icecreamgal

Lovelle, my girl:
I do not want you to come out too early, because i hope to protect you in my tummy as long as I can.
I want to continue  to enjoy your kicks and movement within me.
I have yet to complete my handover to my colleagues at work and i suppose i will be bringing my laptop home. But that is the least important.
Most importantly, this also means i get more time to prepare for your arrival into our new house.
Your cot needs to be set up.
Then we need to move Faith jie jie to sleep in her own room.
Your clothes are more or less packed in the new Ikea drawers. Although i haven had time to wash them yet. But i trust aunt Teresa had washed them b4 passing to me.
Because I want to be prepared to receive you. I want us, the family to be ready to receive you.
The feeling nowadays is sometimes not good. Because I feel like a time-bomb. I am not sure if you are engaged. I am not sure if certain actions I do these few days will induce your birth. Because I want to be prepared to receive you.
Not in a hapzard way.

Maybe mummy is getting old. But i have to admit that this time round, mummy haven had time to really take care of my body to cope with your growing inside me. I even did not have time and mood to listen to classical music, go swim or go KTV as often as my first pregnancy. It is so different this time. and I was all along lying to myself to think that this pregnancy would be the same as my first. Sorry, love, mummy was wrong.
Sorry that i ate too much sweet stuffs (Main suspect: Sour skittles!) during this time, causing my pancrea to produce lesser insulin to break down the sugar in my blood.
Now i regretted this. So i am 'punishing' myself by doing prick test 5 times a day so that i can remind myself to control my diet.
And i am keeping away from sweet stuffs as much as i can.
You will know later that mummy has sweet tooth and i cannot say no to durians and icecreams and sweets!!!
So it is actually a challenge and depressing fact to fall on me.
And for you, Love, i started to eat liver for lunch with mee suah.

Dr Heng says you are a small baby. Since Jan, i have been ordered to eat two hard boiled eggs daily. These proteins are all for you. Thanks to Ah ma who cooked them for me & bring them over to our house each weekday morning, when she comes over to bring Faith jie jie to school.
Due to GD, Dr Heng had advised that your Edd would have to be brought forward from 9th April to 3rd April.
And last week on 15th March, you had weighed 2138grams.
Dr Heng sent an ultimatum: If you are not growing heavier by this Sat's check up (24th March), then we will have to bring you out. Dr Heng explained that this means that the cord might have blockage or is too thin for enough nutrients to be sent to you.
Oh dear, how can i not worry when i hear this... 
Meantime, Dr Heng asks me to monitor your movements. And we did the CTG monitoring of contractions and heartbeat as well. Since i did not hear any news, should means everything is still okay for you inside.

So this is my last battle: I need to increase my meat intake this week. It will tell us if it is better for you to be outside or be inside of me. I prayed to God to mend the cord. To protect you - your heart/lungs, organs, soul, brain developements. To enable you to receive all the nutrients that I am taking. So that you can be out in good time, in HIS Time 
Because God is good all the time. God is love. And this is why you are named Lovelle. You shall be loved. Your name will be a reminder to us, to Love at all times.
So dont worry if people ask you how to pronounce your name:
They can call you "Love-elle" (Le-velle) or "Lo-velle" (Low-velle).
But just for the records, Faith jie jie was the one who pronounced your lovely name as "Low-velle".
But in short, you will be called 'Love'.. nice nickname right?  =P 

No matter what, i still wanna say, my Love, that you were the 2nd one to expand and grow in my belly. God's creation, God sent you as a blessing to our family. And even though it was unplanned, but through this experience, God taught us a lot - on how to be 2nd time parents to you, how to take care and prepare Faith jie jie for your coming. During this journey, it taught me how to rely on God, how to seek peace from our Heavenly Father. Because of you, we have chance to proceed to the next phrase of our lives.
I will be mother of two girls and completed my motherhood calling at 32 . Mummy learnt more about my own body and how to take care of myself when sickness strikes.
Even though there was no KTV, but you heard mummy and daddy singing lullabies to Faith jie jie right? Your turn will come soon. We will soon carry you in our arms, shower you with our voices, warmth and love.
And you are the previleged one, because you have 3 person who will love you. Daddy, mummy and Faith jie jie!
Daddy even changed his car (not so willingly thou) so that we could accomodate another car seat in our journey with you next time.
He doesnt really know about sacrifices yet and the lovely feeling of making a sacrifice, because i still see him dreaming of fast cars, holidays and food businesses. But its okay, we learn at different phrases of our lives.

