible if I were to choke to death in doing so. Thankfully, nothing untoward occurred, though my mum gave me flak for consuming both eggs.

Mummy: You were only supposed to consume one!
Me: Then why on earth did you give me two?
Mummy: ...

Frankly, I am not sure if my mum understood or believed in any of the traditions herself. 

I laid out the gifts and personalised messages for the bridal party, and basked in the lull before the activities.


At 7 in the morning, the make-up artist, Irene arrived. The photographer and videographer soon arrived too, and there was a flurry of questions. As my hair was being unmercifully tugged and pulled by Irene, I had to field questions from people and was getting increasingly stressed out.


Meanwhile, my bridal party was out in full force to lay out the tasks for the groom. 

First task: Pick Red Beans to Make Art.
Since the majority of the groom party was American, Jish thought it would be challenging for them to use chopsticks to pick out red beans and create art on canvas using glitter glue. I was not part of the fun, though my brother attempted to show me some of the ongoing activities via FaceTime.


After picking at the beans for a while, Peter decided to bribe the girls with a red packet so that they could use a spoon instead of chopsticks.

Behold - the final piece of art.


The second task, again devised by Jish, was for the groom and his party to develop a cheer - American style. By now, my mum was panicking because the first task took up a significant bit of time. The girls hence instituted a shorter deadline for the completion of task #2, but Peter took out a red packet once more to negotiate for more time.

The boys shaking their bon-bons.


The third task involved the consumption of sweet, sour, bitter and spicy flavours. The girls came up with the lethal combination of Oreo cookies, wasabi, lemon and bitter gourd slices.

Nasty.



Peter paid a red packet to get a cup of water to dilute the nastiness of the task, since there were twelve of such cookies to devour - one for each month of the year apparently.

The final task - melting the ice to get the bedroom key. Samantha came by few days earlier to freeze and encase the key to my bedroom key in a heart-shaped ice.


Jish warned Peter against breaking the heart, and said that he should instead melt it. Peter employed the final red packet to negotiate for a cup of warm water, and melted the ice to the key.


With the key, he accomplished his tasks and victoriously retrieved the bride.


Saturday, July 5, 2014

A Little Festive Flavour

I had designed some signages a long time ago to visualise how some wedding deco would look. The prototypes are now displayed to add a little festive flavour for next week. 




Crowdsourcing Pictures

We won't be having any photographers in the USA, so we thought we would crowdsource pictures from friends and relatives. After all, we live in the age of selfies and smartphones, and many of our friends and relatives have demonstrated their prowess in taking amazing pictures. 

I did some research and found WedPics. WedPics is a pretty nifty app that allows you and your guests to upload pictures. In addition, the web version allows you to go on a Slideshow mode, where you can showcase pictures that are uploaded live. Pretty cool, eh?

We are testing the concept out in Singapore first. To prompt people to download the app and help us take pictures, I designed the table stand with instructions, and some photo props to motivate people to take more pictures from their eyes.


Just some finishing touches, and I will be done for the night!