We also had our first experience handling and living with a foreigner helper. We chose to sacrifice our privacy to have a stranger stay with us. But this is better than having ah ma come and tidy our house and wash the windows for us everyday. Next time, ah ma needs to look after you. So the new helper which we are going to employ will help us keep the house clean for us. We have to be able to live in independently.
But at the same time, while we were waiting for this new helper,  mummy also learnt to value how important it was to stay near to a family. The chinese phrase that says:
The water from afar cannot save a nearby water. It is very true.
Very apt to us because "wai po" stays further away from us and she is often not the first option we choose as assistance when we require one urgently.
Ah ma and shu shu have been very kind. Their presence and support enables daddy and mummy to have some couple time and dinner dates, shopping times, while Faith jie jie stays at ah ma house.

And, to you my baby Love, I share my quote in my facebook status update today:
"...I will endure all the pain.
But i pray its because you are gaining weight each day & growing healthily (inside me)."

We do not know when your birthday will be, but God knows the day we will receive you as our gift. =)
Please stay healthy and grow prettily in the love of our God. See you soon, Baby Love.

I love you,

Mummy me.

icecreamgal

Today the household rise and shine early. Because Faith had to reach school earlier than usual.
It is her first school excursion today!
I was excited as well, and happy that i started my day earlier too.

Although I did not really approve of the venue at first, but for the sake of letting her gain exposure and have a feel of going outing with her friends and teachers, we consented to the trip at SGD20, including a Happy Meal and souveneirs. Yup, you guessed it - McDonalds.
It was a kitchen trip to King Albert's Park mcDonalds.
Sounds interesting! But... I cannot fathom how will they show such young kids their kitchen. Like... how can they see what is happening? Will they understand how many minutes you took to prepare the burger?
Isnt it better to just show them the Mcdonalds mascot and play games with them? Haha...
Anyway i also wanted to test if Faith can feedback or reflect anything back to us from this trip tonight. This would give us an idea if she should attend more such outings with the school.

We forgot to put her milk bottle in her bag today. Thus i walked to Thinkerstar to drop off her milk bottle before heading to work. The children have left for the excursion. There was only one teacher who was left (china teacher whom i believe teaches chinese language) wth the other children who did not go for the excursion. They were left roaming their classroom, playing with toys while the younger batch was seated on the floor watching TV.
That was another big factor why we should send her for such excursion if there was no proper teaching on that particular day.

Was a bit offended last night when MIL commented that we should not send her for such excursions when she is so young because she would get a chance to go again next time when she is older.
Yes, i understood her intention as it was mine initially. And I couldnt help but find that she might be commenting about it because the school was bringing them to McDonalds.
"She is my daughter, if i allow her to go, who are you to tell me no?" was what immediately surfaced in my heart. But i merely explained to her that there would be no one in school and I would like her to tag along with her favourite teachers and learn along with her friends.
I had spoken to Teacher Ang few days back and was relieved she was going to the trip as well. While Faith was adjusting to childcare, Teacher Ang spent most time with her and Teacher Ang is responsible to call and update me with Faith's progress in school and with the questions that i post in Faith's daily communication book as well. I like Teacher Ang.

I shall let my MIL know what i saw in school this morning.
Anyway, I did tell Julian about it, so that he will know how to react in case MIL mentions to him about it.
 
Hope my Faith is napping well now.
Wonder if she did behave on the bus just now. (Since she has seldom been taking bus)

Wondering if she enjoyed the happy meal just now. What did she had?
Nice to know there are corns and apples for her. She likes both. (just like me!)
Hope she did not spit out the beef if she gets a cheeseburger.
She isnt burger trained yet, teachers. Im sorry! LOL.

The principal, Doris told me that there would be photographs taken for today's trip. I hope to see them soon once she updates me with the website. =)

Update again soon!
Happy mid-week peeps!!

Muacks!

Love, me

icecreamgal

Oh my Feb! Time is zooming past us again, that i just realised half the month of Feb is gone!

What does this means?

-Faith just turned 26th months old on Monday (13th Feb 2012)

- Faith has been going to school for a good few weeks (but she is still whining that she wants to go ah-ma house, instead of the school about every other mornings)
I think she does this on purpose, knowing that ah ma will correct her, telling her that she will go to school then go ah ma house later in the day.
And if she is in good mood. She is ok. If she is not, she will use that opportunity to react with unpleasure to the news so she will start to cry and whine and wait for the expected move from ah ma to carry her, sweettalk her and sayang her somemore..... Tsk! This girl of ours!
BUT............. i did prayed for a street smart girl from my prayer answering God...So, what can i say?
She is Good huh?! haha!

- Im nearer to my maternity leave!

-  Im nearer to my birthday month!

- we are nearer to Faith's first concert to meet Barney at Expo (17th March!)

-  We are still not going anywhere near a good handover of my work stuffs (opps!)
Except for setting up of a daily meeting - as daily information updates is shared among the my team in one table.
Plus the inpending fact <-- I call this a fact, because it is not a news anymore to me.
I already adjusted and accepted the fact that she will not be staying on.
So it doesnt matter even if Dahlia tells me that Cheris will leave us by end of march, because we STILL have got to pass down her stuffs to someone else.
Yes, you can pass to me. But who will do after i go on maternity? Harlow?? 
Sometimes, I cannot see what the mgmt's direction or plans about such matters.
They are always so hush-hush about it.
In my opinion: Yes, use your tactics & good persuasion skills to keep the staff as long as possible, but for what? To have enough time to do handover right? 
So, i can only wait and see and try very hard not to worry about this matter. 
What if i am not aroud to oversee this handover?
Yes, although this is not my company but this is one account that I have been handling for past years. So it is akin to my 'baby'. So naturally i do care how people is going to take care for it in my absence.
Yes it is also true that this is not my company so since i am given the entitlement to go on leave, I should just go, rest, tune my body back, get enough rest before I return to workforce again.
As for 3 or 4 months, I shall have to see if i can juggle things at home well enough. And also to see which side needs me more. Of course i would like 4 months rest, but coincidentally, I have been reporting to Dahlia for both pregnancies.
Ok, Ranting shall end here.

- It also meant Lovelle should be having her growing sprouts as i progress into my third trimester of pregnancy.
On 6th Jan, Ah Heng said that baby at 700 grams was too small. So she advised me to take 2 eggs a day.
I hope this diet is working well to spur her growth.
Well, Ah Heng made it sound so scary to me that she was a small baby (due to her surprised tone, i think) that i was afraid this baby girl was not getting enough this time from my body... So i am trying all i can to get her to gain weight.
On 3rd Feb, Lovelle weighs 1.3kg. At least some weigh gain, i was happier. (but read on, my mood was dampened by something else!)

In any case, a big or small baby, i am happy to be able to feel Lovelle's kicks and punches everyday.
It can be painful, disturbing (esp. when I am walking or sleeping on my sides), ticklish and funny to see my tummy getting out of shape due to her activities in my womb. Like her knees jibes and turns she makes inside.
I think it is because it is getting a bit squeezy in there. My belly button have not only protruded, but it is not being stretched.
Yes i know, the sacrifices of a women, so im not complaining here - just enjoying these moments, before we get to meet our girl in person!
So girls, this is a once in a life time experience, and only the mummy is entitled to feel this movements! Must try to experience it in your lifetime too, ok! So special for us, so unique have God created this for us!


Talking about Lovelle. This is also my first pregnancy to be diagnosed with 2+ sugar in my urine.
That was on that fateful 3rd Feb afternoon.
Usually we have to take urine test and after that we show it to the nurse, who usually would glance at the colour strip and say 'ok' then we throw it away.
But this time, the nurse took a longer look at my strip and pronounced the verdict.
I was asked to wait for Ah Heng to give me more advice about this. I was worried sick as i waited for my turn, i have been happily throwing my strips away each time for my urine test =(
Actually i blamed myself for glupping down that cup of Heaven & Earth Passionfruit Tea from my Subway meal before i went to the appointment. Otherwise i can also blame it on the sweet cravings that i have. For example to feel to satisfied after finishing a can of MUG Rootbeer by myself for lunch... or to look at the can of Coke more than a minute before i can take my eyes off it.
I also thought I could plump up baby Lovelle in this way - by having sweet, sugary stuffs.

I read up about GD - gestational diabetes. One of the symptom of it is having a big baby. This puzzles me a lot because my baby, as according to Ah Heng, was small...
So i actually felt i was betrayed by that sweet soft drink on that Friday's appointment.
I wanted to be in denial, to think that it was the drink, and not that my system was unable to produce enough insulin.......
Nevertheless, after testing my blood again, or maybe it was to to play safe - Ah Heng made me take the OGTT - Oral Glucose Tolerance Test.
I had it arranged for 11th Feb, a Saturday. I was supposed to stop eating any food after 10pm on friday night, only can drink plain water.
Determined that i should clear this test, i took the advice seriously.
Even though i was recovering from a flu/throat inflammation and on antibiotics from Thursday. I had checked that these medication would not affect the test so i still went for the test on an early 8.30am morning. i had took MC on Thurs/Fri thus i was able to feel much better on Saturday. Thank God!

At the hospital lab, there was a long queue of people. There were two other pregnant ladies in front of me in the queue, i guessed it was for the OGTT as well. The only thing i dreaded was the drawing of my blood.
I had to pay 40 bucks for them to draw my blood for the test, when i could have donated the blood for better use!? Grrr. i hate needles too!
First, we were asked to take urine test and they drew our blood before we took the drink. At 853am, i was asked to finish a bottle of about 150ml orange fizzy drink. It was sweet. But not as bad as i thought it would be. Then i was asked to report back to the lab at 953am and 1053am to have my urine sample taken and blood drawn for two more times.
According to the mummies in the forum, this kind of test was the most accurate.
I prayed hard that i would be clear of this test.
I did not like to be restricted in eating something. But i am able to control and eat little of what i am not supposed to eat.
Ok i admit it has got to do with my stubborn nature that if you tell me i cannot eat certain food, I would have more craving for it and wants to eat it even more (deliberately!)
So it makes me feel very sad. Like the cookies that came with my Subway set meal, i could not even set my tooth on to them upon knowing that i could be the next probable victim to GD. Kills my mood and appetite instantly to know that I have to think twice the next time i want to eat anything that I like.
I cannot live without Durian and Icecream!
And maybe please still let me take a few sips of soft drinks?

I am starting to feel the effect of acid reflux. It wasn't heartburn, as I initially thought. Because as i read more about the symptoms, I found that there isn't any burning sensation in my heart or mouth.
But it was more of a indigestion thingy. Because i found that I was unable to eat as fast anymore for dinner. Strangely, this acid reflux becomes worse usually at night but for lunch i am unaffected and would be able to finish my normal portion using my normal speed.
I have to make sure i burp before I take in more food.
So fortunately, Julian did not bring me to any expensive restaurant last night for our Valentines' dinner. =)
I was surprised when he told me that we are going to a restaurant in China Square. And it turns out that we went to The Rotisserie at China Square Food centre, the restaurant that i would pass by most of the days during my lunch times. But I have not tried the food before.
Justin had recommended Julian to try their hamburger. Apparently, he said it was as tasty as the one in Carl's Junior and even cheaper with sides. But the more attractive reason for Julian was because there was rocket salad in the hamburger. My fish and chips was so-so only. But i could not manage to eat much of the food, because of the damn acid in my stomach acting up. Julian helped me to finish it up.
I felt like i was full, but i know i wasn't, but i could not stomach any food in until i felt comfortable inside the stomach.
So Sis was right. It was more likely acid reflux, after i described more symptoms to her over MSN today.
Anyway, these are common effects of a preggie lady in her third trimester - again due to the fact that the growing baby is taking up more space and probably my stomach is being squeezed up too - causing the acid flowing backwards. =(
Guess I have to bear with it and pray that the Gaviscon can aid me a bit -so that i can eat more normally.

Still on Lovelle. I felt a bit guilty towards her. This pregnancy have started out to be quite a challenge for me.
As the song, "Count on me Singapore" goes: "There was a time when Icecreamgal thinks that she cannot make it, but she did...."

Im glad but also sad to be nearing the end of my pregnancy.
Going to miss the 'freedom' of carrying baby around in my tummy.
But to think this will be my last mission, but glad that this mission of child-bearing can finally be over for me and i can get on to the next phrase on children-upbringing.
But also glad that a new milestone is here and we have survived so far into this, confident that we can ride out the tides that will be coming by the grace of God.
I felt guilty because I was unable to spend quality time with Baby Lovelle when she was in my tummy. I seldom have time to talk to baby Lovelle as well. By the time, we get Faith to bed, it was our turn to rest.
There was no KTV, buffet, swimming. Not the same that i could offer Faith like two years back anymore.
What Lovelle had been exposed to was probably, cries of her elder sister, mummy and daddy scolding and coaxing Faith. Mummy having disturbed rest and sleep. Only something special was that she took a plane ride, while Faith only took a car ride up to Malaysia. Haha..

And i am beginning to experience how a parents have to balance love between their two children.
How not to spend too much time on one that i lost touch with the other.
This is the more challenging part.
I will learn..

As for now, I should be reminded that Feb is not going to stay long, and I dread counting down to how many days i have left to my EDD because i am physically and mentally not ready to meet Lovelle yet.
To Do Lists includes:

- when to set up Faith's baby cot into our bedroom for Lovelle
- Will Faith and Lovelle sleep in the same room as us?
- Pack my hospital bag
- Wash Lovelle's baby clothes
- Get a new set of receiving blanket, mittens and clothes for Lovelle.
- Get a new helper fast!

yes and many many more.... 

Ok, I have to stop for today.
Hope i have time to share and update again soon.

Haf a good mid-week, peeps!
Love, me.


 

Currently feeling: Finished my 2nd egg of the day =)

icecreamgal

One short weekend, but seems so long and happening.
I would never complain that a weekend is too long, except for one with a mixture of good news and bad....
Thank you for your patience as this will be a long (& overdued) entry.

On Friday (21/10/11), I borrowed a suitcase from MIL and brought it over to 648 to pack my barangs for the flea market. I also grabbed scissors, markers and a roll of tape. MIL had some black hangers which she dun use, so i grabbed them as well. We decide to sleep over at 648.
Faith still requires some time to get used to the new place. Esp on her new bed. Although she still sleeps with us, Julian had purposely set up her cot very low so that she can climb out by herself. While i put Faith to sleep, Julian wanted to play games in the living room, but apparently his PS3 was giving him a lot of trouble, just because he had forgotten his password.
The next day, i woke up quite recharged that I did not feel like sleeping in. So off we went back to 641, asked MIL not to buy our breakfast, bathed and dressed up Faith and left for Parkway - Julian had some work to do at his office. I bought Faith to have brekkie at McD first. It was my first time with her alone, but i thank God she was well behaved, except for her few outbrust of wanting to get out of her baby chair to go to the playground behind her. The iphone was used to 'keep her seated'. I bought a hotcake meal and she went crazy over the hashbrown. Cut up some pieces for her to eat with her hands.
Julian joined us and he bought another meal, this time Faith took the hashbrown by herself with the paper wrapper and savoured it, even though the wrapper was still hot/warm. The joy of seeing her enjoying her hashbrown was priceless and we even comforted ourselves that an occassional McD brekkie wouldnt do her too much harm. =)
But at the back of my mind I was cursing McD - cursing at how well their adverts/commerscials and advances works so well esp for the young. Even i am a victim. As parents we all know how unhealthy McD food is. Remember how our parents would say no always to McD when we wanted them and only reserved eating at McD for certain occassions? This definitely is a psycological effect because once we are able to have it, we savour it much because it was a rare chance. Of course as adults now, we can choose other healthier fast food choices. But for the time being as parents, the "McD power struggle" has just begun and will be there for, i think... next umpteen years.
Then we went back home to drop Faith off for her nap and Julian sent me, with my suitcase and 2 bags to Orchard Scape. It was raining quite heavily. But thank God the rain was manageable when i reached the place. I stowed the luggage and saw quite many empty flea stalls and set up ones along the way - some were wet and there was no shelter. I was hoping our stalls weren't outdoor. I was looking for the Scape Art & Market Street to do my registeration. As i walked to the front of Toastbox, i saw a basement also with flea stalls. Carried my suitcase and bags down and registered. Then was asked to pick a stall of my choice.
I must have given her a look of surprise and mixed reaction - because i was feeling happy that the stalls were not pre-allocated, but at the same time I was stressed that the responsibility to find a good location for the stall have landed on my lap! Arh... Location is very important! So i put down my barang with the organiser and took a walk around the whole compound. There was an empty stall in between two other stalls which have been set up and I decided the location was by far the most pleasant to me, for there was a fan nearby and it was visible at the entrance to the basement. So i took my barangs there and took my seat.

Sis arrived with Kerk and they set up the clothes rack while i took out all my barangs to display on the table top. I felt excited about all our talk of setting up a flea stall finally really happening! We could barely finished piling up our clothes when customers came. I think it was because we were selling our 'rags' at such a good price: 5 PIECES for $2.
Not forgetting the moment of panic, when sis realised she had left her plastic bags in Kerk's car!
Frenzy looking for plastic bags! Haha...
Dun ask me how we came up with such a wierd pricing. There wasn't any logic. Many of mine were old clothes, mind you. I haven wore some for a few years even! So to be able to let go of my clothing on this day, i would be very happy so i wasnt very concern if we were silly/ crazy/ illogical to some, that our pricing was to cheap. Mostly were philippino ladies. They were happy to take our clothes, so we were also very happy selling to them. The important objective was: We cannot bear to throw these clothes away. So we are selling them. The Pinoys paid a small price and our clothes gets a 2nd lease of life! So, deal done!
I find it so very meaningful. More happy then throwing them at the Salvation Army and giving to the garang guni man, who might just re-sell to another buyer!
We initially found that we did not have enough clothes hanger to hang up all our dresses.
But soon, we found many empty hangers available as customers came to grab those dresses we have to offer at $5! Compared to the stalls on our left and right, their prices were $10 and $12-$15 respectively.
So you can imagine how black their faces were for the whole time...
"I felt sorry to spoil their mood but our objectives were different." i thought inside my heart.

Looking back, we really have to thank God for His providence. I want to summary it as: To man, it is impossible. But with God, it is possible! Later on, i realised my mum had prayed for this flea stall before we begun this business. And as we count our earnings at 7pm, I really dunno where the money came about. Did we really made so much sales? and How?  Maybe i was having low expectations, as long as we were able to cover the rental of the stall. But who provided us with the profit of 70 bucks? It was definitely GOD!
And i thank God for sending us all the customers, esp the lady who bought 6 bags of clothes from us. Thank God for Elsie who bought 2 of our dresses, my aunt Cynthia, who bought a helium balloon for Faith and mum (who helped me "jagar" Faith), thank God for the clothes rack and the location for our stall!
The profit went back as tithes back to God. GLORY BE TO OUR GOD.
At least now i am more willing to send the rest of my un-sold clothes to the karang guni man. I have did my part to help my clothes, which i treasured so much.....and had many long memories of them.

For dinner, Julian was treating LA gang at an industrial area in Toa Payoh. I guess i was either too tired or too busy with Faith that I did not take note of the name of the place, or taken any pictures of our food. Julian over-ordered, but it was because he thought that Wenlong's brother and family, would stay longer for dinner. It was nice to see Tela again, last seen her on her 1st month and her growing up process via fb as Don would post daily pic of him and Tela. SiChay was there first, then Don's family and then Tiang and we were all seated and waiting for Wenlong and his girlfriend to arrive. Yes, it was confirmed that he was not playing punk when he updated his relationship status few weeks back. He was in a relationship with a girl by the name of Kris See. (They joked that they hit off well because both of them had C-cup chest!) Doh!
Tela was a quiet girl, she is not as talkative as Faith or as expressive. She is like a loner, just played with the plastic utensils, she did not mess up the table or throw the chopsticks on the floor. She played with pieces of bread, transferring them into a bowl. But when she was got out of hand for a minute, her mother shouted at her immediately with the content of "don't embarass us in public" (in chinese).
Don's wife is rather a dominating figure, and we were supposed to know that so none of us reacted any differently but we kept our comments to ourselves. Overall, Jul and I felt she did not have to be so harsh on Tela, fearing that this upbringing may cause Tela to be autistic/loner. Ask the husband - Don. I feel he had pampered his wife and could accept her "commanding tones/character" - which made me want to applaud him - for not being an MCP, although he looked like one! Even Wenlong was not spared from her nagging. She asked him "not to talk rot and take food for his gf". We laughed it off, of course! To each, her own. Just treat as a reference.
Our Ah Faith was kept entertained by Youtube from iphone while she finished her already-turned-soupy dinner and occassion munches of food that we were having. At different times, we gave in to her request to bring her to see the fishes in a pool within the kopitiam premises. But she would go back to her baby seat when required.
Tiang kept singing praises of our princess, and he was very happy to know we are expecting our 2nd one too. I see him so happy, i felt happy too. Haha.

Forgot to mention that Don's wife was expecting as well and we would be about one month apart. Her baby would be due first. And apparently their gynae was quite sure they were going to have a boy.
I no longer am feeling so low! Hooray! I am glad I was able to start to share with more ppl that I am pregnant and expecting again. And everytime i had to describe how different a 2nd pregnancy was to me, i would use the 'rocket' analogy which i shared in my previous blog. Hee....
On Friday i was 'caught off guard" by Pris Teoh who saw my baby bump. So the cat was out of the sack finally, but earlier than i had expected. But i felt very bad for Lydia, the new account manager who looked after my account who had to suddenly be around to cover duty for both Yvonne and myself. Yvonne was another Account Manager who would be going for her Maternity Leave in Feb - June. Whereas for me, mine would start in April - August. So next year will be a stressful year for Lydia........  =(
I can only stay as apologetic as i could because there was nothing I could do.
Everyone has got their lives and plans to lead, besides working.
It was quite late when we got home. Faith was tired out that we even could put on long pants on her without waking her up.

On Sunday (23/10/11), it was going-to-church day. Jul sent us there and he had wanted to wait for our service to end and send us home. But alas! My blunder of leaving Faith's water bottle at home caused change to the plan. Jul went home to rest and would drop by my mum's house later, with Faith's water bottle.  
Faith did not nap and thus my mum came and took over - she brought her to the cafe to feed her lunch.
During service, we sang a worship song that describe the uncertainty on earth as we human faces, but God knows us and he knows our difficulties. And God will never give us up. I find it so apt, as i thought about the many tragedies and sadness happening in and around our lives recently and much of those we cannot comprehend. But as long as we put our faith in God, we know we are safe, for HE will lead us and help us, as long as we trust in HIM. 
The guest pastor also shared about this testimonies before he came to accept Christ in his life. He described Christianity that we are always "experiencing" God and God's work in our lives. It is the only 'religion' where God draws to His People, not waiting for people to find him for worship. God was present and i feel so blessed that each service, we are always able to have God in our midst - to administer to the needy, strengthen the weak. I had many burdens in my heart as I gave thanks to God, I thank God that He was so near and we could just reach out and pass him our burdens/ worries/ questions and uncertainty. The assurance and joy and peace in return was surpassing. =)

Then mum n me went home by cab. While i went home to make Faith take her ovedued nap, mum went to dabao lunch. I ordered fish & chip from the western stall. Surprisingly, it was better than expected. Over lunch we chit chat until i forget to take my own nap. Then Faith woke up and Julian also came over. Soat ard 4.30 i took my nap until 6pm. By then, dad have returned home and was going to take Faith to the playground. We were going to Marina barrage for dinner tonight since mum have not been there before. Mum wanted to give julian a dinner treat for his birthday next week. But i know Julian will not have it. Dinner was only okay-okay. The chicken at the 7th Storey restaurant was still good but the steamboat's standard have dropped.
Ok, so one less reason for us to go into Marina Barrage...Unless for the new ride there.
I am referring to the Go-Go Scooter rides at Marina Barrage. It has a scooter handle with 4 wheels, thus making it a stable steady vehicle for visitors to use to roam the place. The rental shop can be found at the first level. We did not try taking the scooter up to the 2nd level that night.
Go-go scooter comes in two sizes. There is a kids size and i saw children ard 7-8 yrs old able to operate on their own. Dad rented an adult sized and Faith sat on our laps/ inbetween our legs as we took turns to take her for a ride around the first level at Marina barrage. Julian even drove her to the bridge of the dam. Due to the 4 wheels, it was stable even though without any seat belts. If I am not wrong, the rental of the scooter was SGD10 for 30 mins.  It is single operator scooter.
By then it was too late for us to go up to the 2nd level, though I did wish to bring Faith up there to be closer to the kites. Perhaps another windy daytime would be better  =)

That was the close to our weekend. But deep in my hearts, we were heavy-hearted with depressing news around us.

One for me, was to know that a close friend's mum was to receive chemotheraphy for her spreading cancer. The last i heard was that the cancer cells are spreading to the lungs and the dreaded stage 4 was pronouced.
Sometimes the fact of life can really get us down. The truth hurts the most and we want to deny them.
But we all know, the way of life is to face these difficulties and to battle them down.
As like the many testimonies of cancer patients i have read before, they won because they did not give up trying. They deserve our respect. It hurts me because my heart goes all out to this auntie, whom i had met and chatted before. Have activated my mum and James and their cell group to pray for her. And im constantly praying for her salvation. Not only for her to know the Lord, Our Creater and Saviour. But i also look forward to Lord Jesus bringing her spiritual deliverance, experiencing a new meaning of Christ in her life. I also keep my sister in prayers. It is even more important now that she keeps close to the Lord - to draw strength, joy, peace and truths from HIM who loved us all that He died on the cross for us all - His blood for our blood. He died so that 'whoever believes in HIM will have eternal life."
Jesus was not defeated by death, because 3 days later, he rose again. This signifies that HE is alive today, hearing our prayers and most importantly, it meant that HE has defeated death!!
We have sinned, since Adam and Eve. But through Jesus and ONLY through Jesus, we can be called Son and Daughters of God again! This is the God that i need, this is the GOD that i want to be with.
Sorry i have digressed, but I could finally put words to these knowledge that i had gathered from the sunday sermon that Pastor Song had shared. And these are very useful truths we should remember.
So back to my close sister, i have been encouraging her and "pushing" her back to God.
Pushing her for her good, so that she can also be blessed as i am and be able to draw strength (drink!) from God's everlasting stream.
So that she can be strong to be the prayer support, spiritually and physically for her mother. Jesus is just at her door and auntie just needs to have faith and accepts this living God!

Mum also delivered a bad news to me. My 舅姆 had suddenly lost conscience during her trip in Bangkok.
At time of this entry, she has passed away. We had to arrange emergency plane to send her from a hospital in Phuket to SGH last midnight. But her body was coping with a low blood pressure until 2.20pm today.
It was a very sudden thing to happen. It is a most unfortunate fact to accept - that a person was gone like that. To think that she could not even see her family for the last time before she left this world, no last words, no last wishes. How cruel. Many ppl would not understand why - not even me - as i asked God the same question.
We did not even had the chance to lay hands to pray for her......  =(
Only regret is that she had not choose to accept Christ when Mum spread the good news with her.
The last time we met was at Aunt Cynthia's birthday dinner at Raffles Hotel.
舅姆 leaves behind my 舅舅, her 5 children ( my cousins whom i grew up with) and 7 grandchildren.
On Tuesday night, Jul and I made way down to the wake after work.

But a soul lost without Christ is still a lost soul.
So rather than mourning and brooding into past, I  decided to put my focus and effort even more in saving "live" souls! They can hear, touch, feel GOD!
I felt more determined to help auntie know Jesus.
"What a mighty God we serve.. " I would sing. And i want to let her know this great, amazing, limitless God who have changed me, who have touched me, who have loved me, like no other gods!
Everyone deserve Jesus!
He did not just died for me, He died for all of us. That includes you, you and YOU!
So when i say, Jesus Loves you!
I meant it.
He really DO and I know very well.

Be blessed my dear readers and friends!

Thanks for reading and i shall update very soon! =)

Love, me.

icecreamgal

I was preparing for work this morning, put my phone to charge and at the same time open up facebook app to check out any updates i have might have missed. Besides reading that Sis wanted to find companion to drink with her tonight, i also saw that Eve had just updated a pic on the preparation of her wedding.
I thought to myself, "Oh, she is preparing for her wedding."
Wait! When is her wedding banquet again? I remembered our sms conversation and my RSVP.

After checking, Whoops! Its tomorrow!
Yes, exactly what i mentioned in my sms to her: " Although I  already have a wedding dinner that day but yours is wedding lunch, so i will be there."
Suddenly i was slapped with two wedding to attend tomorrow!
I immediately texted Julian to remind him, and of course he forgot about it as well.
Eve was our poly classmate and we are sure to see other NYP classmates as well. We will bring faith along.

By night, I will need to be at M Hotel to attend the wedding banquet of Minxian and her hubby. Minxian is my primary schoolmate. I thought little of that dinner because i thought i had a whole Saturday to prepare for it. Now i think i have limited time.
Most likely we need to be home by 4pm so can put Faith to nap cos she would have skipped her morning nap. Then, I hope mum and Jul can stay at home to help me with her while i go attend this dinner.
Will be meeting all the other JPS people, like Razean, Jiahui, Yonghui, Xiaoling. Much stress-less compared to the other one, i feel more at ease with these old pals.

I freaked out.  Damn! What do i have left to wear for wedding?
I only have left that swan lake tulle dress fit for a Fullerton event. The rest.. are all too informal, cannot fit me, makes me fat or they are black. I might need a red ribbon to tie around my waist to colour things up a bit.
Felt so unprepared.
So my mind raced through for a list of things i need to prepare by today so that I can be ready tomorrow morning to leave house with Julian, Faith plus her barangs and my bag - and still appear pretty and presentable for the wedding lunch banquet.
So during lunch, popped by That Purple Place and did my nails and feet. They are in hot pinks now..
And tonight i will try to see if I can get any dress from Raffles Exchange on my way home...
Cross my fingers!

Presentable is my main concern. For me, it is a form of respect back to the host who have invited me to that important occassion and event.
I am no longer "feeling" pretty.
And I have stopped feeling pretty ever since i removed my colours from my hair and started noticing the toil this pregnancy is leaving on my tired face.
Extra capilaries creeping on the cheeks and red marks.
I cannot leave without my bb cream. And i cannot help looking whitish - on days when i might have accidentally slapped on too much layer of the cream on some stubborn areas.  =(
Green veins growing on my chest and arms like the morning glories' vine on the fences.
bleh!

Maybe its my hair too, cos i have given up trying to straighten those curly ends in the morning and i just try to take them up as naturally as i can - but most of the time i find them messy.
But i cannot do anything at this point of time except to pray the hair grow faster.
With this mess, i am also stopping myself from "banging" my fringe for the time being. So just gotta live with my side fringe. (I have "supporters" for both types of fringe).
I will 'bang' them once my hair end is straightened! That will be neat.

So i wouldn't be surprised if i was bearing a boy. Becos' many believe that when the mother is bearing a son, her complexion would not be a good as another mother bearing a daughter.
For mothers bearing daughters - there will be the glow and they will continue to be pleasing to the eyes.
There was also saying that mothers who are bearing son will have bigger nose. I definitely do not know how this would come about - but i have a poly classmate who just gave birth to a son and she seemed to have a bigger nose then! =P
I can't help but believe this old tale/saying...
Becos i have been feeling lousy and have lost my confidences as well, since pregnancy.
Been just feeling 'monotonous'.
Its okay even if my speculation is wrong - a girl will be just right to take over all the old clothings that Faith have to pass down to her =) and Faith will have more pre-loved clothes from other people, so I will not need to fret on their attires.
If boy - I can take clothes from Weihan, just right for his boy to pass on his hand-me-downs.
Will be a bit troublesome cos I need to look at boys and girls' clothes next time when i spree online.
Anyway, leaving this to God.

This is also a difficult time because the baby bump is yet showing, but i know im losing my waist line and anything tighter will appear like I am fat. My bust are larger too. Its like not there yet but loking preggie. Haha!  I cannot wear those belts anymore as they restricts my waist/stomach - bad for digestion. I shall have to stop heels too...But will wear them one last time tomorrow for both events.

Today is the last day HQ have no "government". By next week, the conference people & the bosses will be back!! SO i did not feel like working today (since coming back from my nail session) and i think Cheris can feel it too. (But i can see her working hard at the volume reports)
I have informed her about my pregnancy, also added that she is the first to know.
Because she needs to know as she will be covering me when i am not around .Anyway, she have blocked some leaves after chinese new year period cos she is going back to home town. So i hope that rest would be enough. Otherwise she can go back to Penang again in early March.
My Edd would be in early April.

By next week, I guess i have to inform Andrew (my boss) so that he is prepared for my 4 months "disappearance" next year too. But i would prefer making the announcement over facebook after i know this baby's gender, then i will tell people that "We are giving Faith a little brother/sister next year!" Something liddat.
Short and sweet. And then i can answer any questions later.
So gotta wait till early November. Cos Ah Heng was quite sure she would be able to tell by next appointment! Haha.. Well. by then the baby will be 4 months old!

Ok, shall update again.. Happy weekend, peeps!
Have a great weekend ahead!

Love, me.